Thunderbirds are go!!! TB1, TB2, TB4, and launch/container bays

[James B]

OK, so back from my work trip up to Wellington, and have had an hour or so to get some base colours on.

 

I think, with a little weathering and details painted on, as well of course as the decals, TB1 is looking the part. I had to mix up the blue using a bit of an MSP sample included when I purchased a mini from reaper minis a few years back. It's a space wolves grey colour I guess, if anyone recalls that before they changed all the names and stopped making as good paints, anyhow this was mixed with a little ultra mines blue to darken it slightly. I really don't have many other blues, so it was a bit of a punt and I had to dig these out from the old stuff as it was. (I stopped throwing money at GW a good 7 years or so ago, and in the last couple of years began military model kits so haven't needed bright colours). Anyway, thoughts? Is it close enough do you think?

 

 

 

and now, much to my dismay, I've realised I haven't painted the blue onto the fins   Darn. It'll be a pain trying to mix the same shade again. 

Edited November 1, 2017 by James B

[Gimme Shelter]

wow - T1's hangar is coming along brilliantly there - you work fast and well

[James B]

Didn't get much done last night due to having to work late. I did mix up a new, lighter blue and replaced the previous coat as well as fixing the cock up I made by missing the fin edges and wing tips.

 

To my eye this blue is much closer to the screen versions of the original I've been looking through. Thoughts?

 

[John Laidlaw]

I think you've pretty much nailed the colour. Very nice!

[picard]

Look's bang on to me as well James, Nice one Sir! Cheers.

[Gimme Shelter]

On ‎31‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 3:22 AM, James B said:

 

 

[Gimme Shelter]

that blue looks nice to me - take care when starting or prompting conversations about Thunderbird colours - it can get messy as many a modeller will disagree with other about the studio colours they used on all the various sized models for the sets . Originally, I had to watch Thunderbirds on a B&W telly when I was a kid and had no idea of the colours they all were at the time back in the early 70's. When I was given my Dinky T2, I actually thought the studio models were also a metallic blue until my next door neighbour started to let me watch the show on her colour TV, then only to realise T2 was a beautiful bogey snot green.

 

I am sure the serious Gerry Anderson modellers can give you guidance on what mixes are most accurate if you start to panic about it

 

Keep up the good work - looking forward to the next instalment

[Pete in Lincs]

Yep, pretty much wot he said 

[James B]

5 hours ago, Gimme Shelter said:

that blue looks nice to me - take care when starting or prompting conversations about Thunderbird colours - it can get messy as many a modeller will disagree with other about the studio colours they used on all the various sized models for the sets . Originally, I had to watch Thunderbirds on a B&W telly when I was a kid and had no idea of the colours they all were at the time back in the early 70's. When I was given my Dinky T2, I actually thought the studio models were also a metallic blue until my next door neighbour started to let me watch the show on her colour TV, then only to realise T2 was a beautiful bogey snot green.

 

I am sure the serious Gerry Anderson modellers can give you guidance on what mixes are most accurate if you start to panic about it

 

Keep up the good work - looking forward to the next instalment

 

Thank you. I thought that may be the case as it is in the real world model scene too. I'm really just going for as close as possible with the intention of it looking right in the display cabinet. The 1st blue was just little too dark and it drew my attention to it, and that's what I'm trying to avoid. 

 

I love that Thunderbirds spans such a space of time. I was born in the mid-eighties and I too loved watching it on TV in the early nineties. I have friends with young kids and they enjoy watching the originals (albeit via fancy DVD or Steaming technologies now). They interestingly are less enamoured with the new CGI version like us older children too! It says a lot that something can be that old and yet with all the technology and the way TV has moved forward, still appeal to the same audience this many years on. 

 

I'm just gutted there's not the same availability of Captain Scarlet and Stingray models. (Although my wife is probably quite glad)!

[Ratch]

What a wonderful project

TB1 by Matchbox (diecast)



TB2 - I made this a few years ago and cannot recall the manufacturer


TB3 presumably by Matchbox - I picked TB's 1 & 3 up in a charity shop in Shanklin I.O.W. unboxed and very used


TB4 came with TB2

 

I rediscovered these while rummaging through a box with my grandson, they must have been my son's at one time
They're dated 1991

[James B]

They're fantastic. I too have the die cast matchbox TB1. I also have the matchbox TB2 and TB4, and they're both chipped quite badly due to the amount of playtime they got. Such great toys.

 

Those stingrays toys/models are great. I've not seen them before.

[James B]

Managed to get a few more hours in over this weekend. Not happy with the windows, but they're not finished yet, paint was still wet when I took the last photo. I'm not sure how to improve them, and if anyone has any links to painted glass work I'd be interested in seeing them.

 

First up here's TB1, decals applied and waiting for varnish to cure completely before weathering can begin and any other final touch ups to the paint work.

 

 

I gave the metal work a base coat of a  dark tin colour. Looking at the reference pics and pausing the show while I worked I noticed that the pipes have all been given a rusty effect. Makes sense, living in a cave surrounded by salt water. I like that I keep being surprised by the attention to detail on the original models. It's easy to miss the little things like that, but they all subconsciously add to the immersion I guess.

 

 

Apologies that there's no in-between picture here. After the tin base, I gave it a very heavy drybrush of gunmetal, and followed it up with a rust paint applied quite liberally, as you can see!

 

 

And finally, a few of the details painted in, and the atrocious windows. The railings are still to be added to the walkway, as well as the decal on the orange sign. Once I'm happy I've got all the little bits and bobs in their respective colours, I'll get a varnish applied and then begin the task of weathering the whole thing up. 

 

[rockpopandchips]

Very nice.

[James B]

A bit more done, and I'm a lot happier with the windows. They need a bit of touching up around the frames, but otherwise much better than they were. I masked them off as best I could, then sprayed a base of silver, followed by a light blue, I than ran a pass of a dark blue along the top and bottom of each set, and then another pass of the dark blue along the top, darkening it slightly more the closer to the top of the window I got. The decal looks a bit wrinkly in the photo, but that's just the microsol at work.

 

After a few touch ups, I think I'm ready for the varnish and then weathering. Unless anyone points out anything I've missed or should alter?

 

[Gimme Shelter]

On ‎31‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 3:22 AM, James B said:

 

wow that's all looking very F A B

[VMA131Marine]

On 10/27/2017 at 2:21 AM, bhouse said:

Quite a project!

I love the way the final box has the pods displayed: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 😁

But, isn't Japanese read from right to left .....

[bhouse]

From top to bottom then right to left, but they do have a habit of copying western things: more kakkoii!

[Kallisti]

But what about pod #6?

 

[Nick Belbin]

On 11/3/2017 at 9:53 PM, Ratch said:

 

I think I saw one of those on 'Blue Planet II' last night . . .

 

[Gimme Shelter]

15 minutes ago, Nick Belbin said:

I think I saw one of those on 'Blue Planet II' last night . . .

 

my ex-mother-in-law also has a strong resemblance to this creature....

[James B]

While waiting for the varnish to fully dry before weathering, I decided to unbox the next set. I'm keen to crack on with TB2 as it's my favourite (just like the majority of people I'd guess), but know that saving that as motivation to finish the others will work wonders. So, next up is Thunderbird 2's Container Dock. 

On 10/30/2017 at 11:09 PM, Gimme Shelter said:

That's quite a lot of plastic you get there on the T1 set.

I'll leave this quote here and proceed with the sprue photos.

 

Yep, you get hardly any plastic in the Thunderbird 1 with Launch Bay set! 

 

I've removed them from their bags and tried to photograph each with limited space. Where there's more than one of a sprue I've tried to show both sides. I've also kept the photos here to a smaller size to save space and save this one post taking up pages and pages. I think you can click on the images and it'll take you to larger versions over on Flickr.

 

First up, no plastic here, the foam core base and printed card base plate, as well as what appear to be stickers for the control room and decals for the pods.

 

 

 

The three pods included in the set moulded in a fairly accurate green if we're going with Matchbox die cast toy colours!

 

 

 

The pod bases and what appear to be tractor units of sorts?

 

 

 

Most of these sprues aren't used and I suspect are from the TB2 set. It does include the rails and generator? for inside the pods as well as a Mole on each.

 

 

 

Six or so vehicles.

 

 

 

FAB1 and two of two other vehicles

 

 

 

A couple of different help-jets and more vehicles, plus a slightly larger Mole, bringing the total to 4!

 

 

 

Three lots of girders and control rooms.

 

 

 

The side wall

 

 

 

The back wall and pins for the pod door hinges

 

 

 

And finally, the clear plastic for the control room windows

 

 

 

What more can I say. A fair bit of work coming up I think. A bad time for me to have sheared the thread section off of my Iwata Eclipse nozzle! 

[Kallisti]

Those yellow sprues look like they come from the transparent TB2 and are the internal detail you would see inside TB2.

I wouldn't worry too much about the exact colour of TB2 - its basically green. Which shade? Take your pick! There were so many different TB2 studio models, all different in some way.

[Gimme Shelter]

wow - you get a lot of plastic for your money there - did I see a hint of photo-etch in the top right of some of your pictures there?

[James B]

8 hours ago, Gimme Shelter said:

wow - you get a lot of plastic for your money there - did I see a hint of photo-etch in the top right of some of your pictures there?

You did, but I'm afraid to say it's unrelated and is for my Tamiya P-47 Bubbletop.  Wouldn't that be the icing on the cake though if there was photo-etch for these TB kits!

[James B]

Not much of an update as morale has been low since breaking the nozzle on my airbrush (it was one of those days where nothing went right) and finding out the ridiculous NZ price to buy a replacement locally (more than 3 times the cost compared with reputable sellers in the UK or US including shipping)! So I must wait for the postman.

 

Chin up, as they say though. I got a little done today. Filled the central hole in the back wall with the piece provided, and then filled the massive gaps around it that were left with some filler. Sanded the whole thing flat as the piece stood proud of the back wall by half a millimetre or more!  Then set about sanding all the injection pin marks (again not sure if that's what they're called) on all the girder sections Every girder corner had one, so about 18 on the tall ones and 10-12 on the smaller ones, per part, 3 parts per girder, 5 girders! The pictures shows the dust that will need cleaning off before any paint is allowed near this thing. All of the parts are just free standing in the pic, nothing has been glued together for ease of painting. Now I am sitting here trying to decide what sub assemblies to keep seperate, and what needs to go on the walls before painting.