Battle Beyond The Stars St.Exmin Valkyrie build

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Mon May 30, 2016 11:15 pm

Battle Beyond The Stars St.Exmin Valkyrie build

This is one of those spaceships that I wanted to have my own model of ever since the very first moment that I glimpsed it. Yes, that was in 1980, and, yes, I can be a slow modeler at times.

I am normally fairly good at acquiring information on obscure spacecraft models and filming miniatures. So I can state there is a real dearth of information on this ship other than the movie itself, and reviewing the film carefully actually yields very few scenes where the ship is featured. That careful review, plus experience gained in tackling other filming models resulted in identifying that the aft fuselage of the ship was two 8-rads joined together.

Some pics:
Reference, port side:
https://flic.kr/p/GLu6N6

Drawings, screencap printed and working drawings:
https://flic.kr/p/HD8Reo

Get out the sheet styrene and the spare 8-rad parts:
https://flic.kr/p/HgJXuL

Construction pic:
https://flic.kr/p/HxsYkw

Top view:
https://flic.kr/p/HzRn1e

Bow view:
https://flic.kr/p/HgK4wf

Starboard side:
https://flic.kr/p/HG5SsT

Top, on grid: 7" wide x 13" long
https://flic.kr/p/HgK5MS

Port above:
https://flic.kr/p/HgK8Kf

Starboard forward:
https://flic.kr/p/HgK7ju

Nose:
https://flic.kr/p/HgKabw

More as I have build time...

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Tue May 31, 2016 2:08 pm

More detailing and priming:

More detailing:
https://flic.kr/p/HHtAYp

Detailing, aft:
https://flic.kr/p/GMNar7

Nose / cockpit area detailing:
https://flic.kr/p/Hi7xhY

Detailing: done. Primer on!
https://flic.kr/p/HyQPw9

Port side primed:
https://flic.kr/p/Hi8dxG

Front view primed:
https://flic.kr/p/HBf8kX

Port II primed shot:
https://flic.kr/p/Hi8VB5

Ramsayman · Post by **Ramsayman** » Tue May 31, 2016 6:47 pm

Dude! I hated the movie, I still hate "Nell", but I love this ship! Great job!

gsb5w · Post by **gsb5w** » Tue May 31, 2016 7:47 pm

Really nice scratch build.

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Tue May 31, 2016 7:51 pm

Thanks, gang!

The spacecraft in the film have always held an attraction for me, and when I decide to actually do Cowboy's ship, I realized that I have a bunch of spare semi-gutted armor kit laying about. Gotta do something with 'em...

Buzzbomb · Post by **Buzzbomb** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:02 am

Nice stuff Joe.

mrwoolery · Post by **mrwoolery** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 11:03 am

Joseph C. Brown wrote:Thanks, gang!

The spacecraft in the film have always held an attraction for me, and when I decide to actually do Cowboy's ship, I realized that I have a bunch of spare semi-gutted armor kit laying about. Gotta do something with 'em...

I LOVE that you did Cowboy's ship! It's a great design. Any plans to kit it?

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:18 pm

I appreciate the comments - thanks!

As for kitting Cowboy's ship, or any of the ships from the film, the short answer would be: no, not really.

If you went through the build pics on Flickr that I have posted for these two ships, you will see that there are a crazy amount of greeblies (or nurnies, or gubbins, whichever you prefer to call them). That alone would drive the prices up for a resin kit to very high levels.

Maritain · Post by **Maritain** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 6:40 pm

That is so cool, well done! Nothing like the spaceships from the 70's!

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 8:05 pm

Saw it at Wonderfest.

Nice model.

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 7:04 am

Thank you!

I was very pleasantly surprised by the number of folks who had been following these two builds but who'd not really said anything online - they were walking up to me all weekend at Wonderfest and saying how much they had enjoyed watching the progress and seeing the build in person. That was way cooler than winning awards!*

*The Valkyrie and Cowboy's Freighter each took a Merit - which was great! But the interaction with real people about the models was awesome!

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 9:59 pm

Some finished pics:

At the workbench:
https://flic.kr/p/HK9y81

At Wonderfest 2016:
https://flic.kr/p/HWj4Ti

The whole album of pics:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskxsoacN

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 6:01 pm

And, finally, really: done!
Links:

Port:
https://flic.kr/p/HZfheM

Bow:
https://flic.kr/p/HZfn8p

Aft:
https://flic.kr/p/HaN6K7

Top angle:
https://flic.kr/p/HaNcV3

Separation:
https://flic.kr/p/J6Jyin

Bow section:
https://flic.kr/p/J6JAoK

Scene from film:
https://flic.kr/p/J3JCeY

St. Exmin the Valkyrie and Cowboy's Freight Hauler both earned Merit Awards from the Wonderfest 2016 judging team - and, I am delighted with that!
https://flic.kr/p/HWXwWQ