Deep Water Hunter - build done

I've ummed and ahhed over what to do for this ships weaponry. In the end i've gone for this - an old lighter. Really wasn't too sure at first as i thought it detracted from the lines of the craft, but its grown on me since i've put the primer on.

Blade Runner Blaster - almost done

Gunmetal applied now. If you go on the forums, you see that the metallic parts are actually in about 4 shades. But, as this isn't the most accurate of versions, and i've not lit it either, i'm not that bothered by sticking to one dark and one light shade.

Deep Water Hunter - on its way

Quite a bit of progress. I was going to add lots of tubes and wings to make it a real different looking Sub, but the main hull is covered with rivets (one of the reasons i'm making it for the MaK universe) and anything add won't so would look a bit odd. So limited it to a couple of the small wings from the kit.
Been adding lots of tiny detail though and also filled in the huge gap where the wings are meant to go. I'm keeping the rear section just like this as i have it in mind that its propulsion system is rather like a squids - suck water in and shoot it out the back.

Blade Runner Blaster - colours

Here it is primed, black and black with aluminium for the grip area. I'm keeping the LED section apart for ease of painting the barrel.

Deep Water Hunter

Or "Tiefer Wasserjager" as its going to be from the Ma.K universe. Its - maybe - a 1/44th submarine that lurks on the sea bottom, rising up to attack surface ships.
as you can probably tell, its the 1/24th Airfix Harrier, turned upside down and round the wrong way.
All i've done so far to bung some domes (yo yo halves dont'cha know - a tip picked up from Mr Bower) to fill in the air intakes

U.S.S. Glazebrook - bit of an update

For anyone wanting to see how the ol' girl is getting along, here's where she is right now.
Am really taking my time on this, doing a bit here and there on the weathering and detailing side, making sure its right.

Martin Bower's Orion and Liberator

Bit of self-pimpage here, by the latest issue of Bowerhouse is almost ready to ship.
Inside you'll find a large article on 2001's Orion and a HUGE feature on Blakes 7's Liberator.
So huge in fact that the remit of one film, one TV and one original design has had to be given the elbow to do it justice.
Link here:

http://scifimodels.org.uk/phpWebsite/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=235

Nostromo

Here we go then with this lil' project. Clean-up of parts is underway and has been a simple job of removing some mould lines and rescribing some of the detail - helped by the resin being nice and soft.

Blade Runner Blaster

Off we go then - and straight into a snag.
I got this kit as it has the proper clear orange handgrips. It also comes with 4 red LED's for the side of the gun.
Problem.
While it'd be easy to install the LED's in the section (holes are marked), and easy to run the wires through the body of the gun, and the battery pack sits neatly in the hand grip, I'd have to drill out this spacer plug of resin you can see here to accomodate the tiny switch, also cut two channels for the wires then, when done, superglue the dummy switch on top of the real one.
Really wasn't looking forward to attempting that.
In the end i've decided not to light it at all.
Reasons:
(1) If i was going to light the red LED's then i'd have to purchase green LED's to make it totally accurate - but there's no way i can fit them onto the part where they go.
(2) If i lit it, i'd have to put threads into the handgrip area to allow for removal of the clear orange parts. a right palavar.
(3) there's no point in trying to be 100% accurate on the lighting side of things if the deail and lettering on the gun isn't accurate. Which it is/isn't.
So, no lights and an approximation of the real gun rather than a hero version. Bit lazy i know, but i'll end up with a better version than i had back in 1992.

Happy Birthday To Me

Yep, the days come around again. Planned on taking it easy, which i am, and - good timing here - two kits arrived today.
First up is the present from my Mum and is Deckards Blaster from Blade Runner. Had one of these back in the early 90's which was a solid lump of resin. This isn't, as you can see by the amount of parts, and far more accurate, having the clear orange hand grips plus LED's and wiring. It comes with a pretty comprehensive instruction sheet, which is going to be needed.
Also landing is a small version of the Nostromo. Always wanted a kit of this craft but the Halcyon is just too darn dear and too darn big (SO wish Fine Molds would have a go at it) and the Konami is tiny. So, at about 5 or 6 inches, this'll make for a nice project. It might be small but there's tons of parts and going to do a lot of research to work out what goes where (oh, the hardship)

Top Ten TV Openings - #3

Thought long and hard about this next one and, really, this is the TV show above all others that got me into SF.
As a 7-year old it wasn't the characters, the plot or any of that. It was the fact that i'd never seen anything like it before and, i'm guessing, back in the late 60's neither had many other Western folk.
Its the show that has the deepest impact on me, on the most emotional of levels. I listen to this theme song and i'm a nipper again.

Unknown Ship - finished

Down and dirty and, i think, as Andrew Glazebrook suggested, a mining ship

The Foamboard Challenge - a mistake

Well, the basic shape of the conning tower is finished and i'm happy with that.
Not happy though with what i've done mid-ship. Figured i'd put something there to break up the shape a bit and came up with these, which i'd have as landing pads for smaller craft.
But... too darn big and too darn clunky.
So they're coming off.

The Foamboard Challenge - bit more

Here we are with the front, rear and underside attached and gaps between them covered with high quality tape.
Also started on the conning tower, which i'm really trying to evoke the 2001 orbiting bombs and not a Star Wars Star Destroyer

The Foamboard Challenge

Been looking around for my next project and, for a bit of fun, thought i'd challenge myself to building something completely out of Foamboard.
I can clad it in Plasticard and kitbits for detailing afterwards, but all the main structures must be made from Foamboard - no bulky kit parts or household shapes are to be used at all.
Then i got to thinking:
Why not make it a challenge?
Throw down the gauntlet to see what other folk come up with?
Why not?
So, fancy having a go? If you do, you can send a link to it in the comments section here.
And here's the start of mine. I'm planning a conning tower at the rear, partly inspired by oil tankers, but mainly to the orbiting bombs in 2001 and a bit of the Dark Star:

U.S.S. Glazebrook - adding the decals

As well as the decals, you can see i'm well along with adding metallics, putting in rusty washes and picking panels out.
Getting near the end of this project so thoughts turned to building a make-shift landing platform is display it.

Unknown Ship - factory finish

Assembled, bascoated with Halfords Grey Plastic Primer, a coat of Satin Varnish to ease decal application, decals.
On to the fun of dirtying down.

Gateway Shuttle - tail rethink

You may remember that, when i started working on the Shuutles rear section, i got dismayed at the prospect of shelling out a lot of dough for the 1/24th Huey helicopter i'd need for the main parts.
Instead, i went my own way and created a riff on the design, using a B-29 tail instead. With me so far?
Well, when Matt Noble sent me the Macross parts for detailing the front section, he also sent me the two halves of the Regult legs to use for the tail. Trouble was, i couldn't use them.
So, as he'd been so kind, i couldn't not use them and decided to hang on and track down the helicopter i need and start again.
Strangely, it didn't take too long and was a fraction of what i've seen them go for - in fact less than what i paid for the Panzer vehicle a while back.
So here we are with it - what a whopper!

Modelwork of Alien video

It just keeps getting better and better - Dennis Lowe has now put up an over an hour long documentary about the modelwork of Alien.
Brilliant stuff. Hope its going to be on the Blu Ray release.

http://www.zen171398.zen.co.uk/

Black Beast Of Aaaaaarrrrgh

Was having a sort out of the cabinets, came across this fella and thought you might like to take a look.
I made him years back when the FTVMC was asking if folk would like to sculpt something that could be then sold by them as a garage kit and, being a huge Python fan, this beastie was a natch.
It was a real interesting challenge as i had to sculpt each part seperately, continually in contact with the caster to make sure there were no pronounced undercuts etc, bake it, then move on to the next part, making sure the fit was nice and tight.
This is, of course, one of the kits - the original having been destroyed in the casting process.
And i think its one of only 5 that were cast - it wasn't exactly popular. Still, there was a photo of it in Modellers Resource and we did sell one as far afield as Mexico, so i was chuffed.

Restoring the original Nostromo

Great as it is that the ol' girl is getting some TLC and will be preserved for the future, even better is that its going to be chronicled via pics and video:

http://www.propstore.com/nostromo.htm

Unknown Ship - bit more work

Had a play around, adding bits here and there - which is real easy with all the lovely parts there are on this kit - bunging them around the recess, but not covering it up as i want it to look really busy. Added some panel lines too.
Still to come is to give it a "face". Really feel spaceships - or any vehicle for that matter - need a face, some identifiable area to focus on. And in this case it'll be about a quarter of the way down from the top, in the middle.

U.S.S. Glazebrook - pastelling done

Finished, next up to pick out the metallics, wash them, then rusty bits and, at some point, decals.

Unknown Ship - the start

So, got that Panzer.... vehicle to turn into something SF. Trouble was, couldn't find anything as a substitute for the turret and REALLY want to crack on this with as i want to justify the hideous cost of the kit.
So, did a complete turnaround and now its to be a spacecraft rather than a land-based craft.
What's made my mind up is the intricate underside to this vehicle that would go unoticed - indeed, its such a nice bit of work its popped up in Star Wars and Galactica craft.
First pic shows the detail after i've pulled off the wings. still need to pull off the suspension that i'd glued on while thinking it'd be a tank.
Second pic is what i have in mind - the intricate part being the front to show it off and joined by a ribbed tube (which i've yet to source) to an engine section again an unfinished project kindly donated by Andrew Glazebrook.
Third pic is a bad shot of the engine section which you can see just needs a couple of panels finishing. But the Panzer... kit has so many great bits, its not gonna be a problem.

U.S.S. Glazebrook - pastelling

Been thinking long and hard about how i'm going to weather this ship and in the end decided against washes - the ships so huge i thought it'd looky a bit silly.
Instead i'm pastelling and you can see here i'm nearly done on the engine area. I'm doing it in sections then sealing as to do it all in one go would mean smudging the pastels through handling.
There's not too much in the way of the pastels as, again, i don't want to do anything that'd throw out the scale.
On top of this there'll be some rusty washes to bring out the most intricate detail Andrew put on.
Also, you'll see its still mainly grey. I will be putting on a ton of metallics but don't like the finish of them if i put varnish over them, so will do them when the whole ship is sealed.

Empire Of the Sun

Bit off topic, but when modelling, the usual music of choice is Electro - usually from the early 80's.
But am becoming obsssesed by this song, which sounds like it would fit right in back then. Lovely video too:

Gateway Shuttle - the high cost of modelling

See that beige bit on top of the green bit? £27.00 that's cost me.
Its from the "Tamiya (deep breath)Schwerer Panzerspahwagen 8-Rad" and 27 quid is the cheapest i could find anywhere (guessing the high price is it comes with brass etch parts) and i'd never usually pay that for only one tiny piece, but its a nice design and will use the main body to turn into a Lunar Tank or Anderson-style vehicle or Chris Foss-type thing.

Shield Ship - rear section done.

Here it is in grey primer and a few panels picked out in other greys. Next up is a heavy black wash and lots of drybrushing.

Gateway Shuttle - hull

Thanks to the top bloke that is Matt Noble, here we are with even more Macross parts in place, albiet stuck there crudely with Blu Tac.
Getting this far really has prompted me to identify those guns coming out the pods.

Gateway Shuttle - rear hull

Thanks to those clever bods over on the RPF, i've manged to get the rear half of the main hull.
Its actually the lower hull of this Macross kit, a kit i built back in the mid 80's (along with seemingly hundreds of others).
Bit of a shame to buy one just for that part as i've always liked the bizarre look of the ship and wouldn't mind another go.

Shield Ship - getting there

Another 15 hour shift at work yesterday, so took the Shield Ship in to work on.
Top pic is the dome with its top coat of "Ford Polar Grey" (pretty much the same shade as primer but nice and glossy for the decals), panels roughly outlined with pencil and various decals. Didn't go to town there as, with the amount of beating up i'm planning on doing to it, they wouldn't really notice.
Next pic, it with pastels added and Matt Varnish applied.
Below that we have the engine section, which is almost done.
Then an underside shot showing the connecting tube ready for the crew compartment.
And here it is, Revells MIR Station - which is a bit too clunky with its detail, so i'm adding new parts.