This is my 100% scratchbuilt replica of the Nebuchadnezzar, the magnificent ship from "The Matrix" movie. Half vessel/half plane, this hovercraft design shocked me since the very first moment I saw it on the screen. I made it as a commission for a very good fellow modeler from Nebraska. In fact I convinced him of choosing this model instead of his original idea of building another Galactica as it was his first intention (sorry for that! Hope it was worthwhile :)

The electromagnetic levitation disks that comprise its propulsion system are one of the most amazing ideas that I've ever seen for a Sci-Fi ship. And weirder than that is the fact that its common routes are the sewage pipes and subway tunnels of destroyed human cities in an indefinite future. Another remarkable detail is its weapons, not precisely its defense cannons but the impressive antennae array that is used to attack and infiltrate its signal inside the Matrix. That converts this vehicle more than a communications ship into a "Virtual assault" one. Defense weapons are used against the sentinels, a strange kind of biomechanical droids half spiders-half octopus that patrol the pipes looking for any "pirate" signal. The other thing that hooked me was its "catfish" aspect, following an old American tradition on fiction ships design (the squid shape of the Seaquest, the ray-fish nose of the Seaview, or the narwhal resemblance of the Nautilus on the 1954 film version, etc, etc)

The model is 3 feet long, weighs aproxmately 15 pounds. I spent more than 7 months on its construction, not counting the graphic material investigation for another 2 moths. All graphic reference was gathered from the net: official and unofficial site pictures, renders from 3D Designers forums, etc, and a "virtual kit" downloaded directly form the official site; probably a lower resolution version of the CG (computer generated) one used for the movie.

This had been so far my biggest project; even more than a previous replica of the Galactica starship at the same size (made 15 years ago) because of the integral illumination system that demand me even more time the model construction itself. Main hull is made in fiberglass over an inner ribs-structure made of poliexpan. Additional layers of epoxy resin and putty help to get surface termination. In the detailing were used not only spare kit parts, but mainly scratch auto-constructed parts in resin, plastic an even wood. The 20 levitation disks are casted copies of an original design, using clear resin for the external transparent disk covered on its back with aluminum paper to amplify lamps bright. The base is made over a bottle plastic container and a big lot of tiny plastic pieces form very diverse origin.

There are two different installations inside this model. On one side is the little buoy lights at the end of every of the 40 antennae that cover the ship. They were made using high bright leds (the same ones that appear on the model's base) and fiber-optics from an old psychedelic lamp to conduct this light to every tip. The other circuit is the one of the levitation disks, made with small high power tungsten lamps inside the clear resin disk mentioned before. This means that two different power sources have to be chosen to feed all this "Christmas tree".

I used two different sprayed priming layers of acrylic paint. First color was flat black and second one was aluminum (applied as a filter and showing partially the black bottom). A third chrome mask was applied on specific small areas. Then I used TAMIYA airbrush acrylic color XF-51 for weathering and paneling (mixed with flat black). The base was spray primed in white and painted with medium grey enamel and oxide red (both from HUMBROL). Some other filters with medium gray, dark shadow and black were applied over ship and base After those, a lot of weathering, corrosion strokes and drips (in black, oxide and pale green) were applied to get its final old aspect.

Image: Bow view

Image: Bow on

Image: Dorsal from forward

Image: Dorsal view

Image: Forward starboard quarter

Image: Forward detail

Image: Midship detail

Image: Stern detail

Image: Cockpit

Image: Forward starboard low

Image: Unilluminated look

Image: Planning the project

Image: Comparison A

Image: Comparison B

Image: Drawings