Eagle-eyed viewers will recognize some console details leftover from my Viper build, as well as decal from a Toy Biz Blackbird toy. The radar screen has a flourescent green base coat, and I overlaid a clear lens which was scribed with concentric lines and a radial line for the radar sweep. There's a dimensionality to it that I like, but it doesn't show well in the photo. The radar sweep position is duplicated in smaller scale on the two smaller forward radar screens.

The console just aft of the radar screen has a mesh insert from a faucet aerator. I just loved the texture. Thought it fit in well with the design.

The main panel is next. Actually, it should be easier; it's mostly just analog gauges. The big issue is what graphic to put on the central screen. I was thinking an image of Nick Fury, but I'm still undecided.

so, so very cool. It's simple, yet it's not. Has a retro style that totally works. We went to the moon with consoles that looked like that. lol.

Also inspiring. I'm working on some ship interiors myself (more planning than anything) and this thread helps, and has been duly bookmarked.

On the screen image - what I plan to do on portals, view screens, etc... is make sure - when -possible - to have a means of accessing the insert area, so that I can swap out the image depending on the scene. Not sure if that's feasible for what you're doing - may also not even be needed depending on what the screen looks like.

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Thanks, drbindy. It's tough to resist the urge to put flat panels and touch screens all over this thing. After all, Tony Stark and T'Challa are a generation or two ahead of everybody else technologically. But I was shooting for a period just shaking off the vacuum tube. And besides, I think the interior looks pretty much like something one would see in a comic from that time.

After much wailing and thrashing, I decided the graphic for the monitor would be a status screen. The nice thing about it is, it's based on the blueprints I drew up for the project. A little text, a little color, and that sucker's done.

Oh, I forgot; I'd given some thought to changable graphics for the screen, but decided against it. The screen is only about 3/4" wide x 5/8" tall, and the mechanism I had in mind for the changable graphics would've been pretty cumbersome.

Well, the quinjet hit the paint booth yesterday. I'm spraying a base coat of gloss white, I'll pick out a few panels/details in a slightly darker color, then white pearl topcoat. I can't see doing straight silver, as the comic panels just don't look silver to me. And I'm going to put a few markings on, as well.

In honor of John Byrne, who designed this version of the quinjet, I'm designating it A-3701, a number shown occassionally through his series.

I love that radar screen. Next time I ever do anything that even remotely comes close to needing a display screen will have that idea in it.

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well hurry up already. LOL

I'm working on it, I'm working on it! Lol.

The problem with doing these things is there's no donor parts. Almost everything is fabbed up from scratch. And by the time I get down to finishing I want to make sure none of this stuff gets boogered up with sticky paint or something, so I take my time letting the coats dry thoroughly.

In the meantime, I'm thinking about re-doing the engines. Just not satisfied with the result.

Not much of an update this time around. The quinjet now has its wings and tail fin permanently installed, and it's still in the body shop getting all those seams and other problems filled, sanded, primed, etc. It's currently getting its white base coat finished. This is just the main console, now with the systems status graphic installed. I put a piece of clear plastic over it for the screen, and painted it clear yellow for that 80's monitor touch.

A quick request of the board: if I ever decide to do a large, white project again, would someone please just shoot me in the head and throw my carcass in the ditch? It would save a lot of suffering and end the war years sooner.

So how, you may ask, does one screw up white paint? Let me count the ways.

1) I wanted a white pearl overall finish, with several panels painted a different shade to break up the monotony of the finish. So, of course, I primed the surface with grey primer, which white enamel doesn't cover for ....love nor money.

2) I ran out of white enamel part way through the job, so off I run to Wal-Mart. The off-brand spray bomb I bought wasn't 100 percent compatible with the Testors I had been using, so of course I had lifting problems.

3) I mixed Testors Gloss White enamel with a couple drops of Testors Silver to get a different shade. And promptly put brush strokes in the surface, because while the paint was the proper consistency I painted during one of the warmest, most humid days of the year and the paint was drying almost as soon as I put it on.

4) After getting a base coat of gloss white I could live with, I oversprayed with Pearl White. Which I also ran out of halfway throught the paint job. No problem, says I, I have a can of clear pearl gloss from a previous project I can spray over the gloss white to match. Guess again, genius, 'cuz the clear pearl is old enough it leaves a nice amber tone over the project.

5) After wet sanding the color coats to proper finish, I seal the whole shootin' match with a coat of Future. Now, I've used Future before and gotten great results. Somehow, this time, I managed to put it on too thick, which caused it to run and form puddles on the underside of the hull.

6) And finally, I knew my homemade spray booth was a little, okay, a lot too small for the quinjet. And sure enough, when I removed the ship from the spray booth out came a web one of my resident shop spiders had built in the deepest, darkest corners of the booth, now eternally bonded with the rudder.

So, after doing six things I knew NOT to do, things are getting back to where they should've been a couple weeks ago.

Painting is my absolute least favorite part of building vehicles.

Actually, I rather enjoy painting vehicles. It's a different set of skills than painting figures really. In this case, it started with a big whompin' vehicle (about 21" long by 9" high by 16" wide), which was just too big for my spray booth designed to hold cars and figures. Things went downhill from there, as I didn't take the proper steps to get a good product. My fault.

On a unrelated note, I'm molding the engine exhausts tonight. Hope to have more pics up tomorrow or this weekend at latest.

I dont like painting, it does not matter what it is. I dont like paining figures, I dont like painting vehicles, I dont like painting interior house walls, I dont like painting exterior house walls, I dont like painting Sam I am

Things I have learned about spray painting vehicles.

1) Wash the plastic down with soap and water first.
2) Hit it with primer before spraying the main color.
3) Buy one more can than you think you'll need (This has saved me from running back to the store mid-project only to find they are sold out.)
4) Test everything before spraying it on the project. (Twice it was the wrong color and several times I hadn't shaken it enough.)
5) Check the weather channel before planning to spray (Too many projects ruined by humidity or wind)

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Everything you posted is true, pluv. And also it is the way I normally do business; however, once one step went wrong for me every subsequent step I took just seemed to be ineffective. As we speak, the quinjet has received a coat of white primer. Tomorrow I will re-apply the Pearl White main color, and then I'll use the custom mix for contrast.