March 2014 Art Challenge -- Albertese

Discussion in 'Fan Art' started by Albertese, Mar 16, 2014.

  1. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    Portland, OR
    For my project this month, I will be making a prop that I figure should have existed in TOS. This is desktop model of Kirk's first command, mentioned in the writer's guide parts of The Making of Star Trek. It's a destroyer type vessel, but I'm approaching the design as if I'm a prop builder for the show in 1967. So, I'm ignoring all Trek that occured later than that. So No FJ Tech manual. No Trek movies. No spin-off shows or animated series. Just making some set dressing that might have been made using materials that could have been had in '67.

    Now, I'm cheating a little as the kits I have avilable are not all vintage. The 18" AMT Enterprise I'm using is the current repop, and you can see I've lowered the "B-C" deck area to lose the high straight wall effect on the current kit and and make it look a bit more like the 1967 kit. Also I've lowered the bridge dome quite a bit. My intent is that this ship is a much smaller vessel than Enterprise, there fore, the idea is that the whole superstructure is the bridge, rather than just the top bubble part. And I've added another smaller dome to be a turbolift terminal.

    Also, I'm making impulse engines out of the guns for a model of the battleship Missouri. Now, this donor kit was originally tooled in 1954, so These particular parts would have been available in '67.


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    These will be the warp engines. They are converted from a model of a P-61 Black Widow. Now, the kit was tooled in 1974, so again, it's a bit of a cheat. But the aircraft was from WWII so I assume a kit of it probably existed somewhere in those days. I had to cut off the wings from the engine nacelles and glued in some stacked up sheet styrene to fill the whole. The front domes are taken from the same Enterprise kit the saucer comes from, and the whole surface was liberally treated with a few applications of Squadron Green putty.

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    I'm doing this a lot quicker and dirtier than I usually approach model-building, as I want to A) finish it before the end of the month and B) simulate the tight production schedule of a TV show. After all, if this is just dressing meant to decorate Kirk's cabin and will never be a featured item, shortcuts can be taken.

    Thanks for looking!

    --Alex
     
  2. DFScott

    DFScott Captain Captain

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    Indianapolis, IN
    I absolutely adore this, Albertese! I love that you're giving yourself challenging constraints, like staying within the '60s design motif and sticking with ingredients the show's prop designers would have had at the time. (Hey, they made the Constellation out of an AMT kit, so no, you're not cheating at all.)

    And I wanted to see some real-world sculpting and modeling, because I genuinely believe that hands are the artist's greatest tools. I'll keep checking back, but please do post some progress updates when you can.

    DF "We Shall Commence Bidding on Item #2701: The Original Ship Model Seen on Capt. Kirk's Desktop in Season 4..." Scott
     
  3. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    Thanks, DFScott!

    So here's a bit of progress. I've assembled the engines together along with the neck, which is made of the upper wings of the P-61. I'm going to blend these parts together with putty. And there will be a brass tube running through the neck to accept the stand. I'm fairly happy with the surface of the plane engines.

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    Here's a quick idea of how the saucer will attach. It's fun to see this thing taking shape.

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    Since this is a destroyer, and I want to break up the Enterprise lines a bit, I'm thinking of mounting some of the smaller flak guns from the Missouri on the saucer. I know it would depart from the Trek esthetic we're all used to, though the look wouldn't be too far removed from the guns on the Kelvin...

    Any opinions?

    --Alex
     
  4. blssdwlf

    blssdwlf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Nice progress Alex, I like where you're taking it.
     
  5. Herkimer Jitty

    Herkimer Jitty Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well since it's supposed to be set dressing and not an on-screen ship, I say go for it. The sky's the limit. Put 4 nacelles on it. Paint it gold. Whatever floats your boat.
     
  6. DFScott

    DFScott Captain Captain

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    Well keep in mind, Albertese, that the "Trek aesthetic" to which you refer was drilled into our heads over the first three seasons, though there's plenty of evidence to suggest that it hadn't yet gelled until then. (Case in point: the rocket fire behind the ship as depicted on the "Star Trek 1" cover, and several subsequent ones.) If you'd been an artist on the show, and you'd mounted flak guns on a ship model behind Kirk's chair in his quarters, then those flak guns would be part of the "Trek aesthetic," and the absence of them would raise eyebrows in circles like these. I'm much more interested in your interpretation of what that aesthetic might have been -- how would a different artist have taken the direction of the Trek aesthetic?

    In short, go to town with it!

    DF "Red Alert, Mr. Chekov! Raise the Gun Turrets!" Scott
     
  7. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    You guys are right. I went ahead and mounted up the guns. They are mounted on little rings sliced off of a styrene tube to make them look like the can actually be aimed.

    I measured out the distance to make sure they are evenly spaced. I roughly sketched the places the markings will go, to make sure the guns wouldn't get in the way.

    You can also see that I made a new sensor dome out of a section of a ping pong ball.

    [​IMG]


    Not pictured is the engine carriage. I discovered I had glued on the neck at the wrong angle. Off by a few degrees, but it was pretty grossly obvious. So I broke it off and glued it back on straight. Now I have to re-putty everything.

    --Alex
     
  8. BK613

    BK613 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
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    nice. i like it.

    any thoughts on using the black widow's canopy to change the sensor dome to suggest more capability(destroyers often being the 'eyes' of the fleet)? Or maybe a stepped down superstructure in front of the main superstructure, echoing the cockpit setup on the black widow?
     
  9. B.J.

    B.J. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Looks good! I love where you put the turbolift bump - that's where I'd put one on a model of the Enterprise to match the interior shots! :devil:
     
  10. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    Interesting idea... Looking over the kits parts, I don't think that's gonna be practical. However, it does give me another idea.

    The P-61's upper turret reminds me of the shape of the B-C deck gondola. I'm going to try seeing if it would make for a good torpedo launcher assembly under the saucer in front of the lower dome on the saucer.

    --Alex
     
  11. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    So, here's what I was talking about. This is the upper gun housing from the P-61. I thought it would work well as a torpedo launcher.


    [​IMG]

    --Alex
     
  12. blssdwlf

    blssdwlf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yes it does look good as a torpedo launcher :)
     
  13. Kaiser

    Kaiser Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    very much so :)
     
  14. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    Portland, OR
    So, I ended up helping out some friends with a remodeling project this weekend, so I lost quite a bit of time that I had hoped to put on this project.

    I think I've been too focused on getting the seams smooth. I suppose that guys making the prop for the show probably wouldn't put quite so much attention to the seams on this sorta thing.

    I did manage to get the final assembly done. Here's the clamps around the saucer. Believe it or not, I originally bought all these 1" spring clamps expressly for cementing together saucer sections. I don't break them out as much as I'd like to.

    I also added a couple rectangles of scrap plastic to represent hatches to the shuttlebays.

    [​IMG]



    --Alex
     
  15. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    Really enjoying this build. Great concept and self-imposed "ground rules". Thinkin' I might do a 3-view schematic of it once you're done, with your permission.
     
  16. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    Wow, cool! I consider it high praise when someone else wants to run with my idea! By all means, I'd love to see your drawings of it!

    In fact, working on this thing as an actual post-TNG fan of "trek-nology" I keep finding myself breaking my 1960s prop-fabricator mindset and I'm imagining what's inside this bird. I have the seeds of a whole tech manual in my brain, but I welcome another creative person's take on things also!

    --Alex
     
  17. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    Final assembly is done and the primer is dry! Over all, I'm fairly happy how this is turning out. Have a looksie:


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    Now I have to paint it and decal it and make a W.M. Jefferies-worthy display stand.

    For the markings, I'm going to limit myself to what could have been cannibalized from the vintage AMT decal sheet and old-school dry-transfer lettering.

    On that note... I have found a scan of an old decal sheet, which I'll have to clean up by tracing it with some vector art... but I seem to recall someone has done this already... would any of you guys be able to link me towards someone who has already done this to save me a bit of time? If not, my Friday evening is open and I can probably power through it on my own then...

    Thanks for looking!

    --Alex
     
  18. Kaiser

    Kaiser Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Shes looking good :)
     
  19. blssdwlf

    blssdwlf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Looking very solid Alex! Might I suggest NOC-10011 ? :D
     
  20. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    Portland, OR
    Today there was little enough work in the lab that I got to take the day off. I was able to paint up the model.


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    I also got started on designing the decals. I was able to find the cleaned up decal image I was looking for. Occasional poster on this board, Shaw, made the image I'm modifying. I went on a lengthy hunt to find it, finally landing on a thread he had going on federation reference. So, my thanks to him for having posted that image. I probably won't actually do any decals til tomorrow.

    Also, I have to make the display stand. That, I will start working on after I get a bite of dinner.

    --Alex