# Viper Mark VII



## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Haven't posted here in Moebius for awhile. Busy on non-Moe stuff. Here is my take on the VII. 

I finished the cockpit and pilot and planned to use the canopy as a paint mask. But I thought better of it. So I covered the decal areas with tin foil and then carefully covered the entire cockpit area with Silly Putty:










I also covered the gluing surfaces that the engine pod contacts to:










Also masked off the painted intakes:










More..........


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Then I coated the exterior with Tamiya gray primer and misted Tamiya non-buffable gunmetal for an under color:



















*More........*


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

I'm going to try to successfully use my new found favorite weathering technique; Salt. I took a small paintbrush and some water with a droplet of Dawn and carefully painted the soapy water in the worn/marred areas. Then I sprinkled table salt in the wet area and let it dry:




























Tomorrow I'll paint on the top coat. I'm going to try Tamiya Intermediate Blue. After that dries, I'll knock off the salt. If it works as well as planned, the gunmetal will show through as wear marks. More tomorrow.


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Those little individual salt specks are gold. It causes the paint to bubble slightly around the crystal. Then, when you knock it off, it looks like perfectly scaled damage.


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Silly Putty makes a good free-form mask. Just be careful where you use it. It can leave a residue on bare plastic, causing paint adhesion problems. But I like to use it on finished areas that need protecting. It won't harm paint and conforms tightly to weird shapes and contours.


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Wish I'd thought to use the salt method on my vipers. Well, there is always the Mk 1 when it comes out.


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

Looking forward to seeing the intermediate blue in place ... then not quite so much intermediate blue in place.


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

This is what the salt looks like before you rub it off:



















*More........*


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Final pics:





































*More..........*


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Cockpit close-ups:





























Couple thoughts:
This went together really quickly. I used a coarse sanding stick, and then the decals went on. Then I used some pastel chalks to get the decal gloss gone. Probably hit it with a clear dullcoat tomorrow... 

I usually use the product logo from the decal sheet to put the "title" on the base support. But when I cut out the "Battlestar Galactica" logo and put it in water, it dissolved! As if it was designed to?? Strange. Oh, well. No aftermarket stuff on this. Just OOTB build.

Thanks for looking!
:wave:


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Full size mock-up at the Seattle Science Fiction Museum:


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Paulbo, did you notice the wire mesh on top of the laser cannons? ^^ That's not a hint or anything. I could have just as easily said "Steve123, did you notice...." or "Fluke...."


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Came out well. Looks quite realistic with the weathering.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I like the pictures where The Blob has attacked the pilot!


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

John P said:


> I like the pictures where The Blob has attacked the pilot!


**Muffled screaming** 

Poor Starbuck. Now she knows how Donald Pleasence feels.

:tongue:


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

A good kit is like a good book. It's hard to put down when things are going well. And this kit went especially well. 

The decals were so small, I put a drop of TSDS decal set on a cutting board and soaked the decals in that. Then used the tip of an X-acto blade to place them!


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

Wow, very quick work on the painting (jealousy creaping in). It looks quite nice.

Thanks for the in-process shots of the salting. Most other builds using that technique (at least the ones that I've seen) just SAY "put some moistened salt on the model, let it dry, paint the kit, then rub off the salt". I'd always assumed the salt would be all liquidy than the still intact crystals you show so definitely a good lesson learned.


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Thanks everyone. Those are some nice comments. Means a lot coming from guys who do such awesome work.


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

My Viper Mark II replacement parts came yesterday. (The box hull nose halves were quite warped. Parts # 1 & 2) Moebius sent me two perfect ones for free, real quick!

So on to the Mark II!


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Paulbo said:


> Wow, very quick work on the painting (jealousy creaping in). It looks quite nice.
> 
> Thanks for the in-process shots of the salting. Most other builds using that technique (at least the ones that I've seen) just SAY "put some moistened salt on the model, let it dry, paint the kit, then rub off the salt". ***I'd always assumed the salt would be all liquidy *than the still intact crystals you show so definitely a good lesson learned.


I bet it would be super easy to do a little rusting car dio using this technique. But I think Testor's enamel works better than Tamiya. Tamiya is TOO good, and lays down too smooth. Testor's is stickier and the salt effect looks better, IMO. 

**The liquidy "dissolved salt" way works for some applications. I've seen tutorials on it. The military guys know that kinda stuff. 
:wave:


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## grendel64 (Sep 29, 2012)

I'd also like to throw out a thanks for the detailed weathering photos, I'd read of the salt trick, but seeing it in photos is much more clear.
Nice kit BTW!
Mike


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