[Fine Molds TIE Fighter]

When I went back to the shop, the X-Wing was gone, so I picked up the Fine Molds TIE Fighter instead. Great detail, and I like the masks provided for the clear parts. The instructions are all in Japanese, but this will not be a problem as the drawings are very clear. One problem, though...

No English titles given to the colors to be used, but I noticed that some are presented as a number surrounded by a square. Are these the same colors given as in Hasegawa instructions, with a similar style?

Or is there a website that can help me?

Felinoid

[Fine Molds X-Wing]

I have found a Fine Molds X-Wing at a local shop. I would love to try it, having seen the build here on your website, but $41 is a chunk of change, plus, I've been out of the loop for awhile. Is it worth the exhorbiant charge? Perhaps I should pick it up and put it the stash and try after a few more kits? I also saw the old AMT kit is back, but I recall building that as a kid (nightmares) and I'm trying to stick with 1/72 kits.

Any feedback is welcome.

Felinoid

[Sci-Fi Flicks]

Let's be honest-the matter of the best sci-fi, whether it be television or the movies, is a highly debatable matter. I have told my students for years that at least the first Star Wars movie is not science fiction, it is a fairy tale told with sci-fi trappings (black knight vs white knight, a beautiful princess, a farm boy who achieves heroism, etc). But bad sci-fi- that's another tale.

I shall stick to television here. No argument on such pap as Buck Rogers (and absolutely no argument about Erin Gray). But does anyone recall Space:1999 or UFO? Both were the brainchildren of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, of Thunderbirds fame. They both featured highly touted special effects and supposadly adult plotlines. What we recieved were special effects straight out of Thunderbirds- ie obvious miniatures- and frankly I thought the puppets did a better job in regards to acting.

Battlestar Galactica (the original)-mostly subsisted of reworked old movie plots. But it and it's child, Galactica 1980, did feature it's semi-precious gems-BG had it's pilot (listed as Saga Of A Star World on the Sci-Fi Channel), The Living Legend (with Lloyd Bridges as an overly aggressive CO) and The Hand Of God (the last regular episode), where the beleagured ragtag fleet turns and fights instead of running with it's collective tail between it's legs. BG 1980 had one almost decent episode-The Return Of Starbuck, which told of what happened to Dirk Benedict's charactor.

Does anyone besides myself recall Hard Time On Planet Earth and Otherworld, both summer replacement series better left long forgotten?

As to a sci-fi classic- a few year back, one of my students produced (using his own video tapes and the school's equipment) a five-minute film entitled Star Trek VS Star Wars. It featured clips from several ST:TNG episodes and the first three Star Wars films. It started with the NG crew "detecting a ship of previously unknown configuration" that turned out to be a SW Star Destroyer, which immediately obliterated the Enterprise! Many of the other students thought it was a "hack job", I gave him 25 points for extra credit (the most allowed).

Felinoid

[Enterprise...]

Personally, I wish they had found time to insert Q into the mix somewhere, if not neccessarily the last episode. He was always a favorite of mine (although a few of the episodes spotlighting the charactor were not of the best quality), and the gifted charactor actor John DeLancie was always terrific. Some say he was too over the top-well, if you were a being with the power to eliminate history at a whim, so would you be.

I liked a lot of the small touches in the last episode-Reed commenting "All good things.." (an homage to the last TNG episode), the hastily-installed control panels that were everywhere (and in the way), the minor changes to the uniforms (nametags), all adding up to something subtly but noticably different.

Felinoid

[ISS Enterprise]

Not to keep bumping this thread to the top....but ironically enough, I jsut saw an old episode of "The Twilight Zone" with Lansing as the main character.

Did you also take notice that the female lead in the aforementioned Twilight Zone episode was Mariette Hartley, who also portrayed Zarabeth in on of the few notable third season episodes if ST:TOS, "All Our Yesterdays" ? Quite an attractive young woman, there.

Two questons concerning "In A Mirror, Darkly", was the Peter Weller charactor the same as in the recent two-parter, albiet as a "mirror image"?

And the wife and I were both confused as to why the "real" Jonathan Archer kept appearing and talking to the "mirror" Archer. It was not a plot point, and nothing was done to continue this later in the episode. In short, there was no practical reason for this device, merely to have fans say, "hey-look at that".

To sum up, however, we both enjoyed episode. It represents what "Enterprise" should have been-thought provoking with enough (not too much) action to keep up the interest. We also agree that it sets the scenario for a THIRD universe-bringing back technolgy from 100 years in the future definately would have made an impact that would have been hightly visible in the previously seen "mirror" episodes. Just some ruminations, after all, it is just a television programme.

Felinoid

[OT: Lightsabers]

Perhaps this will help, if your interest is in constucting a non-working hilt-only type of prop.

I have in my possession a book called From Star Wars To Indiana Jones:The Best Of The Lucasfilm Archives, by Mark Gotta Vaz and Shinji Hata, Chronicle Books, 1994.

On pages 24-25 there are several pictures of the various weapons employed in the original Star Wars film. Included are three different lightsaber props.According to the supplied text, they were constructed from " old-fashioned press photography camera flash bars, with additional parts machined on."

Unfortunately, I do not have a scanner available for my use. Perhaps the book might be aquirable through a local library or second-hand bookshop. It occurs to me that the original base for the prop could be found at a flea market, or perhaps by searching the Internet.

I hope that this has helped to some degree.

Felinoid

[What did you get at the Hobby Shop today?]

I performed some research on your site and made a shopkeeper very happy yesterday. I visited a few other stores as well.

Hobby Shop-

Squadron White Putty

Lots of paints, mostly acrylic, but some enamels (Model Master, Tamiya, Polly Scale), plus a few spray cans. I intend on graduating to an airbrush soon, let me do more research.

Sanding sticks

Files

Bare-Metal Foil

Testors Liquid Cement (with the small diameter metal tube, what a brilliant concept)

Testors White Glue in a similar container

Tenax

Tamiya Tape

Art Supply Store

Sandpaper of many grits, much less expensive here

A large variety of brushes, picked up an excellent deal on an artist's pack

Low-odor mineral spirits

Oil paints for washes

.005 diameter artist's pen

Lowe's

Regular and gel-type superglues

Clear epoxy

A packet of small tools

Drug Store

Nail Polish Remover (the idea of using this for removing excess putty sounds good).

Nail polishing stick

Staples

A work desk with a light

I am sure I missed something, and trust that some of you will point this out to me

Felinoid