Alien Derelict - wings on

So here you go. It went ok putting these on, although i was pretty nervous of the join between the wings and body not being strong enough and that's the explanation of the rather clunky Plasticard strips where the two meet - it gives the glue plenty of surfaces to key onto.

Alien Derelict - Command Module

Blimey, two post in one day!

Here we are with the microphone taken apart, the end cut off (note the right mess of that. Will cover it up with Plasticard), labels washed off and everything glued back again.

I'm halfway through putting on panels to break up the bare surfaces and i've also bunged on a cable tie.

Just starting to put on some kitbits.

Second pic is the inside. What's brilliant about using this mic is that glue sticks so well. On the diaphram there you'll see and engine nozzle from the Starfury kit. I'm going to put a few more bits and pieces in there too. Haven't made up my mind whether this part is a weapon or some sort of intake.

What's also brilliant about this mic is that it fits really snuggly over the main body.

Its all going very well.

Won't last...

Alien Derelict - decent progress

Finally, FINALLY, some movement ahead.

I've overcome the stumbling block with the command module. You might remember that i had in mind to use two EMA hemispheres for this but wanted a spacer between the two halves so i didn't just have a ball on the end (Martin Bower did that on the original that inspired this build, but i really like how he used the spacer idea on his 1999 Battlecruiser).

Trouble has been sourcing the right diameter spacer.

Here's the progress - scrapped the ball idea completely and am now using my daughters old toy microphone. It already has tons of nifty ribbing and detail and looks like i can just slip it over the main part of the ship.

I'm going to keep the purple bit on the end off as then you can see the diaphram inside, which i intend to glue bits to. So, it'll be more of a nod to Martin's as you can see here he did the same sort of thing, albiet inside the clear hemisphere.

The second pic of mine is the bit i've been dreading. The EMA cone takes to glue jsut fine. The B&Q piping doesn't. I've wrapped Plasticard all round the pipe so i can stick kitbits to it, but it doesn't extend far enough, or thick enough, to touch the cone enough to give a good join.

So, have smeared gap filling all round the inside of the pipe, jammed the cone in and let gravity and time do its job.

Seems to have worked but, just to be sure, you can see i've added some Plastruct strips along the body near the cone.

This is mainly to make good locating areas for when i attach the wings (i'll be butting the wings up against them) but i've also made them touch the cone and then coated where they touch with liberal amounts of liquid cement.

You'll also see i've started putting on go-fasta stripes on the cone for panel lines.

The state of my workbench

Put this pic up to try and shame myself into clearing the blummin' thing up. Bad innit?

You can make at the front there the four Pods for my Alien Derelict. Almost finished putting loads of panel lines and greeblies on to stop them looking like the plastic bottles there are.

Also visible are the wings for the Pods. Each is made from 3 sections of Plasticard to bulk them up a bit, and lots of panels too. Got to finish these before i can attch them to the Pods.

Alien Derelict - pods - part 1

Bugger.

The tubes don't take to superglue at all. So, how to attach them to the Plasticard wings i'm gonna make?

The wings are gonna be too thin to drill and place pins into so i'm instead gonna wrap the tubes in very thin Plasticard then glue onto that.

First thing to do though is cover up all the manufactures logos etc that are on the base, which will be facing forward on the ship.

How to do that?

Well, if i cap each off with a dome shape, i can cheat by putting a self-tapper into each tube then fill the dome with P38 filler and squish the two together.

The P38 fills the dome nice and snug and sticks very well to the protruding screw. A nice easy way out of that one.

Here you can see me just about to mix up the P38. I've decided to use 4 different domes as i intend it to be an alien ship, therefore no symetetry if i can help it.

Alien Derelict - progress at last

So, been getting odd looks going round shops with a piece of paper roughly the shape i need for the wing pod things.

Finally found these in the brewing section of Wilkenson's at 69p each.

Hoping glue will stick to it, otherwise i've got to come up with some sort of screw affair to attach them to the wings.

It would be a shame if glue doesn't work as the really nice ribbing on them came off when i tipped the yeast out, and i'd like to keep them.

Alien Derelict - a stumbling block

You may remember this - a ship i'm building based loosely on one Martin Bower did for the brilliant "Dragons Domain" episode of Space 1999.

I'm happy with the engine area, which you can see here is nearly done.

The command module will be made from these two EMA hemispheres, but if i just glue them together, it'll look like 2001's Discovery and i don't want that. Looking for a spacer the right size to put between them to make a more interesting shape. But that's taking time.

Biggest set back though are the "wings". There are toe be 4 of them and they're very similar to the 3 on the Liberator in that they end in tubular shapes.

Trouble is, until i get the shapes, i can't make the wings.

And i can't put the engine on till the wings are in place.

And i can't detail the length of the ship until all that lot are in place as, you can here, the only places i can stick them is where i've wrapped Plasticard round the drain pipe. And i'm worried they'll ping off with all the handling.

Frustrating.

Grand Lunar - change of colours

So, was a stumped about what to go for with his skin tones. Asked Matt Brooker as he's the artist of the design i'd based it on.

He said pale skin with dark eyes would be a nice contast, and plays up the fact that the Selenites are subterrainen. Tried it with a very pale regular skin job but the contrast was just TOO much between that and the black eyes.

So, had a rethink and decided to go for grey tones, figuring they're close enough to black to stop it being too jarring.

Trouble i'm having though is the grey is kinda bland. So am experimenting with colour washes to make it a bit more interesting

I'm back

Sorry to anyone who pops in here from time to time to see what i've been up to.
Not much just lately. Promotion at work has had me occupied mentally and decorating as me tied up physically.
But, coming out of that now so hopefully there'll be more in the way of regular posts again.