Batman Batwing (1989)

Great big parts! 

I just thought this one looked funny. 

Dropped Micro Kristal Klear mixed with transparent colors into holes drilled into cockpit 

This cleared up as it dried. 

There is not a ton of room in the wings, so I needed to use my rotary tool to make room for LED and wires. Unfortunately, I was not careful enough and put a couple of holes in my wings. Be gentle! 

Here I drilled a hole for the LED and then secured with hot glue, which is non-conducting 

It works! 

Such a joy working on this huge canopy after spending most of my time on 1/72 scale models 

I always thought that the balloon cable-grabbing claw was hilarious. Only Batman would think to add this accessory to his aircraft. Well played. 

The most detailed missiles in the world, they are not. 

Primed in gray to give the red a lighter surface. 

Red tips painted; now just need to paint the rest with steel color 

LED prototype on the breadboard 

Wingtip light soldering; note that the LED had to be ground down to fit in the recess in the wingtip. 

Lots of room for a small wiring board hot-glued to back of cockpit 

This was a big moment during assembly. This thing is huge! 

Tamiya XF-1 serves as both primer and color coat. 

I traced and cut out little cards to do panel shading. 

This was the first time I'd tried this, and it is super fun and rewarding when you see the dimension it adds. 

Quick side topic: Painting the stand; initial black coat 

Then, I realized I was going to have to paint yellow on this thing, so I switched to white 

Yellow goes on nicely over the white primer 

Frog tape to mask for the black bat 

Heaps of Tamiya X-1 

Peeled off mask and sprayed the whole thing with glossy acrylic coat 

Micro Gloss coat; on top is a bunch of dry brushing of Vallejo oily steel on raised surfaces and leading edges 

Vallejo matt varnish brings out the oily steel weathering 

Hey, this looks great. BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO MY WIRES?! Oh, dear. I sheared them off with the sharp edge of the metal rod. Time for major surgery. 

Not only did I shear off wires with my ham-handed handling of the display rod, but I also severed two more with my not-so-delicate use of the rotary tool to open up an access panel to get at the wiring. Took an hour with tweezers and soldering iron to fix 

When you cut holes in your bird with a rotary tool cutoff wheel, you need to fill the gap 

Water works very well to shape Milliput 

After some sanding... 

...and taping... it works! 

The not-so-perfect result 

A new coat of black, paneling, and oily steel weathering