Hi guys!
I decided to document my build in order to motivate myself to actually complete one for the first time since I never did that before.
The model that will be presented here is an x-wing starfighter in a roughly 1:35 scale. I got the free files years ago from a website called PaperGrade by Zen, but sadly it is not online anymore. The model was designed by Mr. Tetsuji Morita. There are a lot of free models out there, but I was looking specifically for one with almost no textures, because I want to do the painting and weathering myself. Not sure yet how will that work on paper, but I am willing to try it out.
The model doesn't have many parts. There are actually 14 pages, but most of them are duplicated since an x-wing is kind of symmetrical and the parts are really big. Originally, the parts were grey, but I filled in the white color in GIMP, so I would preserve the color on my printer. Because of that, there are only outlines with panel lines on the parts. Also, please note, there are multiple "ghost" lines on the parts, which are luckily less visible and that is because my printer has a problem with "ghosting" prints. It is however still useful for only printing lines of the parts. Oh and also printing on "cardstock" since I used a 200 gsm paper, which so far I think it is the perfect one.
After the cutting and gluing part will be done, I will detail it with additional scratchbuilt parts (panels and other details) and give it a gray primer coating (from spray can). I don't have an airbrush yet, because I don't know if this hobby will stick (pun intended
). I will paint it with brushes, but I think it will turn out okay since I have developed a nice technique of applying several coats with diluted paints. Therefore it doesn't leave any brush strokes and look really clean. At least on other materials... I hope I won't destroy the model. Will test it out before that though. I intend to paint it with acrylics.
So, for the first step, I have cut out the pods (if that is how they are called) and glued them together. Oh and I almost forgot about the tools and techniques used. I score all of the folds since I hope the paint will cover the scores and it will look really nice. I am using a standard x-acto hobby knife. For the gluing part, I am using a standard PVA glue (wood/white glue). I really love that glue.
OK, let that be enough for the first post. I don't know though, how you guys post pictures here. I will upload all photos to Imgur and then drop a direct link here. If there is better alternative, please let me know.
Also, please let me know if you have any suggestions/advice since I am still quite new to this hobby. I have done some plastic modeling before though. All criticism is 100% welcome since it will help me build better models in the future.
