LP-22 spacecraft from Fireball XL-5 (an old British TV show)

[wardster]

Here's a scratch-built model that I made some years ago, when I was writing for a publication out of England, called "Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller".

The details regarding this particular project were shown on pages 18 through 31 (inclusive) of a special issue they called "21st Century Modeller" issue #1. If my old hand-scribbled notes are accurate, I submitted this one to them around October of 2011, and the special issue it was in came out around January of 2012. (Hard to believe it's been that long!?) I say "special issue" because they did "regular" editions, too (under the main SF&FM title; which covered "anything" related to sci-fi or fantasy) plus various "all on one specific theme" specials. For those who don't already know: the book's reference to "21st Century" told readers from England, who grew up watching various TV shows by Gerry Anderson's production group of (or close to) that name, that these special issues would be all about vehicles and such, related to the TV shows many British kids loved.

















As the article noted, I tried to stick as closely as possible to the fictional spaceship's original design, as seen in only one episode of the show, "Fireball XL-5".

Guest craft on any of the Anderson shows were always potentially interesting to me, as modeling subjects; and this "Light Patrol" craft's design just jumped out at me, when I first saw it on-screen. The original craft or model likely was made out of something like Balsa wood, so the hull on my replica was made with Balsa wood, too. There's some Pet-G (plastic sheet that works great for vacuum-forming clear parts) that I made a solid form for; a mold from that; and then made the final canopy.

There are a lot of materials in use, here: even part of an index card. (Surrounding the engine's exhaust tubes.) Some sheet (and tube) styrene plastic, was liberally used, here and there. I even turned a few small parts on a small lathe, to replicate the original items as closely as I could. Paint scheme details are sort of "best-guess" mixed liberally with "what might look cool, but still be arguably plausible as the correct colors," which I say since the original TV show only came out in black-and-white.

Here's a few "work in progress" shots, too. They show the (never quite completed; it was supposed to have a pilot and a chair for him, but deadlines unfortunately didn't let that happen) craft's interior. As some of you may note, it's mostly a collection of kit bits that I liberated from kits from various modern day sci-fi franchises, including Batman, Star Wars, Star Trek, and so on. I even worked a small vent panel from a fast food chain's R2-D2 robot into the side walls, as an air-scrubber or similar feature.









I included a few "silly" touches to the interior -- most notable probably being the reminder to "clean rest rooms" right next to an object that I imagined looked a bit like a space toilet, or something. There's also some decals on the main console, that fellow toon modeler, Tres Wright, had printed on an ALPS printer, many years ago, and once made available to Deal's Wheels fans: one of those being a car-tuner-1970s-radio-like decal, that can be seen as a prominent detail on that main console. There is a slot above that, that was supposed to represent something like a CD-player; and the big things on both sides of the console were supposed to be (in my goofy head, anyway) a pair of stereo speakers, so the pilot wasn't bored on his long, solo space flights.

[wardster]

Here are two excerpts from the text of the original article. (I wouldn't want to have to post all of it, as the whole thing runs past 3,000 words!) This should clarify some points about the cockpit's work, etc.

(quoting ...)


COCKPIT SPACE

It isn't possible to copy this craft's interior, as it was seen onscreen. The puppet set's size, shape and detailing aren't even close to being something that would fit inside this tiny craft's exterior. (It looks like the puppet folks redressed XL5's interior set.) I doubt any interior detail even existed on the small "flying" model that was used to film the craft's exterior. Minor agreement does exist in places, between those two different models - that there was a lot of glass used overhead, for instance - but that's about all. So I cheated things while also shooting for an impression of what the puppet set told viewers: that there was a large flat floor; a door-like object in back; a desk-like console up front; and secondary consoles elsewhere.

I used a combination of sheet plastic (the floor) and index cards (side walls) to form the basic shape of my interior. The latter was used because I'm starting to experiment with paper products more often, in certain situations. I'm fond of those results ... but having explained that process in my (Steampunk Volume 1) CSS Manassas article (and elsewhere in passing), I'll just say that thin viscosity Zap CA super glue soaks into paper quickly; and sticks paper down really well, wherever you've placed it. The CA hardens quickly due to a reaction with the paper. (No chemical accelerators are needed.) The result is a thin, firm, sharp-edged strip or sheet which can easily be sanded, puttied and painted.


KIT-BASHED DETAILS

After I had my cockpit floor and walls firmly in place, I added made-up set dressing. Choosing stuff to add was fun!

I chose to mostly use items I already had, as I felt that was in sync with the spirit of low-budget studio modelling. Naturally, you folks may use whatever you wish to on your LP-22 model's interior: but here's the kit parts I used.

I raided a 'Keaton' Batmobile kit, which I had previously (or is that sacrilegiously?!) cut up for bits and pieces. I had a Shuttle Tydirium kit I'd purchased, partially-built, for $2 USD at a local thrift store. (A charity shop.) Since I was including the Bat Franchise, plus items from a Star Wars kit, I searched through my bits box for some suitable Star Trek wiggets - it only seemed fair! - but not finding any available kit parts that both looked right and fit well, I decided instead to include Star Trek decals.

AMT/ERTL's Batmobile (kit #6877) supplied two boost pumps (chrome, parts 105 and 106); two light lenses (clear, parts 202 and 203); a bulkhead (part 9); and selected portions of the instrument panel (part 10). The latter was cut up quite a bit. I only wanted (or had space for) a few individual detail sections. I didn't use everything from that panel.

MPC/ERTL's Shuttle Tydirium (kit #8733) gave up portions of its landing gear: parts #14 and 15. These were cut up - I think to become the instrument panels on the side walls.

AMT/ERTL's Silhouette show car kit (#38450) contributed the back wall ("blower intake manifold," part #40) and the rear portion of the blower assembly (part #315, I believe).

A random R2-D2 toy (from McDonald's, I think: I found it in the street) supplied the starboard wall with two vents.

A decal sheet from Walthers dated 1999 (not sure what it's from as I obtained partial sheets in trades) contributed a "Clean Rest Rooms" partial decal. The story: after I added the blower assembly part, its shape reminded me of a fancy hideaway toilet. Which mildly amused me, since having one makes practical sense: even if TV shows often ignore that practical necessity in their spacecraft designs. It's too small to read easily, so it felt like a studio's in-joke.

I used portions of decals 6 and 10 from the Star Trek Enterprise Bridge kit; along with one of the nine decal #23's from that sheet. The #23 I just slapped on there, up front, but some others I experimented on. After letting the applied decals dry for a couple of days, I painted over a few areas on some decals: to change their look. I did it with acrylic paints, to avoid damaging the delicate decal film. I thinned the paint to partial transparency and then layered it on, patiently: letting it dry between layers. A nifty little trick! I'll have to remember that one!"

(quoting my old article's text OFF ...)

[wardster]

What the heck. Here's one more set of quotes, from that article's text, regarding paint decisions.

(quoting ON)

PAINT CHOICES

"While I tried hard to follow what I was seeing on-screen, as far as the original model's shapes and colours go, doing so was complicated by the fact that Fireball XL5 was filmed in black and white. DVD screen captures gave me great info about the original model's shape but as far as colours go, all I had were shades of grays. Part of me was tempted to take that limit as a license to really push it on colour choices. To choose colours which would look correct when seen as black and white values (and that would have looked majorly cool when seen in person!) but which Anderson fans would have likely hated me for, since the fancy choices I had in mind couldn't have been close to what the studio's modellers had used on their original model. (Hot Rodder's motto: it's not yours till you modify it!) Not particularly wanting to be beaten, shot, stabbed, hung and then burned at the stake for airbrushing wild "interference" paint or crazy color-shifting nail polishes: I resisted temptation.

It's harder than it seems to figure out what colours B&W original models actually used! I wasn't aware of any colour pics of the original model: not even ones of it sitting on a dusty shelf. I decided to assume that since it belonged to the same organization that Fireball XL5 belonged to, that it would be fair to steal ideas from XL5's paint job. That implied the LP-22's primary colour could be a silver or aluminium. There were also darker areas along the sides; near the craft's middle. I couldn't tell if it was a colour band wrapping all the way around the hull, or just ordinary rectangles painted on either side; but some shots made it look like a band. Since Fireball's fuselage has several blue colour bands, I decided to go with that as a theme.

I applied Plasti-Kote's excellent automotive gray sandable primer, first. I spray-canned Dupli-Color brand (Honda) "Avignon Blue Metallic" auto touch-up paint over that. When dry, I masked that center band off so it would remain blue-ish silver. I used my trusty Paasche "H" airbrush and Testor's Model Master Buffing Metalizer paints for silvery areas. "Aluminum Plate" was my first choice but my jar of it was almost all gone. I thinned the heck out of what was left (to have more available) and airbrushed a few coats of "Stainless Steel" first; just to have a consistent base coat. I let that dry, then airbrushed Aluminum Plate over it. I used pencil lead, applied with a finger and a cotton swab (whilst using Post-It notes as masks) to dirty things down. Testor's clear gloss (spray can) sealed everything. I probably over-did the clear, but at least it's protected."

(quoting OFF)

[wardster]

Last but not necessarily least, here is the blueprint set (or working three-view drawings) I had personally created, after a lot of studying of DVD screen-captured images, and the like. This being about a year or more before I got the "as seen in the article" model finished. I likely changed some bits here or there, as I actually built the model ... so look to the final model for final details.

Knowing my own drawing / building / re-drawing habits as I do, I'd say this was likely not the final-final blueprints I made for my own uses (as would have been determined by actually building a model from preliminary or un-tested drawings; then studying what I'd built; comparing it to references, etc., etc., and refining the drawing set until it was a very close match to references, from all-sorta-angles and so on) ... so, anyway, even if this isn't (by my standards) necessarily "final-final" I am sure (after a search of my computer) that it's the last drawings I had done, for this project, before beginning the actual model's build-up.

Since the drawings are in smudgy pencil, not in ink, and since there are no stated cross-sections (let alone a lot of them: I usually go ballistic and add lots of those, if time and other circumstances are ideal!) I'm thinking this is likely the last version I had access to or had worked on, before the (fine, fun, and friendly) editorial types over at "Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller" magazine's headquarters had asked me what I wanted to do for their next Anderson special ... at which point successfully finishing the model and submitting the article's photos and text, likely became way more important than my having "perfect" drawings, in ink. So, this is likely the "latest version" even if the model itself may have "been more current". I didn't put a copyright statement on these drawings, on purpose. Why? Because doing so would feel kind of weird to me, with someone else's design work. I'm just interpreting what was seen, on-screen, as a fan ... so I added my name to these drawings, but I left off any copyright notices. The intent is to share what I've done with my fellow modelers, and fans of things like TV shows that are so old that they were in black-and-white. 

So, anyway ... all nit-picking aside, this three-view drawing set, even with no stated / drawn cross sections, when used along with the "big" pics of the model, feels like it should be a pretty (very?) good starting point, if other scale modelers out there should want to use these drawings I created, to make their own model or replica of the "LP-22" fictional spacecraft design.

[sharp]

That is very cool!! Nice work!!