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Space 1999 Space bus scratchbuild


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4 hours ago, Uncle Monty said:

 I like to think of it as recycling, so I'm doing my bit for the planet by spending hours in the man-cave, making spaceships :)

Hell of a burden for you. But someone has to do it. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Greetings Modellers

It's time for another update as once again I emerge blinking and bleary eyed from the man cave, covered in bits of plastic and smelling of glue (amongst other things).

Progress on the fuselage has slowed a little bit but I have just about finished the comms array and the display base, so here we go with some pictures. The cables are made of thin strips of very thin styrene.

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Here it is, more or less done, with some aluminium paint:

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The base was sprayed in rattle can car paint (see last instalment) and then given a coat of gloss varnish to help the decals stick. I made some simple decals in Gimp and then printed them off on water slide paper. I used Game Color paints to brush on some silver, brass and gunmetal detailing.

 

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So, now I aim to concentrate on the fuselage so that will be the subject of my next update.
Thanks for watching and comments are very welcome!
cheers
Monty

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Thanks Pete, i've probably gone as far as I want to with this. I did a test fit with the bus itself and it sits quite nicely on the base, no wobbling or drooping even though it is a hefty beast, so I reckon I can put it to one side and focus on the bus now.

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Hi All


Another update from the man cave, this time it's all about the fuselage which has given me some grief.

The initial design seemed ok on paper but in the flesh, or plastic anyway, it just didn't look right so out came the razor saw. I'm talking about the nose, of course. We'll just file that under "Seemed like a good idea at the time".

Here we have a picture as it was:


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And here we are, after the rhinoplasty:


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Much neater.


After a few coats of canned grey primer and then, because I ran out of grey primer, a coat or two of white primer:


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In the pics you can see the engines and the long rods coming out of the front and along the hull which are made of wood.
The engine 'cooling vents' are sections of tank track.


I covered the hull with a few details and greeblies but not a lot, in real life (if you know what I mean) this would not be a big spaceship and I don't think it would look right if it was smothered in bits. I will add some more detailing with the painting and the decals though, some logos and panel lines etc.

 

This is the topcoat, an aluminium finish which I thought would make a change from the usual white/grey paint finishes. The paint was applied from a can, maybe one day I'll get a spray brush, or perhaps Santa will leave one in my stocking :)

 

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I have completed the rear panel which will be removable so I can get to the lights - more on that later.
The panel is made of styrene with some greeblies and an empty plastic disk that used to have sellotape around it.

 

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So, she's gradually coming together and who knows, might be ready to take her first paying customers within a few weeks, although I suspect it wouldn't be a comfy journey as this thing is more bus than luxury cruise liner, but whatever.

cheers all, thanks for the comments and happy modelling
Monty

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13 hours ago, Uncle Monty said:

I can see me reaching for the razor saw yet again, this time for a full face transplant.

 

Could you rebuild the nose section as a fairing to represent an autonomous/unmanned cargo carrier ? 

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On 21/10/2022 at 22:13, Richard E said:

 

Could you rebuild the nose section as a fairing to represent an autonomous/unmanned cargo carrier ? 

A good idea ta. I've been busy doing other things for a while but now I am ready to get stuck in and sort this thing out. I've been sharpening my implements and I suspect it's not going to be pretty.

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On 21/10/2022 at 15:49, Uncle Monty said:

Oh my word, I can see me reaching for the razor saw yet again, this time for a full face transplant.

No need! It’s kinda cute and it does share some visual aspects of the 1999 universe.

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I've put it to one side for the moment while I sort out other stuff, so this will give me a while to decide whether I should remodel the front or maybe just leave it, finish it and see how it turns out. Remodelling would not be a small job :( and I'm not sure I have the energy to do something like that. I might just carry on see what happens... at the end of the day it might look very different with paint, decals and the other gubbins that still needs to go on, so for now... watch this space! (pun intended)

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  • 4 weeks later...

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