Author Topic: Revell Republic Attack Shuttle (Read 7698 times)

Bawoo · June 03, 2011, 03:32:36 PM

Hi folks. It's been forever since I posted anything here! I thought I'd post up some in progress pictures of my current project, the Revell Republic Attack Shuttle from The Clone Wars. I dig this design a lot, being a huge Star Wars fan and lover of the timeless Tydirium from Jedi.

The kit is a great starting point, but sports a pretty severe lack of detail. I bought it on a whim at the local hobby shop, intending to slap it together, but of course got sucked into detailing it. So greebles galore and a lot of scribing! Almost no kit-bash greebling here, the scale is too small and I didn't have any good stuff around. Pretty much is fabricated from sheet or rod styrene, with some brass rods for good measure. Had fun on the cockpit especially! (anyone know where to find 1/87 scale Stormtroopers?)

The kit is pre-painted with some really durable stuff, so I did a lot of sanding to remove paint. I eventually ended up stripping it completely as the Tamiya paints I primed with crazed the paint underneath. Paint you see here is factory applied.

Cockpit

Nose section underside

Guns rebuilt from brass (or copper?) tubing

Bawoo · June 03, 2011, 03:39:44 PM

Some more pics :)

Hull top details

Hull bottom details

The fun part! Details in mechanical/engine areas

Lots of detail on the wings, the leading edges were glaringly naked before

Not having an mesh/screen suitable for this vent detail, I went with the classic Bondo Squish (tm) :)

FichtenFoo · June 03, 2011, 05:02:19 PM

Looking good Pete! Nice squish! Watching for more.

Tinman · June 03, 2011, 07:16:45 PM

Nice, your detailing makes the model pop!

Grail · June 03, 2011, 07:58:45 PM

Wow this is awesome! Sick build! It's SW mania in this place!

I totally get what you mean. I can't resist the gak/greebles when the kits are lacking. It's almost like I really can't just not customize it. What scale is this? Scale ref?
This is really cool. Can't wait to see the rest.
Killer work.

Sharkdog · June 04, 2011, 03:14:40 AM

I'd like to inquire about the bondo squish.

From what I can read on google, it's usually used to smoothen out certain parts? Did you build the vent beforehand and then squished the raised part into the vent to get the ridges, if so, what was in the vents before?

Marc · June 04, 2011, 03:47:24 AM

Love the details you added. They fit the kit perfectly!

mvm3897 · June 04, 2011, 09:06:49 AM

Man looking sharp. The added details look fantastic.

Bawoo · June 04, 2011, 11:59:22 AM

Thanks for the comments folks! I'm enjoying this one a lot. Got the base colors on and started final assembly, I'll try to post up some pics today or tomorrow.

The model is 1/120ish, about 8" long. But there's a lot of surface area, so it doesn't seem "small" once put together. As always I wish it was bigger.

Bondo squish is pretty easy...I really should finish up my new website so people can see how I've used it before. Basically if you need to make a recessed area that's difficult to build, make a negative of it and squish it into Bondo polyester putty, then remove once it hardens. In this case it's just lines scribed into plastic sheet. Cut an opening larger than the piece, so you'll end up with enough Bondo after squish for some durability. Coat the part with mold release (vaseline, spray release, chapstick, etc), fill the recess with Bondo, and squish it in, then remove when the Bondo hardens but is still a little soft. I got some bubbles this time, but they can be wear and tear. The vent before was just a simple recessed square with no detail and a big honkin' seam right down the middle.

I figured there should be some kind of grill in there, as it echos the Imperial Shuttle design.

More pics soon...

Sharkdog · June 05, 2011, 04:20:07 AM

That doesn't sound too hard to do, and the effect is definitely pretty cool.

Did you use just regular ol' polyester filler (bondo) or some kind of modeling putty?

Bawoo · June 05, 2011, 07:08:38 PM

Just regular Bondo, it works great and it's cheap. I think they make a finer grained "pro" putty, but I haven't tried it (I'm cheap, what can I say?)

Gavros · June 06, 2011, 03:41:20 AM

Love the shape of that cockpit, looking forward to seeing progress. Awesome work on the extra details!

Bawoo · June 06, 2011, 10:57:41 AM

Here are some pics after the basecoats. Sorry for the poor color in the photography, I need to get some better lighting! The base color is Testors acrylic Camouflage Grey. The red is a custom mix, red mixed with some dark blue, camo grey, black, and a little yellow I think. The yellow is yellow with a little camo grey and a drop of black. The main color is a bit lighter than I'd like, but weathering should darken it up. These pictures aren't very accurate color wise, but you get the idea.

Oh, and I was wrong about the scale, it's apparently about 1/120.

clee-cm · June 06, 2011, 11:43:02 AM

Great job on the kit, I like the way you improved the look of a otherwise bland Revel kit. I like all of the kit bashing work that you have done so far to improve the look of the kit, especially the Browning .30 Cal. machine guns you used to detail the engines.

Keep up the great work!!!