The Scorpio from Blake's 7

Hi All,

I'm after some help please.

I'm hoping to tackle the Scorpio from Blake's 7, but I'm going to need to do lots of research first.

The main studio scale model was over 4' long and built by Ron Thornton.



Unfortunately there's not much reference material about, and the main model was destroyed whilst filming the final epsode.

Not sure where the other smaller versions ended up, or any of the broken parts for that matter, anyone know?

Several years ago there was much excitement as it was thought one of them was found, in my neck of the woods no less, I hurridley rushed over with another collector, who now owns it, to see it!

Turned out it was the shuttle from Orbit, still very exciting and very cool, but not quite as monumental as The Scorpio turning up!



The shuttle was also built by Ron Thornton, hence I believe the initial misunderstanding of its identity.

The design, albeit CGI, bears a very close resemblance to the early Earthforce shuttles used in Babylon 5, funnily enough also designed by Ron Thornton!


Anyway, back to the topic in hand.

I'm going to start by asking if anyone recognises the kit part used to make the Scorpio bridge area, pics below:









I assumed an airliner, helicopter kit, or something similar, but I can't find anything like it anywhere.

Always assuming this was a kit part and not scratch built.

It has been suggested elsewhere that it might be from an aircraft carrier kit.


I've found one kit part, I guess you have to start somewhere!



I'm pretty sure there are more MPC/Ertl Falcon parts on the Scorpio.

Any help is greatfully appreciated.

Cheers,

Andy

WOW, good luck on your build, I for one will keep an eye on your progress and If something comes up will post here for you.

Looks like a kewl project! I look forward to viewing more!

http://smallspaceships.blogspot.com/...s-scorpio.html

Good luck

That bridge part looks like it may be half of a flying submarine (or some damn thing) from a Gerry Anderson show (or a similar Japanese show). Obviously not the Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but Mighty Jack or something. Real helpful, I know.

Uh ... Good luck


-Mike

Great project! I look forward to watching your progress.

Vila? Where are you, Vila? Please come out.

I'm thinking something like a command module/cockpit section from a large Zeppelin kit. Lindenberg has one out right now that is pretty big.
May not be the correct kit, but others may have produced large kits a well previously.

Hi All,

Thanks for the responses guys, very much appreciated.

I think this project is going to be a long haul, due mostly to the lack of readily available reerence material!

staermose said:

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I'm thinking something like a command module/cockpit section from a large Zeppelin kit. Lindenberg has one out right now that is pretty big.
May not be the correct kit, but others may have produced large kits a well previously.

Yeah, thanks for that, I was thinking along those lines, I flipped the image and I thought airship gondola.



Not sure if that's the answer though, the model would have been made circa 1980, I guess if a large scale Zeppelin / airship kit was around at that time it could be a possibility!

Vila? Where are you, Vila? Please come out.

LOL, you know your Blake's 7 Jay, as you know Vila likes to stay with Avon, where it's safe!

It almost looks like a section of the the MPC Falcon cockpit with some additional mullions.....

Gene

PS - The circled part kinda looks like the quad gun half from the MPC Falcon as well.

Hi Gene, someone else suggested that, I'm not so sure about the falcon cockpit being the donor.




I'm with you on the quad guns though, and maybe the ramp supports were used. I'm not 100% sure, but both parts look very close. very close.



Mike, thanks for the smallspaceship link, I've been over there a few times, that's pretty much all the reference material that's out there.

Thanks again guys.

Andy

And these two parts may be from th eERTL Millennium Falcon kit as well. From the box in the middle of the mandibles.

Hi Staermose,

Thanks so much for that, I think you have nailed the side panel section, looks like the falcon part to me.

You were on the right track with the spine piece as well, I'm 99% sure it's from the underside of the falcon, mirrored to the part you have highlighted.






I needed your prompting to recognise it.

What scale would that tiger tank piece be, 1/72?

There is a similar part just forward of the radar pictured below.

Thanks again, those two parts identified are going to be a huge help in scaling the Scorpio.

Cheers,

Andy.

For the King tiger i'm thinking 1/35 perhaps even 1/24. Its a large piece.

The Falcon part below the radar is the bottom one and not the top one as I posted. But it seems that you have better reference material than I. Could you post the ref. material you have. That way it might be easier for us to identfy kit parts.

For the King tiger i'm thinking 1/35 perhaps even 1/24. Its a large piece.

Cheers, thank you.

But it seems that you have better reference material than I. Could you post the ref. material you have. That way it might be easier for us to identfy kit parts.

Oops, sorry, I wasn't hogging reference honest!

I didn't want to pour it all on at once and scare people away!

I'll get some more reference up shortly.

I really appreciate the help so far.

Cheers,

Andy

That base the radar looks almost like the rear "hatch" on a TIE.

That base the radar looks almost like the rear "hatch" on a TIE.

It certainly does!

TIE kit parts were certainly used on other ships in the fourth series of Blake's 7.



Specifically Servalans Command Cruiser below;




I'm assuming there weren't any commercialy available TIE Fighter kits in 1980, of sufficient scale to be used as the radar base, or were there?

Cheers,

Andy

Another identified falcon piece, courtesy of smallspaceships blogspace.







THUMBNAIL LINKS TO HIGHER RESOLUTION SCORPIO IMAGES:

Hopefully they'll link properly!

































Cheers,

Andy

clanger68 said:

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It certainly does!

TIE kit parts were certainly used on other ships in the fourth series of Blake's 7.


I'm assuming there weren't any commercialy available TIE Fighter kits in 1980, of sufficient scale to be used as the radar base, or were there?

Cheers,

Andy

That's the thing - I don't think there were any kits then...

Would the builders of this model have had access to a stuodi scale TIE (I know that's a long shot). How big would the base for the radar be?

That's the thing - I don't think there were any kits then...

Would the builders of this model have had access to a studio scale TIE (I know that's a long shot). How big would the base for the radar be?

I don't know if Ron Thornton would have had access to studio scale models/casts from Star Wars, very possibly I guess.

I believe he made the large model at home on a freelance basis for Jim Francis at the BBC.

A very crude bit of photoshop and scaling makes the bottom diameter of the radar base at approximately 80mm.




Cheers,

Andy

?

PHArchivist said:

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That's the thing - I don't think there were any kits then...

Would the builders of this model have had access to a stuodi scale TIE (I know that's a long shot). How big would the base for the radar be?

The Tie kit most likely used, was the Vader Tie fighter model. That one was available back then. And had the wall sections seen on the other Blake's 7 shown above.

The base of the Radar dish only looks a little like the "rear hatch" of a Tie. I think this could just be a coinsidence.

http://www.fasttrackmodels.co.uk/pro...oducts_id=5952

http://www.airshipmodeler.com/forums

Any good?

SAS

Thanks for the heads up on the third use of the gun / strutt part Sith Sheriff, I think you are right.



The Vader TIE kit was definitely around, Martin Bower used it on Servalans ship.


So the jury is still out on the use of a TIE hatch on the radar base.


Thanks for the links Si.

I will check them out more thoroughly later.

A quick nose around the airship forum has revealed this:

AMT Akron/Macon Airship - Back in the mid 70s AMT released this kit.

So the dating of the kit would be right, I don't have info on the scale yet.

I also haven't got a picture of the kit, but for comparison here is a photo of the real Akron.



Very close, very close.

Cheers,

Andy

Not correct but another possible avenue?

http://www.modelsforsale.com/listphotos/RR05226.jpg

SAS

staermose said:

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The base of the Radar dish only looks a little like the "rear hatch" of a Tie. I think this could just be a coinsidence.

I agree... And of course the Vader TIE didn't have that rear hatch/engine outlet.

Though (and this just dawned on me)... What was the original kit part that ILM kit-based for their TIEs?