Doc72 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 I guess there comes a time in the life of every modeller when you want to build something from outer space. I am not very much into Sci-Fi, but I became fascinated with the idea of scratch-building something without any regard for historical accuracy, technical feasibility, or common sense. So my UFO project is not based on any particular movie or TV series, but the style with the heavily-structured surface is undoubtedly in some way influenced by the space crafts from the original Star Wars trilogy. Moreover, of course, I took inspiration from many Sci-Fi-scratch-build-projects by other modellers that can be found on the internet. Unlike others, I did not recycle old shampoo bottles or other plastic wrappings (maybe later on another project) but used plastic sheets and profiles for most of the construction. A classic Flying Saucer design served as a starting point which I tried to vary a bit. The basic disc is made from two circles of plastic sheet separated by some profiles as spacers. I made the disc from rather thick plastic but afterwards switched to more or less paper-thin sheets that are much easier to fold and cut. For the bottom of the disc I envisaged a kind of conus or truncated cone. First, two blocks of balsa wood were added to give support to a pole or stick on which the model will be displayed. Getting the right shape for the surface of a truncated cone isn't trivial. Fortunately, I found a very useful online tool on the website of a rocket modelling club (they build rockets that really fly): https://www.rmc-sachsen.de/?nav=konus Adding bogus and nonsensical details on the basic shape is the fun part: 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 This looks interesting. I do Sci fi scratchbuilding myself. Good fun, tax's the mind/imagination and no one can say it's wrong. I'll pop back later for more. Ta. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theb Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Big fan of this show and would love to have a Shado Mobile in the 3ft long arena along with a huge Skydiver too. I like em big! keeping an eye on this one too! really curious about the clear domeeee thing and what will be used. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted January 25 Author Share Posted January 25 20 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said: This looks interesting. I do Sci fi scratchbuilding myself. Good fun, tax's the mind/imagination and no one can say it's wrong. I'll pop back later for more. Ta. Indeed. The nice thing is, I can always adapt the UFO's design to my skills. It is more difficult when you are trying to scratch-build a real plane or tank. For the upper side I choose a more angular design. I thought a pentagon-shaped structure looks sufficiently strange. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 Some more structures were built for the upper side. They are not yet glued in place because I will add more details. As you can see, symmetry is not a main concern in extraterrestrial spacecraft design. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Very nice scratch building work! Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voozet Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Great start. On 24/01/2023 at 09:52, Doc72 said: I became fascinated with the idea of scratch-building something without any regard for historical accuracy, technical feasibility, or common sense. We have very similar motivations I see. Sci-Fi is the perfect asylum, beyond the rivet counters' hunting grounds 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 22 hours ago, voozet said: Great start. We have very similar motivations I see. Sci-Fi is the perfect asylum, beyond the rivet counters' hunting grounds It is in particular a hiding ground from my inner rivet counter. Not sure, when I will be able to make progress on this project. In any case, the next steps will be to add some openings as a kind of cable ducts or whatever. The idea is to give the UFO some depth. I don't want it to look like all the details have just been glued on top of the basic flying saucer-structure. You can already see such a cable shaft on the last photo on the right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Intriguing, will be following this with interest! On 1/29/2023 at 11:03 AM, voozet said: Great start. We have very similar motivations I see. Sci-Fi is the perfect asylum, beyond the rivet counters' hunting grounds oh no in some quarters the SF rivet counters are the WORST since quite often there isn't a definitive prototype to work from, for example the frequent question "What colour is Thunderbird 2?" There is no definitive answer because the various models built for the show were all inconsistent as far as both shape, details and colour! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 1 hour ago, Kallisti said: oh no in some quarters the SF rivet counters are the WORST since quite often there isn't a definitive prototype to work from, for example the frequent question "What colour is Thunderbird 2?" There is no definitive answer because the various models built for the show were all inconsistent as far as both shape, details and colour! Okay, I m prewarned. Since I don't plan on reproducing any particular movie or TV spaceship, I may be on the safe side, but who knows? In any case, the colour scheme will be one of the next things to decide. Whatever the colour, I guess, I will go for sponge and hair-spray chipping, dry brushing and post shading. All the cool weathering techniques that often look overdone and unrealistic on aircraft models. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Really like how this is looking so far, great scratchin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted February 17 Author Share Posted February 17 And some details added. I guess the pipework you can see is for the circulation of the blinker fluid that lubricates the anti-gravity device. Or whatever... it was fun to build. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted February 28 Author Share Posted February 28 And some more slow progress: I've added another cone as a kind of hat on top of the pentagon structure as well as some structure on the outer rim of the flying saucer. You can also see first traces of filler since I've become a bit sloppy with the construction and, consequently, some gaps appeared. The next steps will be to add further wires or piping. And of course some filling and sanding. This is not a Tamiya kit and there's nobody I can blame for the poor fit of some parts. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted 23 hours ago Author Share Posted 23 hours ago I am now finished with the details and mounted the UFO provisionally on brass rod and the base. The base still has to bev covered with some kind of extraterrestial landscape (rocks, craters and the like). Most likely, I will shorten the brass rod somewhat. The next thing will be a coat of primer and dealing with some surface imperfections that will become apparent. Afterwards, I have to decide on a color scheme. I am thinking of light grey overall with some large greenish-yellow on the pentagon-shaped top-structure as well as some details picked out in contrasting colors. What do you think would be good UFO paint scheme? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted 16 hours ago Author Share Posted 16 hours ago ... and with primer: Some spots still need a bit of putty and sanding but in general I'm content with the result. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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