Space:1999 Duo

[RangerNeil]

After the saga of the big Mil I'm going for the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) approach to this build - so my choice is these:


The two basic but venerable Airfix releases from the TV series Space:1999. We have the classic Eagle transporter and the rather questionable Hawk interceptor. Questionable in that the Earth had a moon base only so why would it need a bomber and Hawk escort fighters in the episode that featured them?? Truly the ways of sci-fi writers are beyond the comprehension of lesser mortals!!

Caveat:
Although going for the KISS approach I reserve the right to do my usual deleve into insanity by something completely and utterly stupid should the mood take me.....

[Twokidsnosleep]

Awesome plan..and off we go!

[RangerNeil]

Off we go indeed. The SS-25 Topol is finished and the bench is cleared ready to start on the first build.
And first up is the Eagle transporter. Supposed to be 1/72 but actually comes out at 1/96 which has to be borne in mind when lookIng at the plethora of aftermarket goodies available....


Its interesting to compare this with the MPC 1/48 release which is several leagues more complex - not least because it requires you to construct the tubular frame from a myriad of pieces as opposed to the one-piece part supplied by Airfix! But I digress.
This is the box contents:
Instructions








Sprues


Decals




As can be seen, its not a highly complex kit so.I think most of the effort will be in finishing and painting it. There is one slight issue in that the decal sheet, as again can be seen, is basically toast!! The cover tissue can likely be steamed off but the decals themselves look and feel like they will disintegrate in water. I can paint the black thruster markings onto the pod faces with judicious masking, possibly the red/white quartered ones too but the tiny badges are another matter. I need, I think to investigate the availabity of replacement decals.

The Build
First thing to note is the prevalence of flash on almost all the parts:


This requires careful trimming off without altering the parts shape. Wome parts alao have pronounce ejector pin marks that need obviously need removal such as this piece, hold the pod to the spinal frame:


The left has been cleaned roughly, the right had yet to be done
These aside (and credit has to go to Airfix for wherever possible ensuring these pin maks are on the inside gaces of parts) about 2 hours work saw the major assemblies assembled!!
It should be noted that this is a very old kit, first released in 1975 with this packaging being re-released in 1983.
All 4 thruster pods, fore and aft fuselage sections, nose pod and cargo pod are joined and awaiting filling and finishing.

[digger303]

You sir are a train.
Relentlessly pushing forward one kit after another.
It looks pretty good for a old kit.



Ps... Yes I'm awake cause the wife can't sleep....

[RangerNeil]

You sir are a train.
Relentlessly pushing forward one kit after another.
It looks pretty good for a old kit.



Ps... Yes I'm awake cause the wife can't sleep....

Building keeps me sane mate. We moved house nigh on 3 years ago and I don't know anyone around here, the past makes it difficult in the extreme for me to make physical friends and the last of the 66 brothers I served with passed last year which left a large dark hole. So building kits keeps the mind and hands occupied and the black dogs in their kennnel. Apart from Maggie the Greyhoundie of course - she's my other toe hold on sanity!! So to maintain the illusion - heres one I made earlier:




In fact much, MUCH, earlier - as in 40+ years earlier...

Back to the real build though - a light sanding revealed some naughty sink areas on the flat surfaces of the undersides:


These needed filling together with some little gaps in the other major assemblies so that took up the rest of todays time. I'm hoping tomorrow to be able to get the primer on. However - and there is always a "however" the last sub-assembly has a problem. Quite a large one too.
This is how it should look:


But this is how the other half looks:


To say its warped is an understatement. I'm hoping if I soak it in hot water for a while I will be able to get it back into shape. Fingers crossed!!

[digger303]

Fingers Crossed and clamp the Sh***T out it...

[Twokidsnosleep]

Plowing a head well, keep at it especially if it keeps you from crazy…..I do the same

We got that space series on TV in Canada, I can remember those cool Eagle Space Vehicles
Funny as the poor videography spoiled it as they were so shaky and bouncy it didn’t make sense they were in zero gravity
Even as a petite tike I recognized that wasn’t right

[RangerNeil]

Fingers Crossed and clamp the Sh***T out it...

Oh, I did - believe me - I did! See photos below.

Plowing a head well, keep at it especially if it keeps you from crazy…..I do the same

We got that space series on TV in Canada, I can remember those cool Eagle Space Vehicles
Funny as the poor videography spoiled it as they were so shaky and bouncy it didn’t make sense they were in zero gravity
Even as a petite tike I recognized that wasn’t right

Like most of Gerry Andersons work it was done to a budget - hence the, umm, "unusual" on-screen effects at times. I always wondered why they never ran out of Eagles, the rate they crashed them or otherwise lost them.
My wife, who is a JW alway walks very softly around the issues of the black dogs getting out. One of her new friends down here asked why she was so worried - I think the reply "there are too many breakable things around - doors windows, people - mainly people" may have scared her, she's never come back....

Anyways enough of that - onto the build! I filled a plastic take-away container with very hot water tonight dumped the warped part in and left it soaking for a good 5 minutes or so until the water started cooling:


Then hooked it out and using the other half as a template worked it back into shape as best I could then clamped the 4 drive bell sections together as they had a collar to locate them and applied TET to the joins:


Letting these set overnight then I'll repeat the procedure with the 4 smaller units. Fingers crossed I will have a nice straight assembly at the end of it!
There is a frame that helps space the 4 bells out and one side had multiple ejector marks:


Some nifty knife work and a lot of sanding has removed them now:


So - this is the state of play at the moment - all major assemblies bar the engines are complete. A few hours tomorrow should see the engines done as well. Then the whole lot gets a coat of primer - I am thinking a White primer rather than Grey or Black. Then a base coat of gloss white. Everything in the photo is held together with masking tape at the moment.


I've looked into the decal situation - there was a firm called "Tangents", based in the US I think who made a set of 1/96 decals for the Eagle (part no. TD5-155) but going by Scalemates they've ceased trading so almost zero chance of finding them. I think I can get away with masking and painting most of the markings. Only ones I can't do that with are the 4 Moonbase Alpha logos on the pod sides

[digger303]

Maybe a custom decal sheet producer can do a set. You already have a copy of what you need so the art work cost should be minimal.
Not experienced what your fighting each day, but my wife suffers from it. Luckily she was able to get a med that worked for her after a few that didn't. Keep up the good fight and keep churning the kits out.

[RangerNeil]

Cheers Digger - I'll look into the custom route. I did think about trying to scan the sheet and print a copy on decal paper - but there are 2 snags with that:
1) My PC was a Dual boot -Win11/Linux system. Microsoft updates needed manual intervention to complete so I turned offf auto update. Microsoft overrode that setting recently and kicked off an update overnight. Got up the next day to find the entire Windows system deleted.
2) The colour laser needs a £300 overhaul...

Back to the build now. The main components have had the first coat of white primer. I say first because I always find the primer highlights the parts I've missed/not done enough to. And all the parts to be done silver have had a coat of black primer.


These are drying overnight so we move on to the 2nd part of the duo - the Hawk. I.always wondered about both the kit and the actual TV show. It only ever appeared once in the TV show, in series 1 ep 4 "War Games" - and given the premise of the show was man hadn't ventured beyond the solar system one had to wonder why earth had both space going fighters and bombers.... The mind of Sci-Fi creators is truly beyond comprehension!!
Anyways - on to the (very basic) kit;
Instructions








Sprues


There are no decals with this kit so one less worry. And a total parts count of just over 30 mean its not going to be a lengthy build. Indeed an hour or so's work brought about this state of play:


All the major sub-assemblies are completed and drying ready for sanding. Now - the paint scheme... The all-white scheme given for the kit was the initial one planned for the TV series - BUT - during filming it was decreed that it made it it difficult for viewers to tell the difference between the "good guys" Eagles and the "bad guys" Hawks. So the Studio had the Hawk models repainted with a dominant Orange theme thus:

(Image copyright http://davidsissonmodels.co.uk/ )

I will be trying to replicate either this scheme or the interim one that had the viewports matt black - so fingers crossed!!

[RangerNeil]

The Hawk build is completed 100% - it really is a basic kit. But there should be some fun in the masking for the paint job. I'm hoping the MPC release is going to be a bit more challenging!


Looking at it you can see where the studio cut corners/costs on the screen models. For starters theres no entry airlock nor is there provision for an undercarriage to land on!! But then, it was only used in that single episode unlike the Eagles that featured in every one...

Anyways - its also had an overall coat of white primer:


And both it and the Eagle components have been given a first coat of gloss white. Bit of a odd decision this. Paint scheme for the Eagle seems to assume the bulk of the craft is left in shiny white plastic whereas the instructions for the Hawk call for the main body to be Matt White. Then we look on-line at stills from that episode - and the Hawks look glossy too. So I went with gloss on both on the basis that if I do find evidence to the contrary a dusting of matt clearcoat will solve the problem!!


Going to be a pause now as I need to get some more paint - the immutable law of Murphy says the ones I need are the ones I just ran out of.....

[digger303]

Being 900 km round trip from the local hobby shop and postage being what it is I try to keep a full range on hand with spares of the commonly used colours. No doubt there will be some that never get opened, but it's better to have than not because with my luck the LHS will be empty too. Which has happened more than once, but it's different with you having hobby shops dotted all over and within short distances mostly.....relatively with orders arriving the next day at times.

[RangerNeil]

Paint arrived - bought them from Jadlam Racing here in the UK, price per jar was very competitive and they were delivered within 48 hours of being ordered.
So - paint is going on. The Hawk has had the first of the Orange applied - got some more masking for little bits tomorrow.




The red bands have gone onto the Eagles pod. Apparently they designate it as medical unit - a cross between a M.A.S.H and CasEvac. Unfortunately there has been some bad bleed-through under the masking tape which is annoying. I shall have to re-mask it and redo the White in those areas. Still got the upper windows to do.




The black patterns on the sides of the pods behind the manoeuvring thrusters has been marked up and painted.


The feet have been added to the pods and the VTOL jets to the underside of the fore and aft fuselage sections. Nose has been masked up and the matt black panels added


Lastly the assemblies have been dry- fitted to make sure everything aligns correctly.




Lastly the red/white squares on the manoeuvring thrusters have been started. I have to admit my eyesight is cr*p these days so they need a bit more work to tidy them up.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Flying along at the speed of light!!
Doing great, keep it up

[Rubicon]

The Eagle is my favorite Sci-Fi ship of all time. It just looks like it could really work.

[RangerNeil]

The Eagle is my favorite Sci-Fi ship of all time. It just looks like it could really work.

Mine too. It's functional/multi-role and, apart from the nuclear engines, theoretically possible.

Back to the build then!

The nose section was unmasked today - and yet again there was a paint bleed!




Luckily some work with polishing compound took care of that. Then the spine was joined to the cockpit and engine sections. At which point I found the spine section was also twisted! Hence the "objects of weight" currently sat on the engine and nose sections:






Look carefully and you can see the red chequer pattern on the front of the forward pods and the black/red chequer on the roof of the nose. That accounts for all the decal locations apart from the 4 × "Alpha Moonbase" logos that go on the sides of the pod.
The thruster packs have the red chequer on the face and the engine pack is complete and ready to be mounted on the rear of the Eagle.




Lastly the polishing compound was put to use again getting rid of the red bleeds on the pod.




As can be seen, there is considerable work to do to get back to where it was before.

[Garion77]

Nice project again !! remember the ship when I was a real young kid but don't remember much of the show.
Keep on the good work on it ! How the plastic on the kit ? almost looks like kind of plastic for toys ?

[RangerNeil]

Nice project again !! remember the ship when I was a real young kid but don't remember much of the show.
Keep on the good work on it ! How the plastic on the kit ? almost looks like kind of plastic for toys ?

Thanks
Plastic is standard quality for Airfix of that era (this release is 1983).

[digger303]

Paint bleeds and overspray that sneaks under the tape is a absolute pain. I've been getting a bit of that lately and with a low mojo my quality threshold has sunk...

[RangerNeil]

Paint bleeds and overspray that sneaks under the tape is a absolute pain. I've been getting a bit of that lately and with a low mojo my quality threshold has sunk...

Same here and I can't work out why. I'm using Tamiya tape - never had a problem with that before - and I use a cocktail stick rounded off to rub the edges down and push it into corners and grooves. Hammering the mojo here too.

However, onwards and both upwards and downwards. The sides of the pod have been resprayed gloss white. This is drying overnight then tomorrow I'll re-mask it and re-try the red again.




And the colours are now going onto the Hawk - complete with the now obligatory, it seems - paint bleeds...




***EDIT***
Eagle now nearly completed, just the pod to finish.

[Stokesy44]

Really moving along here. Such iconic shapes and colors.

[RangerNeil]

Really moving along here. Such iconic shapes and colors.

Thanks. Got to admit, of all the Sci-Fi ships, the Eagle (and by extension the Hawk) is my favourite. Followed by the Narn and Earth Alliance cruisers from Babylon 5.

I got a bit more done today - most of the time spent remasking the Eagles pod. This was resprayed, this time with Tamiya Red (XF7). It was allowed to dry and then the masking tape removed. To find more bleeds!! This time not as bad though and I managed to clean it up. Its had a coat of satin clearcoat and is now drying.


The Hawk had the last of the colours applied, now its a case of cleaning up the bleeds. Also the Hawk has no undercarriage so it needs to be supported on the supplied stands. Which are wobbly to say the least so I'm going to join these stands with a strip of 2mm plastic, same as I did with the MTB, S-Boat etc.

[digger303]

Almost done.

[RangerNeil]

I think pretty much done now so will post in the reveal thread. I may come back and weather them a bit, don't know, as the paint bleed issue has seriously knocked the mojo for six!!
Been thinking about those bleeds a lot - and I'm wondering if the gloss white that came from a Tamiya aerosol might have had silicon, or something, residue that acted as a funnel for the next layer of wet paint??

[Garion77]

Nice job !
I think the white tamiya paint didn't help for sure. DOn't know if there's any silicone in it but the white for rattle cans and their primer are pretty glossy to my taste.
Again nice job ! I would go light for the weathering in my opinion. They look awesome !
Love your threads as you tend to build things different then the rest.

[Stokesy44]

Both ships are looking SWEEEET

[RangerNeil]

Nice job !
I think the white tamiya paint didn't help for sure. DOn't know if there's any silicone in it but the white for rattle cans and their primer are pretty glossy to my taste.
Again nice job ! I would go light for the weathering in my opinion. They look awesome !
Love your threads as you tend to build things different then the rest.

Both ships are looking SWEEEET

Thanks guys I'm hunting for some black cloth at the moment to retake the photos.
In hindsight I should have used XF2 flat white but I was having airbrush issues at the time.. When I do the MPC ones they will deffo be flat white.

As for weathering - if/when I do down that route I have a bottle of AK's "starship grime" brush-on to do the upper surfaces and maybe a concrete-y wash for the pads and underside of the Eagle. Don't think anyone does a "moon dust" wash!

[digger303]

[RangerNeil]

Just for those who requested it - the Eagle and Hawk with a black background!

[digger303]

[Rubicon]

Very nice. Love them without the background clutter.

[Twokidsnosleep]

There we go, much cleaner
Will use those pics for the reveal video