Author Topic: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk  (Read 24408 times)

Offline iain.j.grant

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Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« on: July 22, 2019, 10:53:35 PM »
So been a member for a while, but never had the guts to post anything I've made, I know I don't have the skills (or the tools) of most here, but I do have a big box of junk Airfix (mostly WWII tanks and planes) and a lot of filler.

So the initial Idea was to take the fuselage of a Mosquito:


Most of the wings of a Focke Wulf FW200:



The inspiration comes from the drop-ship from Aliens:


And I'm planning to finish it in Dazzle Camo, to hide all my mistakes.

Backstory to follow, but something like Firefly but with added space piracy.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2019, 08:03:01 AM by iain.j.grant »

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2019, 01:28:38 AM »
Let your Muse guide you towards your goal.  Good luck!
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2019, 01:36:45 AM »
Interesting.
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2019, 04:19:50 AM »
So, a quick trial fit of the wings, tape shows where I plan to cut them.


This gives some idea of the look I'm hoping for.



Choppy choppy.



and the first of, no doubt, many applications of filler to blend the wings a bit.

« Last Edit: July 24, 2019, 08:04:43 AM by iain.j.grant »

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2019, 04:41:03 AM »
A few ideas i decided not to go with. Firstly missiles on the ends of the wings:


Bonus points if anyone can tell me where that tail-plane comes from.


I also tried the wings upside-down, but decided that patching the holes for the landing gear was far more annoying than just putting landing gear in them.


I wanted to put jet exhausts behind the engines, but I decided that my skills weren't up to blending them and keeping them straight. these will have to be some kind on space-turbinetm that don't need exhausts...


Easier to see the difficulty from the front.

« Last Edit: July 24, 2019, 08:06:22 AM by iain.j.grant »

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2019, 08:00:20 AM »
That's a most imaginative concept! I think you're smart follow the old Dirty Harry maxim "A man's got to know his limitations."

That's also a most wonderful Hampden tailplane assembly you've got lurking in the background too.

I'd encourage you to post whatever you might be puttering (or puttying) around with. We welcome the work of modelers from all experience levels.

Personally, I find inspiration from all kinds of projects so it's always a treat to see a new build in the works.

I'm a huge "Aliens" fan so I'm going to enjoy following this one.

Brian da Basher
« Last Edit: July 23, 2019, 08:02:40 AM by Brian da Basher »

Offline Robomog

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2019, 04:20:36 PM »
you've set yourself up for some serious PSR there, but I'm intrigued as  to how this one is going to turn out !  :smiley:

Mog
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Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2019, 05:21:00 PM »
I'd like to see the ends of the wings rounded off to follow the contours of the nacelles. A bit more PSR, sure, but you already said you were up for a lot of that. ;)

Now, unless there's something else going to be added to the fuselage, I'd also say she looks a little anaemic. Not much bulk for carrying stuff in there. ???

Furthermore, if I was you, I'd say "It's my model & I'll build what I want to!" (possibly to the tune of a rather popular, in its day, Lesley Gore song) & tell me to bugger off. ;D

The camo idea is awesome! 8)
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #8 on: July 23, 2019, 07:04:40 PM »
I'd like to see the ends of the wings rounded off to follow the contours of the nacelles. A bit more PSR, sure, but you already said you were up for a lot of that. ;)

Now, unless there's something else going to be added to the fuselage, I'd also say she looks a little anaemic. Not much bulk for carrying stuff in there. ???

Mr Wombat you have read my mind, which, given the high regard I hold your builds in gives me great comfort, stay tuned, both these thinks will happen.

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #9 on: July 23, 2019, 07:07:47 PM »
a most wonderful Hampden tailplane assembly you've got lurking in the background too.

Thank you, now I know where all the bits of this chimera come from. :) I never liked the Mozzy tail for this build so that comes off next, the Hampden tailplane was loose in my bits-of-planes box.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2019, 08:09:12 AM by iain.j.grant »

Offline LemonJello

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2019, 08:55:40 PM »
A dropship, you say? Well, I'm interested and will be following along as you progress.


Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2019, 02:10:03 AM »
I'm liking the look so far.
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Kerick

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2019, 04:16:27 AM »
I’m not worried about your skills, they look quite up to the job! I’m really liking your imagination! This project will be fun to watch develop. Just don’t try to paint it white, prior experience gives me the willies thinking about it!

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2019, 05:09:18 AM »
Next instalment: underneath, mostly tank parts.


First I knocked up some landing gear from Panther wheels and Matilda Bogies. I wanted to suggest strength and weight.


and in place:


Next up to add bulk to the underside to make this look like it could carry cargo or maybe contain living quarters. I'll be using and cutting down the hull of the Matilda.


This will be utter ugly hackery I'm not proud of the next bit but it did work out in the end.

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #14 on: July 24, 2019, 07:58:42 AM »
So, hackery, first, chop off the back.



Then shorten the remainder.



Chop the top off both.



Now we face the problem that the top of this structure is flat and the bottom of the ship is anything but. Time for some CAD (Cardboard Aided Design, all credit to Project Binky).

First a template that more or less mirrors the contours of the underside, then trace the line on the front and back.



Then after a lot of trial fitting and what I can only call whittling we have this:



Which kinda, sorta fits, I'll worry about fine tuning, filling etc later on.


Next up some tail replacement surgery.

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #15 on: July 24, 2019, 08:11:56 AM »
Just don’t try to paint it white, prior experience gives me the willies thinking about it!

Just seen this. current plan is black on top with white triangles, white on the bottom with black triangles, but we shall see how it goes, all black is certainly more likely than all white and I might ditch the camo for a stealth look, we shall see.

Offline Kerick

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #16 on: July 24, 2019, 08:25:12 AM »
I shouldn’t project my problems with painting light colors onto anyone else.
Someone suggested grey primer followed by white primer. I’m on my phone right now so I’ll look it up ASAP on the computer since my memory sucks more each day. Then I can quote and credit properly.

Offline Kerick

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #17 on: July 24, 2019, 08:38:57 AM »
Figured out how to do it on the phone!

Old Wombat said, “For my money nothing beats a couple of coats of Tamiya Fine White Primer over a coat of Tamiya Fine Lt Grey Primer - may cost a bit more but the ease of use & result are worth it.

And I'm never going back to a hairy stick for yellow, orange or red, airbrush all the way!”

Offline ChernayaAkula

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #18 on: July 24, 2019, 11:35:10 AM »
<...> I do have a big box of junk Airfix (mostly WWII tanks and planes) and a lot of filler. <...>

And it looks like you're not afraid to use them!  :smiley: ;)

Those Matilda bogies do make excellent greeblies, I think.
Cheers,
Moritz

"The appropriate response to reality is to go insane!"

Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #19 on: July 24, 2019, 07:27:32 PM »
"one way elevator to hell.. going down"

Looking on keenly

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #20 on: July 25, 2019, 03:39:38 AM »
This reminds me a little of the Blohm & Voss P.184.01:


All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #21 on: July 25, 2019, 04:46:55 AM »
Tail time.

First we choppy choppy the top bit (rudder??)


Next chop the Mosquito fuselage where the diameter roughly matched the Hampden tail, yes I know it doesn't look it in this pic but I actually guesstimated right first time.


Some bits of sprue for strength, and it's only looking at this pic that I realise they are forcing the tail open, drat, might have to take that off and fix at a later date.


looking much better, very happy with this choice.


Next up, chopping the ends of the wings to try to match the curve of the engine nacelles.  :o

Offline iain.j.grant

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #22 on: July 25, 2019, 05:17:08 AM »
More hackery, wings this time.  I swear I am posting this because if I show you guys how rough it looks as I do it, I will have to finish the job, rather than abandon it when my ADHD loses interest so In can prove that I can, eventually, make something that looks good.

First the bottoms.


Then the tops.


A metric shit-tonne of filler, again, it look so much worse in the pic than in the flesh (it's still pretty bad though)


And here we sit, the engines are off because whoever originally built the Focke didn't put them on straight for some reason.


This was the point I was most convinced that I'd fucked the entire build. Luckily, after I did some sanding, it looked a lot better.

Next up I have a brilliant idea inspired by my fondness for the following aircraft and my desire to have some actual armament on this thing.





Things do not go quite as planned.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2019, 05:22:55 AM by iain.j.grant »

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #23 on: July 25, 2019, 03:10:36 PM »
Things do not go quite as planned.

When do they ever? ???
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Antonio Sobral

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Re: Dazzle Camo Dropship - Made of junk
« Reply #24 on: July 25, 2019, 05:45:17 PM »
Planning? What's that? :)

The overall shape is coming along nicely. Love the tail!