ESB CLOUD CAR (SS)
Step 001: Sweet Resin!
Orange You Glad I Got This?
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ESB Bespin Cloud Car
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This was the newest resin rendition of the Cloud Car (I have four unique studio-scale kits of this). The resin and fitment on the parts are outstanding! Also got the available base mount. Going to light the engines and cockpit with simple LED strip pieces. Then onto the tricky, but incredibly satisfying shades of orange that made this ship stand-out to many.
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Status: Completed
Step 002: Jacked!
Grand Opening
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Jack-in-the-Base
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Drilled out a jack-entry for a 12V/2A wall-wort plug in the base.
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Status: Completed
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Step 003: About-Base
All About the Base
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Simple and Elegant
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The outer gun cowling is the base for the gun-sights. The sights are made up of several little parts, many cut in pieces and rearranged into different assemblies. A bit of home-made bent brass completes the ensemble. The fun of this step was keeping the parts aligned in both the assemblies, and aligned in multiple mounting planes.
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Status: Completed
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Step 004: Minimalist
Sandman Cometh
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Minimal, but Intricate
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Sanding was minimal on this one (which is superb for a big resin kit). Some parts, like the cockpit canopies, were just a lot of intricate work.
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Status: Completed
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Step 005: Mounting
Simple Pipe
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Straight or Angled?
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Got the mounting pipe hole cut below the engine​ and the mounting collar installed. Cut both directions, so can decide later if mounting straight or angled. The original buildup was mounted on an angle and looked pretty cool. Also drilled out the wiring holes and into the wiring channels that run the lengths of the fuselage mount. Test fit all of those engine mount parts.
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Status: Completed
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Step 006: Prime Time
Lean and Clean
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All Parts Accounted For...
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Got all of the parts cleaned up, sanded, and primed.​ Just a few putty fills, which is stellar for a large resin kit. Also assembled and fit the pilot figures at this point, as they are a tight squeeze just like the studio model. The pointing pilot was a challenge to make his finger not point out the "window". Some "butt-sanding "was also performed.
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Status: Completed
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Step 007: Fitment Test
All Parts... Assemble!
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Takes a Steady Hand...
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Did a near-final "Fitment Test" on all major parts. Paid special attention to the cockpits/pilots/canopies. Next up will be making a simple light circuit, which will be powered by a wall wort, and then onto painting the various shades of orange/red. Looking forward to that, on this one. It really is one of the few Star Wars ships with brilliant coloring.
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Status: Completed
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Step 008: About-Base
Testing New Acrylics
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Orange You Ready for This?
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It is not often that you get to use a bunch of stark color on a Star Wars model... this one is definitely in that category! Got most of the base-coating done, with the rich orange base color. Using Archive-X acrylics for the first time... lays down smooth with around a 70-30 ratio. I'm not so much a figure-painter, but got these cool ones mostly done, except for weathering.
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Status: Completed
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Step 009: Light 'Em Up
Testing LED Strip Lighting
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Easy Lighter...
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Never actually used LED strip lighting in a model before... so hacked off a couple of the minimal 3x Bright White LED sections from a long strip (convenient fit, actually). Also soldered up two warm yellow mini-LEDs for the cockpit consoles. Wired them all in parallel off of the 12V/2A (LED strip) wall wort.
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Status: Completed
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Step 010: Blue-ish
Feeling Slightly Blue-ish
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Block-blocker...
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Cut two simple engine light filters cut out of light-blue opaque sheet. Installed and tested. Just a bit of lighting blocking left to do around the engine cover to button that section up, then onto installing the cockpits and check for light-leak there, as well.
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Status: Completed
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Step 011: Bottoms Up
Engines Wrapped
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Work on the [dis]mount
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Got the bottom mount re-finished... discovered an inner wire had dropped partially across the inner mounting hole during the final sealing of the engine block. Created a workaround that fits the top of the mounting pipe, and resealed everything up. Also got the two bottom hull plates attached, after some "filing and finagling...."
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Status: Completed
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Step 012: Panels
Oranges
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So many variations...
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Got the bottom and some side paneling started... many shades of orange, but matching as best to different lighted references.
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Status: Completed
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Step 013: More Panels
More Oranges
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More variations...
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Worked around the sides and top panels...many shades of orange, but matching as best to different lighted references. Got the hulls glued together, as well as the other waiting parts. Retested the lighting... which will be slightly brighter on the 12v wall wort... this was just a quick test with a 9v battery. Next to wrap up the panels, then retest the mounting and lighting.
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Status: Completed
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Step 014: Almost There
Mount It
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Do the lights still work?
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Finished the orange-variant panels. Also wrapped up the nose sections. Ran the wiring through the mount and retested on the 12v wall wort... happy with it. Almost there... now on to the weathering and the classic streaks by the gun openings.
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Status: Completed
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Step 015: And... Done!
Colorful
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40 Shades of Orange?!
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Wrapped up the subtle weathering. Will take some properly lit studio pics later, without the shop lighting.
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Status: Completed
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