Saturday 26 October 2019

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Recently the horror channel has been showing the series Space 1999 from the beginning, as a child I loved this series, so have been watching all the episodes. When I watched them the first time round I had the model of the Eagle and the Hawk, sadly no more ! Although I'd probably be horrified at my earlier modelling and painting skills ! LOL
The other year Sarah and the children got me a new Eagle kit, so as I started to make it, I also started looking for reference pictures. This was when I noticed the kit wasn't 100 % right and put the bits in a box and left them while I tried to figure out what I would do.
Fast forward to starting to rewatch the series and I happened to notice the box on top of one of my piles of stuff, and thought let's do this !
Instead of changing the model physically I decided to use this as an opportunity to practice paint techniques instead, this still doesn't change the fact that the four landing pods aren't right but the model still has the iconic shape, and my OCD will just have to leave it alone.

Having never been a fan of transfers, I've painted all the patterns on instead, I will add the alpha symbols at a later date, once I purchase some micro sol to blend them in. I've also had a go at tromploy, which is the art of making a flat surface look 3 dimensional, quite pleased with how it turned out.
That's all for now, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

20 comments:

  1. A lovely piece of nostalgia, Dave. I enjoyed watching the series when it first aired, although I did like "UFO" more. I, too, had the Airfix Eagle and Hawk models. I have no idea what happened to them. As far as I know they could still be stored away at the back of a cupboard! I love how you have painted your new Eagle. Most impressive!

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    1. Thank you Bryan, I liked UFO too, and pretty much every sci-fi show that was on at the time, like Logan's Run, Blakes 7, Dr Who, Star Trek, although some don't look as good now ! LOL but all still great inspiration.
      Been experimenting with contrast paint, washes and detail lines, and as this was just for me a great place to experiment on

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  2. Which Eagle kit is it, the MPC,AMT, Academy, Imai or the Warp Models one?

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    1. It's the MPC one Phil, I know a couple of the others actually have the hollow framework around the front and back

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    2. It looks really faithful to the original show model. Well one of them, there were several versions and they are documented on the Starship Modeller site. Fond memories of running around the playground shooting people with my home made Space 1999 stun gun and flying my two Dinky Eagles into all sorts of dangerous situations.

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    3. Thank you Phil, I think some of my reference pictures came from the starship modeller site, remember the dinky toys fondly, although when my brother wasn't watching I would use his body with my crew pod so I had a proper all white eagle. OCD has a lot to answer for ! LOL

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  3. Always liked the eagle and it was a fun show,yours has turned out really nicely!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you Iain, it was a good show, and the eagle was one of those iconic ships that was instantly recognisable and had it's own distinct shape

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  4. Youve done a great job on this Dave, very subtle shade changes, looks smart.

    When you refer to tromploy is that the grey panels at either end of the main body of the thing?

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    1. Thank you John, played with the contrast paint and more traditional methods to get the tonal differences.
      Yes the tromploy refers to the the end panels above and below the centre fuselage either side of the cargo pod in the centre, the model has flat panels there but should have recessed sculpted details, so thought it would be a good opportunity to push my painting a bit further

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    2. Looking at what you've done I think it works well.

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  5. Wonderful Dave & brings back childhood memories :)

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    1. Thank you Frank, we should always keep that inner child alive ! Glad I could provide a happy trip down memory lane

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  6. Awesome stuff, Dave. I regularly watch "Space 1999" whilst I paint; albeit only episodes from the first season mind ;-) Btw, did you know that "Big Finish" have started a reboot of the series on audio?

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    1. Thank you Simon, I didn't know there was a reboot on audio, so thanks for the information, I had been following the Space 2099 reboot for a new TV series, but that went radio silent awhile back

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  7. What an absolute joy! Such an iconic ship and it has obviously come together nicely and beautifully painted.

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    1. Thank you Michael, indeed very iconic, you couldn't mistake an eagle with a Vyper or an X-Wing, this one was certainly better constructed than the first one I built ! LOL

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  8. Looks fab. My cousin had a diecast one of these as a kid. Would never let me touch it!

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    1. Thank you Simon, I've still got mine ! Rather mean your cousin not letting you play mate, if you ever end up at the studio, I'll dig out my die cast eagle for you to fulfil that gap in your childhood !

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