Tarkas

Looking good. To bring this thread back on course , was there much of a problem with the seam where the hull halves were joined? I once built a Hobby Boss 1/700 Typhoon, and the thing that I hated was the pattern of raised lines denoting the anechoic tiles on the hull. How you were supposed to hide the hull seam with that there, deponent knoweth not. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about it because I was using the hull for something else and masked the seam, but I am interested in what might need to be done about the seam if and when I actually build a sub -- like the 1/350 Astute that I have in the stash...

The problem with the Foundation books as far as making them into a series is that they were written piecemeal in different lengths -- short stories, novellas, full (and quite long) novels -- at times separated by decades, the latter of which affects the writing, the length, the focus of the plots, etc. It would take a lot of work to make them consistent enough for a TV series of any sort. And where do you start? To understand the denouement of Foundation and Earth, you have to know about Solaria, which means the Lije Baley novels... and on it goes. Asimov's later attempts to pull all his series together into one huge future history warps the fundamentals of the Foundation tales. The post-trilogy stories (in terms of when they were written, that is) are based on the ever-present guiding hand of R Daneel Olivaw, who's not mentioned or seen in any way in the original trilogy. It's an interesting question (and probably moot, so I'm not going to bother looking it up) as to whether Daneel had been thought of when the Foundation was first created, so having him (and other robots like Dors) in the background completely changes the significance of Seldon's work and what results from it, as does Gaia. I always felt that introducing the latter showed that he'd become disenchanted with his earlier work, or with humanity in general. Regardless of that, adding the later books reduces the original trilogy to a mere bit part in the History of R Daneel Olivaw, Guardian of Humanity. I don't know about you, but I don't like that and wouldn't want to watch it. The Foundation(s), yes, but not all the rest, because it makes the classic stories into Chapters 15-22 of a 30+-chapter epic, and they get lost. Don't get me wrong, though: if someone actually does this and remains true to Asimov's work -- so no 2-hour space battles, "grim'n'gritty" re-imaginings or anything like that -- I think it could be great. The way to go is probably to imitate the books: have a mini-series or season based on each book. Season 1 would be Foundation, with one or more episodes dealing with each of the five short stories/novellas that make up the book; that could run to a ten- or twelve-episode season. Then do Foundation and Empire as season 2, with longer arcs reflecting the longer parts and telling the story of the meeting of the Foundation and what is left of the Empire, and then the initial rise of the Mule. The end of F&E is a good place to stop the season, just as it was for the books, and the arc can be picked up again for season 3 as it tells the saga of Second Foundation. The other books could be added later as prequels and sequels, as has been done with many an SF property in the past, if the main series was successful enough. That way, the original trilogy could stand on its own merits and not be buried by retcons and the like, and we'd hopefully have some pretty darn good TV. Heck, I've even thought of a theme tune for the show: back in the early 70s, an Australian band called Missisippi put out a song "Kings of the World". The first time I heard that, I thought that it would make an great theme for a Foundation show. Be great to see if I was right.

EX-CELL-ENT! EX-CELL-ENT!!

That looks great! I'm looking forward to doing mine in a similar scheme. It was interesting to learn that the mostly white scheme was from pre-production artwork -- guess that explains where Airfix got the scheme from. As Brian Johnson has said, it was a shame that the show never had the budget to add some Hawks to Alpha's Eagles -- plus whatever the intriguing-sounding Ultra Hawk might have been. I rather hope that Round 2 will do the promised 1/72 Eagle to go with it...

Purple? Never heard or saw that one. The original TB2 was a slightly bluish shade of olive -- so not too far from the correct colour -- and later there was the metallic blue version, but I never ran across the purple one. Wouldn't put it past them, though... UFO was particularly badly off that way. The Interceptor was indeed green -- a bright metallic colour -- with orange details like landing gear, and a white missile with a red soft plastic nose. Later versions had the missile yellow and black instead. Straker's car was bright metallic gold instead of whatever it was on screen (light grey?) and the mobile was a gloss army green -- that is, much the same shade that a lot of military vehicle from the same company used to get painted. Regardless, your model is excellent, and I'd love to see more of it -- for instance, shots of the underside and close-ups of the cockpit?

Great work, but I'm annoyed that there was no pilot! I could use a decent 1/72 female pilot not in a standard flight suit -- actually, I could use 3 of them, but one would do as a master. I do wish manufacturers would stop this bad habit of assuming that crew become invisible the instant they get into a cockpit. I mean, okay, you can see the cockpit detail, but it's not very realistic, is it, and Diana has always been the one part of the plane that was visible!

Someone with a very large sledgehammer?

There were those folding restraints (or whatever) on the bridge seats of the refitted Enterprise in ST:TMP. We saw them used (and work) in the wormhole sequence, but maybe that shorted them out or something, because I don't remember seeing them after that or in any of the subsequent films. And, of course, we know the real reason why the E had no seat belts or equivalent before that: "Word of God" from the producers was that if they'd had seat belts, the actors couldn't fall all over the bridge!

Looks like 68mm SNEB rocket pods, a common weapon for ae early RAF Harrier (GR.1 or GR.3). Regardless, the Hawk pods look the business. More excellent work as part of this entertaining build.

Very nice-looking! The best part about it, to my mind, is the restrained weathering. You have portrayed the worn and hard-used look of the ship (the hunk-of-junkery, as another poster put it ) without burying it in so much grime and rust that it resembles nothing so much as a pile of dirt and oxide that somehow maintains the shape of the original ship, but no-one is quite sure how or why! Far too many MFs go overboard with the weathering, but you've got it right, IMO. Well done.

And what country are you going to buy for the room to display it?

Yeah, that's looking like a Hawk all right... Lots more to do, but it should turn out an awesome model if you can keep up the standard of your work so far -- and why shouldn't you? I particularly liked the main engine bell with the Tornado parts -- looks very good. Bravo! Looking forward to more.

Put me down for one! You might need to do a new canopy as well, but it'd be worth it. I'm another fan of the Thunderfighter/EDD Starfighter. A very snazzy-looking fighter, and one which would have made a good match/counterpoint for the original Cylon Raider if it had been chosen as the BSG Viper: they're both very flat designs which would manoeuvre in much the same way -- I could see ThunderVipers rolling into attacks the way the Raiders used to, only quicker because of their smaller size. I wasn't aware the design had any connection to Star Wars but given the inevitable crossover between SFX shops, it's no great surprise. I guess the Thunder could be thought of as a precursor to the A-wing... Anyway, good stuff, and I look forward to seeing more of it -- and, hopefully, the cockpit and pilots!

But what would its name be? Lemmy the LM (or LEM, if you remember that far back)?

Fantastic work, but I'm curious: did you ever think about doing the webbing under his arms? Or does he no longer have that these days? I always remember it as an interesting part of Spidey's costume, most notably in the early Ditko issues, but since the costume has changed subtly since then -- seen here in the form of the post-McFarlane big eyes -- I would not be surprised to learn that the webbing has gone. Easier on the artists, I suppose -- not to mention modellers. :-)

He does look great. Between you, you and Moebius have managed to capture Frank Gorshin's unique brand of insanity as the Riddler. I always thought he was the most dangerous of the show's villains because of the unholy glee he took in making plans, particularly for the demise of the Dynamic Duo. This was before the Joker was revamped to be completely (and enthusiastically) insane -- in a way, Frank's Riddler was a sort of prototype for what the Joker became in the 70s -- and it was quite a feat to portray a character like that in the 60s on prime time TV. And I can see that in your figure. Frank is right at the beginning of one of his monologues; in a few minutes, after revealing (some of ) his latest plot and calling down the heavens on his enemies, he'll start jumping around with that mad giggle he had. Very well done. And "the gang" all look great. From what you say about the bases, I'm guessing that the remaining part of the bat is behind Catwoman and would be the Joker. Or is there a second part missing behind the heroes for... Egghead? King Tut? Either way, I'll look forward to you completing the set.

...and that's not all. Everybody's used to the word "Thunderbird" running along the length of the fuselage -- as depicted on the model that's the subject of this thread -- but shots of TB1 parked in Trapped in the Sky and other episodes have another identical (well, almost) word running along the underside, but in a different font and with the T on the red nose-cone. This is only ever seen in that shot, AFAIK, but then Derek Meddings said that TB1 only really had one good angle to be photographed from -- an opinion which I don't agree with. Regardless, I'm looking forward to building my Aoshima TB1 (I've even got an idea of how to make the undercarriage configurable -- up or down) and doubly to displaying it next to the De Agostini TB2!

VERY nice work, especially the webbing. Looking forward to seeing him finished.

One of the factors affecting the Canberra's engine placement may well have been design inertia -- that is, a bad case of "this is how it's always been done". Twin-engined bombers had always had their engines out on the wings -- they'd had to because of the props, the fore-and-aft engine concept never really having caught on. The Canberra, however. was something new: a twin-engined bomber without propellers. This meant that the engines could have been located much closer to the centreline as you have them, but I suspect the draughtsmen would automatically think of the outboard layout through force of habit. This is just speculation on my part, but history is full of similar instances. The Meteor is a slightly different kettle of fish because of its engines. The original Derwent engines, like Whittle's first flight-worthy designs, had centrifugal compressors, which meant that they were fat -- certainly much more so than the axial-flow engines of the Canberra. The Goblin was much the same, which is one reason why the Vampire looked the way it did. The fat (or broad) centrifugal engines couldn't be placed as close in as the narrower axial-flow types -- well,, they could, but the fuselage would have ended up distinctly tubby, which would have been a problem performance-wise, and would have meant a serious re-design of the whole aircraft. Gloster could have done it, but the time and cost involved would have been significant, to say the least, so the management would not have been keen to chuck out everything that had already done.

Here in the UK, Hannants are advertising the Raptor as available for a mere 70 quid -- okay, 69.99 -- but as I write, their website indicates that they have no stock at present. Which either means that they haven't got any yet and have jumped the gun (which is unlike them in my experience) or they've sold out already. Either way, they seem to think it exists and is/will be for sale. So keep your eyes open, and you might be lucky...

This young man has talent! Seriously, that is a beautiful piece of work, and from a five-year-old?! I can hardly wait to see what he'll do at, say, 10. Always assuming he stays with the hobby, and I certainly hope he does. Very well done, Leo. What are you going to do next? Many an admiring "uncle" here on this forum will be really interested to see. Do let us know.

Great work. I could hear the JB theme background music (complete with gunfire and explosions) in my mind as I read the posts. One of my favourite Bond films and sequences, and you do Little Nellie and her pilot (real or fictional) justice with your work. I'm also extremely pleased that Airfix included a pilot figure: nothing looks worse (IMO) than an open vehicle like a Wallis autogyro or motorcycle with no pilot or rider.

FWIW, the original Adversary set gave the scale of the Marauder (and the BoP and D'deridex that came with it) as 1/3730. No idea where that figure came from or why they'd use it, but there you go. Phil

Looks good enough to shoot at. Launch all Vipers!

Ah, the good old Yo-Yo of Doom. Originally said to be one of the most accurate SF kits ever, Monogram apparently having used something like a pantograph to copy the studio miniature (which had a lot of people, including me, wondering why the company made such a dog's breakfast of the Galactica), though that assertion was later challenged, but I can't remember the details. Nonetheless, it always looked right, so I never really worried about the nit-picking, such as it was. And this model is looking very good. I do like the effects of the wash, though some of those photos look a little dark to me. It's probably just the lighting, and you could always argue that the studio lighting make the original look too light -- shades (pardon the pun) of the ongoing "what colour is the original Enterprise" argument. Regardless, I look forward to seeing more of this build, and the completed model. Go to it!