Scale Sci-Fi Models

This is my USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. I completed it about fifteen years ago and it was the first model I had attempted since I was a boy. I started it when Star Trek The Next Generation was showing on Sky Television every day at five PM. I used to work a split shift and it was during the middle three hours when I did all the work.

As this was the first model I had attempted for many years I had to develop techniques on the fly. I had now glue or paint and no idea what to expect. the first problem I came across was when the saucer section did not fit the main engineering section. Instead of filling the gaps I poured glue into them and painted over the cracks to hide the joints. The technique worked well but in later models I used filler as the paint tended to shine a little over the 'glue' cracks!

The colors are not 100% true to life but I was more than impressed with the finished model. One of the things I would have liked would have been lights in this kit, however ERTL did not issue any until some time later. My brother eventually got the kit with lights, but he has not finished it yet.

This model was very quickly constructed and painted whilst I was finishing another model. I was getting fed up and this seemed like the ideal diversion. The bay originally opened to reveal the Canada arm and a small satellite but I sealed the doors in the closed position. The basic construction was very simple but required a little filler around the bay doors and wings. I properly spent more time painting the base than the Shuttle itself, it is modelled like the earth so I spent a little while on the polar cap and clouds.

I once saw a Space Shuttle waiting to lift off on it's launch pad but was unable to stay to see it take off. I would like to see one launch one day but of course I would really love to fly in one! My Shuttle is called Discovery, with the kit you have the option to use the names Atlantis or Endeavour as they supply decals for both. I would have liked it if they had included the prototype name Enterprise.

I made it many years ago not long after I had been to the Kennedy Space Centre and there was a shuttle on the launch pad. it was a fantastic sight but I cant imagine what it must be like to actually be on board let alone see it take off.

A few years ago I got the Naboo Starfighter Die cast kit made by AMT/ETRL. The first thing I noticed about the model was the weight of the box and its contents. I have only ever used injection molded kits which are feather light in comparison. The second thing is the price, twice as much as the regular plastic kit of the same subject. The first thing that greets you is the excellent artwork on the cover of the box. This would seem to be a stock picture because it also appears in the book, Star Wars Episode 1, The Visual Dictionary.

The parts inside the box are all well wrapped to protect them from bumps and knocks that may occur in transit. The only problem I had was with the tiny screws, there packet was open and one screw had got lost somewhere along the line. I don't think it would have cost too much to put a couple of spares in the kit, they are very tiny and easily misplaced.

All the die cast parts are pre painted yellow or silver and some of the plastic parts in the kit are painted yellow as well. The only painting and assembly work needed is on the pilot and cockpit and the R2 unit. I detailed and completed the necessary work in no time, then I removed the pre painted plastic parts from the tree they are still attached to. This is a bit of a pain because it leaves a nasty little bump which I had to file down and then find some yellow paint of a similar hue to dab over the blemish. The final stage is just the simple process of screwing all the parts together and plugging the screw holes with the stops provided. And that is it, the job is done. With a normal plastic kit I would be painting and filling for days, but this kit is not intended to be like that. I could always go and buy the plastic kit if I wanted to go down that road.

This is the Captured Alien Attacker from the 20th Century Fox film, Independence Day. I built this quite a long time ago now so some of the details are a little sketchy.
The model is manufactured by Lindberg. I think it is the only one of there's I have made. The assembly of the main components was very straight forward.

Painting this model was interesting, I used Gun-Metal paint for the first time. After applying the paint and letting it dry you can polish away the top layer to recreate a metal effect. The engine cooler fins are painted with metallic copper and brass colored paints and I used chrome silver to pick out the panel joints.

There are some great surface details on this model which really add to the overall quality of the whole thing. With only about 14 parts including the base, this has to be one of the simplest models I have ever made. Everything fitted together well and required little or no filling what so ever.

I enjoyed the special effects in the movie far better than the gung-ho, jingoistic plot and this is a great reminder of a simple, but excellent space ship design.

"The light repulsorlift Imperial speeder bike carries one or two riders at high velocities for reconnaissance and antipersonnel missions. An unusual turbine repolsorlift makes the bike stable even in extreme manoeuvres. Forward-reaching repulsor fields help thread it through obstacles like trees, but their guidance must be used carefully because they are not strong enough to deflect the bike away from obstacles on their own."

Extract from Star Wars, The Visual Dictionary

I think this to be the best model I have made so far. I spent a considerable amount of time and effort into getting it right and I am really pleased with the results. It is two projects in one because you have to build the Speeder Bike and the Scout Troop which both require different skills.

Firstly I will start with the Speeder Bike. The most important thing in getting this to look so good was excellent reference material. I read somewhere that the colours recommended with the kit were incorrect so I got the Star Wars Archives book which has got some great pictures in it. This set me on the right track. The other stroke of luck was my recent discovery of enamel Gun Metal paint which you apply and when it is dry, rub with a soft rag to reveal a polished metallic effect. This made the frame of the bike look really good.

I painted the main body of the bike grey first and then mixed the brown myself using enamel paints.

I always hand paint using enamels which makes thing difficult at times, there are far easier mediums but I like the results. There was a little filling on this model, in particular, where the handle bars met the shell and the cables and levers are very fragile. I mixed a lighter brown for the saddle bag and then made the whole thing look used by smudging and streaking different colours here and there. One thing I did before I painted the bike was scratch the shell with a file to simulate damage on the bodywork. This paid off by adding an extra bit of realism.

Next came the Scout Trooper, he was the first person I had ever made. Basically the arms and head attach to body and then he needed painting. However there was a lot of filling and some modelling to be done first. I found the arms did not fit very well so I got some modelling clay and improvised shoulder joints which moved the arm away from the body a little bit and meant I had to sculpt the shoulder pads where they met the body. The head was similar, I added a bit of neck and sculptor that accordingly. I scratch built a breathing piece for the front of the helmet and painted it silver, I also made a lid for the top of his back pack. I sprayed the scout matt black and then painted the armour gloss white. I picked out the details with matt black then dirtied the whole thing down. I think he turned out pretty good for my first person.

This is my very small Klingon Bird of Prey model. It only measures 85mm by 120mm but it is very detailed. I spent considerable time painting this model and I experimented with new techniques to achieve the desired result. As you can see from the picture above, the ship looks very good close up thanks to the extra attention to detail.

I employed a dry brushing technique for the first time. After applying a base coat, I used a cocktail stick to dab a small spot of paint and then work it in with a dry brush. It took quite a while to do the whole model but it all seemed worth while.

For the picture at the top of the page I used Adobe PhotoShop to cut out the picture of the ship and then dropped a picture of a moon behind it. I added some lens effects and adjusted the colour and contrast for a little more realism. I think it almost looks like a still from one of the movies, now all I need to is create the other 20,000 frames and I will have my own movie !

Here is the U.S.S ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-E. I completed it at the end of 1998 after about 4 months on and off. It was such a daunting paint job and I wanted to get it right so I took my time and I think it paid off. This is how I would have liked the Defiant model to have turned out but it took so long and I still have Voyager to build yet which is very similar. With the picture above I just held the model in my room with one hand and photographed it with the other, then imported it into PhotoShop and cut out the background and replaced it with the star background. I then added a bit of a glow to the warp nacelles and a blue hue to the white windows, then added the lens flare and darkened everything a little.

The construction was quite involved and required quite a bit of filling and a little re-modelling around the nacelle pylon area. I painted the clear plastic pieces on both sides with clear red and blue paint and then backed them with self adhesive silver reflective tape to give them some life. The tape was left over from another model with a lighting kit and they look great in natural light. One problem I had was the deflector dish did not stick properly and fell into the hull of the ship.

I had to use a bit of Blue-Tak on the end of a pen to pull it back into position and glue it properly. Once everything was glued, filled and sanded down I sprayed the whole thing with a couple of coats of grey primer (after masking the clear plastic bits). I then sprayed the final light grey, using car spray paint, and left the thing to dry for a few days. Then came the tedious job of picking out all the panels with three different shades of gray. This was all done by hand, following the guide in the kit, however looking at the finished model now it is not as accurate as it could have been and some of the panels should be darker.

Once I had finished the hull panels I started on the windows, painting them Gloss white or matt black at random. There are hundreds of them and some are so tiny I used a cocktail stick to dab the paint on. I found the best approach was to paint the window and then re-paint the gray panel to cover up any mistakes. I had to do this in lots of short sittings because after about twenty minutes I got so bored that I would start to loose my concentration. The windows alone took a couple of weeks

The final task was the transfer decals. There are quite a lot of these and this took a couple of sittings to complete. The main difficulty here was getting all the red lines straight and I found they did not stick to the light grey areas very well so they had to be completely dry before I could handle the model or else they would slip. The main NCC 1701-E logo's on the top and bottom were a bit of a challenge also because they lie on top of little ribs that stuck up out of the hull, so I just had to be patient with them.

I finished the decals with the life pods and the very tricky red arcs around the edge of the phaser banks. I need to give the model a coat of lacquer but I will wait till the weather gets a little warmer first. I enjoyed this project but it did drag on a little but the finished model is superb, Picard would be proud !