Colonial Raptor (Desert Paint Scheme)

[Rhaven Blaack]

Greetings to all and to all, HELLO!

It is time for another build thread! This time, it is the Colonial Raptor (Desert Paint Scheme). This model was designed by our very own @Revell-Fan.

This model can be found in both here the RESOURCE SECTION and at https://stevespaper.com/

I would say that this is a rebuild of the Raptor. However, even though, I have built the MedEvac Raptor (twice), I have not built any of the other versions (paint schemes). So, (essentially) I am building a whole new Raptor.

So, starting with the cabin section.



Here are the door panels.


The door panels are attached.


Here is the top part of the nose.


The top part of the nose is attached. I have also raised all of the body panels as well.


I raised the panels on the nose as well as augmented the "rescue" knob.


Here is front windscreen canopy.


The front windscreen canopy is attached.


I raised the frame work around the canopy


Please stay tuned to your local Colonial Broadcast Network for further updates as they come in.

 

[Dagger]

Great! Your construction will be of great help when I have time to build mine. I have it printed waiting a long time ago

 

[Revell-Fan]

HOLY! You are knocking them all out of the park! Great start! Please do me a favour and check the measurements of the finished model and how they compare to the Moebius.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Thank you both for the warm and kind words of encouragement.

HOLY! You are knocking them all out of the park! Great start! Please do me a favour and check the measurements of the finished model and how they compare to the Moebius.

Even though, I am have not built the Moebius model (yet), I will send you measurements and comparisons between the two.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Here is a small update. I started with the upper part of the wings.

I decided to recess the steps for the wings.


As you can see, I raised the boarder around the steps and raised the regular panels and skid pads on the wings.


Here is another view to show the panels.


The wings are attached.


Please stay tuned to your local Colonial Broadcast Network for further updates as they come in.

 

[zathros]

All those panels greebled up, would really make this model stand out. The steps sure did.

 

[micahrogers]

Doing a bang up job on this one too.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Thank you! This is a model that screams for the need of greebles. So, for someone who really wants to have fun with greebling, this is the perfect model for that.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Continuing on with the underside of the hull. Here are front armoured sections of the "wings".


I raised the armour plates and the little rectangle parts that are under the plates.


Here are the leading edge parts with the mini reaction control thrusters.

The leading edge parts are framed out and the reaction control thruster panels are raised.


The leading edge parts are attached to the body.



Here is the back plate


I decided to recess these dark brown triangles.


The back plate is attached.


Here are the internal formers. I laminated them to about 1 cm thick.


The internal formers are installed.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

More underside work! I am now working forward to seal up the bottom.

These are the outer edge pieces of the underside


The outer edge pieces are are attached.


Here is the bottom plate.


The bottom plate is attached.


I have raised the armour plates and the underside details.


Here are close-up shots of the details.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Now for the landing gear system.

Starting with the front landing pod.


I strengthened the walls with cardboard.


I recessed the area for the pad.


@Revell-Fan recommended that some sort of weight needs to be placed in the pod. So, I decided to stuff "fun-tak" inside. I figured since the walls were re-enforced with cardboard, I could easily fill the entire cavity with the putty and it did give it quite a bit of weight to the pod.


I sealed the top and raised the front piece of the pod.


I laminated the pad to about 5 mm and lined the sides with regular paper.


The pad is placed inside the recessed area of the pod.


The front landing gear pod is attached.


Here are the parts for the rear landing gear system.


The parts are assembled.


The rear landing gear is attached.


Please stay tuned to your local Colonial Broadcast Network for further updates as they come in.

 

[zathros]

I really like this model but the Glass section front does it a dishonor. You may get away with a glass effect buy making a second glass piece, cutting it out, and stretching "Cling Wrap" over it, to give it a sheen. You could probably glues it over the existing cardboard glass, or cut it out of the model when it's finiished, and leave a glue tab on the model's periphery to glue the faux glass piece in. It's coming out great!!

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

I really like this model but the Glass section front does it a dishonor. You may get away with a glass effect buy making a second glass piece, cutting it out, and stretching "Cling Wrap" over it, to give it a sheen. You could probably glues it over the existing cardboard glass, or cut it out of the model when it's finiished, and leave a glue tab on the model's periphery to glue the faux glass piece in. It's coming out great!!

I have thought about getting some gloss black paint and going over it later.
Then again I have never really liked the "doomed" windscreen. It really makes no sense to have it that way. It should have been flat.
I have the moebius plastic kit that I will eventually build. It has a full cockpit interior that I am going to use as guide to design a cockpit interior as an add-on kit for this one.

 

[zathros]

If you coat that Moebius glass with Vaseline, and stick in in bos of Plaster of Paris, you could easily pull it out without damaging it, after it dries, and use it to make a reverse plug, the same way, you coat the imprint with Vaseline, pour in Plaster of Paris, Put a stick with a nail across it, so you can pull it out, and you could pull a plastic softened sheet of plastic over the plug. You could do the same thing with 2 part Epoxy, making sure you have a thick smooth layer of Vaseline (as a release agent) to protect the original glass, them make a plug, again using Vaseline, this method gives you a much stronger plug. .

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

I have seen this process done before. It does work beautifully (if done right). Once I get a few other projects out of the way, I may give it a go and see what I come up with. If it works (for me), I will see about making a pictorial tutorial or video tutorial to show exactly how it works.

 

[Revell-Fan]

This is looking great! I'm glad you put the weight into the nose. The plane is pretty tail heavy. Please remember to check the dimensions of both models (the paper and the plastic one) before you use the Moebius as a template. Maybe the paper one must be enlarged a bit. The dimensions I found when I unfolded the model did not say if the overall length included the front antenna. I chose to scale the plane from the tip of the antenna to the back end.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Thank you very much! I am thinking that there should be a "weight box" in the nose of the body to help with counterbalance.
Even though, this model is going to another person (as a Christmas gift), I will check out the dimensions and compare the two to see how close they are.

 

[Gandolf50]

The bubble screen, you really need to use a combo of the reverse plug, plus a homemade vac-u-form. I made mine out of a few scraps of plywood a couple pin hinges and hooked to a small wet/dry vac.... use a toaster oven to heat up sections of vacuum packaging set in a frame, and just press down hard by hand when forming... plug can be just plaster as you only need 1 or 2 < just in case...

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

The bubble screen, you really need to use a combo of the reverse plug, plus a homemade vac-u-form. I made mine out of a few scraps of plywood a couple pin hinges and hooked to a small wet/dry vac.... use a toaster oven to heat up sections of vacuum packaging set in a frame, and just press down hard by hand when forming... plug can be just plaster as you only need 1 or 2 < just in case...

I have seen this technique done before. I may give it a go as well. It will be useful for other domed (or bubbled) canopies for other projects.
Thank you for sharing this!

 

[zathros]

It would be easier to make the section out of cardboard, reenforce the back side, and heat some sheet plastic, and pull it over the plug, and trim. Very fast, and looks great.