Aur0ra145's Bandai 1/72 TIE Interceptor

[aur0ra145]

Howdy all!

Decided to try my hand at making a Youtube video for modelling. So I chose a 1/72 Bandai TIE Interceptor that I had. This project started on Friday and ended today. However, the video stuff is taking wayyyyy more time than I thought. Hats off to you guys who have active Youtube channels. It's much more difficult than I thought!

So, the model. I got a box shot and totally forgot sprue shots. But, the video does show me opening them all. Hopefully that counts? If not, no harm.

Specifically I chose to make a 181st Imperial Fighter Wing TIE Interceptor as flown by Baron Soontir Fel. This specific fighter was the subject of the Imperial Aces expansion of Star Wars:The Miniature Game, which I loved. However, I don't get to play it much anymore.

The 181st Imperial Fighter Wing was an elite TIE unit serving the Galactic Empire and its descendants. At its height under the Empire, it was a three-squadron unit known as the 181st Imperial Fighter Group and distinguished by the red bloodstripes that marked the wings of its TIE interceptors. Initially the 181st Imperial Fighter Wing of the Galactic Empire, it suffered from an abysmal reputation. Commanded by Colonel Evir Derricote, the 181st had lax discipline and low morale. It enjoyed a tremendous improvement with the arrival of Captain Soontir Fel in 0 BBY. Fel took command of the second squadron of the wing and quickly whipped it into shape with intense discipline and drilling.

When called to fight in the Second Battle of Ord Biniir, Fel's squadron significantly outperformed its Rebel opposition. It so happened that the battle occurred on the same day as the Imperial loss at the Battle of Yavin, and the success at Ord Biniir was propagandized heavily. Fel was promoted, and the unit was downsized to a group of three squadrons and completely reformed with an elite roster. While Derricote remained in command, Fel was the true force behind the unit's success as it became one of the Empire's premier fighter groups.

Fel took formal command in 3 ABY, when he was promoted to colonel and given the title of Baron of the Empire. Fel led the 181st for another two years before he was captured by the New Republic during the 181st's defeat at the Battle of Brentaal IV. Turr Phennir became the unit's commander, continuing to lead it through the turbulent times of the Empire's fall, becoming a general in the Imperial Remnant and finding the 181st a place there. The organization survived the changeover from the Remnant to the revived Galactic Empire, serving Fel's descendant Emperors, and eventually was reorganized as a wing once more.

So, most of this build thread will be about the video shooting and not the build itself... well... because the videos explain the build stuff!

I used a GoPro Hero+ my dad gave me for Christmas last year (along with a Revell 1/48 Tornado GR.4, Italeria 1/48 Tigercat, Bf-109 E-7 Trop from Eduard and an iron skillet. Honestly the iron skillet was the only thing I asked for. It was an excellent Christmas.) I hate the fisheye camera view. For extreme stuff it works well to give an extra sense of speed. But for model making, not so much. Also, the audio is rather quiet. I may invest in a real camera or a mic for the GoPro.

GoPro does have the coolest app ever! Which wifi connects to the camera and you can control and even see what the camera is looking at. Super easy to frame shots (if you know how; which I don't, the videos will prove it.) I will say that talking to yourself while modelling is a bit weird.... but, those who have seen me in hangouts, I can talk a lot. It came naturally.

I did run into a problem of thinking my video was upside down because of my stickers on the bench and how the GoPro was oriented on a mount I bought. I spent a good hour of trying to rotate the video. Yeah........ It dawned on me to just turn the stickers around and all would be well! (This took me a day or two to figure out.) Also, putting a dot on my bench to show where the center focal point of the video would have been helpful. Several times I get off camera center and you can't really see anything I'm doing. I centered my camera about the lower 1/3rd of the frame. So when inverting it, it went to the top 1/3 and sort of made me feel sick watching it.

Compression:
Dear God. My GoPro does about 2.1Gb per 12 minutes of video. Compiling the video and combining them took forever. Trying to upload the raw video to YouTube made me quit it after I was at 5% after nearly an hour of uploading. I did figure out how to compress the video. First attempt made a video of about 4Gb to compress to 40Mb. It looked horrible. Tried to compress again to 700Mb~ and it went much better. Took a bit over an hour to upload; but, it seems like a good compromise to me which is what you'll see in the first video.

The other thing, is planning out the build and knowing what to video when. I literally just turned on the GoPro and opened the kit and started going. On reflection, I'll not only think of how to build the kit but also how to film each step. I do not have a good way to film the airbrushing, so that's a loss. I don't think I'll have a way to do it while working with my current setup.

Addiontally, with how my camera is mounted. What I would call center above the bench is how I look at stuff, so training myself to show stuff to the camera was odd. You will witness this in the videos.

Whelp here it goes!

Any and all pointers are welcome! I need the help.



[youtube]2LqJByrmupg[/youtube]

[aur0ra145]

So continued. Got some shots of this. The video is still compiling/uploading. Heat sinks primed in Ultimate Gray, structure primed in Ultimate Black. The mix to get a good color for the structure was. Paints were Tamiya XF-85 Rubber black, XF-7 Flat Red and a concoction of XF-2 Flat White, XF-53 Neutral Gray, XF-8 Flat Blue and XF-23 Light Blue. Mixed almost endlessly to get the right color.

[MakingModels]

Looking good

[aur0ra145]

Here is part 2! This actually pre-dates the painted pictures above. Like I said, I'm new at this. Next video should be getting compiled and uploaded here soon.

[youtube]TvDdlDMk2XQ[/youtube]

[aur0ra145]

Got everything painted and masked, then assembled.

This a mini from Star Wars:The Miniatures Game which is what I went off of.

[aur0ra145]

Now it's finished!

Final assembly video:
[youtube]1Ggcee83G8k[/youtube]

Quite a fun new experience to shoot videos throughout the build! I recommend to at least try it if you're on the fence about making YouTube videos. Also, you get to feel insane talking to yourself!

[Lysus]

Marking this to watch later; half day for me today so I'll sit down and give it a watch when I get home

[Tomcat64]

This a mini from Star Wars:The Miniatures Game which is what I went off of.

I love that game but haven't had chance to play it much in the last couple of years - the mechanics worked really well I thought.

Nice work on the build too - really quick but great result.

Like Lysus I need to set some time aside to follow up on the videos though.

Edit - I've been back and watched the videos now, actually to be honest I watched the first one all the way through and bailed out of the second one after about six minutes. Personally a video of someone sitting at a bench just working through a build doesn't do it for me, so my first suggestion would be to make it a little structured & punchier. For example when I bailed out you were working through the stickers for the cockpit, this started with a couple of really good tips about using a scalpel tip for picking them up and then a cotton bud for laying them down, so after showing a couple of them in process cut to the finished result rather than just working through each and every decal.

Tied into the above I think it'd come together better if you planned what you were going to do up front, so if you're going to do the unboxing live then at least have a wander through the instructions beforehand so you know what you're facing and plan the sections that will be in camera and those that will be done out of shot. Also there's nothing wrong with filming the unboxing, cutting there and taking a look at the plastic & instruction off camera before coming back and talking about it - it does mean more editing but I think it'd give you a better result.

You mentioned the sound system up top and unfortunately it does hamper the final result because for me it's difficult to pick up what you're saying all the time, and also there are moments when you're thinking out loud or to yourself when you're figuring something out. You also talked about training yourself to keep what you're working on in shot and that'll come with experience and practice - it's already better in Vid 2 than it was in Vid 1

Please take this in the manner in which it's intended and as constructive criticism because I admire you for having the guts to give it a go!

[aur0ra145]

This a mini from Star Wars:The Miniatures Game which is what I went off of.

I love that game but haven't had chance to play it much in the last couple of years - the mechanics worked really well I thought.

Nice work on the build too - really quick but great result.

Like Lysus I need to set some time aside to follow up on the videos though.

Edit - I've been back and watched the videos now, actually to be honest I watched the first one all the way through and bailed out of the second one after about six minutes. Personally a video of someone sitting at a bench just working through a build doesn't do it for me, so my first suggestion would be to make it a little structured & punchier. For example when I bailed out you were working through the stickers for the cockpit, this started with a couple of really good tips about using a scalpel tip for picking them up and then a cotton bud for laying them down, so after showing a couple of them in process cut to the finished result rather than just working through each and every decal.

Tied into the above I think it'd come together better if you planned what you were going to do up front, so if you're going to do the unboxing live then at least have a wander through the instructions beforehand so you know what you're facing and plan the sections that will be in camera and those that will be done out of shot. Also there's nothing wrong with filming the unboxing, cutting there and taking a look at the plastic & instruction off camera before coming back and talking about it - it does mean more editing but I think it'd give you a better result.

You mentioned the sound system up top and unfortunately it does hamper the final result because for me it's difficult to pick up what you're saying all the time, and also there are moments when you're thinking out loud or to yourself when you're figuring something out. You also talked about training yourself to keep what you're working on in shot and that'll come with experience and practice - it's already better in Vid 2 than it was in Vid 1

Please take this in the manner in which it's intended and as constructive criticism because I admire you for having the guts to give it a go!

Thank you for watching! I did find a good recording program to which I can record on a headset as doing stuff to help with sound quality/volume. As for meandering through the build, I TOTALLY agree. Watching myself I was thinking, "Dang man, you're awesome; but, you're boring. Who cares about a majority of this stuff." I need to find a good editing software to help. I like watching videos where it's like super speed, until a pause for a good modelling point, then super speed again. I'm a big fan of how Andy's Hobby Headquarters does his builds.

I do like your suggestion for unboxing. I will say I HATE the sound of plastic wrap being cut and crumpled. I should work through it and have a plan for the shots/segment. Next video I will totally go with your suggestion!

When I build a kit, I go through a lot of the instructions to see how I want to combat the build. It seems I need to do the same for videos.

Again, thanks for watching! I'll take your suggestions and apply them to future videos. I greatly appreciate you giving feedback after watching!

[Tomcat64]

I like watching videos where it's like super speed, until a pause for a good modelling point, then super speed again. I'm a big fan of how Andy's Hobby Headquarters does his builds.

Yep that works really well - it's the only way I can watch NFL too - by fast-forwarding through the commercials! It also means you get to use everything you've captured instead of cutting chunks of it out and dropping them into the bin.

Looking forwards to seeing your next video

[Lysus]

I've seen a few vids where the reviewer uses a combo of time lapse and voice over for some of the more tedious yet still relevant stuff. Something to consider.

There are times where it helps to see things in real time, though. Can always split the long in depth stuff into it's own vid; like "here I blah blah blah, to see it click this vid" etc.

[aur0ra145]

I've seen a few vids where the reviewer uses a combo of time lapse and voice over for some of the more tedious yet still relevant stuff. Something to consider.

There are times where it helps to see things in real time, though. Can always split the long in depth stuff into it's own vid; like "here I blah blah blah, to see it click this vid" etc.

Thanks for the input!

I'm trying to make a better video for a Y-wing I just started. Ya'll extending the Summer SciFi build SiG has hurt my wallet. I love it.