Stand By For Action!
Every year I try and do something Gerry Anderson-themed; last year it was the Captain Scarlett stuff, which involved building a special rig to shoot the models of the Angel Interceptors out on location against the natural backdrop of Wales. This year, I thought that I could do some underwater pics, which meant either Thunderbird 4, or Stingray.
A chance spot on eBay turned up this rather battered toy; it's previous owner, no doubt some little hooligan in the 1960's, had apparently attacked it with a firework and a hammer, as well as melting some holes in it.
Undoing the rusty screws allowed me to remove the dead friction-drive mechanism.
I needed new tailfins too, which posed a problem. I'd thought to use plasticard, and do the rebuild whilst we were in Wales. But then whilst in the excellent Porthmadog Models, I spied these vintage Airfix flying-stands, nice and cheap. They were just the ticket, as they had the right shape and sweep of curves.
The plasticard was useful for filling in the many, many holes in the hull. Time was against me (naturally) and I didn't have time for the waterproof model filler to set and dry, so used hot-glue and carved it to shape with a craft knife.
For the turbine, I was improvising again, and used this. No idea what it us, something medical from work, it had been kicking around a draw for over a year. No doubt it will prove to be absolutely essential in about a weeks time, and a 40-grand machine won't work without it...
The sub, needing a coat of paint.
Citadel acrylics were used, freehanding it with no masking (again, time was against me to get a nice sunny day and calm seas). Remains of one of the flying stands used, as I hadn't been able to work out how to keep it floating in place otherwise- I had briefly planned to weight it heavily with metal shot, and suspend it by a wire from an inflatable, but thought this simpler. Speaking of inflatables, it's ended up looking a bit too bulbous and a bit like a pooltoy with those chunky fins, but for a project which cost about a tenner, not too bad.
The backup plan, if I'd not finished Stingray in time. I'd hoped for a kit but they were out of stock at Plaza Japan, so I ended up with this toy version instead.
Useful for a quick test.
The sea was relatively calm off Cemaes, the tide was in, and the water lovely.
The model with the stand base buried, after all the air had been allowed to bubble-out via the tail.
A bit of cloning-out in Post to remove the stand.
I ended up moving around a bit, to try and limit the sand being kicked up by the current (and me and Younger Child, assisting, moving around).
You know what? I'm really happy with how these turned out, a proper bit of fun, low-budget modelling, and a nice break to do something that isn't railway-related. Don't get me wrong, it's nice I'm getting so much railway-themed work for the mags, but sometimes it's nice to crack-on with something like this.
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