44 minutes ago, Khyros said:

If I may ask, since I've yet to ever get around to doing one myself, what approach did you take? I originally was thinking about making the entire circuitry slide in and out through the engine, but the most I do other things, the more uncomfortable that approach makes me, and I just want to split it apart and treat it just like every other ship.

I split it in half. It was a pain. The model has about 6 different posts that glue tother the halfs and its assymetrical. I ended up having to just remove the center post and 2 other posts to get everything to fit. Such a pain. There is also very litle room inside. Where the 2 halves meet there is virtually no open space near the front of the ship.

19 hours ago, Pooleman said:

I split it in half. It was a pain. The model has about 6 different posts that glue tother the halfs and its assymetrical. I ended up having to just remove the center post and 2 other posts to get everything to fit. Such a pain. There is also very litle room inside. Where the 2 halves meet there is virtually no open space near the front of the ship.

You did not by any chance take pics while dissasembling? If yes, pleasy post them in the "splitting" thread.

On 10/16/2017 at 10:47 AM, Khyros said:

Gosh it's been awhile since I've done any X Wing stuff. Armada has been taking all of my attention recently. I finished up two (well, actually 3, but one was Armada) projects this weekend. First up is a commissioned Decimator, and then a set of colored bases. Sadly, there's probably not going to be a lot more progress on my X Wing stuff as I have a huge customer backlog for Armada.

What material do you use to diffuse the light on the engines and windows? And how are cutting out those little windows?

17 hours ago, Pooleman said:

What material do you use to diffuse the light on the engines and windows? And how are cutting out those little windows?

The Decimator itself is an interesting and unique case. I normally do one of two things - use milk carton from the inside (such as the center raider engine) where I have access to glue something from the inside and the need to cut it perfectly (as long as it's oversized) doesn't matter... Or I use a dab of hot glue coupled with wax paper to get a smooth finish (such as on the outer raider engines).

But as I said, the Decimator is a complicated case, and it's 100% because the surfaces aren't flat in any direction. Well, the view ports aren't at least, but if I used a different diffuser for the view port right next to the cockpit, it'd look weird. So I improvised. I cut out slivers of hot glue that approximated the view port/cockpit, placed them on the inside of the ship, and then used a hot glue gun to melt them, and wax paper to push them into place. The end effect is that they're smooth on the inside instead of the outside, but there still aren't any air bubbles throughout. But that is what gives the viewport windows the curved appearance (because the hot glue is actually curved on the exterior surface).

As for cutting them out, it's a pain. For the view ports, I start by drilling out as much as I can from the center, then I use a very sharp (I think I go through 3 for each view port) hobby knife to "shave" the corners, taking it from a round hole to the rectangular window. For the cockpit and other straighter bits its pretty much the same thing - use a drill to remove most of the material (drilling multiple holes along the window) and then the hobby knife to straighten is all up.

Below I've put two WIP pictures of that Deci. The first one is when I finished drilling it all, and the second is after I cleaned it all up with the hobby knife. Painting up the bits afterwards help it blend in (as you can see in the pics the viewport is painted a generic grey, and the cockpit is stark white, drawing you attention to each issue). And if you do end up breaking one of the supports, you can always cut a plasticard piece to put back in its place. Hope this helps!

So I’ve been asked to light up a Decimator as the grand prize (or some prize) of the campaign Against Cancer tournament in my local area. I’ve had some decent success with the Falcon, resistance bomber, ghost and outrider. I think I may skip the cockpit and just do the engines and the three top vents that you did. One mistake and I’m screwed.

3 minutes ago, Pooleman said:

So I’ve been asked to light up a Decimator as the grand prize (or some prize) of the campaign Against Cancer tournament in my local area. I’ve had some decent success with the Falcon, resistance bomber, ghost and outrider. I think I may skip the cockpit and just do the engines and the three top vents that you did. One mistake and I’m screwed.

I have the WIP pictures (or at least the ones I took) here if it helps: https://www.facebook.com/766896906823308/photos/?tab=album&album_id=767277890118543

One thing I'll point out is to make sure that you seal whatever sections you do light up. Reflective tape and plasticard are my preferred method. The reflective tape helps prevent the "single source of light" issue that I'm sure you're familiar with when you're dealing with close quarters. And plasticard is sturdy enough to actually maintain its form yet flimsy enough that you can bend it around to get it to seat.

If you're worried about the supports for the cockpit, you can do what I did on my most recent Raider - just cut them all out! Especially if you're not doing the top view port, as you can easily put the milk carton behind the cockpit, and then glue the plasticard strips back in place to give the same appearance.

12 minutes ago, Khyros said:

I have the WIP pictures (or at least the ones I took) here if it helps: https://www.facebook.com/766896906823308/photos/?tab=album&album_id=767277890118543

One thing I'll point out is to make sure that you seal whatever sections you do light up. Reflective tape and plasticard are my preferred method. The reflective tape helps prevent the "single source of light" issue that I'm sure you're familiar with when you're dealing with close quarters. And plasticard is sturdy enough to actually maintain its form yet flimsy enough that you can bend it around to get it to seat.

If you're worried about the supports for the cockpit, you can do what I did on my most recent Raider - just cut them all out! Especially if you're not doing the top view port, as you can easily put the milk carton behind the cockpit, and then glue the plasticard strips back in place to give the same appearance.

Thanks for the tip. I just don’t want it to look cheesy. I’m also worried about the weight. The Decimator seems wobbly enough on that peg without all the extra lights, diffusers, batters, etc.

13 minutes ago, Khyros said:

I have the WIP pictures (or at least the ones I took) here if it helps: https://www.facebook.com/766896906823308/photos/?tab=album&album_id=767277890118543

One thing I'll point out is to make sure that you seal whatever sections you do light up. Reflective tape and plasticard are my preferred method. The reflective tape helps prevent the "single source of light" issue that I'm sure you're familiar with when you're dealing with close quarters. And plasticard is sturdy enough to actually maintain its form yet flimsy enough that you can bend it around to get it to seat.

If you're worried about the supports for the cockpit, you can do what I did on my most recent Raider - just cut them all out! Especially if you're not doing the top view port, as you can easily put the milk carton behind the cockpit, and then glue the plasticard strips back in place to give the same appearance.

How did you mount the recharge port for the battery and what are you using for an on/off switch? I was thinking of using a magnetic reed switch and adhearing a small magnet to the lower turret to activate the lights.

6 minutes ago, Pooleman said:

How did you mount the recharge port for the battery and what are you using for an on/off switch? I was thinking of using a magnetic reed switch and adhearing a small magnet to the lower turret to activate the lights.

Pretty much what you said. Magnetic reed to the top turret for on/off. To recharge it, I have magnets on the left/right docking door sections. Normally I'm not a fan of the fact that you can see them, but the magnets are used to hold the Raider wings in place, so with that qualifier, I'm okay with it. If I wasn't to set it up for Raider wings, I'd probably have to just drill and place magnets next to the peg. Unfortunately, the deci isn't really setup to be port friendly, so magnets it is.

I got the chance to work on a HWK this week, which is really cool because we just found out that HWKs are going to be viable in v2.0!

Well, I done messed up and put green lights on this A wing instead of the red lights I meant to. I guess that's what I get for having a messy workbench right now.

Nice lighting on the ships!

Maybe the green engine lights on that A wing just got hit by green imperial lasers and she's about to blow.

7 hours ago, max_ryan said:

Nice lighting on the ships!

Maybe the green engine lights on that A wing just got hit by green imperial lasers and she's about to blow.

Haha, I like it. I plan on keeping it anyways. I'll actually have to convert it to a battery power source since it was supposed to be for a pinball machine, but that won't take too much time.

On 5/4/2018 at 7:07 PM, Khyros said:

Well, I done messed up and put green lights on this A wing instead of the red lights I meant to.

Call sign: "Roxanne"

Here's a Falcon that unlike that A Wing, has the proper color engines on it. The customer wanted it to be a white engine with hints of blue around the edges. None of the pictures really show it that well, but I think the best one is via the mirror with the light on. Others make it look primarily white with a blue lense flare (though that's kinda cool too, just not representative of real life).

And here's the A wing with its red engines.

I'm really tempted to light my Falcon!

On 5/20/2018 at 3:54 AM, spacesound said:

I'm really tempted to light my Falcon!

Do it! The falcon is one of the harder ships in my opinion since its engine is so wide (and can be obnoxious to open), but it looks amazing when it's done. I put together a youtube series to help folks do their own Falcons if you need a bit of guidance.

17 hours ago, Khyros said:

Do it! The falcon is one of the harder ships in my opinion since its engine is so wide (and can be obnoxious to open), but it looks amazing when it's done. I put together a youtube series to help folks do their own Falcons if you need a bit of guidance.

You convinced me, but I will buy a second Falcon just in case. I should be able to get another older 1.0 model Falcon at a low cost after 2.0 is released.

Finished up a ShadowCaster last night.

Posting to keep up with this thread, this is some next-level stuff!

On 6/26/2018 at 10:25 PM, Sir Orrin said:

Posting to keep up with this thread, this is some next-level stuff!

Ha, I've kinda forgotten about this thread. I've been busy over in the Armada world, and haven't done much XWM stuff in the past year. But I do have a properly colored A Wing and HWK to share (in the same instagram post, just scroll to see the HWK).