Aliens Gateway Station Shuttle for sale.

Long term readers of this here Blog may remember this project i undertook waytime back.
Had it in mind to build something a bit different from the Alien/Aliens universe.
Which this craft certainly is, being only very briefly glimpsed in the establishing shot of Gateway Station at the start of Aliens.
Despite it being hardly seen and hardly known, there's quite an interest in it, not least over on the RPF Forum:

http://www.therpf.com/f10/aliens-gateway-station-shuttle-research-thread-33207/

Anyway, i haven't had a go at it for along while, being busy on so many other projects to track down the rest of the parts i need.
Feel guilty about it just laying there in its box though so thought i'd pass it on to someone who'd like to take a crack at it, and its now up for sale on eBay - just type in "Aliens Gateway Station Shuttle" and you'll find it.

As i say in the description there, a lot of the ammassing is done already, consisting:

the main hull made from the Tamyia Porsche kit,
the green Macross hull for the bit that joins to it,
the 1/24th Huey Helicopter for the rear section and parts for the front mandibles,
the Yamaha RZV500R bike kit for the guns and some other sections,
loads of Macross Regult parts for various sections,
a Tornado tail for the, er, tail,
and a helicopter tail to be lain down horizontally beside the Tornado tail.

Fancy a go?

E-11 Blaster

So, my son's stiil deeply into Star wars, his birthadys coming up, i'm in Toys R' Us looking for presents, still in Blaster mode after starting my Victorain one, and come across the Hasbro toy version going for half price.
Always loved the design and know the costumers often use this very thing adapted with a resin conversion kit to make it more accurate.
So thought i'd have a go.
Buy the toy, order a the conversion set, and have it withina few days. Which is what you see in Pic 1.
At Pic 2 i've filled the screw holes in with P38 and sawn the orange tip off. I was careful here as i wanted to keep the red LED working (incidently, the sound effects in it are great - but far too tinny. Did think about cracking it open and replacing the speaker, but that'd be far, far too time consuming).
Pic 3 is the new end of the barell fitted, which fits nicely over the LED. And at the other end we've got a couple of detail pieces.
Pic 4 shows the magazine and other gubbins attached. There are far, far more accurate versions out there, as well as a proper scope, but, really, they're for if you're going for a 100% version.
Which this isn't.

Blake's 7 Ore Ship

Came across this on the Web and really like the skeletal apperance of it, so thought i'd have a go (btw, its the ship that crashes into the Nova Queen at the start of the "Star One" episode).
The Eagletransporter Forum is an excellent resource tool and i turned to them for the parts i'd need.
I'd already spotted the two Airfix Space Shuttle external fuel tanks missing a section each for the main bulk, and a few Star Wars parts but the rest was a mystery.
It quickly came back that the framework was a "ladder with cage" from EMA.
So, got the Space Shuttle kits quite quickly as i also needed bits from it for my Hairdryer Ship. And got the ladder when putting in an EMA order.
Yet again i had to eyeball it and decided to go with the 1/20th version as its the biggest they do.
Trouble is, if you comapare the two photos, they're not the same scale. Looks to be that, back in the 70's, EMA produced an even bigger scale.
But not now.
Oh well. Its the biggest they do so i'm going ahead with it - and have it more as an "inspired by" rather than a faithful reproduction.

WOTW Martian - finished

So here he is all done, with lights off and lights on. Cameras gone a bit mad and whited out the lenses, they're actually still the colour they should be.
Great fun building this, one of my favourite ever alien designs.
But do i now dare get the Spielberg version to sit alongside it?

B7 Hairdryer Ship - EMA parts on.

Well that was hit and miss.
A lot of the detailing on this craft is with items from the EMA catalogue (Matt says they had boxes of all sorts from them in the late 70's and just had a rummage for anything that looked right).
Some parts i had names and part numbers for and some i just had to eyeball, guessing what size to use by looking at what i had in front of me and judging where things might reach too.
Most successful of the eyeballing was this middle prong thing. I knew it was made from two Concentric Reducers with two Hemispheres glued together to form a ball between them. To try and get the right size of the parts, i roughly drew out the shape on card, changing it until i had the right size in relation to where it sits between the hairdryer handles. Then measured them and looked for roughly that size in the catalogue. Pretty pleased to see i've got it about right.
On this rear shot you can see i've got the odd end shapes each side of the tube. Exterminator over on the Eagle Forum very kindly pointed out what they were - hinges - and here they are with the Saturn V engine bell half inside it.
Less successful was the ladder affair here at the rear. It'd been suggested that it wss EMA, and maybe it is, but not this size. Far too small.
Ditto the next pic. The middle prong ends with a cap affair and i'd been told that they were also up top to make the dome shapes either side of the R2D2 leg piece. Nope, far too tall. So i'm not using them.
Ditto the green things at the side here. They're meant to go on the front but are far, far too small. Which is a bugger as i ordered them from the States especially. can't be bothered to order more so am going to look around for felt tip pen caps for soemthing similar.

WOTW Martian - nearly done now

Okay, got the lighting problem sorted by putting an LED behind each lens, and i've put him back together and the skins pretty much done.
Base too. Apart from the camera, i'm keeping it in muted colours so as to not detact from the figure

RIP Tony Curtis

Please forgive this interuption from the scheduled themes, but i'm pretty darn cut up about this.
Tony Curtis was THE man when i was growing up and the only person i wanted to be when did finally grow up. First saw him in the Vikings, then Spartacus, then as the Great Leslie (still his finest hour IMO), then as Danny in The Persuaders.
Only as an adult did i see him in The Sweet Smell Of Sucess, The Bostan Strangler, Some Like It Hot and The Defiant One's and realised what an asonishing actor he was and what a great range he had.
The last few years i've been hoping for Tarantino to revitalise his career a la Travlota, but its wasn't meant to be.
Hopefully now, with him gone, folk'll realise what they've overlooked for so, so long. Not fair but it'll be something.
As he goes, i'm left with some terrific pieces of work to remember him by and the following quote (taken from memory, so apologies if its not quite right), that sums him up nicely:
"Aren't you worried a 70 year old marrying a 30 year old might bring upon a heart attack?"
"Hey, if she dies, she dies"

B7 Hairdryer Ship - more progress

This here projects had a wee bit of a stall as, before i can attach any more detail, i needed half a fuel tank from an "AMT Cabover" truck. Not willing to pay out a lot of dosh for a kit in the States just for a tiny bit.
So, been getting kinda frustrating waiting for a UK sale. But then it occured to me that Martin Bower, with his vast stash of kitbits, might have just what i needed.
He didn't, but did have something very similar - it was too long, close ended, had extra detail and chrome plated but would do.
Once i got it was a simple matter of just sawing it to the right size and bunging it on. The only difference once all done will be a little bit more detail on it than the original but i can live with that.
Now its on you can see i've started adding more kitbits around it.

Galactica Viper - off we go

So the ships landed and off we go with it.
This is how we were after just 10 mins - the landing gear flaps attached and the cockpit assembled and primed. Actually, the cockpit isn't glued, its just pushed together (which is very easy to do and the parts stay put) as i want to take it apart again after priming to get in there and detail it properly.
A couple of things to note from the instruction sheet. Sure its nice to have colour photos of where you're at in the build, but the text is rather confusing and often contradicts just where each part goes compared to the pics. Would have prefered line drawings meself.

Victorian Blaster - front part done

So i've attached the SR4 parts as blanking plates and attached the barrels to them. You can also see i've added some detail to the underside. That's really just to blend the barrels in and hopefully not make them look like they've just been bunged on there.
REALLY good BitSpotters will see they're the bay doors off the self same Shuttle kit i got the barrels from.

Victorian Lunar Lander - in grey

Have to hurry this along now as there's so many projects on the go and about to start.

Star Wars in 3D

*Sigh* It had to happen didn't it? Any chance to wring some money out of it they'll do:

http://www.starwars.com/movies/saga/announce3d/index.html

Victorian Blaster - underway

Okay, lets get started shall we?
Here i'm filling in the screw holes and i've adapted the Shuttle rockets by cutting one half down so the other side will fit flush to the sides of the gun. Didn't want to just bung them on so you can see here one of two pieces from the Airfix SR4 Hovercraft that i'll be cutting down and adding as a spacer between the tubes and the main body. I've also got here half of a fuel tank from an aircraft kit that i'll be putting up on the top to get rid of the rather crude, blocky shape that's already there.

Galactica Viper group build

Really looking forward to this.
Over on the SFMUK site - http://www.scifimodels.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85:group-build-sfmuk-viper-squadron&catid=11:groupbuilds&Itemid=19 - a new group build is just about to start.
Namely, everyone builds the Moebius Models kit of the Viper in the livery of a made up Battlestar.
Its been put to the vote and, for this project, the ship the Viper resides in is "Battlestar Excalibur" and they belong to "Spitfire" Squadron.
Rules are:
Must be in this most probably the one colour scheme of red white and blue.
Ship must be as white as possible as the special custom decals we'll be supplied with are translucent.
And it looks like we've got to have them with landing gear down.
That's because next year they'll all be going to the Crewe model show to be displayed in a hanger setting.

Star Wars Galactic Battles

The house right now is deeply into Star Wars and the Sprogs have been very good, so went off to the toy shop to get them a reward.
Came back with these figures from a new idea, which is you get the figure plus a card, bit like a Top Trump, to which you can battle your opponent.
Totally stunned by the quality of them - the detail and casting is amazing (especially on IG88 here) and the paint job on the eyes is top notch. I couldn't do that well taking ages, let alone on a production line.

Victorian Blaster

Still in the Steampunk frame of mind, this new project was brought about mainly by:
(A) Just finishing the Doctor Grordbort albums - lovely Victorian-set space adnvetures, very tongie in cheek, with some excellent armour designs, care of Weta Workshop (each of which you can buy. Can't help feeling the books are glorified adverts for the range).
The other is my good friend Fluffy who, over on Facebook has created the persona of "Jack Union, Victorian Monster Hunter ( http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=670096103#!/pages/Jack-Union-Victorian-Monster-Hunter/122950984420156?ref=ts ).
Fired up by both, thougt i'd have a go at making my own weapon, so set out to look for a toy gun that i could use as the basis.
Found it on the first go - Asda have this one on special offer at only 6 quid. I was attracted to it by the neat, swept back grip and the fact there's some detail at the rear that's nice and clunky and that i could retain.
Stripping of its guts, i then thought how i'd adapt it. First idea was to saw the barrel off and bung on an Ovaltine jar. That'd make for a nice, bulky unusual design but (a) its not really in keeping with the elegant swept back look of the grp, (b) figure it'd look to much like Hellboy's gun.
Had a trawl round the shops for some sort of tubing affair that i could add to it, but came up with nothing.
Had a look through my spares box though and came up with this - its one of the external rockets from the Airfix Space Shuttle kit and is the tube shape i want, plus it has nice ribbed detail along it and a flared end, which i'm hoping will be reminiscent of a blunderbuss.
I'm also going to put one on each side to make a double barrel affair.

Star Wars Year By Year

Been umming and ahhing over this for the last few weeks. Its on offer in my local bookshop at £24.99 instead of the RRP £35.00, mighty big, mighty thick, in a nice slipcase.
Been putting it off thinking its a bit of a fluff piece - i mean, if its really year by year then how do they fill the quiet years.
So, been putting it off, figuring i'll save my money for the mighty impressive "Making Of The Empire Strikes Back", which is out next month.
But, i'm alone with the Sprogs tonight, need an early night so a films out, and figure a new book along with a glass of wine might be just the ticket.
So got it.
And very glad i am too.
Not that wordy, it being more a visual guide to the events prior, during and after each film, but the pictures are fantastic.
Like the "Making" Star wars book - and i'm guessing the upcoming Empire one - there's tons of never seen before photos, not only of Lucas' films, but related one's too. And related is quite an open net.
So, for example, in 1973 you not only get to see what George was up to, but a lot of other folk who'll soon join the project - cue a nice still of Dave Prowse from "Frankenstien And The Monster From Hell".
Still flicking through it at the mo' and will have a proper read once i turn this darn thing off, but of not so far is:
brilliant close-up of the Falcon being detailed,
unusual shot of Vader in mid-robing,
nostalgia shots of the very first action figures,
the bizarro covers of some of the Marvel comics between films,
the flashback of "Splinter Of The Mind's Eye".
Looks to be a great read. Will post up some of my favourite images soon.

Victorian Lunar Lander

Wee bit of progress here. Bunged on some of my beloved Go-Fasta Stripes and some bits i think look the part. Decided to have detail hanging down a bit on the lower section. It breaks up the simple design i know, but feel its too elegant looking at the moment and not nearly clunky enough.
The silver vertical piece on the right is a chrome exhaust from a bike kit and will eventually be a chimmney. Totally illogical to have anything like it i know, but i like it.

WOTW Martian - ah, poo

Poo indeed.
There he is, pretty much done all bar the veins and eye membrane needing painted.
Feeling pretty pleased with it, i turn on the LED to see how its looking...
And something that had never occured to me became glaringly obvious.
Those type of LED's are bright to be sure - but most of the light goes staight ahead instead of in all directions as in conventional bulbs.
Meaning its lighting up the rear of the centre of the lenses membrane and hardly any of it is going out the clear parts.
*Fume*
So, have now dug out the lens (which i'd luckily not glued in) and prised apart the body (which i'd unluckily had) to get the LED and its wiring out.
Decided best step is to get two more of them and try and place each right up behind each clear section.
And i've painted the eye socket silver now, figuring it could collect any stray light and bounce it forwards.

WOTW Martian - starting the painting

(1) Here's the eye for the fella and for the camera. I've painted both on the inside with Tamiya Clear colours and blocked in the dividing areas between each lens on the outside in black.
(2) The curse of studio lighting strikes again. The chappie varies a lot even in the very brief time he's seen on-screen due to all the moody lighting. The clearest shot you goet of him lit properly is when Anne spies him outside the house and he seems to be quite a salmony flesh tone. You can just about see it as highlights in this still.
(3) So, here he is based in Games Workshops "Dwarf Flesh"

Liberator - small update

Apologies for anyone watching for progress on this build. I am still working on it but... the flamin' brass wire for the prongs are REALLY hacking me off. They're so small and delicate and prone to bending that i keep putting them aside to turn to easier fare. But you can see here that the weapon pods are coming together nicely.

WOTW Martian - assembly

(1) Right, first thing to address was lighting the fella up. A trip to the el cheapo store got me a single LED torch for a quid. Broke it open to get to the bulb, then soldered a long lead to it.
)2) Next was clean up and wash. Clean up was a simple case of removing the pour lugs., no seam lines, no filling needed. LOVE this kit.
Guessing Pegasus knew folk might want to light up the eye judging by the recess here behind the lens. As you can see, i've drilled right through. Also had to drill a hole through the middle of the body.
(3) The part fit is so good that i could assemble everything together without glue ready for priming.
(4) Here's the head with primer on, the eye socket area painted black to prevent light bleeding though (although the things so thick, don't think that'll be a prob) and the LED fitted. Looks like its a tad too bright but that's ok - its powered by three tiny watch batteries and, by removing one, i can reduce the light by a third. We'll see how it looks when the lens is painted and in.

WOTW Martian

Blimey, i only went into Modelzone for some glue and filler...
Been awaiting this kit since it was announced as the George Pal version of War Of The Worlds was my number one film until Blade Runner knocked it off the top spot, and the Martian has always had a lot of charm, even if its nothing like Wells' original.
What was putting me off was the £34 price tag for a 1/8th figure.
So i figured i'd wait a while and see if i could pick it up cheaper. But there i was in the shop yesterday and there sat the fella looking at me.
And it took about 2 seconds before i gave in and bought him.
And was i glad too.
Open the box and you're presented with these here parts.
First thing to note is the hideous orange vinyl, which makes it look like something from the toy section of Poundland. Look beyond that though and there's a ton of luvverly skin detail and veins all over the place.
Next thing that's apparent is the clear base. Why? Still trying to figure it out but for the life of me i can't see why its done that way. It can't be to allow for some sort of uplighting as the base represents the floor of the ruined house, and there's so much junk on it that there's no way you could do it, even if such a thing happened in the film. Which it doesn't.
Then we have four arms. Its a nice choice - you choose to have them as on the box art, or them held together to cover up the eye as in the film when Gene Barry shines his torch at it. I'm going with the first one but will be using the spares to try out different colour schemes.
Next are the detailing parts. You get the shattered spy device, its neck, and a couple of books - one of which is The War Of The Worlds.
Finally, you get the eyes for both Martian and Spy. These are clear IP and, as the Martians eye is lit in the film, i can't really not light this fella up.
Might be a tad difficult though...
The vinyl is very heavy and thick, meaning drilling through the eye orbit into the head cavity will take some doing. Ditto running the cable down through the body.
The vinyl was a suprise - no heating up and triming of parts here. The don't have anything else other than small pouring stubs to remove and all sections fot together without glue as the peg system is so good.
Well done Pegasus.
Final thing to say is the size of the thing. I'd always figured, as it was 1/8th, it'd be pretty small. But, as you can see here, alongside my Iria kit in the same scale, he's a big fella.

Gumship is now a Victorian Lunar Lander

Decided to go the Steampunk route, so have to start making it look like such. Figuring nothing conveys steam-era ships more than portholes (other than a chimmny, but that makes no sense here) i've bunged some on, which are the smallest washers i could find.
And i'm just starting to add anything i can find that might look the part

Douglas Trumball

SO pleased this genius of a man has started posting these mini documentaries. The Blade Runner segments are just jaw-droppingly good:

http://douglastrumbull.com:80/videos

UFO Lunar Module - pretty much done

Yep, just a few more dark washes to blend everything in, and that's it. Here she is on her really rather nice lunar base. Will at some stage change the metal support rod for a clear one.

Gumship

So, back from holiday, all fired up and ready to do some modelling - but have to do tons of long, long shifts at work.
To ease the frustration a bit, decided to take some bits with me to work on there.
The main part being this ball. My wife, bless her, has developed an eye for shapes that she thinks i might be able to use and is always saving me things or bringing stuff home.
She went off to the shops when we were away and came back with this ball, thinking i might like it. Certainly do - but not the contents. They were the most God-awful apple flavoured chewing gums, which i mostly chucked away.
Anyway, took that to work and i also had a quick rummage through the large parts kit bits box and came up with these brown shapes. They're half a body and wings from an Anime kit that i've had for yonks now.
Took quite a bit of glueing and filling as the wings aren't meant to be legs and they're certainly not meant to join there, but in the end i had this.
All the while i'm working on it i'm thinking colour scheme. The unfeasabale design and the elegant detail on the wings/legs are suggesting two possible routes for me:
(1) A brightly coloured Flash Gordon affair.
(2) A Steampunk contraption.
Just got the latest Drone and there's a feature in there on Steampunk, plus there's a category devoted to the subject in next years Dronerama, so am thinking i'll go that way.