A cockpit update

Going my own way

This project pretty much begun with me searching for reference pics of the cockpit. Comparing to the Lambda-class shuttle cockpits in the movie this model has surprisingly few details in common, and I certainly wasn't going to go down the road of insane detailing. So I pulled a decision from my sleeve to use few colours for the buttons and displays (black, white, red, metal) even if a couple more would've been at home there (that meant I skipped a terminal-green and blue).

The basic bits

I started my detailing process by applying dark grey (still the same VMA 71123 USAF Dark Grey) to some of the surfaces that had gotten a bit too much overspray during the airbrushing sessions, such as the console panels. On the plain surfaces the very gentle hint of grey/white was just fine, as the overall look remained dark. While I was at it I also painted the frame edges where the viewport glass was going to be glued, as if it worked for airplanes, it was surely work here as well.

To give this cockpit a bit more worn-in look I drybrushed some surfaces with Steel (VMA 71065), which I also used for some randomish bits on the outside of the cockpit and the hull itself. The most noticeable marks of wear and tear I made on the door panels and the ramp in front of it. Finally I did a very gentle drybrushing of Steel on all the buttons, switches and displays.

Detailing

Both on the left and rights sides of the door was a set of lamps. In the Return of the Jedi they were a bit like blue WLAN signal strength markings. This model, on the other hand, had three light panels that I decided to drybrush with pure white (VMA 71001). My idea was that it'd look pretty nicely, but it wouldn't still be an attention-stealer.

Then I kept on applying white drybrushing over the buttons, because in my world just about all of them were going to be like that. For a short moment I was thinking if the light panels should later be treated with a satin or gloss varnish, but most likely they'd look more wet than shiny.

Now it was the turn of the displays and the things that looked like good old-fashioned dials on the dashboard to get black (VGC 72051). I decided that the plain black was going to be only a very limited thing and in very tightly contained number of things in the cockpit itself.

Next I returned with the white paint to add detailing to the displays I had just given a black backdrop. Both the pilot and the copilot (I was assuming) had somethingthat looked like a <= 14" CRT display in front of them. The leftmost one got a series of dotty rows to represent lines of text as an idea of a text-based status information or a system log, whatever they were reading from their MFD. To the rightmost one I tried to paint some kind of a X/Y axis for coordinates, for example.

Finally I took a bit of red (VMA 71085 Ferrari Red) and touched up a few buttons and button-like protrusions. Some of them were lonely and some were in small groups. What were they all about? I hadn't got a clue, some may have been "don't touch this self destruction thing accidentally!" kind of warning colours, some "this is important, so it's clearly highlighted" and so on. As I had thought before, maybe some keys could've been painted green and blue, without looking out of place, but at this stage I didn't feel the need for it.

Reinstalling the seats

As soon as these things were done for the cockpit, I glued the seats back in. Back in the day I had painted them, maybe according to the instructions, maybe because I just felt like it, with plain brown on the cushionage and lightish grey on the edges and backs. The contrast was strong and it looked kinda silly to me.

Now I repainted them with the dark grey (VMA 71123). Thanks to the overspraying effect I mentioned above, they were now clearly darker than the floor but not outrageously so. The seating part (the cushionlike part) I now painted flat black (VGC 72051). In my mind they now looked like a believable "metal frame with some sort of a disgustingly uncomfy vinyl-like padding" scenario.