Not sure if anyone remembers Darkmoonspirit but I had highlighted two of his beautifully crafted diorama here before called SUB LEVEL 6 and his spectacular Original Series Galactica Hangar Bay Diorama. So imagine how surprised I was to find him again during my research on the Imperial Star Destroyer build ups, and to this day, I still remain astounded by this person's talents at scratch building. Of course I'm sure there are others that deserves to be highlighted here before, just that I haven't chanced on their builds as yet.
Darkmoonspirit or Klaus Schaftner, chose to create his ISD using materials ranging from wood and parts from other kits. His build is of course highlighted at his thread at Resin Illuminati Forum. Abet those postings were dated so long ago, but I haven't seen it before, and what I saw compelled me to create a special blog just for his magnificent scratch build of his ISD.
His ISD was measured at an impressive 6 foot long at a scale of 1/1000, and roughly took him 3 years to complete. He based his build after the Star Destroyer Avenger, and made modifications to her so that his ISD can become the Emperor III Class Destroyer. Naturally all of these are of his own design, and if you look closely at what he has done, not only has he created an intimidating self-version of one of the Empire's formidable Capital Ship, but he gave a lot of details that made the ship look more practical.
His inspiration came when he wanted to re-create an Emperor Class Star Destroyer that was more powerful than the Avenger. His plans included adding in more guns on the side hulls as well as making the main turrets bigger. He achieved this by adding in hundreds of miniature turrets obtained from scale model Naval ships. Here's a rough list of kits he kit bashed their parts into his fantastic ISD:
20 x 1/400 scale WW2 Battleships
20 x 1/700 scale WW2 Battleships
10 x 1/700 scale Aircraft Carriers
40 x 1/200 scale WW2 Battleships - mainly 20-25 Shinanos
30 x 1/72 scale Armoured Tanks
15 x 1/35 scale Armoured Tanks
And a bunch of other Sci Fi Kits from AMT, etc
His build was even more amazing in that he retained all the main highlights for the Star Destroyer like the Shield Generators, Bridge Tower and Main Engines so that the overall look stays as close to a canon Star Destroyer, and detailed the side panels, hangar bays and laser turrets based on his own design.
The skeletal frame for his ISD was constructed mainly from wood to create a hollow mass so as to allow fiber optics to run through. Check out the numerous details he added to the rear engine section.
Darkmoonspirit even recreated two popular scene from the Star Wars movie and incorporated them into his build, the seizing of the Tantive IV from Star Wars : A New Hope, and The Empire Strikes Back
Lighting illumination was very well laid out in his kit and they do give a more realistic outlook to the finished model.
Detail highlights for the upper housing reveals a very practical Destroyer from the Empire.
Check out the side Turrets with additional details added, and bigger turret funnels.
I can actually recognise some of the parts from Naval model kits below. His improvisation actually made his ISD the most detailed to date I have ever seen.
By recreating some of the details on his ISD, his Star Destroyer truly looks like THE Star Destroyer, an epitome to any other ISD kits to this day.
Here are more close ups of what he did for the side panels.
Did I mention that European Modelers tend to build their kits at a different level from the rest of the world? Well, I rest my case. How on earth can anyone actually top this? I'm just glad I found this highlight cause even if this is old news, I am just as impressed.
Well done Darkmoonspirit. This build up is truly another testament to your talents and skills.
More to come later.
Part 1 - The Imperial Star Destroyer
Part 2 - The Star Destroyer Plastic Model Kit and Aftermarket Parts
Part 3 - Anigrand Sci Fi Dynamics Imperial Star Destroyer (ISD) Resin Kit
Part 4 - Randy Cooper's Imperial Star Destroyer (ISD) Resin Kit
Part 5 - Darkmoonspirit's Magnificent Scratch Build Imperial Star Destroyer
Part 6 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Bridge
Part 7 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Engines
Part 8 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Lower Hull
Part 9 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Sides
Part 10 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Upper Hull
Part 11 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Bridge
Part 12 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Engines
Part 13 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Lower Hull
Part 14 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Sides
Part 15 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Upper Hull
Part 16 - ISD Close up of Bridge Tower Complex
I'm impressed by the details. He even had a miniature Millenium Falcon attached to the ISD. Wonder whether the falcon was scratch built too???
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