Hello fellow steemians!
Recently I managed to get my hands on this great little resin model of the APC from the Aliens movie. To say I have been wanting this kit for a long time is certainly an understatement! I remember drawing this vehicle as a kid, I was totally amazed by it.
Anyway. :-)
This is a fairly well made model kit for a limited run cottage kit. The builder has taken a lot of time to remove the mold pour tabs as well as inspect the whole of the kit for bubbles. He even went to the extent of spraying the model with a surface primer to make any imperfections easier to see. Very impressive. In the photo above you can see the grey of the primer and the white of the resin, I had a decent scratch on top so sanded the surface back to remove it. You can also see I started adding detail in the form of hand holds to the top of the vehicle as well as the side door.
Above is the close up where you can see the little parts I have added made from some silver wire I had handy.
Thanks to all the prep work done by the maker the process of setting this kit up is very easy. There are only really minor things that need attention. Above you can see I drilled out the barrels on the guns for the apc. This is not screen accurate however it looks a lot better on this little model. Or at least I think so lol.
I start painting the model the olive drab like it has in the movie and two things happen.
- I notice I didn't sand back the roof properly and I will have to repair it.
- I have just made this little model look incredibly boring.
This just looks "Blah". I know it is very early on in the process but I want something a little more interesting, after all, I have been waiting decades to build this little guy.
Right, what to do now? After some consultation with the minister of war and finance "The wife", we decide it needs a little scene to bring it too life.
I start plotting out how to make the door on a piece of plastic card.
If you have seen the film you will never forget the scene where Ripley rams the APC through the doors of the building. With that in mind I need to scratch build one. This was fairly easy to do. I made the doors out of plastic card and evergreen strip. I add detail using spare parts of other models such as tanks, ships, etc. I use the scene from the movie as a reference, but I am not aiming for a screen accurate build, just something that will capture the essence of the scene.
Above you can see the look I am gong for. I will display the final product as you see it here, "Mostly". HAHA! anyway...
I have also started work on fixing the damage I did to the roof lol.
Above are all the parts for the door, I have painted them in a primer then I used Tamiya Nato Black to start the preshading work. You will see why in the next update :-) Here is the picture frame I am using as a base, painted black looks much better I think. The paint in this photo is still drying :-)
Next update will be very soon.
Thank you everyone for stopping by. I hope you like the model so far. If you have any questions please let me know.
As always as MASSIVE thank you to all my supporters. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see votes, comments and re-steems. Thank you ALL.