As with the Y-Wing, I got some photo etch that I'll be adding to the cockpit for lighting. This consists of the center console and 2 side panels.
Here they are loosely set in place just to see placement. The do not sit flush however.
The first piece of photo etch goes on the center console, but you see that there are raised sections (particularly the lower right) in the plastic model. These need to be removed and smoothed so I can have the photo etch sit flush on the console.
So I just used an X-acto blade and carved away the raised areas making the photo etch sit flush.
Here I have light shining through the photo etch, but there are some areas that are not lit because some of the plastic is still blocking the light.
Using an X-acto knife again, I cut away some extra plastic from the kit to expose the light to light up the photo etch. You can see below that I cut away some extra from the bottom and the top right and left. This is lit with the kit cockpit light, which is the wrong color. Should be white, which it will be replaced with down the line. But for testing purposes, works just fine.
Now all of the photo etch lighting can be seen.
As with the center console, I also need to smooth out the 2 side console areas of the cockpit, you can see here.
I did this by just sanding down the sides with a sanding stick.
I then placed the photo etch on each side panel using a dab of latex to hold them in place, so I could then spray it with primer.
With the photo etch stuck in place, the primer went through the holes, exposing them on the cockpit sides.
This then gave me markers for where to cut away the plastic for the light to shine through.
With the sides cut for the photo etch, my next step is the back of the cockpit. You can see in this photo that there are 2 hoses on either side of the cockpit seat.
The model kit has molded hoses, which are perfectly round and look more like tubes. So like my Y-Wing build, I want to use guitar string, which gives a really nice look of a corrugated hose.
So again, I used my X-acto blade to cut away the raised plastic areas so that I can then use my guitar string in it's place.
Leaving me with a smooth area you see here.
So time to drill some holes in the back of the cockpit for the hoses to connect and come from.
I then cut 4 pieces of guitar string to simulate my hoses and bent them to shape.
My hoses were then glued into position...
and primed.
So it's time to paint and detail the front portion of the cockpit. The center console area has already been primed. I then sprayed a coat of hairspray over the paint to seal it in. I then taped off the top area where I want to airbrush it Tamiya German Gray.
Removing the tape, exposing the dark gray area.
I also airbrushed the pilot seat Tamiya German gray as well.
Because I previously coated the center console with hairspray, I then use some fine tip tweezers to scrape away the german gray paint from the raised areas, exposing the primer underneath.
I then taped some areas on either side and airbrushed Tamiya medium gray, to give just a slightly different tint of gray, as in the actual life size filming cockpit.
I also used Tamiya sand pastel to lightly weather the pilot seat.
I then did some additional fine detail painting of some red, white and yellow to some of the buttons around the side portions. It was then on to the photo etch center console. Again, using Tamiya german gray, I painted the photo etch.
Then some fine detail painting with a medium gray, outlining the console screens and the stripe across the upper portion.
The side panels were also primed...
and then detailed with some German gray.
So with the fronts of the photo etch pieces painted, it's time to move on to the lights. Using Tamiya clear yellow and clear red, I carefully painted the backside of different holes either yellow or red. The unpainted holes will appear white because of the white LED being used.
and you have what you see here.
So it's time to glue the photo etch pieces into place on the cockpit.
For the center console photo etch, I also wanted to have images in the console screens. The photo etch is based on ESB, but I wanted to have a little more going on, so I did a combination of Ep IV and V. I cut away the etch between the left large screen and the 1st of 3 vertical screens, creating a larger left screen and 2 right vertical screens. I did a screen capture of a target screen from Star Wars Ep IV, and a capture of the console screens displaying red text from ESB and scaled it down to fit the photo etch.
So this is the graphic I created from the screen grabs. Left graphic from Ep IV, and 2 right screens from ESB.
I then printed it out to scale with the photo etch and glued it to the backside for the LED to illuminate.
The photo etch was then glued to the center console. To make the LED light spread evenly across the photo etch, I glued some little pieces of paper that I cut to the backside of the photo etch.
I then painted the pilot joy stick and put it in place in the cockpit.
Then placing the center console into position in the cockpit and my pilot in place, I temporarily used 3 LEDs to light up the center console and 2 side panels.
And here is what I have so far. I'm very pleased with how this is all turning out.
So this will do it for now in this part of my model build. Next I'll be doing finishing touches to the cockpit, such as the targeting computer, some fiber optic in the center console and figuring out actual wiring and lighting.
So stay tuned. Much more to come...
