I got myself a 1/2700-scale Star Destroyer kit this april, originally by Zvesda and now distributed by Revell. The kit is 60 cm long and big enough for lighting via fiberoptics. The hull has the correct angles and the footprint of the superstructure is correctly proportioned. The kit, however, has some inaccuracies and loads of missing details, so it provided a nice challenge for some extensive scratch-building to ammend those issues and make it as accurate to the 8 foot studio model as possible - both in proportions and detail.

First of all, I heightened the lower parts of the superstructure to give it accurate proportions. I use plastic card for all my modifications, which will become insanely extensive soon... At that step, I also corrected the angle of the neck and bridge-section. These corrections created new surfaces on the sides which needed to be filled with detail, and I tackled this aspect when I went in and added loads of details I meticulously scratch-built to recreate the detail on the filming model. Here are some images of these steps:

Here's the detailing of the superstructure almost finished:

Extra detailing on the engine section as per the filming model:

And detailing on the side trenches:

I also scratch-built a few TIE Fighters and a Lambda shuttle in scale - everyone can 3D-print or order online nowadays:

Next it was on to painting. I gave all sub-builds of the Star Destroyer a basecoat of USAF grey and then sprayed several thin layers of an off-white on top to create a soft gradient of shadowed recesses and very light surfaces and highlights. I then lightly drybrushed all raised details with a very bright clean white, and then brushpainted a thin layer of off-white on all edges and upturned detail-surfaces to make them pop subtly.

The panel lines were drawn with a very sharp hard pencil. I also brushpainted subtle variations in brightness across panels with a thin layer of white. Here are several images of the painting process:

When everything was painted, sealed with matt varnish and checked to fit properly, it was time to drill hundreds of teeny-tiny holes and install fiberoptics and LEDs for the lighting, which I'm currently still in the process of doing after a break from the kit for several weeks:

So... work is progressing well, and I plan on finishing this model in the next few weeks. So far, it was the most complex and involving build I've done so far, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Very cool indeed.

I'm building one as well, but keeping the level of detail more on the hangar bays. But I'm also adding fiber optic lighting.

12 hours ago, Noosart said:

I'm building one as well, but keeping the level of detail more on the hangar bays. But I'm also adding fiber optic lighting.

Oh yeah - I took a look at it, good work!

I'll continue with the lighting today - holes are all drilled, I have to continue putting in the fiberoptics, which is tedious, but the result is definitely worth the effort.

Here's an image of the full completed upper half of the model:

The fiberoptics for the superstructure including the bridge section are finished. In total we are talking about over 300 fiberoptics for these sections alone.

I'm on vacation, which is cool, but now my fingers are itching to continue on mine. Great job so far

Here are some detail shots of the finished and lit-up superstructure:

Yeah it looks really great. From the pictures it looks like you also used the lighting kit from Green Strawberry. But on the other hand, the fiber optics look ticker than mine. (0.25mm) What did you use?

And I'm very interested in where you have got all the reference materials. I mostly used scenes from my SW DVD and BlueRay collection, but it's hard to make out all the details.

3 hours ago, Noosart said:

Yeah it looks really great. From the pictures it looks like you also used the lighting kit from Green Strawberry. But on the other hand, the fiber optics look ticker than mine. (0.25mm) What did you use?

And I'm very interested in where you have got all the reference materials. I mostly used scenes from my SW DVD and BlueRay collection, but it's hard to make out all the details.

I'm using 0.5mm fiberoptics - I just found them to look better than the 0.25mm and also easier to drill holes in a neat line with a 0.5mm drill than with a 0.25mm drill. The smaller the holes, the more crooked lines will look if you do not perfectly align them.

Initially I planned on using the Greenstrawberry Kit, but without adding to it you will have a hard time lighting up the inside of the main hangar, for example. It basically provides you with lighting for the engines and the pin lights across the hull. I'm using warm-white back lighting combined with fiberoptics for all pin lights in combination, which gives a whole lot more options. More on that in detail in a few days.

As for reference material, here you go (loads of high resolution, great quality images of the original studio model, shot when it was on exhibition):

https://modelermagic.com/star-wars-identities-display-in-france-star-destroyer-avenger-photographed-by-jean-marc-deschamps-olivier-cabourdin/

Here are a few more images:

https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/star-destroyer-model-from-star-wars-identities-sydney-2019.300853/

It is finished! The 'DOMINATOR', a new Imperator II-Class Star Destroyer, is now operational. It runs on 5 Volt.

Here are the first images of the finished model - with custom-converted superstructure for accurate proportions, loads of custom-built details for accuracy, meticulously painted, and lighting installed:

An absolute stunning job. I really like the extras that you have put in. And lighting also looks good. I hope I'm not overdoing mine, let's see 🤞

Will you also be 'playing' this model, or is it for display only?

20 minutes ago, Noosart said:

Will you also be 'playing' this model, or is it for display only?

It's mainly for display, but I'm sure it will find it's way onto or next to a gaming table now and then.

Awesome.. Sheer awesome...