Uhu02 Barbarella's Spaceship Build Review

[SJPONeill]

The Unofficial Airfix Modellers Forum had a month-ling scifi Group Build last month...

My entry was Uhu-02's take on Barbarella's Spaceship from the movie Barbarella. You can see the full build in all its gory detail here.

I finished the build but it shows just how out of practice I am in my paper modelling, something I am hoping to work on over the winter...



This is probably the simplest of all Uhu02's models and skilled modeller should be able to build it with ease and a little care...

I made some changes to the design by adding a former to each interior face of the hull sides so that the wrap-round main hull piece had something solid to rest against. The alternative was to butt the side of the wrap-around piece to the hull sides which would only provide a very small mating surface.

I also doubled the thickness of the hull wrap-round piece as I did not think that a single thickness of 170gsm matt art paper would be strong enough to support the hull sides...

I will build this again at some time in the future and would intend making the following changes to my build for the UAMF Scifi GB:

- Keep the hull wrap-round piece as a single thickness of paper but add an internal structure to support the hull sides before wrapping this piece around.

- I think the internal formers for the hull to support the edges of this piece are a good idea and will retain them.

- Replace the joining tabs on the petals protrusions on the hull sides with joining strips so that each edge of each petal s a butt joint, not an overlapping joint.

- Add internal formers to each of these six parts (the petalled part and its support) so that their shape in a consistent oval and to give the petalled part a better mating surface.

- Make each part of the iris doorways a separate part so that the iris looks a little more three-dimensional.

- Consider some sort of internal structure to support a stand of some sort - I think it looks a little dumb just sitting on the 'ground'.

I have yet to see the movie but depending on what the interior is like, it might be easy enough to build an interior as well to further add to the models 3d-ness.



This was the real star of the show...a 500ml bottle of PVA woodworking glue that I found in the garage while having a tidy-up...I had seen a mention here before that this is better for paper models as it does not warp the paper. I can confirm that this is correct and this is now the main glue that I use for all my builds. It gives a minute of so to allow for test and adjustment before starting to cure; it dries clear and sandable; and is cheap as chips - I do not anticipate this bottle running out anytime soon. I also use it to reinforce seams to add strength to models...

[whulsey]

Cool. I've got that one to build someday so thanks for the tips. Haven't seen the movie in years, but don't remember much interior detail. If I'm remembering right it was just basically a fuzzy pink boudoir with Jane Fonda in it....hey I was about 19.

[SJPONeill]

The curves on Jane Fonda might be a challenge in paper but I'm pretty sure I can come up with something pink and fuzzy...I really must hunt down a copy of the movie...