Tie Advanced X-1 1
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I agree with Konrad. This is well done, especially since the fit is "challenging." I have owned 3 of these kits, one completed over 20 years ago, and I remember having fun building it. I see you did a rather nice job with the putty work and the minor detailing on a monochromatic ship. I would have liked to see some panel line wash, but that's just a personal aesthetic choice. A+
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Thanks for the comments. I have two more of these in the stash. This was one of my early returns to the hobby, I have since completed a pair of Ties on which I used a Hobbycraft matt sealer, which gives a nice semi satin sheen to the finish that picks out highlights and shadows in natural lighting and gives a very realistic look. I thought about panel lining, but many many watches of the trench run informed me that Imperial equipment is spotlessly clean at all times, not even a hint of carbon blemishes to be seen, Lord Vader's personal fighter would be even more so.
For the two others, I am going to do one lit, which is a MIB kit from the late flight display ruin, and the other has been started poorly, I'm going to do a conversion based around something from the Extended universe art works.
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Great points. Why would Vader fly a shabby ship?! One last point: I've done a small amount of research, and getting the color correct on this Vader's Tie Advanced is difficult; it seems to be a blue/grey which a lot of people have a hard time nailing down. This is what has delayed my progress on this kit, as well.
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Ah, the old Blue-Grey debate. The cinematic models were indeed a bluish shade of grey, and for some unknown reason was noticably bluer on screen for the Tie bombers in Empire (and the SSD Executor). However, this is a colour choice to work with the movie lighting of the time, which was deliberately bluish to counter the colour reproduction of cinematic film of the day. Had they used a grey matching the intended on-screen colour, they would have ended with a washed out near white glare under the lights, hence the blueish grey on the filming models.
I have used an automotive primer grey (U-pol) which is a pretty good match for the on-screen colour of the Ties. While the ISDs and the Death star were the same colour grey, the ISDs need to be a slightly lighter shade to give an impression of scale, the Death star oddly needs a darker shade in scale to reflect it's dark shadowy portrayal. When the Grey is coated with Hobby Craft Matte sealer, the grey shade darkens to an almost perfect reproduction. I intend to mask and seal the Tie X-1 at some point to match this.
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OOB MPCTie Advanced X-1 Hangar Queen.
This is depicted as it would have been delivered direct from Sienar Fleet Systems' R&D facilities. Vader's peronal fighter would naturally be maintained to the highest spotless standards.
The Kit I had as a Kid in the 70's is long gone, but I stilll have the vader Figure. This kit bought on ebay was a late 80's run of the original moulds. Not much flash, which was nice, but a fair bit of size difference between various halves.
The wings were quite twisted, either from new, or from sitting on someone's shelf for 30 years is unknown. quite a lot of warming and manual manipulation, allowing the plastic time to rest for a day or two between sessions, got the wings dead straight and matching in angle.
Sadly, the stand is quite on the wimpy side and will sag until some of the kit's weight rests on something. for a while a cigarette lighter supported the back corner to keep the ship level on the stand, then I was able to prop it up by backing up to the mirrored back panel of