I'd been using this technique for scratch building models for a while now and thought I would put together a detailed out line for anyone else who might want to do something similar. This is all basically paper, so it isn't all that hard to work with.
I think this should be prefaced by two important points...
First, I'm not much of a SciFi fan. I love Star Trek, and that is about as far into the genre as I've really gotten. So I really don't know much outside of Trek, and even then not a lot outside of the original series. So I know next to nothing about Space: 1999 or the spacecraft used within the show. And it is the fact that I don't know much about this that I picked this as the subject of this demo.
Secondly, I'm not going to finish the whole Eagle. The command module offered an interesting shape to model and I think it can show both the strengths (and weaknesses) of this technique.
The main reason for posting this is that I realized that I started chronicling my steps about my Enterprise model after I had mostly put the primary hull and dorsal together, so I decided to throw together a short demo of the techniques I had used for them.
I had originally considered doing the body of a TOS communicator, but realized that I'd end up getting lost in the details of something like that and what I really wanted to do in this thread was show the technique (in a timely manner).
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Resources and Materials
What I'll be using is pretty straight forward...
- Foam Core Board
- poster board, card stock
- brown paper bag, standard page, (wrapping) tissue paper
- Elmer's Glue
- AMACO Sculptamold (cellulose-based paper maché)
From what I've heard, it is one of the best hobby shops in the Twin Cities... but I go there because it is only a couple miles away from where I live.
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Foundation
As stated above, I know little about Space: 1999, so I hit the web to find a reference plan to work from. This isn't aiming for hyper accuracy, so low resolution diagrams were more than enough for what I needed here. I printed them out and then started cutting the top view to the shapes I needed for cutting the foam core board (mostly estimates of the shapes).
image: eagle-001
Once cut, I started gluing the piece together to form my foundation.
image: eagle-002
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Basic Shape
With the foundation made I now needed to build up the basic shape, which is what I use the Sculptamold for. You just add water to it until damp and start sculpting. This is non-toxic, so no worries molding it with your hands.
I generally take a few passes at it, letting the first rough application dry a little.
image: eagle-003
Then filling in the gaps a little more...
image: eagle-004
And finally ending up with a good general shape that can be sanded and carved to nearly the form I want.
image: eagle-005
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Initial Sanding and Refinement
After letting it set for a little while more, I did some more sanding of the shape. I also added the first elements of card stock within the indentations.
image: eagle-006
One of my mistakes with the Enterprise primary hull was letting this stuff sit for too long... it gets harder over time, making it harder to sand out imperfections. Best to get that aspect done early (within the first few days).
Because this is mainly water based (both for the Sculptamold and glue) it helps to get the initial form made of foam core board as close to the final shape as possible so that it dries quickly. And it does generally dry quickly... in this case I'm less than 24 hours into this build.
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Adding Detailing
I'm moving along faster on this than I normally would because I know I'm running out of time and this is a demo of the technique. So between that and the fact that this isn't a shape I am overly familiar with, means I doubt this would measure up to the standard of those who follow Space: 1999.
One of the details that stood out (for me) when looking at images of the command module was the panels. The panels help turn it from an organic shape into one that feels more industrial. So it was that detail that I've started in on.
image: eagle-007
This is the first few panels, and I'll go back and sand them down to get rid of the raised areas I don't want. After all, the raised outer edges are what I'm after.
... And this is basically what we end up with.
image: eagle-008
From here I'd give it a couple coats of clear gloss latex enamel (which helps water proof it) and then start painting it. Those are steps which I may or may not do to this model (if I do, I'll post more images) as I think it has generally reached the stage where you guys can see what can be done with this (plus it'd be better to wait until next weekend before doing all that).
So, that is it... hope this will be helpful to others.
