Casualties of time

My "attic archive" consists of 45 models and contains all models I made before my 10-year break.
I have pictures of all of them, which you can find here.

Two more models deserve being mentioned, though. They did not survive the last move and, unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of them :

Kamov Ka-50
A Russian attack-helicopter, who's most prominent feature is 2 contra-rotating rotors on top of each other.

Apollo 11's landing module "Eagle"
This one had a very brittle landing gear, which had been repaired many times, before I decided to put it to it's permanent grave. One day, I'll probably build another one.

May they both rest in pieces.

One more from the attic

The biggest model I ever built (about 14 years ago) was the I.S.S. (International Space Station). It's not in my own attic, since it's a too big to move easily. During a holiday visit to my parents, I finally thought of taking pictures of it.

The solar panels are not yet glued on (paint needs to be scraped off of the connector pins first) and two of them can no longer be attached. Some stuff has broken off and a whole part of it is missing (about the size of three Soyuz-modules). The paintjob is far from wonderful and this is from before the period where I had learned to glue before painting. (one of the reasons stuff has fallen off)

It may not be a masterpiece, but I spend so many weeks on it, that I'm considering trying to repair it completely. But first, I need to fix my workroom in the attic to make room for it.

Treasure hunt - Part 4

After unpacking the 3rd box, I realized I had yet to find any of my more "normal" models, i.e. the airplanes I put together before I switched to Scifi. Some more digging in the attic revealed a fourth, smaller box, bringing the total number of models to 44.

B-26 Marauder.

F-82 Twin Mustang, with extra fuel tank.

2 F16's, with a weapon rack containing all left-over armament from various kits.

F-117A "Nighhawk", my very first model ever.

F-15 "Eagle".

F-14A "Tomcat", used mainly on carriers, with  variable-sweep wings for normal flight or landing approach.

YF-22 "Raptor" prototype.

RAF Tornado, also starring variable-sweep wings.

B-2 "Flying wing" stealth bomber

YF-23 "Gray ghost", one of two prototypes. The USAF ultimately went with the YF-22.

Treasure hunt - Part 3

The third box is the largest and contains 15 Star Trek models and 1 rocket. The last remaining ST model was on top of the wardrobe, since it's too big to fit together with the others. (total number of models is now 33).

Klingon Vor'cha class attack cruiser. Together with the Enterprise-D, my first Star Trek models. I don't think I modeled anything non-scifi since, but that should change now. 

Runabout "Rio Grande" from Deep Space 9.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B.

Kazon torpedo, used to puncture the hull of a ship, then board it using the forward hatch.

Cardassian Galor class warship.

USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-E, as seen in Star Trek VIII - First contact.

Kazon raider.

Klingon Bird-of-Prey.

Star Trek "Adversary set". Romulan warbird, Klingon mini-Bird-of-Prey and a Ferengi marauder.

USS Defiant.

USS Enterprise, NCC-1701 (the original), with several cut-away sections.

USS Voyager.

Maquis raider, Peregrine class.

USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D. The saucer can be seperated from the drive section, as seen in the pilot episode of The Next Generation.

Klingon K'Tinga class battlecruiser.

The Deep Space 9 station.

A V2/A4 rocket.

Treasure hunt - Part 2

Box 2 contained my Star Wars models (and 1 stray Star Trek), bringing the number of uncovered models so far to 16. One box remaining, but I kept the biggest for last.

The infamous Millennium Falcon. 

I got this kit at an airshow and it was my first Star Wars kit. The cut-away section is a very nice detail.

Darth Vader's Tie fighter.

An "AT-AT" (All Terrain Armoured Transport). The box comes with 2 snowspeeders and rebel base turrets, so it's just begging to be put in a diorama. (Would be fairly easy, since it's snow all around).

Luke Skywalker's X-Wing. 

The wings can fold together for hyperspace jumps or as portrayed for attack mode.

Shuttle Tydirium, used to transport Darth Vader. The "wings" fold up and the cockpit rolls away to make place for the walking plank, with Darth Vader at the door. 

I didn't bother installing the landing gear and doors for the picture.

Imperial star destroyer. Seems I painted this flat grey, so this is one of my old kits begging for a paintjob upgrade.

U.S.S. Reliant, from Star Trek II - The wrath of Khan. The larger decals are discoloured. I don't know if they were like this from the start or became like this over time. Future models shouldn't have this problem, since I plan on coating them all with a clear finishing layer.

Treasure hunt - Part 1

The first box I opened contained the following 9 models :

The Babylon 5 space station. I was a big fan of this show in the nineties.

I own an unfinished Starfury, which will show op on this blog if I ever get around to finishing it.

F18A Hornet, with small parts broken off and a lot of silvering around the tiny decals. Knowing what I know now - having read about 10 issues of FineScale Modeler magazine - I'd probably be able to avoid that.

Partially assembled Space Shuttle. Project abandoned after bad paintjob. The yellow spots are white paint gone bad somehow. The main rocket has pooled up paint in several places. This was my first test with Tamiya spray cans and clearly not a very succesfull story. I should be able to avoid this in the future, but some parts of the model contain thick layers of paint, obscuring details. Not sure if this can be fixed. 

QUESTION : Is it possible to remove existing paint and start over?

EDIT : Yes it is!

2 mini-models I completely forgot about. An aircraft carrier and a destroyer of some sort, both equipped with working "engine". These kits were a terribly bad fit and will probably remain unpainted, since I'd much prefer to build these vessels in a much bigger scale.

Continuing the spray can fiasco with an Enterprise NCC-1701-A. Paint is not so thick here, so I should be able to correct this, once I have an airbrush (and some skill using it).

Saab's JAS 39 Gripen (Swedish for "Griffin"). All 3 wheels have broken off and cannot be located and the entire body has discolorations from some kind of mould, I think.

The ladder broke off after taking the picture, but I did a poor job glueing it on anyway (used WAY too much glue, trying to glue it on top of the paint I guess). If I want to fix this one, I'll have to remove what remains of the landing gear, close all the doors and pose it in-flight.

Ariane 5, Europe's main delivery system for getting satellites into orbit. 

(until december 2009)

MIR space station, no longer orbiting our little planet (de-orbitted in 2001), but still a fascinating piece of technology. In 1986 - long before I made plastic models - I became fascinated with everything that had to do with space.  Even went to space camp once at the Euro Space Center in Belgium. (The website looks like it hasn't been updated since :-))