Star Wars Royal Yacht

 Yet another oldie but goodie from Fantastic Plastic' retired line. This is the 1:288 scale Naboo Royal Yacht. It was seen in Ep. 2, when Padme and Anakin went to Tatooine to find Anakin's mother. They then used it to get to Geonosis for the failed attempt to rescue Obi Wan. 

I picked this one out as I wanted to give the Rust-oleum Chrome paint another go... Only a few parts on this one so it was a super quick build.  Once again from sitting in the box for a decade one of the side fins and the ship's top fin had a little warp in it. But what was weird was that as soo as I put each part in the super hot water it straightened out on it's own! 

 Once again FP gives you the option for either gear up or down. As I did the last one up, I decided that since this one is a small light model, that I would give gear down a try.  With that, the parts that gave me pause was that both sides of each gear bay door was together. So careful cutting was needed to separate then evenly. A score mark made it rather easy. 

Next was to put on the fiddly rear ramp. I just super glued it to the rear opening and then let it droop to the table. This was the easiest way to make sure it touched the ground. A little side to side straightening, and it was attached. 

This time I just gave the crafty a spray of the Rust-oleum, and the shine was very good. I think I will pick up some on the metal polish to see what that does to the paint. I primed the base and gave it a shot of V's Engine Exhaust metallic paint. 

Next was some paint paint for the windows, and I also added some black in the back of the craft so it gave the illusion that there was something more once up the ramp. Thanks for looking. 

 

 

Star Wars Vector Wing Fighter

Diving back into my stash, I came out with another Fantastic Plastic oldie but goodie. Due to a C&D, all of FP's Star Wars kits are currently retired. The kit is their their Vector Wing fighter in 1:72 scale. It came in 26 parts of white resin, and one clear resin canopy.

It went together with little effort. I had the brainstorm to use the box as a holder for the parts. ;)

The only thing is that it's a bit easier to paint some parts before assembling the craft. 

 The cockpit area was a little plain, but then again it's so small, that when the canopy goes on little will be seen. But I did add some detail to the instrument panel. 

 

 

It was at this point that I had my oops. The seat had a little pedestal on it. Was that supposed to be there? was it part of the pour stub that had to be sanded off. I left it there and the pilot looks to be seated correctly in the cockpit ... UNTIL I tried to put the canopy on. 

The pilot was well super-glued in so he wasn't coming out, so the only thing left was to add height to the canopy. So I added some styrene to to bottom. I also added it to the back but ended up sanding that all off as I made things fit. 

I think it was either a 1/2 mm or 1 mm styrene. That was enuff to clear the pilots head. I was done. Thanks for looking. 

Tried to image the pilot but got a nice shot of a little weathering on the ship.