22" MPC/Round 2 Eagle Transporter #2

[Kallisti]

I enjoyed building my first one earlier this year so much that I bought another! You can see my previous build here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234996587-mpcround-2-148-scale-22-eagle-transporter/

For this build I want to ty to do something a bit more special, so there will be lighting, fixes to the overlong springs, enhanced paintjob and decals and most likely a Emergency/Rescue pod paintjob. This build was inspired by my visit to the Smallspace show last weekend where I got the designer of the Eagle, Brian Johnson to autograph the box I carry the first Eagle model to shows in

I'll not be following the constructin sequence of the instructions very closely this time around as I have specific things that need to be done to support my other plans. So to start with, I began with one of the leg pods. My plan is to mount white LEDs in the front two legs pods to act as landing lights...

As you can see, this time I'm using some serious battery power which will be mounted in the passenger pod. This will feed power to the LEDs in the leg pods and in the cockpit. So once again I've put power socket into the joint to support the cockpit

and the cockpit internal bulkhead has been painted

This time I've used Tamiya BUff and Deck tan colours istead of Desert yellow and white as I did in the previous build/ It still needs some touch ups and of course washes to bring out the detail. Now the power supply this time will be a block of AA batteries. These need to be mounted in the passenger pod is a manner that they can be accessible to change without having to disassemble the model. There should also be an on/off switch...

On/off switch working... how about accessibility of the batteries?

Panel cut out of the base with magnets holding it in place. Up the other way we see the mounting for the batteries

So back to the leg pods, I've had to chop some plastic out of the support brackets inside the walkway modules so that the wires can come out of the pods

This still leaves plenty of support for the leg pods. The connection between the pod and the leg is via plugs that allow the legs to be attached later for ease of painting, as is shown here:

The internals of the walkway module start getting quite busy once all the wires are added

but testing showed everything is working...

Next task it to arrange the electrical connection between the walkway and the passenger pod/battery box and then sort ot the rear leg pods. I have a slightly different plan for those, more of that later...

Edited December 2, 2016 by Kallisti

[Hunter Rose]

Oh cool, some lighting black magic! Will follow with interest

[Nigel Heath]

I'm sure this build will be packed with great hints and tips on how to build this kit.

[TonyG]

Nooooo.... I feel like I'm going to have to start mine now, and there's a few others that I should finish off before I start yet another kit.

[Kallisti]

Get on with it

[Kallisti]

Progress has stagnated a bit recently with other things getting in the way, however I have managed to make one small but important modification... the springs that support the legs!

The original springs that come with the kit are a bit to long.strong to the effect that the completed model sits about 1cm higher than it should. In my earlier build I left them as they are but I promised myself on this build I'd fix that problem. Bakc in February when I built the first I attempted to cut the spring but even with tin snips, I couldn't cut the wire. I didn't waste too much time on it back then, but since then I'd been advised to use a file to cut away part of the wire to make it easier, so this i did using one of my needle files with a sharp edge to cut a V-shaped slot in the spring wire and lo and behold it became trivial to snap a piece of the spring off, so now I have springs shortened by two loops of the wire

Sadly I forgot to take a "before" shot, but here is a photo from my earlier build that shows the full spring

As for further progress, the spine has been assembled and the upper panels of the passenger pod with windows in have been added to the PP. I'm hoping to get more progress this coming week...

[Kallisti]

Well this build is taking its time... to be honest I'm struggling with motivation at the moment

Anyway, things have slowly been coming otgether. I decided to add some extra details to the front and read walkways

This is the rear one, fully assembled and wired up ready for the lights.

You can see the additions I've made. The rear engine assembly as gone together without too much trouble - this is probably the single most complex part of the assembly.

Finally in this update, the four shelves that fit on the walkways.

These were taken over a week ago - since then a lot of painting has taken place and things are progressing... slowly...

[prowler0000]

Just caught up on this one.

Keep the finishing line in sight, Andy..... How about the VIP pod instead?!?

[Kallisti]

I posted this in the wrong thread!!!! This is the build that I have restarted!!

 

So almost 2 months later, we come back to this build, having spent the intervening time on building the Fireflash+TB4 diorama and the monster North Cormorant Oil Platform. The latter is waiting for the bathroom sealant water effect to dry (link is in the sig), so I've come back to this build.

 

First thing was to re-familiarise myself with how far I'd got and then to proceed... In the down time, I made an effort to collect various decals to use on this build. This includes some generic red and blue lining decals as well as a generic sci-fi set of decals that I picked up from somewhere i saw on the Starship Modeller FB page

 

 

Don't ask me where I got it now, but there lots of useful bits on here and as you can see I've already used some of them  Speaking of which, where did I use them then?

 

 

These are the 4 shelves that go under the cages on the two walkways, they've had some red and blue stripes added and the greenish decal on the larger sphere was taken from the set. These now need a dark wash to bring out the detail and they'll be ready.

 

Next was to revisit the engines

 

 

This is a mix of decals from the kit, from the scifi set and from a pdf uploaded to the Space:1999 Ships FB group.

 

Next job will be detailing the spine and further assembly of the cages.

 

[Kallisti]

Onwards and upwards!

 

The command module is essentially complete, with panels, decals and weathering all applied:

 

 

 

I painted the black areas rather than use the decals provided in the kit. The sensor disks have been painted with Alclad and are plastic not metal. I've tested the LED in the cockpit and its a bit dim. I think I may have the wrong resistor in the circuit - unfortunately that is now behind the cockpit bulkhead in the cockpit and although I havn't yet sealed upt he CM yet, it will still be difficult to access without the risk of causing damage. I'll see how this pans out - I may end up adding a second LED in parallel with the first which may add more illumination...

 

Next the walkways have been finally assembled with the detailed shelves from before, decals from several sources added and weathering using a dilute MiG dark wash:

 

 

 

Next the engine block has had more decals applied. This still needs a weathering wash and a matt coat.

 

 

 

 

(blast, just noticed the two dashes on the top engine are crooked  )

The passenger pod has had panels added and now needs to be weathered

 

 

Finally, the spine has had lots of stripy decals added to give it some more interest

 

 

Th enext job which should take the res tof the week is to start masking the 4 leg pods to add the coloured panels...

Edited October 28, 2016 by Kallisti

[AlexN]

Looking great!

[MarkSH]

Just caught up with this build, great work! really enjoying your efforts.

With regard to ordering and importing from the US, the duty to be paid is only VAT if the value of the goods is under £134 is that correct?

There's an EBAY seller offering the kit at around £65 plus £24 postage so with VAT it comes to around £105 substantially better than the silly prices being charged by UK based EBAYers. However a little unclear about the mechanics of paying said duty, how does it work? does the vendor pay it and pass on the costs? or does the buyer have to settle the bill in the UK?

[Kallisti]

The limit is lower than £134, I've been clobbered for something that only cost about $30, but then they've missed things that cost a lot more. Its a bit of pot luck really - if the Customs and Excise catch you, you'll get a note from the Post Office to say that there is a fee to be paid. You can pay it online or at the Post Office. The amount seems to be semi-random - my first Eagle kit came from the states and only got charged £7 on an item that cost about £50+£50 postage but others got a much higher bill. Of course the Post Office then add their rip-off "handling fee" of £8 to that which in theory you can object to to and not pay, but in practice they have your parcel hostage until you do pay.

 

With the current £ v $ exchange rate, there isn't really any major saving buying in the US unless there is a SIGNIFICANT price difference. In addition, the US Postal Service is as bad a bunch of rip-off merchants as our own beloved Royal Mail! On the other hand the Japanese Postal Service is bloody awesome. Things I've bought from HobbyLink Japan cost next to nothing to post over here and seem to travel at near light-speed until they hit these shores where it slows to an approximation of an arthritic snail.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Kallisti

[Pete in Lincs]

I just played catch up too.

She's coming alive with the decals.

Keep on keeping on!

 

There's a site somewhere that has pictures of

an eagle scrapyard. I thought I'd saved it but

can't find it now. Any ideas?

[Kallisti]

I know the one you mean , it was int he FB group and is superb. It was made by Robert S Pine

 

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[Pete in Lincs]

Thanks, I like that.

Actually I meant a site with pics of Sci fi

craft and parts but with people there too.

A Sci fi craft museum, if you like.

I'll have to have a search around the net.

[Kallisti]

Oh you mean the SciFi Airshow: http://www.scifiairshow.com/

[Kallisti]

Well, investigating why thecockpit LED was too dim,  I managed to get the cockpit bulkhead released and got access to the resistor for that LED and lo and behold its a 1k ohm resistor. I checked the calculation and it SHOULD be 220 ohm (well 190, but that closest), so no wonder its dim. I don't appear to have any 220's in my stash so had to order some so hopefully when they turn up all will be hunky dory!

[Pete in Lincs]

Yep, scifiairshow.com

I just spent half an hour trying to find the

link on starshipmodeler, then found straight

away via google! I remembered the airshow

bit while driving this morning. Some very

clever pictures on there and more than I

remember. I'll have to have a proper look later.

 

Good luck with the electrickery.

[Kallisti]

I've had a couple of days off work and been able to get quite a lot done in that time. First thing was the leg pods. There are 4 of these and each needed masking for the grey panels and then remasking for the bluish panels. Once that was done some panel lines were drawn on with H pencil and then it was decaling. There are LOTS of decals on each pod. I reckon overall each leg pod takes about a day's worth of work, but the results are quite impressive. Most of the decals come with the kit, I only added a couple of extra ones per leg.

 

 

 

Next, the passenger module has been comprehensively weathered with washes and weathering powder. It has also been attached to the front and rear walkways and the spine. The electrical connections between the battery pack and the walkaways means this is now permanently fixed - I won't be able to take the module out like I can with the first build.

 

 

 

You can see the wires ready to connect to the leg pods! The problem with the command module lighting was eventually solved by putting two Surface Mount LEDs inside, both further in the nose pointing backward to the pilots. In this pic, 

 

 

In this pic, the cockpit beak is just a push fit onto the front walkway. Its a firm fit so won't need to be glued and means it can be detached for ease of transportation.

 

 

The spine has also had a dark wash applied to dirty it down a bit. The engine bells have been attached to the engines and the engines themselves give a mild dark wash and some weathering

 

 

 

Remember, these are Alclad painted engine bells, not the ridiculously priced aluminium ones!

The leg pods have had a spray of matt varnish and when that is dry, the feet will be added and the pods given a dark wash before fitting to the main body... almost complete!

 

 

Edited June 9, 2017 by Kallisti

[Kallisti]

I can now say that the build is complete - the leg pods had their matt varnish and were then weathered with washes and powders and then installed into the main body. I did a trick on the black thruster panels and weathered them with a lighter coloured pastel chalk to give the impression of exhaust staining. The front pod electrical connections were with 2 pin plugs and sockets which were trivial, but the rear two had to be soldered. They all went together with a bit of coaxing and then came the moment of truth captured in this short video...

 

 

and here it is with its older sibling with some Thunderbirds and Stingray trying to photobomb in the background...

 

 

I'll take better "Ready for Inspection" photos when I can get out into the conservatory in daylight later this week.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Kallisti

[The Chief Smeg]

Sigh, that is just awesome - love the video.