A club member builds science fiction commission builds for customers around the world.
His area of interest & expertise is the desire to build studio models exactly like they did ‘back in the day’
The T.V. show 'Space1999’ is his main focus.
Trust me its not easy nor cheep to construct a space ship part for part as they did in the late 70’s early 80’s.
A project would be commissioned, the builder(s) would clean out a hobby store of kits & go to work. Now this is the costly part, many kits are vintage & command a high price online as collectables. Some have not been produced in decades or molds have been changed / modernized.
The kits in stock at the LHS were what was used by the studio builders back then. He stocks a lot of German heavy mortars ‘Anzio Annie’ and Tamiya vintage motorized Chieftain tanks. Used just for the lower hull & motorization to build into a Space 1999 moon buggy.
Here is some pictures of his stash, location parts unknown:
I have seen many hobby stores with less kits! Both in Halifax would not equal this room full of Styrene!
Needless to say his Mrs. does not venture there, nor would she dare!
Well. That’s one way around the $229 kit price question. You just make kit building your profession. I’m not skilled enough ever to think of doing that, but I admire anyone with those professional skills.
If building models is his job, what does he do for a hobby?
I never really got into 1999 but I’ve found it entertaining to look at the models from Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica and spot which kits were used to kitbash the ships. Or check out Starcrash, looks like in some cases the model makers just glued the whole darn spue to the ship parts and all!
As much as I like the new CGI stuff it’s just not the same. [:'(]
Yes I have seen close-ups of some sprues with associated parts attached to studio models.
‘The horror…the horror’
Viewed said close-ups taken of original studio models to help ‘Parts map’ which parts were used & where.
Did successfully identify the rocket motors on a shuttle that were the bases of rail gun shells. I knew this as ‘in progress’ I have a 1/144 scale Dora & a 1/144 scale Thor heavy mortar.
The original builders used 1/35 scale ‘Anzio Annie’ parts yet the distinctive ‘flower pattern’ was unmistakably WWII German heavy shells.
Next time I am over will ask if possible to photograph some of his Space 1999 work to post here.
( 5th photo from bottom: " large resin kit " next to the -LP record albums? )
Excellent work !
Is the build complete?
I only ask because the pods on the front “wings” look flatter in front compared to photos I’ve seen and I seem to recall an additional brace on top of the crew pod. Every other small detail of the ship is complete.
Will the Mk 9 Hawk be painted Orange / White or Just a white finish coat?
Superb work!
Is the Eagle built using some kit parts or entirely scratch built?
The Mk 9 Hawk is about 2 feet long, I believe there is more work to be done. The paint will match the studio model’s original.
The Eagle is a resin kit. James made a master for the small ‘piggy-back’ space craft and a master for heavy lift boost rockets seen on a few episodes of ‘Space 1999’
Twice in one week ( the other being the Dark Star kit Danegeld was showing off ) something’s popped up here that I thought no one else remembered, let alone wanted to do a model of!
