Obscure Ship From the Thrawn Trilogy Comic Books

[Albertese]

So, I was reading the graphic novel version of the Thrawn Trilogy and I found a number of cool looking spacecraft in there. I decided it would be fun to scratch build some of them. I decided to start with this one: the A-Class Bulk Freighter which was used on a sneak attack against the New Republic's Sluis Van shipyards. It's a very angular ship... lots of flat surfaces. I thought it'd be a fun, quick build. Here are the images of the ship from the comic book:




And here's my progress thus far:

Started by cutting out the sides and scribed in panel lines:


Then I started working on the structure for the bulk of the ship. The vertical square-tube will accept the display stand:



I built a bit of framing to the sides that hold them to shape, but they're not fixed to the middle structure yet. Everything still slides apart a this stage.



I started to greeble the hangar bay cut out. Most of the details are from a 1:48 F-15. Also there are couple wheels from a 1:72 tank and the guts from a floss dispenser.



And I greebled up the top trench area. Most of these parts are from a 1:35 tank, but there are some 1:426 and 1:700 battleship guns and random clippings of styrene strips and a couple bits from that 1:72 fuel truck.



And to quote our own heroic TheNylonGag, "Mmmmmmmmm Primer"



That's all for now. Thanks for looking!

--Alex

 

[Rats]

Great start, looking good. Excellent job from little reference!

 

[Mike J.]

Agreed! This looks very cool. Really looking forward to this.

 

[Strode]

very nice...

 

[Wes R]

Very neat, it's nice to see little known ships getting some love.

 

[Karasuryn]

Awesome stuff. We'll be watching this with great interest.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I decided to start with this one: the A-Class Bulk Freighter which was used on a sneak attack against the New Republic's Sluis Van shipyards.

Yeah... not cool! :lol

Looks good so far! I want to eventually do that ship Luke hid his X-Wing inside of.

 

[Albertese]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas!

I got a bit more done before the end of the weekend.

I wanted the hangar area walls to have some texture, so I sliced up a syrup container from Jack in the Box and applied the ribbing to the walls.



Also, I greebled the lower trench:



Then I got started on the cargo boxes. The drawings in the graphic novel are not consistent on how this area is supposed to be, so I extrapolated quite a bit. First I made a long box of styrene sheet and square tubes:



Then I cut it into five short lengths and covered the ends with some ribbed sheet styrene, to match the one detail that is consistent on the drawings... the horizontal lines. I also built up the area around to make some industrial looking framing.



I'm still treating it as sub-assemblies right now, and none of the cargo boxes are glued down yet, to make painting easier.

One of the pleasures in a project like this is that the drawings aren't so detailed. In a sense it's basically just concept art and you still get a lot of wiggle room to nail down the details. For me, it's more relaxing than all the research needed for Studio Scale projects. Really, this model is just kind of a break in a larger, totally unrelated project that is very research heavy. Breaks are fun.

--Alex

 

[Mike J.]

The front end is looking really good!

 

[Albertese]

I got a bit more done this evening. Detailing the underside of the forward ...plate-thingies... I guess the Falcon has mandibles, so let's call them mandibles.

I detailed the edges with tiny bits of styrene. More details out of landing gear from a fighter jet and bits from a 1:700 battleship. The black bands are cut offs from a zip-tie... should look cool painted up. I have a cover for the left side too, but left it off for this pic, just to show the details underneath.


More to come! Thanks for looking!

--Alex

 

[seatreader]

Awesome looking build! I love the different kit details that have been put in! Can't wait to see where this goes!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[struschie]

Cool stuff!

 

[Durrett]

I love obscure ships, and this one feels a lot more star warsy than most. Can't wait to see it done.

 

[Albertese]

So! I had put this thing on hold as I tried to think of how to light the engines. I experimented a bit with a couple different reading lights from Dollar Tree. Wasn't happy with the results. I've never really lit up a model before, and I'm kinda chicken to start looking into doing my own wiring and such, though I have an electronics buddy who swears it's stupid easy. Maybe next time.

I happened to find these little self contained lights at a random trip to a Joanne's Fabrics store.





I built a little frame to hold a pair of these inside the hull. (no picture)


I built up some engines inspired by the illustration in the comic book and I greebled the area around. I plan to do a bit more greebling to the engines themselves, perhaps.

Here is a lighting test:





Here's the details without the lights turned on:





To keep the switches accessible, my intent is to make one of the sides hold on just by magnets. Then, when the batteries finally die, I'll cement it together. I really only need the batteries to work for a few photo shoots. After that, if it stays forever dark, I'm okay with that. I don't have any other lit models, so, whatever. The way I have the lights in there, they aren't accessible for battery changes anyhow.

Thanks for looking!

--Alex

 

[Will Vale]

This is really nice, lots of inspiration to get some more done on my angular ship I like the cargo containers or whatever the boxes on the front are, they have a bit of the feel of the Rebel Transport, and the overhanging plates fit with that too. Different but familiar.

W

 

[NeoRutty]

What are those pieces you are using there as the ends of the engines?

So! I had put this thing on hold as I tried to think of how to light the engines. I experimented a bit with a couple different reading lights from Dollar Tree. Wasn't happy with the results. I've never really lit up a model before, and I'm kinda chicken to start looking into doing my own wiring and such, though I have an electronics buddy who swears it's stupid easy. Maybe next time.

I happened to find these little self contained lights at a random trip to a Joanne's Fabrics store.

http://s25.postimg.org/jd9dcah1b/2014_09_07_20_28_05.jpg



I built a little frame to hold a pair of these inside the hull. (no picture)


I built up some engines inspired by the illustration in the comic book and I greebled the area around. I plan to do a bit more greebling to the engines themselves, perhaps.

Here is a lighting test:

http://s25.postimg.org/3t1zlr6wv/2014_09_07_20_19_31.jpg



Here's the details without the lights turned on:

http://s25.postimg.org/lx506e4lb/2014_09_07_20_18_16.jpg



To keep the switches accessible, my intent is to make one of the sides hold on just by magnets. Then, when the batteries finally die, I'll cement it together. I really only need the batteries to work for a few photo shoots. After that, if it stays forever dark, I'm okay with that. I don't have any other lit models, so, whatever. The way I have the lights in there, they aren't accessible for battery changes anyhow.

Thanks for looking!

--Alex

 

[Albertese]

The inner exhaust parts are wheels from a tank. Don't ask me which one, though, as I have half a dozen kits worth of parts spread around. Could be anything. I thk somethign 1:35, though, if that helps.

--Alex

 

[Albertese]

Okay, so I got s bit more done tonight. I built up this boxy structural business on one side. A similar, but non-symmetrical structure will balance out the other side. The comic book drawings show this shape, but I improvised on the details, especially the pipes in the lower part. But i feel it seems Star Warsy enough still...





More to come!

--Alex

 

[newmagrathea]

This is very cool. I didn't read the comics but I'm a huge fan of the books. I always wondered what that ship looked like.

 

[SKIN JOB 66]

Hello all,

Very happy and excited to have discovered this very cool project because I'm the one who designed that ship (and later drew it on the pages).
Too bad I didn't see it earlier because I have a detailed view of the ship, that's the drawing I have submitted to Lucasfilm for approval at the time that miniseries was in production...
Hope it'll help (even if it's a little too late, I know) !

Cheers
Fred

PS : Will Vale is right, the main idea here was to develop an Imperial Tuna Ship close to the one used by the rebel alliance, but with an imperial vibe.