Splashcoat
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2010
- Messages
- 421
Here are a few pics of my build-up of the DY-100 Class Interplanetary Cruiser, “Botany Bayâ€, from the original Star Trek Series episode “Space Seedâ€. The model represents the sleeper ship commandeered by Kahn Nonnian Singh and his cadre of genetically superior “supermen†following the Eugenics Wars on Earth in the late 1990s. This ship was later found adrift in space by the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
The model was produced in vacuformed plastic by Sci-Fi Spaceship Miniatures in the early ‘90s; the finished model is around 12†in length which I believe scales out to approximately 1/288 scale or so.
Unmodified, the kit is hopelessly inaccurate. Even when heavily modified some of the inaccuracies, such as the incorrect hull profile, would lead me to believe that it almost would have been easier to scratch build the whole thing to end up with a more accurate finished product. As more and more shortcomings began to present themselves, I decided to correct what I could, take a bit of artistic license with the rest and build something I could be happy with.
The hull, sail and engine components were built up from the kit parts but the cargo section slung under the main hull was totally rebuilt in sheet styrene. The edges of the kit parts were too soft and rounded looking – typical of vacuform.
I replaced the two wings on either side of the sail with airfoil-shaped brass tubing. This deviated from the design of the original ship a bit, but I think they look better than the simple triangles which the design calls for. I also replaced the solar panels with photo- etched engine vent covers from a 1/35 scale Panther detail set, they even had frames around them which accurately represented the original design.
I added some surface detailing using panels of thin sheet styrene, photo-etched brass and odds and ends from my spares box. The engine bells supplied in the kit are totally wrong so I replaced them with a taillight cover and oil pan from a 1/24 scale Jeep Grand Cherokee kit – not totally accurate, but they looked right.
After a coat of gray automotive primer, I preshaded the recessed areas to aid with weathering later on and then over coated the whole thing with Tamiya Deck Tan; the Deck Tan closely approximates the gray/beige colour of the studio miniature. Curiously, my photo flash brought out a lot of the gray tones when I photographed the model – much as the studio lights must have made the filming miniature appear grayer than it actually was.
The hull marking, “S.S. Botany Bayâ€, was applied using dry transfer lettering which I then lightly sanded to impart a weathered, faded appearance. The rest of the weathering was done by airbrushing streaks and blotches of darkened and lightened Deck Tan.
The model was produced in vacuformed plastic by Sci-Fi Spaceship Miniatures in the early ‘90s; the finished model is around 12†in length which I believe scales out to approximately 1/288 scale or so.
Unmodified, the kit is hopelessly inaccurate. Even when heavily modified some of the inaccuracies, such as the incorrect hull profile, would lead me to believe that it almost would have been easier to scratch build the whole thing to end up with a more accurate finished product. As more and more shortcomings began to present themselves, I decided to correct what I could, take a bit of artistic license with the rest and build something I could be happy with.
The hull, sail and engine components were built up from the kit parts but the cargo section slung under the main hull was totally rebuilt in sheet styrene. The edges of the kit parts were too soft and rounded looking – typical of vacuform.
I replaced the two wings on either side of the sail with airfoil-shaped brass tubing. This deviated from the design of the original ship a bit, but I think they look better than the simple triangles which the design calls for. I also replaced the solar panels with photo- etched engine vent covers from a 1/35 scale Panther detail set, they even had frames around them which accurately represented the original design.
I added some surface detailing using panels of thin sheet styrene, photo-etched brass and odds and ends from my spares box. The engine bells supplied in the kit are totally wrong so I replaced them with a taillight cover and oil pan from a 1/24 scale Jeep Grand Cherokee kit – not totally accurate, but they looked right.
After a coat of gray automotive primer, I preshaded the recessed areas to aid with weathering later on and then over coated the whole thing with Tamiya Deck Tan; the Deck Tan closely approximates the gray/beige colour of the studio miniature. Curiously, my photo flash brought out a lot of the gray tones when I photographed the model – much as the studio lights must have made the filming miniature appear grayer than it actually was.
The hull marking, “S.S. Botany Bayâ€, was applied using dry transfer lettering which I then lightly sanded to impart a weathered, faded appearance. The rest of the weathering was done by airbrushing streaks and blotches of darkened and lightened Deck Tan.
