Star Wars Collection : TIE Interceptor (1983)

Kenner
"Scale" : Made for 3-3/4" figures
The TIE Interceptor was the most elegant fighter of the empire.
For the body of the ship, they have used all the molds of the 1978 model, there is not structural changes.
The "cockpit glass" is still fully transparent, this will change on the next model.
The plastic color is "light gray".








This model is in perfect condition but with stickers on, The Box is quite OK even if I've seen better.

The global shape of this fighter is really nice, some better adjustments could have been done, but for the early eighties, it is no so bad.

I own two models of this interceptor in the same condition, maybe one with "cleaner" stickers

Star Wars Collection : TIE Fighter Battle-Damaged (1983)

Kenner

"Scale" : Made for 3-3/4" figures

What is the difference between a standard white TIE fighter and an Battle Damaged TIE?

In fact, there is no difference !

Except...

Stickers with additional damage stickers.

The plastic is blue (gray/blue).

The elevator is still there and the "light & sound system" remains the same...

This one is also in MINT condition, it has never been used.
All the stickers and the manual are in perfect condition.



This model is blue-gray

The "fake damages" stickers have been printed separately on transparent film, this would allow the kid, to position the damages where they want to.
It was also a way to "customize" your toy.



They used all the molds of the 1978 model, there is not structural changes.
The "cockpit glass" is still fully transparent, this will change on the next model

Star Wars Collection : Darth Vader TIE Fighter (1978)

Kenner
"Scale" : Made for 3-3/4" figures

What is the difference between a TIE and an "Advanced" TIE, such as the Darth Vader personal fighter ?
You can say easily, the wings shape and the solar arrays ! But not only... The standard TIE does not have Hyperdrive system, the advanced TIE has it behind the canopy. And this is the main problem on this toy, "they" have used the same command module mold, to reduce production cost. We will see later that "they" will create a better looking toy of the Advanced TIE in the nineties.




The overall shape of the toy is better then the standard TIE of 1978, but the big missing part, containing the hyperdrive, is not nice at all.
The white injected plastic has been replaced by a dark gray which suffers a little bit less than the white with time.

The solar arrays are still simulated by glossy stickers. And you can see that, with time, some bubbles can appear, and the surface can become irregular.
Nothing is missing on this one, but it is less good looking then what I expect.

At the rear you can find the sound and light effects button, it is on top of the battery case, same as the white TIE.

I own two models of this Darth Vader TIE, one loose and the other in box, but as you can see "not in mint condition", I would say 7/10.

Star Wars Collection : White Imperial TIE Fighter (1978)

Kenner
"Scale" : Made for 3-3/4" figures

As I mentionned it, I do not collect Star Wars toys anymore (Since 2008).

But I though that it could be interesting to share "the classic vintages" in several messages in addition to the Star Wars collection quick preview.

I decided to start with the TIE Imperial Fighter.

I own 15 TIE models. This one is MINT condition 10/10.


Most of the white plastic vintage toys suffer of "Yellowing".
This dirty yellowing comes from age, but mainly because of light, UV being the worst for white plastics.
If you want to collect toys and keep them in perfect condition, avoid aligning them on shelves, out of the box and directly expose to sun light, even a few minutes only every day will damage your toy.
I purchased this one early 2000, and I was really pleased when I opened the box discovering the excellent condition of the toy.



The box still contains the stickers, the manual and the small catalog.
This first Twin Ion Engines version, has a kind of elevator to access the cockpit.

The toy has a "light and sound" effect (mecanical), there was no electronic sound at that time... The battery contacts are in copper and get oxided very quickly (green)

Below, you can see another of my models, this is the standard condition (yellowed) of a model that has been used and too much exposed to UV light. These cheap, used, models can be found easily on ebay.
At that time, the solar array were figurated by stickers on the wings, we will see that later there will be huge improvement on this detail.

The global shape of this toy is not elegant or let's say "balanced", this is due to the fact that the wings were really too small, we will see with a "newer" (2007) version, that it has been improved a lot.

USS SULACO Aliens - Halcyon Aoshima

As I have no time for model making these days, I decided to assemble a Sulaco Kit from "SKYNET - AOSHIMA" (formerly produced by Halcyon).
As usual when I have no time, I focus on paintings no scratch but "from the box" again...

Painting : Tamiya & Humbrol
Varnish : Tamiya

The kit is really basic... The main problem is the poor quality of the fitting, some patience is required to align correctly the two parts of the main body.

Here is a quick "photo-montage" of the Colonial Marines Spaceship.

Visit the website of GEARBOX.

http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/games/aliens/

Space shuttle Discovery : Hasegawa 1/200

From the box
Painting : Tamiya & Humbrol
Varnish : Tamiya
I do not care about Hubble (today).
Since the announcement of the end of the shuttle program... I wanted to do a Space Shuttle, the first one that I did was in 83 (from Airfix), at that time I did not paint it... and used only black markers for the black area... I 'll try to do better with this very small 1/200 model...

I started with painting the whole model in white, with a light "preshading", then I covered the model with many small chips of Tamiya masking tape.

The covered parts would be the most clean tiles, I airbrushed some grey/yellow in various proportions.

 To break the monotony of the flat surface of this small model

Then, I painted the big black areas, the small details would be painted later by hand.

I painted the engine bells, with different shades, from brown to blue, gray or white.
I did a quick dry brush with white to highlight the structure. Many details are missing on this model, but as usual I do not have time for "scratch", so it will be "from the box" project again...

The general aspect is glossy at this stage (for the decals).

The next step will be the bottom and the mat varnish (Arcylic). Then I will start the weathering with oil paintings. The end is near...

Here is the result with a thin layer of mat varnish.

The side is still too clean, I'll let everything dry then I'll take care on this with oil paintings or airbrush...

Eagle space 1999 : Landing Pad project (papercraft)

I always wanted to present my Eagles collection during a model kit exhibition, not to pretend that they have been made by me (in this case), but only to break the monotony of thousands of tanks and airplanes...

In Belgium the Sci Fi subjects are not often shown, it has nothing to do with UK, USA, or Japan...
In the same idea, I wanted to present my dinky toys airplanes collection for example, or the Shogun warriors toys, these objects and toys have been in many modelers hands of my generation (1969).
It could bring back some memories...

I have noticed with years, that during these events people are walking from table to table like zombies, but they stop only if there is a big stuff that attract them (mainly spectacular diorama), so I feel bored very quickly...
Younger kids are not really interested in model kit, it requires patience, focus, time, techniques... Many things that they hate in this new fast consuming society, everything must be bought fast and quickly forgotten...

When we started to present Star wars kits (clic on it to view it) it was immediately different, people were surprised that modeling can also be fun, not war (real war / real dead), no crazy photo etch kit, no RLM 72 bla bla and other detailing madness... Just FUN.

That's why we like to present bigger or noisy subjects, to get their attention, once it is done the chat can start and they can see the smaller models around, 1/48, 1/72, 1/144, that they would not have noticed...

Get back to the eagles, I wanted to create a "Space 1999 Landing Pad", to present the eagles at different scales, I tried in a couple of hours to create something that "looks like" a pad, using an image of the TV show. I will test the printed color rendering next week on an Epson GMG proofer, and I will do the required adaptations.

Once the final version will be done, and if you are interested, you can contact me (leave a message on this post with your e-mail address) I'll send you the files (580mm x 580mm at 300dpi).
If I find the time, I 'll directly do the adaptation for all the scales that I own.

I just saw that Sixteen12 has a launch pad available in Pre Order (june 2011), check out their website for more info.

These pictures shows me, that this must not be so hard to make it from cardboard...
I did a simulation of my Photoshop Pad integrated in the picture from the TV Serie, I think that I'm getting close...
I have to work on the scale now, I can forget about the 24" from Iconic Replicas (Now Sixteen12...), no room available in my house for such a display, but the Product Enterprise 1/72 should be fine...

I did a quick shooting test on the large Epson print (60cm), and I integrated the photo (rough) on the picture, the Product Enterprise eagle looks fine from that distance.

Other Space 1999 Eagle Models : Product Enterprise
Other Space 1999 Eagle Models : Mattel
Other Space 1999 Eagle Models : Dinky Toys

Other Space 1999 Eagle Models : Iconic Replicas