|
In this edition, we have a
new project from Dave Ruther, the Firefly from television's Thunderbirds. Check out Dave's other projects on the site.
I been a fan of the Gerry Anderson shows since I was knee high. Shows such as 'Thunderbirds' and 'Captain Scarlet' have been my
number one inspiration to get into modelling. This is primarily to do with the wonderful special effects and totally original (and often believable) designs of the vehicles.
There have always been toys available and model kits. But to me, they were often un-realistic or just too plain small! I want
something that will catch peoples' attention when they walk into a room, something that will make them say "hey, that's just like the one on TV!"
For me, models must be as close to the real thing as possible. These types of models are known as 'Studio Models', which are
representations of the models used for the original film in both appearance and size. There are quite a few Anderson modellers out there and I try to opt for models that are not the most common choices.
These are vehicles that wouldn't necessarily be 'stars' of the shows, but would certainly be recognised by anyone who was familiar with the shows.
When it comes to Anderson's 'Thunderbirds', everyone knows what the Thunderbird craft look like. Over the years I've built all
of these (except Thunderbird 5). Also, viewers of the show would witness (most weeks) some kind of weird and wonderful rescue vehicle emerging from one of Thunderbird 2's pods. I had already built the
'Master Elevator Car' in studio scale and prior to that had built a studio scale 'Mole'. For my next project I turned my hand to International Rescue's fire fighting machine – The 'Firefly'.
As with the 'Elevator Car' (and countless other Gerry Anderson models!), the studio model of the Firefly incorporated the use of
the good ol' 'Airfix Girder Bridge' (now available from Dapol). From these recognisable parts, I was able to scale up my plans to suit.
Click on the photos for details of each step in the project
After checking out these photos, go onto part 2
|
