Rear engine lights

This was not fun! I went through about 3 blades, so be careful! The plastic is tough and you have to bend the blade at an angle to cut out the rear supports holding the plastic engine cover on.

Keep slicing and scoring until eventually you will penetrate all the way through.

Once i finally had a clear section I wanted to try out the engine lights again. I still think they are maybe too bright and too blue. But I've had no attempt made to dim them yet. I will likely make a rear engine diffuser or use 10A chocolate blocks and make an engine with the lights behind.

LED lighting

So I've started on the LED lights. For a bit of accuracy and theatrical licence.. I've dotted them underneath for now. These are normal brightness.

Some are lights actually on the mold. Some are fixtures that ive drilled out..

Underneath done

They are fixed in place yet, this is just a mock up. I may get a PCB for a slower flash/pulse/fade yet.

I added the front two with some cheap flashing LEDs off ebay. They have a static or flash mode. 

There's loads of spare LEDs now. I will likely use a load of them to populate the fire optics that I will dot around the place.

Crafting the cockpit

Craft knife and hot water... That's the way to do it!! Very hard doing the curved sections of the nose, but it looks good and I haven't even  smoothed it down yet :-)

Engine trails

So I wanted the exhaust trails to look different but also old and worn. I put some light rust brown and a darker brown into my already blackened paint pot. I didn't mix them as I wanted a subtle variety of dust/rust colours

Finishing the top

So I worked for a few hours finalising (most of) the top!

Same method as before. I tried to be a little lighter this time. I found that removing more of the acrylic paint after it had dried, then doing another quick coat and wiping whilst still wet gave the best results.

Before patch

After 

Top part part deux

Some of the chrome detailing comes through when the black filth is rubbed away. I didnt get the best photo here as it wasnt shiny..

Cockpit and tunnel drying ready...

And here it is after!

Rear panels started..

Rear panel after a little work.

Bare in mind this is "first wave" of the filthing'. I will be going back, detailing each section by hand, before adding in any additional paint work or weathering. I also need to do more wind/weathering on each panel.

Started the top

Started the topside today. Wanted slightly lighter version with less filth as opposed to the bottom.

So i started at the front. I am not really doing the sides yet, just working from the top down. I will later apply more layers to the very tip of the nose(s) to give it the forward section look.

God i love this method, it looks awesome!.

I also have some detailed chrome parts. I did this for all of the pipe sections on the body with a silver Sharpie.

More silver detail.

Then the front left panel. This is how i am doing it now. Giving it more random patches, this looks better than an all over filth monkey, in my opinion!

after : Lookin fresh! Ok well not so fresh, nicely filthy. Notice the edges of panels look dirtier than the center ;) alot more natural...