Jade Falcon Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Hi, a guy at my local club gave me an Airfix Eagle transporter, very generous of him, and I've been wondering in the feasibility of doing some conversion work. Now I've never done scratchbuild, and am aware of the issues between the filming set and the studio models, but I was thinking in some plasticard and other accessories, maybe making a cockpit and cutting away the viewports and replacing them with clear plastic in the nosecone. I was wondering whether some plasticarding of the cockpit module, a couple of pilots and a bit of patience might work here. I've got the Blu-Rays and some blueprints of the Eagle. If that worked, possibly an interior and cutaway work on the passenger module. Is it feasible or am I just being too ambitious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screech Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 A lot of work for you to do. The best thing to do is look around on the net and see what you can find. Eagletransporter.com is a decent place to start. Remember one thing the more you see the bigger the ideas get! I know! Cheers and Good Luck, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenDragon Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 It's possible to make it look like it has a cockpit and pilots but there isn't enough room to fit everything in. I started to do a cockpit but the pilot figures (Airfix jet crew) had to have their legs amputated! There isn't even enough room for a full size door to the rest of the ship at the rear of the cockpit. Good luck with your build and I hope you have more success than me! Paul Harrison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marty_hopkirk Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Jade, I guess it depends how far you wish to go. There is potentially lots to do on the "Airix/MPC/Fudemesions" Eagle kit to make it canon to the filming miniature(s). To me the biggest fix required is opening up, or replacing the fore and aft 'cage' and correcting the sit. Marty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jade Falcon Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 Jade,I guess it depends how far you wish to go. There is potentially lots to do on the "Airix/MPC/Fudemesions" Eagle kit to make it canon to the filming miniature(s). To me the biggest fix required is opening up, or replacing the fore and aft 'cage' and correcting the sit. Marty... Correcting the sit? What do you mean by that? The guy who gave me it had a spare model and he's planning on doing that trick with the cage. He has a really old issue of a model mag that tackles that issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Wilson Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 If you can get you hands on a Product Enterprises diecast eagle, they're much more accurate and to the same scale. You could use that as a reference. Unfortunately they're out of production and cost 40 quid when they were available. I think that Warp made an accurate mixed media kit in the same scale too but that costs even more. Federation Models in the 'States might have them. As far as putting a cockpit in. The mock up of the cockpit used in the filming wouldn't have fit in the exterior seen on the models. I remember the 44" ones on display in Blackpool in the '70s and what you could see through the windows was really crude, just a couple of figures. I always wanted a fleet of Eagles. Got five of the PE ones and would buy more if they started making them again but it's not the same as building a kit. Good luck with it. Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jade Falcon Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 I got two of the PE Eagles, the Transporter and the Freighter. I'll never understand why PE ditched their 12 inch range as they seemed to be the best value for money and were attainable compared to their larger models. Their Stingray and Fireball XL5 were also rather nice models. I don't have a Warp Eagle, but do have a Warp Hawk which is meant to be substantially better than the old Airfix/MPC model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris @ Above & Beyond Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Warp Models now have an official dedicated support and discussion area over at eagletransporter.com that they are active on, if you wanted to discuss or find a warp eagle that may be good place to start, plus i'm sure if you asked Warp Models they would have some ideas for stuff you could do to an airfix Eagle kit. Yes its possible to modify or enhance the airfix kit, As Michael said above there is a wealth of information on eagles and their various conversions, scratch build modifications etc etc over on the site to I got two of the PE Eagles, the Transporter and the Freighter. I'll never understand why PE ditched their 12 inch range as they seemed to be the best value for money and were attainable compared to their larger models. Their Stingray and Fireball XL5 were also rather nice models.I don't have a Warp Eagle, but do have a Warp Hawk which is meant to be substantially better than the old Airfix/MPC model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyG Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 You want to know about Eagles? Try this site (sorry, can't do clicky yet) http://homepages.tesco.net/d.sisson/ The original 44 inch one is quite impressive, especially given what it looked like before its restoration. And yes, his front room does really look like that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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