Issue 24

Well, now we've got plenty of bits and pieces from the last several issues, and it's time to put together more of the skeleton.

First, gather everything together:

Now, taking the existing bottom framework we have, we add the following pieces in order (some photos missing, sorry):

Here's the end result of the new section:

And the whole frame (marking the halfway point for the bottom half):

Seriously, this thing is starting to get big.

Also, we get another large body panel. It gets one of the pieces from the "open panel" we did a few issues ago. I went ahead and left it with the greasy metal paint job for now, because why not? :)

So yeah. That's it for this month. I'm looking at at least a week and a half before I can reasonably expect the next shipment, so in the meantime I'm having a little fun adding detail in the hold. Nothing like a good kit-bash to get things interesting. I'll show some results later.

Issue 23

Another one of those issues that's mostly stockpiling parts until later, I'm afraid. There is a little to do. Very little.

First, we glue the last 4 "padding" pieces onto the top part of the cockpit corridor, like so:

Then, it snaps onto the bottom half easily. Just make sure to line up the archways so that the little peg on top goes into the holes as seen here:

After that, we have this little endcap that goes on, thus:

And here's the completed corridor, ready to attach to the other one (though not just yet):

Yup, that's it. Anyway, stand by for some skeleton work next.

Issue 22

We did one side of the cockpit corridor las time, so this time we do the other side.

Note that we're back to having the top row of pads go over & above the corridor piece, as seen below:

Note also that the 4 pieces in the middle of the tree that came with this issue are unused. We'll get to them later, so be sure and keep this safe somewhere.

Still, in the meantime, we can go ahead & weather the pads a bit before we put the archway back in and all that.

So that's that. I believe next issue is the top half of this corridor and the last 4 bits of padding, so that will be nice. After that, perhaps, we're back to the skeleton. Certianly seem to have been accumulating pieces for it.

Meantime, I've come to one or two decisions re: the ship design. I can do a little preliminary work, but I can't really do anything until issue 40. So, plenty of time.

Issue 21

As mentioned before, this is a very quick one. We're just basically adding padding to the corridor. I've taken the archways out to make installing & weathering easier.

There's 8 pieces, and they glue in pretty much exactly how they look. Do note that unlike the other corridor, this set of top row pads is flush with the corridor piece, thus:

That's about it, really. More skeleton and shell parts, but we'll deal with them at the appropriate time.

Issue 20

OK, so we're going through what seems to be a long phase with issues that contain bits that will be needed later, with maybe one or two things that can be done now. This number, for example, has a couple of small bits of corridor that need padding. They go in the cockpit corridor where it joins with the other one.

So, as usual I gave them a coat of flat black first:

Then glued the pads on (I left off one on the bottom left because it as too tiny even with tweezers, and anyway who's gonna kvetch?)

Now a little weathering:

And a test fit on the corridor.

Looks like at least 3 more issues will be dealing with this corridor. The next two particularly are going to be quick ones. Still, more skeleton and other body stuff is being accumulated, so hopefully they will all soon bear fruit. Til then.

Issue 19

OK, a pretty cool issue this time around. First off, we have another bit of corridor and yes, everybody's favorite, more of those portal things with all the pads going around them.

First, the corridor...

Hmm, wait:

 Ah. That's better.

A nice worm's-eye view. As I understand it, this will go to the cockpit eventually.

Anyway, the next part is an "open" area on the lower hull. It looks like this:

First off, my usual matte black primer coat:

Now, the magazine says to just use spray paint, couple different shades of gray. But if you think I'm gonna miss out on the opportunity to do some detail painting, you must be new here ;) First, a little groundwork on the part:

Next, some tooling on the glue-on bits. The pieces on the tree are metallic coated, and then "grimed" with black Testor's which I then wiped away partially.

Shot for detail:

Now, the photos in the mag don't really do a good job of showing what goes where, so I've zoomed in to show each bit, step by step. So here are the various parts (I went ahead & did the first "big" part as it's fairly easy to see where that goes):

Here's the other "big" piece:

And finally the end result:

I don't know about you, but nothing warms my cockles like lovingly and painstakingly painting a piece that hardly anyone is ever going to see and even fewer are going to look closely at ever. :) Seriously though, rather proud of how this came out.

Anyway, that's this issue. Looks like next couple issues will finish out the current corridor, so hey, nice reprieve from those stupid padded doorways. I'll crack into 'em tomorrow probably. Later!

Issue 18

This issue brings us back to the lower front skeleton. As you may recall, we left off with it looking like this:

Now, here are the bits from the previous issues that we will be adding on this time:

The outermost bit goes on first, as usual (btw, I found out the plates mounted on here are used to mount the front sections of the ship):

Then the other two go on, nice and straightforward:

Don't forget to add the two 2x1 connectors as seen below:

And viola, the new additions:

That's pretty much the whole lower front, there. We'll be getting some scaffolding soon to support this ship as it is beginning to get pretty big. In the meantime, next issue brings us back inside.

Issue 17

OK, this issue is mostly down to the new corridor. We got the bottom half, now we need teh top. And some more detailing.

First off, here's the top and a "fastening ring" which goes on the end. Here's the before-painting version:

While the paint is drying, I take the padding that came with this issue, and apply it to the lower half of the corridors, so:

After the top half is ready, it gets a few bits of padding as well:

Now, I do a little bit of weathering (again with the muddy wash), and it's time to put these pieces toegether. IMPORTANT NOTE: the pegs up top of the doorways are not symmetrical: they have to go in a very particular way. So if your hallway halves don't want to get together, check that first you don't have to turn one or more of those suckers around. Anyway, when you got them together, they should look like this:

And a shot from the hold:

You might notice I removed the red/green wires on the left side of the doorway. That's because I'm going to put them back in later, threading them down the hall. I'm going to wait until I have the interior done so I know how far to go.

Pretty spiffy. There will be more later, it seems we get a fair whack of the interior of this thing.