I started working on an old Halcyon “Aliens” Dropship that I’ve had in my closet since 1992 or '93. I was thumbing though the Dec. issue of FSM and it inspired me to get back in the game…I built my last model when I was 16. I’m 30 now!
Anyways, I’ve taken a few pics to document my progress:
Here’s the beginning:
I decided to fill in the panel lines because the Dropship in the film really doesn’t have that kind of detail:
Here it is after the first round of sanding. I filled in the lines on the stabs later:
The speed brakes the kit provides are too “fat” so I cut out my own from thin sheets of styrene:
Here they are attached to the fuselage:
I liked the idea of filling in the spaces on the pod arms with styrene sheets:
The cockpit wasn’t very detailed and I’m not really patient enough to super detail a 1/72 cockpit but I added a few things to spruce it up a bit. I filed down the chairs a bit, made seatbelts out of masking tape, made ejection handles out of sewing thread, and added the rear vertical wall behind the co-pilot’s chair. I gave it a little wash to make it a bit dirtier:
The kit’s rear landing strut wasn’t very accurate so I made several mods to it. I referenced the movie as best I could:
I decided to paint and mask the red and white panel lines. My decals are 15+ years old and the sheet they are on has “yellowed” pretty bad. I figure the painted lines might look better, anyways:
Like the modeler in the Dec. issue I decided to use my own weapons to make the kit a little more realistic. Yeah, I know…they probably didn’t have Mavericks. But it looks cool.
Here are a few more pics. They are out of order but I don’t think anyone cares.
The cockpit assembly didn’t fit well at all. Either it fit snug on the top of the fuselage or the bottom…not both. So I chose to make it snug on top and do some serious filling and sanding on the bottom:
I was able to make it fit snugly on the top part of the fuselage but it still required some sanding and filling:
I had to make my own gear doors:
The kit wanted the rear skid “bay” to look like this…:
…but I cut the piece included in the kit…:
…and made like this in reference to the film:
I also touched up the rear strut leg and modified it to look more like an Oleo strut using styrene tubing:
Ever since Ive seen the movie, Ive loved the dropship and the APC. What scale is that? Sorry if you already said, but in the movie it seemed huge compared to the people. Nice work, cant wait to see it finished!
Very cool craft!! The Dropship was pretty rough and battle worn in the movie and this can be duplicated with paint tinting, heavy weathering and washes. This will probably look better than a lot of overscale panel lines in 1:72 scale.
There WAS an old issue that showed a build of this model…we’re talking about back in the late 80’s-90’s. If you can find it it might help. If not, you are doing a great job and I cant wait to see the progress!
I cut out a little piece of “flattened” sprue and made this probe:
Here it is with the first coat of olive drab paint. I used Tamyia acryllic paint thinned 3:1:
I painted a grey primer coat on it first looking for flaws but I still missed a few spots that needed to be smoothed out after the first coat of OD:
/ / Here it is with the second coat of OD. I think I was holding my airbrush too far away because the paint had a real “dusty” texture to it. I buffed it out with an old cotton cloth and applied another coat of paint. Maybe someone could advise me on this?
This time I held the airbrush a little closer to the model which resulted in a smoother finish. There’s still a couple of spots that need to be evened out, though:
I filed down the ends of some clear sprue sticks, cut off the tips, and dipped them into Future to make landing light lenses:
I also attached the skids to the struts. The rear skid/strut was modified heavily. Here you can see I used styrene tubing to create a more realistic piston look:
…and I added some thead to create some hydraulic lines:
The rear pod arms supplied with the kit come with wedges to be glued on the end of the arm where it attaches to the fuselage. When attached it would be at this angle:
…but I filed down the “wedges” so that the arms weren’t so steep, like the movie version:
Well, I’ve given it a third coat of OD and I’ve removed the masking. I figure I can do minor touch-ups without screwing of the overall finish:
I also decided to paint the ramp in case I ever get the 1/72 APC:
This is where I’m at now. I just touched up some various little mistakes in the red and white lines and gave it a coat of Future in preparation for decals and to protect the finish. I still have to paint the skids and struts, mount the forward pods, attach the thrust nozzles, and weather and wash it. Hopefully it’ll be done in the next week or two.
Thanks. I started this on Jan 1st and I’ve been working on it non stop until today (I’ve been on vacation). Unfortunately I have to go back to work so that will slow things down, although, most of the hard stuff is finished.
I’m gonna be gone for a couple of days so I figure I’ll put a thicker coat of future on it. When I get back it’ll be totally dry and I’ll have avoided the temptation of playing with it while it’s curing.
I need to weather those panel lines down a bit so they are not so bright.
If I had to guess right now I’d say that I’ve invested around 60 hours into it +/- 10 hours. We’re looking at about an average of 4-5 hours per day for about 14 days. And it’s still not finished!
I probably have another 15-20 hours left. Maybe less?
I glued on all remaining parts, except for the landing lights/lenses and applied the decals. I applied a couple of coats of Future before applying the decals which is why it looks shiny. I don’t think that I did very well with the Future. The texture was a bit grainy. These photos were taken right after I put the decals on so many of them haven’t “set” yet:
Here’s the rear skid completed and painted. The flash on the camera makes the silver pistons difficult to see:
Almost done! All I need to do now is oil wash the rear pods, dull coat it, weather it, and attach the landing lights.
On that pebbly Future texture: I have used Future and not had this problem yet, but I have read on other forums of a possible fix. You can try spraying a very light “flash” coat of Windex on the model. The ammonia in the Windex will cause the Future to soften just enough to level out and stay glossy and smooth. Can’t vouch for it on experience but it sounds good.
Like just about every finish applied by airbrush, Future is best applied “thinned” with a 50/50 thinner of ammonia/water. Experiment a little with this to get the feel for it. Also, in todays rush towards acrylics and Future gloss coats, dont forget the old tried and true enamels, probably best represented by Testors Model Master line of paint.
Their gloss enamel gives good results and is easily thinned with mineral spirit.
About the Future…I did try thinning it 3:1 with 91% Alcohol and I ran it at about 25-30 PSI. I think the regulator on my compressor is shot, though, becuase the PSI fluctuatated alot. I definitely should have experimented on an old model first.
I cut out a piece of cotton cloth an sprayed Windex and a little water on it to dilute it out a bit. Then I “buffed” out the areas that looked the worst…but that was before the decals. Can I spay the windex on it now without destroying the decals? Will dullcoat hide the grainyness?
Can I spray the Windex on it now without destroying the decals?
I wouldnt risk it.
Will dullcoat hide the grainyness?
Yes, to some degree. I am finally convinced of the value of a pressure surge/buffer tank on an airbrush air source. For the longest time I used an oiless flapper type compressor, hoping the large regulator/water trap would do the job. It doesn’t it well enough, IMHO. I am on the prowel now, in fact, for a vessel I can use as a tank.
DO consider using an enamel gloss coat next time, too.
