All Scale Trek

Tesral wrote: The Spindrift is a terribly unrealistic aircraft. There is no way passengers would be given that much arm and leg room.

My thought exactly! The seats are way oversized, the passengers are swallowed up in them. They actually seem to be slumping down so far they could just slide ride off onto the floor. And they are not particularly well fastened to the floor either as Fitzhugh's chair even falls over sideways during the first episode. Poor maintenance I guess.

Well RL reached out and slapped me hard in the face last week but I persevered and managed to finish a few things...

The antenna atop the upper hull behind the dome needed some work. The kit part had three arms (two opposite each other on the sides of the ball and one on the top) with round knobs while the remaining two arms on the sides were conical with no round knobs. I assume the conical arms were made that way to allow the antenna to be popped from the mold as round knobs would get stuck.

Anyway, I resolved to replace all the arms with music wire and add round knobs made from glass beads I found at my friendly neighborhood Michael's craft store (40% off with coupon):

Antenna Modifications by trekriffic, on Flickr

The plastic knobs were cut off and holes drilled for inserting short pieces of music wire into the ball:

Knob Shaft Replacement by trekriffic, on Flickr

Dividers were used to make sure the knobs would all be the same length:

Measuring by trekriffic, on Flickr

The glass beads were slid onto the ends of the music wires and glued with CA to complete the modifications. The main support shaft was replaced with music wire as well. The only plastic left is the main ball. This makes the antenna much less likely to break off any of it's tiny bits when I'm handling the model:

Completed Antenna by trekriffic, on Flickr

After a shot of gray Tamiya primer I gave her a coat of matte black lacquer. She will eventually be brushed with Testors brass enamel prior to installation atop the model:

Antenna Painted Black by trekriffic, on Flickr

On to the Valere Scott Figure...

For Valerie I wanted to simulate the lavender with violet plaid pattern of her dress. So I brushed metallic purple enamel onto a section of leftover clear decal film and then brushed a mix of white and purple to make a light lavender over the top. After it dries for 15 minutes or so I'll go back and make stripes by scribing lines thru the top layer to expose the darker layer:

Dress Material by trekriffic, on Flickr

I gave Valerie a brushing with the same light lavender color paint I'd used for the decals:

Valerie Scott Figure by trekriffic, on Flickr

The decal dress material made a passable version of plaid. The boots even matched her dress. I gave her hair a brushing with dark brown as an undercoat:

Valerie Scott with Clothing and Boots by trekriffic, on Flickr

I used a mix of Testors rust, red, and copper to finish painting Valerie's amber red hair:

Painting Valerie's Hair by trekriffic, on Flickr

The mix of red, rust, and copper enamel was dry brushed over the dark brown. She looks nice I think:

Valerie Scott Finished by trekriffic, on Flickr

Her boots are actually the reverse of the dress pattern. The dresss is lavender with purple stripes while the boots are purple with lavender stripes:

Valerie Scott Finished by trekriffic, on Flickr

I left her underside mostly unfinished as I will be applying epoxy to that area to hold her in her seat:

Valerie Scott Finished by trekriffic, on Flickr

I added a matching lavender banded wristwatch to her left arm like Deanna Lund wore on the show. At least, I think it was a wristwatch:

Valerie Scott Finished by trekriffic, on Flickr

Painting the eyes and mouth was challenging but I am quite pleased with the outcome. She even has Danna's heart shaped face. I added some subtle blush to her cheeks for a finishing touch:

Valerie Scott Finished by trekriffic, on Flickr

Next up... foolish, greedy, nervous, on-the-run bank robber Alexander Fitzhugh...

Fitzhugh by trekriffic, on Flickr

Pull yourself together man! Need to find a head. Will have to make him more portly using AVES Apoxy Sculpt:

Alexander Fitzhugh - Pull Yourself Together Man! by trekriffic, on Flickr

More to come and thanks for all your comments.
Also, thanks for everyone's support and kindness in this sad time for me.
Life goes on but I sure miss my little kitty.

Here's this morning's update after putting in a couple of hours on Sunday....

I added the decals to the rear cockpit wall for the speakers, passenger status indicator panel over the door, and the door controls. I also cemented Steve and Dan into position:

Cockpit with Pilots by trekriffic, on Flickr

I keep thinking Dan is just coming back from the restroom:

Dan Erickson Standing by trekriffic, on Flickr

I decided to have Dan Erickson standing with his seat at an angle so you could get a good view of the seat thru the bow windows:

Dan and Steve from Above by trekriffic, on Flickr

I positioned Steve Burton's hands as close as I could to the control yoke handles:

Steve Burton at the Controls by trekriffic, on Flickr

I glued the remaining ceiling girders in place with 5-minute expoy:

Support Girders by trekriffic, on Flickr

I laid a few strips of matte aluminum bare metal foil along the center of the accordion doors to the closet. In the pilot episode Fitzhugh goes into the closet to check his gun and you can see him grabbing the metal latching strip to close the accordion doors so they were not just curtains:

Closet Accordion Doors by trekriffic, on Flickr

The closet wall with the accordion doors was glued in place with epoxy. Still need to clean it up a bit and putty the seams along the sides:

Closet Wall by trekriffic, on Flickr

Lastly for the day, I attached Fitzhugh's legs and gave him a potbelly using AVES Apoxy Sculpt. I even added his tie which will be painted black. Need to finish adding his lapels before I glue the briefcase (seen on the right) onto his chest:

Fitzhugh and Briefcase in Progress by trekriffic, on Flickr

Next thing will be attaching Fitzhugh's arms (they will be clutching the briefcase tight) and his head. Then I'll give his shirt a collar. Then more putty for his corpulent face and hair. I'll also start work on the translucent ceiling panels and wiring up the LEDs for interior illumination.

That cockpit is the bee's knee's. The detailing is insanely great.

kobayashimaru wrote:I hope you magnetize the topside, so as you can remove the 'lid',
and see inside the final model too - much like the Jupiter LiS model allows you to see all 4 decks

Honestly, if I can I will, but if I can't get the lid to fit tight enough to the fuselage to eliminate any light bleed I am probably going to cement the lid in place and putty the seams before spraying the ship with an overall black basecoat. This will guarantee no light leakage. This is one of the reasons I am taking so many shots of the passengers and crew. Once I have all the figures completed and have installed the LEDs along the margins of the passenger cabin I'll take some more pictures with the lights on. Once the lid is in place you will still be able to view the passengers and crew thru the windows. At least you'll be able to see their heads and shoulders.

Moving right along...

Finished assembling Alexander Fitzhugh and puttying him with AVES to give him his girth and double chin:

Fitzhugh WIP by trekriffic, on Flickr

Fitzhugh WIP by trekriffic, on Flickr


Finished painting Fitzhugh. Here he is clutching his valise filled with stolen cash just like like in the pilot episode.
His epaulets were done using black decal film over which I painted gold stripes. He's been sealed with Future and sprayed with Dullcote:

Fitzhugh Finished by trekriffic, on Flickr

Fitzhugh Clutches His Briefcase by trekriffic, on Flickr

Next up... a boy and his dog...

Chipper and Barry by trekriffic, on Flickr

Tickle....

Tesral wrote:Tickle....

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Stop! Stop! No more! Please! I give Tesral! I give!

Not a lot to report. Got sidetracked by RL. Refinishing upstairs and downstairs cabinets this past week.

Anyway, I did manage to get Barry Lockridge (the boy) put together. The main challenge with Barry is his smaller size relative to the other passengers. Every part had to be shaved down a tad, all except for his head. A child's head is proportionally larger than an adult's :

Barry in Primer by trekriffic, on Flickr

Barry Lockridge by trekriffic, on Flickr

After brushing with Tamiya lacquer primer:

Barry Lockridge by trekriffic, on Flickr

I little rough looking to the DSLR's eye but he'll look fine after painting.

Next up is Chipper, the dog. I think the easiest thing would be to make him out of epoxy putty; I'll probably break out the Tamiya epoxy putty, it's stiffer than AVES and will hold detail better. Found this good profile shot of him:

Chipper by trekriffic, on Flickr

Before I place him in Barry's lap though I'll paint Barry's shirt and tie, jacket, and pants.

Stay tuned!

trekriffic wrote: Not a lot to report. Got sidetracked by RL. Refinishing upstairs and downstairs cabinets this past week.

Ah yes, the 1/1 House model.

Got into a sculpting groove and made some good progress on Chipper.
Still have some tweaking to do which these photos showed me...

Can you see the dog?

Barry Lockridge and Chipper WIP by trekriffic, on Flickr

Barry Lockridge and Chipper WIP by trekriffic, on Flickr

How about now?

Barry Lockridge and Chipper WIP by trekriffic, on Flickr

Barry Lockridge and Chipper WIP by trekriffic, on Flickr

Certainly by now:

Barry Lockridge and Chipper WIP by trekriffic, on Flickr

Chipper WIP by trekriffic, on Flickr

I've already done some more sculpting after these images were taken. Removed a fair sized chunk out of Chipper's mid-section (between Barry's knees) and did some more texturing on his hair. I may go back and add a bit more hair above his eyes using Tamiya epoxy putty again. Best stuff to work with for fine detail and it's still soft enough for me to add texturing even after curing overnight.