OlCabour's Hangar

This year, at the Migennes Collector exhibition, the Gentlemen Collectionneurs will present a theme based on the whiteness. It has nothing to do at all with a laundry brand, but we found that this term really stuck perfectly on these 2 topics: 2001 Space Odyssey, and Space 1999.

This monument film and this cult serie have very close designs (the first one having strongly influenced the second) and show a same, and rather binary, color palette : black and white !

Of theses two subjects, Space 1999 was the most important for me, as it marked my childhood when it was first broadcast in... pfff, there was that long ago !! It was broadcasted in black and white at the time (which did not much interfere in any way for this show), and back then, each episode really did scared me.

The eagle has always been for me the real hero of this serie, and, in my opinion, remains the only timeless element of the show, thanks to its functionality. The rest of the series has not aged very well, starting with the scenarios (really established in the seventies), and more recently by the special effects, with the advent of digital SFX. Some SFX scenes still give a good illusion, landings and takeoffs from the eagles landing platforms of the Alpha moonbase for example.

So the launchpad this will be the first diorama to build of this project : http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/cguide/umlaunch.html http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/tm/sptm0217.jpg http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/molad/spmolad0130.jpg

This resin kit, which is the starting point of the project, is certainly one of the latest copies of James Small kit (http://www.smallartworks.ca/), acquired on second hand by chance on the web. It is in scale with the Airfix/AMT Eagle (injection kit), the Warp (resin kit), or the Products Enterprises (mounted, metal and plastic).

I want to thank Alexandre Dumas (http://scihighmodels.com/) for the help and support he gave me on the various problems encountered in this kit, where the instructions was missing. Through its experience in this kit, Alex helped me especially in the arrangement of certain parts that bugged me....

Given the size of the parts, the volume of resin is rather important, and the total weight is exceeding 4 kilo ! Clearly, the molds were tired because the parts have many imperfections, and some bubbles (I supposed it is the reason this kit is no longer available). Some parts were also affected during transport, especially the quarter-round: their sides are quite thin and seamed to have suffered an shock during postage. This should be pick up easily. I think to cast some resin along the sides to strengthen it.

There is no part in this kit corresponding to flat surfaces such as the service platform (a rectangle) and the elevator itself (the "+" orange). I do not know if these parts would usually be part of the kit, but here I will use plastic card, with reinforcements made from aluminum rods (for lightness) U or L to ensure it does not bend. It will be less heavier than the resin. The "+" will be certainly made of wood (medium).

By a dry test, I deduce that the dimensions of the kit, built, is near 90 x 110 cm. I add 5 cm margin on each side, and it gives me the dimensions of the diorama, so 1m x 1.20 m. I verified, by modifying a blueprint, that the platform held diagonally across the same surface. Using diagonal is a common trick for diorama, to break the lines and give more dynamism.

That will do it !

That will therefore also by the dimensions of the eagles hangar (coming soon).