Richard Baker

I have the Anderson Cross-Sections book https://www.amazon.com/Supermarionation-Cross-sections-Revealing-Machinery-Andersons/dp/1842224115/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506960930&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=anderson+crossections (Wow, it has really gone up in price since I bought it) But I plan on buying the new Haynes book as well- I have the others in the series (Thunderbirds, Falcon, Klingon BoP, Deathstar, Falcon) and they have a welth if information past just vehicle illustrations- well researched and a very good read!

I have no problem having vehicles/equipment being inspired by animals- it has been done before in the OT and PT films. My problem is that they took it too far into imitating the animal, the guy traced his design over the image of a Gorilla. It may look OK in the film, but I do not plan on adding one to my shelf.

^You are going to have so much fun!^

A lot depends on the design of the ship- certain shapes and structures create an impression of size, even without windows. The Blockade Runner was originally built to be the much smaller Falcon, when they recycled it for the larger ship they did add some smaller detail, but you would never think it was the same size as the Star Destroyer which is chasing it. The ISD used a more simplified shape with tiers and building/city implications in it's detailing to give an impression of size (the first model in ANH did not have any window lights at all- just engines and the ventral bay). Anime craft have he same sort of design clues- the bigger the chip, the more consolidated the hull is, with smaller things along the hull, smaller craft are more complex designs with a lot of 'fussy' details making a more cluttered shape.

Very jealous! Not crazy about the material used, but love the scale and detail of this kit!

Sadly they already had some fantastic First Order Walkers designed- seen in the background of the 'Inspirational' speech just before they fired off the Starkiller Beam:

The new Walker reminds me of those robot animal toys which were popular a few years back- Zoids. https://www.google.com/search?q=zoids&rlz=1C1AOHY_enUS708US708&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8q57ytK_WAhVC6iYKHWi-CPcQ_AUICigB&biw=977&bih=762

It's a shame- the Arrowhead and Tracker look far better that what we can expect in the movie...

My wife likes to get special makeup pallets and brushes, I like to get scifi replicas and models. It all balances out...

Somebody working with it over on RPF - https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=275905 My favorite Pod also- I have the Product Enterprises 121" Lab Pod replica and really want it for my 22" Eagle as well.

He did a great job with it! Interesting assortment of subjects...

One book which I think would make an excellent four parter is Robert A. Heinlein's 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'. It has political and social intrigue, a sense of humor and some wonderful action sequences. It is also an excellent depiction of what happens when you try to combat an enemy force that is at the top of a gravity well. Only negative is the Moon's social system involving Poly-Marriages. Very logical in the book, but it would either be embraced disproportionally or completely ignored, depending on who produced it.

How many versions of 'Dune' have we seen and IIRC there yet another one in the works. I think the biggest problem is translating a complex intellectual property into entertainment- a lot of enjoyment comes from the concepts involved and how the mind is engaged. Translating that sort of thing into a strictly visual medium is always a challenge no matter who is at the helm. The Foundation 'Trilogy' encompasses a larger number of books, I have enjoyed them all except the last one where R. Daneel Olivaw from 'Caves of Steel' makes a reappearance and thows the entire future history sideways since he was responsible for guiding everything himself.

IMO 'Foundation' would only be feasible as an epic TV series along the lines of 'Game of Thrones'. It is far too big and complex to be stuffed into a movie, Another book series, a rather obscure one, which would really benefit from this sort of treatment is James Blish's 'Cities in Flight'. It is a far ranging set of four books which starts off in near future Earth with the discovery of a technology which allows pretty much anything become a spacecraft using a travel field. The tech, which becomes known as a "Spin Dizzy" due to the fields nature, is first applied to built vehicles but eventually is used to fly a small city. Earth's cities begin to migrate outwards, each providing unique services to planets and colonies. You watch Scranton PA prepare to take off and follow a character to a different city- New York, NY. It is a truly an epic tale which concludes with the actual end of the Universe and the formation of the next one.

The Medical Frigate used parts from the MPC X-Wing kit for engine detailing... (the tech strip behind R2)

Now that is going to be a fun project! If you need references, there is a thread over on RPF which goes into very specific detail about the differences between each of the ships...

A lot depends on who is producing the resin kit- some go together almost like a styrene kit and others are nightmares on wheels. I personally do not enjoy building resin kits that much, but then again I am 59 and spent most of my life pushing styrene so I know how to make it dance. Randy Cooper has some pretty good engineering on his products- looking forward to seeing this project develop...

Or Bandai recreating original donor kits in scale for their 1:72 Falcon greebly?

The Buck Rogers Thunderfighter is one of my favorite designs- compact and advanced, but still hunkered down and mean looking. It stared off as a sketch for Star Wars (appears in the Chronicles Book)- Then almost became the Battlestar Galactica Viper before finding a home on Buck Rogers.

The bundles launch silo IMO was not really worth the additional cost- mostly printed cardboard. It would be much better to scratch build my own That TB-3 kit is wonderful - the first mas production kit which actually got the proportions correct. I have an unbuilt UNCL 18" resin kit in my closet of doom, which was the same kit that Product Enterprises (AKA 16/32) copied for their uber-expensive replica. TB-3 is my favorite Thunderbird (followed closely by TB-2). It is so nice to finally see a proper styrene kit of it!

I do not build figure kits- Bandai does make some impressive ones but they are just not my thing. The 1:48 X-Wing is wonderful- very well engineered and you can detach it from the base which lights/controls it and display it separately. If they made a less expensive one without the SFX I would buy it again. The 1:144 Falcon is spectacular. I never thought you could get that much detail into a kit that scale and if you get some of TonyRR/308 Bits Shapeways replacement parts you can create a replica that is as perfect as you can get until you buy their newest 1:72 Falcon. I the 1:72 scale you like, the Special Forces-New Order TIE is a great kit- the cockpit itself has more detail than some complete kits. It is a shame you can't see it more when the kit is finished, but you can go with the no-glass window option and add an interior light- I am also painting mine some non-standard colors to highlight some of the best parts. Seriously, just about any 1:72 Bandai kit is a winner- they are wonderful kits...

I have downloaded all my Photobucket images- if anyone wants to see what the broken link led to just let me know.

The sidewalls also need to be changed- TFA version has additional piping and some greebly differences. On a side note the Bandai kit was based on an early CGI mesh provided by ILM but the left and right sidewalls are mirrored, something that was changed before being used in the film. Converting the Falcon to ANH version does involve removing the additional set of landing gear pods which were added for tESB. I am not sure if there are replacement hull and access bay(which were relocated to allow for the new boxes) sections on Shapeways yet, but since a number of people are probably trying to do the same conversion there should be soon Keep an eye on what TonyRR https://www.shapeways.com/shops/308bits offers- he has some really fantastic parts available.

In a weird way this Photobucket thing is actually going to make my life easier. I stopped following links to PB images a while back since they had to first load the entire web page, then all of their advertising, then all the animated ads, then maybe you get o see the picture. I had a PB account fornyears but since switched over to Imgur. I kept the old one alive just in case someone wanted to follow an old link in some ancient thread, I downloaded all of those files this morning so I have everything if needed. I would totally close my old PB account but it is sync'd to an eMail address that no longer exists.

Thanks!