Star Wars Speeder Bike [Work-in-Progress: Transparent Blue Base & Prepping for Attachment]

 With inertia on the Space Battleship Yamato project finally overcome, the pendulum now swings back towards work on the Star Wars Speeder Bike, specifically prepping the bike for attachment to a base, and building the base itself. Now there are two ways the Star Wars Speeder Bike can be mounted for display. One is via the kit's display stand which is a vignette depicting the Forest of Endor, and it attaches to the bike via its side. The other is via a display stand sold separately namely the Bandai Action Base 2, which attaches to the bike's bottom. It's the latter that will be discussed here.    

Bandai Action Base 2 Clear Blue kit (front view)

Bandai Action Base 2 Clear Blue kit (back view)

 Work to prepare the Speeder Bike for attachment via its bottom actually begins before any further components are attached to the chassis. This is done so that there is not many fragile parts to get in the way while prep work is underway. While there is another point of attachment to the side that connects to a base included with the kit (i.e. the Forest of Endor vignette), I do not plan to do any prep work for this because for the moment I have no plans to use the base included with the kit.  

Prepping the Speeder Bike for attachment to the Bandai Action Base 2 ...

... involved first removing a small part/section of the bike in order to ... 

... expose the hole into which a nub found on the base will be inserted.

 During prep work, I damaged the part (see photo below) which I had to remove in order to expose the hole into which a nub on the Action Base attaches to. To add to my woes, the area exposed by the part's removal was bare plastic because I had primed and basecoated the area with the said part attached. To fix the stark contrast of bare plastic against the dark grey basecoat, I hand-brushed black primer followed by a dark grey layer onto the exposed plastic. Because it's extremely difficult to hand-brush lacquer paint, I didn't use the exact same basecoat color. Instead I used the acrylic Vallejo Black Grey paint as a substitute. While there is a slight difference in hue, it isn't too noticeable.  

While prepping the part that was removed was slightly damaged

Exposed molded plastic area around the hole was painted over

 While my preference was for an uncolored transparent display stand, I couldn't find it during the rare hobby store visits I've been making in the pandemic era. Instead I bought a clear blue version which actually displays a turquoise tint to it. I choose this version as a compromise because in my eyes it's a mix between the hologram blue in Star Wars movies and the greens of the Forest of Endor. 

Packaging art for the Bandai Action Base 2 Clear Blue

Instructions on how to assemble the Bandai Action Base 2

Sprue, screws, and nuts of the Bandai Action Base 2 Clear Blue

 On paper, the Bandai Action Base Two I bought was supposed to sport a transparent blue hue. But as mentioned earlier the color looks more turquoise than blue, at least to my eyes. Still I don't expect the turquoise hue to clash too much with the predominantly neutral colors of the Speeder Bike as well as Scout Trooper. And an added bonus is that it should blend into the azure background I plan to use when photographing the bike alone or together with the trooper. 

Bandai Action Base 2 Clear Blue, fully assembled and ...

... displaying a turquoise tint to the naked eye and in photos ...

... rather than the blue being depicted in the packaging art.

Assembly of the Bandai Action Base 2 was carried out ...

... without the need to use adhesives to glue parts together ...

... because most of the parts snap-fitted together quite tightly  ...

... with the occasional use of screws and nuts in three key areas ...

... located at the bottom and top of the display arm ...

... in order to enable stable articulation of the said arm ...

... as well as enable the arm to support the weight of the kit being displayed ...

... with the help of a gear/cog system that supports the arm against the base.

Bandai Action Base 2 Clear Blue [Completed] against an azure background

 In order to provide you with a rough idea hot the display stand looks against backgrounds other than azure, below are the photos of the base against black and white backgrounds.

Bandai Action Base 2 Clear Blue [Completed] against a black background

Bandai Action Base 2 Clear Blue [Completed] against a white background

 So in the end, I believe it was fortuitous to have been indirectly steered towards purchasing the clear blue versus the clear uncolored version. The real test as to whether this is the case will come when I attached the fully assembled Speeder Bike with or without the Scout Trooper onto the Action Base 2 and start taking photos. All I'll need to do is paint the rest of the bike's unfinished components, and assemble them, before I can make use of the base. So there's plenty of work ahead but the finishing line is clearly visible now. With that I'll end this post on an upbeat albeit humorous note. Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life - Terry Pratchett.