I've been preoccupied with other things, and we've had computer problems in the last few weeks, but now it's time to get updated. First of all, here's the third member of the Corellian Freighters collection.

This one was also designed by the same brother, and it's called the Quagmire. It's slightly larger than the Falcon, 27 cm. However, it was built several years before the Magistrate. It was my first effort at building interior detail, so it has the cockpit and gunports visible (upper and lower,similar to the Falcon). The Magistrate has only one gunport, but shows some crew spaces inside through the boarding ramp.

The Quagmire also has shock-absorbing landing gear. It's removable, like the Falcon's, but I lost the 'gear-up' body panels a while back.

One of the reasons this entry is so late is because I've been prepping for IPMS competitions in this area. The Star Destroyer and the Corellian Collection were entered in the IPMS NOVA Model Classic, and in the Virginia Shootout competition held by the Roanoke Valley IPMS group. The Collection did well, and the Star Destroyer was awarded Best of Show at each. If you have any interest in modelling, I suggest you check for an IPMS chapter in your area. The shows they do are great for kids and families, and not expensive to attend. They also cover a nice spectrum, including figures and sometimes paper models. (And the paper ones can be shockingly well detailed.)

For the future, I'm planning to attend several more IPMS shows this year; Penncon 2010 in Mechanicsburg, the Region II convention in Fredericksburg, and Maraudercon in Baltimore. I'm also working on another member for the Collection. Like the Quagmire and Magistrate it was designed by one of my brothers about 30 years ago, but none of them remember doing the drawing. So, it's officially a mystery, but I'm giving credit to a different brother. The styles are different enough. It's taking a while because it's going to be a bit of a leap in how much detail it'll show. More on it as soon as a camera can be borrowed.

Hey, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

This is a Corellian scout that my brother designed back when we were teenagers. I finally finished it in '07. It's scale to the Falcon, and is 19 cm long. I gave it the name 'Arrogant Magistrate.'

One more in this series, in a week or so.

Since finishing the Foray I've been looking at getting back into models, and have visited a few local chapters of the IPMS. (If you don't know, check it out.) The nearest group, Washington DC, has a good group of guys who've been very helpful with some of the residual problems of the model. Anyway, that occupied a lot of free thought, which is why I've been neglectful here.

So, two things to mention to start getting up-to-date:

First; I took the Foray to a model competition in Richmond VA at the end of February, and was pleased that the model was well-received. It even won a couple of awards. Check out the IPMS Richmond web page, on their Contest tab.

Second; I thought it might be helpful to share some of my previous efforts. This one should be recognizable. It was finished ~1980, and is 23 cm long. More to follow...

My brother took some photos that show the Foray in a better light. Thought you might appreciate these...

The painting is complete, the fiber optics have been clipped, and it's ready to display.

Here's how it looks after all of the major body work is finished.




Fiber optics are ready to be trimmed after the final paint job. And the main gun batteries will also be put in place at that time.

Engine detailing. It was a struggle to decide when the detailing was complete.

The only other major piece missing is the communications array on the bridge. Gotta make sure that goes on straight.

Next time - after painting is complete. The final model.

Here's one that I forgot to put in the last post; the TIE fighter bay on the starboard side. The off-white pieces on either side of it are castings of detail pieces. That way my stock of parts wouldn't be totally exhausted before construction was complete.

Cementing the upper hull in place was one of the most difficult steps. It took over a dozen fittings to make sure the details in the waist were fitting properly together. Plus there are a number of area lights in there that needed to have their wires and bulbs hidden. I knew that once it was together, there'd be no going back. But it was worth the time to be sure everthing was good.

Here the superstructure, bridge and main battery sponsons are under construction. Although it took some time to get the structural dimensions right, the detail work itself was enjoyable. The black object in front of the bridge is one of the fiber optic sources that I used. Although it comes with only one cluster of 50 fibers, I was able to modify it so that it would illuminate between 500 and 600.

View from aft, with some of the engine details visible. Note the ball bearing on the port side of the bridge. That's for later.

View from forward. I tried to have at least 80% of the detailing completed in these areas before continuing on to the upper levels of the superstructure.

Getting ready to add the next level of the superstructure.

Port side view.

Port aft. The main engine mounts and secondary engine power sockets are visible.

At this point it's been under construction for about a year. From the bottom it's recognizable as a Star Destroyer, but from the top it's a bit of a mess. All the wiring and fiber optics are competing for the available space.

The two bays are the main points of the underbelly, so they needed a little extra attention.

Assembling this bay was where the model construction actually began.

The forward bay. Photos of this area on the original model were scarce, so most of what you see here is subject to 'artistic discretion.'

I started this project back in February of '07, after finishing up a custom Corellian freighter that my brother designed back when we were teenagers. The final confirmation to do this came from another fan's work; check out stardestroyerproject.com to see what he's done.

This blog will be updated as I can get photos online