[Starship Modeler's 9th on-line modeling contest: The Other Guys]

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Caution: 1/6th Gravity Children at Play



Sponsored By:


DaVeK Ventures







by Mark Dowman

Scale: ~1/175

The Clavius Independent School District is located at the USAA (United States Astronautics Agency) moonbase. The students are children of the base's engineering core and scientific community. The school has been in operation since phase three of the Clavius base construction. The Russian Magnet school program requires pickup and drop off of qualified students from Tchalinko base. Classes consist of all grades with interactive training available using MAL computer systems.

The school bus is a modified base transport used for day-to-day school activities and field trips. Depending on activity, the bus can carry as many as 10 students, a pilot, and a teacher. Outings range from visits to local digs, historical sites, and other nearby bases.

The Magnet program and all field trips have been suspended since the communications silence after an unknown epidemic was reported in April 14th, 2001.

The Model

During high school, some friends and I discussed doing a spoof of "2001: A Space Odyssey ". I made three models, and that was as far as it went. One was a Moonbus made out of a Lindberg school bus kit. I stuck a Saturn V engine on it's rear, swapped thruster nozzles for wheels and made landing gear.

When I read the subject of this contest, the Moonbus crossed my mind as a possible entry. It was a decision between entering the model made in the late 70s, a newer version using a school bus, or getting a kit of the design from the film and modifying it.

The kit came from The 4th Axis; it is aproximatly 1:175 scale. I did some sketches, started gluing, puttying, priming, and dremeling the parts. Once the form was complete, painting began. The overall color was airbrushed, with details, washes, and dry brushing to enhance the surface.

Next came the markings. I really feel that clean markings are one of the key elements for a nice model. Realizing that I couldn't hand letter 4 point type, I went looking for a way to do custom decals. Decal Connection, in Florida, sells blank decal sheets that can be run through a laser printer. I made measurements and created the art in Macromedia Fireworks MX, making test prints on paper to verify sizing. I made multiple copies of the required markings, as a backup for possible disaster. Once the art was ready, a minion of Kinko's helped make sure it printed out cleanly. I only had two sheets of this decal paper.

Once the decals were applied, the antenna (made of guitar string bits), lights (glass sequins), and weathering was added.

The model was nice, but it really needed a base to complete the theme. The base is 1/4" Plexiglass with textured styrene sheets. The pad markings and scorches were airbrushed. A brush was used on the lunar soil to add texture and subtle blast shadows behind the lights and power boxes.

The final detail was a modified school zone sign. Original signs were referenced, the heads were replaced with 2001 style helmets.

This contest really inspired me to get back into plastic modeling and airbrushing, after many years of computer work.

Image: Start

Image: Moonbus assembled

Image: Painting

Image: Decals

Image: Scool Crossing




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This page was last updated 19 January 2004