Here’s the project I began this summer. This is the ’80s reboxing of Monogram’s Buck Rogers Starfighter model kit from ’79. For its age, the detail is pretty good! The only thing that sucks about it is the cockpit tub and a lack of a pilot figure. I’m going to light this kit.
I used Oyumaru plastic clay to make molds of the engine insert discs and I cast them in clear UV resin.
Here is a test by just holding a flashlight to the back end. Next I sprayed the inside of the engines with Modelkasten’s Shade Black light blocking paint.
I had a guy I know on the Macross modeling forum 3D print a decent cockpit tub. I used my rotary tool to dig a hole out for lighting.
This is just a clumsy mock-up, but I put a 3528 warm white SMD into the hole. I think when the time comes, I’ll cram some translucent white Oyumaru into the hole to create a light channel and diffuse the lights. As for the two side screens, I don’ t think this is gonna cut it. I’ll probably have to add some smaller SMDs to light those.
The module thingy on the front of the ship is not accurate. I cut it off and scraped it, then added a spare part from the old legacy Hasegawa F-15J model to represent how it’s supposed to look. Although looking at this up-close with a photograph, I see a lot of roughness that I cannot see with my 50 year old eyeballs. Looks like I will need to put my optivisors on and work on this some more.