DONE +++ 1:50 Star Wars 'TIE/E' Escort Fighter (pics @ p.7)

sykotik · July 18, 2017, 01:35:49 AM

Best use of a garden hose connector beyond it's intended design I've seen in a long time. Great kit bashing!
The body's basic design is quite distinctly Jedi by way of association, so I'm keen to see how you'll shift that aspect away to being more TIE/Imperial looking.

RAFF-35 · July 18, 2017, 09:25:53 AM

Loving your work, as previously said, great kit bashing/scratch building

Dizzyfugu · July 18, 2017, 11:46:38 PM

Thank you. This thing evolves gradually - the original plan of simply adding a third collector panel to a TIE Interceptor is long gone, and now imorivisation rules. Yesterday I started work on the panel pylons, and it's actually looking pretty good - even though I will have to buy some more styrene profiles for detail work. The cockpit also made progress, I finished the carving sessions and added triangular tiles (cut from 0.5mm styrene sheet) on the walls - a detail I found in CG simulations and screenshots of various TIE fighters. Partly decoration, but apparently also screens?

Anyway, this fictional TIE/E will be much more massive than the standard fighters one is used to! It's really what an Y-Wing fighter is compared to an A-Wing!

tahsin · July 19, 2017, 05:27:25 AM

Have you thought about adding some Macross style rocket pods and the like? Even "drop tanks" could be interesting, even when they are most likely to be barrels of some sort.

Dizzyfugu · July 19, 2017, 07:27:43 AM

No external ordnance planned (even though it will be listed as potential weaponry in the background info), and I'll fill the "cheeks" with guns. Lots of guns.

Dizzyfugu · July 20, 2017, 04:19:17 AM

More progress!

Since the whole thing will have no landing gear, a display is a necessity. It also has to be pretty strong, since the model consists of many massive elements. I will use a 3mm hardened steel wire, which perfectly fits into Evergreen's standard 3/16" styrene tubes, which comes into the fuselage:

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

More donor parts...

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

In the meantime, PSR on the hull wwent on:

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

...and after some measuring and cutting, the three resin pylons are ready for mounting (still only dry-fitted, stabilized with soft iron wire):

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

I also already dared to place one of the solar panels on a pylon - it might yield an impression how large/voluminous the TIE/E might end up when complete:

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Another experiment: the "windshield" in place:

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Next step will probably the cockpit, with more details, painting and the crew. I want to close the hull before I start PSR and detail work all around the hull, and I ordered some styrene profiles that will be used to pimp the surfaces.

Snowtrooper · July 20, 2017, 06:12:25 PM

It might be just me, but I'd prefer the radiator panes/solar collectors/handwave plates to be bent inwards instead of outwards. Even with such "wings", there would be plenty of other details to distinguish it from the TIE Interceptor.

Of course, my prejudice might be entirely because of the resemblance to TIE Defender and from the memories from around the time it appeared in the game TIE Fighter, when I sorta gave up hope on the old Expanded Universe, as it seemed to focus too strongly on the "superweapon of the week" (which would inevitably get destroyed by the Rebels/New Republic without any superweapons of their own and usually without much effort, using some trick up their sleeve to negate the super-ness). Doesn't prevent TIE Fighter still being one of the best computer games ever, though.

tahsin · July 21, 2017, 12:44:50 AM

Ah, I guess that's another guy who carries the Emperor's seal on the wrist...

Dizzyfugu · July 22, 2017, 10:42:51 AM

After a two day hiatus work resumed again. Took the potential 2nd crewman out of the oven cleaner bath, and it worked wonders. More than 90% of the old paint was/is gone, but maybe I am able organize a second TIE Fighter pilot, so that the crew team remains in scale and style.

Added some more details in the cockpit (side consoles, a steering column, some piping along the walls and a virsor on an arm for the pilot) and started modifying the solar panels for their reversed placemment on the pylons. Plan is to finish the rough basics before I start further PSR work and surface details. This can run in parallel with the work on the cockpit.

Finding a suitable color for the interior is not easy, either. Screenshots from the movies are hard to interpret, the light is gruesome, and most of the time some red flashlights dominate everything. Looks grey in most cases. To my confusion, the instructions call for an unspecified "Dark Green"? $:-\$
I cross-checked with people-who-should-know-better from a German SF modelling forum, but the replies were surprisingly unspecific. But with that input and after a safari through the paint bank I settled for Tamiya XF-65 (Field Grey), a rel. dark and dull slate grey tone - definitively greenish, but not as olive as RAF Dark Slate Grey. Sould also be light enough to offer some contrast to the crew (black uniforms planned) and interior details.

Pics and more to come soon.

PR19_Kit · July 22, 2017, 12:23:50 PM

You're confusing us with your new avatar Thomas.

I read this post and thought 'Why is this guy posting on Dizzy's thread?'

Dizzyfugu · July 23, 2017, 01:32:31 AM

But... it's still green?

Well, I thought that a realistic update was necessary after a couple of years. You don't get younger, you know...?

Besides, some visual update, as an addition to yesterday's post.

First, the 2nd crewman. Behold the "Power of Foamed Oven Cleaner"!

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Work in the cockpit section; note the triangular tiles as Imperial desighn element, and they hide well the soft putty underneath:

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some added details; not m,uch effort, since most of it will hardly be visible:

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

More interior design: Tamiya's XF-65 is a very ugly, but appropriate tone:

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The cockpit later received a grey and black ink wash, the seats became bright green, and yesterday evening things got so far that I could put the model on a dummy display and attach the solar panels: the first time in its full size and potential glory:

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems "TIE/E" Escort Fighter, on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'Vehement' during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

zenrat · July 23, 2017, 04:08:55 AM

Coming along nicely.

Differences in appearance (and even in size) between the two crew members can be explained by them being from different species. I'd be tempted to give at least one of them non-human coloured skin.

Dizzyfugu · July 23, 2017, 04:24:36 AM

That is/was a plan - but maybe I can get a "pure" clone crew together, working on this plan. After all, it's an Imperial ship and no multi-cultural rebel bucket - but I might end up with this plan B.

I wil also shorten the plyons a little before I glue them to the fuselage. Not much, but due to the inverted panels much of the pylons is exposed/visible, and I think they are (based on the TIE Interceptor parts) a tad too long? Hard to tell from the pic(s), it's more of a subjective impression.

ChernayaAkula · July 23, 2017, 05:17:47 PM

^ Yeah, shortening the pylons seems sensible.

How about a test with the panels in their "normal" stance? Just for a quick pic...

Hope the pilot follows his navigator's orders. Just so he won't get a swift kick to the back of the head.

The cockpit's "sideburns" are a nice touch.

Dizzyfugu · July 23, 2017, 11:53:18 PM

I never considered the "normal" solar panel position (canted inwards), because it would not work with the OOb angles of the TIE Interceptor panels. I also think that it would not look good (at least to me), like an egg hidden in a crumpled sausage end. The reversed panels look IMHO more dynamic, and the field of view for the crew is much better, too.