Foundry SS Forrest

Yes, there is one in the original series, and it was lovingly recreated in the new series. I started off like always wanting to recreate it, but with shapes the original modelers never had. And letting the parts fit themselves as much as possible.

It started with two ostensibly empty Canon toner cartridges. After a lot of disassembly and washing they still weren't entirely empty. But washing them gave me a chance to explore all their surfaces and decide how to use them. With just a little bit of sanding my choice of arrangement - base to base - left the least-believable part towards the center, where, serendipitously, an old CD retail container made an interesting frame over the top. I'll only need a little plating to cover the ugly bits.

The frame hung over the back just enough to slip in a CD cakebox. Initially I was going to place a car speaker rim above the end, but the cakebox was just too good a fit not to use. And atop that a watch container was just the right width. I was going to make the two sides the same lingth, but decided to just put it on as is, and later add something to the side to make it balance. Flanking the bottom of the cakebox are two box shapes, spare parts from the toner cartridges. I meant for these to be engine covers, and two tape dispensers added interesting bases for the engines. Atop the tape dispensers are compact makeup containers, just the right size. The center engine is a plastic airline-sized Bourbon bottle. And the tape dispensers stuck out just enough to leave room for a Celestra-esque horizontal tube. This thing's just flying together! Below the main hull another smaller toner cartridge helps fill the bottom of the cakebox. The only major component left is the bridge at the top of the watch container. From here on it it's just details and covering-up parts of the toner cartridges.

And here it bogs down, delaying completion until well after deadline for the Starshipmodeler BSG Contest. Detailing is fun when the ship is so large you can use just about every part of a donor model kit. But it all still takes... Too long.

Painting: Gray primer to even-out the myriad colors of the donor parts. Airbrushed black in all the nooks and crannies the gray failed to go. White. Yellow for some color. Tiny decals to make the ship seem larger. Future Floor Wax with a touch of black ink oversprayed to settle into the cracks and give the ship some depth. Well, that was the plan. The ship's too big and there's just too much detail. There is no "settling". Everything gets darkened, with the heaviest on the most exposed - The exact opposite of what should happen. And the ship's too big for dry-brushed white.

Bottom line: I spent way too long creating a background ship that can't stand close-ups. Live and learn.