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papasmurf

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Posts posted by papasmurf

  1. I too am a great fan of Clarke and his books. 2001 was an art movie more than anything. Keep in mind that it was originally released in Cinerama. For those who don't know, it was a huge curved screen. The film was shot with three separate cameras and projected by three projectors. It was an immersion type film and the special effects and cinematography were the major focus. It was more about the experience than the story line. This is much like the movie Gran Prix, also a Cinerama film. Cheesy story line to support the immersion effects. I still like HAL. IBM -1 Next letter up from H is I, A is B and L is M. Nice bit of trivia.

     

    QUOTE (kptucker @ Jan 15 2009, 05:31 PM) Don,

     

    No disagreement on your take but many well written books don't make it through the Hollywood process.

     

    ...

     

    I find 2001 a little difficult to take but I also take it for what it is in the time in which it was made.

     

    The interesting thing about 2001 is that Clarke wrote the book and the screenplay at (roughly) the same time. The book had to go to the publisher before the movie finished shooting so they diverged - mostly where Kubrick decided the changes made the movie better. The big one I remember is that Kubrick added the scene where HAL traps Bowman outside in the pod with no space suit - the one place I thought the movie was actually better. Tying this back to modeling - in the book the Discovery goes to Saturn; in the move its Jupiter - because they couldn't get the rings of the Saturn model to look right on film...

     

    What bothered me the most about the movie is that it failed to convey any of the main themes of the book: what the monoliths were, the whole "sufficient technology is equivalent to being God" and your standard anti-war, anti-nuke messages (it was the 60s). It wasn't that Kubrick left them out - bits and pieces are scattered through the movie - but there is no attempt to explain any of it - its just lost amongst all the cool imagery. I thought "Marooned" - made at the same time with a much smaller budget and a straightforward storyline actually worked much better as entertainment.

     

    Don

     

     

    Mmmm...I saw 2001 in that awesome "Cinerama" setting, the huge curved screen. I was around 8, so it would have been around 1968. It played at the HUGE Odeon Theater in Montreal. The 60's version of "I Max", not as technological, but for that time, quite an impact on the audience of that day.

     

    In my humble opinion, it's probably the finest and most elegant SF film ever. I agree that some elements were left out, from Clarke's book. But you can't always include every little detail in a film. Which is why, you should read the book first! In a film of this mind blowing proportions, it's a must to do so.

     

    I don't think that "marooned" was somehow equivalent in any way, in entertainement impact. it's a good film, but not in 2001's league whatsoever. An entirely different film, about the Space program of that era. The 2 are very different themes. No offense intended, just my 2 cents.

    Marooned had some fine moments though, the noble sacrifice of the crew, it was quite moving.

     

    I do agree that a lot more data should have been included about the monoliths, somehow, they really were the most interesting characters in that film, and not as fully explored as they should have been. But their nature was to work like "God" in the background, unseen, unknown. So this was probably deliberate.

     

    The imagery was a bit much for me back then, now, it makes sense, after reading the book at the age I could fully grasp the concepts. The "Colorized Freakout" scenes gave me nightmares for months. And the "Apes" scenes at the beginning, scared the crap out of me, to this day I don't like primates.

    So you can imagine how freaky "Planet of the Apes" was, oddly, I don't think anyone has mentioned that one?? The theater was wrapped in rows three deep the day that opened up, I have never seen that many people waiting on a film. Even the premiere of Star Wars, didn't have that "cast of thousands".

     

    And another fine piece of trivia! The letter designation of the Hal Supercomputers is soooo cool! Think I heard that a while back, but you spell it out clearly, nicely done!

     

    It was an "Art" film, but oh boy, what a film!!:smiley27:

  2. One or two posts placed after mine reminded me that I had forgotten about and not mentioned 'Blade Runner'.

    I agree that this was also one of the most brilliant SF movies in its own right.

    Someone also mentioned the Prisoner. If any Prisoner fans come to the UK they must go to Portmerion in North Wales

    and visit the 'Village'. It is open to the public for day visits, there is a hotel on the site and also some of the houses in the village can be holiday rented.

    The Village was the inspiration of a man named Clough Ellis who started work on it before WW2 and finally finished it in the 70's.

    He wanted to build an Italian styled village that blended harmoniously into the surrounding landscape by a river estuary.

    There is probably a website to look at. I think that the tennis courts seen in the old Prisoner series from the sixties have since been replaced by ponds with fountains.

     

     

    I'm a huge Prisoner fan, I believe I mentioned it in an earlier post. I never heard about "The Village" being an attraction, how cool is THAT!!

     

    One of the most interesting tidbits of trivia I have heard this year, thanks very kindly for sharing that! :smiley32:

  3. MST3000. I know its not a movie, but they did show old SciFi movies. Joel, Gypsy, Tom T. Robot and Crow. Mike was kind of lame, but he did keep the show alive.

    As an aside, one of the first "bad guys" was Josh Weinstein who went on to be the Producer of a little show called "The Simpsons".

     

     

    I LOVE that show, and even though it's out of production, all epsiodes are found on Netflix! Mike was the "straight man" in that comedy team, and he was supposed to be the "bland" one. And,....he was.

     

    Didn't know that about Mr. Weinstein, good trivia there! :smiley20:

  4. I ordered a fairly "rough" version, cast in solid resin, of the famous Pulse Rifle from the film "Aliens". I do the "Mystery Shopper" bit once in a while, to see "what's out there". Also, I don't have time to build for myself much these days. After months of waiting, and some pretty poor excuses from the seller, it finally arrived, minus the digital counter kit. After a few more weeks of "Cyber Terrorism", I duly inflicted, I finally got that too. It was plainly painted, had some fit and warp issues, but it was something to work with. I had considered ordering the extrtemely "pricey" version that sells for about a grand, but my Wife would have "Terminated" me, so no go. "Aliens" is one of my favorite films, "Alien" was awesome, but this second film was more exciting in my opinion. The Marines weapon, the "M41-A Pulse Rifle" is an iconic SF weapon. It's still extremely sought after, "Monsters in Motion" sells one, for the very outrageous price of 3,000.00. OUCH!! My Wallet Hurts!!

     

    London Prop Store sells them for about the price of a decent car. Jeez.....:smiley19:

     

    So I had this "Basic and Rudimentary" block of a prop reproduction, and I got to work on it over one weekend. Color was off, so I redid that, Barrels were not bored, bring out the big bits son... The digital counter was a raw board, and the prop version had a "smoked glass" lens on it. I whipped one of those up by epoxying some car window tinting film, onto a pre-cut piece of clear styrene, not bad. Now, it was time for weathering effects. Using a sponge, a little one, and some different brushes, I added some "Bare Metal" stress marks, all per an image of the original screen-used prop.

     

    Now it's not "perfect" The rear stock was a bit deviated, but I whittled that to some kind of linear shape. A lot of other little things were missing too, like a trigger for the forward shotgun section. Some Bolt details on the main body, but in time I got a pretty decent version for under 400.00. The only thing that still bugs me, it's that I don't have the equipment to bore out all the air cooling fins and holes. However, from a "Prop" perspective, this would have been a great "Stunt" version, and looks quite realistic on film.

     

    I'll let you be the judge, but do consider the price, versus the other versions, not bad for a few bucks. :smiley20:

     

     

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  5. "The Thing" - The original one. Scared the crap out of me as a kid. For days I didn't even want to go out into our yard.

     

    "Star Wars" - I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A giant step for special effects. My daughter and I saw it every weekend for weeks when it was first released.

     

     

    "The Thing" was scary as heck back then, and I have to admit, the remake with Kurt Rusell wasn't bad. Call it a "guilty pleasure", as most remakes just don't cut it. Like the already mentioned "The Day The Earth Stood Still" remake, which couldn't capture Rennies' stellar performance.

     

    "Star Wars" was a HUGE leap in FX, that's fer' sure Dude! Finally, a film were the hardware wasn't shiny, silver, and right off the showroom floor. God bless weathering, it made all the difference.

     

    Thanks Les, gosh...I do believe this almost "dead" topic is slowly coming back to life!!

     

    "Rise, Rise....Muhahahaha...." Frankenstein (Don't forget Karloff and Bela...) :smiley11:

  6. I would like to add a bit more to my earlier post. As a kid going on into my teens, I used to go and see many of the old black and white sci fi movies.

    Anyone remember such films as The Incredible Shrinking Man, the Colossal Woman and The Earth Versus the Flying Saucers? When you see any of them now, they really seem a bit of a joke. I can remember a classic line from Earth v the Flying Saucers about one of the Aliens Space Suits being described as 'Solidified Electricity'

    However the original Day the Earth Stood Still with Michael Rennie playing the main role, stands out as one of the best black and white SF films ever made. It's message is still very relevant even today with nuclear proliferation going on worldwide. The original King Kong movie starring Fay Wray was a masterpiece of stop go animation that influenced Ray Harryhausen's special effects in movies such as Jason and the Argonauts, Sinbad and Valley of Gwangi.

    Peter Jackson's recent remake of King Kong is a really good film. However, I was not very impressed with the recent remake of Day the Earth Stood Still as it deviated too much from the original, although trying to embrace the same concept.

    It's funny how some remakes really work and some just don't. The Dino De Laurentis version of King Kong didn't work at all for me as I seem to remember that the dinosaurs got dropped in that version.

    Besides the movies I mentioned in my last post I forgot to mention a few more (for me anyway) classic SF movies. 2001 A Space Odyssey had brilliant special effects for a film made in the early sixties. And look how much of the predicted technology shown in the film is for real today.

    The Terminator series was a great vehicle in lateral thinking for a SF movie, that an android should come back from the future to kill the future mother of a resistance leader to prevent him from being born. Brilliant conceptual thinking!

    The Predator movies and Aliens movies were both brilliant in their own right. But personally I feel that the Aliens v Predators spin offs really were a bit poor by comparison and it was just flogging the thing to death.

    The Fifth Element, Dune and the Chronicles of Riddick are also of note as being good if underrated. I enjoyed all of these.

    The latest Star Trek film that sets up all the original characters that we all know and love , Kirk, Spock ,Bones Scotty ,Uhura, Checkov and Sulu was inspired. The casting was great as finding good young actors with a physical resemblance to the original cast must have been some undertaking. Absolutely spot on! A great movie.

    Sci Fi has its memorable moments for all of us. For me it was the opening sequence to the first Star Wars film when I took the kids to watch it when it first went on cinema release. After the titles had rolled into the distance the little space craft appeared whilst being fired upon. But what I did not expect to see was a massive imperial cruiser in pursuit appear from the top of the screen and almost filling it whist the surround sound shook the cinema. Both my kids and I were just awestruck by this moment of cinematic experience.

    Of course now with the advent of modern 3D technology....Avatar....That was something else!!!

     

    All those "oldies" do bring back memories of a better time, in my opinion. You didn't mention "The Prisoner", which was a spin off from "Secret Agent Man", and the original "Outer Limits", and "Twilight Zone", which scared the heck out of me as a kid! Little known fact is that the concept for "Terminator" was written years before, by my favorite author, Harlan Ellison. A Lawsuit straightened that out, and he was awarded a settlement. I completely agree that "The 5th Element" and "The Chronicles of Riddick" were highly underated, both great SF films! "The 5th Element" has become a cult favorite to a lot of SF fans. "Dune", well, I read all of Herbert's books, and although the first version wasn't bad, no one has really captured the true essence of that tale. The Worms were simply "awful" and killed that section of the film. "Hey, I can see the wires".

     

    The first Star Wars release did impact me, but it's "Empire Strikes Back" that really stood out then. Those Imperial Walkers on Hoth, truly memorable!

     

    And yes, "Avatar" in HD at home, on my first "Big Screen" TV, was amazing. I hear a second film is in the works.

     

    Nice post, thanks very much for sharing that! :smiley32:

  7. BLADE RUNNER

    MAD MAX [cept for the 3rd film ]

    The day of theTtriffids

    Firefox

    the 1st Robotech movie

     

    AND MY GP,S ARE

     

    Empire strikes back

    Origanal godzilla [ non US, version]

    Rocky Horror , [yea i know but it realy is sci fi ]

    and lastly and best of all

     

    Battle beyond the stars. with a big thank you to Mr, Vaughn Mr, peppard and a HHHHUUUUGGGGEEEE THANK YOU TO SYBIL DANNING LOL

     

     

    AAaaaahhh yes. Mz. Danning, quite hot in her time! Know the movie, MMMmm, call that one a "Guilty Pleasure", but she was easy on the eyes.

     

    "The Day of the Triffids" was a great Brit film. done on a tight budget, was that the "Hammer" guys again? Can't remember, but that's a classic, no doubt about it.

     

    "Rocky Horror" was an SF film, and it was a lot of fun! Curry's put on a little weight since then however, see him in "Congo".

     

    Godzilla is a childhood fav, so much modeling work in those films! It's amazing The Japanese artists are really talented, love their work!

     

    Blade Runner first, you are the "Man"! A film that really "knocked me up-side the head", as they say down here.

     

    Nice post, they are all really good! :smiley31:

  8. OK, here's some more "stuff" on this project. I have worked on the upper saucer section to the point where it can be later painted with the primary color. For now, it's going to be filled up with lighting doodahs.

     

    Love the new format by the way, very nice! Clean and efficient, Papa likes!

     

    These "garage" kits are done with limited facilities, so a fair amount of small defects do show up after casting. Caused by trapped air, they must be filled with decent putty, like Apoxy sculpt.

     

    Once this is done, the additonal coats of primer can be applied. Primer is great for revealing these defects that are hard to see, especially on a clear cast kit like this. Once those little suckers are gone, you know you can apply a final coat of primer, and get on with it!

     

    Additionally, the HUGE display case, destined to show off this build in the clients home, arrived. Over 50 inches long, and very nicely done per my specs! It wasn't cheap, think several grand for something like this. Ouch....

     

    I can only hope that the final results, late next year, might be worthy of another article in the IPMS Journal! Maybe, perhaps, we'll see how it all turns out. They did a marvelous job on the refit article, I was extremely impressed with the layout that was printed!

     

    Back to the subject at hand....

     

    As these big sections are refined and ready to work with, I enter the lighting stage on one of the detail features of this display, the Shuttle Bay at the rear of the primary saucer. Some nice metal etch parts augment this area, and I am trying very hard to add the lighting effects I see on the actual prop from clip captures. It's very tiny work, and the spotlight effects will be done with some fiber optic strands. Channels must be drilled that allow curved strands to shine down on the exterior Door area. The Bay details will be scratch-built, and it seems that the Shuttles from the 1/350th Polar Lights kit may be good to use, slightly altered. I'll go by screen captures on that stage as well.

     

    The images show some of these stages, I got somewhat familiar with Photoshop techniques lately, so I cut down the size of my "UnGodly Big Pictures"!

     

    Next time, I should have some actual lighting shots, and it will get more interesting. Gotta do the "nuts and bolts" before you get to the fun stuff.

     

     

     

     

     

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  9. Its not really a scifi film. but the Family Guy send up of Star Wars was pretty funny. The art work was amazing as well.

     

     

    I saw that, it was very well done indeed Ron, I really enjoyed it as well!

     

    Stewie as Darth was a great concept, thanks for adding this comment! :P

     

    You just never know when a topic is going to come back to life!

     

    I also want to add "Avatar" as one of the very best films lately.

     

    I haven't seen "Skyline" yet, anyone got a revue on that one? :huh:

  10. I really don't have a definitive favourite Sci Fi Film. But I can remember my parents taking me to see Forbidden Planet and being gobsmacked at the special effects, as this was my very first foray into science fiction at the movies. Also, I can remember as a kid seeing the Disney version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The Disney version of the Nautilus submarine is to me what a submarine would have looked like using Victorian ship building methods.

    So I guess that these two movies were influential in getting me interested in Sci Fi.

    Airfis was about to release a model of Disney's Nautilus in the late 70's but the project was shelved and never got into production. I remember seeing the test shot at an industry trade show in London at the time and being very excited about it. Shame it never got to production though. I believe that Comet Miniatures make a resin kit in a similar scale to the proposed Airfix kit that is currently available at a reasonable price. There are some much larger scale kits about in resin as well but very expensive. I am surprised that Revell did not kit the Disney version instead of that abortive kit they released a few years back. Maybe the licencing would be prohibitive.

    I would love to see the Disney Nautilus done as a proper injection moulded kit in a reasonably large scale like 1/200th, as to me it is the DEFINITIVE NAUTILUS and should have been done long ago.

    Over the years I have watched many Sci Fi movies. Some were great like Star Wars, Star Trek ,Alien, Predator and the Matrix. Plus more recently Avatar.

    Jurassic Park would have been brilliant if Michael Crichton had not allowed Spielberg to compromise his book so much. If made like the book it would definitely have only been a movie for an adult audience. Martin Scorsese would have done a better job at remaining true to the book

    Mind you I have also watched a lot of dross sci fi as well!!

     

     

    Solid choices, can't go wrong with classics! I have a very old Comet Nautilus kit, not very big, but nicely detailed. Still in the box, and the graphics on the box are very sweet.

     

    Not seen a post in this topic in some time, thanks for sharing! :smiley20:

  11. Hi, Simon,

     

    To be honest, I would rather be applying self-stick window masks one-by-one as you are doing rather than struggle with individual armor track links. Your photo of the sheet of masking material suggests that you pre-cut about a thousand window masks with your knife. You appear to have a good, if not tedious, start to the project. Is there an ETA on completing the window masks on the entire hull? How will you treat the windows for interior spaces that have their lights "off" rather than "on"?

     

    Ed

     

     

    I hear that Ed! Those track links are a pain! The masking sheets are made for me by a fellow named Lou Dalmaso, he supplies this custom stuff to builders. Tedious, it's MIND-NUMBING!!

     

    The masking of the entire hull is hard to "eta" as each section is built as a sub-assembly. The entire project will take approx. 8 to 10 months. I'm trying to light each and every window, we'll see how that goes.

     

    You can see more on the process by visiting the Video Gallery on the Kit Factory website.

     

    Thanks for your comment Ed. :smiley20:

  12. Here's my latest project currently "on the bench", I like this topic thread, good thinking! This is the Fiberglass, resin, and metal etch kit by Sovereign Replicas. A "no-nonsense" kit, big, few parts, and requires some serious planning. Cast in clear fiberglass, allowing porthole and window masking without the need for cutting out apertures, and creating glass in them.

     

    At this early stage, I am in the upper Saucer window masking stage. This requires the masking of several hundred windows on the outer and inner Hull. Next step will be the first coat of primer, and a blackout application. Then I'll be moving on to the lower Saucer section. For some video's on this current project, you can visit the Video Gallery at http://www.thekitfactory.com/

     

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  13. In the recent journal, there was an article about getting kids into modeling. So far, I have introduced six of my six kids into modeling, although only one ever really liked it and she even entered a few kits into a show in Nashua and won a few trophies for her efforts. That was six years ago, she'll be 17 on Monday and is interested in her boyfriend, school work (4.0 GPA) and hanging with friends in the new Corolla I bought her in May.

     

    I've started my 6 yr old son but he lacks the finer motor skills and still wants to play with the kits. He is a big Star Wars The Clone Wars fan. We watch the animated show on Fridays and he plays Lego Star Wars on the PS3 and Nintendo DS quite often. He was looking at a Fine Molds Snow Speeder I got from eBay and showed a great interest in the kit.

     

    Not wanting to let him loose on an expensive Fine Molds kits, I found a few of the pre-decorated snap tite Revell Star Wars kits at Marshall's for a whopping $4.99 a piece. I bought some of the bigger Revell Star Wars kits at the local hobby shop, eBay and Squadron.com for around $20 a piece. I had to help him, basically had to remove parts and press them together to gain a positive lock. He followed along and we had a bit of fun.

     

    These kits are light years beyond the MPC kits from the 1970s and 80s and much better than the AMT/Ertl kits released after Episodes 1, 2 and 3. The level of detail on them are amazing and they are well engineered. Only a few spots required some glue to flow with minor clamping to close wing gaps. Other than that, they fit like a glove.

     

    Here's what we knocked out during the weekend and a few evenings after homework was done (yes, 1st graders get homework). There are two bigger kits, the X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters and the TIE Interceptor and Eta-2 Jedi fighter were the $5 bagged kits.

     

    I wish we had finished the fleet earlier and I had a chance to take better shots, but here they are:

     

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    Very nice!!! :smiley20:

  14. Simon,

    Very nice!!! Is that the 350 or the 500?

     

    Mark

     

     

    Just the small 1/500th Bandai version. Not the best kit they make, and that HUGE 1/350th makes me drool! If I'm lucky, one day I will get a client that wants one built, that sucker has motorized everything!

     

    Thanks for the praise Mark! It had Flashing main Guns effect, lighting inside and out, and a very cool firing forward Cannon circuit. Lots crammed into a tiny kit, it was around 12 or 13 inches long, something like that.

     

    Those "Grab Bags" are really nice, if you choose the ones which have a lot of brass tubes, it can really be the cheapest way to get Gun Barrels. I also get Brass Tubes at the hardware store and cut them myself, that would be the second cheapest way. And they last through many projects.

     

    Hope that's helpful! :smiley20:

  15. How did I miss this? Oh, I know, I was in recovery from surgery at that time, and I was hoping to be recovered enough for the 3-day drive to Phoenix for the Nats (I was). I enjoyed this series when it was first-run, but I never acquired the Monogram kit (what's wrong with me, a true sci-fi fan?).

     

    I like how the lighting effects vastly improve an otherwise average model. Your landing scene terrain looks pretty rugged, but that fits well with the mythology of "invaders" not wanting to be noticed near populated areas.

     

    So, this is a belated "great work!"

     

    Ed

     

     

    Glad you recovered, and thanks again Ed. :smiley20:

     

    "The Invaders" was a great series! Scary, smart, and very well executed, with the the special effects of that time.

     

    The diorama base was painted in Reddish "Desert" tones, much like what I saw in a few of the episodes. Bought the DVD set, it's worth it!

     

    If you want to see this build in action, a couple of film clips are in the video gallery, on the Kit Factory website.

  16. I missed this when you first posted the pictures. I am a big fan of fiber optics to light up model interiors, and you have done another one of your exceptional builds here. I don't blame you for retiring the small saucer kit in favor of the larger one; you have more room to add the creative effects. Light leaks are always the problem to solve, especially when some do not show up until the lighting work is completed and the model is ready for final assembly. Been there and had that done to me.

     

    I never got into LIS, but that is no reason to not appreciate superior work on a model.

     

    Ed

     

     

    Thanks very much Ed! After around 30 of these guys produced here, I am happy to retire it and move on to a bigger and more detailed version.

     

    LIS was a childhood favorite, I never really considered it serious SF, more along the lines of Space Fantasy for young viewers. There are still a heck of a lot of fans out there however, and they are all adults who loved that show back in the 60's! :smiley22:

  17. Great work - welcome back!

     

     

    Thanks Tim, but I never left! I posted 2 builds just a few weeks ago, but I don't think anyone commented or replied on them. Hurt my li'l smurf fellins' there, hohohoho.......... :smiley19:

     

    I know you guys have seen plenty of my Jupiter 2's, hey, it's a popular build on my site, but the Invaders UFO was really nice, anybody check that out? :smiley25:

  18. Welcome back, Simon,

     

    It's been some time since you last posted. The Klingon Battle Cruiser certainly looks ready for business, with a paint pattern that looks as intimidating as the ship itself when entering a fight. I see you couldn't resist lighting up the forward crew module. The post also doubles as a power conduit, I presume, with a standard plug-in connector at the tip. Batteries are where?

     

    Thanks for a Star Trek subject.

     

    Ed

     

     

    Awwwwh ED!! You made my day!! This "Bird" is unlighted! This was an attempt at simulating lighting in that forward module! I see it worked, bless you man. :smiley20:

     

    Sorry for not being around much, I am extremely busy. This is the only forum I post on, so it's not like I am being a "stranger" or anything.

     

    This would have been stunning lighted. Some lightsheet inserts would have really brought out the Warp Engine's green "glow" as seen on screen. And the "Photon" torpedo effect in the front really would have gone over the top. As some of you know, I do these builds per client specs, and he didn't want a lighted version, just a static for his office, shame.

     

    Maybe next time?

     

    I'm so pleased you liked it!

     

    Check out my website if you have the time, a HUGE 42 inch (Or is it 48", senility is setting in....) Enterprise "E" build is on the Workbench at this time. The kit is by Sovereign Replicas, and it is not your average "off the shelf" kit!

  19. This was the last version of the 12 inch Polar Lights kit built at the studio. I am moving on to the 18 inch Moebius version next year. After building about 30 of these PL kits, it was time to retire that tired puppy! This is the "Best of the Best"! It features all the augments, and "doodahs" that I found the most effective from all prior builds. A magnet activated Fusion Core and Dome lighting, fully detailed instruments in the interior, variating light effects in the Cryo Tubes, and a lot more! The exterior Hull is airbrushed in a Metal finish with light weathering effects (Yes, I like those!). Presented on a "Desert" motif Terrain Base, and all powered by (3), 9 volt cells, housed inside the Saucer.

     

    You can see videos of this model in action at http://www.simonmercs.biz/video_gallery towards the bottom of the page.

     

    My apologies for these HUGE images, I tried to reduce them in the post, but it wouldn't stick. Hope the editors don't mind, or they can simply reduce the images a bit.

     

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  20. Hello Space Fans! Here's a few images of the latest production item at The Kit Factory, the Monogram "Invaders" Saucer kit. I added a lot of lighting effects for my client in the UK. This one features a rotating Beacon on the top of the Cabin area, a fader effect on the lower, blue toned landing lights, and a red/orange lighting effect for the Engine port. This is a tiny kit, only 7 inches in diameter, and the Cabin area that houses the electronics and power cell, is only 3 inches in diameter. The Hull is painted in Stainless Steel, with some weathering effects to make it more interesting. The original prop was all silver, but that is a tad dull to the eye, so I "spruced" it up a bit! Hope you like the images posted. You can also see the lighting in action at this link http://www.simonmercs.biz/video_gallery on the bottom of the page.

     

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  21. Fantastic! Back in the 1980 while working at a hobby shop, I was talking with a customer about about lighting up the interior of the U.S.S. United States model he purchased. I told him about an article using fiber optics for lighting, and making the model a waterline kit to hide the incandescent bulb. He brought the model in, and it was impressive.

    You have to remember, fiber optics were new, as were LED's. You have taken this to a new art form! I was actually sitting here tonight looking at the 1/32 Apollo spacecraft model trying to figure out how to make a photo-realistic control panel and light it up with fiber optics for the crew overhead lights.

    I have to rethink the whole whole thing after seeing your photo's of "why not individual lighted buttons?", "why not for dash lighting in car models?", "night ops on a carrier?" "cockpit lighting, and running lights on an aircraft?". ARGHHH! This is how I have to go from now on! Thank you for making me a better modeler.

     

     

    Your most welcome Romrod! When I began to do these lighted schemes, I struggled to get the basics under wraps, over time it started to make sense. As always, practice makes for better concepts, and taking it a bit further each time. These methods can make any kind of model more interesting to the eye. :smiley20:

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