1/48 AT-ST

[Quaralane]

Most imrpessive

 

[Jaitea]

Looking EPIC unreality!!

great mods & improvements

J

 

[JohnSimmons]

Excellent mate

 

[The Chaos]

Perfect

 

[cargoman5126]

Sweet detailing!! Very cool.. Now the guy has even more attitude!!LOL ;D

 

[Unreality]

Thanks guys. I'm in the process of priming the Snowtrooper (love Tamiya's white Primer for this).

What's left:
-- a little more detail on the gun
-- antenna on the side
-- spotlight on the roof
-- maybe a winch on the lower front (the pic shows what looks like coils of a tow cable, and the wookieepedia entry talks about some variants having a winch installed)
-- maybe some other doodads here and there

Any ideas for what I'm calling the "Command" AT-ST?

 

[nicholassagan]

So is this getting a winter treatment? Cuz I got a plan to do a winter recon unit to match if so...

 

[Unreality]

So is this getting a winter treatment? Cuz I got a plan to do a winter recon unit to match if so...

It will be getting a winter/cold looking treatment. I don't think I'll add snow, but I will add some streaks and make it look generally "cold". I did prime it yesterday...just waiting for some free time to start painting.

 

[Unreality]

May was a slow month...not much desire to sit and work. But I finally jumped back into the swing of things. There is a contest going, right? ;D


I added a flood light to the left side of the roof complete with a clear styrene lens. I added the winch and some details to the main hull piece. Finally, I used my Xacto knife to create some battle damage similar to what was seen in the picture. The goal was to make it look jagged and/or burned, so I chipped it with the blade by literally jabbing at the model from different angles trying my best to make it look natural.

I finally finished airbrushing the beast. Primarily I used Life Color Barley Grey for the base coat. I then used various other LC greys as highlights. I then took some whitish-grey to create some streaks down the side of the cabin. I'll be painting in some more modulation, but for now, the airbrushing is done.

I love being able to take the model apart to paint it, but watch out for this rear piece. The plastic is very thin around the mounting holes, so you may need to scrape/sand the pins down slightly. I had this piece split on me, but I'll turn it into battle damage.

 

[Quaralane]

Looks to be turning out very nicely

 

[JohnSimmons]

Great work mate

 

[nicholassagan]

Hot tootin' good sir. Getting amped to see your finish. Love the flood light and winch idea. I was thinking of maybe adding heating coils to my foot pads since it'll be a Hoth scout/recon unit... They probably didn't have winches on Hoth cuz there's nothing to winch to

 

[unttld]

Damn fine.

 

[Unreality]

Thanks guys.

Heating coils would be an interesting idea Nick. Maybe replace the fold-out windows for some clear styrene to make an insulated cabin. You know, with some creativity, you could probably hide a small battery pack in the back of the cabin should you desire to light it up.

 

[nicholassagan]

I was thinking lit up too but maybe this first build will be plastic only in the interest of time. I decided to start a U-Boat, too, now that the MC80 is done. Installed the pits on the Flanker too so hopefully everything will move along quickly. Still hoping daughter can wait til her due date though.....

 

[Unreality]

I was thinking lit up too but maybe this first build will be plastic only in the interest of time. I decided to start a U-Boat, too, now that the MC80 is done. Installed the pits on the Flanker too so hopefully everything will move along quickly. Still hoping daughter can wait til her due date though.....

Well, I don't know if the following picture will help or not. Image quality is so-so (stock lens in low-light and high depth of field is hard). All it is a simple red LED pointed at the back of the cabin.

By the way, I wanted to say congratulations on the upcoming baby: a daughter and a new Star Wars movie in the same year...you must be in heaven.

 

[nicholassagan]

Ha thanks man. I'll bet I could squeeze in a red LED in the pit. I was also thinking spot light and maybe heat lamps

 

[Unreality]

Thanks guys.

Today is a heads up for anyone building this kit. Several people have commented about enamel products attacking the model. Flory Models did a recent video on this effect. However, I applied some Mig AMMO washes (both to the outside and the inner cockpit without clear coating first), and did NOT encounter these effects on the model. Keep in mind that all of the vinyl-plastic parts were replaced except the hoses.

So to test the effects of mineral/white spirits, I applied some AK thinner to the vinyl-plastic sprue of the blaster bolts. The white spirits attacked it and caused it to craze and dissolve in places. You can barely make out the part number "19" and it ate a hole in the corner. Yet, odorless mineral spirits seemed to have no effect on the plastic. I placed several drops on the underside of the hard plastic base, neither thinner affected it. Again, I had no problems applying an enamel wash to the model, but I may have gotten lucky.

 

[nicholassagan]

Wow good to know. I have some MiG washes I'm going to use but I always seal with Future before that stuff...

 

[Unreality]

OK, I spoke too soon. I noticed 2 of the inner leg joints had cracked today. Nothing fell off, but the plastic doesn't seem to like enamel washes. I'll grab a photo later.