Model Kit Review: Revell Monogram's Babylon 5
Starfury MK 1 (Kit #3621)
(Page Two)
I then went to work on the other kit’s parts. The ejection pin
marks were sanded off the eight vanes. Then, (while still attached to the
sprue), the 16 thrusters were airbrushed Steel along with the vanes being
airbrushed Gunmetal. The two piece stand was glued together. Its seams were
puttied, sanded smooth, washed, and painted Flat Black.
Next, I went back to the original three sub-assemblies.
The cockpit sub-assembly was attached to the upper and lower wing
sub-assemblies. Then, the remaining four wing halves were attached to the inside
of the top and bottom wings.
At this point, I came to realize that my gap filling days
with this kit were far from over. Either two or three of the four wing roots
did not fit flush against the cockpit’s sides. In addition, the front curvature
of one of the wing roots did not match up with its counterpart on the opposite
side. Finally, pretty much all of the areas where the wing halves connected
(not covered by the Thrusters) required work on removing the associated
gaps….(Man! This gap filling was becoming a pain!)
After many hours of gap elimination, the Starfury was beginning
to look good. The cockpit area was masked off and the spaceship was painted a
final coat of Gunmetal. When dry, the four front “vents” and rear two (located
on both the top and bottom) were masked off and painted Flat Black.
The thrusters were then attached, with the vanes attached
afterwards. Next, the 8 gun barrels were very carefully drilled out and the
guns glued in place.
The pilot figure was painted his Light Sea Gray/Flat
Black/Engine/Blue colors, along with the four decals applied to the figure
(without using a decal setting solution). The canopy's "clear window"
outer areas were masked off leaving the "frame" visible, which was
then airbrushed Gunmetal.
When dry, the outside decal was applied to the center of the
canopy. (Note: the instructions erroneously directed the inside decal to be
placed onto the inside center of the canopy. Instead, it should be placed onto
the side of the instrument panel facing the pilot. The pilot was then attached
to the "seat", the instrument panel attached over the pilot and the
canopy glued in place (with Elmers white glue). Various paint touch-ups were
then done.
(Decaling)
I used no decal setting solutions on the decals. The
instructions warned against this, so I decided to heed the warning. Upon a
suggestion from a fellow modeler, I mixed some Elmers glue with water and used
this as a decal setting solution instead, to try to get the decals to conform
to the model’s surface better.
When the decals dried, though, I became very disappointed with the
results. There was silvering noticeable in numerous locations, along with the
decals actually lifting off the surface in others. Due to this I ended up stripping
off most of the decals and tried again. I went back and read the instructions
found on the back of the decal sheet. (There is DEFINITELY something
to be said for reading instructions!) I noticed that part of my problem
was that I had left the decals immersed in water for too long. The instructions
recommended immersing them for only a couple of seconds (instead of
the normal 10 to 15 seconds) and then positioning the decal on the model as
soon as it became loose.
This time around I followed the instructions, along with
pressing each decal down snugly onto the surface for around 30 seconds.
Surprise-surprise! The decals set much better!
(Weathering and Final
Touches)
With all of the "metal" thruster units, this baby was
just begging to be weathered. However, I decided instead to just lightly dust
the Gunmetal over some of the remaining silvering sections of the decals, along
with airbrushing flat black into the engine openings, keeping the space fighter
looking relatively new.
The completed Starfury was then mounted onto its display
stand. I decided against gluing it in place, giving myself the option of
removing it in the future. Since the fit between the holes at the bottom of the
Starfury and the alignment tabs on the top of the display stand was tight, this
ended up working out fine.
(Conclusion)
Even though this kit
started out as a very exciting project, it quickly bogged down with all of the
poor fitting pieces that needed attention. The Revel Monogram folks put some
work into trying to make the kit build as straightforward as possible, (and
succeeded). Unfortunately, more work should have gone into making the pieces
fit better. The non-sticking decals also created a bit of a problem –
(initially at least).
When finally complete, though, the Starfury does make an
attractive spacecraft. With the addition of the vanes, its over-all wing span
becomes much more respectful, (ballooning up to about 10 inches). With the
possibility of constructing six different Starfurys, a nice little squadron can
be built.
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Copyright © 2007 by Anthony I. Wootson. No material may be
reproduced without permission of Anthony I. Wootson. Unauthorized duplication is
prohibited.