Here’s a first look at the upcoming Space Seed edition of the 1:1000 Enterprise, which comes complete with a 1:1000 Botany Bay.

And a look at the 1:1000 refit NX-01, which was an unused concept proposed for the fifth season of Enterprise

This is a look at all of Round 2′s Cadet Series of 1:2500 ships

The Shuttle kit has been delayed a bit, but is still in development.  It may not actually be out until late 2014 or even 2015.

And the big news for 2014 is a new 1:1000 USS Reliant!

Moebius had a lot of other great things to share at Wonderfest 2013.   Here’s a shot of the much anticipated Dark Knight Tumbler.   This should be out in June.

This is a build up of the first test shot for Stoned Hoods and Crooks, the next Von Franco designed kit.

The Munsters House and Mel’s Drive In will be released as preassembled display models.

Parts on Demand is a new program from Moebius where you can purchase special aftermarket parts that are 3D printed to order.  Got to Moebius Models Shapeways Shop

Here’s a built up test shot of the upcoming Mars Attacks kits.   The helmet will be clear in the final kit.

Moebius also announced a new 12″ kit of the Jonny Quest Dragonfly for 2014

And perhaps the most scrutinized kit on display was the LIS Robot.  This is the second test shot.    The dome is still being worked out.  Moebius is trying to work out the best way to manufacture a quality dome.

Bob Dylan is 72 today.   Yeah, it has nothing to do with models, but sometimes you just feel like posting something cool.

Round 2 will be reissuing the old MPC Space 1999 kits – The Eagle, Moonbase, and Alien.    The kits will be straight reissues, with improved decals.    They’d like to do the Hawk as well, but they don’t have the tooling for it.

As we know, Round 2 has a license for the movies Alien and Aliens.   On their drawing boards are kits of the Sulaco, and a resin figure of Kane.   Depending on sales, they could do further kits including a Nostromo.   The Alien kits are planned for sometime in 2014.

There will be a lighted version of the C57D.   This had a great spinning effect for the engine.

Here’s a look at the Wicked Witch pattern, also coming in 2014

And there will be a reissue of the old Polar Lights Jetson’s kit.

Here’s a look at the upcoming Enterprise Bridge reissue.   The kit features additional figures, added wall panels, Sulu’s viewer, Spock’s viewer, and new decals.   You will now be able to build the full bridge.   Look for this later in 2013.

Larry Thompson from Pegasus Hobbies was at Wonderfest and the Terminator 2 Aerial Hunter Killer was on display.

Pegasus also had their upcoming dinosaur kits on display.    These should be out later this summer.  The dinosaur kits will include bases.

They also had a couple of their newest releases at the table – Tarzan and the Nautilus.

Moebius Models continues it’s Galactica line of kits with the classic Battlestar Galactica.  This is the mock up of the new kit, which will have some minor adjustment and then be tooled up.   Look for this kit in 2014

A Cylon Raider mock up on display at the Moebius presentations.

This is a painted test shot of the upcoming classic Viper.    Below are the upcoming Galactica display models that will be released this summer.  

Round 2 will also be producing a new a pair of new Batman kits.  These will be Batman and Robin scaling a building with their Bat Ropes.  Look for this to come out in 2014

Round 2 will also be reissuing the 1:24 scale Batmobile with new 1:24 scale TV Batman and Robin figures

And they announced a second Marvel kit, Thor, which will be coming in 2014

We are on our way to Wonderfest this weekend.  If you’ve been visiting this site for any length of time, you’ll know that Wonderfest is the center of the world for Monsters and Science Fiction model builders.    You can check out previous years shows by visiting the Events page on this site.    Of course you can also visit the Wonderfest website for more information

We will be debuting a number of new products including this two figure set of Spenser and Kong to go with the Moebius kit of Tracy/Kogar.    There will also be a Graveyard Scenes base for Kogar, that includes three different nameplates.

And the new Monsters of the Movies King Kong conversion for the Kogar kit will also be available.    The Graveyard Scenes figure of The Fly will make its first appearance at Wonderfest, along with the Robot Monster conversion kits.   We’ll be bring the last of the Bob and Kathy Burns Deluxe kit from CultTVman and Moebius models.    There were only 120 of these to start with, and they are almost gone.

Moebius Models has produced this limited edition special edition of the Frightening Lightning Forgotten Prisoner.  This replica Aurora box features the Aurora logo, and comes with folded cellophane wrap, just like the vintage Aurora kits did.   This comes with a protective cardboard sleeve to help preserve this special kit.   We will also have the limited edition Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde.  Both of these kits were limited to 240 pieces and you can only get them from CultTVman

I’ll be bringing the CultTVman Exclusive Ghostly Green Munsters House.   And we may just have a few of the bases from ODGstudios.   Be sure to visit the table early if you want one.

We will have a great collection of the newest plastic kits for you.   Battlestar Pegasus, Mel’s Diner, Bride of Frankenstein, The Creature, Deluxe Dracula, and more from Moebius;  The Nautilus, Shark, and Tarzan from Pegasus;  The Cadet TV and TMP Star Trek sets from Round 2,  Avengers and Dark Knight kits from Dragon.   We’ll have the Fujimi Bladerunner kits, a bunch of Aoshima Gerry Anderson kits, and maybe a few good deals too!   We’ll have a very special discount price on the 1:350 Classic Enterprise.   Get there early!

We’ll have a lot of the Graveyard Scenes and Sci-Fi Scenes.   I’ll have a few of the Gigantics bases.   We’ll bring the Kirk and Spock replacement heads.   I’ll have a few Spinner bases and figures from ODG.   We’ll have the Caroline Munro Golden Girl and The Lady in Red resin figures.

We’ll have paint masks/templates from Aztek Dummy, lots of photoetch detail parts from Paragrafix, light kits from VoodooFX, TenaControl and Madman lighting.  as well as EasyLEDs from Paragrafix.     We’ll have our Super Space Ship light set which is perfect for your 1:350 Classic Starship   And we’ll have a selection of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller magazines.

The CultTVman Suite will be open in the evenings.   Hope you can come join us.

See you at the show!

Here’s a painted version with a kit:

and all the Sci-Fi Scenes base together.   Robot Monster is on a coffee break

and the map of the collection

UPDATE:  Here is a photo of the assembled and painted conversion.

Here’s the first of our sneak peaks at what we have coming for Wonderfest.   The Monsters of the Movies King Kong conversion kit will be available at Wonderfest.    The Kong parts were sculpted by Chris Elizardo.  The base parts are by Rick Evans.   You’ll need to provide the Kogar kit!

Chris Elizardo has sculpted these two figures to go with the Bob Burns/Tracy the Gorilla/Kogar kit from Moebius Models.   This pair of figures will be available at Wonderfest.    Rick Evans is preparing the base, which is also part of the Graveyard Scenes bases.   The base will be sold separately.

I met Ray Harryhausen for the first time in 1995 at the Famous Monsters show in Los Angeles.    He was a hero of mine, having animated the beasts in so many fantastic movies.   Jason and the Argonauts, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and so many more.    I wanted to be a movie animator and make monster movies like Ray Harryhausen.  Of course, time has shown that there will only ever be one master like Ray.    He has inspired every great fantasy and science fiction move maker, artist, and star.   Over the years, I met Ray at several shows including DragonCon in Atlanta and Wonderfest in Louisville.    I am grateful that he shared so much of his time with his fans and followers.

Here are just a few photos from 1995.

Moebius Models has produced a special Limited Edition of Aurora’s Forgotten Prisoner of Castle Mare Frightening Lightning Glow kit.   This limited edition will be exclusively available through CultTVman.  This will be a Wonderfest Exclusive, available for purchase at that show.   Only 240 kits were produced.   This limited edition is molded in all glow plastic and is sealed with folded cellophane like the original Aurora kits were.   It comes in a protective cardboard wrap around sleeve, also exclusive to this limited edition.   The box is almost a perfect replica of the original, complete with the Aurora logo and no UPC symbol.   You don’t want to miss out on this one.

After Wonderfest, the remaining kits will be available in the CultTVman Hobbyshop.  You can preorder this kit at this time.

UPDATED with more photos and video

This is the new 1/72 Apollo 11 Saturn V from Dragon. This is a huge kit and comes with a ton of pieces. Unlike the prebuilt kit, this kit comes with the complete LM along with the CSM. Also the LM adapter is clear so you can see the LM inside. The whole launch escape tower is molded in clear as well. all of the ribbed pieces are whole and the smooth sections are in halves. The engines are well represented with a good amount of detail. All in all this looks to be a fantastic kit, and will be a blast to build. The only downfall I see is that there are no pre drilled holes for any of the fairings that get attached to the ribbed sections, but it shouldn’t be to hard to figure out.

Jim Long

Gene Kozicki shared these photos of the T2 Aerial Hunter Killer kit coming from Pegasus Hobbies later this year.   This is an early test shot of the kit and there will be changes and improvements.  The kit is 1:32 scale and measures about 9.25 inches when assembled.   The kit will include clear parts for lighting and there will be a light kit from VoodooFX.   The Hunter Killer Tank will also be in the same scale and much larger.   The level of detail is wonderful.

The kit is available for preorder in the CultTVman Hobbyshop

I was out in Los Angeles in mid April for Monsterpalooza.    I’ve been attending this show for the last couple years and it is always fun to go out, visit friends, and meet new people.     Monsterpalooza offers a great variety of film panels celebrating monsters, cult movies, classic sci-fi and much more.   I was able to attend the King Kong presentation which included Bob Burns.   I sat in on the panel about the Phantom of the Opera with Carla Laemmle, and preview of the Ray Harryhausen Special Effects Titan documentary.

I did manage to add a few autographs to my collection including Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea on my Moebius Moonbus kit.   I chatted with the lovely Lisa Marie who played Vampira in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, the hauntingly lovely Barbara Steele,  and the adorable Virginia Madsen.

Terry Webb brought the Amazing Figure Modeler Monster Maker model contest to the show.  There were plenty of great prizes to be awarded.  Some prizes were also provided by Moebius Models and the Alternate Universe Model Club

Here’s a gallery of many of the kits in the contest.    Sorry if I missed any!   There were plenty of great entries.

Hope to see you at the next show.  Visit the Monsterpalooza website for more information about future shows

Paragrafix also has a new photo etch detail set for the upcoming Nautilus kit from Pegasus Hobbies.   This etch set enhances the interior of the model.  It includes:

• A wheelhouse to sit behind the bow windows with bulkheads, hatch, ladder and ship wheels
• Ceiling tiles  and beams for the Salon
• louvers for the salon windows
• Tables and railings
• armchair for the desk
• and more

Available through the CultTVman Hobbyshop or the Paragrafix website

Received the latest issue of the IPMS Journal this week.  On the cover is the Lost In Space Cyclops and Chariot kit that was reissued by Polar Lights quite a few years ago.    There’s a great article by Bart Cusumano about building the kit, using JTGraphics decals, and modifying a figure to be Judy.       Also in this issue is a wonderful scratchbuild Cloud Cutter by Dan Thompson and pics from Brad Hair of his Blackbeard build.   If you are not a member of the IPMS, I strongly suggest you head over to the IPMS website and join up.

The shock of yesterday’s terror attack in Boston is still fresh.  My thoughts are with all those who’s lives were touched by this horrible event.   I have many friends in the Boston area.   When something like this happens, we are all a community, and we are all affected.   We are all united.  And we are all made stronger in the face of adversity.

I’ve got a busy week ahead of me.   The Battlestar Pegasus kits are here and we are busy packing and shipping.   Given the volume of orders, it will likely be Monday before everything is shipped.   We’re working hard to get everything out as quickly as we can!

I spent the last week in Los Angeles, attending Monsterpalooza, meeting up with friends, and visiting quite a few interesting places.   I’ll be posting a bunch of photos once I get caught up with orders.   My thanks go out to Tony Hardy for dragging me to all the great geek places.   It was a blast seeing Bob and Kathy Burns as always.   Bob loves toys and I’ll be posting a really cool project that we hope to debut at Wonderfest.   Terry Webb brought the Amazing Model contest to Monsterpalooza and there were some really wonderful models on display.   Larry Thompson showed me the first production kits of the Nautilus and Tarzan models that will be here soon.  And never enough time to spend with friends – Mark and Shanna, Mike and Elise, Joel, Lars, Kirk and Laura, Gene, Pat, and meeting many others.  Can’t wait for next year!

Wonderfest is only a month away.   So much to do before the show…

Back to packing orders.

Steve

Just thought you would like to see the finished product of the Revell 1/32 scale kit with the New Ware photo etched and resin astronauts I purchased from CultTVman.

Steve Carricato

The kit is a straightforward build and I left the roof section unglued so one could view the interior detailing. After doing research on the Internet to find the appropriate interior colors, I discovered that no one was really sure what the true colors were. Some felt it was bluish others a light green color. I chose the latter. The colors used here were:

• Interior Walls – Testors Helgrun (mixed with white)
• Interior Floor and Side Panels – Testors Dark Tan
• Supply Boxes – Light Ghost Gray and Flat Black
• Exterior – Flat White
• Exhaust Ports, Antenna – Testors Silver
• Landing Gear – Testors Metalizer Aluminum

It makes a great replica of the ship and is nicely sized. Again I applaud Moebius for releasing these unique kits and giving us old modelers a chance to relive our childhoods by building them.

Orlando Guiang

My Polar Lights new Captain America appropriately completed on July 4th.

Bob Koenn

Here’s another photo from Moebius.  This is the Cylon Raider mock up, along with a Viper test shot.  These are both 1:32 scale kits.

Moebius posted this first look at the upcoming 1:32 scale classic Cylon Raider!

CultTVman presents this very EXCLUSIVE LIMITED EDITION Forgotten Prisoner GLOW kit from Moebius Models.   This kit will be available at Wonderfest in May 2013 and we will be selling our remaining kits after the show.     This is a special limited edition package.  The kit comes in a replica of the original Aurora box, complete with the original Aurora logo.  The box is sealed in a folded cellophane wrap, just like the original Aurora kits.   And to further enhance and protect your kit, this comes in special commemorative sleeve.   Only 240 of these special editions were produced and they are available exclusively through CultTVman’s Hobbyshop.  This is a great companion to the limited edition Jekyll kit.  We are taking preorders at this time.   Delivery in late May.

• ALL GLOW Forgotten Prisoner reissue CultTVman Wonderfest EXCLUSIVE from Moebius/Aurora PREORDER RESERVATION

I said I wasn’t going to stock them, but I broke down and got a few of the Revell Germany classic Star Trek kits.  Plus plenty of other imports from all over!

New imports in the shop:

• Classic Enterprise 1:600 from Revell Germany
• Classic Klingon Battle Cruiser 1:600 from Revell Germany
• USS Voyager reissue from Revell Germany
• Doctor Who – Welcome Aboard from Airfix
• Battlestar Galactica from Revell Germany
• Battlestar Galactcia Viper Mark II from Revell Germany
• Battlestar Galactica Viper Mk VII from Revell-Germany

• Thunderbirds Fireflash reissue 1:350 scale from Aoshima
• Interceptor by Finisher’s & Auto Modeli G.T
• Spinner Car prepainted kit from Fujimi

New SF3D Maschinen Krieger

• P.H.J. 101 Grosser Hund 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Hasegawa
• Ma.K Figures 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Hasegawa
• Female Mechanic #2 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works

SF3D Maschinen Krieger restocks

• Strahl Female Army Officer 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Mercenary Female Mechanic 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Mercenary Woman Pilot – Inner Suit 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Female Pilot at rest 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Mercenary Space Pilot – Inner Suit 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works

New Yamato kits in the shop

• Yamato EX-33 Black Tiger 1:100 from Bandai
• Yamato EX-36 Cosmo Tiger II 1:100 from Bandai
• Yamato CosmoTiger II from Bandai
• Yamato Admiral Gorland’s White Comet Empire Missile Ship from Bandai
• Yamato Earth Defense Forces Main Battleship from Bandai
• Yamato Dessler’s New Gamiras Flagship from Bandai
• Yamato Gamiras Battle Carrier from Bandai

Yamato restocks from Japan

• Space Battleship Yamato 1:500 scale from Bandai
• Yamato – The Desler Ship 1:900 from Bandai
• Yamato Emperor Zordar’s Super Dreadnaught from Bandai
• Yamato Gamira’s Combat Ship from Bandai
• Yamato Dessler’s Battle Carrier from Bandai
• Yamato Mechanical Cutaway model 1:700 from Bandai
• Yamato Andromeda 1:700 scale from Bandai

Fine Molds Star Wars restocks

• Naboo Starfighter 1:72 scale from Fine Molds
• TIE Fighter 1:48 scale from Fine Molds
• Millennium Falcon 1:144 scale from Fine Molds
• TIE Interceptor 1:72 scale from Fine Molds
• X-Wing – 1:48 scale from Fine Molds
• TIE Fighter 1:72 scale from Fine Molds

Other Imported Restocks

• Next Generation Asteroid Probe from Aoshima
• Thunderbirds 1 reissue 1:144 scale from Aoshima
• Airwolf 1:48 with Clear Body from Aoshima
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Moeve Flying 1:20 from Bandai
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Gunship 1:72 from Bandai
• Batman – The Dark Knight Rises 1:9 from Dragon
• Bane – The Dark Knight Rises 1:9 from Dragon
• Deckard’s Sedan from Fujimi
• Police Car 27 from Fujimi

Some New items:

• Evil Shark Conversion from BHp
• Forgotten Prisoner base from Night Owl
• Sci-Fi Scenes Alien Ape Conversion and base Set
• Robot Monster Monsters of the Movies BASIC Set
• Sci-Fi Scenes Robot Monster BASIC Conversion Set
• Monster Kid Memories by Bob Burns and Tom Weaver Revised Edition
• Skyfall Augusta Westland AW101 1:72 Helecopter from Italeri
• Boot Hill Express reissue from Revell-Monogram
• Amazing Figure Modeler #54 – ALL GIRL ISSUE!

Light kits

• Addams House Light Kit from VoodooFX
• Large Spaceship Light kit from /Paragrafix
• Classic Spaceship Electronics kit from TenaControl
• EasyLED – Solderless Connectors 30-pack from Paragrafix

Vintage kits – some are discounted

• The Batboat from Polar Lights
• Lost In Space Cyclops from Polar Lights
• The Mummy reissue from Polar Lights/Aurora
• Godzilla’s Go Cart!! from Polar Lights
• Aurora’s Voyager reissued by Moebius Models
• Monster Customizing Kit: Vulture & Mad Dog from Polar Lights
• Dracula’s Dragster from Polar Lights
• Nosferatu Frightning Lighting Glow Edition from Monarch Models

Some more restocks

• Mel’s Drive-In from Moebius Models
• Gemini 1:24 interior detail set from LVM Studios
• Voyager 1:48 boom photoetch from LVM Studios
• LC-14 LUT (Launch Umbilical Tower) 1:110 scale from LVM Studios
• Kogar’s Cage – Cult’s Creepy Castle Kits
• Haunted House detail set from Paragrafix/BHP

Restocks from Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller:

• Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller vol. 28
• Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller vol. 19
• Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller vol. 18
• 21st Century Modeller issue #2
  
• Modelling the 21st Century vol. 3
• Modelling the 21st Century vol. 2
• Modelling the 21st Century
• Real Space Modeller vol. 1

We are expecting the Battlestar Pegasus in mid April, just after Monsterpalooza.   Tarzan and the Nautilus from Pegasus Hobbies sound like they could be here in May.    The first Galactica display models from Moebius should also be here in May.

This is a build up of a long out of Production vinyl figure model kit. This is the Screamin 1/4 scale Frankenstein figure kit. The figure is designed from the Robert DeNiro portrayal of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. It is pretty big and stands about fifteen inches tall.

Now, this was one of the toughest build ups I have done in a while. A large gap on the back took some effort to enclose in order to give the figure a balanced look. Another concern was having to pour the plaster in each leg before gluing the two pieces together to form the lower half of this figure. Long story short, the way the dramatic pose is designed, it only allowed a very tiny gap on the right leg to enable you to actually pour plaster in if you were to glue the pieces together first.

Once the body was painted and both the washes and dry brush were done, I started to add actual stitches to both the upper arm and leg. Now, the kit has holes marked, but I actually took the smallest drill I had and put actual holes in the vinyl. I then took the black thread and carefully put stitching in.

Finally, I bought a simple wood base at the Hobby store and then took my drill out again and did a slight indentation in the wood. This left the pattern you see in the photo of what appears to be a rock base. I then took a “wash” of Grey acrylic to the top of the wood base. This was repeated because the wood tends to soak the color up. After this dried. I took a darker Grey wash through the indentation pattern.

Overall, a really cool looking figure kit.

Dennis Hogan

The light kit is available through the CultTVman Hobbyshop, or contact VoodooFX

This group of photo’s is of a corgi 267 1st issue 1966 Batmobile which I restored to look like the TV series car.

This model was stripped of its old paint, and repainted in gloss black with red striping. New batman and robin figures were added these were produced  a long time ago, and were painted in the appropriate colors. The car was reassembled with new parts and custom chrome rims with metal bat-spinners.

These cars are always fun to restore and I have been doing this now since 2004.

Shawn MacLeod

This is the Revell Germany Enterprise. I’ve read many things about how inaccurate it is, but I think if you take the time to sand out the nasty gridlines, it’s quite nice. Aside from the aforementioned sanding, the only other fix was that I used the after market intercoolers for the cutaway enterprise from DLM.

Gregg Stickney

This is a cool little kit that I remember as a kid in the early 70’s. But I could never have built it this good back then. As with most old kits it took some serious sanding to remove the seam lines.

After I removed the seam lines I primed it with a gray automotive primer. I used Valspar Satin Everglade Glen as my basecoat. Once this dried I placed the decals on the model.

I then coated the model with Testors dull cote to help the weathering adhere to it. I then ground some compressed charcoal sticks and brushed it in places where I wanted the model weathered and battle damaged. (I also went around most of the battle damage decals with the charcoal to exaggerate the battle damage)

Once it was dry I coated the model with Krylon Glowz. This can be found in Wal Marts spray paint aisle. This will make the model glow in the dark very well. But a word of caution, only mist it on the model lightly. If you put it on to heavy it will crack. It will crack your decals also. So use it very lightly. The directions on the can also state that adding more paint does NOT increase the glowing effect.

Once the Glowz dried good I put a cote of Testors Gloss Cote over the model. I wanted it to look ghostly lit so I thought that having it glossy would achieve that effect better than it being dull. (Glowz dries flat)

Anyway I had fun with this kit and thought these tips would help anyone that wants to actually paint the model but still have it glow in the dark.

Jonathan Reich

This is Robby the Robot. I painted him gun metal grey and clear blue on the front panel. As for the base I wanted it to look like the dry planet in the movie so i used light and dark matte browns.

Carl Hancock

This is a detail set for the landing bay interior

This is the exterior detail set

And these are registry decals to go with the exterior detail set.

You’ll find these listed in the CultTVman Hobbyshop.   Be sure to add yourself to the waiting list!   These should be in stock in April

Here is the Mysterion I made with the base I designed.

And here is how it looks lighted up!!  The lights include 2 headlights, interior lights (blue), red taillights, and each engine has a flashing LED with fiber optic spark plug wires!  All from a 9Volt battery hidden on the back of the house. Just tilt the tree on the right to switch it on! (in the spirit of Roth cleverness!!)

On the real car, there are these really rare, original 1960′s “clear” spark plug wires on this car, and of course, I saw “fiber optic” in my mind…and so, had to do it.    I buried a flashing yellow LED into the engine.  A pre-cut a group of eight pieces of fiber optics which were stuffed into a small piece of plastrict tubing.  It was then super glued in place to the front of the block where the distributor went.   It took a whole evening to thread those fiber optic wires from the grouped part to the sides of the blocks.

Paul Newitt

You know, with the new Avengers movie out, I was kind of happy to come across this figure model kit from Horizon. This is Thor. One of Horizon’s harder to come bye and out of production vinyl figure model kits.

Now, because the figure comes with a rock or small Mountain for him to rest his foot on, I decided to put an entire display base together with this one. I will also point out that the cape that comes with this version of The Mighty Thor is a “vacuform” clear plastic. I simply spray painted this red and attached it to his shoulders. I believe this to be a very detailed kit. However, the cape really appears to take a little away from this figure.

Everything was painted with acrylic with brush in hand. I finished off by using a semi-gloss clear spray because I wanted his skin to have that glistening God like look.

Dennis Hogan

Round 2 sent out a press release today announcing they have acquired Lindberg/Hawk from J. Lloyd.    In the statement released today, Tom Lowe, the owner of Round 2 said, “The addition of Lindberg and Hawk results in a combined product catalog for Round 2 that is so diverse, it will include virtually every type of model kit genre imaginable and in a wide range of scales. Whether you’re looking for cars, trucks, aircraft, ships, sci-fi, space exploration, anatomy and figures or even crazy monsters, we now have it all! We’ve made plans to hit the ground running with these brands and are ready to go. As we progress into the future, we will be working with the vintage Hawk and Lindberg tooling to resurrect more exciting kits that haven’t seen the light of day in decades, just like we have with AMT and MPC.”

It is not clear if this purchase includes the Weird-Oh’s line or not.   Currently the Hawk line includes Werid-ohs, Silly Surfers, and Frantics figures.  Other Lindberg kits include a line of dinosaurs, some of which were originally produced as Jurassic Park kits.   Lindberg also offers a kits of pirate ships, aliens, and a space shuttle.

Lindberg has been the subject of much speculation over the last couple years.   Ernie Petit, Lindberg’s president,  left the company in 2010 and there had been rumors that the company was for sale or closing at the time.  Those rumors were denied by Lindberg’s management.   Lindberg made an appearance at iHobby Expo in 2011, promoting “new” Weird-Ohs kits, which were repackaging of the old Ripley’s and Rube Goldberg kits.  These were eventually released in mid 2012.

It will be interesting to see if any genre kits are reissued.

New in the shop:

• P.H.J. 101 Grosser Hund 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Hasegawa
• Ma.K Figures 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Hasegawa
• Female Mechanic #2 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works

Restocks include

• Strahl Female Army Officer 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Mercenary Female Mechanic 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Mercenary Woman Pilot – Inner Suit 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Female Pilot at rest 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Mercenary Space Pilot – Inner Suit 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works

Other SF3D kits

• SAFS Pilot “I came back” 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Brick Works
• Maschinen Krieger SAFS Space Typle Fireball (SF3D) from Wave
• Hummel Aufklarungs Panzer Kampf Flugzeug 50 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Wave
• P.K.A. Ausf. G Gustave 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Wave
• Falke Antigravity Armored Raider 1:20 Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) from Hasegawa

The runabout was built due to a friend challenging him to another build-off as they tend to do from time to time. The black light shots are to show that, although he’s never done an official lighting kit, he has done a “poor man’s light kit” with fluorescent paint on many of his works. This one has the most concise, not over done, black light paint I’ve seen from him. That build only took one week to finish.

Adrianne and Odie Smedley

Over 1.150 individual decals, that’s how many are on this model. I purchased this kit and the decal sheet over 2 years ago. When I first received the Paragrafix Photoetch and Decal set I was so excited to get started but was soon overwhelmed by the amount of time it was going to take. Each individual decal has to be trimmed and applied. After several attempts at getting started I shelved the model and thus it sat there ever since. A little over a month ago, I was in my garage and came across the kit. After looking it over again, I decided I would make a concerted effort to finish the thing. So I began with applying 10 – 15 decals a day. Luckily a good portion of the mid section was already completed. I kept to thangis schedule for a while but the more I saw light at the end of the tunnel, the more determined I became to finally finish it and stepped up the pace.

So here is my Moebius Galactica in all it’s glory.

Painting

There wasn’t much to painting this kit. I simply used Testors Metalizer Steel as the base coat. Painting the central rear engine section was a little bit more involved. I found Liquid latex helpful with keeping the exhaust ports clear.

Decal Application

The decals were applied to each section separately starting with the mid section, the forward section, the pods and finally the engines. I brushed on Micro Set before and after laying them down. Then used Micro Sol solution on each decal to help them stay in place. A sealer was then applied as each section of the ship was completed.

Other details.

Further details were added with the use of the Photoetch set available here at CultTVman. This metal detailing set includes the interior flight deck girders, the museum windows for the starboard pod, laser turrets and the nameplates. The girders look great but unfortunately you can’t really see them unless the model is lit which mine is not. The museum windows, however, add a very nice touch. When the model was assembled, I applied a dark wash along most of the raised areas such as the detailing near the engines, support pylons and so forth. I purchased an already made Black Shade wash by Acrylicos Vallejo that I found at my hobby shop and this worked quite well. A final sealer coat was applied afterwards.

I have to say that although application of the decals was tedious and time consuming it wasn’t impossible to do. You just need to keep at it. In the end I think they add such a high level of detail that it far exceeds what you can obtain by simply painting the ship, although I wouldn’t blame anyone for taking the less complicated route. Overall I’m very happy with the way it turned out but I can safely say I won’t be attempting this type of project again anytime soon.

Orlando Guiang

This is a Polar lights Batmobile representing the comic book Batmobile of the 60′s. I absolutely love this model due to the amount of detail. It is a nice model to build and results in a very nice model. I have built many of these models and still say this is the nicest Batmobile out there! I painted this model in sapphire blue metallic paint and added custom decals to the car as well as the tires. The figures I placed in this model are not the ones that came with it, I decided to use the figures included with the polar lights 1966 batmobile since they had that comic book/cartoon look to them and were already prepainted.

Shawn MacLeod

I’m currently working on the Dragon Avengers kits I ordered from you – This is the Hulk – Great likeness to the Mark Ruffalo version – I painted the vinyl kit (5 body pieces in all) with Vallejo paints and used washes mixed with Winton oil paints. No issues with parts fit – The finished kit can mounted to the base that comes with it and uses the small self tapping screw supplied.

Dale Stringer

Here I have some photos for you of my interpretation of the trimaxian droneship from Phaelon!

Gerhard Veitsberger

Moebius has released this specially packaged Limited Edition Dr. Jekyll kit to celebrate their 5th anniversary.   This kit is packaged just like the original Aurora kit, complete with the Aurora logo and no UPC symbol.   The model is wrapped in folded cellophane, just like the original Aurora kit.   And it comes in a special commemorative cardboard sleeve to protect your kit.   Only 240 of these special kits were produced and it is exclusively available from CultTVman’s Hobbyshop.

It was nice to see a lot of good friends:  Frank and Joanne Winspur from Moebius, Paul Cotcher, John Struck, Ed Sveum, Bobby Hunter, Vince Mokrey, and many others.  The day flew by.

The Moebius Dr. Jekyll uses the Nightowl resin set.

Bob Koenn

Iron man was painted with matte black paint then wiped off with a cloth.  The reason I did this was because I did not want him to look new and shiny, but more battle scared.

Carl Hancock

If you are looking for the Kogar model kit, you’ll find it in CultTVman’s Hobbyshop and thanks for visiting our site!

Here is a great build up of Kogar and Kogar’s Cage by Mark Warthling.  Both kits are available in the CultTVman Hobbyshop

This model kit is the Federation Models 1/72 scale “Discovery One” model kit, which measures a whopping 57 inches in length when assembled.

I scratch-built a Bridge/Circuit Breaker Room, complete with Bridge seating and 1/72 scale figures of Poole and Bowman, and installed it behind the Command Module window, which I glazed with clear styrene. This assembly is lit by a bank of White LEDs powered by two 9V batteries, with the slide power switch for the LEDs located on the bottom of the Command Module.

I found construction of the Fuel Pod Clusters very difficult even with the use of the kit-supplied alignment jig, as many Pods ended up at odd angles to each other as they lined up along the length of the styrene tube/quarter-inch steel rod core of the Fuel Pod Boom section. This caused me to remove many pods from their brackets and re-align them along the length of the Boom section. Taking a cue from a paper-back photo-survey of filming miniatures from “2010″ (available at this website’s Hobbyshop) I detailed the recesses of the Pod Clusters with straight and bent lengths of styrene rod of various diameters because I felt these areas needed additional detail.

More details were added to the front of the Reactor Housing and bent lengths of styrene rod were fitted in the back of the Housing to replicate piping on the original filming miniature. Three tiny decals were placed on the top and the starboard side of the Reactor Housing to dress it up. The model-from the front of the Fuel Pod Boom section on back-was first spray-painted Flat White, after which various shades of gray were brush painted on select details, after which the assembly was further oversprayed lightly in Flat White and then drybrushed in White acrylic. The result is the bulk of the model painted Flat White with various details picked out in subtle shades of Gray.

The Command Module, it’s aft “Collar” and Escape Rocket Housing was first spray-painted Flat White, after which various shades of Gray were sprayed on in both vertical and horizontal bands on the surface of this assembly with the help of masking. The entire unit was then lightly oversprayed in Flat White, after which the Module’s window “ledge” was masked off and sprayed Flat Black. Pastel weathering of the Pod Bay Doors and the Rear Exhaust Ports and surrounding areas was then applied and sealed in Dullcote.

The Command Module “meatball” was first photo-copied from Shane Johnson’s “Discovery” plans, then the copy was colored and scanned into a computer printer system, which printed out the resulting reduced copy which was cut out and glued onto the model. The two Monolith bases were drilled out from the bottom, and brass rods cut to length were glued and inserted into resulting holes for reinforcement. The Lunar Groundwork foundations for the stands were “bulked-up” from below and fitted with aluminum picture frame sections acquired from an art supply mail-order firm. The bottoms of the assembled base units were then covered with self-adhesive “Kelly Green” craft felt.

Steven Vasko

My husband, Odie Smedley,  he saw a tan droid tank being featured on your site. He said the first thought that came to his mind was “I would love to challenge that.”

Back in 2004 when Katrina hit, the only model shop in the area was submerged in flood water. Even though we live in WNC, the rains were rough, keeping people from leaving their houses if they lived up high, and taking away many other people’s homes, schools, work, I think even one whole town got lost because of the flooding. So when Odie was finally able to get back to the shop, so were the employees and owner. Inside a plastic bag covered with mud was this one kit. It had no box, no instructions, no decals because of the water. They gave it to him with the challenge to make it into something nice without the decals.

He had no internet access to look up the instructions and just went at it by feel. I believe one close-up shows the rose he worked into the dark stripes. That was dedicated to a dear friend, and the smiley face on the back was just out of play. You can also see the set of antennas he made out of old parts trees (these two not as good as if he’d actually tried). When he brought it back to the shop it stayed on display for a couple weeks and lost the original antennas because of kids checking it out, so he’s had to make new ones because of that, friends, and myself accidentally snapping them off.

Because he didn’t like the tan, he decided to try his hand at something a bit different. Then he got to wondering what was the most feared tank of WWII? He calls it the Arctic Kitten because it reminded him of the real Tiger 2 tank from WWII that was also called the Snow Tiger at the battle of Kirsk. It’s one of his favorite rescues.

Adrianne and Odie Smedley

This is my version of The Rancor Monster out of Return of the Jedi, an AMT/ERTL kit which is a rare model to get nowadays. I decided to go with the colour scheme that was suggested on the box, with a hint of Tribal Look, rather than the “brown-ish” movie version . To reinforce this look I gave it a “souvenir ” necklace and bone piercing through the ear rather than the earring  as originally moulded on the figure.  I hand-made the chain on it’s wrist irons out of an old wire coat hanger and used parts of a Dinosaur skeleton as “scattered remains” with polystyrene lumps to form the rocks. A generous amount of gravel (un-painted) was scattered to give it a more natural finish on the base.  I used something like 9 different shades of green (Tamiya/ Games Workshop paints) – all dry brushed – to give Mr Rancor his look, as i don’t own an airbrush. I also filled his body and limbs with air-drying potters clay embedded with metal armatures to give overall strength to the model.

I hope the Star Wars fans will still like my version of the Rancor: a little different from the norm but still a great looking diorama.

Colin Mcfadyen

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• Dragonslayer Vermithrax DISPLAY MODEL from Pegasus Hobbies – PREORDER RESERVATION
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Preorder in the CultTVman Hobbyshop

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• Mel’s Drive-In from Moebius Models- PREORDER RESERVATION

I corrected each and every one of the Ertl flaws to the best of my ability and with the help of Don Matthys, Mike Walker and JT Graphics and their excellent selection of aftermarket parts, photo etch aztec templates and decals. I spent a lot of time reviewing Chris Paveglio’s article and endless hours examining the excellent studio model photos taken by Mark Dickson as well as the ones from the Smithsonian exhibit on your site.

But most of all, I’d like to say a “thanks” to the very talented modelers that have contributed to your photo collection. I have regularly referred to all of their work at one time or another for some tidbit of insight into making the best Enterprise possible and have even contacted some of them for help. Each modeler was enthusiastic and more than willing to lend a hand.

My main goal was to portray the original re-fit Enterprise and to do so in a manner like the hand carved mahogany aircraft models that are available and that an exec. might have sitting on his desk. I’m a modeler Jim, not an electrician, so no lights, wires or batteries of any kind in this one.

Some of the specific details include:

1. A complete and thorough removal of all of the incorrect hull pattern. I used no fillers, the hull was sanded completely smooth before the first drop of glue went down.

2. The addition of Don Matthys parts and some of my own including new “baffles” on the top of the warp engine intakes and the third or uppermost “step” in the three on top of each warp engine. This third “step” was almost completely nonexistent in the molded parts.

3. I lengthened the warp engines about 1/16″ just aft of the third and largest “step” which meant lengthening the intercooler housing about a 1/16″ also. I added some fine HO scale siding to the upper and lower surfaces to recreate the fine lines that appear here on the studio model. This now meant that the flux chillers were too short so I hollowed out the opening a bit further aft and when I inserted Don Matthys parts in this area, I scooted them back a bit and blent them in with some of the original molded in detail that I left at the forward most section. They blent together perfectly.

4. I completely rebuilt the impulse engine cooling vents using the same HO siding as I used on the intercooler housings for the fine detail here as well. I had the forward end of these vents all lined up with the correct deflector line on the primary hull but when I went to assemble the primary hull to the interconnecting dorsal, I had to shim it up a bit so it wouldn’t look like it sagged forward. This threw off the alignment of the impulse engine cooling vents a bit, oh well.

5. I widened the interconnecting dorsal with some shim stock, filled the slot at the top with some very heavy shim, and added eight small details I noticed on either side of the “spine” running down the top of the secondary hull (four on each side, evenly spaced).

6. The upper section of the impulse engine has been completely rebuilt. I used Don Matthys impulse “crystal” and found a 1/18th scale car wire wheel set which I used for the fine lines around the “crystal”. I sanded one of the wire wheels down until it was paper thin, heated it very slightly and then super glued it into position while it was still pliable.

When the glue was dry, I cut out the wheel hub which left a hole just the right size for the “crystal” to snug down into. I left the “crystal” out until final assembly. The edge of the thinned wheel left just enough of a rise around the area to make it stand out from the deck. Note: Warm plastic and super glue fumes are not a pleasant combination!

7. I reshaped all of the incorrect angles and corners on the B/C deck area as best I could without sanding through the plastic. I think at a minimum, the hard “tear drop” shaped edge around the top of the B/C deck should be rounded off as it appears on the studio model. I also added two very small model railroad engine washers just behind the bridge dome and filled the holes with pin heads to make the bridge elevators.

8. The warp pylons are epoxied and shimmed in tight to the secondary hull and then I filled the base area with putty and reshaped it to what I believe to be the correct contours. I also redid the fore and aft flush vents. I hollowed out the existing recesses and then cut and shaped some “T” shaped stock to the length and shape the vents should be. I inserted the tail of the “T” into the recess just deep enough so the top was flush with the edge of the pylon and glued it in place. This left a nice crisp edge around the vent area and gave me something to work up to when I painted it

9. ALL of the panel lines have been re-scribed to their proper positions and all of the missing lines and panels were added as well per Chris Paveglio’s instructions. There was a lot of debate amongst some of the other modelers as to whether or not these lines should be scribed at all but it fit into my scheme of things so I re-scribed them anyway.

10. I think the construction feature I’m most happy with is the landing bay area. In my humble opinion, Ertl did the worst job recreating this part of the model. My answer was to saw off the entire rear end and hand build it over again. I carved out the new shaped area and puttied it into place. I then reshaped to model hanger bay doors to fit the new deck and bulk head shape and size and glued it in place. I also rebuilt the position light and spot light housing under the fantail.

11. I completed the construction up to three major components: a) The primary hull, b) the secondary hull, interconnecting dorsal and warp pylons and c) the warp engines. I made sure that each component fit tight where it mated with another so that no gaps were visible, then I started painting.

12. I masked off any detail I didn’t want painted and them primed all of the major components and smoothed and/or filled any flaws.

13. I mixed two shades of Engineering Green (white with a few drops of green until it was a color I liked), painted the darker shade where appropriate and when dry, I carefully cut and placed various sizes and shapes of drafting tape as close the the pattern shown in the studio model as I could. I then painted the lighter color and when dry, masked it off.

14. My next step was the silver and gray areas around to main deflector. I didn’t see any of the other modelers paint the underside panels fore and aft of the phasers to match the deflector area but it sure looks like it should be to me on all of the studio model photos so I did. Maybe this was an Enterprise A feature, since that was the only reference I had, and didn’t appear on the original? Anyway, same routine here but with two shades of gray and then some silver. A final mask and I started painting the hull pattern.

15. I mixed a full bottle of white Testors Model Master paint with about 10 drops of silver and painted all of the hull area and let it dry. For the engines and the secondary hull, I then cut and placed random pieces of drafting tape to cover about 1/3 of the surface. For the primary hull, I took the narrowest drafting tape available and laid it out in even radial and circular patterns to create a grid pattern between the scribed deflector shield lines. I then took liquid mask and randomly filled in various areas of the grid pattern.

16. I mixed another bottle of white with 5 drops of silver and painted over the previous coat and the masked areas. When this was dry, I cut and placed another round of drafting tape pieces over another 1/3 of the hull surfaces on the engines and the secondary hull, but removed all of the masking from the primary hull.

17. The third coat was straight white. I painted over the secondary hull and warp engines as they were and let them dry, but the third coat on the primary hull was shot using the Walker Enterprises templates for the aztec pattern. When I was studying the primary hull, it looked to me like there was a pattern going on under the aztec pattern. When the templates where removed after spraying, the previous two coats shown through and accomplished this effect.

18. All of the masking was then removed and the model was carefully wet sanded to eliminate any edges in the paint and then I finished any small detail painting.

19. The major components were then assembled. The warp engines were fit to the pylons and the primary hull was epoxied to the interconnecting dorsal. I drilled a hole in the top of thick shim on the top of the interconnection dorsal and threaded it. I then epoxied the primary hull and as the epoxy dried, I positioned a large flat washer over the threaded hole in the dorsal and inserted a screw. By adjusting the washer back from side to side and tightening the screw, I was able to ensure that the primary hull was perfectly level side to side.

21. I accomplished two steps in one next. I mixed a full bottle of Testors Model Master Clear with just TWO drops of Testors Pearlescent Clear Colors by Boyd for cars. This gave me the pearlescent finish of the original Enterprise and a smooth surface for the decals. Caution: Too much pearlescent clear and you get a yellow model!

22. The decals were applied with no problems at all. The only decals lacking from the JT Graphics set are the red stripes around the B/C deck area, the correct gangway hatch for the port side of the primary hull and the windows for the officers observation lounge. Don Matthys provided the stripes and I used all of his striping so it was consistent. For some reason, I had a set of JT Graphics decals from another model that had the proper gangway type hatch with a vertical opening rather than horizontal but it had windows on it.

I carefully removed the windows and had the proper hatch ready to go. The officers lounge windows are modified arboretum windows. Since I used the detailed arboretum windows and since you never really see the officers lounge windows brightly illuminated in the movies, I used the black arboretum windows but cut them down the middle prior to application. Once wet and in position on the model, I slid the tops of the decals together slightly to create the required taper.

23. The entire model was then mounted on a stand. The stand is a modification of the kit stand with a brass rod that goes into the secondary hull and all the way to the top of the interconnecting dorsal.

24. The entire assembly was then dull coated and the rest is history!

All that and I’m still married! One last thanks goes to my wife and boys for putting up with me through all of this. I hope everyone enjoys my efforts as much as I do

Douglas Cowles

Here you see the mock up of the upcoming Batman figure kits.   The figures were cutouts, as no sculpts have been completed yet.   The six individual figures are standing on rock bases that can be assembled into a bat design diorama.   Moebius has indicated they would like to add Batgirl to this as well, if the license will allow.

Moebius also had a build up of the Tumbler at Toy Fair.   Look for this kit in late spring or early summer.  Finally!

Here is a look at the preassembled Munsters House.

Previously announced:

• Classic 1966 Batman figure kits
• Man of Steel figure kit
• 1313 Mockingbird Lane (Munsters House) prefinished model
• Mel’s Drive In prefinished model
• Bride of Frankenstein resin statue – based on the kit with new base, heads, minor changes
• Creature from the Black Lagoon resin statue – based on the kit, new base.

Here’s a look at the promo postcards that Moebius Models had prepared for Toy Fair.   Two cards were being distributed, one promoting the new Classic Batman line of kits, and the other promoting the Superman Man of Steel kit that has been announced.   The models are still in the early stages of development, so no photos of the actual figures are available at this time.

At this time, the plan for the Batman kits will include figures of Batman, Robin, Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and Riddler.   The six figures will be approximately 1:10 scale and stand about 8 to 10 inches.   The figures will have unique bases that when assembled together create a unique diorama with the figures standing on a rocky, bat shaped base.

I’ve linked some pictures from House of Dracula Monster Model Museum on the CultTVman Hobbyshop Facebook page.   When I get photos for the site I will post them.

Here’s a new light kit that I’ve had in the works for a while.   The Super Spaceship Light Kit is made up of three separate lighting components  offering a solid state alternative for lighting your classic starship.

You get the following units:

Starship Window Light Set from Paragrafix – light the interior of your starship using Paragrafix’ EasyLED strips.   This includes enough EasyLEDs for the interior of your model as well as red impulse engines.   Wiring, switch and 9 volt battery clip included.  Templates are also included to build interior “light boxes” to minimize light bleed through.

Large Spinning Discs from Tenacontrols -  This duel disc circuit is preassembled and ready to install.   Discs simulate the rotation of fanblades in your engines.   Each disc has over 20 LEDs!  Also includes 9 volt battery clip and momentary switch.

Running Lights/Strobe Unit from Tenacontrols – preassembled circuit controls running lights (LEDs) for the primary hull, strobes for the secondary hull and includes two LEDs for lighting the shuttle bay.

The circuit boards are all preassembled, and the LEDs are wired.   You will still need to do some soldering, so some experience with assembling electronics is recommended.      You can minimize the amount of soldering by using the EasyLED connectors from Paragrafix.  These will need to be purchased separately.

You can order this light kit in the CultTVman Hobbyshop

So here’s the big surprise.  It’s not a tin!   The set is packaged in a really neat cardboard box.  The cover uses photos of Barnabas and the Werewolf from the show.   There is a plastic wrap around band at the bottom end of the box that is made of glow plastic, so you could say the packaging actually glows in the dark.

Now just to verify I was not totally nuts, I went back to the Round 2 website and the kit was still listed there as coming in a Collector’s Tin.    I sent a note to my contacts at Round 2 to let them know that something was mixed up somewhere.   I was told that the project was originally planned as a tin, but that design changed early in the development stage.   Round 2 has now updated their website with more accurate information.

The kits are molded completely in glow plastic, so if you are into “glow in the dark” monster models, this is the set for you.   The model also comes with the black soft vinyl arms which were designed to be bendable so you could pose the figure.  These never really worked with the original kit in the sixties and are just as disposable today.

Of course the other great thing about this kit is that it comes with alternative resin heads.  These are the same resin heads produced by Cult of Personality and sculpted by Ray Santoleri.   The castings are excellent, making this a very good set to purchase.   The heads are cast in white which is why they are a bit washed out in the photo.  The detail is just as sharp as the heads from Cult of Personality and they are much better than the original heads that also come with the kit.

Given that the packaging has changed from the tin, we will be selling these in the Cult Shop as soon as we can get them in stock.

• Classic 1966 Batman figure kits
• Man of Steel figure kit
• 1313 Mockingbird Lane (Munsters House) prefinished model
• Mel’s Drive In prefinished model
• Bride of Frankenstein resin statue – based on the kit with new base, heads, minor changes
• Creature from the Black Lagoon resin statue – based on the kit, new base.

More details as I have them….

I’ve built the Nemesis Version 1/1400 Enterprise E from AMT with the conversion parts from Starcrafts.  Originally I wanted to build a custom Mirror Universe version of the Enterprise E. I already had designed the mirror decals whose design fitted those included with Starcrafts ISS Titan. But when I tried to apply them I recognized that they didn’t came out how I wanted them to. So I decided to stick the original version of the ship. For this mirror ship wanted the additional weapons of the E’s Nemesis version. To make this possible I had to use the conversion parts from Starcrafts and the Aztec decal sheet from Acreation Models. Building it was way more work than I expected because the conversion part which belongs to the main shuttle bay doesn’t fit the AMT model very good. But with some work, patience and advice from my good friend Paul King of DefiantModelCreations I managed to build this ship pretty well I think. Enjoy!

Oliver Lorenz

I had built the original Aurora Batmobile back in the day as well as a year ago so I really was looking forward to their new deluxe 1/25th scale kit. I got it as a Christmas present and started on it that day. I went for the internal combustion engine and the kit actually has a number of different parts depending on whether you build the IC or turbine engine. Assembly was clean but involved somewhat. The engine was very detailed and took some time and fine work to build and paint. The frame and suspension detail was also significant but all those details make it a better and more accurate kit. I did the body with Testors gloss black from the spray can and buffed it out somewhat with toothpaste. The interior detailing was quite good and took some extra effort, mostly by hand, to paint and assemble. The deluxe kit includes many silver metal photoetched parts but I used only about half of them. I used the grills in the front and rear and some the Bat radar. I thought some of the other parts really wouldn’t integrate too well so left them off. I also stripped all the plastic chrome parts and airbrushed them with Alclad chrome which gives a much more realistic finish. Finally, I did the window frame trim with Bare Metal Foil chrome which worked very well. It ended up a great kit and brings back fond memories of a very cool car from a corny but fun TV show of my youth.

Bob Koenn

I built the AMT electronic X-Wing and I made some extra modifications: new base, new cockpit frame and styrene for little panels and I painted this kit Floquil enamels. This model won two Turkish Plastic Model Shows — Best Sci-Fi and Best of Show awards.

Kagan Atsuren

Here are some new pics of my scratchbuilt models. This is a scratchbuilt Super Star Destroyer Executor, with fiber optic portholes and illuminated turbine exhausts.

José Carlos Neves

New Preorder items

• The Nautilus from Pegasus Hobbies – PREORDER RESERVATION
• The Great White Shark from Pegasus Hobbies – PREORDER RESERVATION
• Tarzan from Pegasus Hobbies – PREORDER RESERVATION
• Dragonslayer Vermithrax DISPLAY MODEL from Pegasus Hobbies – PREORDER RESERVATION
• Superman from Polar Lights – PREORDER RESERVATION
• Classic Enterprise & Botany Bay 1:1000 Space Seed Edition reissue – PREORDER RESERVATION
• Enterprise NX-01 1:1000 REFIT reissue – PREORDER RESERVATION
• The Wicked Witch from Polar Lights – PREORDER RESERVATION
• Titan Rocket 1:100 scale reissue from MPC/Round 2 – PREORDER RESERVATION
• Vostok Rocket 1:100 scale reissue from MPC/Round 2 – PREORDER RESERVATION

New in the shop

• Beauty and the Beast, Bob and Kathy Burns – Monsters of the Movies from Moeibus Models
• Klingon K’Tinga reissue from Round 2/AMT
• Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller vol. 28
• Star Trek Movie Era Cadet Series 1:2500 from AMT/Round 2
• Universal Large Dome Base from Round 2/Polar Lights

Restocks

• Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller vol. 17
• Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller vol. 23
• Deep Space 9 reissue from Round 2/AMT
• Enterprise C 1:1400 scale reissue from AMT/Round 2
• Enterprise B reissue from AMT/Round 2
• Klingon Bird of Prey reissue from AMT/Round 2
• USS Reliant reissue from AMT/Round 2
• Reliant Aztec decals from Round 2
• USS Enterprise-D CLEAR PLASTIC 1:1400 scale reissue from AMT/Round 2
• Classic Klingon D-7 reissue 1/1000 scale from Polar Lights
• Ghostbusters Ecto-1A reissue from AMT/Round 2
• Universal Dome Base from Round 2/Polar Lights
• Classic Enterprise Light Kit 1:350 from Polar Lights/Round 2
• Classic Enterprise Photoetch Details Set 1:350 from Polar Lights/Round 2
• Classic Starship 1:350 windows paint masks from Aztek Dummy
• Fighter Mk 2 Photoetch/decal set from Paragrafix
• Structural Integrity Devices for 1/350 Refit Starships

Vintage kits:

• Land of the Giants Snake diorama from Polar Lights
• Back to the Future Delorean from Polar Lights
• AT-AT Return of the Jedi from AMT
• Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter form AMT/MPC – early issue
• James Bond Autogyro “Little Nellie” from Airfix
• Lost In Space Cyclops from Polar Lights
• Lost In Space Robot from Polar Lights
• Ghostbusters Ecto 1 from Polar Lights
• Snowspeeder from AMT/MPC
• Cylon Raider reissue from Revell

Here is the Monsters of the Movies Robot Monster.   The Robot Monster conversion was sculpted by Dave Bengel and the base by Rick Evans.    This will come complete with the base, conversion parts, and Kogar kit.    I hope to have it ready in a week or three.

This is the Sci-Fi Scenes Robot Monster set.  It includes the Sci-Fi Scenes base, conversion set and Kogar kit.  This will also be available in a week or three.     The base is by Rick Evans and attaches to other bases in the Sci-Fi Scenes set.

Robot Monster also includes the faceplate so he can be displayed either way.

Stay tuned.  Watch the skies.

This is coming soon from ODGstudios.   Includes the base, tree, and pet.    The fence is sold separately as the Haunted House detail set from BHP/Paragrafix with photoetch.   Hope to have this soon!

I finally took a few more pictures of some of my models — these of the Tydirium were ok — well, once I photoshopped out the barbeque! It’s pretty much like the AT-AT I sent before, out of the box with a few modifications..

I added some greeblies to the channel that runs along the edges of the wings and fin. I also beefed-up the landing gear as they seemed so spindly. and then lots of paint. I used some weathering chalk which is definitely something I’ll experiment further with

John Waxel

This was a small, fun project. I took the ships from the ERTL Rebel Base on Hoth playset (X-Wings, Rebel Transport and Millenium Falcon) and threw away the horrible looking Y-wings. I took the X-Wings from the ERTL Battle on Hoth set and together with the Rebel Base ships made this wall-mounted scene I call Escort Duty.

The Falcon and transport are pretty much OOB. The X-wings (1 1/2 inch wing span) have drilled out engines, decals and separate wing laser cannons. Those were fun to do.

The mount is just a piece of wood, painted black, with with mounting rods.

Jim James

This SEAVIEW model, like other vehicles traveling near the surface, expends a significant form of energy overcoming ‘wave making’ drag; that phenomena where the elasticity of the liquid/gas interface point (waters surface, boy’s and girl’s) interacts with the vehicle, causing drag. This wave making effect all but diminishing to zero once the vehicle has descended to a point greater than three hull diameters below the surface.

As a practical matter, though, even depths as shallow as ‘periscope depth’, are enough to negate most of the wave making drag. By the way, on no r/c model submarine I have ever operated, nor the diesel boat and SSBN submarines I have served aboard, have I seen a more pronounced bow wave than that originating from the bow of the SEAVIEW when operating at speed on or near the surface. Lots of drag going on down there!

PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION OF A PRACTICAL SUBMARINE

A surfaced submarine can dive without changing its weight. It does so by forcing itself beneath the surface employing the horizontal planes and hull to produce an amount of dynamic ‘lift’ downwards to overcome the added buoyant force represented by those structures pulled beneath the waters surface. Such a maneuver generates a great deal of drag and requires maintenance of a considerable amount of thrust. This ‘dynamic diving’ type submarine must remain in motion, constantly fighting the upward buoyant force, else it would bob to the surface like a cork. Not very ‘scale-like’ in my opinion, and requires an inordinate amount of energy to stay submerged.

Most toy r/c submarines are dynamic divers.

Yes, there is inherent safety with this method: the submarine will usually surface the moment power is backed off. And, indeed, such models, through elimination of a ballast system and its attendant complexities, are simpler to construct and maintain; dynamic diving type r/c submarines are cheaper to purchase, easier to build, and require less maintenance than their static diving cousins.

However, ‘real’ r/c submarines assume ‘submerged trim’ by employing a means of taking on water to increase the weight of the submarine. The weight of that ballast water equal to the buoyant force represented by those structures of the submarine that are above the water in surface trim. This type submarine is described as a ‘static diving submarine’ – no dynamic force is required to keep this type boat submerged. When the boats submerged buoyancy is countered by the submarines weight it is said to be neutrally buoyant, or, in ‘submerged trim’.

With a statically diving submarine, such as the SEAVIEW discussed here, its weight is variable. The submarine takes on enough weight (in the form of ballast water) to counter the buoyant force presented by those structures above the normal waterline of the surfaced submarine. The submarine on the surface is light enough (an empty ballast tank) to permit those portions of the hull still in the water to produce a buoyant force capable of supporting the dead weight of the above waterline structures of the submarine. Surface trim.

This is as high out of the water I was willing to get this model SEAVIEW. To get the freeboard any higher in surface trim would have involved a massively sized ballast tank and consumption of significant amounts of liquefied gas to empty that tank (Propel – the same stuff used as an air-brush propellant).

Surface trim on the big seventeen-foot effects miniature was nearly to the bottom sill of the bow observation windows … impossibly high … which would put nearly three-quarts of the SEAVIEW’s hull sticking above the water in surface trim! I settled for a surface trim (ballast tank empty) that put the waterline just below the missile deck/hull break line as illustrated here. Isn’t she a beaut!

Permit me to put right an error I issued previously. Specifically, my observation that the SEAVIEW’s big manta-fins contributed to the SEAVIEW’s underwater roll problem, or ‘snap-roll’. Snap-roll is a term describing phenomena that evidences as a dangerously high inboard rolling rate caused by vehicle appendage lateral forces generated as the submarine enters a high speed underwater turn. Well, as I discovered lately, the SEAVIEW manta-fins actually contribute to dynamic stability of the SEAVIEW in a high-speed turn.

This constitutes not only a correction of fact, but also an apology to the Twentieth-Century Fox design staff, in residence during the pre-production phase of the, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea motion picture, and to my reader’s.

CORRECTION! As I was preparing this article, working up an analysis of the cause/effect issues relating to the SEAVIEW’s in- water performance – specifically, a study of the forces encountered by the canards/manta-fins at the bow as they cut through the high slip flow of water about the yaw axis, and the lateral and torsional forces these surfaces produce as a consequence of that water flow – I failed to correctly interpret a force-diagram.

(I lack the skill to employ mathematical analysis. Nor do I have the ability to instrument, record, and chart the forces on or near the body in motion. The magnitude of the forces acting on the body are unknown to me. However, I can and do ascertain direction and causation of those forces as a consequence of vehicle motion through the fluid. I graphically represent the vectors of force resulting from hull and appendage impingement with the fluid: diagrams, that when represented correctly, permit me to understand why the submarine behaves the way it does).

I mistakenly inverted the direction of the torque moments present at the tips of the SEAVIEW’s manta-fins. Which led to a flawed analysis, a dumb mistake, that led me to declare in this forum that the SEAVIEW’s manta-fins exacerbated the unwanted, sometimes dangerous rolling turn. A wrong statement!

So, here’s the straight poop: In fact, the manta-fins produce a counter torque (outboard rolling moment, counter of the vehicles turn) that works to negate the de-stabilizing inboard torque produced by the SEAVIEW’s sail and ‘V’ shaped ‘Cadillac’ fins at the stern. The manta-fins contribute to the dynamic roll stability of the SEAVIEW in a tight turn. As the submarines angle of attack about the yaw (turning) axis increases, and starts to ‘skid’ into a turn, a situation occurs at the manta-fin tips (those tips well below the vehicles longitudinal center of rotation) where the inboard manta-fin tip begins to generate an upward moment (force) and the outboard manta-fin tip produces a downward moment. These two forces induce a torsional moment that works to right the boat in the turn; the manta-fins improve the boats roll stability dynamically in a turn.

The only vice I can lay at the feet (fins) of the manta-fins is that they work to de-stabilize the boat in the pitch plane and contribute a great deal of flow and wave-making drag.

The SEAVIEW, as an r/c submarine, can be made to be dynamically stable in pitch and yaw as it travels submerged – without need of non-scale ‘stabilizing’ fins or control surfaces.

To sum it up:

A surfaced submarine displaces exactly its own weight of water. A submerged statically diving submarine in ‘neutral’ trim also displaces exactly its own weight of water. The difference between a surfaced and submerged statically diving submarine is simply the weight – the submerged statically diving submarine weighs more than the surfaced submarine.

We further categorize a submarine as either being a dry-hull or wet-hull type. The dry-hull employs the entire hull structure (or significant portion of the hull structure) as the watertight enclosure.

The wet-hull type submarine only uses the hull as a fairing – only those items within the hull that must be in a dry environment (crew, engines, electronics, accommodations, etc.) are encased within an inner protective hull(s).

Good examples of ‘real’ submarines that are of the dry-hull type are modern American SSN’s and SSBN’s. A nation that builds ‘real’ wet-hull type submarines is the former Soviet Union (Russian Republic); most of their combatant submarines are wet-hull (also referred to as ‘double-hulled’, submarines).

I operate most of my r/c submarines as wet-hull types. Such is the case with the DeBoer Hulls SEAVIEW kit featured here. That models hull envelope does not represent a watertight enclosure at all, water is free to enter and exit through the many flood and drain (either side of the keel, at the bottom of the hull) and limber holes – those long, near vertical slit openings either side of the superstructure.

With a wet-hull type submarine the actual displacement is the sum of the displacement of the individual items within the hull as well as the hull structure (in this case the nominal SEAVIEW GRP kit hull thickness is about one-eighth-inch). As a static diving type submarine this model has aboard a ballast tank to change the submarines weight, the means by which the SEAVIEW model assumes either surfaced or submerged trim.

Get it straight out there: the effects miniatures of the SEAVIEW were not painted ‘blue’ they were a simple primer gray in ‘color’. Never blue. Don’t paint a model of the SEAVIEW blue. So many of you armchair ‘experts’ spout off periodically, with unjustified authority, that some shade of blue is the color of the vessel. No – what you guy’s see as you watch this thing on the big or little screen is an effect of light absorption, as the red end of he spectrum is attenuated by the water. The SEAVIEW isn’t blue! Got it!?

The deeper beneath the surface of water we go the more ‘blue’ things appear. In water, as on land, what we ‘see’ is a portion of the light sources spectrum reflected off the subject. Items illuminated by sunlight (or studio lights burning at sunlight temperature, or film or prints corrected to read tungsten and other low temperature light sources as sunlight) read to our eyes a true representation of a color.

Daylight standard, if you will. That’s why you don’t bounce color chips against a custom paint mix under a light source other than the one the model will be displayed under. A gray color chip (yes, yes … smart-ass, I know that white, black, and grays are not technically ‘colors’ … just work with me as I try to make a point here) taken to any significant depth of water (assuming that the topside sun is our only light source) will throw back less red, so the object appears blue to us as that’s the significant portion of the sunlight that has the ability to punch through water. Is that chip blue? No! It’s gray – we simply see it as blue at depth. The rate of the red attenuation is proportionate with water depth. Simply put, water is a light filter that attenuates the warm end of the spectrum first. A few hundred feet down and just about all light is blocked. It’s black down there, boy’s and girl’s!

The DeBoer SEAVIEW cruising along at ‘periscope depth’. I’ve already installed the pitch vanes in the nozzles to correct for the boats natural tendency to ‘dive’ while moving ahead submerged. Now, when the ballast tank is flooded and the boat settles into submerged cruising, it does so with little operator input from the transmitter. The submarine is surprisingly responsive to sailplane deflection as I work at the transmitter to change or hold depth. ven at a ‘flank’ bell the SEAVIEW holds pitch angle well, and it does that near the surface too, where other submarines become a bit more temperamental.

The significant maneuverability problems with this boat occur as a consequence of a turn while submerged. Sea-trails taught me to ‘ease’ the SEAVIEW into high speed submerged turns. To put the rudder hard over while running at any significant speed rolls the boat into an uncontrollable dive to the bottom. (American LOS ANGELES class attack submarines have the same problem). Other than that, and the SEAVIEW’s woefully poor backing down ability, it handles pretty much like any other r/c submarine.

I’ve been reading the positive reports about the big DeBoer GRP ENTERPRISE A kit. I’m not at all surprised; I found the quality of parts and accuracy of outline of his fifty-seven-inch long TV SEAVIEW kit to be, with the exception of the sail and the threadbare fittings for the Observation Compartment interior, excellent. With a little work the DeBoer SEAVIEW kit can be built into a very good looking and running r/c submarine – it steals the show, wherever I operate it.

I write for those of you who are not content with the quality of your work. The articles I author here are rich in content; they serve as textbooks containing the methodologies, tools, consumables and techniques I use to make models. This SEAVIEW article is typical. Within these pages I show you how to take a good kit and improve on it.

Article writing is a tricky business, a balancing act, if you will. Too much dry detail my audience drifts off ; too little attention to the specifics of the craft and I failed my mission as teacher. So, I write to a formula of technical discussion and hard-nosed opinion. It helps to keep you involved. Yes, I’ll sometimes take a point a bit over the top. But, don’t be mistaken, I always say what I believe – I don’t make shit up just to get your ear.

These are the facts, opinions, loves, and hates of one David Merriman the Third. I’m the real deal. I’m your Teacher about all things relating to model building.

Throughout my adult life I faced obstacles that could have hindered my ability to practice my craft. But, I’m serious about model building; I overcame those obstacles and pressed on. I NEVER let anything, or anyone get in the way of my practicing of the craft. I continued building models in the few free hours I had, be it off-hours in the barracks, aboard submarines, ships, Dive lockers, military housing, or ‘in transit’. I always found a way to build.

At the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News Virginia. I was attending a model boating regatta where, I’m glad to report, the SEAVIEW stole the show. Owing to the near continuous airing of the TV shows both young and old spectator’s alike knew what this submarine was and enjoyed watching it run above and below the surface of the lagoon, situated at the foot of the museum buildings entrance. An excellent day, an appreciative crowd, and fellow r/c boating enthusiasts. Ellie and I had a great time. It was hard to give the boat up to the customer a few weeks later – we loved that boat!

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES

I would be remiss not to offer you additional reading/viewing assignments to supplement what you’ve learned so far here. For more information relating specifically to the hobby of r/c submarine building and operation I have several resources for you:

‘Simply Submarines‘, Edited by Chris Jackson, Traplet Publishing, ISBN 1-900371-40-5. This stands today as the user-friendliest book on the subject available, and I recommend it to any one wishing to know more about the activity of r/c submarining. Excellent treatments dealing with buoyancy, propulsion, water tight seals, hull fabrication and many, many other topics vital to both the novice and expert.

‘Building Model Warships of the Iron and Steel Eras’, Edited by Peter Beisheim, Chatham Publishing/Naval Institute Press, ISBN 1-50114-094-3. Another collection of articles by noted model warship builders. Though only one of the nine articles is dedicated to r/c submarining, the book contains a vast array of different building techniques. If you fancy yourself a scratch-builder (or want to learn how), this book is a must-have.

‘Model Submarine Technology‘, Norbert Bruggen, Traplet Publications, ISBN 1-900371-04-9. www.traplet.co.uk/traplet/ An excellent resource for the advanced model builder already possessing a good grounding in mechanical systems, machine fabrication, and electronic design, fabrication and checkout. Many of the principles discussed are illustrated through drawings, text, and substantiating mathematical expressions. This book will be heavy sledding for anyone with less than a two year engineering school background.

I offer a sixty-minute videotape, titled, ‘Introduction To R/C Submarining’. Watch this to get a good overview of the hobby as it stands today. $29.00, includes shipping in the US and Canada. D&E Miniatures, 835 Holly Hedge Ave., Virginia Beach, VA 23452. Dmeriman@aol.com.

Another source of r/c submarining videotapes is, Ray Mason Productions, 9 Pine Drive, East, Nesconset, NY 11767. masonra@mail.northgrum.com

Of course, the topic of this article has been the fine fifty-seven-inch long SEAVIEW model offered by Dennis DeBoer. Contact him for availability and pricing for that and other fine products. DeBoer Hulls, Box 395, 608, and 13th Street, Springfield, SD 57062. deboersj@gwtc.net

Rick Teskey offers a nice fifty-two-inch long GRP SEAVIEW kit. Rick Teskey Productions, 785 Palace Place Street, Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 1M5, Canada. rjteskey@sympatico.ca. Rick also offers a twenty-four-inch wide FS-1 and a large PROTEUS kit from the movie, Fantastic Voyage. Ask him about his other projects while you’re at it.

Start with intro
Back to part 8

Well, here we are. Part-9, the concluding installment of the SEAVIEW article. Finally! Time to wrap up and prepare to launch into another multi-installment article … that upcoming piece dealing with a build-up of the Rick Teskey FLYING SUBMARINE (FS-1) kit.

I’ve taught you how to take the fine DeBoer Hulls fifty-seven inch long SEAVIEW kit and improve it – turning it not only into a stunning display piece, but also a reasonably well running practical model r/c submarine. Now that we’re near the end of this saga it’s time to tie up the loose ends. We’ll look at the practical design shortcomings unique to the SEAVIEW; the pre-operating, operating, and post- operating tasks demanded by such a model; and a quick peep at the principles of operation of a practical submarine.

I take care to perform the initial sea-trials at a lake site I know and am comfortable with. That means water I’ve walked through to neck height. A site that I’ve surveyed for weeds and sunken items that would present an entrapment hazard. You might be surprised at what’s laying on the bottom, just out of sight beneath the surface: I’ve found shopping carts, tires, ten-speed bicycles, entire rolls of carpeting, etc., Items that could damage and/or entrap a submerged model submarine.

I search for launching and recovery sites that are sandy, no significant rocks protruding that might scare the bottom of the model submarine. R/c submarines are heavy – a submerged submarine contains not only the structure and equipment needed to make it work, but also the water that fills the unused portions of the open hull. That means the model has a great deal of inertia – it won’t come gently to a stop when it hits something. No. When it hits something, it keeps plowing into the obstacle, suffering extensive hull scaring. Site selection is critical. Not just any body of fresh water will do.

PRE-OPERATING, OPERATING, AND POST OPERATING TASKS

During those initial outings to the lake, as I rung out the SEAVIEW during sea-trials, I took pains to develop a three-part maintenance and adjustment methodology that would insure that the SEAVIEW would receive all the preservation, maintenance, and replenishment services needed to keep the vehicle in top operating condition. I devised three specific documents: the pre-mission, mission, and post-mission maintenance checklists. Each was a chronological listing of the procedures, list of tools, consumables, and safety cautions needing to be performed and observed. One checklist prior to taking the model to the lake, one checklist to be performed at the lake, and another checklist dealing with those preservation and safeing steps performed once the model had been returned to the shop after a days play. I think it instructive here to summarize each checklist:

Pre-mission The WTC and battery are checked first, before integration with the hull. The battery is taken off charge and its Voltage measured (being a lead/acid type battery, the gel-cell units I use are kept on constant ‘trickle charge’). The WTC cylinder is opened up by popping off the after bulkhead that mounts all the mechanicals that drive and operate the vehicle. The bulkheads sealing o-ring is checked clean, and then lubricated with silicon grease. The push rod and drive shaft cup-seals are lubricated with light machine oil, as are the two gear reduction drives. All mechanical and electrical connections are checked tight.

The SEAVIEW and the two major components that make it operational, the WTC and gel-cell battery. The rest of the models interior is free flooding. A ‘wet-hull’ type r/c submarine model like this is relatively light of weight out of the water as opposed to a comparable dry-hull type r/c submarine. Out of water weight is low because of the free-flooding interior.

Only after the submarine is placed in the water and water is permitted to fill the interior, does it take on the same weight as a dry-hull type counterpart. Wet-hull type r/c submarines are easier for we older folk to schlep around between shop, van, and launching site. That’s old-age talking, people.

The on-board gas bottle within the WTC’s ballast tank is charged with liquid ‘Propel’ (air-brush propellant). It is the release of Propel gas that empties the ballast tank of water when the ‘blow’ command is sent from the transmitter (or the on-board safety circuit if it detects a ‘loss of signal’).

The motor bulkhead is then re-inserted into the after end of the clear Lexan watertight cylinder. After waiting five-minutes the pressure-relief valve, mounted on the face of the motor bulkhead, is opened. As I do that I listen for an audible rush of escaping air (slightly compressed as the bulkhead was pressed into place against the cylinder). That sound indicates that the cylinder is indeed, ‘watertight’. The transmitter is turned on, the WTC is connected to the gel-cell battery, and all systems are checked for correct operation (rudder, stern plane, sailplane, ballast system, and throttle).

The battery and WTC are set aside.

Mission Thankfully, the at-the-lake maintenance chores were found to be no more involved than for any other r/c submarine – just the occasional battery change and re-charging of the ballast systems on-board gas bottle. During these periodic servicing chores, I invert the model and inspect the WTC for any water that may have crept into the cylinder.

The client for this turnkey job (I was commissioned to build this SEAVIEW, it’s not part of my personal fleet, Damnit!) built and provided a display stand for his SEAVIEW. When not at the lake terrorizing the local duck population this submarine model will be found on display within the customer’s house. Note the devices and support equipment on the bench under the model.

The SEAVIEW is taken off its display stand, mounted onto its work-stand, opened up, and the two pump-jet rotors way back in the stern are given a drop of light machine oil at their bearing points. The control linkage clevises also receive a drop of oil while working back there. Control surfaces are checked by hand for unbinding operation.

Upon satisfactory testing of the WTC, battery, and inspection of the SEAVIEW interior, the three units are united. The battery and WTC are installed within the SEAVIEW hull, each sitting upon a foundation and secured with rubber bands. The two drive shafts and three control surface push rods are made up to the WTC. Powered up once again, at the transmitter I check for correct motion and unobstructed rotation of sailplanes, stern planes, rudders, and pump-jet rotors, on the lookout for any binding of the various linkages and drive shafts. The running lights (bow, sail, and Cadillac fins) are operated to check for burned bulbs.

With all pre-mission checks successfully completed, the WTC is disconnected from the battery, the transmitter turned off, The superstructure of the SEAVIEW attached to the hull, the field box outfitted, and everything is staged into the family van for the trip to the lake.

Here is the SEAVIEW model, the upper superstructure with the attached sail removed for servicing. This shot was taken while I and other model boater’s put on a show at the Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Normal at-site maintenance and checkout chores (mission tasks) are accomplished after removing the superstructure piece, accessing the interior to work on the WTC or replace the gel-cell type propulsion/control battery.

If need be, further access is afford (usually only in the workshop) by removing the stern section of the model, accessing the stern control surface linkages and pump-jet units.

Post-mission Post-mission maintenance with the SEAVIEW, like other r/c submarines, is the most time consuming and important in-shop task. It is during this session that preventive maintenance and structure preservation chores occupy the careful builder/operator: The WTC and battery are removed, the interior of the SEAVIEW hosed out with fresh water, dried with low pressure air, and the lights briefly hooked up to assure no bulbs burned out. Oil is dropped onto all control surface bell cranks and bearing points, and the pump-jet rotor bearings get another squirt of lubricant. The empty SEAVIEW hull is then assembled and put back on its display base and put back on exhibit.

The battery is made up to the WTC and a complete systems check conducted – any problems are addressed. Any water leaks that developed during operation are identified and fixed. The battery is disconnected and (along with replacement batteries) put on charge. The ballast tank on-board bottle is vented off, and the WTC is put into safe storage.

No, r/c submarines are not plug-and-play type items; dusted off and played with on a whim; these are not playthings for the inattentive. A day’s fun at the lake is accompanied by a systematic, careful, time-consuming checkout period, before, during, and after use.

I’m not usually so grumpy looking … honest! At the Mariner’s Museum boat show. This initial effort at weathering was way over done (I’m a proud graduate of the Ed Miarecki school of painting and refinishing, if you must know – sorry, Ed. Couldn’t resist!); too much contrast between the white and the simulated panel lines. I later toned down the underside of the SEAVIEW model with several well-thinned shots of white.

Much better looking now. Note the rectangular openings at the front of the propulsion tube. These provide water to the intake side of the internal pump-jets. These intakes are augmented by the large opening in the bottom of the hull (the mini-sub access hatch) and flood-drain holes along the length of the hull. I could not have done that with a dry-hull type submarine.

PRACTICAL DESIGN SHORTCOMINGS OF THE SEAVIEW DESIGN

As I mentioned in part-8, the SEAVIEW revealed nasty inherent design flaws (the wrongly stated manta-fin rolling problem aside) that evidence themselves when the model operates beneath the surface of the water.

The two big ‘V’ arranged Cadillac fins overhanging the stern work to over stabilize the boat about the yaw axis while submerged … even the three big rudders, two of them benefiting from the high velocity flow from the propulsion nozzles, were not enough to adequately overcome the stabilizers ‘weather cocking’ effect underwater.

Turning radius above the surface (with the fins sticking in the air) is good. Turning radius submerged (with the fins in the water flow) is awful!

Additionally, those huge ‘V’ arranged Cadillac fins contribute to another stability problem: In a submerged high-rate turn they produce a torsional moment that rolls the boat into the turn – that torque, when coupled with that of the sails torsional force, is enough to roll the boat so far over that rudder deflection begins to contributes a ‘down pitch’ component; as the boat rolls nearly on its side the rudders act to pull the stern up and the boat heads to the bottom, out of control.

As pointed out above, the manta-fins induce a stabilizing force about the roll axis, negating a good portion of the ‘V’ shaped Cadillac fin/sail inboard torsion/rolling force. Without the manta-fins the SEAVIEW would be an impractical, almost impossible to control r/c submarine.

Nearly all modern American combat attack submarines employ a set of downward canted (anhedral) stabilizers at the stern (situated between the horizontal surfaces and lower rudder). Their primary function is to serve as foundations from which either evasion devices or towed cables are launched or streamed clear of the propeller/pump-jet disc. The secondary purpose of the stern mounted anhedral stabilizers is to generate a torsional force (created as the boat’s angle of attack about the yaw axis increases) to counter the boats tendency to roll inboard in a turn. On a ‘real’ submarine this unwanted inboard rolling moment originates solely with the sail and a big reason that today’s submarine sail structures are kept as short and low of area as possible. Sail structures are either well faired in to the hull (as practiced by the Russian ‘Ruben’ design bureau) or are so shaped as to limit the structures ability to produce lateral ‘lift’ at a high yaw angle of attack (American LOS ANGELES class).

With the SEAVIEW we are cursed with three surfaces that produce a unified torsional moment in a turn: the large sail and two upward angled fins as the stern.

The rolling, and reduced turn rate experienced by the SEAVIEW underwater was observed and noted. Like any other type submarine I drive, I first work out the maximum underwater speed I can attain and still maintain depth control once the rudder is put hard over. Same test and observations as I work the horizontal control surfaced to maintain or change depth. The objective during these sea-trial activities is to determine the submarines ‘performance envelop’. I determine the edges of that envelop and try not to exceed them during normal vehicle operation. Sea-trials are more than working out the mechanical bugs and trimming the boat, it is also that initial period of operation where you, the Driver, learn what you can and cannot do with the vehicle above and below the surface.

Sometimes, sea-trials are not a happy time between the operator and his new ride. For example:

On the maiden dive of the SEAVIEW model, after a few circles and figure-of-eight turns on the surface to check out the running gear, I commanded an ‘all-stop’ and waited for the big model to coast to a stop. I then commanded a vent of the ballast tank and took the SEAVIEW to submerged trim. With only an inch of the sail projecting above the water (the boat is trimmed a tad light in submerged trim) I was ready to run the model submerged for the first time … little did I know! I slowly advanced the throttle and noted a slight pitch-down of the model, so I threw both transmitter sticks full over to command full rise on the sailplanes and full rise on the stern planes. No change! Even with a low throttle setting the SEAVIEW, both sets of horizontal planes on ‘rise’, continued to pitch down to a dangerously high angle. It was headed to the bottom! Only full astern and ballast blow commands arrested the dive and got the boat back to the surface, in a flurry of foaming water and swirling thick gas vapor – I just managed to keep the SEAVIEW’s bow out of the lake mud. An embarrassing performance to say the least. What went wrong?!

After a reflective pause, I repeated the maneuver. Same thing! Again and again, each time I tried it, the boat dove to the bottom at a severe down angle. Obviously there was something intrinsically wrong with the design – it was not a problem of static trim or improper control surface response to commands, I checked all that. No matter how much ‘up’ I cranked into the stern planes and sailplanes, the SEAVIEW model, once the ballast tank was full and the throttle advanced and the boat got some way on, it would pitch down.

Yikes!

Back at the shop and a good hard look at the SEAVIEW bow in profile. OK, I see … how could I miss that! It became obvious then what was going on: In profile the bow of the SEAVIEW is in the shape of a wedge which assured that water passing over it has to produce a downward force at the bow. The faster the boat goes, the more pronounced this pitch-down moment. As I demonstrated at the lake, the sailplanes and stern planes did not have the authority to overcome the designs inherent tendency to pitch down when advancing submerged.

The fix was to install permanent vanes within each propulsion nozzle, their job to direct the exhausted water upward, countering the pitching moment at the bow. In water tests verified that the fixed vanes countered the bow induced pitching problem throughout the SEAVIEW’s speed regime, net angle change as a consequence of submerged speed was zero. Mission accomplished! But, keep in mind that the two pitching forces (shape of the hull forward, the fixed vanes in the nozzles aft) are directed down; the net force on the vehicle is a downward one. However, this downward force acting on the submerged submarine is of low magnitude and is easily countered by operating the boat at a slight up-angle or simply by cranking in a bit of ‘rise’ on the sailplanes.

After installation of the fixed vanes in the nozzles depth control of the SEAVIEW became no more difficult than driving a ‘traditional’ type r/c submarine.

The SEAVIEW, during sea-trials, with sailplanes set slightly to dive, sinks beneath the surface as its ballast tank fills with water. As is my practice, I build ‘soft’ type ballast systems: the tank is open at the bottom and fills only after a single vent valve atop the tank is opened, permitting the gas within the tank to vent out, letting water in. The boat is trimmed with fixed lead weight and buoyant foam so that a full ballast tank takes on just the right amount of weight to get the submarine to a nearly perfect neutrally buoyant condition when submerged.

On to part 9B

This caught my attention today, thanks to the Boing Boing website.   It is a nice write up on the Chariot from Lost in Space:

“Back to reality. In investigating the Lost in Space Chariot some 40+ years after the show was canceled, I came across a couple of unexpected and interesting connections. These include genuine outer space adventures, as well as a business partnership with a celebrated automotive legend.”    READ MORE

This is the Mars One resin model kit from Lunar Models. It took a couple of days of work off and on to get the hull near perfect. Color is Testors Silver. I then waxed the paint over and over with the ‘Final Detail’ spray wax/cleaner.

The ship got around. The rocket appeared in the movie titled “Flight To Mars.” It was also featured in the movie “It, The Terror From Beyond Space,” as well as an episode of the “Outer Limits.” It could have appeared in other films as well.

Jim Crompton

I saw Basilosaurus on “Walking with Prehistoric Beasts” and had to have one! But there are no kits out there. So after extensive research and sketching I began to build my whale in 35th scale. In two days I made the basic body and tail out of a coathanger, aluminum foil, plastic card and Magic Sculp. It took a week to make an articulated skull out of card, Magic Sculp and straight pins (teeth).

It took another two days to finish. The four fins are made from card and covered in MS. The eyes are the ends of dressmaker’s pins. The skull was then covered with MS – making lips was a BEAR! Then I painted it with some helpful advice from Dennis Drechsler (http://www.whalecarver.com)

Total time to build was less than two weeks. Total time wasted for fear that I would mess-up was a year. Why can’t I ever just forge ahead?

Leelan Lampkins

I received a box of kits from our friends at Round 2 a couple weeks ago.   I’ve been meaning to post photos for some time and am now just getting around to it.

Round 2 is now producing a large dome base for sale.  This will be great for larger models.  The base measures 7.5 inches.

Here is the reissue of the 1:1000 Klingon Battle Cruiser.  It is being marketed as the Romulan Battle Cruiser and comes with a really nice decal sheet of the Romulan Bird.     Certainly inspired by the Enterprise Incident.

The kit is molded in a dark metalic grey.   It also features a spue of chrome parts.   There is a new base for mounting the ship from the back side so you don’t have a stand in the middle of your decal.

The decal also includes the regular Klingon markings so it can be built as either ship.

This is the new 1:2500 scale Movie Era set featuring a new model of the Refit Enterprise, Klingon K’Tinga and Reliant.  All three ships look pretty good.

The Reliant is all new and comes on two sprues.

The Enterprise is all new and an improvement on the Refit that came with the original AMT set.

The K’Tinga is also all new and features engraved panels.

The decal sheet is very detailed.   There are a lot of decals here for the Refit and Reliant.   There are minimal markings for the K’Tinga.

Last we have the Enterprise in a lunch box.   This is the regular 1:1000 Polar Lights Enterprise packaged in a lunch box.   The lunch box features the artwork from the classic AMT kits including the Enterprise, Klingon, Romulan and Spock images.

I’m not a big fan of “tins” and this is a glorified, overpriced model packed in a small tin lunch box.    These things are heavy to ship out and have a nasty tendency to get dented.    Even this sample was banged up.   I’m sure some of you will get a kick out of it.

The Romulan Battle Cruiser is in stock now in the Cult Shop.  The Movie Cadet set and Dome will be here shortly.   If you want the lunchbox, you’ll have to buy that elsewhere as I have no plans to sell it in the shop.

Thanks to the folks at Round 2 for sending the samples.

A couple of years ago, I put this vinyl figure kit of Indiana Jones together. I then sent photos of the figure to CultTVman. Now, the photos I sent way back when, are a little bit different than the new ones sent in here.

I always hated the whip that came along with this kit. It was always changing shape and or position. It was hard to display on my book shelf because I normally had to lower the angle of the whip. Not cool for an Action Hero to have a “limp” whip.

So, I was constantly thinking of Modifications to do on this figure. Finally, I just made a harness to hold his whip on his belt. This was done with a small piece of vinyl and then painted to match the belt. The extended whip was then wound tightly into a circle position and hung on the harness (see photos).

Then, after searching for a long time, I found a 1/6 scale pistol. I simply warmed up the vinyl and then cut the Whip handle from his hand. The pistol is now easily placed in the opening cut into the hand.

Finally, I gave him a wood base that was stained as you see. Overall, a project about three years or so in the making. Well worth the time, because it looks very much like the “movie” version of Indy. Let me know what you think. I appreciate any questions or comments.

Dennis P. Hogan

Ultimate Batman Forever Kenner Toy

Primed and painted with airbrush. I used a mixture of metalic paints to create the movie like custom color. I also resculpted the ears of the mask to make them longer. The tech batarang was scracth build.

Jorge Alfredo Margenat

I thought I’d share some pictures of my completed Fine Molds 1/72 scale Millennium Falcon. I purchased the kit and most of the after-market detail kits from your store. Some pictures also show a Fine Molds 1/72 TIE fighter.

Cleavon Shen

Here’s my latest work. I won this off of Ebay and don’t know what company made the figure but I was quite pleased with it.

Phil Campbell

This is a pair of photos of the prototype 1/12 scale”Batura” that my kits were originally molded from in 1988 (despite the permission I have from George Barris to manufacture the kits, it was rechristened “Batura” by a friend, Scott Brodeen, when it was decided to avoid the hassle ERTL went through with that contest ten years ago). It was built up from a ’57 Chevy with plastic sheet and strips (and a lot of superglue), most of the bodywork is laminated sheet, with hardly any putty used. The vacform canopy-mold was made up from two 6” R/C aircraft canopies bonded together with sheet plastic. Rocket tubes are aluminum, and screen door mesh was used for the grilles. The paint was spray-painted flat black with a clear gloss overcoat. The red trim was laid on with Carl Goldberg red 1/16″ trim-tape (very flexible) and touched up here and there with with some mixed Testors bottle-paint. All that remains stock from the Chevy were the side-mirror, wheels (bats added)and tires. The model measures 18″ in length.

The Batman figure (the inspiration was one of Bob Kane’s original comic-book covers from the thirties) is a converted Tamiya bike-rider kit. The wings were nylon mesh cloth glued to a brass wire framework; the cloth was basted with a really foul-smelling concoction bought at a craft store (can’t remember the brand-name or what it was) which set like casting resin but remained flexible enough to hand-shape the wing-panels. Everything was handpainted and detailed with a Sharpie pen

Lewin Jones shot the photos a few weeks after I finished up the model. Still have the Batura model (the Batman figure was stolen from a model show the first time it was put on display) but the years and a lot of traveling to shows took their toll. With some reference material from Steve Silvia (he built the 1/16 scale Batmobile model that was in the October ’88 issue of FSM), I’m currently retooling the kit (fifth generation) and the molds, which will combine the interior tub, body, and chassis into a front/rear casting.

Orne Montgomery

This is a build up of the Moebius plastic model kit of The Invisible Man. I started the kit by putting the pants together. I did this so I could paint them with Dark Tan and then dry brush with Tan. This gave them the look of the cover Artwork from the box.

I took time to add a wooden base that this all sits on. Screws holding the floor in place are hidden by the hat and books on the floor.

I also took a little time to paint the inside of the beakers with “clear” colors. In addition, I took some rocks and sand from my Elder Brother’s train set up and placed them inside some of the clear containers on both the table and shelves.

Finally, I added little paint details to the Invisible man by painting clear green on the goggle lenses. I also painted a black rim on his over coat collar. Oh yeah, the bandages were simply painted with a grey primer and then a dry brush of flat white.

Dennis Hogan

Here is my submission for the Round 2 version of the Enterprise-C model. This particular model took me about three months to build. I didn’t work on it every day but I did not want to rush it.

I decided to build her as how she appeared in “Yesterday’s Enterprise”. I sprayed her with Tamiya Color “Light Gray” . After that dried I sprayed a bit of it into a paper bowl so I could paint the outer ridge of the deflector dish so it matched the rest of the hull. This is something that a lot of people tend to miss when building the Enterprise-C model. I then proceeded to paint the clear pieces the right colors. I even painted the impulse engine blue like how it appeared in the show. I assumed it was that color in the show because the ship was running on barely minimum power.

After the clear pieces were painted I then proceeded with painting the darker and lighter blue colors. At first I was going to go with what the instructions said to use for the colors. However, after examining the colors from the original studio model of the Enterprise-C then the refit upgrade she was given I knew the color recommendations were partially wrong. The outer dark blue area I did actually use Russian Flanker Medium Blue since it seemed a lot closer to the original studio model images. The lighter blue areas was a mix of Light Blue, Russian Flanker Medium Blue / Gray and White. The instructions also called for the escape pod hatches to be painted Sand. I did test it that color but found it to be wrong. So I re-painted them light gray and it was nearly identical to the colors for the escape pod hatches on the original studio model.

After the main painting was finished I proceeded to add all the necessary decals. A couple of decals ended up tearing on me during the process. The ones on the under side of the nacelle pylons that were “Enterprise” and “NCC-1701-C”. The other was the word “Enterprise” just below the main shuttle bay on the secondary hull. For the pylons I improvised by moving the battle burns to those locations. The one below the main shuttle bay was from the Enterprise-E decals. After the decals were finished I started painting in the windows. The black windows were done using an ULTRA FINE TIP black marker. The white windows were filled in with an ULTRA FINE TIP white marker that can be bought from JoAnns or some other craft store. Once again I tried to replicate which windows were off and on by the pictures from the studio model and how it appeared on the show.

Once the windows were finished I started adding the battle burn decals. I thought I was paying attention to where they were laid out via the pictures of the studio model. However, some of them I wasn’t quite paying attention to the locations and ended up messing up but it didn’t matter anyways. I also noticed that they didn’t include decals for ALL of the battle burns, so I ended up having to replicate some myself. I tried very closely to replicate the streaks and such from the studio model to the Round 2 model. However, this proved VERY difficult at least for me it did. I ended up using some paint thinner to try and “beef” up the burns a bit. I then also applied a bit of black wash to the model to give it the more dirty gritty look as if it would have during a very serious battle before being destroyed.

This model was not built 100% to match the original filming model. I know that the original filming model did NOT have the extra escape pod hatches on the top saucer towards the back. Nor the extra escape pod hatches on the top part of the secondary hull by the main shuttle bay. I also know that neither the original Enterprise-C and updated Ambassador refit filming model have the phaser bank on the underside of the secondary hull. As I said this build was not meant to be 100% perfect to match the filming model. I figured if Starfleet had actually built that ship then those extra pieces probably would have been on there.

Over all, I’m satisfied with how this turned out. I know I plan to get another Enterprise-C model and build it as the Ambassador Refit version. However, with the daunting and sometimes difficult task this took to build I will NEVER build it as the Enterprise-C with battle burns again. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this build and looking at the pictures.

Trent Bennett

I thought you might get a kick out of these pics of the Copernicus and Galileo. I had these left over from the two Enterprise models I’ve built and thought I’d take a breather from that ordeal and just have some fun building something simple. These really are pretty nice little kits in their own right.

I built them straight out of the box and used the kit decals except for the lit thruster panel under the Galileo. This was a decal I got from Hal Bierman.

The Galileo is built in its pre-Landing Plan “B” configuration. I understand Sulu took quite a ribbing for that landing!

I printed out the flight deck drawings you posted a while back and used a portion of them on the base under Copernicus just to liven things up a bit.

Copernicus is positioned and ready for launch.

Doug Cowles

Here’s a little starship conversion the USS Princeton, it started out as the cutaway kit as you will notice the movie style sensor array and somewhat updated impulse engine. I feel this ship would be timeline wise near the end of the five year mission and the motion picture with starfleet experimenting with new technology

Michael Gosda

This is the AMT kit. I did a bit of work on the snow speeder as you can see, adding the cut-away and removing the struts beneath the cannons and stuff.

John Waxel

Sublevel 3 Heavy Industries Star Destroyer Add-on Parts
Cost:$23.00 plus postage. No longer available

Information:

Number of parts: 36 resin
Instructions: Good, but should have included more tips about working with this type of kit.
Overall rating: With care, you can really make the ERTL Star Destroyer look the way it should.

When ERTL originally released their Star Wars Star Destroyer kit there was much joy in the land. This joy was quickly followed by much lamenting as modelers found that the kit did not meet the expectations set by the picture on the box. The kit soon became one of the less desirable models just because it would take a lot of scratchbuilding to make it look realistic.

Along comes Sub-Level 3 Heavy Industries with their second detailing kit – everything you need to make your Star Destroyer look menacing. A well-timed release since Star Destroyer kits are popping up at $5.00 a piece in bargain bins everywhere.

Does Sublevel 3 make good on it’s promises? Well, yes and no.

The detail surfaces on the parts are molded well. There is little flash and almost no bubbles. At first glance, the instructions appear well written.

I hit my first problem when the instructions told me to cut away the lip of the hangar bay from the kit part. Having done that, I found that the kit bay was smaller than the hole. Either Sublevel 3 got it wrong or the instructions are not clear. Do NOT cut away the lip of the hangar bay. Trim it back after you’ve test fitted the resin bay.

There were two more problems that were almost ignored by Sublevel 3 in their instructions. Firstly, most parts were too long and I found myself cautiously sawing off bits. This was especially true with the main hull sides, which I cut apart as instructed and glued in place. However, when I added the two bays on each side, I had to cut nearly a ½” of some pieces to get the bays to fit.

The second problem I figured out half way through the kit. Most of the parts are too thick. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem but when you are trying to line edges up and gluing parts to angled surfaces, the thickness of the part makes assembly confusing. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is to point out that you are replacing a thin kit part with a resin part nearly ten times the thickness – half of which is the detail you paid for. When gluing a thick resin part to an angled flat surface, you tend to want to glue the edge flat. You’ll discover the mistake when you attach the upper surface (see Fig. 1).

The best solution I came up with is to cut a lip on every part. Using a saw, cut a notch just behind the edge of the part. Fig. 2 shows what I mean. By doing this, you end up with an edge similar to the kit part that allows you to use the guides on the kit parts you use. It also makes corners easier to match.

Sublevel 3 suggest adding detail to the flat kit parts used. I used rectangles of different thickness sheet styrene.

Paint instructions are non-existent on the ERTL kit and vague on Sublevel 3 instructions. I painted my Destroyer Light Ghost Gray overall and picked out the detail sections with a flat black wash highlighted with a dusting of Light Ghost Gray.

The resin Blockade Runner included is very low on detail and had some flash. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell where the flash ends and detail begins. I used the photo in “The Art of Star Wars” as a guide and painted the ship white with weathered dark red detail. I used a piece of wire to position the Runner being drawn into the Star Destroyer bay.

Overall, this is a good kit if you think it through and do a lot of test fitting. Carefully compare the resin piece to the kit part it replaces. Given the current low prices of ERTL Star Destroyer kits, this is great time to go back and build something the Empire would be proud of.

Jim James