Venus Or Bust!

COSMOSTRATOR by Pegasus Models
Built 2/2018
Painted 9/10/2018
Completed 11/7/2018

Another terrific, easy-build & paint (just silver from a rattle can) classic sci-fi spaceship, from the 1960 Crown-International Picture, First Spaceship on Venus. I admit, I've only watched the movie all the way through once - it's badly-dubbed from German, and all available prints look like crap - but I love the design of the Cosmostrator ship.

The base was hand-sculpted from Super Sculpey (no tools), baked, and painted over a few hours. I gave it a base coat of a greenish-black, then drybrushed lighter layers of green over that, finishing with highlights of "neon" green for an otherworldly look. Finished it off with some green sand from the dollar store. 

The Spirit Is Wailing

THE GHOST OF CASTEL-MARE by Monarch Models
Built 10/28/2018  
Painted 11/3/2018

"The Ghost of Castel-Mare" is one of a handful of terrific original kits released by Monarch Models during its few years of existence, intended as a companion kit to the classic Aurora "Prisoner of Castel-Mare." I'm a big fan of Monarch's line, so when I got the opportunity to pick this one up at a reasonable price, I couldn't resist.

The paint job is a little rough - as usual, I rushed it - but it turned out okay. It's not exactly how I had it pictured in my head (I wanted the Ghost to look more spectral), but I'm pretty pleased with the painted "glow" and lighting effects on the wall, which was all done with layer after layer of dry-brushing and washes with cheap craft paints from Michael's. No glow-in-the-dark paint was used - it's all just simulated.

 

Have Rocket - Will Travel

ROCKETSHIP X-M by Pegasus Models
Built 12/2017
Painted 9/10/2018
Base 10/31/2018

I bought this kit last Christmas as a gift for myself because Rocketship X-M is one of my favorite 1950s sci-fi movies, and I love its design. It was the first new model kit I'd built in a couple of years. 

A very simple kit, simple paint job - but technically the first spaceship model that I ever properly painted. Did a bit of putty & sanding on the seams, and a little black paint on the windows and rocket exhaust (which you can't see here.) 

The base was my first attempt at creating a custom base for a model kit. I sculpted it entirely by hand (no tools) from Super Sculpey, baked it, and painted it in a few hours. Because the movie has the ship landing on Mars (despite setting out for the Moon!), I went with a reddish-brown wash on the ground (with some faint black scorch marks under the X-M's exhaust), and added a little bit of scenic grass. 

I'm very pleased with how it all came out.

Glorious Black & White