X-Wing with LED engine lights – Part 1
While I am waiting for my next soldering session on the USS Enterprise build that I am currently working on, I found an unfinished 1:122 scale Star Wars X-wing model that my daughter had started painting white but never finished.
I found a very interesting video on youtube by a great guy in the UK (love his accent) that shows in very intricate detail how to install 3mm LEDs in the engines. I had a blast watching his videos and was immediately intrigued by the idea and I think this will be a great, although fiddly project : )
Painting
So as usual I started off by airbrushing the model in white. I had not used my airbrush for weeks and it is always a pain to get it working again (get rid of air bubbles coming out the top, getting the spray right). I don’t know if it is the cheap airbrush or if it’s me – one of these days I will have to take care of this issue – but not now.
Looking at the Smoo’s Workshop video I decided on the following general approach:
- Paint everything white
- Mask and paint all the details before assembly
- Get everything ready for the LED installation
- Install the Leds
- Build the base
- Weather / wash the model while still unassembled
- Finishing touches after assembly
Painting the details
Masking everything off took quite some time as I had originally planned to airbrush the details. However I then decided to do the details with a tiny brush. This went a lot quicker than having to use an airbrush where you always have to clean the whole thing between colors etc. which – at least for me – is a pain.
Most of these parts are really small. I might have to get a new set of glasses if I keep working on stuff as fiddly as this : )
As I am missing some of the tools that I need to modify the parts so that the LEDs will fit, I’m signing off here but “I’ll be back” ; )
