Gemini XII - Agena EVA 1/48, pt. 2: Gemini cockpit & astronaut

And on we go.
It's been some time and it feels good to have regained some time to fiddle with glue and paper.
After the Agena it's time for the docked Gemini spacecraft. The idea was to show it with the hatch opened during Buzz' space walk. So the interior is visible and of course, Jim Lovell in the commander's seat is visible as well. So I had to do the interior and an astronaut inside as well.

Here is the result, the pictures of the build are after the jump.

Yes, the astronaut is made of paper, too. The helmet however, is not.

Gemini XII - Agena EVA 1/48, pt. 1: Agena Target Vehicle

Well, it looks like I still am able to build something out of paper. I already started to doubt myself. It's just a little exercise, nothing really special. I decided on building the last Gemini flight, with the spacecraft docked to the Agena target vehicle while Buzz Aldrin is doing his EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity, for those of you who are not yet in the know).
The models come from Delta 7 models, designed by Dan Shippey. Very well detailed and totally worth the price. Absolutely recommended. In the files you'll find all Gemini versions (12 of them), the different Agena's, the Angry Alligator (ATDA), an 1/96 Titan with Gemini, an extra detail set with opening doors and even a splashdown  model.  I already did two Gemini's earlier on, depicting the rendezvous between Gemini's 6 and 7. And there will be more to come!  

I used several types of paper, used lots of test pages to get it all in the same and right scale and the build commenced.
Here's the end result of the Agena, the build pictures are after the jump.

Hey! Paper purists! Look away! A plastic model!

Because I like to show it to you, here's my styrene 1/33 Westland Wyvern in winter camouflage. It is still without its markings but they will be Dutch Navy. Because. As far as I know it also never flew in winter camo, so it is completely fictitious.
It's Trumpeter's S.4 late model kit and it's a great build. It always baffles me that most of the work is done with building the pilot's office and that it's the place you see the least of. A PE dashboard with acetate film behind it to show all the dials and screens. You need a loupe and a flash light to see any of it when you are finished. Oh well. I really like how it looks now. the only thing I really changed were the engine exhaust pipes. They were very shallow and had no depth. I used 8mm brass tube to make exhaust pipes that go all the way into the fuselage. Oh, and I detailed the wheels a little with some tubing. The winter camo really is an eye catcher.

Click for bigger

Oficially, winter camo is applied with a white distemper over the lighter coloured normal camouflaged areas of a plane, so it always looks a bit less opaque. And the borders between the colours usually are more vague than I made them here. Also, it easily washed off after a few weeks. I might have overdone the opaqueness and the sharp border edges a little but then again, it could be a freshly painted machine. Anyway, I think it looks very neat. 
I don't do plastic aircraft a lot and when I do them, I almost always make them a 'what-if'. And often Dutch. I even made up a complete storyline of which aircraft the Dutch air force had after WWII to back up the planes I sometimes make (the paper 1/48 Yak 130 from a while back also is part of that canon).
But okay, this is a blog mostly on paper models so I'll leave it to this. See you!
--PK

A little bit of fun: Rosetta & Philae - the kiddie's model (-;

Hi there.
It has been a while. There was so much work and stuff to do, I could hardly get some rest to think about what would be my next step on the road back to paper modeling.
The documentary films we've made the past year have been very successful. They had good reviews and ratings and two even were broadcast.
All in all there was little time to spend in the hobby room cutting out paper. I did make a very nice plastic model, though. A 1/48th Westland Wyvern in winter camouflage. Came out reasonably well, it being painted with a couple of hairy sticks instead of the airbrush.

But what was the big thing in spaceland the past week? Right, Philae's comet landing. I watched it live and boy was it boring without any commentator filling in the shots of people staring at screens. But the landing itself, very spectacular indeed. 100 points to ESA.
Looking for a model of the real thing, I also found the kid's model at ESA's site, which was shaped after the cartoons they showed on beforehand. I decided that this was a nice first model to restart my paper model stuff with after my sudden stop. I loved these pretty animations they made of Rosetta and Philae arriving at P67 anyway so why not?

More after the jump.