Flashback '78: The Long Patrol

COLONIAL VIPER by Monogram
Built: 1978

This is the first of several posts where I'll show off some of my few surviving spaceship models from my childhood. This dusty Battlestar Galactica Viper is a vintage Monogram kit, built when I was a sci-fi loving lad of only 15 years-old.

I always had trouble with cement and decals back then (and, in truth, I haven't yet tackled decals with any of my new builds yet, either). When applying the red stripes, the decals tore, so I decided to justify the mistake by making the fighter look extensively battle-damaged.  This was accomplished with some clumsy drybrush and washes, and when I was dissatisfied with those results, I actually took a Bic lighter to it!

You can see a few spots where I held the flame too long against the model, causing the styrene to melt (ah, such fumes!).

I have purchased the more recent and much more accurate Viper kit from Moebius Models, though it remains in its box in my stash until I feel that my skills have improved enough to tackle it. 

Before I take photos of any of my other vintage builds, I'll try and dust them off a bit!

The Kind From Up There!

FLYING SAUCER by Polar Lights
Built 7/21/2019
Painted 7/27/2019

My second flying saucer build in one week! This kit is a repop of a vintage 1950s Lindberg model - the first ever U.F.O. plastic kit - that has been reissued dozens of times over the last sixty years from numerous companies, including Glencoe, Atlantis, and now, Polar Lights, as a tie-in edition with Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space. Wood used several of the original Lindberg kits in that notorious film, so there is a legitimate connection.

I chose not to build it as it appeared in Plan 9 (minus the rocket motors and a painted-over dome), but as it was originally intended to be built.

Another simple build, with only a few parts, and most of the paint applied with a simple rattle can. I had originally intended for a shinier "chrome" finish, but the paint I bought - labeled as "Chrome" - was actually more of a matte finish than I hoped for, so after it dried, I hit it with a few coats of clear gloss. It's still not what I intended, but I'm satisfied with it.

The little green alien pilot and cockpit details were hand-painted.

The Saucer

THE INVADERS U.F.O. by Atlantis Models
Built & Painted 7/24/2019

"The Invaders: alien beings from a dying planet. Their destination: the Earth. Their purpose: to make it their world. David Vincent has seen them...."

This is my second attempt at building this Atlantis Models repop of the original, Sixties Aurora Invaders UFO model kit. I received one a year or so ago, but some of the pieces were damaged and my attempt at painting it went disastrously wrong!  So I used some birthday money to order a second kit, and tried again, with much better results.

Essentially it was a "one day" build - it came together quickly, mostly because I chose not to construct and paint the interior control room. Aside from not being great at fine detail paint work, I wouldn't display it open anyway. Instead, I built a custom "desert landing" diorama, inspired by the second season episode, "The Saucer."

The saucer was sprayed with a flat coat of Tamiya Aluminum (I didn't want it too shiny) with the
"fusion core" and other details on the underside of the model painted with my usual, cheap craft paints.

I sculpted the base from Super Sculpey, baked it, glued some sand down on it for texture, then primed it and painted it. Tufts of grass were added, and voila -- the foothills around Vasquez Rocks!

Mean Green Mother

GORGO by Monarch Models
Built 1/7/2018
Painted 7/19/2019

"One of London's oldest landmarks smashed like matchwood! Nothing has stopped this beast so far, nothing!"

This one's been sitting on the shelf waiting for me to finish it for a long time! Another excellent kit from the deeply-missed Monarch Models, Gorgo - from the 1961 film of the same name - went together fairly easily, though I screwed up and had to use some putty to fill a gap on her head. I also did a little putty work on her neck/chest as the model had an indent there that looked odd to me.

Very basic paint job - just a flat dark green base, with various shades of lighter greens dry-brushed over that. Finally, a dark wash to bring out some of the surface details. After I was done, it occurred to me to check the movie on Blu-ray and it turned out that Mama Gorgo - like Godzilla - is actually a charcoal gray in color, not green. Oh well... let's just say that I painted her like the Charlton Comics version!

The Golden Voyager

SINBAD by Monarch Models
Built 1/18/2018
Painted 7/2019

"Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel!"

 One of my all-time favorite figures from fiction is the Arabian Nights' Sinbad the Sailor. This terrific and exquisitely-designed kit from the late, lamented Monarch Models - clearly "inspired" by John Phillip Law's portrayal of the character in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad - was a joy to build. Like all Monarch kits, it went together easily and smoothly. I put off painting it for a long time as I was, quite frankly, concerned that I'd mess it up.

As it turned out, it's not exactly how I wanted it to look, but, being only my second "human" figure kit, it's not terrible. I definitely used the wrong paint on his shirt, though; it was too glossy, and trying to mute it with a gray wash didn't work so well.

I put an awful lot of extra work into the diorama base. The "ferns" didn't come with the kit; I bought some cheap little plastic palm trees, stripped off the leaves, and added them to the base. I feel it gives a little more life to the scene.

The kit came with several details I chose not to use, such as a tropical lizard on a branch, a severed monster arm, and a tarantula. I intended to use the spider, but after my other modifications, it was unnecessary... and a bit excessive. Instead of the monster arm, I took a leftover skull from another kit, had my sculptress wife add horns and fangs to it, and used it to dress up the base instead.