[Carson Dyle]

I posted some work-in-progress pix a short while back; here are a few shots of the completed model.

Additional pix can be found in "My Gallery."

 

[Zorro]

That is a beautifully clean build-up.

 

[John P]

Incredible!
Man, when I do something that requires a finish that clean, I end up weathering the hell out of it just to hide my mistakes!

 

[Steve CultTVman Iverson]

That is sweet.

 

[StarshipClass]

Stunningly beautiful! Great details!

 

[Seaview]

VERY nice job!!!!!!! :thumbsup: I think I'll take a break from my 3rd LM Spindrift as soon as my Proteus Interior kit shows up and work on that one instead.
Thanks, Carson, for the inspiration! A worthy companion to Flukes' Spindrift for an "ultimate" Lunar Models Museum

 

[Dave Hussey]

Very nice indeed Carson!!

I believe you mentioned on another thread that this kit is a vac-formed hull with a resin interior. Or did you scratch-build much of the interior?

In any case, how did you find the kit in terms of difficulty to build? I'm pretty comfortable with styrene kits and resin kits like the ones that Wilco produces but vac-formed kits have a reputation for being difficult in the extreme. Did you find that to be true with this model?

Huzz

 

[Nektu]

Carson,
Really beautiful...hats off!
How did you wind up doing the decals? Would it be possible to get a set from you? Please PM or email me at [email protected]

all the best,
Ken

 

[john guard]

man!! i wish i had skill and patience like that! i will be attempting to make the Wilco kit! i can only hope my results will look decent! may i use your pic's a paint guides????

 

[Carson Dyle]

I think I'll take a break from my 3rd LM Spindrift as soon as my Proteus Interior kit shows up and work on that one instead.

3rd LM Spindrift?!? You poor masochistic man...

Alas, I too am a LM Spindrift veteran. Not as tough a build as the Proteus, but damn close.

True story: about ten years ago, I entered my recently completed Spindrift in a model contest sponsored by Monsters in Motion. It was the first time I'd ever entered a model in competition, and I wasn't sure what to expext. Well, the good news is I won first place... the bad news is the twit they'd hired to MC the festivities dropped my model nose-first onto a table. Screwed up the interior pretty bad; I had to cut open the windshield and perform major surgery on the dislodged flight deck.

But hey, at least I won a bunch of figure kits I didn't really want.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Very nice indeed Carson!!

...you mentioned on another thread that this kit is a vac-formed hull with a resin interior. Or did you scratch-build much of the interior? In any case, how did you find the kit in terms of difficulty to build?
Huzz

The LM Proteus features two large upper and lower vacu-form hull halves. Unfortunately, the section of the upper hull which comprises the window frame/ upper deck/snorkel housing is included as a seperate resin piece which must be seamlessly wed to the larger vacu-form hull piece. I don't know why Lunar opted for this approach, but it required a tremendous amount of puttying and sanding.

Lunar also makes (or used to make) a resin interior for this kit. Although I bought one of these, I ended up using it mostly as a sort of road map for what turned out to be a largely scratch-built interior.

I love this ship; she's probably my all time favorite as far as media related sci-fi vehicles are concerned, and I'm grateful to Mike Evans and the gang at L.M. for producing a truly accurate kit (I bugged them for years to do so). Nevertheless, it is far and away the most difficult and time consuming model I've ever built -- or ever hope to build.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Carson,
Really beautiful...hats off!
How did you wind up doing the decals?

I played around with custom-made decals, but couldn't get them as clean and crisp as I wanted. I ended up creating the hull markings in Adobe Illustrator, then sending the digi-file to a local print outfit that makes "chrom-a-tec" transfers. In other words: they're rub-on. A bit more pricey than decals, but in this instance they were well worth the expense.

By the way, Lunar now offers decals for this kit.

 

[fluke]

HOLY COW!!! VERY NICE!!! I VANT THIS KIT! I NEED THAT KIT!!!

Cool SPINDRIFT too!

Here is what I did with my 1/35 Lunar SPINDRIFT


http://troysmodels.homestead.com/SPINDRIFT.html

 

[Carson Dyle]

Here is what I did with my 1/35 Lunar SPINDRIFT

Awesome. The flight deck in particular is, well... WAY awesome.
The Spindrift is one ship that clearly benefits from a snazzy lighting job.

That's a model I'm gonna have to re-visit one of these days. Bravo!

 

[Dr. Brad]

That... is... nice! Very nice! Did I mention it's nice. Just a great job! You can be justifiably proud!

Brad.

 

[fluke]

Thank you Carson!

I have always liked the Spindrift...or was it Deanna Lund?

There were so many times I was ready to snipe the Aurora Spindrift on ebay before the PL re-release....Man I'm sooo glad I did not! $$$

I would have done the same to that tiny thing as well! and I would still be paying off the psych bills and taking funny little pills!

Again....Great Job on the Proteus!! :thumbsup:

 

[Trek Ace]

Aside from the studio model, that's definitely the best Proteus I've ever seen!

Excellent job!

 

[Carson Dyle]

Aside from the studio model, that's definitely the best Proteus I've ever seen!

Thanks for the compliment, however... have you ever seen the studio miniature up close? If not, you might be surprised. Not to seem like an egotistical jerk, but the craftsmanship is really pretty shoddy -- and I'm not talking about Greg Jein's "restoration" (which, so fas as I can tell, involved a paint job and the refurbishing of a few surface details). I'm talking about the overall construction of the model itself. Like most studio miniatures of the period, the Proteus was built to look good on film... period. I only mention it to illustrate how far the overall quality of studio miniatures has come since the 50's and early 60's -- thanks in large part to Gerry Anderson, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, and the talented craftsmen working for them. Anderson's TV shows, "2001," and "Star Wars" introduced a new level of realism to the art of the movie miniature.

 

[Dave Hussey]

That raises a question Carson - just where can one see the sole surviving Proteus filiming model?

Huzz

 

[Steve244]

eeep.