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Eliot Brown gives us a look at a scratchbuild project
that he's been working on. Eliot lives with wife Arlene and son Nick in Kingston, NY where he started the Kingston Vacuum Works and the new Amazing Colossal Models Co. He says he has a giant pile of unbuilt models and cheerfully refers to himself as a "kit mangler."
On my last trip to a major comic shop, I was drawn to the distinctive cover stylings of Kevin O'Neil. I was delighted at Alan Davis's
interesting use of literary fantasy characters in a thrilling yarn. But I was particularly drawn to O'Neil's take on Nemo's Nautilus. Sure, I had a nit or two to pick, but all in all, it was a thoroughly original
and interesting design. The use of giant domed windows on the bridge was a doff of the Tam O'Shanter to the Verne descriptions and the immortal design of Harper Goff. It was the glowing orbs that made me think of a
lighted model.
So, I sat back and went to CultTVMan's vast archive of David Merriman articles and soaked up some inspiration. Merriman is a no-holds-barred
model maker, using every method under the sun to get that model right and he shares his information with us, for free. If he's a little hard on so-called kit-assemblers, well, I invite all of us to look over our
shoulders and take in the teetering piles of unbuilt models. What Merriman places on this website --alone-- is more than my output of a lifetime; and I do have quite a few un-built models. On the other hand, I wear
the mantle of kit-assembler proudly and look to Merriman's work as something to aim for and certainly learn from.
I only hope I finish this Nautilus. Anyway, after soaking up some Merriman flair, I cleaned up my work space and got to work.
I had the mad plan to make several copies of a lit model in a display case (a la Wah Chang's little Time Machine in a velvet-lined box) for
the writer and artist of the book. Also to offer it as a kit (ahem, some fine day). So size and manufacturing methodology had to be thought out. Since I was going to make a circuit board that would serve as the
frame around which the ship would be attached, and I was going to make the circuit board, it had to fit within my manufacturing abilities.
Overall length of 6" was it. I was going to make a 3-D skeleton framework in centerline halves with the idea of vacuum forming it in
clear acetate for easier lighting. The distinctive squid arms would have to be done in white metal (gulp! but Merriman shows the way in his clear demonstrations of working up the deBoer's 57" Seaview) because
they are so thin and spindly. They would also have to be designed when the hull was complete as that hull is so comlex a compound shape. So Phase One would be the hull halves.
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