By VinceHoffman
Dec 29, 2015
Well seeing as I'm unable to link directly to my SBF build thread and there has been lots of interest in this little rebuild, I thought I would provide some close-up pics and descriptions of the changes.
Under the nose I traded the dark grey 2x2 plates with bars along the front edge for the 1x2 version of the same thing and a pair of purple 1x2 slopes. The new slopes mounted inboard of the guns created the wrap-around effect of the wings around the cannons as seen in the the in-game renders. I re-worked the wings a little to remove the exposed studs up top, add the "flaps" on their trailing edges, and the anti-grav repulsors tucked just in front of the flaps.
Either side of the fuselage immediately behind the wings was where the stock model probably diverged the most from the in-game renders. Here was where some spare parts from the Seraph came in handy. Reworking this area hid the steering handle-grip mounts nicely as well. While the purple fairings I've created aren't nearly as rounded as would be ideal, I think they are a major improvement over MB deciding to simply leave out this detail entirely.
Beneath the overhung cowling I added a pair of round trans-blue tiles to represent the projectors for the vehicle's HUD seen in the ref pics in the post above. Between the handle grips I used a stickered multi-faceted 1x2 slope to create an alien dashboard. For the seat and backrest I added a black 1x1 tile beneath the operators's crotch. Then I swapped out several purple 1x2 plates and a 1x2 plate with small slope on the long edge for a single larger 2x2 slope blok which I added custom cut black stickers to.
And finally we arrive at the "cheeks" behind and to either side of the back rest. While the MB designer's use of pre-existing stock parts to approximate this area of the in-game Ghost was ok, in my opinion it pretty much begged for a new part/mold to better represent it. I decided to cheat here and this parts customization isn't for the ill equipped or faint of heart. ***So please, don't bother attempting this part of my rebuild unless you totally confident in your skills and tools!***
First the easy part. I cut the stepped down portion from a pair of L*go part #99206 Plate, Modified 2 x 2 x 2/3 with 2 Studs on Side. This resulted in a pair of handy 1x2x2/3rds blocks with studs on one side which I could use to mount the new cheeks. Next I heavily modified a left and right mirror imaged pair of the same AM18775ARM & AM18776ARM curved and sloped 2x3 wedge bloks which are also used on the leading edge of the Ghost's wings. First I carefully cut and filed out a 45 degree notched on the rear end of each wedge blok using my Dremel and a jeweller's file. Then I folded over the flap created by the notch to cover the resulting triangular shaped holes using my heat gun and the flat of a knife. On the opposite flat side of each wedge I carefully marked out and drilled a hole to accept the upwards facing stud on the stock wedge bloks immediately beneath my custom cheeks.
Under the nose I traded the dark grey 2x2 plates with bars along the front edge for the 1x2 version of the same thing and a pair of purple 1x2 slopes. The new slopes mounted inboard of the guns created the wrap-around effect of the wings around the cannons as seen in the the in-game renders. I re-worked the wings a little to remove the exposed studs up top, add the "flaps" on their trailing edges, and the anti-grav repulsors tucked just in front of the flaps.
Either side of the fuselage immediately behind the wings was where the stock model probably diverged the most from the in-game renders. Here was where some spare parts from the Seraph came in handy. Reworking this area hid the steering handle-grip mounts nicely as well. While the purple fairings I've created aren't nearly as rounded as would be ideal, I think they are a major improvement over MB deciding to simply leave out this detail entirely.
Beneath the overhung cowling I added a pair of round trans-blue tiles to represent the projectors for the vehicle's HUD seen in the ref pics in the post above. Between the handle grips I used a stickered multi-faceted 1x2 slope to create an alien dashboard. For the seat and backrest I added a black 1x1 tile beneath the operators's crotch. Then I swapped out several purple 1x2 plates and a 1x2 plate with small slope on the long edge for a single larger 2x2 slope blok which I added custom cut black stickers to.
And finally we arrive at the "cheeks" behind and to either side of the back rest. While the MB designer's use of pre-existing stock parts to approximate this area of the in-game Ghost was ok, in my opinion it pretty much begged for a new part/mold to better represent it. I decided to cheat here and this parts customization isn't for the ill equipped or faint of heart. ***So please, don't bother attempting this part of my rebuild unless you totally confident in your skills and tools!***
First the easy part. I cut the stepped down portion from a pair of L*go part #99206 Plate, Modified 2 x 2 x 2/3 with 2 Studs on Side. This resulted in a pair of handy 1x2x2/3rds blocks with studs on one side which I could use to mount the new cheeks. Next I heavily modified a left and right mirror imaged pair of the same AM18775ARM & AM18776ARM curved and sloped 2x3 wedge bloks which are also used on the leading edge of the Ghost's wings. First I carefully cut and filed out a 45 degree notched on the rear end of each wedge blok using my Dremel and a jeweller's file. Then I folded over the flap created by the notch to cover the resulting triangular shaped holes using my heat gun and the flat of a knife. On the opposite flat side of each wedge I carefully marked out and drilled a hole to accept the upwards facing stud on the stock wedge bloks immediately beneath my custom cheeks.