Gateway Shuttle - bit more

Little progress here. You can see here i've added to the Tornado tail and the Wessex tail halves (i've put them on the other way round to the original. Think they look better this way.) and just attached it to the front section with a rubber band for this photo.
On that front section you can see i've added some greeblies that cover up the wheel area and act like a spacer between the body and the carapce sections from a Formula 1 kit. Thought it appropriate to use bits from the Porsche kit for it.
What i hadn't considered - and will have to deal with - is that the rear section, with all its Plasticard and bits, is so much heavier than the very light, thin plastic front section. So started to pack it out as much as i can with Milliput inside.

Battlecruiser - pastelling

As you can see, have started on the pastelling. Doin one side at a time and thought you might like to see the difference it makes.

Best Moments In Film # 1 - Opening 2

Too long to put the whole thing up, but this first sequence stands head and shoulders above everything Spielberg has done IMO.
Started as a Projectionist the year this came out and i watched this opening EVERY SHOW of EVERY SHIFT of EVERY DAY i worked, thinking i had landed just about the best job in the world.

Battleship - adding the black

Top pic is just before spraying. To begin the masking i used my old friend Go Fasta stripes. This was because they're very low tac and very flexible, meaning i could lift them up and down again without fear of pulling up any paint, plus they easily fit into recesses.
Just got to tidy up a few places where the blacks seeped under, replace a few decals that lifted off, some white one's on the black surfaces, then pastel.

Gateway Shuttle - starting the rear section.

Very simple this. Put some Plasticard on the underside of the "wings". Got some of this neat semicircle tubing (from B&Q - used for concealing wiring along your skirtingboard), so cut some to size, made a platform for the wings to sit on and attached them. On the original studio model the "wings" were left open on the front but i didn't want that. Blanked them off and added a couple of engine cowls from the B-29 which luckily almost fit. Finally, tidied up the end of the tubing with a piece of ribbed Plasticard.

Top Ten TV Openings - #2

How i loved and love the hardware on show. Makes no difference that a lot doesn't stand up to the scrunity of logic, Meddings and co achieved brilliance.

Battlecruiser - adding decals

The whole things VERY glossy - which is great for adding decals - but a nightmare to put washes on. So have put a few decals on prior to the Matt Varnish.

Battlecruiser - yellow

Gateway Shuttle - now really a variation on a theme.

So, if i'm to be anywhere near accurate i need a 1/24th Huey Hog for the main tail section.
Seems there's none to be had right now in the UK. There's a few in the States but 25.00+ (if i'm lucky), then postage, then the now obligatory Customs charge would make it about 55 quid - if i'm lucky. All for the end off the tail and maybe a couple of guns or a couple of shapes.
No, no way can i justify that.
So, along with the above and the fact that there doesn't seem to be any shots of the rear or underside (meaning a large part of the build would be conjecture), has resulted in my deciding to go completetly my own way and just the vary basic form as a basis for my own design (much like the Blakes 7 craft).
Maybe it'll be another version of the one in the film?
What to use though for the main tail parts? The only 1/24th thing i have is the Airfix Harrier but that's a bit too thick for what i need.
Had a lightbulb moment yesterday when i realised the 1/72nd B-29 i've bought for the Psydon Ship has a tail just the right thickness. So cut them off from the main halves and here they are Blu Tac'd in place with the other parts. Again, no idea what was used for the central section that eveerythings joined to, so have used some nice grooved piping i had lying around.

Top Ten TV Openings - #1

While i'm strolling down memory lane via Youtube Lane, here we go with my favourite ever openings to TV shows.
Number 1 has been quite fairly lambasted for the cheapness of the production, the barminess of some of the tales and the woodiness of some of the acting.
Quite true.
But rising above the tackiness were the credits, which the show itself could never hope to approach in terms of moodiness and downright creepiness.
Dunno what's the most unsettling, the score or the images, especially the foetus and closing hand.
Coming soon: Number2. Which'll it be? Well, its a show that sports my favourite hardware design of any TV show, has my second biggest crush i had during my pre-teens, and was responsible for the only time i've ever fancied owning a string vest...

B7 Attack Craft - main part done

All i've to do is finish off some battle damage (i'd been a hit too heavy with the pastelling in a couple of places and am disguising them with paint chips etc).
I've also put in a window. Wasn't going to do such an Earth-type thing, but the recess here SCREAMED window, and it'd be a nice bit of solid black to break up the white.

Best Moments In Film # 4 - Take off 1

Okay, its the Special Edition but, boy, watch this and i'm a 16 year old again, fair wetting me cinema seat with excitement.

Best Moments In Film # 3 - Goosebumps 2

Brilliant, brilliant stuff, made even better that it was improvised by Mr Haur. I can watch this over and over and over and over and over. If i have one criticism its that it should be "tears IN the rain".

Best Moments In Film # 2 - Goosebumps 1

This sequence, and especially when Supes catches the helicopter WITH ONE HAND, never, ever, ever fails to give me goosebumps - and a lump to my throat.

Best Moments In Film # 1 - Opening 1

Thanks to andrew Glazebrook for showing me how, here we go with my favourite ever moments in film - those that i can watch again and again, the best bits of my best films and that i never tire of.
First up, the best ever opening to a film (from 2:45):

Gateway Shuttle - bugger, bugger and thrice times bugger

Percieved wisdom is that the large helicopter tails at the rear are from a 1/48th Huey Hog.

Postie delivered mine today. Put it up against my 1/72 Wessex and Tornado tails (which i know to be correct) - and not only is it too small, dimension-wise i think its the wrong shape.

Thinking the size difference is pointing to a 1/24th rather than a 1/32nd kit. As to what type? Gawd knows...

Brilliant 50/60's SF Site

Courtesy of a link on Andrew Glazebrooks Blog, this - bizarrely IMO - is a site devoted to a The Humanoid.

Not much for me there. But scroll down and there's an exhaustive section devoted to 50/60's SF film.

VERY indepth and highly recommended:

http://www.golobthehumanoid.com/cosmic-classics.html

B7 Attack Craft - pastelled

Here she is pastelled. But the trouble is she looks, well, pastel. There's no solid blacks for contrast, so in i go with the paint brush.

Psydon Ship - movement

Finally, finally, some progress. This project stalled as one of the things i need is an Airfix B-29 kit. But i'll be darned if i'm going to pay out a lot for only 5 parts. Finally got one cheap though so expect progress soon.

B7 Attack Craft - factory finish

Here she is with panels picked out in Skull White, then the panels and detail outlined in pencil and decals added. Kept to a pallette of just red and black with them, and nothing to give an Earth origin.