Round Four Report from Zaphod Beeblebrox

Zaphod Beeblebrox writes:

NX-42 Experimental Surface Assault Craft

Lieutenant Commander Hal Jordan looked at the ship on the pad. Sleek, streamlined. Nice curves, and a solid frame. The small size guaranteed a lot of power and manoueverability, considering this had the same engines as short range planetary shuttles, which were a much larger craft. Being able to re-route the power from those massively powerful engines into the main weapon systems was integral to the success of this craft. The photon missile launchers bristled with a full payload, and Hal felt the tingle of excitement that always came when test flying a new ship. He wondered briefly about the lack of a screen, or cockpit, but then Federation shield technology had advanced a lot in the last few years. Nothing would get through the shields, and if it did, well, it was definately a bad time! Starfleet insisted that the speed, agility and firepower of these new assault crafts would easily make them superior in any combat arena.

Hal boarded the craft, plugging in the headset he would use for voice command, and comms with the base. The ship relied mainly on voice commands through the main computer system, and only the most basic functions, steering and firing were really manual. The combination of dual stick control, and also the rudder flaps, made the ship simple to control. He fired up the short range impulse engines, and with the usual surge of power, the ship vibrated to life. The massive hydrofoil propeller beneath the pilot's seat thrummed to life, simulating anti-grav and lifting the ship off the pad. The colored halo of the multiphase shields briefly glowed around him, and he knew there would be no incident with debris or insects. Hal touched the control pad, inputing the string that unlocked the test flight pattern. With one word into the headset, the ship spun, lifted and was gone into the distance....

Intro

Round 4. Slight delay, but we are here. The Jaguar Strike Craft from i-Kore's Void line, a vehicle in the Viridian faction. I must say that i-Kore and Bill have outdone themselves with this contest. This ship (and the next few rounds) has really impressed the heck out of me. Not just simple figures, or a basic plastic kit - these are all top quality pieces. Thanks to all involved, and also the other contestants and the voters as well.

When I first saw this, I thought of painting some nice camo patterns on it, and staying "within the box" so to speak. I haven't done a vehicle in years, and this is getting so far out of genre for me, I wasn't sure how I could pull it off. When I test-fitted the pieces together, however, the idea snapped in my mind in just one split second: I knew what the ship would look like, and now I had to figure out how to make it happen!

Now, on to my write-up for this round!

The Ship

The first thing I had to do was clean the ship. There was some minor flash, and the off bit that needed some work, but overall I was quite pleased with the casting. The seat didn't want to sit snugly on the main body, so I had to do some carving underneath the "arms" of the chair. Next, since the model is all metal and not plastic, I felt I better pin this bad boy together. This is my biggest effort pinning yet. I learned something very important about pin vices, too.

Important Story

I had to drill so many holes - 16, I think - that I found it was going far too slow with the pin vice being used normally. Since I have a large round handle on mine, I decided I would press the handle against my stomach while holding the pieces with my left hand and twisting the vice with my right. Well, there I go and slowly use pressure by pushing against my belly. Much better progress. One hole done. Two. Sweet! Well, I am drilling away at a feverish pace and the bit is starting to bend just a little. Instead of stopping, I figure I can finish and that is when the bit broke. The boken end that was in the handle was now embedded firmly in my index finger... A curse and kick later, I had it cleaned and bandaged, but there was indeed some blood, sweat and tears in this model! The moral? Slow but sure. Use a tool safely, or you can really hurt yourself!

This picture shows roughly all my pin locations. Four on the base and seat, one on the weapon beam, one on the engines, and two long ones to hold the tail beam on (due to its weight). I lined up the seat ones using a spot of blue paint on one side, and pressing the pieces together. Seemed to work okay. Next came the crazy glue and a short wait.

There were some big gap issues, so I used some Greenstuff to patch in where some joins were too large. I simply used a small flathead screwdriver to smooth out the putty, keeping the tool wet all the time. This way, the putty didn't stick to the tool, just the ship. :)

One thing about the putty: I figured it was nice and smooth, but when I primed it, there were still rough spots. So be very careful and smooth it properly before priming!

Using some white spray-primer, I went at the ship and the resin base as well.