Gunstar

Monsters in Motion
The Last Starfighter

Parts: Gunstar | cockpit parts

Stated scale:

1/48

Actual scale:

unverified

headlights fiber in place

 

Overall length:

Material(s):

resin

Number of parts:

33 gray resin
1 clear vacform canopy

Stand included?

yes

Decals included?

no

My Source:

Monsters in Motion

Cost (w/o s&h):

 

5/19/2014

Greetings, Starfighter!

I guess this has been fallow on the shelves for long enough. Plus, with the movie turning 30 this year, it seems an appropriate time to take this on. And a good excuse to watch the movie again.

I've been working on this for about a week and have decided to build this with lighting. Fortunately the resin is largely hollow-cast so that cuts down on the drilling, boring, grinding, and cutting needed to run wires and fiber. So far the lighting scheme includes...

Well, let's back up a go over the story so far.

cut and grind

After cleaning the parts with Formula 409 to remove mold release, the main start to construction was to open up the body, engine pods, and engines for wiring runs. I used my Dremel with a cutting wheel to open up the body and pods. I swapped between a drill bit and grinding wheel to open the engines and the engine attachment point.

 The engine aft cowlings are solid resin so for lighting I will have to drill and bore them out so I can put in a clear insert. After a prolonged parts box scrounge, I settled on making clear castings of 1/72 SR-71 afterburners.
casting diffusers The castings are 2ml in volume using a 24-hour epoxy - one of those craft clear-coats. The slow cure allows bubble-free castings. I've got time.
witing in body With the parts opened up I ran pairs of wires for all 4 engine mounting points. Another pair of wire runs out through a wiring port at the base of the lift.
You may notice a lot of grinding went on at those flanges on the side of the body. That is where the engine pod has to fit in and the space was too narrow. There was a 1/16" gap between the pod and body. I ground back those flanges until the pod would fit as closely as possible to the body.