Thunder Fighter Research

[RKW]

Firstly thanks to Alan Sinclair for producing these amazing blueprints.

I've been researching the paint scheme of this bird since I hope to be painting one in the not too distant future and so I want to see what is known.

Below are two images that depict where I believe to be panels painted a different colour/shade from the base colour. I'm pretty sure I've identified all the panels but it's hard to tell because they are so subtle and the additional weathering makes some areas look like panels. I'm confident that there are only two colours used for the paneling, a light beige and then a darker greyish colour that varies in opacity.

If you have information that contradicts what I've shown then please explain so that together we can all get a definitive paint guide. I am lacking any clear reference shots of the underneath which is why I haven't posted anything yet for that side.

Oh, the red symbols indicate where I think decals should be applied.

Top View


Side View

 

[dilbertman]

COOL. Just got my SS BR-SF this should help out a bit.

Jim

 

[jvasilatos]

Are these studio scale kits still available and if so, from where?

 

[RKW]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jvasilatos @ Mar 15 2007, 12:52 PM) [snapback]1440506[/snapback]</div>

Are these studio scale kits still available and if so, from where?
[/b]

Well I ordered mine from Steve at the start of February.

The more people painting these the better as we could do with more debate regarding the paint scheme. I've since learnt after doing the above paint guide that the canopy nose is also the lighter colour.

 

[RKW]

I bought the original poster magazine and have scanned in these great COLOUR pics of the studio model. I think I did a pretty darn good job on my original paint guide above.

You can see in these photos that the very top of the canopy also has a light beige panel which I didn't know about.

The scanned images appear exactly as they do in the poster mag and there is no visible colour degrading of the mag so they should be as good as the day they were first taken.

Note: Click the thumbnails below to view full size. The images are very large so even imageshack will shrink them initially until you click on it again to view the full size photo.

Rear View



Top View (this shows the correct colour unlike the image found on cloudster.com)

 

[RKW]

I would appreciate a decent colour scan or photo of the MB (Milton Bradley) Starfighter jigsaw puzzle if anyone can contribute one.

They come up for sale on ebay occasionally for peanuts by US sellers but as a result they don't like shipping abroad.

 

[Run Runner]

I would appreciate a decent colour scan or photo of the MB (Milton Bradley) Starfighter jigsaw puzzle if anyone can contribute one.

They come up for sale on ebay occasionally for peanuts by US sellers but as a result they don't like shipping abroad.

Here you go.

 

[RKW]

Awesome!
Thanks Run Runner :thumbsup

Well I reckon that just leaves the colour pic found on the back of Season 2 DVD and the mysterious pic Gene posted as being all the photos of this particular studio model. Although since they made two I don't know how the paint varied between them.

Can anyone confirm if a shot of the underneath exists??

Some other things I've learnt from these new pics is the existence of port and starboard wing lights, the light behind the canopy and the black strip that covers the top of the stabilizers. I've also noticed some details wrong on my casting which I've modified such as the missing panel line on the starboard intake and the incorrect position of the raised panels located within the rainbow strip area
:confused

 

[Run Runner]

Awesome!
Thanks Run Runner :thumbsup

Well I reckon that just leaves the colour pic found on the back of Season 2 DVD and the mysterious pic Gene posted as being all the photos of this particular studio model. Although since they made two I don't know how the paint varied between them.

Can anyone confirm if a shot of the underneath exists??

Some other things I've learnt from these new pics is the existence of port and starboard wing lights, the light behind the canopy and the black strip that covers the top of the stabilizers. I've also noticed some details wrong on my casting which I've modified such as the missing panel line on the starboard intake and the incorrect position of the raised panels located within the rainbow strip area
:confused

At least one of the Starfighters had working navigation lights on the wings. Here is a screen cap from the movie.

This is the best shot of the underside I could find.

 

[RKW]

Looks like that screen capture is the only time in the whole series that the navigation lights are seen on.

One thing that confuses the hell out of me is the leading edge of the stabiliser wing. In every single screen capture it appears a light colour yet every photo of the studio model shows it as a very dark bluish grey. I can only conclude that one of the following is true :-

1) The recording removed every hint of blue out of the shot which is why the engines rarely look blue.

2) This is the other miniature.

3) They altered the model prior to filming.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

Blue screen altered the colors at times and the way they lit things would blow out the color. This is why the Canaris shuttle in BSG is in reality a yellowish color but photographs white or pale gray. I have picts that you can see the areas that are white against the yellowish color so it's not a repaint:cool
The nav lights would be easy for one reason, look at the 3/4 aft view that you scanned. Look closely at the inside part of the wing by the engines. You will see it's hollow. Maybe only one hero version was made.:wacko

It's nice to see all this photographic info being found.

So the real question now is, do you want it to look like it was in the shop, before filming or how it looked on screen? My vote is for the scrren version because it's what they wanted it to look like.



Mark

 

[GKvfx]

From what I've been told, there were actually three ships - two hero ships and one that was converted into that "old" Starfighter that was used in one episode. (It was sold at a Profiles auction and is now on display at the Sci-Fi Museum in Seattle).

The four seat fighter was nothing more than one of the existing hero ships with a different canopy. If you look closely, you'll see that the windows are painted on - complete with reflections.

The publicity photos that you've posted so far were probably taken just before the actual filming and the models may have had more details added or may have been touched up after they were taken. (This is especially true of the Marauder/Hatchet fighter as the miniature was reworked after the filming of the pilot.)

It's always a crap shoot when choosing a color. Like Mark mentioned, the filming process alters the color of the ship. Ditto the printing process for those printed references. Short of taking a Pantone color book to the actual thing, your going to have to just make something that you feel comfortable with in terms of accuracy and color. (I did mine in the "screen seen" colors and promptly caught a wave o' good natured ribbing from the Hartland guys when they saw it.) The photo I posted is definately NG as the color has shifted to the magenta due to it's age. that being said, the colors displayed in those most recent scan seem about right based on what I saw at the Sci-Fi Museum.

Gene

 

[moffeaton]

I was told that the "old" Viper that the crew ended up using (and that was sold recently/now in the museum) was something that was apparently hurridly reconstructed, after the "hero" walked off the set just prior to filming.

The "hero" old Viper was never found, or resurfaced.

(Wait - we're talking Thunderfighters... oops!)

 

[RKW]

Blue screen altered the colors at times The nav lights would be easy for one reason, look at the 3/4 aft view that you scanned. Look closely at the inside part of the wing by the engines. You will see it's hollow. Maybe only one hero version was made.:wacko

If I'm looking at what I think you're talking about then I don't believe that is hollow but is black paint or tape.

So the real question now is, do you want it to look like it was in the shop, before filming or how it looked on screen? My vote is for the scrren version because it's what they wanted it to look like.
Mark

I want it to look like the actual filming miniature. If I succeed then it will look like it does on screen if shot with the same equipment. I don't believe Hartland chose to lose all the detail and colour in the final print. They would have put less effort into the detailing if they knew the final outcome. Most of the time it looks like a beige blur when the camera is in motion.

I don't know why people feel that beige was not a deliberate design choice. To me it makes sense that you have Earth tones for the Earth Defense force. The full scale mockup was beige, the hanger set was beige even the troopers helmets. If Hartland really intended for it to appear white then they would have painted it like the Ranger 3 shuttle. I think it's the toys and comics that have instilled the idea that they should be white.

Below is a pic showing the only time that you will see the shuttle (series 2 version) in the same shot as the starfighter to illustrate the contrast in colour.



I have noticed some extra weathering on the rear of the starfigher shown on Hartlands website and also on screen compared to the photos posted in this thread. But without seeing the two miniatures together it's impossible to know what the differences are between them. I very much doubt they're identical.

 

[RKW]

that being said, the colors displayed in those most recent scan seem about right based on what I saw at the Sci-Fi Museum.
Gene

What was on display at the museum?

 

[moffeaton]

I think it's the "Happy Birthday Buck" Thunderfighter that's got extra fins and whatnots...

 

[GKvfx]

What was on display at the museum?

They had the "Happy Birthday Buck" starfighter.
A Marauder/Hatchet fighter (likely from the Universal Studios tour and not the original).
The Space Station from "Space Vampire".
"Silent Running" dome.
Smaller stuff from "Starship Troopers".
Saucers from "Batteries Not Included" (Initially labled as CE3K, but later corrected.)
3' replica of War Rocket Ajax from "Flash Gordon".
Ship from "ET"
"Lost in Space" Jupiter2 & launch gantry.

Some other stuff that elude me now......I was there in summer of 2005, so some of the stuff may have rotated out. I posted some photos here and at StarshipBuilder a while ago.

Gene

PS -

check out this linky:

http://www.dars.org/jimz/cen5335.htm

Back in the day, Centuri Rockets included a "behind the scenes" look at Universal Hartland with the instructions and this site has a .pdf of it. (As well as plenty other rocketry goodies).

 

[Run Runner]

The four seat fighter was nothing more than one of the existing hero ships with a different canopy. If you look closely, you'll see that the windows are painted on - complete with reflections.

Gene

It looks like the modelmakers didn't even bother to change the bottom of the starfighter to make the four seat starfighter.

 

[RKW]

I thought I would entertain myself by creating a handy collage of the best reference material found so far to illustrate some consistency in colour. There are images from seven independant sources two of which were photo'd post 2000. The image under the canopy was taken by GKvfx at the exhibit discussed in post #17.

I've already realised that I'm going to need to choose another base colour to something that is more tan than what I was originally going to use.

 

[RKW]

So does anyone recognise the parts I'm pointing to from any available kits?



Also the Earth Alliance shuttle from BSG shares the same wings as the Thunder fighter so are these wings modified aircraft wings or scratch built? The EAC is clearly made up from F15 parts but the wings look nothing like F15 wings or any other aircraft that I've seen.