JayBats' Colonial Blackbird "Laura" (enhanced by Paragon)

[Revell-Fan]

In 2011 I built JayBats' Blackbird with the enhanced texture by Paragon. The ship turned out well but the unfold was pretty tricky. On more than one occasion I thought I was about to break my fingers. To make things easier I cut big pieces into smaller parts, assembled these first and then joined them together with additional glue strips. The enhanced texture gives more depth to the final model and improves the look. The model would benefit from an internal skeleton though. Unfortunately I did not take any WIP pictures because it was intended as a quick build to see how the finished model would look like. Since there are so many classic kits being built these days I thought it would not be wrong to post the few pictures of the finished plane I still have in my archive. And here they are:













Enjoy the pictures!

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

You did a great job on this model. I like that you used Paragon's enhanced parts (which let themselves to quite a bit of greebling).
I attempted to build this model a couple times. Each time, it quickly turned into a "dog's dinner". You are right, internal formers are needed for this model.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

I would like to see someone make a more "screen accurate" one with cockpit interior and landing gear as well.

 

[spaceagent-9]

I love this ship!! My favorite one of the entire series. I also have black paper print cut out and in a pan, waiting for lights and build. please keep sending tips for assembly here. YOU DID A GREAT JOB!

 

[Revell-Fan]

Thank you all!

It was a really quick build-up, I think everything was done in about one and a half hour including curing time and de-knotting my fingers.

Something I noticed when I found the pictures again was that the base colour tends to look a bit olive green. It may be a printing issue but I think a second step to make it more accurate could be printing the parts in black and white except for the engine glow. That would bring it closer to the anthracite / graphite look of the original. A revised unfold would be necessary. Everything is buildable but some parts are just too big to handle, and when you are maneuvring into small corners it can be nerve-wracking.

Nevertheless we should always remember that this is the first and (at this time) only paper model of the Laura that exists. Jay gave the community the first version, something to work and have fun with. Paragon's new texture improved the look. However, even though the basics are there, upon closer examination you can see that there are several areas which need tweaking to bring the model to a definite status.

Please note that the following paragraph is not bashing but observation: Two models were created for the Blackbird in the show. First there was a full-scale mockup used for the cockpit shots and the scenes inside the hangar bay. Then there was a much more streamlined and detailed CG version used for the space scenes. If you compare the two you can see that the differences between the two are much bigger than on any other Viper. Jay's model could be based on the mockup because you would have to alter it extensively to bring it closer to the CG model:



It would be great to see a detailed paper model based on the detailed CG model. But who on Earth might be able to do it???

 

[spaceagent-9]

The cockpit windows could be over greeb'd with that plastic chrome foil, sometimes printer cartridges are pouched in it, or those juice pouches? Just a OCD touch that has been bugging me since I saw your magnificent build!