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XitanAhmar

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About XitanAhmar

  • Birthday 01/12/1965

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Malta
  • Interests
    Sci Fi, Aviation, Maritime.

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  1. XitanAhmar
    Use clear sprue. Shape it to fit, drill a small hole at the back and fill with the required colour (Red or Green). Much more realistic. As far as I know, and I stand to be corrected, the bulb is coloured, not the cover.
  2. XitanAhmar
    It will clean and remove everything
  3. XitanAhmar
    Just mix 1 part Dettol to 10 parts lukewarm water and leave for a few days, you can change the Dettol mix after a couple of days and hey presto bare plastic.
  4. XitanAhmar
    I am using Windsor & Newton acrylic varnishes, airbrushed straight from the bottle. These varnishes dry clearly and are applied without the bother provided by airbrushing enamel varnishes, which incidentally I will never use again as long as I live. From the Art shop I bought these varnishes I noticed that they had aerosol cans of these products, so maybe you should choose to go that way and use these aerosols. On another note, I recently bought a bottle of Windsor & Newton varnish remover and it works wonders, just apply with a cotton bud and clean. I use enamel paints (Humbrol I am still old fashioned), this varnish remover doesn't attack the paint but only removes the varnish. Ideal if you done a bad job when applying the varnish.
  5. XitanAhmar started following Modelling Tips
  6. XitanAhmar
    You may have noticed that contrary to the istructions sheet, I have painted the Bussard Collectors Red Clear when the instruction sheet advise to paint these in Orange Clear. I did this on purpose and not by mistake as I have running lights underneath the Bussard Collectors covers. The instruction sheet also advice to paint the outer covers of the Bussard Collectors Red Clear. I plan to keep mine clear as the dry run I had before masking the covers was fantastic and I don't want to ruin that effect. Not much work today I have mixed the paint. I am using Revell Paint and have mixed paints as instructed. Word of advice, I have marked some of the bottles with the code letter as per instruction sheet this not to create a confusion and to pick the right color for the right job.
  7. XitanAhmar
    Its been a while since I posted in this thread, life had caught up with me again. Here I am, two years and two new jobs later, geared up to continue with this construction. Most of the construction and lights on the model have been finalised. The clear parts have been attached, except for the Bussard Collector covers. I am going to start with the engine section. I gave the Bussard Collectors a coat of Revell Red Clear. I mixed the Revell Red clear with a ratio of 1 part paint to 2 parts thinner. It is advisable to test the paint on scrap clear parts, in my case an empty Dr Pepper plastic bottle did the trick. 2 coatings of Red Clear were required until I got the desired effect. I masked the Bussard Collectors to airbrush the ribs in aluminium. This is a very time consuming and tedious job. A coat of aluminium was airbrushed and I have to say I was pleased with the result, even though I did it myself. I masked the Bussard Collectors again, another tedious job. All the masking on the engines has been finalised and the engines are set for painting. Now starts the fun part, hopefully. Next job on the agenda mix and prepare paints for airbrushing. Until the next time, I hope it will not be another two years.
  8. XitanAhmar
    I haven't given up on this only I have been very busy and had no time for modelling will be updating soon.
  9. XitanAhmar
    As you have noticed I haven’t posted in this blog for quite some time, I still plan to continue with this project in the near future now that summer holidays are just round the corner and I may find the time.This built was more of an experiment, I tried all sort of techniques, some for the first time. The impression I have from the silver interior is that it really reflects more light. I had read somewhere that I should paint the interior first flat black then white but looking at all sorts of reflectors I noticed that these are always silver so I tried silver. If you plan to illuminate your model forget about the Paragrafix bridge insert, there is simply no space it’s either the bridge or the LED. I went for the LED. Word of warning if you plan to construct this model be ready for new challenges in every part of the process. Good luck with your built hopefully I will continue with mine soon.
  10. XitanAhmar
    Hi Chuck first I must apologize for not getting to you earlier, I regret that the only pic for the clear sprue I have is the one with all the other parts for this kit, I could not take a photo now as all the clear parts have been cut from the sprue and fixed to the model, I can only provide you with a sketch of the clear parts. As regards the model I have not abondoned this project but have in the past fortnight been working on it expect an update soon.
  11. XitanAhmar
    It’s been a while since I posted an update on this model; With all the daily chores, my time for modeling has been reduced to one hour, when I’m lucky very early in the morning, before going to work. As in my previous posts, I have decided to scratch build against trying to fix parts of this model. This applies mainly to the cage section. I reinforced this idea after comparing the kit parts with various scale plans, the service and engineering modules are oversized in height (now I know what I was seeing strange on this model). These modules, kit parts 6, 7, 10, 11 are also a little arched at the top and bottom, not one of the various scale plans I have shown an arch. The floor and the roof of the modules are straight as a die As an aid for building the cage section of the module, I build jigs, sort of a 3D scale plan. I build one jig for the top half of the cage and another jig for the Service and Engineering modules, the front and rear modules cage section are of the exact size. Finally, I have also received all the materials and started experimenting with the copper tubes and plastic rod. I am using 2mm plastic rod and 3mm, with 2mm bore copper tubes. To cut the copper tubes I am using a mini pipe tube cutter I found on eBay, my advice here is; don’t even think of cutting any tubes especially copper, if you don’t have this handy tool. I have to say that I was very satisfied with my first trials. As usual I would be obliged for any suggestions and I must thank everyone that is posting on this subject. Until the next time.
  12. XitanAhmar
    Anthony actually the cleaning work was done by another friend in here, Smiffy.
  13. XitanAhmar
    The Scale plans I bought of Ebay about six years ago, and I can assure you I paid a lot more than the $3.50/sheet marked on the envelope. These scale plans were by Allen Everhart JR, drawn sometime in the early 90s. I believe that the scale on these plans is all wrong. I got the cutaway drawings from http://eagle.space1999.net/ueb_down.html which was offering a very good deal I got the whole plans for 6 Euro for 4 sheets, obviously in download version. You can also visit this site http://www.starbase79.com/
  14. XitanAhmar
    So first things first; plastic rods ordered, photocopies done. To answer Jetboy’s interesting comment; first of all I did a mock-up of the model and immediately noticed that the model somehow doesn't look right. I have also compared the kit with scale plans drawn by L. Allen Everhart . Though I have my doubts on the scale and measurments of these drawings the drawings look very accurate. I resized the drawings by 60% and got a close enough scale plan for this kit. This is only my second Sci Fi project and I find that Sci-Fi is very different from other categories of model building, with other categories of scale modelling, you have a photo of the real thing and you can compare without any difficulty, whilst when you are trying to build a model from a TV series from the early 70s such as Space 1999, the Eagle is usually shown for a few seconds at a time, and the shot is usually taken from far away and not much detail shown, you have to draw a line and go with the information you have at hand. Now all I have to do is wait for the postman to bring me the plastic rods and I will start cutting plastic. Will keep you informed, I take the oportunity to thank anyone who is commenting, keep those comments and suggestions coming I really appreciate them. Until the next time.
  15. XitanAhmar
    Nice work Smiffy , I might go your way but I still think that scratch building is the easiest way out. I have to take this model one part at a time and explore many options how to get round this build. Thank you for the comments.
  16. XitanAhmar
    The more I look up information on this kit, the more I am getting the urge to just scrap the kit and scratch built the whole lot. I have made a mockup of the kit, and the more I examine it the rougher it looks. The model appears more like a toy than a scale model, it hasn’t aged well. On closer observation, the top spinal part of the cage is oversized and has to be completely rebuilt, as does the rest of the cage. I might even go for some interior work as the passenger section is crying for some interior detailing, opening windows; I might even go for some internal lighting though the possibility is very remote. So first things first, I am going to stock up on plastic rod and photocopy the scale plans, the problem with the scale plans is that they are plans for a 20 inch 1:72 scale model whilst the Airfix model is a 12 inch model, more like a 1:110 scale model. I am going to try to build this model alongside other projects, a first for me as I like to build one model at a time. Until the next time.
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