volume 36

UFO
ORIGINAL MINI ATURES UNEARTHED!
AMT

ENTERPRISE
ULTIMATE CONVERSION

MOEBIUS

COLONIAL ONE
 

Print editions can be obtained from:

www.scififantasymodeller.co.uk
info@scififantasymodeller.co.uk 

|2
 

volume 36
 

Hot from the Mould—breaking news 6

Upgrading Fujimi’s Deckard Sedan 8
Antique Astronaut 17
Hatched by Moebius—Deform Egg Viper 22
Captain Jean-Marc 'Nemo' gets cabin fever! 28
A trio of terror: resin busts 36
Maurauding Martian mayhem 41
Round 2’s Deep Space Nine trilogy 50
Chris Foss in three dimensions 59
Fit for a Presi
sid
den
entt—M
—Mo oebiu
iuss Co
Collon
oniial On
Onee 67
Small bubut de
deadly—Moebius 1: 1:72nd Viper 71
Original UFO
UFO miniatures ph photo-showcase 76
Studio 2—Mobile build part 3 87
Kool
Ko ol Ka
Katt Ki
Kit—
t—MoMoeb
ebiu
iuss Ne
Newm
wmar ar Ca
Catw
twom
omanan 89
Perfecting AMT’s 18" Enterprise 92

Editor-in-Chief/co-Publisher: Michael G. Reccia.

Specials Editor: Andy Pearson.
Art Editor/co-Publishe
Editor/co-Publisher:
r: David Openshaw.
Regular modelling team: Iain Costall, Barry Ford, Andy Pearson, Marco Scheloske, Gary R. Welsh.
This volume’s contributors: Jean-Marc Deschamps, Jason C. Gares, Grant Louden,
Derek Rushton, Michael Scarola, Jamie Smythe.

web: www.scififantasymodeller.co.uk 
editorial email: info@scififantasymodeller.co.uk 
Published by Happy Medium Press copyright © 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0-9930320-0-4
Printed in the United Kingdom by Pioneer Print Solutions.

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without written permission from the Publishers, except by a reviewer who
may quote brief passages in a review; nor may any part of this book be
reproduced,, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
reproduced
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without
written permission from the Publisher.
The views expressed by our contributors are not necessarily shared by Happy
Medium Press. Every care is taken to ensure that the contents of Sci.fi &
fantasy modeller are accurate, but the Publishers cannot accept responsibility
for errors. Responsibility for correct copyrighting of photographs, artwork
and illustrations lies with the contributor
contributor.. All copyrights are acknowledged.
Reasonable care is taken when accepting advertising. However,
However, the Publishers
cannot accept any responsibility for any resulting unsatisfactory transactions
or any inaccuracies contained within the ads themselves.
The publishers and author (contributors) take no responsibility for any harm
or injury to the reader as a result of using the techniques described in this
publication. Safety and common safe should always be foremost when using
these techniques and materials. Read all instructions and warnings on tools,
paint, glues, and all chemicals. Hobby knives are very sharp and serious injury
can result from improper use. Your work area should be well ventilated at all
times. Children should be supervised at all times by an adult familiar with
hobby safety. Please note that all hints, tips and procedures in this
publication are given in good faith and based on actual experience. However,
However,
neither the publisher nor authors (contributors) can be responsible if 
something goes wrong during construction.

|4

volume 36 EDITORIAL
The universe is kind to editors...
Sometimes it takes a decade or two, but isn’t it amazing
how good things actually do come to those who wait?
You see, I’ve always loved the look of it, but,
unfortunately, it was mostly filmed in nighttime scenes, so
I’ve only ever caught glimpses of those futuristic lines –
having to make educated guesses as to what the
t he whole thing
actually looked like, and never dreaming that one day I’d
actually be able to study it up close from every angle,
courtesy of clear and detailed colour photographs.
Imagine my surprise and absolute delight, then, on
first receiving copy and photographs for the UFO
original miniatures article featured in this Volume.
There it was: the Markers Universal Mobile Transporter from
Gerry Anderson’s first live action series (to be more exact, the
tractor/cab unit from that miniature) ...alive, well, and looking in
remarkably good shape for a forty-five year old FX model.
...And it had brought friends to the party, too, as you will
discover from the remarkable photographs of other UFO
original models, presented in these pages as an exclusive I
hope will have you staring in wonderment as much as I did
Follow us on Facebook [ http://www
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Scifi-fantasy-modeller/1
.facebook.com/pages/Scifi-fantasy-modeller/1100200
and Twitter [ http://twitter.com
http://twitter.com/#!/SffModeller
/#!/SffModeller ].
on that first viewing.
Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, as a genre
modeller I know you’ll appreciate being able to examine these
classic, expertly crafted SF models in detail for the first time.
Then, once you’ve had a lie down to recover, I hope you’ll
be equally delighted and enthused by the scratchbuilds, studio
scale wonders and ahead-of-release reviews crammed into
what we feel is a very special issue. Our sincere thanks to our
hard-working team for continually outdoing themselves in
terms of presentation, originality and skill.
Me? I’m hard at work with Dave on Volume 37. And, of 
course, I’m considering how fantastic a replica of the Mobile
Transporter (weighing in at around five-feet long, including its
trailer) would look on a shelf, complementing the studio scale
Studio 2 Mobile I’m building over multiple issues of this title.
I’m sure Jane would love one of those on the fireplace.
In the living room.
Next to the telly.
Dream on, Reccia.
...See you in ninety, and thank you, as always, for reading.
Michael G. Reccia
Editor-In-Chief 
1002002908516
29085161
1]
5|
 

HOT FROM THE MOULD

ROUNDING UP WHAT’S NEW AND HAPPENING IN SF AND FANTASY MODELLING

ROUND  2 with a few improvements over previous

issues of the kit. More info to come.
• STAR TREK: Ships of the Line. Blister-
carded model kits. More info soon.
Round 2‘s Jamie Hood reports:
RELIANT DECALS UPDATE
RECENT/UPCOMING RELEASES
 Jamie reports: We have heard all of the
The following should be on store
complaints about the decals that were
shelves by the time you read this:
included in our recent release of the
• AMT764 STAR TREK: Deep
1/1000 U.S.S. Reliant. We admit that
Space Nine Cadet Series set featuring
they were pretty terrible. It was a case of 
U.S.S. Defiant , U.S.S. Saratoga and
working with a new factory. Once we
Galor-class Cardassian ship (see
were made aware of the problem we
review
review this issue
issue – Ed.).
promised that when we ran a second
• MKA012 U.S.S. Reliant  Aztec
production run that we would improve
decals (at long last!).
them... and we have. We have made an
• POL926 BTTF 3 Time Machine.
extra 1000 decal sheets that we will send
• MPC816 Space: 1999 Eagle Deluxe
out (free of charge in the US) to anyone
Edition.
that requests a replacement by
submitting to the link on our website at
AND IN JANUARY/FEBRUARY
JANUARY/FEBRUARY...
... the following URL:
• HL603 (Hawk) Vanguard Satellite.
www.round2models.com/replacement/ 
• POL933 1:32 Classic Batmobile in
purple box packaging. Includes resin
Finally, and cryptically, from Jamie:
figures featuring accurate character
Lastly, we’ve got a major (and possibly
likenesses.
unexpected) kit development underway
• AMT913 STAR TREK: TOS U.S.S.
that may have rumours circulating
Enterprise Build2gether kit. Offers
soon. Though it might be shown on
both glue and snap Enterprises in one
upcoming distributor price lists soon,
box.
I’m not going to talk about it or show
anything until we have a mockup well
NEWS ON DEVELOPMENTS...
underway, which I hope to have on
• POL934 Romulan Bird-of-Prey:
display at Wonderfest . Lags in other
Mockup has been approved and tooling
kit development and cancellations of 
started. First test shots should be
other kits keeps me from saying
available
• POL912inALIEN
early January.
January.
XO Kane resin kit. anything more until I have a mockup
in my hands. But, if you hear
We have finally given the Kane kit a
something new is coming, I have no
release month of March. First test shots
comment— Jamie.
look great and expect to see an excellent
build article in the next issue of SFFM
that demonstrates the steps needed to
build and light  the model. Preliminary
packaging art is featured here.
• HL604 (Lindberg ) Flintstones snap-
together car is scheduled for April.

ALSO ANNOUNCED RECENTLY AT iHOBBY...

• Small display base 3-pack. Perfect for
use with Cadet Series kits. Currently

being tooled.U.S.S. Enterprise Cutaway.

• AMT891
Some people love it, some people hate it,
but we are putting our usual spin on it

|6
 

MOEBIUS

Adding to their 1/72 scale fleet, Moebius have just

released New BSG MkVII Viper and Cylon Raider
twin packs. The Dragonfly aircraft from the classic
‘60s’  Jonny Quest cartoon series should also be in
stores now (full reviews next issue), and, finally,
Moebius are set to release a kit of the Ranger
spacecraft from Warner Bros.’ recent blockbuster SF
movie Interstellar.

FANTASTIC  PLASTIC

Available soon from

Fantastic Plastic
Models is the XR XRV 
V 
(Experimental Re-
Entry Vehicle) from
the 1969 motion picture Marooned. The 1:72 scale kit
was designed in CAD by Chris Corke, then finished and
cast by Dave Guertin of BLAP! Models. Decals are by
OT . The all-resin kit has 17 pieces, including an
 JBOT 
 JB
adapter that allows you to put your finished XR V atop a
XRV 
1:72 Titan II or Titan III booster. It can also function as
a display stand. The finished model is 6 inches (15.24cm)
long
moreand the XR
XRV is priced
V visit
information at $85.00 plus shipping. For
www.Fantastic-Plastic.com.

MODELS
WILD HOUSE 

From the worlds of Wild House Models comes the

MEC Medical Console: ‘An advanced equipment and
monitoring tool for doctors and medical personnel, the
unit is capable of monitoring 10 different Stasis Pods
at once from a central control console. Three dynamic
interface touch-screens can be adjusted by several pre-
defined control options, the interface allowing doctors
and nurses to maintain the stasis environments of 

many different •personnel

Scale—1:24 Q1 2015independently.’
independently. ’ parts plus
release • 45 resin
flexible tubing • 3 screen-printed clear acrylic
touchscreen interface panels • 75mm Doctor figure
Int erst ellar  T M &   ©   W 
included • Optional Screen designs for Alien or
arner Bros. Ent ert ainm
( s14) ent  Inc . Human • Optional Custom LED control Board will
provide lighting for kit and also control the MECS70-
PARAGRAFIX B Stasis Pod • Optional Nurse 72mm figure available
soon.
Available now from Paragrafix is a
precision photoetched triangular
straight edge, featuring both
metric and imperial measurements.
Through holes sized for mechanical
pencil leads are located every 1/16"
and 2mm to make marking simple.
The large hole at the apex makes
for a convenient hanger so the tool is always close at
hand. Part
Part:: PT
PT-SET
-SET-3
-3
MSRP: $6.95 www www.ParaGrafix.biz
.ParaGrafix.biz

7|
 

Blade Runner’s runner

Iain Costall builds a Deckard Sedan diorama
Part one of two, using Fujimi Deckard Sedan and ParaGrafix upgrade set
WHEN   F UJIMI 
UJIMI  ANNOUNCED A STYRENE KIT OF THE
SPINNER FROM   BLADE   RUNNER there was an
understandable buzz amongst sci-fi modellers
everywhere. Kits of vehicles from the cult movie
were few and all were expensive resin items, so the
t he
new kit really filled a gap in many people’s wish
lists.
27 ...essentially
...essentially the same kit with different
markings and configurations. I built the Police
version straight from the box. However, just as I
obtained the Sedan version, a brass upgrade set
was released by ParaGrafix and so I set out to
create a detailed and more accurate version of 
Harrison Ford’s ride.

Hot on the heels of the Spinner came a double The box art (1), whilst very nice, features
release of Deckard ’s
’s Sedan and Police Car spurious markings and a police roof light which

1 2 3

4 5 8

|8
 

7 8 9

10 11 12

13 14 15

16 17 18

are based on the restored car in the Miami Police
Museum. These details were discarded to more
accurately portray the movie version, with only
the license plate decal being used.
A nice addition in the box is a small pre-painted
replica of Deckard ’s
’s blaster which looks to be
included to depict either the interior seen from
within (which, if you look carefully in the movie,
is actually the interior of the Spinner) or the
simpler interior seen on the driveable prop car.
Also included are printed acetate screens that can
be backlit. The etched brass parts are designed to
be lit using LEDs but can also be used unlit.

about 1/6th scale (2). Construction started with the dashboard and
The ParaGrafix set comes with a choice of labels monitors (5). The prominent lip on the dash was
but both sets are identical (4). Optional parts are removed (6) and the monitor screens cut away by

9|

19 20
22 23
25 26
28 29
chaindrilling then carving with a sharp blade (7,
10). Care was taken to leave a small lip to which I
could attach the brass screens.
The area behind the monitors on the dashboard
was also removed (8) along with the locating post
beneath (9). The brass panels on the transmission
tunnel were test fitted (11) then the plastic beneath
removed (12,   13). The door panels were also
thinned and drilled out (14,  27 ,  28) .
21
24
27
30
A small section of styrene was fitted to the
underside of the monitors, which were then
assembled to the dashboard (15,  16) . This created
a ‘lightbox’ which would contain three white
LEDs to light the screens.
Back onto the etch and the instructions said to
remove the end panel of the raised portion of the
centre console and replace this with styrene to
allow a light to be inserted in the resulting hole...
the hatched portion was simply bent back and
 | 10

33

36

31 32

34 35

37 38 39

40 41 42

forth till it snapped off (17). The part is then
folded and attached to the main panel, before
being clad in some truly tiny pieces (18, 19). It’s a
similar story with the parts for the door panels
(26).
As with any lighting job it’s important to plan
bounce the light around inside so that it projects
through the etch. A simple bulkhead was installed
at the rear of the console and a hole drilled to take
a 3mm white LED (20). A similar hole was drilled
in the front end and a piece of styrene fabricated
to seal the bottom of the transmission tunnel (21,
22).

ahead as to where the lights will be fitted and to

ensure that the kit will still fit together following The LEDs were then glued in place... having
modification. I lined the centre console with them light the box horizontally from either end
aluminium tape to prevent light leaks and also to provided a more even light, avoiding ‘hot spots’

43 44
46 47
49 50
52 53
through any particular area of etch (23,  24 ,  25) .
On the centre console a styrene replacement for
the brass piece I removed was made over-height so
it met the underside of the dash. The LED within
was carefully sanded to allow it to slide into the
narrow aperture... as long as you take care not to
expose the ‘element’ it will still work fine (29,  30) .
I also took the opportunity to add some styrene
rod to the etch to give it an extra dimension (31).
11 |
45
48
51
54
I scratched some additional instruments for the
passenger side using Evergreen strip and a length
of guitar string (32,  33) then test fitted everything
in place (34).
The upgrade set provides cutting guides to open
up the two missing windows in the rear bulkhead.
It’s a fiddly job and you need to take care not to
put too much pressure on the rather delicate
framework, but it’s well worth the effort (35,  36) .
 | 12

55 56 57

58 59 60

61 62 63

64 65 66

67 68 69
 13 |

70 71 72

In every Sedan / Police
Police Car 27  kit Fujimi kindly navigator from a Tamiya rally car.
car. I was also lucky
supply the etched fret that comes with the Spinner to find a 1/24 head, just about the only one I had
kit bearing the Spinner logos... presumably that wasn’t wearing a crash helmet (53). I carved
because Deckard ’s ’s car is supposed to be a away the racing harness on the torso and started
grounded, earlier version of the Police fliers (37). out by adding a shirt collar and tie from thin
There’s no evidence of this logo being used on the
actual Sedan in the movie but I thought it might be
fun to use it somewhere in the grounded version. I
therefore cut some ribbed Evergreen sheet to fit
the footwells, then applied the logos. After some
painting and scraping back of the face of the logos
I had some neat looking mats... just the thing to
keep that acid rain from ruining your carpets –
note the wear on the driver’s side (38, 42).

Meanwhile the interior etched pieces were first

primed then painted matt black before being
drybrushed with various shades of grey. The
dashboard is a mixture of black and desert yellow
(39, 40, 41).

I filled the open holes that let the light through

using Microscale Kristal Klear (PVPVA A or white glue
works too) which dries transparent. These were
then tinted using Tamiya clear colours (43). A
lighting test was carried out (44, 45, 46) and any
light leaks on the edges of the panels were easily

fixed with some

monitors, paint.
and for theI fitted
main the rear Islides
screen to the
chose the
Spinner lifting off after Deckard  has explained
who he is to the cops. The smaller screen has Pris 73
answering Sebastian’s phone (47, 48).
74
I added some fibre optics to the passenger side
dash (49, 50) – the fibres being donated by a cheap
Halloween toy – and simply drilled out the dash
using a 0.5mm drill and fed them through. What I
didn’t realise was that the CA glue I had used to
secure them had reacted and actually melted the
fibres! There was nothing for it but to remove the
damage, redrill them and then secure this time

using five-minute epoxy (51).

After a trawl through my spares boxes I came

across the remains of what I think was the
 | 14

styrene sheet applied with copious amounts of 

Plastic Weld cement to soften it and make it
conform. I then added some lapels and another
collar to represent his suit jacket (55). My figure
sculpting skills are not the best but I roughed out
the trenchcoat in Milliput  and gave him some hair
(56). I also gave
gave him sort of i-Pad  made from a
him a sort
piece of styrene topped with an off-cut of one of 
the spare slides from the upgrade set (57,  58) .

The etched set also provides templates for

cutting the bulkhead glazing out of transparent
sheet (60). These were duly installed in the
bulkhead along with the kit transparency and the
whole assembly cemented in place (61).

I also painted in the lights using Tamiya Clear

colours. I finally attached the dashboard to the
interior tub and did the final wiring to leave just a
single set of feeds. These are overlength and feed
out through the bottom of the chassis behind the
rear wheel... they’ll then feed through the base and
75 on to the power supply in part two of this article.
The whole interior assembly was then glued to the
76
chassis (62,  63 ,  67 ,  68 ,  69) .

I next added the various engine parts which had

been pre-painted. These were then connected up
using a mixture of the kit-supplied vinyl tubing,
some slightly thicker black wire and some wire-
wound guitar string to simulate the cables seen in
the real vehicle (64,  65 ,  66 ,  70) .

The body colour is hard to define from movie

stills and appears anything from a dark maroon to
a metallic bronze. I settled for Halfords Rover
Blaze, which seemed a good compromise. Aside

from
apply the
waslicense plate, the
the red/white onlyonother
circle decal the
the roof: to

77
 15 |

decals are by Cartograf  and

respond well to Microsol  (71)
 (71).

Note the two pipes going into

the ‘intake’ on the roof. These
are closer in appearance to
those on the real car and not
how they are shown in the kit
instructions (72). A light spirit
wash was applied made up of 
used thinners and MIG
Starship Filth oil colour.

The detail in Blade Runner is

staggering. Ridley Scott went to
the trouble of getting the art 78
department to create magazines
to populate a news stand which
is barely glimpsed in the final film. I thought it
would be fun to have some of these on the
passenger seat so found the images online and
shrank them before printing them off. A typical US
magazine size is 275mm x 210mm, which equates
to 11.46mm x 8.75mm at 1/24 scale (73, 74).
Finally the body shell was attached to the
chassis and finishing touches added such as
bumpers and wing mirrors. Ultra-fine strips of  In part two the Sedan will be placed into a
black decal from a Microscale sheet were used to
create the lines – presumably vents – seen on the
pillars either side of the windscreen (79,  80 ,  81 ,
82, 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87) .
Fujimi’s kit builds into
into a fine replica
replica with very
very
little effort but the ParaGrafix upgrade raises it to
a whole new level. I’m hoping that we may yet see
other vehicles from Blade Runner in this scale,
particularly a Metrokab and Sebastian’s Van.
diorama using a resin building created by Randy
Cooper (72).

79
 | 16

 ANCI
 AN CIE
ENT  ASTRONAUT
by Andy Pearson

I’ D RATH ER FAN CIE D BU ILD ING A N AST RO N AU T

MODE
MODEL
L FO
FOR
R SO
SOME
ME TIME, A DE
TIME DESI
SIRE
RE FU
FULF
LFIL
ILLE
LED
D TO SO
SOME
ME
EXTE
EXTENT
NT WH
WHEN
EN I WAS GI VE
VEN AN   APOLLO   II  FIGURE
KIT, later commandeered by a friend’s young son.
Truth to tell, that whetted the appetite further
rather than assuaging the urge so I turned to the
prospect of a scratchbuild and one made more
interesting by setting myself limits on the
materials that I would use.

I am not a figure modeller by any stretch of the

imagination and, whilst I have sculpted a number
of fantasy and sci-fi heads with varying degrees of 
success, my attempts at figures have usually left
something to be desired in terms of proportions.

My usual solution is to use an existing figure kit

or a jointed artist’s lay figure as the basis of the
build. Longer ago than I care to remember I built
a submariner figure based on a MiniArt 
MiniArt medieval
medieval
knight and thought that I might use the same
approach here. The slight reservation was that the
MiniArt  knights, whilst presenting quite detailed
figures, all adopt the same pose but, as the
submariner had long ago been consigned to the
depths of the spares box, (at least he was dressed
for the occasion) this was of little consequence.

I tracked down another figure, this time a 1:16

scale Burgundian Knight , assembled his body and

limbs and then cut away much of the surface detail

that represented his armour.

In terms of the limitations I set myself, these

were to use Evergreen polystyrene products for as
much of the build as possible, which resolve lasted
for what must have been twenty minutes or so.

I began by cladding the legs in 3/64th inch

(Evergreen seem to mix and match between
imperial and metric measurements quite happily)
round rod, cutting a section at a time and fixing
each with tiny amounts of superglue. This passed
the time wonderfully but, by day two, I began to
consider alternative and, potentially, quicker and
cheaper approaches. Those thoughts directed me to
a local electrical retailer and the purchase of some
plastic clad wire of similar diameter. I rather enjoy
 17 |

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8
 | 18

1: Upper legs the conversations that arise from this sort of retail
Classic kits
covered with experience in what is, perhaps, a perverse way.
Evergreen strip. from
One asks the specialist retailer if he or she stocks
2: Beginning
cladding of the electrical wire and the answer is in the affirmative,
Studio 2
basic figure with followed by the question of what sort of voltage it Models
wire. should carry. When the answer to that is that it
3: Legs completed. doesn’t matter as long as it is covered in white
4: Torso and legs. plastic and is about so thick, the clouds of doubt Large scale:
5: Basic hand begin to form on the retailer’s brow as he or she • SHADO mobile • SKY 1
construction. wonders whether the silly old bugger making the • Skydiver • Stingray
6: Completed enquiry if going to fry himself in some arcane
• Terror Fish
hands and arms. amateur experiment.
Friendly service
7: Close-up of hand.
hand.
8: Close to The cladding of arms and legs continued using with superb after sales support.
completion with the wire (I’d actually bought two diameters) and, http://studio2models.webs.com/ 
shoulder pads again, fixing it in place with superglue. For the email: studio2models@h
studio2models@hotmail.co.uk 
otmail.co.uk 
added. knees and body I used shaped panels of thin plastic Tel: 07534 294 216
9: Scratchbuilding sheet which was also used to clad the feet. I was
the collar. originally going to use the knight’s hands from the
10: Collar in place. kit but these looked out of keeping with the
11: Test fit of  model. Using the originals as a size guide I cut the
original head blank. palms of the hands from laminated thicknesses of 

12: Plastic syringe

bottles from which plastic
was acard and madeeasier
somewhat the fingers from rod
exercise thanwhich
I’d
Mk II helme
helmett will anticipated. Some further lengths of the thicker
be made. wire were run round sections of the body and this

9 10

11 12

13: Sculpted head. 14: Sub-assemblies. 15: Completed back pack... 16: ....in position. 17: Final step with helmet...
18: ...is to add air lines to rear.
was further clad with various bits and pieces from
the spares box.
Next came the helmet and I had intended to clad
a wooden sphere with plastic card shapes to
achieve this but the various experimental designs
really weren’t working so it was again time to
disconcert a local
l ocal retailer.
retailer.
19 |
13 14
15 16
17 18
I’m fortunate to have a large arts and craft
superstore close to home so I thought I might
indulge in a tour of this f acility and see if I could
spot something that might provide inspiration. I
usually enjoy twenty or so minutes of this
random wandering before security concerns
prompt a staff member to enquire if ‘Sir is
looking for something specific?’ The ‘I’ll know
 | 20
 

it when I find the foam which helps it fit round curved shapes,
it’ reply usually such as the astronaut’s shoulders.
wins an e xtr a
few minutes The backpack was made from rectangular box
worth o f   section mounted onto a length of ‘I’ section
wandering. plastic and this and the helmet were fitted with
short sections of tube to accommodate the air
During the hoses, these being more electrical wire.
course of this
expedition I Painting was simplicity itself. First the figure
came across a and (masked) helmet were given a coat of grey
small pack of  automotive primer topped with a further coat of 
plastic syringes white primer, the latter being sprayed from
for dispensing above the figure to enhance the curve of the
paint and the like wire cladding.
and these seemed
to be of about This was a simple build intended to fill a few
the right size. idle hours rather than push the boundaries of 
Back at base I cut model making and seemed to come together
the bottom and quite well in terms of a somewhat retro
top off one of  spacesuit. The only slight disappointment was
these and had that the plastic tube used for the helmet wasn’t
something that even in thickness so that, viewed from the left

would
h e l m eserve
t . asO af   and frontwhich
smaller, it made the head
gives withinaappear
the figure a little
definite best
course a helmet viewing side on the right.
needs a head and
here I went back
to the MiniArt 
knight kit. There
was some work
needed, using
Milliput  to build
up the back of 
the head, and I
added some
short lengths of 
plastic tube to
represent ear
pieces.

Perhaps the
most complex
part of the build
process was
creating the joint
between helmet
and body and for
this I used circles
of vinyl foam
surrounded with
plastic coated
wire. There’s a
certain amount
of flexibility in

Super Deformed Colonial Viper build by Andy Pearson
I LIKE REVIEW KITS, ESPECIALLY THOSE HOT
(FIG
FIGURA
URATIV
TIVEL
ELY
Y SPE
SPEAKI NG) FROM THE MOULD. It’s
AKING
probably as close as someone of my vintage gets to
that Christmas morning feeling when one is
presented with a package, its contents still veiled in
mystery, that you know is going to contain
something exciting.
The festive feel, despite the fact that this was
early October, was added to by the fact that the
handing over of said mystery package took place
in the company of a group of friends. This was a
rare gathering that included Mike Reccia and
Dave Openshaw, our publishers, Dave’s wife and
daughter and fellow contributor Mark Glassy
(see Horror & Monster Modeller, available now)
who had dropped in to see us on his way back
from a conference in Paris to home in sunny
California.
As we sat and chatted Mike produced a
polythene bag (a sure sign of a something very
new) containing several runners in pale plastic
which I was allowed to examine for a few seconds
before admitting that I didn’t have a clue what the
21 |
kit was. Nothing new there then, I hear the regular
reader exclaim.
In fact the kit was Moebius Models’ take on the
Viper MkII  from Battlestar Galactica, which
would have been obvious even to me if this hadn’t
been their super deformed or ‘egg’ version. 1: Bits from
There were no instructions, other than a the bag.
schedule of parts that Mike supplied by email, but 2: Dry fit of main
there were images of the finished kit (illustrations, components.
I suspect) on various websites and that was enough 3: Rear view of 
for me. There was, however, that old devil called dry fit.
deadline to be taken into account but that wasn’t 4 & 5: Enhance-
pressing enough to cause too much concern. ment of panel
Having delivered Dr. Glassy back to his hotel detail on primed
later that evening without incident (should you components prior
have the pleasure of meeting him ask him about to base coat.
my navigational skills: Manchester International 6: Metallic paint to
Airport to just north of the city, via Vladivostok) I grilles and intakes.
retired to bed dreaming of eggs and vipers... not 7: Darker metallic
necessarily a happy combination. paint to upper
The logical first step seemed to be a dry fit of the engine.
parts to establish a running order for assembly 8: Main engine
and, with that completed, to clean the components cluster.
 | 22
 

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8
 23 |

9 10

11 12

13 14

15 16
 | 24

9: Mask to using methylated spirit before priming everything,

wing to including much of my left hand, with white
provide automotive primer.
positioning for As this is a slightly tongue-in-cheek model the
orange stripes. opportunities for wacky paint treatments were
10: Masking tempting but the suggestion of a pink and floral
for contrast decor hippy microbus version was answered with
paint. a resounding silence from the powers that be,
11: Painted resulting in me taking a more traditional approach

components
prior to and using
This Moebius’s
presented theimage as ainguide.
Viper white with red
assembly. stripes as per the new BSG subject matter, but my
12 & 13: Gloss nostalgic recollection of building a more
black to traditional kit of the same subject some decades
cockpit. Note earlier in light grey with orange stripes led me to
thumbprint! plump for this classic series colour scheme instead.
14: Main I therefore set about painting everything prior to
fuselage assembly. The basic grey was a 50/50 mix of 
assembly. Tamiya XF-80 Royal Light Gray [s [sic
ic]] and XF-2
15: Filler to White whilst, for the contrasting stripes, I used the
fuselage. same manufacturer’
manufacturer’ss X-6 Orange with some matt
16: Some red added to deepen the colour. I seem to have
damage to pints of this orange in stock and I really can’t think
paintwork what I could have bought it for unless it was the
incurred during time I considered going to a fancy dress party as
assembly. the Hideous Jaffa Creature. Excessive drinking is a
terrible thing.
It has long been my preference to paint as
Opposite: much as possible of a model before assembly
Completed but I’m aware that not all modellers follow this
model prior to approach. I’m occasionally in awe of the
weathering. military boys and girls who build really
elaborate stuff and then mask and paint it.
Such dedication. Such attention to detail. Such
sobriety.
If I had taken that approach I would have
got the wing stripes in the correct position
but, in the event, they’re not too far out and
it is a deform kit. Before airbrushing the basic
grey coat I had run some black inks into the
panel lines in order to enhance them. For the
forward grilles and intakes I used a mix of 
metallic greys and, for the main engines, a
base coat of Tamiya XF-84 Dark Iron to put
some shading into the nooks and crannies
(note the engineering terminology) with a
darker mix of the metallic grey airbrushed in
a thinned form on top of this.
The cockpit presented some interesting
possibilities. This is supplied as a one piece
moulding but it would be very possible to
replace the solid windows with clear plastic
card inserts and scratchbuild a distorted
interior and eggy pilot figure. If you’re
thinking that I’m using the threat of 

deadlines as an excuse for not pursuing that option
you may have a point. In the event, the glazed
areas were airbrushed in gloss black, topped with
a clear varnish.
In anticipation of handling the parts during
assembly I adopted a trick I’ve often used in the
past and that’s to give everything (other than the
gloss areas) a coat of Games Workshop Satin
Purity Seal . This offers some protection to the
underlying
scrapes butpaint in terms
is not of bumps
completely idiotand minor
proof as
evidenced by one of the accompanying images.
The only filler I used was on the upper forward
fuselage where the seam was perhaps a little too
prominent.
Assembly was very straightforward but I might
suggest reducing the diameter of the main locating
pins very slightly with abrasive paper. This will be
helpful when running test fits where you will want
to separate parts again prior to final assembly.
I’ve provided images of the model with its basic
paint job and with some added light weathering
carried out with grey pigment powders. As an
overall build this benefits from Moebius’s
generally high standards of quality and is one that
would make a good starting point for someone
new to the hobby.
25 |
I suppose a relevant question in terms of super
distortion kits is ‘Why?’ The answer to that is
probably that they’re great fun and this one is no
exception.
The final assembly was inserting the stand and
this looked as though it was intended to be fitted
before the hull halves come together. In this case I
filed the locating tab down a little and fixed it in
position after assembly with two narrow strips of 
double
the stand sided
withadhesive
metallic tape,
silver having first
car paint. sprayed
I can’t tell
you precisely which one as I threw the empty can
in the recycling bin before making a note of the
colour. At least that’s an improvement on the
previous disposal method which was to take the
empties to a friend’s house and shoot them with air
rifles. Very stupid (his wife made us stop it) and
not something to be encouraged.
If this basic build is approved by Mike and Dave
and time permits I’m thinking of doing a
steampunk conversion [See opposite page. Ed.] as
I have recently acquired some Archer Transfers
resin rivets on decal film. At least they will give
our military modelling friends something to count.
Review test shot kindly supplied by
Moebius Models.
www.moebiusmodels.com
 

   R
AS SUGG
SUGGES
ESTED, THE ARRIVAL OF THE
TED ARCHER F INE
INE
T RANSFER
RANSFER RESIN RIVETS FROM THE USA was th the
starting point for this conversion; that and the fact that

   E
I was somewhat ahead of deadline on the review. The
 product I’d ordered was the resin rivet starter set 
which had arrived, via airmail, just four working days
after placing the order. Now that’s service! These
consisted of O scale 7/8" and 5/8" railcar rivets,
alternate centre and tank car double row

rivets.

   P
   I
The first task was to mask and re-
 prime the model and then apply the

   V
rivets. These sat down beautifully and,
with the help of some Microsol  setting
solution, there was no trace of the decal film
under the paint on the finished model. Should
you use these decals (and I’ve already found one

   K
enthusiastic recruit) I strongly suggest watching the
 brieff on-l
 brie on-line
ine tuto
tutorial
rial video as elem
elements
ents of the
suggested methods of using the setting solution are
somewhat counter-intuitive.
With the rivets in place and dry, I sprayed the
surface coat from a rattle can of Ford Highland 

Green which I chose partly on the advice of the young

   N
lady on the checkout at Halfords who thought it had a

   U
rather antique hue. Quite how she knew this remains a Below left: rivet decals
mystery as she appeared to be about twelve. in place.
By happy coincidence, this paint was an almost Below right: top coat.

   P
 perfect
 perfe match for Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green (UN)
ct match Bottom left: decals
if a touch of flat white was added. This proved useful for  and rivet detail.
touching up the finished paint job, some of which came Bottom right: rivet
away with the masking tape. detail to wings.
With the paint thoroughly dry I

   M
 began some limited experiments in
 bringing up the rivet detail and
eventually gave each one (this was
not quite as time consuming as it
sounds) a pin wash applied with a

   A
0000 sable brush using Citadel 
Shade Agrax Earthshade thinned

   E
with water. I then added some decals
from the spares box as well as a few
cogs to add to the steampunk feel,

   T
followed by some weathering using
Russian Earth  pigmen
 pigmentt powder 
from the MIG range.

   S
I should think that any BG purists
of a sensitive nature will have
already been sufficiently offended
 by the re-i
re-inter
nterpret
pretatio
ationn of thei
their 
r 
iconic spacecraft so I won’t
apologise for this further heresy
other than to say it could have been
worse; it could have been a hippy
microbus.

Studio
Scale
Redefined!
Jean-Marc ‘squid’ Deschamps creates Captain Nemo’s
Private Quarters office in stunning 1:1 scale
WHEN I BEGAN THIS PROJECT TO RECREATE THE
PRIV
PRIVA
ATE QU
QUAR
ARTERS OF   CAPTAIN   N EMO
TERS EMO as seen in
Walt Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
Sea , to be
honest with you I did not know at the time if I
would be able to complete it. Building miniatures,
even big models, is very different from
constructing an entire set, and involves a whole
new set of techniques. The curious and proactive
modeller will, however, discover that certain
modelling skills can be adapted for the task.
My passion for Jules Verne and all 19th. century
fact and fantasy (including, of course, the works of  (submarines existed before Verne and, of course,
H. G. Wells) goes back to my childhood. I’ve
always loved rivets and magnificent structures
such as the Eiffel Tower and Brooklyn Bridge, plus
the buildings created for the French and English
Universal Expositions of that period, that have
today become architectural and artistic standards.
Among the fantasy vehicles of the time, the
27 |
mythical submarine of Captain Nemo is a firm
favourite. More than three decades ago I tried to
figure out what the Nautilus as described by Verne
in his book would look like (obviously it’s a long
cigar with conical ends...), but I must admit that if 
we put aside the references in the
t he book, thousands
of Nautilus lovers prefer what Harper Goff did for
Disney’s adaptation of 20,000 Leagues some sixty
years ago in 1954. With that Nautilus we can talk
about ‘design’, whereas Verne’s
Verne’s vague descriptions
lay only in the field of possibilities, simply pushing
forward the technology available at the time
have existed ever since). Blending animal
influences such as the shark, the alligator
alli gator and fish,
the genius of Goff gave birth to the most exciting
Nautilus of all – and one that still thrills the world
today, despite the decades that have passed since
its creation.
 | 28
I wanted my bureau office to look like an
interior set from Goff’s and Emile Kuri’s Nautilus,
– not the engine room or the salon, but Nemo’s
private quarters. Because of the low ceiling in my
room, the quarters were the perfect choice to avoid
the ‘cave’ aspect if I could paint the surfaces the
brown everyone recalls when they think of that
Nautilus. The salon is greyish, yes, but Nemo’s
quarters is the only set that is painted, with its blue
map wall and lilac arches creating a really cosy
atmosphere. I had to work with the dimensions of  seen in the images.
my room to configure two thirds of Nemo’s
quarters as a study area and the remaining third as
a ‘showroom’.
Main structures
I’ll say it now: if I had to start again I would build  website, who gave me an address from which I
the furniture myself! At the time, however, I
thought it would be better to use boat-style, shop-
bought furnishings (very pricey as they have to be
strong enough to resist water). These fittings gave
me the dimensions and the spacing for the arches,
built in medium-density fibreboard or MDF . Note
that the spacers are blocks of plaster
plaster,, easy to cut to
size and heavy enough to encase the furniture. The
‘brestsummers’ gave me headaches, believe me!
They were cut in MDF  too using computer made
drawings. The holes were not a problem, but the
flat edges at the bottom had to be created by
splitting lengths of wood into several layers, each
of these being nailed and bonded in place to
reconstruct the initial thickness. The fact is, one
thick layer can’t be warped and I found in playing
with the wood that the thickness split itself into
several fine layers which were then easy to re-
assemble. It was a long job but the result can be
At first, I thought I’d mould all the rivets myself 
before realising it would be impossible to produce
thousands of them. It was Olly Klassen, a
gentleman responsible for the Nautilus submarine
could purchase wooden half-balls of different
diameters. I chose 20 and 25mm and almost 2000
rivets are bonded onto the walls, the ceiling, the
skirting boards and around the door! I would be
still bonding them now if I hadn’t had the idea of 
making special templates with specific spacings,
both in-line and diagonal. My method was fairly
simple and fast: I placed the templates on the
surfaces, sprayed paint through the holes, removed

the templates and stuck the rivets onto the
markings. Instead of days I spent just a few hours
riveting the entire room. The door, resembling the
one that Ned Land and Conseil  pass through, is
basically a real one dressed with MDF boards and
rivets. The porthole is a very cheap plastic mirror
support found on a second-hand-things for sale
site. The desk and the brackets supporting the
Nautilus in front of the map are entirely made by
hand, with me finding inspiration in the couch and
shelf featured in Ned Land ’s
’s room. The same goes
for the various collectibles in the ‘showroom’,
exhibited on specially created shelves and
brackets.
Map wall
I must admit that everyone who comes into the
room is impressed by the map and the way it is lit.
I began by applying blue paint onto the wall and
drawing the continents by hand, using squared
illustrations I’d created on my computer. I
reproduced the squares on the wall and followed
29 |
the document easily, having in mind not a perfect
but a credible reproduction of the Earth. The edges
are shadowed with black and brown paints using
an airbrush and the lands and islands all textured
with a sponge. The brass latitude lines are, on
my map, represented in gold pen, and the
illusion works just fine. The compass at the front
of the map (the plans coming from
nautilussubmarine.com forum) is made of MDF ,
plastic sheet and perspex, the knobs being various
things from my big spares box. I am certain it will
surprise you if I tell you that, among the various
objects, some of the detailing comes from an old,
Empire-style chandelier. I used the structures and
various elements to produce antique assemblies,
such as the brackets at the bottom of the little
‘scientific’ shelf.
Atomic electricity
I didn’t want to see wires running here and there
(film sets are usually lit by floodlights out of view
of the camera), so I used remote controllers to
 | 30

 
 31 |

 
 | 32
switch the lights, these being hidden behind the
main tube running along the front of the arches
and behind the Long/Lat dial device that includes a
low tension transformer. The controllers are, of  element, cut into a special material (a foam with
course, hidden to give a more authentic look to the
room. This way I can switch three sets of lights on
and off – one for the main office, one for the map,
one for the showroom (and one for the money,
because no more wires and switches were bought!).
Painting and decorative artifacts
As stated earlier, Nemo
Nemo’s’s private quarters are the
exception to the rule as they feature painted walls.
I chose acrylic grey paint for the entire room (four
to five times more quantity than would normally
be used because of the rivets and structures…) that
has been weathered with a brush and liquid
(térébenthine) wiped off with a cotton cloth. It was
hard work trying to paint around each detail…
and don’t talk to me about the resulting odour,
that had nothing to do with salted fresh air! But
this painting method gave the room fantastic, deep
contrasts, far removed from flat and synthetic
surfaces that would have looked too artificial. The
interior of the arches are painted lilac, strangely,
and their edges shadowed, giving a warm
ambiance among that pile of rivets. Where the
SCI.FI & FANTASY MODELLER BACK ISSUES
STILL AVAILABLE FROM OUR SITE...
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IBE
E AN
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Full details at:
vintage heater stands I recreated a diving room by
considering the heater as pressure bottles (don’t try
to understand the artistic brain!). So, a decorative
aluminium claddings) inspired by the ‘bat symbol’
behind Nemo
Nemo’s ’s air bottles, has been added in front
of the heater and the alcove, painted in brown
with rust effects. In this area I positioned a
customised helmet built from a resin copy of an
original japanese diving helmet, which, luckily,
was used as the basis of the movie prop. My
replica is not an example of perfect modelling
work as it is mainly – please
–  please purists, don’t read on
 – foam cardboard covered with… Bondo Bondo!! As I
didn’t want to waste time and money sawing
dozens of real metal screws I decided to make my
own using squares of a PVC material. Each square
was transformed into a six-faced nut with a
lapidary tool. It was then a matter of detailing,
painting and weathering to transform that junk
assembly into the special diving helmet of Captain
Nemo.. And you know what? The illusion works!
Nemo
The helmet sits on a special welded support
resembling the ones seen on the original set. The
rifle, at the opposite end, is far better built (see
article in SF&FM Vol. 33) and is exhibited on the
wall, beside the helmet.
 www.scififantasymodeller.co.uk
The pressure tube was a further challenge – not
because it was difficult but because I wanted it
very quickly. I felt it was time to move on to
another project, so it took me about two
t wo weekends
to complete, working from early in the morning
until nightfall… The astonishing bubble effect that
surprises each visitor (Note to self: one day you
must decide to charge for access to the office!)
comes not from an air compressor (or via giant
squid flatulence... surprisingly there are no sea
animal specimens in Captain Nemo’s
Nemo’s Nautilus
Nautilus)) but
from a rod of Plexiglas (Perspex
Perspex)) with bubbles
inside. I took a section and passed it though a tube
of the same material to create a cheap but
marvellous special effect.
The vents at the bottom of the arches (and in
from MDF 
MDF and
and plastic rods. They are painted grey
with a black centre, giving the illusion of a deep
hole behind them. I created the same effect with
the big vent at the bottom of the shelf supporting
the Nautilus
Nautilus,, which is made of MDF .
What more can I add?   Well, Nemo’s
Nemo’s private
quarters claimed almost two years of my life,
and cost me a surgical operation on my hand
because I wasn’t paying sufficient attention to
what I was doing. ...Would I do it all again? Of 
course, folks! I took great pleasure in imagining
and adapting and in doing for myself things I
had never done before. It was a learning
process, a philosophical treatment and a real
psychological
psychologic al study of myself all rolled into one
... a kind of introspective exercise. Not only do
 other places) are resin castings from a master built I own the private quarters of Captain Nemo...
| 34
AM Captain Nemo!
Nemo! Ah, hah, hah, Haaah! I am
master of the seas, ready to rule the world! But
wait... what is this car with the blinking lights
and who are those guys dressed in white
coming towards me? In all seriousness, I am
Nemo... I
there are only two bureau offices like this one
in the world, the other being inside the
Nautilus attraction at Disneyland Paris!
Paris !
Take a look at:
 proud of the end result, bearing in mind that
Resin the Dead
…and other appalling puns by Andy Pearson
BRIAN WATTERS IS A NAME NEW TO ME IN THE FIELD
OF SCU
SCULPT
LPTING
ING but, if there’s any justice in the world,
he can look forward to well-deserved acclaim if  one of my rare ideas. I bought a hole punch,
these three resin busts are anything to go by.
Truth to tell, we do have better painters of resin
figures and faces on the staff but the prime choice
has his arm in a sling at the moment and I work
cheap so I was allowed to play with the paints and
powders.
First out of the figurative box was the zombie
and, having given the bust a wash with soapy
water,, I primed it with grey automotive primer and
water
then added a mist of white primer from a rattle
can. Acrylics (as I have found to my cost) are
slightly transparent and it occurred to me that I
could achieve some underlying shading and
highlights by this use of two primers.
Before commencing painting flesh areas I first
wanted to paint the shirt and tie because I had, in
the past, managed to ruin the finish of an already
painted head due to an overspread mishap during
preparation of clothing. I’d opted for a light beige
and, for this, used a mix of Taima acrylics with
some soft artist’s pastels to add shading and
discolouration to the shirt and tie.
By good fortune (mine, not the bird’s) a small
nestling had ended its young life on a paved area
of my garden a day or two earlier and its decaying
body provided some interesting clues to the
painting of my un-dead head. I ran a dark flesh
colour into the various folds and creases of the
zombie’s face and added some deep red to the
areas where the peeling flesh exposed the tissues
underneath. I also blocked in the eyes with off-
white and the teeth with an ivory shade enhanced
by the slightest touch of yellow.
1 Raw resin zombie.
2 Zombie with grey primer.
3 Mist coat of white primer.
4 Under shading to shirt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiVstxvF8aI
35 |
I’ve often struggled with irises (my dad was the
gardener in the family) but, on this occasion, had
designed for leather and fabrics, from a local craft
shop and used this to create holes in masking tape
that I could then use as a stencil for airbrush or
pencil. This worked quite well and the punch
itself can produce holes ranging from 2 to 4.5mm
so will come in for future projects in different
scales.
To align the irises on the eyeballs the use of a
clear tape or masking film is advisable but, in this
case, I thought a slight astigmatism might add
something to the finish so used conventional
opaque tape.
I next blocked in the hair which was moulded as
a thin scalp covering intersected by various
wounds and injuries, not unlike my own. This was
given a base coat of mid-grey and then had a thin
black wash run into it, topped with lighter grey
dry brushing. For the face I used various shades of 
soft pastels, transferred from the pastel stick to the
t he
surface of the bust via a square-tipped sable brush.
This is a slow process but gives an immense
amount of control in terms of pigment build-up. In
using pastels, it’s necessary to fix them with a
suitable clear sealant and I used Tamiya Matt 
Varnish from a rattle can.
With the paint and pigment powders almost
completed, I once again consulted my dead bird
for inspiration. This had been interfered with to
some extent by the local insect population, despite
the CIS-style chalk outline I had put round the
corpse, and it may have been these mini-beasts
that had induced a slight
sli ght sheen to the tiny body.
body. To
duplicate this I took several coloured wax pencils
in shades of yellow, orange and red and ran these
6 Shading to shirt and detail to teeth.
7 Dark paint to subcutaneous flesh areas.
8 Basic flesh paint being applied.
9 Making mask for eyes.
 5 Base coat to shirt. 10 Further detail to eyes.

| 36
 

1 2 3

4 5 6

9
7 8 10

11 12
15 16
11 Base coat and wash to hair.
12 Finished head.
13 Raw resin hunchback.
14 Primer coat.
gently over the subcutaneous tissues of the
zombie’s head to achieve a similar effect.
His face rings a bell
The next sculpt up was the hunchback, which I
assumed was based on the tragic character from
the Victor Hugo classic. Here I would be dealing
with more conventional flesh tones but proceeded
very much in the same way I had with the zombie
bust, although I used only a white primer. Once
the primer was dry I ran Games Workshop Citadel  and highlights.
Shade Agrax Earthshade oil into the many creases
and folds of the skin. This is a product that’s new
to me and has superseded the inks that GW  GW used
used
to sell and, as a detail enhancer, it works very well
straight from the bottle.
Once again I blocked in the bust’s tunic, this
time with an airbrushed mix of grey and olive drab
acrylic and applied a basic flesh coat to the face
37 |
13 14
17 18
15 Initial wash.
16 Basic flesh paint.
17 Further shading.
18 Progressive paint and shading to finished head.
tints in the set applied wet and dry brushed. In
terms of hair colour, the temptation was to go for
black or a mid-brown but I thought it might be
interesting to attempt something different and so
tried for a blond going on red hair colour.
Unlike the zombie, the moulding of the hair is
quite soft but fully in keeping with the figure so,
following a coat or two of airbrushed colour, I
enhanced this using pastel powders for lowlights
For the enhancement of the flesh areas I bought
some fresh pastels in European skin shades and
used these to build up highlights and introduce
some further shading. The eyeballs were brush
painted in a very light grey and, again, I used my
punched masking tape trick to draw in the irises.
For the left eye I drew a fine pencil outline using
the stencil and filled this in with a blue fine-tipped
 using the Andrea Color Flesh Paint Set  acrylics. I pen with the pupil picked out with a black
then built up on this basic shade using the differing Rapidograph..
Rapidograph

| 38
 

19 20 21

22 23 24

19 Raw resin alien. 22 Final wash to alien.

20 Alien with white primer. 23 Tamiya Smoke clear coat.
21 Applying wash to inverted alien head. 24 Astonishing levels of detail in the sculpt.

For the right, slightly more wayward, eye I her, or it) paint-wise. In truth, if I hadn’t been
rubbed a very light grey pastel powder through the reviewing these three busts for this title I would
stencil to give the impression of a cataract, as if the have been tempted simply to prime them in grey
poor chap hadn’t got enough problems. As with and leave the finish at that, the better to show the
the zombie, once the paints and powders were remarkable detail of the sculpting. Now we all
fixed with my matt spray, I gave the eyes a coat of  know that aliens are grey
grey,, right? Was that going to
clear gloss varnish which was also used to enhance be an excuse that would pass muster with the

the lips slightly

slightly.. powers
out withthat
thebe? Probably
white not.but
primer Once againstill
it was it was
my
Loving the alien intention to minimise the use of paint and, by
 The alien bust had been kept to the last as I was at doing so, emphasise the detail. Once the primer
something of a loss as to what to do with him (or was dry I brushed the entire bust with several

39 |
 

coats of thinned Games give them a certain unearthly depth but changed
Workshop Citadel Shade my mind at the last moment. Whether this colour
Drakenhof Nightshade, scheme has been successful I leave to your
this being a blue tint. As I judgement in the light of accompanying
began to photographs.
apply this
with a broad To close, I would note that the
brush it supporting bases for each bust
occurred to are similar, representing
me that, masonry pillars in the case of 
with a light the zombie and hunchback with
source a slightly more natural
coming geological feel for the alien’s
from base. I’ve tried to give each a
above, the slightly different treatment. In
deeper the case of the alien I wonder
shading if a slightly more mechanical
would be immediately under any base might not work equally
folds and textures. With this in well but the present
mind, I mounted the primed bust arrangement does, at least,
upside down and ran the ink wash make all three look as
over it in this position. My plan was though they are part of a set
to then airbrush the entire bust with which, after all, they are.
Tamiya Smoke and use this as the
only other pigment, apart from a dark iron for the The busts are currently priced at UK
eyes. I’d initially intended these to be enhanced £25.00 each and Brian can be contacted
with a clear layer using Microscale Kristal Klear to via email at: b.w182@btinternet.com.

This model kit from

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A Martian in Quarantine
An otherworldly exercise in paint and colour
Jason C. Gares, Video Workbench Owner and Host
IN 1962 CH ILIL DR
DR EN
EN W ER
ER E TR EA ED T O TH E   MARS
EAT ED I was lucky enough to receive number 3 of only
ATTACKS T RA
RA DI
DI NG
NG C AR
AR D S ER
ER IE OPPS and as
IE S BY   T OPPS 20 unpainted versions and painted it the way I
fast as they discovered them, so did their wanted so that it could stand out as a one-of-a-
parents. There was a huge outcry from parents kind piece that reflected the war between the
demanding that Topps stop selling the 55-card Martian invaders and the human race defending
set because they believed, at the time, there were Earth from their onslaught. Let me take you into
too many scenes of Martian invasion that the Quarantine Zone so that you can see how I
involved terrible acts of torture, implied sexual ‘fleshed out’ this highly detailed, unpainted gem
acts and gruesome mayhem done to both and made it come alive with colour.
humans and animals alike. Topps eventually
decided to stop production to please parents, The first thing I noted upon receiving the
thus making the cards highly sought after statue was the box it was shipped in. There was
collectables demanding high prices at auction. printing on all sides with the Mars Attacks logo
in front of a starfield. On the top flap the Earth
In the 1980s Topps released all kinds of  was prominent with a faint image of a Martian
merchandise based on Mars Attacks and an looming over it and the planet Mars in the
expanded set of 100 cards was sold in 1994. Two distance. On the back of the box there’s a
years later Warner Brothers and director Tim pseudo comic page showing off the statue.
Burton, along with five of the original 1962 card Inside were three pieces; the Martian figure,
series collaborators, released the sci-fi comedy base and acrylic dome, all protected for
Mars Attacks motion picture. Around the same shipping by thick styrofoam. Most garage kit
time, garage kit company Screamin’ Products companies ship their kits in a plain brown box.
produced mixed media kits – mostly vinyl – that If you’re lucky they will slap a sticker on,
were sold in hobby shops. In 2012 to celebrate though most of the time that’s not the case. This

Mars
with Attacks’ 50th anniversary,
many companies teamed up
ToppsQuarantine
including statue
welcomewas
oneanat exception
that. Time to
andthe norm
effort hadand
beena
Studio to produce 200 pre-painted and 20 put into the box design and inside packaging,
 unpainted collectable statues.
1   2
4 5
foremost advertised and sold as a prepainted
collectible – one of the reasons for the well
executed packing (1).
As mentioned there are three pieces to this
diorama: the Martian, base and dome (2). The
highly detailed base stands 9½ inches tall, showing
off the gory remains of a vapourised human male
strung amongst the rubble. A corner section of  the ray gun (8). I’d created more work for myself,
wall riddled with bullet holes, along with large
pieces of wood beams and the Liberty Bell  are all
that remain (3, 3A). Striding over the victim is the
Martian, an impressive 12½ inches tall, highly
detailed and modelled after the original collector
card Martians, not the ones featured in the movie
(4). Lastly, there’s the dome – sturdy, crystal clear
and fitting into the collar section of the Martian’s
environmental suit (5).
Before I do anything, I look over the pieces. In
my opinion it’s always good practice to look over
all parts with whatever type of model you are
working on as you need to see if there are any
scratched, broken or missing pieces that might
slow down construction, painting and finishing of  these, as to me they stuck out like a sore thumb. I
the subject. I noticed that one of two hoses wasn’t
attached in the front (6). There was a gap between
the neck
yellow and glue
epoxy the suit
that along with(7)
stood out a . big glop
There of 
were
also gaps between both shoulders and the suit that
giving it a highly collectible look and feel.
Remember, though, that this statue was first and
41 |
3 3A
  6   7
8 9
with the original cards, there shouldn’t be gaps in
those places, as the suit should have the look of an
airtight seal around the Martian (9).
As the way things go during model building (and
you know what I mean) while I was taking
pictures of the Martian it toppled over on the
bench, breaking an arm, finger and the centre of 
but you know as well as I that not all builds go
exactly to plan or by design. Luckily the parts
broke clean without chipping, plus the statue and
base are made of cold cast porcelain, a type of 
resin that can be easily glued with any type of 
superglue and easily sanded so seams aren’t
noticeable. I glued the finger, the centre of the ray
gun and the detache
detachedd hose back
back on. Thank
Thankfully
fully
there was thin wire in the centre of the gun,
meaning the part hadn’t detached when the statue
toppled over, making placement easier and more
accurate for gluing.
The next step was to fill the gaps around the
shoulders and neck area. I wasn’t going to leave
have a mantra about not being lazy while building
and painting model kits: If I can see certain things
II’m
don’t
surelike or bother
someone elseme onsee
will a model kit Ithings,
the same work on,
so
I need to change or fix these. Mixing equal parts
 I thought were too big and needed to be filled in, A and B of Aves Apoxie Sculpt , (10) I mixed
both showing more yellow glue. From what I saw enough together to fill all the gaps. Once filled, I
| 42
10
13 14
17
lightly brushed on Aves Safety Solvent  to smooth
out the Apoxie Sculpt  and let this set overnight.
The next day the Apoxie Sculpt was hard to the
touch and rather smooth, so just a little wet
sanding was needed. With all repairs done and all
gaps filled, the statue was almost ready for paint
(11).
Before applying primer or paint, both the base
and Martian needed a good bath. I always advise
washing any model you’re working on, no matter
if its plastic or resin, with washing up liquid and
very hot water, which should eliminate any mould
release that could still be on the parts, thus
preventing primer and paint from adhering to the
kit correctly. If you’re having problems after the
soap and hot water bath, I suggest using mineral
spirits. Depending on the severity of the problem,
you may either have to soak the part or just lightly
clean it with a lint-free rag or a paint brush.
I decided to airbrush on Testors Model Master
Gray Primer instead of using a spray can (12)
because of all the detail and tight areas I was going
to have to cover. Using a can of the same primer
just wouldn’t allow me to get into all the areas I
needed to, plus I can’t adjust the width of the spray
like I can with an airbrush. Using an airbrush I’d
be able to twist and turn my wrist in ways that
were just not possible with a spray can. The major
11 12
15 16
18
assemblies to work with, making the painting
more challenging than usual. The only masking I
needed to do was the pegs that fit into the base for
stability and alignment. To make the Martian
easier to paint I drilled two holes into a piece of 
wood so that I could have it stand securely for
airbrushing and so that I didn’t airbrush paint
onto the pegs. I placed the statue on my
homemade spinning paint stand and started
applying three coats of primer (13).
Before receiving this statue I had already decided
how I wanted it to look and what paints to use. I
went with an original colour scheme that wasn’t
bland. I had seen several build-ups of the newer
Moebius plastic kit done with a very boring, flat,
light green as the main colour. Don’t get me
wrong, the kit is nice, as were the various paint
jobs, but my mindset was to make the Martian’s
space suit look like it came from another planet,
made from different materials than those found on
Earth. I wanted to separate my statue from all the
other Mars Attacks kits already out there. Going
with that way of thinking, I used Createx Colors
Pearl Lime Green for the boots and gloves and
Pearl Green for the overall spacesuit. It’s suggested
to have either a black or white base colour down
before applying pearl colours. To test how each
would look, I sprayed two pieces of scrap plastic
with Createx Illustration Colors Black and
 challenge of the statue and base was that they’d Createx Illustration Colors White. (14) I then
already been assembled, so there were no sub- applied several thin coats of Createx Pearl Lime

43 |

Green and Pearl Green over half of both pieces

(15). When dry, I sprayed both pieces with a
protective coat of Model Master Gloss Lacquer.
Lacquer . In
the end I went with the white base colour as it
makes the pearl colours stand out more and really
‘pop’. I felt it would draw the attention of the
viewer in more with colours that are exciting and
pleasing to look at (17).

With the colour testing done, I could start

airbrushing on basecoats to both the base and
Martian.. I began with the base, applying several
Martian A

thin layers of Createx Illustration Black (16), B

making sure to get into every nook, cranny and
crevice. I continued by applying several coats of 
Createx Illustration White over the entire Martian
from head to toe (18) making sure I didn’t have
any spots where the white was too thin, as that
would affect the final true colour of the pearl
paints when applied.

Going back to the base I started ‘colour

blocking’ major sections. I began with the
sidewalk, as everything around it ends up on top
of it. Using Iwata-Medea ComArt Steve Riojas
Bone Flesh straight from the bottle (ComArt (ComArt 
paints don‘t need thinning), using the edge of a all over the concrete corner structure and scattered
stencil to protect the rest of the base from rubble.
overspray and to achieve a straight line by the
street, I applied a few light coats. I continued the It was time to flesh out the splattered human
colour blocking by thinning Ceramcoat Rain Grey victim by first applying Iwata-Medea ComArt 
acrylic paint with Createx Colors Reducer (6 parts Steve Riojas Flesh as the base coat. (Inset A, B) I
reducer to 1 part acrylic paint) and airbrushed it oversprayed in areas where bone and gore are

19 20   21

22   23   24

25   26   27
 | 44
C
D there is exposed gore. I went back to the eye and
E apparent because I wanted to achieve a
transparent blood and gore effect later
on when I began detail work. The
eyes, exposed bones and teeth were
airbrushed with Bone Flesh (Inset
C) . Using ComArt Toluidine Red as
the blood basecoat, I sprayed it
28  
31 32
34
mostly where I wanted to achieve a semi-
transparent blood effect, then continued by
airbrushing in a deep red gore effect by applying
Createx Colors Tim Gore’s Bloodline Red  in the
torso and wherever there is torn up and exposed
gore. I painted the eye using a 00 brush, adding a
blue dot in the centre where the pupil is located.
(Inset C). I didn’t want the blood and gore to be
any brighter than what it is, so I lightly
airbrushed on Createx Colors Illustration Black
over all the bloodied, gore areas. I also added a
burnt flesh effect around the torso and anywhere
lightly misted Bone Flesh over it to give the effect
of the eye having a dead cataract look to it . I felt
the human victim was a little too pale, so I
applied three thin coats of Iwata-Medea ComArt 
Sunwashed Flesh.
Flesh. Lastl
Lastly
y, I adde
addedd a ‘glowi
‘glowing’
ng’
effect from the gun the Martin used on the
human victim, applying Createx Colors Pearl 
Lime Green in random areas to break up the
monotony of all the red gore. (Inset D, E). After
some clean-up, touch-ups and re-colouring of 
certain areas, the human victim was almost
complete. More on that later…
Getting back to the rest of the base, I mixed
Iwata-Medea ComArt Opaque White and Black
together to make a lighter hue of grey paint. I then
dry brushed this on top of the darker paint I
applied previously to the rubble and concrete
corner structure. Dry brushing the lighter colour
over the darker colour really brings out details that
t hat
29 30
36
33
35
 45 |

37 38 39

40 41 42

43

I then got back to all the wood that’s scattered

otherwise would be overlooked (19) and is highly
recommended for any kit that has a high amount
of texture.
It was time to paint the blasted away wood
beams and debris scattered about the diorama. I
airbrushed on Iwata-Medea ComArt Opaque
Raw Umber for a base coat, brushed on a thick
wash of Iwata-Medea ComArt Burnt Sienna,
then dry brushed Ceramcoat Burnt Umber to
darken the beams. Lastly, Ceramcoat Ivory was
dry brushed all over the wood to bring out the
texture and detail (20).
about the base. I finished dry brushing Ceramcoat 
Ivory on the rest of the wood and prepared to add
scorching and burn marks to the wood and
concrete. Looking at photos on how fire travels
and figuring out how the wood beams might have
been originally placed along with the concrete, I
airbrushed Ceramcoat Black mixed with Createx
Colors Reducer onto surfaces I felt got touched or
‘licked’ by fire. The dark scorching can‘t be too
dark, so as to not take away from the painted
detail underneath. Some of the larger beams
received long, thick lines and smaller beams got
more of a spotted look with thinner lines. The
large concrete corner piece was airbrushed around
the edges and the bullet
holes airbrushed inside
with just a light touch
around the outside.
...Now back to painting

I stepped away from the base to let the paint the Martian (22).
dry and focussed my attention on the Martian . I With gloves and boots
find it’s a good idea to take a breather every now dry, I masked around
and again and step away from one part of a the tops of these with
model and work on another, otherwise, in some Tamiya 6mm masking
instances, it seems like the model gets the better tape, then went over
of you, making the hobby a little less joyful. that with 3M Blue
Using Blue Painters Tape, I masked off around Painters Tape   (23). To
the top of the boots and at the end of the gloves. make the masking
Mixed with Createx Colors Reducer, I process go faster, I cut
airbrushed Createx Colors Pearl Lime Green on up some paper towel
the boots and gloves and let it dry. I sealed the strips and wrapped
paint with three coats of Future Floor Wax left to them around the gloves,

dry overnight. The next day, I mixed Model  boots and air tank,
Master Lacquer Thinner into Model Master covering them up with
 Gloss Clear Lacquer Finish and airbrushed on more Painters Tape.
three light coats over the Future and let sit for a (24). I mixed Createx
few days. (21) . Colors Reducer with

| 46

Createx Colors Pearlized Green and proceeded to bloodied, gory areas with Model Master Gloss
airbrush the Martian’s entire suit (25). Lacquer. The base was now complete (28).

Giving the paint time to dry, I went back to the
base. It was time to paint the Liberty Bell . To do
this I had to mask everything
around it so the overspray
from the airbrush wouldn’t
get on what I’d already
completed. Using Painters
Tape and paper towels, I
masked off all the wood
beams as I had on the
Martian ’s boots and
gloves. I also put
some tape on the
elbow and arm of  Red to give the metal a ‘not of this world’
the victim, as it lay
directly on the
edge of the Bell  With the suit and air tank painted, I went to
(26). I put down a base
colour of ComArt Dark
Rust , following that with
a layer of Model Master
Gold, then FolkArt  the brain ComArt Opaque Deep Red  and ending
Metallic Copper. I dry
brushed the Gold  over
that to bring out more
detail and it looked way
too bright (27). To
darken the bell, I
mixed FolkArt 
Metallic
Copper and
Ceramcoat 
Black Green
The pearl green paint was dry on the Martian ,
allowing me to move on to masking. I started
around the tubes, chest plate and shoulders, and
followed that up with the rest of the body along
with the arms and legs (29). I airbrushed Createx
Wicked Black on the tubes, chest plate, shoulders
and head as a base for the next colour – Floquil 
Steel Blue. After this has dried, I masked off all
those areas leaving the double air tank exposed,
ready for paint. I airbrush-applied Createx
Wicked Black over the white base and followed
with Model Master Silver over that. Once dry,
dry, I
applied Createx Wicked Red , then Wicked Pearl 
appearance (30, 31).
what I consider the most challenging part to paint;
the head. I airbrushed on a base colour of ComArt 
Riojas Flesh over the entire head, following that
up by painting the face ComArt Riojas Bone Flesh,
with ComArt Riojas Purple Flesh on the face (32,
33). I dry brushed Ceramcoat Yellow over the red
base coat on the brain, along with Ceramcoat 
Ivory all over the face. I added ComArt Opaque
Red  inside the mouth and between the teeth. I
ended this stage with a light wash of ComArt 

was now how together.

I wantedThe colour
it, but the
Bell needed to look dirty and burned from being in
a fire. I accomplished that by adding Ceramcoat 
Black to the base colour I just applied. I
airbrushed burn and dirt marks all over it to make
it look like it had been through a disaster. I
completed the Bell by painting the wood frame it’s
connected to the same way I’d painted the beams.
I took the masking off and applied more paint to
clean up certain areas. Something was missing,
though… Oh yes, the GORE! Using Tamiya Clear
Red Acrylic and a traditional brush, I painted all
the areas where there was gore. I also painted over
all the lime green areas I’d airbrushed, as I
personally didn‘t like how the effect turned out. I
 added a few extra drops and streaks of blood in a
few areas and finished the base by sealing most of
it with Model Master Flat Lacquer and all the
Brown all over the face, which was then wiped
away.. By adding the wash, more detail came out of 
away
the face, making the Martian look even more
grotesque. I concluded painting the head and face
by applying more Ivory to the teeth and eyes,
along with red pupils. I lightly airbrushed
Ceramcoat Violet , Yellow and Green on various
areas to give a mixed look between the original
cards and the movie. Detailing of the brain and
face was now complete (34. 35).
Looking at the invader’s suit I felt something
was missing. It seemed to be lacking detail... it
i t was
there, but not showing. I put some ComArt  the dome in, I had cracked it. I therefore went to
Transparent Black in a paint mixing pallet and
with a brush started to add washes into the ribbed
areas, gloves and boots. These really brought out
the detail of the suit and also a dimension that
would have been overlooked. I decided to airbrush
a black base coat on the gun and let it dry (36).
I wanted to give the look that the Martian had
been fired on by various weapons and had walked
through the fire of the building where the Liberty
somewas
Bell housed
black pastelwhen
sticksitand,
had with
destroyed
a hobbyit. Iknife,
took
shaved a good amount off, dipped a flatfl at brush into
this and dry brushed the black pastel all over the
suit. Having given the Martian a dirtier look, I
sealed the paint and pastels with Model Master
Semi-Gloss Lacquer and let dry for 24 hours. I
then added more black pastel to the air tank, to
give the illusion that fire had wrapped around the
back and air tanks of the invader. I applied
Ceramcoat Ivory to the tips of the tentacles on the
face, painted the ear pieces with Floquil Steel Blue
and added a black wash in the centre ring. Lastly,
I dirtied down the upper chest plate with both
ComArt Transparent Black and black pastel chalk,
choosing Createx Wicked Red  for both lights.
 
47 |
It was time to attach the dome that goes over the
invader’s head. As suggested in a sheet included
with the statue, I warmed up the dome with a hair
dryer so that it would be more flexible and easier
to insert into the top of the suit. I could not get it
to fit properly, however, and ending up rubbing
some paint off an area of the brain. I repainted this
and, using my motor tool, bored out around the
inside of the suit in hopes of making the dome fit
properly. In doing this I thinned out the front of 
the suit too much... and went right through! I took
some Aves Apoxie Sculpt , filled the hole and
sanded and repainted the area. By trying to force
one of my older Screamin’ Models Mars Attacks
vinyl kits and took its dome... I’ll be able to
replace that one without a problem (37).
Getting back to the gun I airbrushed ComArt 
Transparent Ultramarine and ComArt 
Transparent Bright Red  over the silver and let
dry. I went back to the new dome and test fitted
it. I was able to flex it inside the suit by pressing
down on top of it, making the bottom flare out.
Ithe
added
domefive minute
‘seeds’ andepoxy
held to the inside
it there until of
thewhere
glue
hardened. Noticing gaps between dome and suit,
I added Tulip Black Fabric Paint  all the way
around and let dry for 24 hours. When dry, I
painted over it with Floquil Steel Blue, shaded it
with black pastel chalk and lightly airbrushed
ComArt Opaque Black around the base of the
dome. (38, 39).
I felt I wanted to add more to the model, giving
it an original trading card look. I therefore decided
to make a battery pack for the gun. I took weights
used for Pinewood Derby cars, glued them
together, placed them where I wanted the pack on
the statue, ground out two sections on the back to
 With the black dry on the gun, I added a few light make it fit, painted it the same colour as the suit
coats of silver and let dry. and attached it with five minute epoxy. I touched-
up the paint, added a strip of styrene on each side

| 48

to hide the sections I cut out, and painted those

along with adding a burnt shadow effect (40-42).

The last thing I needed to do to was address

small details. I wanted to give the gun a very worn,
battered look, achieved by taking the pointed end
of a nail and scraping the transparent paint away
to reveal the silver underneath. Next, I drilled out
a hole in the handle, attached a rubber hose at the
end and connected it to the battery pack I’d
scratchbuilt. Lastly, I photocopied several sheets of 
a newspaper included with a Screamin’ Mars
Attacks kit, burnt it around the edges and glued it
under the foot of the Martian. (41).

That’s it... the statue fully painted and looking

completely different from the pre-painted version
Quarantine Studio had released. Plus, I added a few
other things to truly make this version a one-of-a-kind.
Never be afraid to take away or add things to a model
or statue. When you do this it makes it something
unique that no one else has. I hope you enjoyed
reading this article as much as I had fun writing it.
Hopefully you’ve learned a little something you will be
able to use in your model building adventures.

Thank you for the support and MODEL ON!

 49 |

EVERYONE WHO KNOWS ME KNOWS THAT I LOVE

DEEP SPACE NINE. Next to the original series it has
everything: great characters and great story lines...
it really is Gene Roddenberry’s pitch of a ‘Wagon
‘Wagon
Train to the Stars’ made flesh (the series was
created as a sci-fi version of the Western frontier
town concept). I was therefore deeply happy that
the latest addition to Round 2’s 2’s Cadet  series
centres on Deep Space Nine at 1/2500th scale,
and that a small box containing test shots of the
releases arrived recently, courtesy of the
company’ss Jamie Hood...
company’

There are three kits in the set: a new mould, a The

revised mould and a re-issued mould, plus two
decal sheets allowing the models to be finished to
a really good standard without the use of a
microscope and a 0000000-sized brush!
The new mould is a Cardassian Cruiser
Cruiser,, and a
cracker it is, too! Nine parts in total make up
this kit, which is based on the actual studio
miniature rather than the later CGI model, this
being easy to determine as there is no relief  I built the model into six sub-assemblies, making
sensor detail in the recess of the claw tail, which
the CGI version has.
fit is very good indeed, with
no filler being required anywhere. A
comprehensive Round 2 wrap-around decal sheet
(see image) will be included just for this kit and
really brings the model to life. Unfortunately this
was not available at the time of receiving our
review test shot. The level of detail, however, is
outstanding!
it easier for the painting to come, and mounted
these onto small blocks of wood.

A trio from Terok Nor

Gary R.Welsh builds Round 2’s new DS9 release
 | 50

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11 12

1: General view of the sprues contained in the kit. The Galor Cruiser and Saratoga are moulded in their final colours. One hopes
that the Defiant is also as she will appear in the final kit. 2: Sprue layout for the Cardassian Galor Class Cruiser . A completely
new tooling with superb detail and moulded in an authentic base colour. 3: Close-up detail shot highlighting the detail.
Exquisite! 4: The completed Galor sub-assemblies ready for paint. As a note of interest the wooden blocks the parts are attached
to are only 25 - 30mm in length. 5: Sprue layout for the Saratoga . The roll bar parts for the original Reliant issue are not needed
although included - nice . 6: Close-up of the additional Saratoga  parts. These are accurate and well detailed for 1/2500th scale.
7: Minor filling and sanding is required at the rear of the model. Nothing untoward. 8: Saratoga sub-assemblies ready for paint.
9: Defiant  in cloak mode! Aside from a few tweaks the fit is very good. 10: The models primed ready for detail painting and
 decals. 11: The Cardassian Cruiser parts sprayed with the initial colour coat - custom-mixed using the Drex Files five-views  as
a guide. 12: Hand painting is carried out. The bridge colour matched again to the CGI views.

51 |
 

13 14 15

16 17 18

19 20 21

22 23 24

25 26 27
 | 52

28 29

30 31

13: Initial shading of terracotta mix, carefully applied with an airbrush. 14: Weathering mix is applied, again using an airbrush.
15: Detail painting almost complete. The five-view CGI plans really helped here - note the black area on the bottom of the hull
in the views is actually on the CGI miniature, it’s not a mistake (something, however, I didn’t add to my model). 16: Close-up
of the main hull parts. Copper and Blue accentuate the recessed areas. The Cardassian Union logos are all
all hand painted
painted – stiff 
drink, glasses and small brush required! 17: Close-up of the side hull recess areas with added paint detail. 18: Top hull detail
ready to be added to the model. 19: Close-up of the bridge section. 20: Deflector /phaser emitter. Base colour of Vermillion then
detail painting with Dark Grey before misting, again with Vermillion to blend it all together. 21: Saratoga with the movie decal

set (kindly supplied by Round 2 ).). The DS9   Cadet  set decals are actually more detailed than this set.
22 & 23: Decals applied. The original registry numbers have been cut out and replaced with numerals from the 1/1000th Movie 
Enterprise supplementary decal set. 24: Unfortunately the decals supplied with the DS9 station kit only supply registry detail.
Oh dear, my poor old eyes! 25, 26 & 27: Decals applied and the spares box well and truly raided. Ready for detail painting to
be added. 28:   Liquitex Orange  is added to the Galor Cruiser . This brings the warp engines  to life.
29:  Saratoga ’s
’s rear detail and bridge  are detailed with paint. 30 & 31:  Defiant ’s
’s detail painting is added, very slowly and
carefully,, using a small brush.
carefully

The revised mould is the U.S.S. Saratoga, and make a happy addition to any 1/2500th spares
now we know what the gaps seen in the original box.
Cadet Reliant  moulds were for. The Saratoga was
only seen in the pilot episode Emissary, being The new parts include warp pylons with
gloriously destroyed by the Borg  at the battle of  integrated sensor supports and the sensors/lasers
Wolf 359 – a reuse of the original Reliant  themselves, which are adequate in detail for this
miniature, again stripped of her roll bar, but with scale, but lack the finesse of the original studio
 some nifty side sensor/lasers added. model (hope springs eternal for a 1/1000th and
larger 1/542 scale Saratoga reissue at some
The kit has fifteen parts, including four for the point).
roll bar that are not needed and which, therefore,

53 |
 

32 33

34 35

Wrap-around decals (see image) will be
included, which are very nice and somewhat more
detailed than the Reliant  decals in the movie set,
but again these were not available at the time our
test shot sample was sent. The fit is good, although
a touch of filler is required around the rear (an
easy fix).
hull parts fit perfectly. Detail is fairly good at this
scale, but I was not looking forward to the eye-
straining painting exercise awaiting me as decals –
you guessed it – were still in pre-production at the
time we received our review sample.

The third kit is the U.S.S. Defiant , a straight re-

issue of the additional kit that was included with
the re-issued Deep Space Nine station back in
2010. The original DS9 version is moulded in clear
styrene and so is our review sample. However,
when eventually released the DS9 set model may
well be moulded in grey (but hopefully not).

This time wrap-around decals will be included

(again, see image), making the Defiant  into a
superb model, and, if the Club 1701 lighting
harness is added, into a stunner! Let’s therefore
hope the actual release will be moulded in clear
plastic.
 Six parts make up the Defiant , the fit being good
but requiring some trimming and sanding of the
warp nacelle inserts to make the upper and lower

| 54

36 37 38

39 40 41

42 43 44

45 46

32: With the majority of the painting done and the window showing the propellor detail. Unfortunately a 1/1200th
detail added the Galor Cruiser  has been built up minus the version is not available - thank goodness! 35:  Saratoga  sub-

bridge  and phaser  emitter. 33: Ever wondered what those assemblies built up ready for final details to be added.
strange details are on the original Galor Class Cruiser  36 & 37: Defiant  with the majority of its detail added. Only
miniature? They are actually photo-etched propellor detail the warp engine  detail is needed to complete her. 38: The
 from a 1/350th Gold Medal  brass detail set. Thankfully a Galor  model almost complete. Just the emitter to add.
1/700th set is also available. I have one for the eventual re- 39 & 40: Saratoga completed. Weathering and shading finish
release of the larger AMT /Ertl  kit - or the two I have tucked her off nicely. 41 & 42: The completed Defiant  - at last!
away in the loft! 34: Close-up of the photo-etch, clearly 43-52: Shots of the completed models.

55 |
 

47 48

49 50

Painting the fleet
Painting began by giving everything a solid coat of  the edge of a small Post-it  note with a custom
Matt Black Primer – in this case Alclad Matt Black
Primer
Prim er and Microfi ller. The Saratoga and Defiant 
Microfiller
were then coated with Halfords’ Daewoo
Casa
Ca sabl
blan
anca
ca Wh
Whititee and set aside for decal
application.
I next turned my attention to the Cardassian
Cruiser, deciding it was best to try and paint this
model as the digital version rather than the
original studio miniature. I therefore pulled up the
excellent CGI five-view used in the episode What 
You Leave Behind, originally available from Doug
Drexler’s much missed Drex Files, although now
available via Bernard Schneider’s
Schneider’s equally awesome
ex-astris-scientia.org.
I mixed up a base colour using a combination of  small brush, the emitter then being shaded with a
Vallejo Acrylic White, Brown and Golden Yellow,
and this was sprayed over the model in thin coats,
allowing the black to create natural shadow in the
and Flat Earth, before very carefully shading using
terracotta mix of Cavalry Brown and Flat Earth.
My standard weathering wash mix of Black Grey,
Black Green and Flat Earth was then airbrushed
across the model to enhance recessed areas.
Small templates were cut into Post-it  notes and
sprayed across the model using the terracotta, Flat 
Earth and base mixes before I donned my glasses
and added Blue and Copper details in the recessed
areas and across the body.
Following another round of shading the
Cardassian Union insignia were very carefully
hand applied, finishing off the main painting.
Finally the front emitter was sprayed in Vermillion
before details were added using Dark Grey via a
further thin coat of Vermillion. I then put the
model aside and moved my attention to the
Federation ships.
 recessed areas.
Decals and details
I hand-painted the Flat Brown details across the Luckily Jamie Hood from Round 2 had also sent
model and the bridge, this being mixed from Purple me a decal sheet for the 1/2500th Movie Cadet set
| 56
51 52
53 54
(featuring Reliant decals) that, along with the
1/1000th Enterprise set, he had provided for the
1/1000th Reliant review (see Volume 34), meaning
that a reasonable Saratoga would be easy to
achieve. I added the decals but carefully cut away
the registry numbers, replacing them with
numerals from the Enterprise set, to make up
Saratoga’s registry. I didn’t, however, change
anything else, as replacing the name with the name
Saratoga would be a very, very time consuming
task and deadlines were looming! The decals went
on superbly, as you would expect, and settled
down very well with a few judicious scalpel cuts
and three or four applications of Micro Sol .
The Defiant, however, was more of a challenge as
the DS9 Station decals only account for registry
numbers and letters. I therefore raided the spares box
and came up with some red coachlines and Starfleet  a point. Other details were then picked out with
flashes, courtesy of 1/1000th Enterprise-B and
1/2500th Enterprise-E sets. Once the decals were on
both ships I sealed them in with Future / Kleer
Kleer and
collectors. I also added window detail using an
artist’s fine-tipped pen and running lights with
Liquitex Titanium White.
Reliant’s top surface recess areas were carefully
picked out with a brush, as were the bridge details
and the underside sensor areas, using various
Humbrol  enamels, and then varnished with
Liquitex Matte. The warp engine bussard 
collectors were then picked out with a fine-tipped
permanent artist’s pen.
Defiant took a bit longer. OK... a lot  longer.
Once the contrasting panels had been painted
freehand with a brush (I recommend regular
tea/coffee breaks and good sense of humour) I
sealed these in with a coat of Matte. I then
highlighted them using an HB pencil sharpened to
the fine-tipped artist’s pen.
Next, both the Reliant  and Defiant  were
 settled down for some detail brush painting... carefully shaded using my weathering mix before
being resealed with Matte. Warp and impulse
Liquitex Orange was painted onto the engines were picked out with Vallejo Vermillion
Cardassian Cruiser to highlight the Bussard  and Andrea Blue.

57 |

are imperative in
making the
Saratoga and the
Defiant  look the
part at this size and
I would be lying if I
said that either was
easy to finish

convincingly in
such a small scale.
At the end of the
day you pay your
money and take
your choice...

If you own the

rest of the Cadet 
These areas on the Saratoga and Defiant , along sets then this will represent a must-have purchase
with the emitter and bussard collectors on the for you, but the set also comes very highly
Cardassian Cruiser, were painted with Humbrol  recommended by this reviewer as an impulse buy
Gloss Varnish prior to the various sub-assemblies if the price is right (Does this mean that the
being brought together, completing the models. original AMT   / Ertl
Ertl Card
Cardassia
assian Cruiser is now on
n Cruiser
the cards for a re-issue, by the way? I, for one,
Debriefing sincerely hope so!).
Well – how to sum up this set? I have to admit that
I adored making these models and even think that Thanks to Jamie Hood for the
the Cardassian Cruiser is worth painting instead of  review sample and additional materials.
using the kit-supplied decals. The decals, however,
however, www.round2models.com
 | 58

Norman Conquest 2066

Never judge a ship by its cover
Grant Louden recreates the legendary Chris Foss in three dimensions
MY SECOND BOOK COVER SPACESHI P RECREATION show. On first study the overall shape, though

(See Volume 34 forMIND

Grant’s first ship. Ed.) COMES quirky
quirky,
FROM
FROM THE UN
UNIQ
IQUE
UE MI ND AND UNUNMIMIST
STAK
AKA
ABL
BLEE HA
HAND
ND one to, recreate
seemed toin me to be
three a fairly straightforward
dimensions, and therefore
OF CHRIS FOSS. I first came
came across
across it
it in his book
book well within my time budget. I should have known
21st Century Foss and it’s one of a long short-list better…
of his ships I’ve always wanted to build. It I had first met Mr. Foss back in July, 2011 at a
incorporates several classic Foss features: bold book signing for his new retrospective, Hardware
Hardware..
colours and stripes, angular shapes, that sense of  I showed him a bunch of visuals I’d made
immense scale and industrial design. And like depicting some of his ships as large scale sculptures
many other Foss works it seems inspired by the (image 1), which were met with great enthusiasm.
natural world, looking like a Great White shark After a ten minute chat I went away with his
with its gaping jaw, rounded nose and fins. blessing to build some ships after I had completed
Another reason for my choice was the upcoming my then current projects. Then somehow life got
LonCon3,, the 72nd World Sci-Fi Convention,
LonCon3 Convention, in the way and it wasn’t until March, 2014 that I
being held in London in August, 2014. Mr. Foss revisited the Foss models.
was to be a guest of honour, and in discussions As with my previous ship, Colin Hay’s The Star
with his daughter Imogene it was agreed I would Dwellers, the process followed a familiar pattern:
Dwellers,
try Norman Conquest  as a display piece for the plan drawings, paper models, full size model and
 59 |

2 3

1 4 6

7 8 9

11 12 13
 15
| 60
intricate paint work. The
contrast this time was a
deceptively simple looking
ship that proved to be
anything but.
Planning
Step one was extracting plan
drawings from the single 3/4
view in the original painting.
Starting with the paperback
cover as reference I made a
few sketches (image 2), and
in Photoshop cut the ship
from its background and
drew clean outlines to get a
handle on the shapes (image
3).
I made some side, front and
5 top views in Adobe
Illustrator (image 4) and
from these built a very
rough paper card model,
photographed in front of the
original
original image.
image. I had printe
printed
d that the triangular lower side panels that joined
the hull shapes without the
black markings so that on the
assembled blank hull I could
draw the stripes and
rectangles in the correct
10 angles and positions (image
5).
This first model I cut apart
and flattened out (image 6),
scanned into the Mac and
drew clean outlines and panel
markings that I knew would
be in the right positions and
orientations (image 7). Th
Thes
esee
refined drawings were
printed onto yellow card
(image 8) and the first of two
14 increasingly fine-tuned paper
models were produced
(image 9). I photographed
these yellow models and
made notes over prints which
were sent to Mr. Foss for
comments and suggestions
(image 10). He very
very helpfull
helpfullyy
16 17
Construction
The plans were scaled up to 42cm in length and
marked out on various thicknesses of plastic sheet
(image 12). For the main
main internal
internal structure
structure I used
used
black 2mm styrene to give it rigidity, and also
fitted a 30mm ABS tube as a support to mount the
ship on (image 13). This was set
set at an angle so
so that
the ship would rest tilting up at the pitch it is on
the book cover.
cover. Before going too far I clad thet he hull
in paper card to check the overall shapes were
working (image 14). Then I fitted fitted extra
extra suppo
supportrt
around the areas where panel edges would join so
I had good strong intersections to fix the hull
cladding to (image 15).
As I’ve alluded to above, what at first glance
seems a fairly straightforward structure soon hit
upon its first snag. In the illustration the gaping air
intake beneath the nose looks like a square box cut
back at a 45 degree angle at the front. But when I
tried to recreate this in real life, I found the angles
just didn’t meet up that way. As if it had been
drawn by MC Escher rather than C. Foss, the air
intake box would only work if I tapered it down
from top to bottom (image 16). The prob
problem
lem was
was
the mouth of the box to the midships would have
to twist to meet both these edges, resulting in
either a crease or a curved panel, which it clearly
is not in the painting. So either I had to make a
curving side panel or a tapered air intake, and
went for the latter. You will also see that in this
photo the inside walls of the intake I’ve made
curved to add some interest, but I later changed
them to flat walls to better match the original.
The final part of the internal structure was
adding mounting slots for the four wings. I wanted
these to be removable for shipping (image 17).
Then the cladding began, one panel at a time.
Using thin white plastic card these were cut to
shape, glued and sanded back along edges so the
next panel could be butted up to make nice, sharp
join lines (image 18). Wher
Wheree the upper
upper and
and lower
front side panels meet there is a curved edge,
which was made using Milliput  filler and running
wooden dowelling along it to produce a nice,
uniform concave curve (image 19). The hull panels
are completely flat surfaces with no customary
panel lines or other physical details. On studying a
high resolution image of the picture it confirmed
that there were no discernible panel joins or hints
 sent back some sketches and
observations which were a
great insight into some of the
18 hidden areas of the craft
(image 11).
of plating, just the hundreds of tiny black and
white windows across its surface. The model
maker in me would have nagged that I add some
scribed plating joins or the odd recessed or
protruding panel to break up the surface and give

61 |

it some scale, but the perfectionist in me overruled not visible at all in the
and said if it ain’t there don’t put it in ! picture, so this became
guesswork combined with a
Bridge building ‘what would Foss do’
After the confusion of the shape of that air inlet, attitude. I figured he might
my next mild headache came with the bulging add some detail to break up
black bridge dome on top of the craft. It was the surface, but not all over
difficult enough guestimating the height and it. Imagining a raised 19
shape, and this changed with each paper model I ‘backbone’ of small
had made. On the full scale ship I went ahead and structures down its centre
completed it pretty much by eye as I went along. line, I added superstructures
As with the main body, I made a skeletal frame from battleships and more
(image 20) and then bent and glued down thin abstract shapes from manga
plastic card to form the overall shape (image 21). kits to try and suggest some
This resulted in some unexpectedly pleasing curves vast scale (image 30). It’s
around the rear section of the structure where it difficult to gauge from the
curves down to meet the top deck (image 22). illustration, but I worked on
However, the more I studied it the more it just the assumption it’s
didn’t seem right. Too tall and too blocky
blocky,, so I was somewhere between a cargo
eventually to make three versions until I was ship and supertanker in scale, 23
happy with it. if all those tiny black squares
The nose frame was cut from 2mm plastic and a around the hull are windows.
slot introduced down the centre to hold the large The rear section too had to
nose fin (image 23). It was while
while working
working on this be built from imagination.
part that I kept looking at the bridge shown here Looking at the exhaust trail
and thinking, ‘too tall, must try again’. So, in in the picture I could imagine
between panelling the nose I had two more either one large engine
attempts at the bridge, with all three results shown exhaust, or a cluster of 
here (image 24). smaller ones. I opted for both
Having finally settled on a bridge shape I added and put in a main central
some detail, all largely by guess work. I could just engine and three smaller 27
make out some small bulges on top, and made two satellites (image 31). Not
small protruding structures from plastic card, and shown in this photo is the
cut down an iPhone charging cradle to make the central rocket nozzle, made
very uppermost piece (image 25). The nex nextt photo
photo from a sports drink cap and
(image 26) shows details in the back recess of the some tank wheels.
bridge, from some old manga model kits, and the
finished wings and fins alongside. These have Painting
some quite interesting little details. The main Several light coats of pale
wings and fins are 2mm plastic with 0.5mm white grey primer formed the
plastic laminated over each side and sanded back undercoat, lightly sanded and
to add rounded leading edges and tapered trailing left to harden properly for 24
edges. They also feature intricate flaps on the hours before applying top 31
leading edges, which were thinner plastic attached coats (image 32). The yellow
with thin copper wire supports. It’s not a job for base coat is from a tin of 
the shaky-handed to drill a 0.7mm hole in a Humbrol  aerosol model
1.5mm thickness of plastic, some 35 times (image paint. Several light coats and
27)! On the wing
wing surfaces
surfaces I scribed
scribed a few
few panel
panel some light sanding again.
lines and flap joins, and to the fin tips added Unfortunately my work
antennae with copper and brass tubing (image 28). bench and spray bench are
 With all main construction complete it was time side by side and dust on wet
for a test fit of the fins and wings, and a last check paint has been a bit of an
on the shapes and angles (image 29). Then issue, so careful checking and
followed a lot of filling and sanding to make all polishing can be required 35
the joins clean and smooth. The upper section is (image 33). I hadn’t decided

| 62

20 21 22

24 25 26

28 29 30

32 33 34
 36 37
by this stage what colour to do the engine bay
inside the rear, so the whole ship got a good
coating of yellow (image 34). Masking the black
markings was another task not eagerly
undertaken. Again this ended up being as much by
eye as going off the scale plan drawings, which
whi ch did
have the markings laid out on them. The bottom,
centre and top lines of the ship all converge
towards the rear,
rear, and it could get difficult working
out exactly where straight up and down was
(image 35)! As you can also see in the photo,
masking tape and base colour were almost
identical, making lining up the black shapes even
more difficult. The rear hull of the ship goes from
perpendicular to about 45 degrees, and in some
cases I cut out black paper and taped it over the
surfaces to see where the stripes would go, and
where they would end up on the other side!
Markings
After a hard fought but successful campaign to
paint the black markings, it came time to address
the graphics and tiny black windows seen all over
the surface. They couldn’t be painted on, either by
38
63 |
custom-designed waterslide decals.
These I used on my previous ship to
great effect, but again the volume of 
graphics and the prospect of cutting out
and applying literally hundreds of 
individual decals was instantly rejected.
The only option I could see to apply
countless dozens of tiny, pin sharp
squares and numbers all over the
smooth surface, was with Letraset -style
-style
rub down transfers (image 36). Shown
here are the black and white sheets of 
markings I drew up in Illustrator. Using
a to-scale print out of the image I traced
some graphics and then step repeated
row upon row of differing window
shapes. I was able to draw up the alien
lettering on the nose and dozens of 
small ID numbers in black and white.
I sent the files off to a bureau in
London who custom print rub down
decals, mainly for use in design
companies for producing product and
packaging mock-ups. The results were
very impressive. The graphics are pin
sharp and the colour solid. The white
applies over black with no show through, and by
grouping panels of the ship together I could apply
a whole panel’s worth of graphics in one go, with
everything lining up along the different angles of 
the ship (image 37). In all it probably took around
40 minutes to cover the whole ship in markings.
But it did come at a cost. Waterslide decals can be
made for as little as £2 per A4 sheet. This set of 
rub downs, one black A4 and a white A5, cost
£120! Not something the casual model maker
could justify, but in terms of hours of labour
saved, and results, it could be considered a bargain
for this build.
Image 38 shows the clean painted spaceship, this
left side close-up showing off the intricate decals
and numbers. I was very happy with the results –
sharp, accurate and clean. But rather too clean.
The ship was depicted blasting out of a launch pad
amidst clouds of dust and smoke and it surely
needed weathering to knock back the ‘just off the
assembly line’ finish.
Weathering
It was another daunting task to weather the
 hand or by masking. Not only were there many finished ship. Very mindful of the expense and
identification numbers and pieces of lettering fragility of the rub down decals, I thought carefully
littered about, but the shear number of individual about what should be applied and how much, and
windows made that approach an instant non- whether acrylic or enamel paints and washes might
starter. Ordinarily I would have thought of  dislodge the decals. I did spray a couple of coats of 

| 64

satin varnish to seal them to the surface. Because
no panel lines are shown on the hull of the original,
I dithered over whether to add some subtle shaded
panels just to break up the surface. I did try
spraying some cut out squares of varnish to try and
introduce some suggestion of panels, but these
don’t really show in photography. In the end I
decided to stick with the smooth, unpanelled finish
were knocked back with a thin solution of black to
make them look well worn, and to differentiate
them from the bright white ‘illuminated’ window
squares that appear elsewhere.
I also added a steel grille to the air inlet box
under the nose, at the suggestion of Chris Foss
when I showed him the pre-weathered ship at
LonCon3 in London. He seemed delighted with

of the illustration, but I felt it needed something to
show it is a hard working piece of industrial
machinery and not a cruise liner.
The weathered version of the left side close up
(below left) shows the difference after some
dirtying down. I figured most dirt and grime
would accumulate when it’s stationary in dry
dock, and rain is washing dust over the surfaces
and oil and fluids have the time to vent and leave
stains. When it’s in flight these things might be
blown or washed off before they get the chance to
settle on the surface. So with gravity as a guide the
sepia washes of dirt were applied according to
how they would run over and down the hull. This
was also run around the structures of the
t he top deck
where water might settle. Some AK Interactive
engine oil paint was applied gathering in recesses
or dripping from small outlet ports on the hull.
This enamel solution did start to lift some decals
so it was applied very carefully.
I also darkened the rear section where exhaust
smoke might swirl around the hull, and the whole
engine bay was painted smoke black in the end, as
it is not easily viewed when displayed anyway.
Some paint rubbing was applied to the black
bridge structure, to pick out the interesting shapes
and lines. And the stark white markings on the fins
the results overall. He had a different vision of 
what the upper deck detail might look like, but did
at least say I got pretty close on my own! So
enthused was he about the idea of replicas of his
ships that we even discussed the possibility of 
collaborating on a Mk II version of this one, which
I would build and detail under his direction and he
would do the final weathering himself.
But the other ultimate test of any replica I make
is compositing a photo of it over the original
painting and seeing how close I got (see full page
comparison overleaf). In the case of Norman
Conquest  it’s very nearly there, but being so
intimate with it I tend to see only the trees and not
the wood. I’d have another go at that air intake,
and make the nose more rounded, the main wings
a bit chubbier and that large black circle graphic a
tad higher up. But these are my personal nit-picks,
just as any model maker will be distracted by the
tiny details that glare out at them but not to the
casual observer. It has left me with the appetite to
make another Foss ship, the only dilemma being
which one!
They say that genius is the art of making the
impossible look simple. I think in some steps along
this deceptively simple build, that has rung true for
the genius of Chris Foss. www.ChrisFossArt.com
 65 |

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 s 
m
 o
 e 
 d 
l  
.
 | 66

Governing the fleet

Iain Costall builds a test shot of Moebius Models’
New Battlestar Galactica: Colonial One
MOEBIUS MODELS HAVE
HAVE BE
BEEN
EN ST
STEA
EADIL
DILY EX
EXP
PAN
ANDI
DING
NG On first examination I found the parts to be very
THEIR RANGE OF KITS based on the hardware of  well moulded with fine raised and etched details
both incarnations of Battlestar Galactica. The next reminiscent of the kind found on Tamiya warship
release – due out soon – is Colonial One, a kits. There was no flash on any of the parts and
starliner converted for use as the seat of  mould part lines were minimal (1, 2, 3).
government for the President of the Twelve
Colonies of Kobol . It’s no coincidence that the A standard Moebius stand was included (4)
colour scheme echoes that of Air Force One. along with two tiny window parts (5) . The
majority of the windows on the hull are moulded
The kit here is a factory test shot in solid styrene which probably suits a kit at this
and arrived without finished box, scale. For anyone wishing to light the ship it’s a
decals or instructions, although relatively simple task to drill out some of the
two exploded CAD views were window areas as required.
 included to help me identify
the parts. The deadline for the
build was pretty tight so I set
about it straight away, with
no intentions of adding detail
or lighting.
Construction begins with the main hull and the
fit of parts is excellent with no gaps at all – simply
run some liquid cement into the joints and you’re
done (6, 7, 8).

67 |

The rest of the main parts mainly concern the
engines and these are cleverly keyed so that they
will only fit one way and to their correct
counterpart (9).
me three sheets of ink-jet printed ones based on the
design files (10).
As anyone who has used homemade decals will
know, they can be problematic as they tend to be
 The various sub-assemblies were primed then
given an overall coat of gloss white. I then began
thinking about the best way to tackle the colour
scheme. An email to Moebius HQ put me in touch
with Bob Plant. He told me that the decals were
still in production... however, he generously sent
translucent. After experimenting with the blue
stripes I decided to use them as templates instead.
I drew the shapes on using a fine pencil then
masked them off with Tamiya tape before hand
painting them with two coats of Humbrol 25 Blue
(11, 12).

| 68

The rear engine section was then given a base
coat of Revell 09 Anthracite before drybrushing
with Aluminium whilst the underside was painted
a blue grey (13).
in the recesses and panel lines (16) .
The main colour areas were then drybrushed
with various shades and the windows picked out
with an ultrafine-tipped black permanent marker
 It was then time to weather the ship. For this
I used Pro-Modeller Dark Dirt  wash (14)
which is water-based and is simply painted
over the entire model and left to dry (15).
Once fully dried it is polished off again using
a piece of kitchen towel and the pigment is left
pen (17, 18, 19).
The spare sheet of decals was given a coat of 
clear lacquer (20), and then the Intersun logos and
various details were added. Final assembly was
very quick and had no issues at all.

69 |

Moebius provides two sets of engine flaps but

these only give the option of either closed or fully
open at 90 degrees to the hull. I slightly modified
the open set as most pictures I’ve seen depict them
at 45 degrees when the ship has landed. These
were fitted along with the landing gear and the
build was complete.

Overall the kit was an enjoyable build. When

the production release arrives the decals will
obviously make the colour scheme a lot simpler to
achieve. Had time not been against me I would
have added the gold pinstriping as well. In
conclusion I think this is another winner for
Moebius and adds to an already impressive range
of BSG kits.

Test-shot kindly supplied by

Moebius Models.
www.moebiusmodels.com
 | 70
SMALLER IN SCALE, NOT IN QUALITY 
GARYY R. WELSH HAS FUN BUILDING THE NEW MOEBIUS 1/72 VIPER
GAR
Presidential order
With three weeks to copy deadline, I received a
communique from Fleet Commander Reccia:
‘1/72nd Colonial Viper Mk II twin set. Stop.
Test shot on way. Stop. Needed by 15th
November. Stop. Please confirm. Stop. And
start. Stop.’
...I like a challenge, and within a couple of days
a box containing a selection of Moebius test shots
and including the Viper arrived at Cromer
Squadron Dispersal.
Consisting of thirty-two beautifully moulded
parts, Moebius’s new 1/72nd. scale Viper Mk II  is
not an exact scaled-down version of the original
1/32nd., although breakdown of parts is similar.
The model can be built in gear-up or landing
configurations and alternative parts are included
to allow these options. The pilot figure is not cast
stage in development, but one can imagine that
these will provide markings allowing multiple
Viper squadrons to be built up. Instructions –
although supplied via a PDF – were not of the best
quality and unreadable, so I simply dived straight
in using the logical method of assembly that
sprang to mind.
Mission status
I began with the cockpit, which comprises of four
parts, these fitting together well. They were
sandwiched between the fuselage halves and
clamped in place until dry. While this was
happening I built up the engines, removing the
location pins that hold the completed assembly into
the main fuselage as this would aid painting later.
With the fuselage join now hard, the lower
fuselage and wings were attached. The wings were
 in resin (as per the 1/32nd. kit), but offered as a
two-part injection moulded version.
Two complete kits will be included in the box
when released. However, our review sample
contained only enough parts to make a single
Viper. Alas, decals were not available at this early
left loose until the upper fuselage and tailplane had
been fixed into place and then set in position.
EMA Plasticweld  was used throughout, providing
strong joints in double quick time – I was, after all,
on a time limit.
Fit is, on the whole, very good, with a few small

71 |

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11 12

1: Parts layout for one of the two models that will be included in the set when released. 2: Alternative parts are included so the model can
be built undercart up or down. 3: Although the fit is good, clamping the fuselage halves together around the cockpit tub is advisable for a
clean join with little to clean up. 4: The fuselage underside is attached with the wings captured. When the tailplane and engine covers are
added they will be set with glue at the correct dihedral. 5: After a small amount of filling and sanding, some re-scibing is necessary.
6: Construction complete, the parts are now ready for some paint. 7: Canopy masked and sub-assemblies primed with Alclad Matt Black 
 Microfiller and Primer . 8: Light Grey is used to paint the canopy interior. Very little else is needed if the canopy is to be modelled in the closed
position. 9: Close-up shot of the engine assembly, painted in Light Grey - not metallic as it is too much at this scale and doesn’t match the
CGI files used in the show. 10: The pilot figure. Although in 1/72nd. the detail by today’s standards is a little soft. Here he has been painted
in Antique Brass and dusted with Light Grey , matching CGI files. 11: The completed cockpit ready for the canopy to be attached. 12: Painting
the canopy framing in Light Grey  so the colour will match the cockpit when the model is complete.

| 72
 

13 14

15 16

17 18

19 20
 73 |

21 22

13: Wingtip laser also painted Light Grey . The detail is excellent, despite the diminutive size. 14: Base colours on. The subtleness of the finish
using White and Off-White is unfortunately lost in the camera at this point. 15: After some very careful masking the red identification stripes
are added. 16: The recessed areas are painted in Light Grey as per the engines. 17: With all the masking removed, a light waft of White brings
it all together. 18: The first stage of weathering is to shade with a standard wash of Black Grey , Black , Brown and Black Green. 19: A
spattering of White , Off-White and Light Grey is augmented with a few chips added with a brush. 20: Successive thin mottles of White , Off-
White and Light Grey  really bring it all together. 21: Rubbing with P400 wet’n’dry  adds some extreme wear and tear before black is used to
deepen recessed areas and engine exhausts. 22: Removing the canopy masking is the last job, completing the model. Below and opposite:
Shots of the completed model on its stand.

gaps here and there which needed to be filled.

When the filler was dry these were taken care of 
with wet’n’dry then any eliminated panel lines
rescribed using my handy Squadron Bare Metal 
scriber.
The pilot was removed from the gates and the
arm (complete with joystick) attached. The
wingtip lasers were removed from their runners
and the canopy cleaned up and test-fitted (the fit
was perfect, by the way). A two-part stand just
clicked together, finishing off construction, all this
taking just a single day. Light Grey – at this scale this is more than enough
as black would add too much depth. The engine
Battle colours assembly and wingtip lasers were also sprayed in
The canopy was masked and the remaining parts this colour.
mounted on cocktail sticks and wooden blocks. The pilot figure was painted in Humbrol 
These were then primed with a few wafts of Alclad  Antique Brass, misted with Light Grey so that it
Matt Black Micro Filler and Primer and set aside matched the reference. Both pilot and cockpit were
to harden while I looked for some reference to help washed with my usual weathering mix and the
with painting. helmet visor was picked out in Vallejo Sky Blue.
Being a CGI ship primarily, it felt right to paint The pilot was then glued into position and the
the Viper to match the CGI style and not to use canopy added, prior to it being painted with Light 
standard modelling finishing techniques that, in Grey (so the framing is the same internal colour
my opinion, detract from many Viper models I’ve when viewed from inside on the finished model).
seen built up. The whole sub-assembly, with the canopy in place
Kurt Khun’s amazing Modellers Miniatures and  and masked, was then re-sprayed with Alclad Matt 
 Magic: A gallery of science fiction art  Black to blank the canvas, so to speak, in

(modelermagic.com) website,
high quality images direct fromhas
thea visual
plethora of 
effects readiness for the main colours.
files for Mark II , Mark VII Vi pers and the Cylon
Vipers Squadron leader
Raider. I used these files as my bible while Vallejo White was now applied in thin coats across
finishing. the model, this being augmented with blotches of 
I began by spraying the cockpit interior Vallejo Off-White sprayed one layer at a time (mainly in

| 74
 

the recessed areas) until a good density of colour
was achieved that still maintained some shadow in
recesses.
The red markings were then very carefully
masked (this took a couple of hours to do
properly) and sprayed with the same colour I had
used for the 1/32nd. Revell X-wing  identification
markings (see Volume 32). The entire sub-
assembly was then misted in White to give a bit of  a bit of black. Usually I don’t do this, but most
scale.
Now for the contentious part...
On all Viper models I have seen the engines and
recessed fuselage parts are always painted in
metallic shades. On the original CGI files,
however, these are light grey; the metallic sheen is
added as separate renderings once the shot layout
has been completed.
I could, therefore, have painted my areas
metallic, but light grey matches the reference I
have, and at such a small scale (the 1/72nd. Viper
is a shade longer in length than a Tiger Moth
biplane) I felt it would look closer to the original
screen version.
The inserts were therefore masked and sprayed
in Vallejo Light Grey. The masking was removed
and the engine assembly (pre-painted also in Light  some of the fit issues on the larger MK II , a very
Grey), was glued into place, along with the
wingtip lasers. My weathering mix was then used
to create a bit of depth around the recessed areas.
Next up was to very carefully mottle areas of the
model with White followed by Off-White.
Chips were then carefully added with a
brush using Off-White and more
weathering mix was applied via
an airbrush. I then
and splatter-painted the model with White, Off-
White and Grey.
I repeated the mottling with White, Off-White
and Light Grey before applying more weathering
mix, then rubbed the model over with a small
piece of P400 wet’n’dry to suggest severe wear and
tear.
All CGI subjects look good when finished with
CGI models lose a bit of reality when they are
more subtlety finished in dark grey. A thin mix of 
black was therefore applied as the finishing
weathering mix. Red tips were added to the wings
using Cavalry Brown, with medium and fine-
tipped black permanent pens being used to add
specific details called out on the reference files.
After a quick sealing coat of Liquitex Matte
Varnish, the canopy masking was removed and the
model was placed on its stand. Finished .
Mission debrief 
Another excellent model from Moebius adding yet
another classic to the superb range of new and
classic Galactica subjects. In scaling down this
subject Moebius have taken the trouble to amend
welcome move. The only minor criticism I have is
that the figure is not exactly the best, its detail
being a little too soft. However, this is not really a
major issue, as at this scale with the canopy closed
the detail is adequate. Hopefully an aftermarket
company will come to the rescue with a more
crisply defined replacement.
All in all an excellent model that is very, very
highly recommended.
 dialled down the

pressure Thanks to Moebius for the review samples.

www.moebiusmodels.com

75 |

CLOSE-UP!
Forty-five years on, we take an exclusive look at the

surviving studio miniatures of Gerry Anderson’s UFO

Derek Rushton and Jamie Smythe of the Prop Gallery

UFO IS, OF CO
COURSE, THE
URSE 1969-70 SC
SCIEN
IENCE
CE FIC
FICTIO
TION
N harvesting aliens and operates from the cover of 
TELE
TELEVI
VISI
SION
ON SE
SERI
RIES
ES CR
CREA
EATE
TEDD BY GER
ERRRY AN
ANDD SYLVIA the Harlington-Straker film studios. Starring Ed
ANDERSON, and was the final production of  Bishop as Commander Straker, much of the series
Century 21, formally AP Films, who had was filmed at the MGM British Studios, later
previously been responsible for other hit shows known as Elstree, which doubled as the Straker
such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Studio in a clever, money saving move. While the
Mysterons.. UFO was the Andersons’ first live
Mysterons series may have lacked puppets, it did feature
action series, financed by the Incorporated  Anderson’s other trademark, stunning model
Television Company (ITC) of media mogul Lew miniature effects sequences realised by longtime
Grade, who, having bankrolled the previous collaborator Derek Meddings, who would go on
puppet series from Stingray onwards, liked what he to become an Academy Award  winner and one of 
saw in the Anderson-produced live action SF film the most highly regarded effects talents ever to
Doppelganger,, and commissioned a series featuring
Doppelganger work in the industry.
 real actors, aimed at a more adult demographic
than the earlier marionette-based
marionette-based work.
The series follows a secret military organisation
known as SHADO, an acronym for Supreme
Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation, which
defends the Earth from body and body-part
| 76
In early 1969 Century 21 set about realising the
requirements for filming from their studios in
Slough and work began on developing the various
SHADO vehicles. Instrumental in this process
were Derek Meddings and prolific designer Mike
Trim, who created concepts which were to bring
 77 |

 
 | 78

 

yet another Anderson world to life. Miniatures
were built in various scales by the talented Century
21 model makers, the old puppet stages used on
previous shows being transformed into fully
fledged visual effects stages to handle the larger
model sets now required, and filming began in
April 1969 under the supervision of Meddings.
The results did not disappoint, with the effects
team creating some of the most visually stunning
and groundbreaking model effects work that has
ever graced our television screens. Over forty years
later surviving, original, studio-used models are
few and far between, many having been destroyed
following the closure of Century 21 or
cannibalised for use in other productions. What
follows represents a significant portion of the
original studio models known to still be in
existence today.
Original UFO filming miniature
The series’ macguffin and titular vehicle,
surprisingly, was the end product of much
discussion and not as straightforward in its design
as one would think. It was ultimately decided to
stick with what had become the classic image of a
flying saucer, however, in a design finalised by
Derek Meddings in March, 1969. Meddings
envisaged the UFOs having an unclear and fuzzy
appearance to match what he had seen in
photographs of unidentified flying objects and
decided that the models should spin and also
reflect light as they did so, this effect
ef fect proving much
more difficult to achieve practically thant han in theory.
theory.
The top dome
heat-formed of theand
Perspex miniature is constructed
is attached in
to a central
column housing a small motor which would spin
the lower part of the model around while the top
remained static. The motor was powered through
two of the wires which were used to suspend the
miniature during filming, resulting in a hovering,
spinning saucer. The top dome features small
holes where small pyrotechnic charges would
have been placed, while the lower body of the
miniature is dressed with a number of paddles
which are covered in a highly reflective material in
order to catch the light as it spun around, creating
79 |
While there were constant issues during the
filming of the miniatures, notably their wobbliness
and inability to fly in anything other than a
straight line without the revolving action stopping,
the UFO filming miniatures are undoubtedly a
classic Meddings creation and a great example of 
his ingenuity in transforming a simple design into
a complex and revolutionary miniature effect.
Original Moonbase Interceptor
filming miniature
Arguably one of the most memorable elements of 
the series is the Moonbase Interceptor, which
provided the first line of defence against alien
invasion. It was Mike Trim who was assigned to
design the craft and, drawing influence from
f rom script
notes and real NASA spacecraft, he created a
concept for the Interceptor featuring only one
missile and landing skis. This initial design was
subsequently adjusted by Meddings, who added
his futuristic touch while retaining many of the
features conceptualised by Trim, his final design
bearing notes stating that there were to be just
three Interceptors, these being housed in natural
Moon craters around the base.
It is believed that Interceptor miniatures were
created for production in just two scales,
measuring approximately 13" and 25"
respectively. Of these only two original screen-
used filming miniatures are known to exist today,
one in each scale. This represents the smaller of the
two miniatures, constructed in slush-cast resin
with metal landing skis and detachable missile.
The model is detailed with hand-applied decals
and even
design washas a pilot to the
immortalised cockpit
forever interior.
when The
the Dinky
Toys 351 UFO Interceptor release of 1971 hit the
shelves. Interestingly we owe it to Dinky that this
very miniature survives today as it was given to
them by Century 21 in an attempt to ensure the
accuracy of the model... to this day we are not
quite sure what went wrong.
Regardless of various criticisms on their
functionality and use, such as only having one
missile, the Interceptor remains a fantastic piece of 
design and an iconic and instantly recognisable
 the desired ethereal and otherworldly appearance. element of the series.

This particular model was used on screen in various Original SID front section
episodes including the series opener Identified and is SID, or Space I ntruder
ntruder Detector ,
 , is an unmanned
believed to be one of Meddings’ earlier examples of a satellite controlled by an onboard computer which
UFO miniature, representing one of only two studio- detects approaching UFOs and can communicate
used UFO models known to exist today. with SHADO’s  Moonbase to warn of incoming

| 80

 
 81 |

 
 | 82

 
 83 |

 
 | 84
attack. SID was designed by Mike Trim on clear
instruction from Derek Meddings, who envisaged
an insect-like design which he realised beautifully,
creating yet another memorable and important
element of the series.
For filming requirements SID was created in
two scales, a large miniature used for close-up
shots and a smaller, less detailed, model for longer
shots. This smaller version can clearly be seen in
the famous shot of Derek Meddings and Ken Holt
in the Century 21 model store. This front section
is from that smaller miniature and is believed to be
all that survives of the model. It is constructed
from a ping pong ball and carved jelutong wood
and the piece is hand detailed with pen. The fate of  such realism. It is believed that three complete
the larger SID filming miniature remains
unknown, presumed destroyed, making this a rare
artefact and very possibly the last surviving part of  length the complete transporters with trailers must
the studio-used SID miniatures.
Original
miniatureSID 2 shuttle filming
The SID 2 shuttle was featured in The Man Who
Came Back episode, carrying Commander Straker
and the brainwashed Collins to SID to carry out
repair work. The shuttle was designed once again
by Mike Trim
Trim and was based on a real NASA
lifting body of the period.
This filming miniature is the only one made by
Century 21 for the production. Measuring
approximately 14" long it was filmed alongside
the large scale SID miniature. Constructed from
carved wood with a cockpit to the
t he front and a rear
fin the body has been decorated with various
reflective materials. With the rear of the miniature
featuring in close-up on screen it is heavily detailed
with a number of kit parts, intricate wire work
and hand-applied decals, and is an excellent
example of the attention to detail which made
Century 21’s model effects so spectacular.
Original Markers Universal
Transporter tractor unit
The Markers Universal Transporter is a large,
lorry-like vehicle which is used to transport the
which Straker almost collides, this time towing a
low loader style trailer with two identical vehicles
as its cargo. These vehicles were actually the
hovertruck miniatures which were used
extensively in previous Anderson series  Joe 90,
featuring in several episodes. The vehicle was also
used in the episode E.S.P. in its former Square
Triangle configuration, towing the Markers
Universal  livery trailer containing a SHADO
Mobile.
Once again designed by Mike Trim, the Markers
Transporters were built in miniature by the
talented Century 21 model team in large scale for
use on the massive model sets required to generate
transporters were created for filming. With the
tractor unit measuring approximately 19" in
have been quite a spectacle, each approaching five
feet long! The model is constructed in carved
wood built upon
many Century a suspension
21 filming system
miniatures used
of the on
period
that was devised by Derek Meddings, this
incorporating foam under the axles to allow the
model to bounce slightly, resulting in very realistic
movement on screen. Such is the detail on this
miniature that the rear axle suspension is spring-
loaded, resulting in the rear of the tractor unit
standing slightly higher than the front. This would
have been counteracted by the
t he weight of the trailer,
trailer,
again providing great realism on screen. The
miniature features a cab fabricated in wood and
heat-formed acrylic with residue to the interior
where the driver once sat, with the back of the
model dressed with an exhaust and various
detailing and a locating hole where the trailers
could be attached. The front of the model features
two hooks that would have been used for towing
the vehicle during filming and three headlights
which are wired to light and remain operational to
to
this day; these being controlled by a switch which
can be seen next to the spare wheel to the side of 
the cab. Various decals, side grills and a dirtied
down weathered paint job finish this incredibly
detailed, large-scale filming miniature which
represents the only example known to survive
 SHADO Mobiles to their destinations. The today.
Transporter first appeared in The Square Triangle
episode, in some of the series’ most beautifully Original SHADO ambulance
shot miniature effects sequences and favourites of  filming miniature
Derek Meddings, who enjoyed the challenge of  The SHADO ambulance was used in two
creating the realism required for the series’ Earth- episodes, firstly in series opener Identified , where
based model shots. The tractor unit makes its next it is used to transport the alien to SHADO HQ,
appearance in Court Martial  as the truck with and again in Flight Path. The futuristic design, a

85 |

trademark of the Anderson productions, is once Earth-based original studio-used filming

again that of prolific designer Mike Trim, and was
beautifully realised in miniature by the skilled
Century 21 model makers.
This filming miniature is presumed to be the
only one created for production. Built in large
scale it measures approximately 23" in length and
9" wide. The incredibly detailed model is created
from mixed materials with the main body
constructed from a combination of jelutong wood
and heat-formed acrylic. The model is once again
built upon the Meddings-designed suspension
system and features front, rear and top lights all
wired to light with this wiring still complete and
visible from the underside. Other features include
rubber tyres as seen on a number of Anderson
vehicles, in addition to grills and even wipers to
the front screen and door hinges on the non-
working rear doors, once again a testament to the
incredible build quality and detail of Century 21’s
miniatures known to survive today.
As with previous Anderson series the model
effects work proved stunning, with the incredible
creations of Derek Meddings and prolific designer
Mike Trim beautifully brought to life by the
talented Century 21 model team, who made a
number of significant innovations in the field of 
miniature effects. UFO was to be the final
production for a team that had created some of the
most iconic visions of the 1960s, and one that even
today, some forty-five years after its initial
broadcast, remains a stunning visual treat and has
proved tremendously influential in the industry.
Several of the Century 21 crew subsequently
became well known FX specialists, going on to
become successful in their own right... notably
Brian Johnson, who was already working on
significant Hollywood pictures while UFO was in
production, and went on to produce classic visual

creations. effects
Academy on Awards,
Space: 1999
and,on
ofhis way to
course, thewinning two
late, great,
Original Harlington Straker Derek Meddings, who later worked on Superman
Superman,,
Studios van  James Bond  and Batman
Batman,, winning an Academy
This Harlington Straker Studios van was first used Award  and becoming one of the most highly
in the series opener Identified where it can be seen regarded individuals ever to work in special
parked behind the studios sign. This became an effects, whose innovations and body of work will
insert shot which was used in other episodes of the never be forgotten.
series. The van was originally built by Century 21
for Anderson’s
Anderson’s previous series The Secret Service Throughout the 1960s Century 21 miniature
where it was used in the episode Last Train to effects contributed to some of the most influential
Bufflers Halt  as a getaway vehicle. and ground-breaking shows ever to grace our
television screens. What is perhaps most
The large 18" miniature is constructed from impressive of all is that such effects have
mixed materials and is entirely hand made, with stood the test of time and remain highly
the main structure of the model being wood and regarded to this day
day..
the cab section heat-formed acrylic atop the classic
sprung suspension system. This incredibly detailed Century 21, we salute you.
model has grills to the front with metal headlamps,
bumpers and even a fuel cap. To the rear a piece of 
vinyl creates the impression of a door and the van
also sports a number plate with the suffix letter
being ‘E’, dating the van to 1967, once again a
testament to the quality and accuracy of Anderson
miniatures. An H.S. STUDIOS graphic is applied,
making this instantly identifiable as a UFO
 miniature, the graphic appearing on one side
only, often a feature of Century 21 models
which were only intended to be shot
from a specific angle. This
represents a unique
vehicle from the
series and one
of only three

| 86

PROJECT MOBILE
Part T hree   –   No w  we're trundling!
(somehow ‘motoring’ didn’t sound Mobile-ish enough)
Mike Reccia builds the new Studio 2 kit

ORTUNATELY ,
F ORTUNATELY  AFTE
AFTER
R AL
ALL
L TH
THE
E EX
EXTE
TENS
NSIV
IVE
E PL
PLAN
ANNI
NING
NG ‘box’ that originally would have held the batteries
AND
AND TWE
WEAK
AKIN
ING
G CE
CENT
NTRE
RED
D ON TH
THE
E CA
CAB
B SEC
ECTI
TION
ON LA
LAS
ST for the R/C gear, enabling the body to sit at the
ISSUE (necessary to satisfy my obsession with right height when positioned over this.
getting this Mobile build as ‘right’ as I possibly • An additional softwood lower ‘grill strut’
could) things could finally move on at a more (arrowed in photo) was created to replicate a
constructive pace for this issue’s installment. previously unnoticed second one I discovered
Unfortunately, and due to giving this volume’s when carefully studying my top view blow-up of 
drool-inducing UFO original props photo-feature the studio original. This was glued in position
the space it deserves, I was left with just two pages inside the lip of the front intake, just below its
in which to bring you up to date on the build this lower edge.
time round. Therefore, and with apologies, I’m left • The body and cab were sprayed in several coats
 with no choice but to briefly bullet-point my
progress since last issue, and to promise you a far
more detailed part four, coming in Volume 37.
Here goes:
• The upper and lower body halves were stuck
together and any gaps filled and sanded.
• A support frame was cut from softwood strip,
glued together then glued to the top of the internal
of high-build grey primer/filler and any scribed-in
lines obliterated due to necessary filling were re-
scribed.
• The raised strips seen on the sides, rear
rear,, front and
top of the original were replicated by applying
lengths of adhesive silver car pinstriping.
• Ninety percent of the kit bits found on the body
and supplied either as sourced plastic pieces or

87 |

from Bill Oram’s excellent detailing set, were enough room to tell you that much more of the
positioned and two-part epoxied in place. The build has been completed since I signed off on the
 remaining parts would have to wait until the above and that all will be revealed in Volume 37 of 
windows were shaped and in position, and until this title.
the back lower detail piece and an underside front Hope you’ll join me then.
plate had been created.
• A coat of standard grey primer was sprayed over Mobile kit details: studio2models.webs.com
the body and cab sections.
...And that’s
that’s about all the info I can shoehorn Details of the detailing set can be had by
into this truncated third part, leaving me just emailing: BIXKITS@AOL.COM

| 88

Feline Frolics
Mike Reccia gets to grips with Catwoman (lucky devil!)
AS ANY FEMALE IN HISTORY EVER FILLED A SKIN
H
TIGHT CATSUIT QUITE LIKE  JULIE NEWMAR? Her-
portrayal of Catwoman in the ’60s’ Batman series
was suggestive, pneumatic and quirky, and
viewing footage today I’m amazed that the show’s
producers succeeded in slipping such a figure-
hugging suit past the censors and onto primetime
television in those prim and proper times.
 Julie’ss depictio
 Julie’ n of Catwoman (Eartha Kitt
depiction
also took on the role during the course of  when the ensemble is viewed from above.
the series, of course, plus Lee Meriwether in
the spinoff movie) is the subject of the
second in Moebius’ superb new ’60s’ Batman
figure kit series, and I couldn’t
this being a glue-on part, making masked or
unmasked a permanent decision for the modeller
unless the tiniest bit of Blu-Tak is used. Front and
rear belt sections complete the figure, and a rocky
base is provided, plus two free-standing cat statues
to stand on this, the base butting up against the
base of the Batman kit to form a part of what will
finally be revealed, once all seven subjects are
released and placed together, as the Bat symbol 
Near-purrfect alignment
The body comes together quickly and
easily from torso, arm and leg halves. I

wait to get my claws into the selected the whip arm option and
test shot that recently therefore didn’t open up the
arrived at these offices. locating hole in the belt
front for the cat pistol
More than one way to build a cat part that hangs from
Moulded in black, Bats’ this if the other arm is
skewed love interest is chosen. With torso,
presented here as a arms and legs together
simple to assemble yet little seam filling was
crisply realised subject required (just the leg to hip
which builds into juncture on the right side and
a choice of cat- the underside of the left arm to
figurations. She can be torso line) and the very slight
put together as the cat- join lines were lightly sanded to
o’-nine-tails lashing eliminate them. The head is
version of the ‘odious, cleverly provided as a face piece
abhorrent, and that sits into a depression in the
insegrievious’ villainess front of the separate two-part hair
(Batman’s terminology, section, thus allowing the features to
not mine), or as a two- be painted neatly before adding
gun, cat-pistol packing them to the head.
kitten, courtesy
of a choice of  Making kitty pretty
left arms (one At this stage, and before tackling
to hold the separately the face, I gave some thought to the
 moulded whip, the finish of the cat suit. Yes, I know it s
other pointing an black, but in series footage it
integral pistol). An sparkles and scintillates as though
additional pistol piece it has silver particles embedded in
is included to hang it. I wanted to reproduce this effect
from her belt if the gun- to scale and, as a first (ineffective)
toting option is chosen. move, having primed the body I
She can also be displayed sprayed it in matt black then lightly
with or without her mask, dusted it with silver paint, both

89 |

colours coming from rattle cans.* The result, paint with a few drops of 
and please forgive the pun, was lacklustre, so I grey added to it, and the
oversprayed again in matt black then pulled my mascara and pupils
thinking cap from the back of i ts dusty drawer.
drawer. achieved courtesy of a
Some time ago I’d invested in a pearlescent black fineline pen. A red
white RC car paint spray
spray,, but had found t his to and black powder mix
be of little use as the spray consistency was too was applied to the inside

light
Having to test-sprayed
get a solidthis
colour
over out of of
a piece it. plastic
A -ha! of the out
picked mouth, the paint
in white teeth
I’d first painted with matt black I applied the with darker powder lines
aforementioned weak spray to Catwoman’s being ‘drawn’ over them
body, resulting in an overspraying of sparkly, once this was dry to
reflective particles that, despite this being white delineate the slightly
pearlescent paint, registered as silver on the shadowed areas between
suit. Perfect! them (the teeth are
Catwoman ’s gloves and boots, whilst shiny, do moulded as a solid strip
not feature the silvery bits, so I overbrushed these with no indents) and the
areas in matt black before applying several coats lips traced in an
of gloss lacquer car paint to the body to seal it and appropriate red. When I
give a lustrous depth to the finish. Finally, the was as happy as I could
front and rear belt pieces were primed, sprayed be with the face (I really

gold and glued to the body and Catwoman ’s must  get that
necklace was picked out in gold with a small compressor*) I sprayed
brush, completing the sub-assembly. the face with Citadel 
Satin Purity Seal to blend
Apologies, Julie everything together, then
Still not yet owning a working airbrush* I was overpainted the eye areas
forced to tackle the face by unconventional means. in gloss varnish with a
I’m by no means a figure painter, and so the task small brush having first
seemed a daunting one. Initially, having primed the added white highlight
piece, I attempted to brush-apply washes of  dots to the pupils.
various flesh tones using thinned Tamiya model  Julie Newmar appears
paints, only to find that the contrasts between the to have auburn hair, and
various tones were too jarring and the washes I sought to replicate this
difficult to feather together. I then reprimed the by, having first primed
piece and discovered to my horror that the Tamiya the hair sub-assembly
paints were bleeding through in certain areas and, and then painted on
worse, had not dried properly. Using very fine shadows and highlights,
sand paper I took the paint and primer back as brushing MIG Pigments
near as I could to the original plastic, re-primed Martian Dust  over the
the piece and rethought my approach, adding a base colours to mimic
couple of very slight furrows to the forehead along the effect of light
the way due to my prior bungling – sorry, Julie! highlighting the red
My next approach, having first sprayed the face tones. Having sprayed
from a rattle can in a suitable flesh tone, was to the hair section in Purity
‘paint’ MIG Pigments powders onto it with a Seal I pic
picke
kedd out
out he
herr
 small brush to highlight shadows and bone ears in matt black over
structure and to gently trace in those furry which a brush
eyebrows. The eyes were then picked out in white application of the car

*If you’ve been following my non-airbrush painting saga over the last few issues and are
wondering why I’m still not using the compressor and airbrush I absolutely, irrevocably,
one hundred percent promised to buy myself while making the Moeb
Moebius
ius Batma
Batman n kit, all
I can say is it’s a long story. I can tell you, however, that one is, finally, on the cards.
Promise. ...What do you mean: Yeah. Right?

| 90

statues were primed and then sprayed in gold, their

eyes picked out in Tamiya clear green and their
collars brushed in a contrasting gold.
Verdict? A fabulous second entry to this series. I
must admit, despite deadlines and a fumbling,
village idiot approach to faces, I’m having a ball
building these kits. They’re great fun, and I felt, in
making this one, like the cat that had got the cream
(Sorry... but, be honest – there’s no way I could
write a Catwoman kit article without lacing it with
some excruciatingly bad puns, now is there?).

Review test shot kindly supplied by

Moebius Models.
lacquer was applied then glued the face in place www.moebiusmodels.com
and positioned the completed
head on the figure.

Finishing touches
Catwoman’s ‘claws’ were brush
painted in gold and the
completed figure glued to its
 base, which had been painted
and MIG Pigments shadowed to
match the base of the Moebius
Batman figure I’d built for a
previous issue. Each of the two,
two-part cat statues was glued
together and the seams (rather
more prominent on these than
on the figure) sanded back. The

91 |

 An Enterprising
Enterprising Endeavour…
Endeavour…

Modifying the old AMT 18” TOS starship

Michael Scarola
 | 92

AS FAR B ACK AS I C AN
AN R EM
EM EM
EM BE
BE R I’ VE BEEN Round 2 LLC,
LLC, as well as a few resin replacement
WATCHING STAR TREK. As a young child I was parts. The 2008 release features 1966 packaging
instantly hooked on the action, great stories, and original box art... however the parts inside are
technology, and especially the characters. The one the newer 1970s’ tooling, also known as the small
character that really stood out for me was the old box kit, due to its smaller-sized packaging.
girl herself, the Enterprise
Enterprise.. With her sleek lines and As I examined the kit’s
ki t’s contents there were some
interesting shapes the Enterprise was one design I surprises and a few disappointments. While it

would never forget. represents the Enterprise it isn’t really accurate to

After being away from model building for two
decades I decided to build the one kit I’d never
owned, the AMT  18-inch Starship Enterprise.
Enterprise. In
my stash of models I had the 2008 release from
the studio model used in the production of the TV
series. However, this latest release from Round 2
has a smooth saucer and an excellent set of decals
(17). The awful, raised grid on the top of the
saucer featured in all previous
incarnations of this kit was removed
for this release. This change to the
saucer and the new decals are big
improvements, making this a much
better kit and certainly worth the
price of admission.
Despite its shortcomings this kit is
still a classic and has been around
since the beginning of Star Trek but,
as stated above, is unfortunately not
at all accurate to the 11-foot long
studio model used on the original
TV show. For this build I started to
really research the Enterprise and
came across a nice set of blueprints
from Charles Casimiro. I re-sized
these to match the diameter of the
AMT Enterprise’s
Enterprise’s saucer and it
turns out the profile of the neck
(dorsal) matched the blueprints. The
secondary hull  needed to be
lengthened approximately 1.5mm
and the length of the nacelles was
also very close. I was quite surprised
and really I felt I had something to
work with. If I could fix the shape
of the saucer and secondary hull 
maybe this build would resemble
the studio model a bit more. It was
certainly worth a try.

So it began…
My initial intent was to fix the more
 glaring problems and at this point I
had no idea how or if I would add
any of the missing taper to the
nacelles – after all, even built out of 
the box it still nicely represents the
Enterprise and the earlier, long box
kit tooling had actually appeared in
episodes of Star Trek. That being
said, I was anxious to get going with

93 |

this project so I pressed on. I started working on cut the front off of a spare Bussard  dome from a
the saucer by cutting the B/C decks and bridge Polar Lights 1/1000 TOS Enterprise kit (24). The
 structure off. This area is one of the most glaring
inaccuracies of the kit and a great starting point. I
had purchased a resin replacement B/C deck from
Don’s Light and Magic (DLM) which seemed to
look the part, although it needed to be lengthened
by approximately 4mm. I accomplished this by
cutting the rear off and adding pieces of sheet
styrene in between the two halves followed by
some putty and sanding (1). For the bridge dome I
| 94
more problematic. The edge contour is too square,
so I proceeded to glue strips of 1.5mm styrene
linear accelerator,
accelerator, or the long part that was used to
cover where the bolts held the saucer onto the
studio model, was another problem area. I cut the
raised detail off, replaced it with more accurate
detailing and slimmed it down a bit ( 13, 26). Since
this version of the kit didn’t have the raised grid,
with these two modifications made it was starting
to feel like the Enterprise I’d come to love.
The bottom of the saucer proved to be a bit
outer edge contour (26).
The cone on the bottom of the
saucer also needed some re-shaping.
There are raised lines and three
mysterious dimples in the bottom of 
the saucer that shouldn’t be there.
The dimples may have been used as
ejector pins for removing the part
from the moulds but their exact
purpose still remains a mystery. I
filled them with styrene bits and
liquid cement and sanded off the
three raised circular lines, which
were later replaced with scribed
lines in the correct positions using a
compass cutter (12). After a couple
of pieces of sheet styrene had been
glued inside the bottom of the cone
I proceeded to file it down until I
was satisfied it matched the
blueprints and allowed the  JT 
Graphics resin planetary sensor to
fit properly.
Now came the hard part: sanding
the saucer’s bottom contour and
removing the sharp ridge where the
concave section starts. The bottom of 
the studio model’s saucer has a nice,
smooth flow from the outer edge
through the concave area and up
onto the cone. I sanded for what felt
like weeks until I achieved the look
of the studio model. The trick was to
get the contour to appear even all
around so there was a lot of trial and
error involved. I was glad when this
part was finally done (12, 14).
With the saucer now complete I
moved onto the secondary hull . I
lengthened the hull by cutting it in
two between the neck and the
nacelle pylons. 1.5mm was added to
the length and I could see it starting
to take shape (3, 4). I fattened up
the front with a couple of applications of putty,
leaving the recesses on the sides and bottom ( 8).
 inside to give me something to work with.
wit h. I used a
compass to scribe a line around the perimeter
approximately where the bottom should start
angling up towards the top edge. A sanding stick,
a razor saw and many hours were spent making
sure the new edge was even and at the correct
angle (6). Fortunately the resin impulse deck I
purchased from Federation Models had the correct
angle and fit right onto the saucer’s re-shaped
The side recesses received some missing details as
well. In order to modify the deflector housing I
combined the kit’s part and the front half of a resin
housing from  JT Graphics. The resin deflector
housing is made as a direct replacement and
matches the kit’s over-sized deflector forks so it
needed to be modified. The deflector forks on the
styrene housing were narrowed and putty was
applied around the housing’s perimeter, after the

95 |

resin part had been attached to the front half, to
give it the correct angle (5, 8).
Moving right along I focused on the hanger bay
area in the rear of the secondary hull . The kit’s
hangerr doors aren’t as rounded as the studio
hange
model’s, and the sides of the hull itself surrounding
the doors angle up too abruptly. For the hanger
doors I simply cut one of the kit’s nacelle domes in
half and scribed the door sections. This did the
trick and looks much better
bett er than the kit’s supplied
hanger doors. Some sheet styrene was used to re-
shape the hull’s curves and a small styrene tube
was added to the top of the doors for the hanger
great! If it didn’t, the nacelles would essentially be
ruined but I had to give it a go.
Here’s the method I applied to each of the
nacelle halves: I first cut the circular ribs off 
the fronts ( 10 ) since I would be using a set of 
resin Bussard Collectors from  JT Gra Graphi
phi cs
( 11, 37 ) that already had the circular ribs
accurately portrayed. For each half I needed to
make a long triangular cut from front to rear.
This started at each front half’s corner and
ended with a 2.5 mm width at the rear –
essentially a long, skinny triangle. Each half 
was cut on the same side in order to keep the
 bay light (2, 9).
As I was satisfied with the results so far I turned
my attention to the nacelles. This is the area of the
kit that required the most thought. I really wanted
to attempt to add more taper to the nacelles but I
still had to come up with a plan of attack in order
for this to work. So, after obsessing over this for a
few days – well maybe weeks – I ran several
options through my head and finally came up with
something I thought might work. If it worked,
inner trenches straight. The nacelle halves
were heated with a hair dryer and rolled on a
flat surface to keep them round while creating
the needed taper. These were glued together,
which was followed by sanding and the
application of putty to make sure everything
was straight.
straight. For the end caps I used resin
replacements from Federation Models that are
the correct size ( 11 ). The vents in the rears are
also resin parts from Federation Models that I

| 96

slimmed down so they sit closer to the
nacelles’’ surface (10
nacelles ( 10).
).
The  pylons that connect the nacelles to the
secondary hull  were also narrowed and strip
styrene and brass rods glued inside for strength
(15, 16).
16). I installed them with epoxy using a
template made from the blueprints to ensure I had
I began with the infamous Walm almart
art Con
Concre
crete
te
colour chip that Richard Datin chose as a close
match to the studio model’s hull colour. In
addition I acquired a paint sample matched to a
Master Replicas TOS Enterprise and had access to
one of Gary Kerr’s hull colour chips that he
created for the release of the Polar Lights 1/350

the correct angle. During this stage the ship was
placed upside down while attaching the nacelles to
keep it all in alignment.
Now came the easier part of this build: making
the navigation lights and beacons. These were
made by shaping ends of sprue to create the small
hemispheres. I added a smaller styrene rod to the
back of the spheres so they could be plugged into
the hull like pegs after the painting was completed.
This helped simplify things quite a bit. Some of the
smaller navigation lights were simply made with
1.2 and 1.6mm styrene rods glued in before the
painting. After the ship was painted I used a small
brush on these (18(18).
).
With the build well underway I still had to
decide on what colour(s) to paint all this. The
funny thing is on television the Enterprise appears
white, light grey, light blue, silver and just about
any other colour in the spectrum. The visual
effects back in the 1960s weren’t as advanced as
they are today and unfortunately it shows.
Another thing I took into consideration is the
actual colour of the studio model.
My next obsession… The hull colour…
The Original Series Enterprise studio model hull
colour has been a big topic of debate among Star
Trek modellers for quite some time. However, in
more recent years it has been determined that the
hull was painted a light grey colour with a hint of  domes to make the effect more interesting.
green. I really wanted to come up with a suitable
approximation for the hull colour using acrylic
hobby paints, so I started my own research.
TOS Enterprise
Enterprise.. Using these colour samples I
started mixing some paint. After a few failed
attempts I came upon a mix that’s easy to make
and looks very close to the three colour chips using
Tamiya acrylics. Tamiamiya
ya XF-1
XF-122 J.N
J.N.. Grey
Grey has
become a popular colour for a TOS Enterprise
Enterprise..
However, I feel it still looks a bit too green but
would still prove to be a great base to work from.
What I came up with is a custom mix using
Tamiya acrylics. This consists of three parts XF-12
 J.N. Grey
Grey,, one part XF-19 Sky Grey and four
parts XF-2 Flat White.
White. It appears neutral in
daylight and exhibits a slight green colour shift
under different lighting, which is very close to
Gary Kerr’s and the Walmart  colour chips, only
slightly more neutral, which is better for this small
scale.
For painting the various details I used Testors
Model Master Acryl Neutral Gray,
Gray, Tamiya X-11
Chrome Silver and Tamiya XF-6 Copper. Copper. The
areas under the fronts of the nacelles are painted
with a darker version of the hull colour as well as
the two triangular shapes on the bottom of the
saucer (34, 35).
35). The navigation lights are painted
with Testors Acryl Clear Red , Clear Green and
white. Tamiya X-6 Clear Orange was sprayed
inside the Bussard 
Bussard domes
domes with Testors Acryl Flat 
Clear on the outside to diffuse them. I also sprayed
some Clear Red  and white on the inner Bussard 
Those pesky grid lines…
Yes, the studio model does have grid lines on the
saucer.. However, they were drawn on with a pencil
saucer
and didn’t appear all that obvious, especially on the
television sets of the 1960s. For this smaller scale
Enterprise project I wanted the saucer
saucer’s
’s grid to
appear very subtle so that the ship as a whole
 would look in balance. I felt the weathering should
take centre stage on the saucer and not the grid
lines.
To get started I pencilled the grid on the saucer
using the saucer from the Polar Lights 1/350 and
the blueprints as reference. In order to place each
grid line properly I made paper templates from the
blueprints. A thin piece of sheet styrene was used
for the radial lines and a compass for the circular
lines (28,
(28, 29).
29). After this was done I pre-shaded

97 |

most of the lines with a darker Tamiya grey shade

I mixed up followed by several light coats of the
hull colour on top to tone them down. The effect is
quite subtle with a hint of panel lines when viewed
up close and disappears from a distance. This effect
on the saucer seems to blend nicely with the rest of 
the ship, which has no grid lines (30, 31, 32, 33).

Weathering…
Most of the weathering was done before the decals
were applied. I didn’t want any weathering over
the windows or other markings since it never
appeared that way on the studio model. The rust
ring on the top of the saucer was masked off and
rust-coloured pastel chalk was applied lightly with covering it as I sprayed primer on the ship. What I
a brush (36). The rest of the weathering is mostly ended up with was a mist of the white primer all
dark grey pastels with just a hint of some green over the dome. My wife thought I had painted a
and rust thrown in. While the studio model did star field and suggested I leave it alone. I listened
have quite a bit of green weathering it seemed to to her and looked at it as a ‘happy accident’. She
show on screen as shades of grey so I went in that was right about the base and I’m happier I kept the
direction. I feel shades of grey look more realistic. star field since it doesn’t detract from the look of 
The green weathering of the studio model was the model. To finish it off I used paint masks from
most likely tailored to the film stock used in the HDA Modelworx to paint on the yellow U.S.S.
production in order to appear as grey on screen so Enterprise 1701 and STAR TREK logos (21, 22,
that’s how I approached this. 23). I feel it sort of emulates the look of the
opening credits of the TV show and complements
Decals… the model nicely
nicely..
The decal sheet provided with the kit is very
accurate with a few small exceptions. The main It’s finally complete…
decal for the top of the saucer combines the ship’s I attached the navigation lights and Bussard 
Bussard domes
domes
name (U.S.S.
(U.S.S. Enterprise)
Enterprise) and registry (NCC-1701
(NCC-1701)) and I was finally done with this project. This was
as well as two of the rectangular white lights. I a fun conversion to work on and an overall
decided to cut all these out and apply them as learning experience. As much as I loved the
separate decals since the spacing of the ship’s name Enterprise before, I’ve really come to appreciate
and registry on the decal appeared to be set too the design and thought that went into
i nto it. It’s a true
close together. I cut out the larger letters and sci-fi icon and I’m sure it won’t be the last
numbers (i.e. U.S.S. Enterprise and NCC-1701
NCC-1701)) as Enterprise I ever build.
separate decals as this allowed me to position them
more precisely over the grid and eliminate most of 
the clear film (38). I followed suit and cut most of 
the ship’s decals out as separate elements with the
exception of the small windows. After the decals
had been applied a few light coats of Testors
CreateFX acrylic flat clear, with some satin added,
was sprayed over to seal it all in.
 The display base…
I wanted this build to have a simple stand so the
ship would be the centre of attention. The smaller
Round 2 dome base is almost the same,
proportionally, to this model as the base that’s
included in the Polar Lights 1/350 kit so it seemed
appropriate to use.
My plan was to paint it to look like one of the
planets seen in the weekly series so I didn’t bother

| 98

 
copyright © 2015

99 |