It’s been almost a year since I purchased this AMT-ERTL kit of the Star Wars Star Destroyer. I started by accurizing the kit with hundreds of styrene (credit card and other flat plastic parts) pieces. This is my second official Star Wars kit, the first one was a Fine Molds Tie Interceptor.

Now, after finishing a lot of Gundams, I’m back to the build/project. The goal is to detail the kit and ultimately to light it all up with fiber optics. So far, so good. Been wanting to try some techniques and more on this…. enjoying the entire process so far.

Let’s dive into the work in progress…

Star Destroyer Work In Progress (Part 3)

If you’ve missed Part 1 and Part 2, head on over there and then get back here.

Since this AMT-ERTL kit doesn’t have a lot of details, I cut hundreds of styrene by hand and glued them to the kit. I also kit-bashed some leftover Gundam parts and glued them to the bridge (see below). There were also seams and gaps that needed some putty work.

The 3 main engines (thrusters) at the back also lacked some detail. I got some PC IDE cables and glued them to the engines to add a touch of texture and style…

Once I was happy with adding all the detail, I sprayed the entire kit with ACE primer (canned spray)

Once the primer dried it’s time to apply the first base coat. For this, I chose blue. It’s Pylox (can) Cyford Blue. I hand-sprayed that to the entire kit. After that, I airbrushed Tamiya acrylic Flat Black into some major panel lines. This will make a subtle effect once I apply the second coat of gray over the kit.

Once that dried and cured, I again used can spray paint. This time the brand is Win, the color? basic Gray. You can find that in most DIY and hardware stores. Once that coat dried, it’s time to apply the wash. For non-modelers, the wash is a mixture of thinner and paint. Mixed to a consistency of almost watery, dirty thinner. For this procedure, I used Enamel based paints and thinner. It’s Tamiya Black enamel. I applied the wash mixture freely via a medium-sized brush. Let it dry for around 10 minutes. Then wipe off the excess with tissue paper and cotton slightly dampened in enamel thinner. Since I used different types of paints, it won’t affect the different coats underneath.

The details really pop out after the wash.

Then, I have to make hundreds of holes for the fiber optics. Since I was using really thin fiber optic cables, my pin vise (and Dremmel) were too thick. I used some big needles and a candle. Heat the needle and it will cut through the plastic like it were butter. I did that for the sides of the hull, the bottom hull and more holes for the bridge and the levels below the bridge. Whew! That was at least a couple of weeks work.

That’s it for this week’s update. I have more photos of the build at my Facebook Album. Better be my Fan to get automatic updates of the Work In Progress not just for the Star Destroyer but for all my modeling projects.

Next post… I show you how I do the lights and the fiber optics.

Till then!