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This is Wilco's 1/4 scale Silent Running Drone garage resin kit. It was pretty nicely cast and includes parts to model either
Huey, Dewey, or Louie. I decided to make mine Dewey.
The first thing I decided to do was give him his lighted "eye" that was seen when Dewey was working outside in space.
I drilled out the entire bottom of the lower tray piece to house the battery pack, and dremeled holes in the thick interior walls to allow wiring to one yellow LED. I drilled out the "eye" from
the back, and cemented down the bulb, then mask the bulb itself with liquid mask and painters tape.
Assembly was pretty straight forward, I laid a big piece of sandpaper on the table, then sanded the big flat surfaces till they
mated together smoothly. I primed with Duplicolor Hot Rod Grey, and filled and smoothed where needed.
Dewey has a pretty matte weathered paint job in Silent Running, I thought acrylics would give the closest scale finish, I mixed
up some Badger Opaque Blue with some Light Blue till I thought it was a close match to the film color, I made sure to mix enough up for two coats will plenty left over to lighten and darken for
weathering. I know from experience it's ofthen difficult to duplicate a paint mix exactly, better two much than to run short.
Before I did the basecoat, I masked off the flat black panels on Dewey's face with tape and sprayed them with Badger Modelflex
Flat Black, after it dried I masked the black panels with painters tape or liquid mask, depending on how flat it was. The acrylic went on smoothly, I was very happy with the basecoat. After that
dried I masked off the red bits, and airbrushed them with Badger Rock Island Red.
I wanted Dewey to have adjustable leg joints for posing and to help with stability since he's so top heavy, Brent Gair suggested
a joint of twisted 20g stainless wire that worked great and allowed his legs to hold their pose. I used some round leather cord for the hydraulic lines to his legs.
I modified his manipulator, and added some more stainless wire to the joints to make them posable too. The metal parts are
airbrushed MM steel and aluminum plate, the red is Badger's Milwaukee Maroon. After that he got a light coat of Future.
My wife made a custom decal to replicate Dewey's little purple light under his "eye". I used the stencils Sarge
provided I drybrushed the 01 on his grille with more Milwaukee Maroon, and added the decal of the 1 to his back. Smaller details were done with MM enamels, then I sealed him with Dullcoat thru the
airbrush, keeping it away from parts I still wanted gloss or semi-gloss.
Last I weathered him using the pause button and zoom key on the DVD player with model railroad weathering powders, thinned india
ink, detailer smart liquid, and a lot of drybrushing. I tried to match the weathering pattern shown in the film.
I'm really happy with how this guy turned out, I think it's the best thing I've ever built!
Scott Copeland
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