Bellerophon

A long time coming, but worth the wait. I had one on backorder from Hannants since it was announced, not wanting to miss out. Shipping to the US was scandalously expensive (equalling the cost of the kit almost to the penny - fortunately I was able to add quite a few items to my order without much effect on the postage). I hope to build two or three, so I hope this is a big seller for Airfix, especially here in the States.

Thanks, Jay. Means more coming from you--love your stuff, like your Constellation with the Doomsday Machine base! This project is a real fun way to spend time with your kid(s)

I've got LEDs so lighting is an option. We've also left the door a separate piece so it can open inwards, but haven't planned ahead how to do it. It would need somewhat of an interior as well, probably a picture curled up inside. My daughter is doing the bulk of the work, though, so nothing too advanced for her skills.

My daughter Sylvia (age 13) is not interested in model building but quite the Whovian, so she and I are building a TARDIS from scratch. This won't be any contest winner, but we're having fun and this sort of project is excellent for modelers with children. It's educational as well, involving measurements, scale drawings, and even mathematics. (Fractions and decimals and percentages--oh my!) Her first Doctor is the tenth (mine's the fourth), so of course she'd like her Tardis to match his. We used this drawing: http://billrudloff.c...TARDISfront.pdf I don't care a bit about differences between Tardises (if the chameleon circuit doesn't work, how can it change? BBC carpenters working on short schedules without proper plans, that's how!), but it seems that the best plans are those that most closely resemble a real Mk.2 police box. We also had a good supply of popsicle sticks, which are fine for building a Tardis five inches high. The above drawing is 1:12 scale, making it ten inches high, so we scaled it to 1:24. We found the sticks hard to cut, however, so much of the build is balsa. Here's a pic showing most of the progress so far: Here are links with more pictures http://bellerophon-m...ratchbuild.html http://bellerophon-m...chbuild_30.html http://bellerophon-m...ratchbuild.html This should be finished up in the next two weeks (school starts again, and my daughter will have homework. A project like this makes for excellent work-avoidance).

Gruffy, Anthony, Smiffy - thanks! Glad you like it. The motor itself is rather quiet; it's the gears that make the noise, but once they're aligned properly and the motor shaft is held in place, the noise will be much less. Especially closed up inside. Anthony: don't make me think of adding sound effects, I'll never get this project done. Smiffy: the MWM in your pic has a short metal cylinder added between the base and the model. Do you know what that is? It really is a cool model, excellent fit. This kit isn't what modelers expect these days though: not much detail or opportunity to add detail. Lots of diorama possibilities, though.

More progress. The drive components are installed temporarily, and tested. Here's a video of the test in Part 4.

I only recently became aware of this forum, but there is so much excellent modeling going on here I decided to join, even if I'm an American. (The UK isn't totally alien to me, though. I have even been to Swindon. Once.) Anyway, here is some of what I'm working on. (If you're on the SSM forum, you may have seen this already.) I am a big fan of the 1953 movie War of the Worlds. I remember watching it as a child. It was both terrifying and fascinating! I have always wanted a model of the MWM, and didn't even know this kit was coming out when I popped into a hobby shop on my way home from work. Lucky thing they weren't charging twice the price, since I had to have it immediately! Unfortunately, I didn't seem to need to finish it immediately, but that's how it goes... I am keeping a build log, where those with a high tolerance for tedium may read about my travails, and those without may look at pictures: Pegasus 1/48 Martian War Machine--WIP Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Thanks, Pat--your work got me to join this forum. Lots of great work being shown off here! Glad to be aboard--hopefully I'll have models to show here that withstand the scrutiny of macro photography better than my tiny Sea Kings. I might mention the paint I used on these tiny Sea Kings: Tamiya medium blue mixed with black and just a bit of green. Can't say what proportions--only needed a few drops.

This past Thursday I found I'd long ago neglected to finish the Westland Sea Kings included with DML's 1:700 HMS Trafalgar vs Soviet Oscar. Hoping to find a good profile as a reference for finishing them in blue-gray (and for help with printing new decals to replace the missing kit decals), I stumbled on this forum, and found it in Pat C's above post. His is a textbook example of a nice clean build. I'd ordinarily avoid using a model as a reference, but his was very good and in profile, and I was scaling down to 1/700 anyway, so I based mine on it. You might say mine are models of Pat C's model. Please excuse the rough quality--these are about an inch in length. All the time I was working on these I felt as though I were trying to sew with boxing gloves on. This was much easier when I was young. Here is a blog entry showing the results. My take on RN blue-grey is that it ought to make you feel a bit seasick. I'm afraid both mine and Pat C's could use a bit more green, but of course sea air is hard on paint, so there is much variation.