|  | | This was not a model I simply had to own. That is, until I saw some amazing A-Wing build-ups. I ordered this one off of eBay. |  | | | Kit details... | | Manufacturer: | AMT/ERTL | | Scale: | 1/48 | | Parts: | 16 | | Built: | October 2007 - November 2007 | | Aftermarket kits: | None | | Add-ons: | Lighted engines and cockpit, rescribed body halves | | | | | Building the base stand... | | For this model, I will be using a base supplied by The Modelbase. It is a base which has the design of the Rebel Alliance logo engraved in it. It will be spray painted a white-ish colour with a darkred Rebel Alliance logo. |  | | And here is the base in its finished state, fully painted by hand. |  |
| | Building the kit... | I noticed that ERTL tried to get the effect of panel lines. Instead of engraving the lines, they added them to the surface, making them indeed raised panel lines.
I sanded the main body halves and rescribed the lines, this time making sure they were engraved in the body. |  | I made quite some progress on this kit today. I sanded the strips that were meant to hold the engines off the engine back plate. The strips were not arched enough so the engines would never have fitted on the back plate anyway.
Furthermore, I added small brass rods to the inner engine exhaust parts and placed two small styrene strips at the front of the ship to make up for the lacking ones. | |    | | | I also made the back of the upper hull look less thick. Just a small thing, but it will matter in the overall picture. |  | I spray painted the hulls and some other parts in the white-ish colour I created. After having let the hulls dry for two days, I taped off the parts so they were ready for their red markings.
As I did for the hulls, I also used a custom red colour for the mid stripes. | |   | | | Today I finished the paint work on the hulls and the engine parts. I tried to replicate the studio model as closely as possible, meaning I also added the various differently coloured panels on the hulls and the engine parts. | |      | | | Slowly but steady I am getting closer and closer to finishing this model. I have glued the two hulls together and also added the engine parts to it. The lighting is also in place. I made a last minute adjustment to the cockpit: adding a small 3mm LED to the control panel which will light up the cockpit and show the pilot. |  |
| | Painting the model... | I used the following mixture to create the base (white-ish) colour that is used on the main hulls
Tamiya Flat White (colour number 81702)
Tamiya Light Grey (colour number 81766)
Tamiya Flat Flesh (colour number 81715)
Secondly, I used the following mixture to create the brick red tone
Tamiya Flat Black (colour number 81701)
Tamiya Flat Red (colour number 81707
The black colourings, mostly guns, front side strips and engines, are created using Polly Scale Grimy Black (colour number F414137)
I applied a wash using Ivory Black (colour number 2120331) by Winsor & Newton. Afterwards, I weathered the model using my pigments. | | | Overall experience... | This kit was one of the (hopefully) few that I did not really wanted to start working on. I cannot explain why... Maybe it is because the kit contained so few parts, maybe it was the idea of it being a snap kit.
Anyway, once I started this little project, I found out that it was actually quite the challenge! I had to make some parts, fix a few other things and the painting of the model was also quite something. All the different colours that were used for the panels...
I also added engine and cockpit lights which I feel really brought this model alive. | | | More photos... |      |      |    |
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