trickyrich Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Right…… …after 2 good ones there has to be an ugly duckling and this one is it. This is a super rare resin model of the feature craft in the Space Above & Beyond TV series, the SA-43 Hammerhead. (Ok I've lost the box for her!!) This model was produced by a Canadian company called, Millenna Models International (MMI) and it doesn’t appear in any of their catalogues. She’s an interesting model at the very least. The moulding is a bit poor and fit looks to be abit……..vague at best. There aren’t too many bits to her but all will need quite a bit of work to correct/tidy up. The weapons…….. I’ll replace those with some custom made stuff, it’ll be much easier. The decals are a bit worse for wear but maybe ok. The instruction are quite incomprehensive/incomprehensible, again at least there aren’t very many it to worry about! Because the detail is quite poor I’ll raid the PE stash for extra bits and pieces, these are some I've found already. I’ve had a wee play with one of the exhaust nozzles and with some careful work I should be able to sort them out, though it'll require some work. This will be an "interesting" build! 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 20 minutes ago, trickyrich said: after 2 good ones there has to be an ugly duckling and this one is it. That it is sir That it is. Though with a black and gold scheme it might look like a kool little pirate fighter. Im not familiar with the series myself, I've heard of it but never seen it. So this should be interesting. Dennis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Not at all familiar with this one, but looks like it’ll be interesting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Wot no after market resin! Come on Rich, There's a whole industry out there relying on your business. I hope you're taking this seriously. 😀 Colin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 it wasn't the most successful series, only ran for one season in 1995/96 before it was cancelled (23 episodes). I have seen some episodes, not up there with the better ones that's for sure, but has a bit of a cult following now. @Colin W... aftermarket!!! I'm struggling to even find out info on the colour scheme! But I'll try and detail it up as best I can with what stuff I have around the place. Actually this is the only model of this I've ever seen on evilBay and I bought it really cheap........that'll teach me! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Well since it's rare and resin to start with then the powers that be can probably forgive this deviation. Glad to see you're not making the same mistake with the Viper mk7 and the fruity accessories. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 (edited) I took a look at some images from the web Rich. Looks like a ghost/gull grey base color to my old Mk.1’s 👀 i would think barring an actual instruction sheet showing otherwise something in that flavor will work. I did see a British marked version of the same resin kit. Which would make it interesting with RAAF Roundels ? Since the description of the show says each nation supplied units to the U.N. Military. As the U.N. Had no military of there own you could technically do a RAAF aircraft. Dennis Edited September 23, 2019 by Corsairfoxfouruncle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestar12chris Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 7 hours ago, trickyrich said: it wasn't the most successful series, only ran for one season in 1995/96 before it was cancelled (23 episodes). I have seen some episodes, not up there with the better ones that's for sure, but has a bit of a cult following now. @Colin W... aftermarket!!! I'm struggling to even find out info on the colour scheme! But I'll try and detail it up as best I can with what stuff I have around the place. Actually this is the only model of this I've ever seen on evilBay and I bought it really cheap........that'll teach me! Hi Rich heres a link that might help with your colour scheme https://snubfighter.fandom.com/wiki/SA-43_'Hammerhead' All the best Chris 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 thanks Chris, I have been to that site already. From what I've found so far the scheme is basically Lt Ghost Grey all over. With a bit or weathering and extra trim details she should look ok. Worse comes to worse I'll base the scheme on US Marines jet colour schemes, no reason she can't look cool! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzio Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 I'm really looking forward to watching this one progress. I used to love the show and I've got the DVDs somewhere. Will be following with lots of interest trickyrich. Kind Regards, Dazz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregg136 Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 Oh this is a blast from Childhood, certainly following this one. I wouldn't be surprised if I have a few of the comics still sat somewhere. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 Right I’ve finally managed to make a start on this one……needed a break from the Hind. Ok there’s quite a lot of cleaning up required as the moulds are pretty so so! First up the wings…. ….the leading edge, well it doesn’t really line up at all! I’ll try my best to blend it in but I don’t have much to work with here…… ……as far as the trailing edge goes it’s not much better but I at least have more to work with here. Oh and the wings are/were warped a bit just to add something extra to the mix!! They’re a lot better after sanding back…just forgot to take photo! As for the nose…… ….as can be seen not much better at all. Lots of sanding and reshaping was required to get it back to something more normal looking. The two ball like objects on either side of the snout are beyond making round (or even oval) again, but as it turns out they’re the exact size as some lovely steel balls I use to mix paint! So they’ll be replaced. The canopy is actually hollow (thank god!!) but had solid windows, so that had to be corrected….. ….much better and sheet clear acrylic sheet will be used to make new windows…… …..and it really doesn’t quite fit! Silly me to think it would....out with the plastic card here I think! Now the part that I new would cause grief, fitting the wings! And it didn’t let me down! The mating shapes were just completely wrong and the locating pin on the wing didn’t really do much except get in the way, so they were removed. New plastic and brass pins were fitted. Then each wing with new pins was bent to the right angle (inner section level, out slight droop down) and glued with (ok drowned in) CA cement, then repeat. At first I was worried about that wee step on the trailing edge/fuselage join, but it turns out there is one on the drawings. That mass of CA cement on the RHS isn’t!! And finally to really complete messing up the bench, I had to do something about the intakes! There’s just a flat surface behind the intake cowling where you’re meant to fit the engine face which is way too small for the opening. So out with the Dremel and various grinding heads……. ……now that’s looking better. Now I have some depth to the intakes and will probably be able to fit the engine face with a little bit more work. So most of the hard and messy work is sort of done now (not counting all the sanding). I now need to refine and blend in all the shapes, those cowlings really don’t fit very well at all. There’s no undercarriage for her and it’d be a too big of a job to do one, drilling out solid castings is no fun. So she’ll be mounted in a flying pose, I have plans for this. I’ll probably do some filling before putting her away for a little bit….though I would like to get the intake/cowlings sorted out first…we’ll see. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Ah, the Wild Cards. Coincidentally, I've just finished re-watching this series a couple of weeks ago. It used to be on BBC2 sometimes after I got in from drunken carousing at the weekends. It's about as good as I remember it with some hit & miss episodes, but potential to be really good if they'd just let it carry on for a season or so. I wasn't a big fan of the AIs, especially their stupid eyes and gambling compulsion, but I liked some of the ships. The Hammerhead was one that looks good from some angles and not so good from others, but I suspect they designed the full-sized on and then made CGI copies once they had finished. The CGI was probably done on Commodore Amigas or very early PCs as it's reminiscent of Babylon 5 in a lot of respects, especially the textures that are a little bit low-res in close-up. That kit's one of the roughest pieces of resin I've seen in a long time. I'm sure you'll cope with it though Rich, as we've all seen you hack a model out of junk before now Now where can I get a decent 3D printed one that's also larger than my thumb? 1:48 would be my preference 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 @Mike, sort of reminds me of old Unicraft stuff! There's nothing too dramatic with the model, nothing a wee bit of work won't resolve. 3D printing....now you're talking! I wish someone would re-release it or release it in 1/48th (or larger) plastic. It's a pretty cool looking beast and I reckon it'd be popular, the show has a bit of a cult following. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 On 9/23/2019 at 10:09 AM, trickyrich said: Because the detail is quite poor I’ll raid the PE stash for extra bits and pieces, these are some I've found already. You couldn't help yourself and just had to include some F-111 bits! Ihave lost count of the number of times I have seen AN/APG-113s used as set dressing in films Also a bit of trivia, many of the extras used in the series were RAAFies from Willytown, cheers, Pappy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 10 hours ago, trickyrich said: I wish someone would re-release it or release it in 1/48th (or larger) plastic. It's a pretty cool looking beast and I reckon it'd be popular, the show has a bit of a cult following. I agree that a 3D printing company could clean up, but it's probably 20 years too late for an injection moulded kit for a niche show that only drunk people saw (in the UK at least) and was cancelled after one season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 2 hours ago, Mike said: I agree that a 3D printing company could clean up, but it's probably 20 years too late for an injection moulded kit for a niche show that only drunk people saw (in the UK at least) and was cancelled after one season arrr now there's an idea.....models for shows watched by drunk people!! Get some interesting stuff and who cares if it is out of scale or not 100% correct now one would remember anyway! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 2 minutes ago, trickyrich said: Get some interesting stuff and who cares if it is out of scale or not 100% correct now one would remember anyway! The best model company idea ever! Models made for drunk people that watched "some show" back in the 90s, and paper projects where no-one can complain your kit is 2mm too short 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 16 hours ago, Mike said: The CGI was probably done on Commodore Amigas or very early PCs as it's reminiscent of Babylon 5 in a lot of respects, especially the textures that are a little bit low-res in close-up. Come on Mike, the Amiga was not bad for its time. Didn't Lucasfilm use a battery of 20 or so Amigas to generate the dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park film? I had years of fun on mine - bought it because it seemed better than the early PC's for game play - OK I upgraded it quite a bit - much faster processor, more memory and a hard drive. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 6 minutes ago, PeterB said: Come on Mike, the Amiga was not bad for its time. Didn't Lucasfilm use a battery of 20 or so Amigas to generate the dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park film? I had years of fun on mine - bought it because it seemed better than the early PC's for game play - OK I upgraded it quite a bit - much faster processor, more memory and a hard drive. Pete Yeah, I meant that literally Pete - a lot of Babylon 5 was done on Amigas, which was being made around the same time I've got an "upgraded" Amiga knocking about here somewhere with its lid off. A faster 68k processor and some other graphical mods so it works on an LED screen without a Genlock or other frame-doubler. I used to use 2 at work when I was doing computer graphics in the very early 90s. Deluxe Paint 4 FTW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 arrr the Amiga 500!! I splurged out and bought the 512KB Upgrade for mine, had a full 1MB of awesomeness. I so wanted to get the HDD for it but it was way too expensive then! My dream machine back then was the 3000......until I went to the dark side! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzio Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 On 10/11/2019 at 11:02 AM, Mike said: I agree that a 3D printing company could clean up, but it's probably 20 years too late for an injection moulded kit for a niche show that only drunk people saw (in the UK at least) and was cancelled after one season I would buy the model too. I used to watch it on Friday nights on BBC 2 and I can assure you I wasn't drunk at 14 years old... Yes even though I'm from Essex! Lol Love the work you're doing with this trickyrich. Those seams/joins don't look too fun. Kind Regards Dazz 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 thanks Dazz, they're actually not as bad as they look, all the large gaps have been filled with CA cement so it's just a case of doing basic filling to finish them off.....but there are a lot to do. The bad thing is the white resin, it makes filling with white filler a pain. I don't want to prime as I want a nice base for the filler.....have found primer on resin then filler can result i lifting in some cases. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 9 minutes ago, trickyrich said: The bad thing is the white resin, it makes filling with white filler a pain. I don't want to prime as I want a nice base for the filler.....have found primer on resin then filler can result i lifting in some cases. What kind of filler do you use Rich ? Is it water based, if so a drop or two of acrylic paint to dye the filler might work ? To see it against the white resin maybe a grey would be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 I generally use the Tamiya stuff, their fine white filler (I would use their grey but my tube has gone off). It works really well with resin, it's only issues is it will think over a couple of days as it completely cures. So for big gaps it's CA cement with accelerator. As soon as it's dried/"hardened" you need to start working it, for me I use files. It's still easy to work with and just slightly softer than the resin so you remove the "glue filler" rather than the resin. But give it an hour or so and it goes rock hard and you end up removing more resin than glue. I'm sure there are other filers out their which work well too, but I'm use to what I use and know what's best to suit what I need. But if anyone has some killer filler they use please let me know, always keen to find new awesomeness! Cue Mr. Paint Lacquer based Acrylics!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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