Titan Find Pursuit Ship from Blakes 7

I started a build up thread some time ago of the Titan Find Liberator from Blakes 7. I’m pretty much done except for a cradle stand for her -- I don’t want to drill any holes in the kit. But a few months ago, Titan Find did another run of the Blakes 7 Pursuit ship and I just got it in.

Basically, it's a dull looking ship compared to the gleaming, elegant Liberator. The PS is basically a rocket with 4 stubby wings and 2 tiny, awkward looking satellite dishes on top. LOL looks like the Federation uses the Dish Network.

Aesthetics aside, it's a great kit, and comparing it to pix shows it's very accurate. The ship is very poorly shown onscreen (low res BBC 70s FX) and you never get to see it's nice menacing red paint scheme onscreen. The original ship is dark shades of red, maroon, rust and ochre as befitting a menacing fighter of the bloody Federation. The paint job is what will make her stand out. Far too many concrete grey spaceships out there. (ducks and runs)

Anyway, I'm using this thread which has some great shots of the pursuit ship and various models of it for reference, especially painting. Blake's 7 Pursuit Ship - Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum

Here are the parts: hull, 4 wings, various greebles, front spike, rear engine and the antenna array.



First, the kit. Just the usual cleanup. I sliced off 1 misshapen strip from the hull, easily replaced by strip. I also removed the molded on "space 1999 eagle thruster” (conspicuously mounted on the hull) which was also deformed, too delicate for resin. I quickly scratched a new one with sheet & rod but it will be one of the last things I add, as it protrudes from the ship and is bright white. I also replaced the main antennae with small plastic rods for a cleaner look.



Next step, gluing on some parts (there aren't many) and surface filling/prep.

I've primed the model and painted it a flat black.



The entire paint scheme should be blotchy, faded shades of dull red/maroon, with various dull orange patches/panels throughout. The black undercoat should help with this and help the panel lines stand out a bit

I've also started airbrushing the red paint.




I'm giving it a basic coat of flat red by Tamiya, a good generic dull red color.




Its a nice, generic flat red. I'm trying not to make the coat completely even -- It needs to be "faded" a bit in various areas with the black undercoat showing through.




Got a few paint spatters, but the touch up with many maroon/orange panels will cover that later.




Next step - mixing up about 4-5 shades of dull orange/red for the various panels.

Looks good, can't wait to see it finished

Now the fun begins. Looking at the prop and other photos, I cant seem to find a regular pattern for the various painted panels. The paint pattern" on the prop seems to seem mostly random (there are a few symmetrical bits/panels). Also, there was more than one prop, and they didn't match exactly. Soooo....time for artistic license.






I've cut dozens of rectangular painters tape bits and put them in various places around the model.

I've mixed up 2 more batches of for the paint job. one is more red than orange.





And shot the whole model with the darker orange red. I've also mixed up a lighter/more orange version. Next step is to mask off some larger sections and shoot the remainder with that lighter orange red. The final paint job should be various faded orange/red hues and panels.

I'll then airbrush some faint black "smoke" shading and lines for depth and detailing.

Ah memories. I binge watched the entire series in 2004 when i moved to Australia for a year. My friend was a huge fan and indoctrinated me into the world of Blakes 7

Finally getting some free time to work on this. It's all tamiya acrylics. I used a flat black undercoat, then thinned flat red. I added a bunch of masked squares and shot it with flat red mixed with some orange. Then more squares, then red mixed with more orange. Then I added more tape squares, then very lightly shot it with pure orange just to highlight on the outer edges and to give it some contrast. Finally added a light dullcote to seal it.


I was going for a blotchy, worn appearance which really makes the red color stand out. I'll probably give it a few light airbrush passes with thinned smoke/flat black for the crevices/inner edges.

Still have to work on the top antennae/dishes, the 2 other fiddly bit details on the hull as well as the side laser wing guns.

Also must think about the engine, a stand and maybe lighting it. The engine exhaust is just a round engine vent and looks dull so I may not bother.

Love it. you're going to need another two now.

Knightjar said:

Love it. you're going to need another two now.

Click to expand...

I have a Titan Find Liberator which is finished except for a proper stand. I've often thought about getting 3 tiny pursuit ships from shapeways (there are several from various makers) and adding them to an (eventual) stand.

Scale for the Pursuit ship was never clearly given in Blakes 7. They did have both ships collide on screen (episode called Duel) but in cheap BBC effects style they actually had the 2 studio models physically collide. The two are not supposed to be the same scale. It was like having a 1/32 airplane hitting a 1/700 battleship.

Yes, that shot is pretty jarring. It wouldn't make any sense for the pursuit ships with a crew of three to be so big - about five times the size of the prison transport ship London!

Yes, but as the pursuit ships were a fast, long range warship, most of the hull was probably taken up with engine, fuel and weaponry. Crew quarters were probably akin to the space module on a Saturn rocket.

Yes, and I need a decent, original series blakes7 base for my titan find liberator also.

OK as it's been over five years since i started this, it's time to finish these babies. The Pursuit ship is complete except for the decals - I have to find them somewhere....
Anyway, it's been done for a few years so lets close this thread.

Really nice seeing this built up. Great work

Cheers

John

szarchie said:

Really nice seeing this built up. Great work

Cheers

John

Click to expand...

Thanks. I've always liked when spaceships got away from the "shades of off-white/light grey" mode which is usual standard for SF spaceships, even today. Even the Expanse, which I love, has everything in grey.



All I can think of is the scene from Red Dwarf where Rimmer is arguing about changing paint from ocean grey to military grey then back to ocean grey -- but it's still the same grey color.