I have always been fascinated with Japanese Scale Modelers as they always seem to come up with the best stuff. A lot of kits we have seen in Japan either from magazines or the net have at most times blew our minds away, especially when you scrutinize the level of details and modifications done to their kits. Another area that many have been impressed with are their paint work given to their kits - always superbly done up with an almost zero mistake tolerance - excellent.
I remembered there was one build up of the Venator class Star Destroyer done up with lights last year, and the builder modified the kit to include detailed hangar bay docks with miniature fighters and troop carriers. The kit was displayed in an event with a lot of its hangar bay open, revealing a busy destroyer in the midst of a shake down cruise, and the best part was that the miniatures themselves was so beautifully crafted to near perfection. I'm not sure if a 3D printer was used but it sure looks like it cause I still can't figure out how this guy got them so neat. The kit caught so many attention from everyone else all over the world as I see quite a few highlights of her. Unfortunately I can't find images of this build at the moment nor do I know who built it (sorry, can't read Japanese) but I'll add them here later when I do find them.
One such scale modeler that I know of goes by the nick Adamada2010 from the Starship Modeler forum. Adamada hails from Osaka, Japan, and his written English is quite good. I say this cause I have a few Japanese friends in Malaysia and they can speak well, but not write well. Adamada does not modify much of the original kit but he still does an excellent build up. I dare say his forte is really lighting up his kits.
I first saw his fantastic build up of
Fine Molds 1/144 scale Millenium Falcon (the smaller kit, not that 1/72 scale humongous one) and how he applied lighting to his kit. The end result was simply mind boggling - it looks almost like a studio model. He had inserted a total of 24 LEDs into the kit, specifically at the Engine exhaust, the cockpit, gun turrets, the Falcon's undercarriage, headlights (if that is what those are called) and the landing gear bays. Impressive.
Next up is his version of
Moebius Galactica. Overall paint job was simple but effective, and by providing lights to this beauty, he literally brought the Galactica to life. Abet some of the lights are not where they are suppose to be, but they do give out the desired effects. 25 LEDs were used lighting up the landing bays on the flight pods, the red lights at the recess area, the turrets and several cabin lights throughout the ship. Check out his streaming lights on the flight pod. Lights are not suppose to be there but the effects were great.
And lastly this is his work done up on the
Classic Cylon Raider. Using a toy's LED circuit, he bounces of flashing lights (left to right and back) for the guns, added in a red light on the left wing tip and green light on the right. Engine exhaust are all flared up in bright blue with a twist of ingenuity of adding on a set of of ION engines (those 2 red lights at the rear end of the fighter)
I'll have to admit that this guy's work is good. Given time, he is going to come up with another masterpiece yet. I was browsing through his photo album and saw these couple of pictures, and if its a prelude of things to come, I'm definitely keeping my eyes on this guy's build.