The derelict primered today!
Hello! Welcome to another installment. More good progress was made, so let's get caught up on the newest section - the ship. This part is the "Kuksi" flavored interior of the huge egg chair.
First, I started with a rough frame based in foam. I wanted something that felt architectural in design, like a lot of the Kuksi stuff, but also a lot of early traditional ship models. If you look to the darker side of early science fiction, you will see many ships are based around a tower sort of design. The ALIEN mining vessel is a good example, and most other ships are simply a tower turned on it's side.
I started with symetry as a base and then started to tear into that. When I build things I like to make something solid and then tear back into it about 25%. This creates something that is more realistic and doesn't have the "Oh, that's a model" feel. When you do this it takes away the visual markings of a step by step process. I also do this with the rocks on the throne.
Here I start adding detail and more structure as I go. Again, doing a chunk of structure and then detail back and forth helps hide the steps. I do not simply build the whole thing and then do the detail work.
The center is my favorite part of the whole piece. For scale, those are 54mm miniatures.
Images from the net morning of additional structure I had added. The left side is a sort of radar tower, and the left a very mechanical cannon. I am very happy with how the right side cuts off visually into a very dirty and exposed mechanical section, a lot like how the Millennium Falcon or other ships would have missing sections of hull with exposed workings. The radar dish is an homage to all the traditional gothic looking spires of antennas we see on every single science fiction ship ever designed.
Added Mozart as some sort of strange hydraulic door. I don't claim to understand or have an ability to explain how this thing works, but I think that is one element to the magic of early ship designs - they didn't really either.
The right side comes into shape. Very happy with this side, I can hear mechanical beating of gears and steam as I work on it. It also has that weird cold war Soviet juxtaposition of "we are very proud and happy" with "soulless, dirty machines."
My living room is not happy with me, but it is nothing permanent! :) The "bridge" is shaping up.
Some finished shots pre-priming. Again for scale the miniatures are 54mm, and the hole in the front center gear is about a 60mm (dreadnought) base.
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And finally, a quick priming of gray. I am excited that the primer alone looks halfway decent, as it means the time I thought it would take to paint this will go down considerably.
I have also made a lot of progress on the throne, so watch for the next update!
