SPA Modeler

After most of the engine detail was added back, I was fairly satisfied with the look and then returned to the head piece.

Here, I started by replacing and hopefully upgraded some of that detail to try and get more like this:





I started here:



I didn't go as wild with this as I did on the engines because much of this head detail is already not too bad, but I did scrape off some and replace it.

Box stock:



One of the main reference kits in this area is this:



It started with a little carverisation:




Gave me a clean slate:





Then, I made some replacements:






Came out alright, so I moved on to these. These are seperate parts in the kit, so no model shaving required.
Original kit parts compared to mine:









Then, to the new 8-Rad parts, I added even more detail:






Now, sometimes I'm not sure if I've improved anything, but on this one, I'm sure I did.

Rob.

Under all those new pieces, now I got holes to fill.

Stock:






New boxes:



New boxes filled with several parts from several donor model kits with the stock ones pictured as well as I could:









Again, I think this looks more better.

Rob.

Superb detail work!

Pretty much next level. It's a pleasure following your work.

Rob, that is some fantastic work that you’re doing!
The tank engine deck looks to be off of a Panther, Tiger, or King Tiger. Are the Centurion tracks along the top edging of the stern over the engine nozzles?

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Stuart wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 7:08 am Superb detail work!

Thank you Mr. Stuart! Glad you're taking a peek at it. Grab you a Galactica and I'll wait till you catch up.

mostrich wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 9:17 am Pretty much next level. It's a pleasure following your work.

Thank you Mr. mostrich. Not really any different level than anybody else. Look close. All I'm doing is adding strips and chips of styrene here and there, that's all. You are ABSOLUTELY welcome to follow along, state your piece or start building one right along with me! Well, me and Mr. Stuart. He's said he's gettin' one.

Stikpusher wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 10:30 am Rob, that is some fantastic work that you’re doing!
The tank engine deck looks to be off of a Panther, Tiger, or King Tiger. Are the Centurion tracks along the top edging of the stern over the engine nozzles?

Hello again Mr. Stikpusher, 1/35 Tamiya Panther A. Yes sir, those tank tread are ALL OVER that engine section. It's like they sprayed some glue on the engine section and rolled it in them tracks.



I have recreated a pile already. I'll show some later.

Rob.

Next, I started just adding little things to the head that I can see on the studio model that needed work on this model.



While adding some details, it came time to get the bridge mounted and I ran into a problem. My problem was that the bridge included just didn't match the studio model at this small scale and going for the studio look with this, I had to see what could be done. I wasn't quite liking the mods to it because they weren't actually making it alot better. The kit supplied bridge was simply too small looking top down and too thick from the head deck up. Right in the middle of the frustration (posting what I was doing still at the RPF), a good fellow modeler chimed in that he had an extra bridge from a place called "shapeways" that I could have. WOW! THANK YOU! I didn't know what shapeways really was or that they had this sorta thing, as much of a lie as that sounds. Anyway, he sent it. The detail was leaps and bounds above the kit piece, so I was certainly going to use it simply because to recreate that new bridge, it would take me some time to get anything that close. The piece was made by a fella named "Tony aka 308 Bits".

New problem. A problem that we discussed for several pages at the RPF and more than one suggestion that I was taking things too far, because I said and showed where this new bridge wasn't right either. Although much better in detail, the shapeways piece was just too big. Now this caused me some slight controversy because when I said that about this piece, It appeared to be dissing "Tony aka 308 Bits". Not at all! That wasn't the intention at all and I wouldn't attempt to do that. His piece was certainly a far better looking piece, so I posted what I was finding and eventually convinced everyone in that thread with me that it didn't fit exactly right. Some actually had the kit and the piece and that helped prove what I found on mine. The piece, it was concluded that, even though sold for this Moebius kit, may have actually been made originally for the Mike Salzo (A senior model maker) Galactica which is just a little bigger than this Moebius and probably needed to be scaled down just a bit.

Anyway, all that to say the bridge placement ended up taking a fair bit of work and a good deal of both the new bridge and model itself had to be modified a good bit. I suppose I've said all that to say that if any of this inspires anyone to follow any of what I'm doing, the shapeways bridge is worth the cost, but won't be an exact fit.

The discussion and comparisons (which I will only slightly mention) went through at RPF showed modifications would be needed on both the bridge and the model itself and I ended up removing the entire ramp up to the bridge, the new bridge and a few inches on the head area behind the bridge.

Just a couple comparisons:







Original kit bridge:



New Shapeways bridge, same comparison:



Ramp forward/rear and nose removed:




The line/tube details rear of the bridge had to be modified as well as the rear ramp scratch built, the bridge was cut and made slightly smaller and a new ramp scratched for the front and I was finally satisfied with the look.



Doing the same comparisons as earlier against the original overlayed, it's fairly spot on now, but did take a good deal of fixin'.

Rob.

Next, as can sorta be seen in the last photo of the bridge post, I started greebly-in up the head.







Along with adding lumps and bumps, there were some scribe lines and such that needed to be added:

Non studio lump removed:



Studio scribe lines added:



Overall a little better?

Rob.

The attention to detail is amazing. I’m loving it!

Why Thank you!

I say that knowing it's just a matter of time before something, and I don't have a clue what yet, will go horribly wrong.

The clock is a tickin'.

Rob.