I-7 Howlrunner WIP

[Ramsayman]

Well, finally I get to post a build on this thing! This is the Multi-Verse Models kit. Love the kit, and like I said in another thread, it is a master of design! Love the ship or hate it, the pattern and casting are the best I've seen! I only get a chance to build maybe once a week and not for very long, so updates will only be weekly, if that. The good news is I built last week and this week so I have pics for 2 week in a row - and it's going very fast, so it might only be one more Saturday to finish!

But on to the build:

Here's the parts:


I had a plan for this build before I even ordered one. Which is very rare. So the first thing I did (even before washing the parts) was apply some premask to the body so I could plot out where I wanted stripes:



Then I scanned them and drew them up in illustrator. More on this later....

I then moved on to paint. The top body parts and the wings are sprayed a metallic orange, while the rest was sprayed black:


Painted the interior. I wanted to get this to look like old upholstery. Ripped seat and all. At this scale, the ripped seat kind of looked like I just missed a spot painting. So I kind of yellowed the "ripped" spots. Sorry about the pics - My camera's not great at close ups. I want to use a good camera to get the finished shots, though.



Have to upload some more pics, then I will post today's work!

 

[Ramsayman]

Okay, just for fun I painted the inside edge of the window frame black to get the "rubber" that surrounds the glass. He He!


Last night I decided that this thing needed some kind of character decal on it to go with the stripes, so I looked up what a "Howlrunner" (the Star Wars creature that the ship is naamed after) looks like. Like this - or this. Ugly! So I figured I'd draw up a cartoon version that's a bit cuter:


I scanned him and colored him up then placed him in the stripe I drew up earlier with a couple different ideas:



I thought it might be cool to put something in Arubesh on the stripe, but I can't decide on a name right now. On it it says Alpha-Dog... well, actually, Aurek-Dog, what with the first letter of the Arubesh being Aurek and not A or Alpha. But I was thinking maybe Pack Leader, or something else. I don't know. Any suggestions?

 

[Ramsayman]

So I glued it together and realized that certain parts that were black should have been orange so I had to mask and repaint parts.


Sorry, no pictures of the bottom after the repaint....

Let's see, what else...
Aaah yes, cut and insert glass:



I was also very tempted to add one of these guys....


But decided not to.

So this here's pretty much where I'm at now:



More later!

 

[nicholassagan]

liking this so far!

 

[Quaralane]

While I'm not a huge fan of the design, your work is very good

 

[Go Flight]

Looking good. Will be watching.

 

[Ramsayman]

I have more pictures to add, but am having trouble unloading my camera! I need to get an SD Card reader.

 

[Jason Abbadon]

Loving it so far!
Really digging the custom decals- I do that for my builds too and think it's an aspect of modeling that needs more attention- nothing makes a lot more unique.

The only part I'm on the fence about is the cockpit glass. I've seen this built without it (inplying it's there but ultra-clear" and it looked great.
Maybe dip the canopy in Future?
(Could just be the one pic- it looks really clear in others)

As to names, how about "Wolfpack" or "Gundark"?

I personally like this design and always wanted to see someone build it as a precursor to the Buck Rogers Thunderfighter.
I bet it'd kick ass.

 

[Jason Abbadon]

Loving it so far!
Really digging the custom decals- I do that for my builds too and think it's an aspect of modeling that needs more attention- nothing makes a kit build more unique.

The only part I'm on the fence about is the cockpit glass. I've seen this built without it (inplying it's there but ultra-clear" and it looked great.
Maybe dip the canopy in Future?
(Could just be the one pic- it looks really clear in others)

As to names, how about "Wolfpack" or "Gundark"?

I personally like this design and always wanted to see someone build it as a precursor to the Buck Rogers Thunderfighter.
I bet it'd kick ass.

 

[Ramsayman]

Okay! I'm mostly done on this one. I've dirtied it up a bit and put a few dings here and there, but I wanted it to look old but well cared for, so maybe not as beat up as some might do it. Anyway - finally got pictures uploaded. All I need to build for it now is a stand. Dang it! Never thought of pre drilling the hole for the clear rod! Hope I don't wreck the paint underneath...

Here's the pilot:



...and inside:


Apply decals and paint some off color panels:


Here's the bottom:


And after applying a black/brown wash and dirtying it up:





Hmmmm.... just looking at the pictures - I think it would be fun to add a windshield wiper and put some dirt on the windows with a clean wipe spot! Well......

Oh, and the Arubesh writing on it says "Howler"

Anyway, that's all for now. On to a stand of some sort.

 

[Hagoth]

Very nice job on this. Love your custom decals.

 

[Ramsayman]

Re: I-7 Howlrunner WIP - Finished!

Finished! I'm calling it done. I used the stand that came with the kit, but cut the acrylic rod in half, and put the base on a "shadow" of the ship made out of styrene. Hope you like it!

 

[nicholassagan]

NICE!!!!!!

 

[Hagoth]

Very nice! Really like the custom details on this. 8)

 

[Quaralane]

Turned out really well. Nice work

 

[dano985]

I like it!!

 

[Jason Abbadon]

Beautiful job! Looks like it flew out of Mos Eisley.
Really has that SW beat-to-hell but still flying look to it.

Man, the richest man in the SW universe is whoever makes a droid that just washes and repaints fighters!
Demand is high.