1 September 2016 saw the kick-off of the Plates In Space Challenge over on Starship Modeller. It was my fault, I guess - I wanted a new challenge build, and John (owner of SSM) said I should just go ahead and do one. I called that bluff.
My entry was called the PFT (Plate Far Trader) Phaeton, and what follows are some of the construction pictures. I must admit that the contest deadline was 1 Sept 2017 - and I missed it. I'm still not finished with this, my main entry. I did manage to finish my two additional entries - the Fae craft I posted here last year.
Here's how it started:
(https://i.imgur.com/ynCCv8x.png)
Early construction steps:
(https://i.imgur.com/n7fOzRq.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/yEmVJS1.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Gtn2dhi.png)
Engines
(https://i.imgur.com/uYk2NCY.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/9obSDvD.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/fOQFoyt.png)
Hull construcion
(https://i.imgur.com/oCPYOV1.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/iAkpWDc.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/dB17Sgm.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/y4CbGfH.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/4IWi9Jm.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/AUY9ozh.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/oGfpV54.png)
I remember this! Looking great, keep up the progress!
Ingenious :thumbsup:
More Hull construction
(https://i.imgur.com/2nfgonC.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/UL1L4y0.png)
Turrets
(https://i.imgur.com/1zopWPZ.png)
an attempt that didn't work out - turned out to be not-square. :/
(https://i.imgur.com/DukClWF.png)
turret hard-points - from an energy-drink six-pack
(https://i.imgur.com/Z9cr9c6.png)
Cargo Doors
(https://i.imgur.com/XOV5yJp.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/qLyKNTV.png)
Landing gear
(https://i.imgur.com/8wUbuIK.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/lTpz7RT.png)
General Hull
(https://i.imgur.com/MPv4hV9.png)
Engine Installation
(https://i.imgur.com/IKz5D5h.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/vcYoDx5.png)
Engine Detail
(https://i.imgur.com/HcCNWH1.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ET748U0.png)
Paint-work - ventral view
(https://i.imgur.com/kWqz4bm.png)
Paint work - Dorsal view
(https://i.imgur.com/kJZJrg7.png)
And that's the work to date. :)
I'm still working the man-doors in the main cargo doors, and there's sensor panels to affix here and there.
:thumbsup:
Lovely. :thumbsup:
A stunning scratch-build! I can't wait to see how you finish this!
Quote from: nighthunter on January 30, 2018, 05:07:55 AM
A stunning scratch-build! I can't wait to see how you finish this!
Absolutely :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Quote from: kerick on January 28, 2018, 06:11:50 PM
I remember this! Looking great, keep up the progress!
Hi, Kerick! :) Since all of the previous was posted last year on SSM, I hope you're not bored. Fear not - I've decided I need to complete this - I need the space on my work-bench for other projects. :)
Thanks, chaps. Important note - I absolutely suck at painting things like parallel lines, and anything other than free-form stuff. Also, this is supposed to be a 'working' craft, similar in use/age to the
Millenium Falcon or the
Serenity.
The business end of the main battery:
(https://i.imgur.com/eZKjr8A.png)
Stbd cannon:
(https://i.imgur.com/ohrl7Nu.png)
Port cannon:
(https://i.imgur.com/JgfmvFh.png)
Iin order to do the painting the easiest way, I set the model down on one of the cargo doors. On switching sides I discovered that the "down" side was all scratched up. This would not do, so I found a green scrubby and put that between the ship and my workbench (lazy-susan, actually, so I can spin it and more easily
damage ... er, access all sides without getting paint on my fingers.
(https://i.imgur.com/mmKau5U.png)
PFT Phaéton 099 The Upper Engine Cuff is finally in place. It's just a dollar-store 'champagne glass', suitably trimmed and painted only on the inside. Its placement had to wait until all the touch-up daubing was complete, or it'd have been ... daubed up, and I wanted to keep the glossy exterior. The other engine cuffs are old K-cups - mostly the Hot Chocolate ones, because those cups don't contain anything other than powdered cocoa - because the local dollar store ran out of these 'champagne glasses'...
(https://i.imgur.com/g6I3eES.png)
PFT Phaéton 100 More of the Upper Engine Cuff
(https://i.imgur.com/K0f6laC.png)
PFT Phaéton 101 There will be more greeblies added to the upper shelf, but I wanted to have the UEC in place first, so I didn't have any fit problems.
(https://i.imgur.com/fGk48ps.png)
PFT Phaéton 102 I've been looking for something to put on the circular face behind the copper Aux. Thruster, but so far haven't found anything suitable. The search continues ...
(https://i.imgur.com/ehe8e4Q.png)
PFT Phaéton 103 My latest attempt to correct the paint lines on the forward hull ... :/ Have I mentioned that I suck at painting?
(https://i.imgur.com/QqDj0VN.png)
PFT Phaéton 104 Greelies in prep ... The red and green - more properly, the crimson and Brunswick Green - objects will be the man-doors set into the cargo doors. The Linen hexagons have other purposes that will be revealed in time.
The thing is, this morning I gently scrubbed the doors with some steel wool, wet-wiped them, and applied a fresh coat of paint. Then the wee Humbrol tin of Brunswick Green vanished. I have searched my work-bench, the floor under it and nearby, checked adjacent surfaces and even my pockets - nothing. It is as if it had never been here. Do aliens use Humbrol paints? Was it desperately need on the Enterprize, so they beamed it up?
Good, imaginative use of 'General Stuff' there - nice to see Inhaler bodies can be used for things!
The paint can has probably scooted off into some other dimension - I blame Quantum, but then I usually do...
You could have knocked it away across the floor with your chair, maybe?
Quote from: Rick Lowe on February 03, 2018, 12:49:21 PM
Good, imaginative use of 'General Stuff' there - nice to see Inhaler bodies can be used for things!
The paint can has probably scooted off into some other dimension - I blame Quantum, but then I usually do...
You could have knocked it away across the floor with your chair, maybe?
thanks, Rick. :) I have so many of the doggone things lying about I just had to figure out how to use them - I have much the same quest for deoderent empties. :)
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but my workbench area is rather a tip - very cluttered. I'm sure the paint tin is somewhere in the "refuge-rich" environment that is my work area. :rolleyes:
Problem is, you see, that when I'm in the mood to build, I seldom have the patience to wait for glue/paint to dry. I either duff up my current - ie, still wet - project, or I start another. I've got 5 minor and two major projects on the shelves now ... I think many of us here are in similar straits. :-\
"Very cluttered"? I prefer the term 'free-form' or 'organic' - better than saying 'I'm too bone idle and disorganized to tidy up'... :-\
Or 'Organized so that everything is close at hand.' maybe? ;D
Have you tried saying out loud "OK, I give up. You win. Can I have the paint back now please."?
Quote from: zenrat on February 03, 2018, 11:58:13 PM
Have you tried saying out loud "OK, I give up. You win. Can I have the paint back now please."?
"Never Give Up, Never Surrender!"Nope, the best course is to buy a replacement tin - which will make the original turn up, then you have a spare! Win-win! ;D
Quote from: Rick Lowe on February 03, 2018, 10:50:59 PM
"Very cluttered"? I prefer the term 'free-form' or 'organic' - better than saying 'I'm too bone idle and disorganized to tidy up'... :-\
Or 'Organized so that everything is close at hand.' maybe? ;D
I like the way you think! ;D ;D
This is why I never spray paint - I hate masking!
(https://i.imgur.com/4SwUpBB.png)
PFT Phaéton 105
So, I re-masked and painted. It's now within tolerances - which is to say, I now feel that any attempts to improve it will result in steps backward. There will be clean-up/touch-up, of course, but no more masking. You can see one side effect there next to the cannon ... :angry: I know it's not pretty - the term "mud fence" comes to mind ... :banghead:
(https://i.imgur.com/tcSSQgt.png)
PFT Phaéton 106
<le sigh> This always seems to happen when I peel away the masking tape - raggedy edges and paint-peel-up. :angry: Those and step-edges, some of which can be seen at the bow. But see - if I try to fix the steps, I'll make it worse and have to start all over, so I'll just live with it. So now I gotta invest in a steady hand to fix the damage. :banghead: :banghead:
I don't tend to get problems when I use Tamiya tape but the Modelkraft/Shesto freebie in SAMI gave me right grief :banghead: Even after allowing for my usual drying time.
It's getting down to the last few things to do to this beast before I call it done and display shelf it. :)
(https://i.imgur.com/M1a8Xhy.png)
PFT Phaéton 107
Through a friend at church - Thanks, Cindy! :) - I recently discovered that those Krafty Kutters used by card-makers will work on thin plastic such as this "For Sale" sign. These punches are _not_ cheap, but take the stress out of cutting multiple identical shapes. This one is the lozenge shape displayed at the right. On the left can be seen two painted lozenges.
(https://i.imgur.com/0cnIjgm.png)
PFT Phaéton 108
For some reason antennae cannot be painted like the rest of the craft - they always seem to be some kind of 'off' tinge of grey or faded bilious tan. However, my bottle of "SAC Radome Tan" has gone to the big paint shop in the sky, so I made do with Humbrol's "Linen". The wee dome is from my niece's disposable contact lens. Apparently she needs two new contacts each day, so the covers pile up quickly. She was more than happy to give me several dozen of these wee domes. In their guise as sensors/antennae/unexplained bumps I paint the inside the desired colour - in this case, ''gold".
(https://i.imgur.com/PlIen3a.png)
PFT Phaéton 109
Situating these domes so they wouldn't interfere with the turret's line of fire was not as easy as it may seem.
I'm listening to the Status Quo - seemed fitting for the final post of this topic.
The man-doors inset into the cargo bay doors have been giving me fits. Shape, size, colour - there is no facet of these things that I have not second- and triple-guessed. I must have made at least three different versions of these things before settling on a final one, mostly because enough is enough!
(https://i.imgur.com/IkhqwgM.png)
PFT Phaéton 110
I finally stopped dithering about the man-doors in the cargo doors, painted and glued them on, did the touch-up, and sprayed it with clear matte varnish. It's done!
(https://i.imgur.com/zPNWS6J.png)
PFT Phaéton 111
Port-side door is red - well, crimson, actually. The matte varnish has done away with my lovely clear-surface on the upper engine shroud ... oh, well - can't have everything. Remembering that the hexes are 1", and I'm trying for 1/72 scale here, so that means those hexagonal man-doors are 6' tall; which makes the cargo doors about 36' tall, and even wider. I guess the Phaeton can haul some seriously large hunks of cargo!
(https://i.imgur.com/VCLbO1L.png)
PFT Phaéton 112
Here's the repulsive end. ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/ASsed8F.png)
PFT Phaéton 113
Starboard door is, of course, green - British Racing Green, to be exact. The door colours are a salute to navigation lights, but I realized that in space the colours also serve another funtion. Where there's no up nor down, it could useful to be able to direct folks to the green door so you know where to have security waiting. :)
(https://i.imgur.com/WBq7sE3.png)
PFT Phaéton 114
The other hexes are sensor panels - radar, radio, and so on. She's not quite symmetrical, of course - I'd have needed another bump on the top of the forward hull, and I had only the one spoon. :)
(https://i.imgur.com/VqNx05V.png)
PFT Phaéton 115
The varnish was sprayed outside, it being a nice sunny day. It had an odd effect - there are areas that are quite a bit lighter than others - dunno why.
(https://i.imgur.com/5CQfKuF.png)
PFT Phaéton 116
The underside looks quite 'busy' with all that undercarriage and the lower turret.
https://i.imgur.com/6AUhbyU.png
PFT Phaéton 117
I've always felt that the underside of a ship should be a bit murky ... not a place for respectable folk.
(https://i.imgur.com/DwnQx2h.png)
PFT Phaéton 118
Last picture! :) This was quite the biggest project so far - I'm ready for something smaller! :) Thanks for watching. :)
Well done.
:thumbsup: