Ok... so I got a plan.  Now that my floors are all painted and grunged properly, I need to think about how I'm going to put the lights under them.  The first task is to paint the areas under the floors white.  Why white?  I could paint them silver but they wouldn't quite look right and would generate alot of hot spots.  White on the otherhand would disperse the light more evenly with less hot spots and would be more visually appealing.  So I masked off my corridor tubes and started painting.





With that done I had to see just how good the light gets dispersed.  So I tossed a couple of white LEDs on the floor, put the floors over them and VIOLA... I think we've got a winner here.





Of course I won't be using just regular LEDs here... I'm waiting for my LED strips to come in.  So... while I wait for them, I decided it's time to paint these cushion rings to match the rest of my interior.  Of course I'm talking about using the Buffing Metalizer Gun Metal... love this stuff.  Spray it on, wait for it to dry, buff it to a shine and it looks like metal... used it on the floors too with a little bit of weathering powders to dirty them up a bit if you were wondering!



Well that's it for now troopers... more to come... I assure you! :)

I love aluminum tape! That stuff is awesome and 10x stickier then duct tape!

Those etch parts do look spot on so a very good choice for your build which is looking really good

Well weekend is over and even thou I didn't get the panels on, I did complete the top frame!  Yes it's all held together with screws but boy is it solid! That's issues 48 thru 72 on my work bench... yeah it's pretty messy!




There's still quite a bit of parts painting and assembling I have to do yet.  First I ended up getting the SW 3D Printed Nav Computer.  I'll be putting fibers in it soon!




Next I did some work on my seating area... still have more work to do on it (painted areas, fiber optics) but mainly wanted to make sure my seats looked realistic enough.  I used Flat Tan with some Mud pastels to make them look "well used".  Also going to be putting some fibers in my Dajarikk table and up in my upper bunk.  Am going to remove the light above the seats to use my Light Pipe.  Last pic they are just mocked up, not glued together yet.  Starting to look good.  Will work on the lighting and see what I can come up with for these.





Yeah I know... not perfect, but will be! :) Lemme know what you think!

Yeah but you got to admit, the look of the printed parts just looks right over the provided ones. The provided bunk above the seats was driving my OCD over the edge. Thanks bro!

Looking good, some excellent work there. Looks like your going to be busy putting the hull prices onto the frame.

Looking good loving the extra details.

Looks really good, I have been thinking about what to do with that room, nice to see it painted up. Just bought your gunner turret hallway.
I am also scratch building the inside of the gun turret as we have been advised not to screw down the turret as it's easier to lift off the hull pieces, so I thought if it's not fixed I'll build the inside workings of the turret.

I saw someone on here do that! That's insane but I love it! :)

And so the painting has begun!  I split the painting into two parts.  The back half I started painting the panels.  The front half I started experimenting with some weathering.  I tried several different methods and if I wasn't happy with the way it came out I would wipe it off and start again.  I finally settled on a Water Color wash of sorts.  

Basically just black water color thinned down to water consistency.  Brushed over the surface and allowed to dry for a short time (enough to let it seep into all the nooks and crannies) then wipe it off with a paper towel.  I used Tamiya Weathering Pastels to makes the oils streaks along the bottom.  I think the effect came out looking pretty good.  What do you think?





Now, on the back half, I decided to do the "hairspray" method for the panels.  I masked each panel off and began by painting each with a coat of hairspray.  The kind I used doesn't matter, its just the bargian bin pump bottle, not the aerosol.  Reason why is that you can unscrew the pump top off and pour the hairspray into your airbrush and use it like paint.  I let it dry completely overnight then started painting each panel the proper color.  I'm using the DOA Falcon Acrylic Paints... great paint set!




Now I let the panels dry completely overnight.  When the paints had cured, I went over each one with a water wet Q-tip and wiped it over each panel.  I let that set for a few moments and then I took a toothpick and gently scratched the edges of the paint off.  Some places were a bit more "weathered" then I liked, so I just touched them up with the same paint and started over.  You can't use a paint brush with this method.  You should only use a airbrush.  Using a paintbrush will cause the hairspray to soften and will gum up the paint and look horrible then you have to start over from scratch (trust me, I KNOW! LOL).  In any event, here's what the panels look like when done!










To be continued...