by Steve Anderson

This twice lucky pilot is about to have his second bit of luck today by jumping off his shot-down Y-Wing before it looses its tenuous grip on the cliff's edge.

I figured I had a week to get all of this done, so I went through the shelves and pulled out an old 80's MPC Star Wars Y-Wing snap-tight kit.

The cockpit had a pilot in a snowmobile and zero detail. I had to cut him out and at some sheet styrene for panels and a spare decal for the instrument panel. After adding details, none of the cockpit windows would fit, so I had to cut them down to fit in the limited space. Change one thing in a snap tight kit and you'll have to change a lot more. Glue and clamps helped make it all come together.

I used Testors' silver for the undercoat and, after it dried, used wet salt to cover up places where the crash would wear off the paint. I used Tamiya's light grey, also from a spray can (time was of the essence here - I put this all together in one week).

I also used a lighter to heat and bend the engine supports. I used celluclay for mud on the bottom of the fighter and a brown oil wash on the bottom to simulate dirt from the crash. The topside received an overall gray oil wash for detail. I used a hand drill to show where it had been hit and added charcoal dust to show the scorch marks.

I used an IMAI 1/100 scale figure from an Animation Figure Set from the 80s. I had to cut off his head and one arm to reposition them better to fit jumping off the back of the Y-wing. I used Tamiya paints for the figure.

I picked up a wooden frame for the base for a dollar .

I then built up its height with two two-inch pieces of Styrofoam cut to shape. For looks and something to glue the rock wall to, I hot-glued styrene sheets on the sides for smooth walls. I used a few rock molds to make the cliff wall and cellu-clay for the top. I ran the Y-wing through a crash through the wet cellu-clay to give it the proper shape. I painted in in Tamiya tan and used another oil wash of yellow ochre.

The top was painted with Tamiya brown. For the vegetation, I covered it in tacky glue spread out with a wet brush. I covered the non-crashed areas with train supply course turf.

I had a lot of fun putting this together and learned a lot in the process. I'll definitely be making more, and starting a lot earlier next time!

Image: Precarious!

Image: Jump!

Image: Cockpit

Image: Going over...