Back Inaction

We took a few days off last week to go to the beach (in St Joseph, MI,  just about 80 miles due east of here) with my brother’s and sister’s family.  We had perfect weather for staying in the water, too.  But four days gone means four days of orders and emails piling up …..

Today I received the first pull of the 1/72 Colonial Viper (original series) that Stargazer mastered.  There are some problems, most notably some overlap on the bottom part of the main fuselage piece that results in a ‘step’ all the way around.  Should take only a few moments with a sanding stick to take care of, but the caster is re-doing the mold anyway to fix the issue.  The other bits turned out great — no pits, bubbles or voids and only a slight amount of flash between the wheels of the landing gear.

Hopefully this puppy will be ready for sale next month.

Sound & Fury

Those were some storms that roared through here last night.  We had almost two hours of lightning crashing down all around with spurts of monsoon rain, though luckily we only lost power briefly.  I lay awake for a long time watching the fireworks and waiting to hear the thump of a tree branch crumpling the roof. Alas, the storm front didn’t bring any relief from the choking humidity we’ve endured.  It’s still so sultry you wish for gills when you have to go outside, and paint just won’t dry.

Not that it stopped me from laying down some paint last night, a coat of white enamel to cover the primed figures.  I just didn’t have the energy to work on the F-302 – I hate filling seams and though these aren’t bad, it’s still not a lot of fun.

Good news this morning:  the über secret special projeckt is coming along nicely.

Mixed Messages

I’ve seen this too often now for it to be a fluke.

 There’s a lot of new home construction going on around here - McMansions going up all over the place.  Each of these sites has a big ol’ dumpster sitting out front.  And everywhere I turn, seems these dumpsters have one face painted as the American flag.

Now, I ‘get’ the patriotic spirit.  But painting a flag on your trash can?  Just what message is that sending?  Do these folks stop to think past the rah-rah-go-USA-whoo! of the giant flag to what they’re symbolizing?

I jinxed myself with the F-302 by saying it was going smoothly.  It’s going to require lots more sanding and re-scribing than I anticipated.    Ah, well.  I was able to lay some primer down on other projects though - a couple figures that were not coming along as I wanted.  The great thing about acrylic paints is that some Simple Green and a toothbrush are all you need for a clean slate.

Books & Models

I don’t get a lot done on Fridays, and last night was no exception.  I fell asleep on the couch after dinner, waking just in time for the second showing of Dr Who on Sci-Fi.  I should have just stayed asleep; “Evolution of the Daleks” was an even bigger cliche-fest than “Daleks in Manhattan”, and the dialogue worse.  Not a highpoint for this series….

Having dashed my chances for a good night’s sleep, I picked up – and very nearly finished — “Flora Segunda” by Ysabeau Wilce last night. It’s set in the same nation/state, Califa, as the Hardhands/Tiny Doom short stories that have appeared in Asimov’s and F&SF, though at least a generation later. (It’s a completely standalone work; Hardhands, the pink pig and I think Tiny Doom do make cameos, but unless you have read some of the shorts you wouldn’t catch that).

I don’t know how to describe it. The narrator/protagonist is a 13 year old girl on a quest, and it’s a coming of age story, but it’s not really YA, at least not in the same vein as Harry Potter, though it’s certainly not as “mature” as “The Linaments of Gratified Desire”, which was in F&SF not too long ago.  It’s really … odd.  Military …. but no battles. And baroque. And funny … Ms Wilce has a very distinctive writing style and it’s a treat to read.

I hope she turns this into a series - I’m excited she’s at work on another book in the same setting.

I did manage to get a small amount of work done on the F-302  (1/72 scale, coming soon from Black Sun), gluing on the starboard wing and filling the landing gear bays with Aves so I can pose the thing “in-flight”.  I needed to pin both wings and fill with epoxy putty (KraftMark’s Pro-Create in this case). 

As originally mastered, the kit was to have had a one-piece fuselage and wings.  After discussing it with the first caster, I opted to make the wings separate and thus save on rubber for the molds.  After the patterns were returned, I carefully – and laboriously – sawed the port wing off.  Then my 3-year old knocked it off the counter and snapped the starboard wing clean off – d’oh!  Why didn’t I think of that? The master  was completely rescribed, and Terry helped out by fixing some incorrect detail, especially the dog-tooth leading edge of the wings.

Turns out that separating the wings was good for another reason.  As originally mastered, the downward angle of the outer wings was too shallow – not a lot, but noticeable.  Now it’s a relatively simple matter to get the right anhedral.

If I can maintain focus, it shouldn’t take long to fill the remain gaps, sand everything down and affix the rest of the parts.  Maybe I can even have it in primer by the end of the weekend….

The New Old Revell Viper

I saw a buildup of the first test shot of the forthcoming Revell Colonial Viper yesterday.  There are some rough spots – but that’s why you do test shots: so you can find the rough spots and eliminate them.  The biggest changes involve the cockpit the model has one now!)  and the engines.
 
The cockpit is patterned after the full sized cockpit set, and what’s in there now is based on a slew of photographs they were able to get.  The new cockpit is a one piece tub with holes in the floor for the pilot’s legs (as on the original) and a “roll-over” pylon behind his head.   It’s spartan – just a few banks of switches and a clear screen.  There’s no separate seat for the pilot (like an ejection seat in a modern jet).  Instead, the pilot sits on a raised platform that looks for all the world like a restaurant booth … which is accurate to the original cockpit set, if not terribly sexy.  The back is non-descript now, but I’m told it will be textured to replicate the canvas-covered look of the original.
 
I was really surprised by the simplicity of the cockpit.  I have booth MMI and Moonbase Viper cockpit upgrade sets for previous issues of this kit, and they are nothing at all like what’s in plastic for the first time.  The resin sets are pretty similar, with black boxes and widgets that line the front and sides of the cockpit tub and a separate seatback. In both sets, the control stick is much smaller than what Revell have in the new issue.
 
Does the new Revell tooling accurately reflect the original cockpit?  Having only ever seen the TV show, I can’t tell you.  I’m told that Revell had access to piles of photographs from the sets (cockpit and full-sized Viper mockup) as well as photos of the  filming miniatures.  None of the three things appear to be consistent across all details.  I’ll give Revell the benefit of the doubt here.  And – if the simplicity of the kit parts isn’t your cup of tea, it’s easy to add more detail, whether by scratchbuilding or MMI’s brass set.
 
The pilot figure comes in several  pieces; body and helmeted head I know are separate, and one of the arms may be as well.  The head/helmet fits down over a post on the torso, so you have some poseability options (looking straight ahead, over the shoulder, etc).  The first iteration of the figure looks scrawny.  I’m told that this is being addressed and the next test shot should have better proportions.  Otherwise, the uniform and equipment appear correct, and the detailing is fairly nice.  I’m told the decal sheet will have patches for the figures arm as well.
 
On to the engines.

The back of the kit has been completely redone, as you can see in this picture.  Gone are the bowl-shaped exhausts.  Instead, you get “pipes” with clear and grey plastic inserts, to aid with lighting.  The greeblied rear bulkhead is all new as well.  These more closely resemble the hero filming miniature (as opposed to the full-sized mockup).
 
There are a few other tweaks as well.  The cockpit canopy is still in one piece but it’s all clear now.  The first test shot was kind of cloudy, but that’s common with test shots.  I’ve never had a Monogram/Revell kit with clear parts that weren’t crystal clear, so I have no worries about the final release.  The areas that are supposed to be painted on the piece will have a frosted texture, as an aid to painting.  The kit will have an all new base.  To facilitate this, the old triangular divot is gone, replaced with a circular hole.  And speaking of holes, the hole in the front/nose intake (where the rubber band-powered missiles shot out in the very first issue of the kit) is supposed to be filled.  Lastly, they’re doing some tweaks all around to improve fit – especially on the underside where the nose and engine sections meet.
 
I’m told the decal sheet will be all new as well.  It will provide striping and markings for the Vipers as seen in the original show – including the Silver Spar “winged sword” logo for Pegasus’ fighters.  It will also include various markings in the style of the new Galactica series so you can “backdate” the model as a Viper Mk 1 from the First Cylon War. 

 So …. all-in-all, it looks like the ‘remodelling’ of the classic 70’s kit is going to provide a winner.  I can’t wait to see the next test shots!