Assault Troop Transport

bottom aft starboard top front starboard top top port top starboard nude components
Return to
2009 Menu

I loved how Tim Mullins' Space Exploration and Research (SER) vessel BISHOP turned out in the BSG contest. Some parts were from airplanes, specifically, an F-101 Voodoo, so I decided I would try it, too. The airplane part I used was the bottom of an F-14. It seemed to perfectly fit the bottom of a CD cakebox. Add an electric razor half to the top and there's the front top of the ship!

I figured the bottom of the disk would have a lot of domes hanging down, but hey, wouldn't the other half of the razor look good here, too? Now, slide a measuring cup into the open end of the razor, and there's the bottom front!

The best part of of the Iron Modeler Contest at Wonderfest is that I get to kitbash spaceships the old fashioned way - By pawing through a whole bunch of parts which are conveniently dumped into one big pile. Much more convenient, though, is "Iron Modeler - The Home Game", where all the parts are in a series of boxes that have to be fetched, opened, searched, closed, and put-up. Ok, not so convenient, but this is the Home Game. Anyway, in my scrabbling I found a Klingon D-7 boom'n'bulb. And it seemed to fit the bottom nose of the F-14. Serendipity! And that's where it all started to fall apart.

What to put atop the Klingon parts? It has to be flat on one side, and wide enough to span the bulbs. Say, how about this telephone wallmount box? Great! But... How do I mount engines to this? Hmm... Maybe the whole ship is backwards. Yes! The big disk part is actually the backend! Leaving... The Klingon nose to be the same place it is on a Klingon ship. Guess we'll just have to leave it to the detailing to disquise it. Yeah, that'll work.

Now for painting. Let's do something different. Have a gray ship. Have a blue ship. Have a green ship. Say, I don't have a yellow ship yet! It's light, it's pretty, and I still have a bottle of Floquil Enamel (ideally suited to airbrushing). Need some contrasting color. Oh! Light green. Still more color... Oh! Rust red! Later... I like that! With just a hint of deja vu. Now, where have I seen those colors before? At least this one is yellower than orange.

This one also had a lot of deeply recessed areas so I thought to weather it the same way Jay Aidan said they did the Roger Young - With aerosol foamy hair dye. I remember from several years ago that this stuff dissolves Future floor wax, so decals have to go on after. No prob!

A few decals, smoke-streaks, drybrushed light-gray, clear flat: Done!