ewahl Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 (edited) George Pal's second color sci-fi movie in 1951 introduced the Space Ark to save a remnant of humanity as the Earth is destroyed in a cosmic collision. The special effects won an Academy Award. The Pegasus kit has a vacuformed flat base that supports five piers and a section of the launching ramp, which I did not use. I chose to show the Space Ark on its initial downhill run on the launching ramp where the six wing engines and the supporting rocket sled undercarriage engines are all firing. The main engines did not fire until the ship leveled off and began its uphill run. The downslope is 15 degrees in the film and on my base. The ramp structure was hastily built down the wooded slope of a mountain, hence the bare ground and the live and dead trees next to it. I like the way this turned out. Ed Edited December 21, 2016 by ewahl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmorrissette Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 Nice build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildBill50 Posted October 18, 2015 Report Share Posted October 18, 2015 Ed, This came out really looking great. Better in person. The scale like trees give it a sense of the size of the ship. Nice job. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roktman Posted October 18, 2015 Report Share Posted October 18, 2015 Very nice job. Looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewahl Posted October 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2015 Thanks, Jim, Dave, Bill, and Kevin, While relatively simple to build, the Ark had lots of seams and sink marks to fix. The panel lines were not there for any reason other than they were the joints for the various sections of the model used by the movie's special effects team. Otherwise they would not be visible and need to be filled. I replaced the nose probe with a straight pin for strength and durability; no doubt I would have broken the plastic one countless times. The problem with painting a ship like this with Alclad II is that the whole thing must be done, so I masked it off and painted it in sections so I would have something to hold in my hand while applying the finish. The base is a creation of Woodland Scenics products for basic ground cover and foliage. The launching ramp rail structure was hollow underneath because it was molded in one piece, and I used plastic sheet to cover all exposed under surfaces to make the structure look solid. The support piers looked like they were made from concrete poured into wooden forms, so that's the way I painted them (Vallejo paints for everything). I used photos from the film and stills from the internet to rebuild the undercarriage rocket sled with extra details. If anyone has a method for making realistic rocket exhaust flames, I'd like to know. For the six wing engines and five rocket sled boosters, I made my flames with medical cotton and colored with artist's craft markers. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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