Christopher Callaghan's Forced Perspective TOS Viper Diorama

I've been meaning to post this as Chris was kind enough to provide me with pictures and a very nice write up on how he did it quite a while back, but I was so engrossed with my Magnum PI marathon my blog was neglected for a while. Its kind of hard not to watch these old episodes, and re-discovering why I loved the series so much. Before I knew it, just like when you're gone on holidays for too long, topics started to pile up. I seriously need to get my butt back in front of the PC so I can clear up my backlog of reference materials I had scheduled for myself here.

Anyways, here's a radical way to display your diorama, an illusion using false perspective. Its not an easy thing to do cause any miscalculation is scale and presentation and your diorama instantly looks like its something out of a B grade movie. But when done well just like when I saw Chris's work at a glance, I thought he created a diorama that was 4-6 foot long. I was about to ask him why he hadn't fill up the empty space with more Vipers or figures until I saw his whole diorama was actually on a "forced perspective".

Part 16 - ISD Close up of Bridge Tower Complex

Here's a huge studio model build up of the ISD's Bridge Tower used for close up shots. The bridge design bear only a slight resemblance to that of the ISD Avenger, but has way too many variance to be the Avenger. I suspect this is the Bridge Tower for the Superstar Destroyer Executor, but of course that's just my assumption.

You can view the amount of details incorporated into this studio scale mock up and see if you can emulate anything like this on your own build up. These images were taken from modelermagic.com and have been scaled back. Do visit that site for bigger images.

Part 15 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Upper Hull

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Devastator seen in Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back. These images were obtained from Forbidden Plastic when they were given permission by LucasFilm to take photgraphs of the Devastator for their reference to develop and sell plastic kits of the Star Destroyer. The images subsequently made their way to modelermagic.com and now they're here to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Upper Hull Details of the ISD Devastator

Part 14 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Sides

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Devastator seen in Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back. These images were obtained from Forbidden Plastic when they were given permission by LucasFilm to take photgraphs of the Devastator for their reference to develop and sell plastic kits of the Star Destroyer. The images subsequently made their way to modelermagic.com and now they're here to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Side Panel Details of the ISD Devastator

Part 13 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Lower Hull

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Devastator seen in Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back. These images were obtained from Forbidden Plastic when they were given permission by LucasFilm to take photgraphs of the Devastator for their reference to develop and sell plastic kits of the Star Destroyer. The images subsequently made their way to modelermagic.com and now they're here to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Lower Hull and Hangar Bay area of the ISD Devastator

Part 12 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Engines

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Devastator seen in Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back. These images were obtained from Forbidden Plastic when they were given permission by LucasFilm to take photgraphs of the Devastator for their reference to develop and sell plastic kits of the Star Destroyer. The images subsequently made their way to modelermagic.com and now they're here to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Engine area of the ISD Devastator

Part 11 - ISD Devastator Studio Reference Bridge

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Devastator seen in Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back. These images were obtained from Forbidden Plastic when they were given permission by LucasFilm to take photgraphs of the Devastator for their reference to develop and sell plastic kits of the Star Destroyer. The images subsequently made their way to modelermagic.com and now they're here to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Bridge Tower of the ISD Devastator

Part 10 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Upper Hull

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Avenger first seen in Star Wars : A New Hope. These images were obtained from modelermagic.com (images are scaled back) as well as other sources to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Upper Hull Details of the ISD Avenger

Part 9 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Sides

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Avenger first seen in Star Wars : A New Hope. These images were obtained from modelermagic.com (images are scaled back) as well as other sources to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Side Panel Details of the ISD Avenger

Part 8 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Lower Hull / Hangar Bay

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Avenger first seen in Star Wars : A New Hope. These images were obtained from modelermagic.com (images are scaled back) as well as other sources to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Lower Hull/Hangar Bay of the ISD Avenger

Part 7 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Engines

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Avenger first seen in Star Wars : A New Hope. These images were obtained from modelermagic.com (images are scaled back) as well as other sources to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Engine area of the ISD Avenger

Part 6 - ISD Avenger Studio Reference Bridge

Here are images of the studio model used for the Star Destroyer Avenger first seen in Star Wars : A New Hope. These images were obtained from modelermagic.com (images are scaled back) as well as other sources to be used for reference to your own build up.

As there are too many images to fit into one blog post, I have decided to segregate them according to their locations to make it easier to locate areas you want to make reference to. This post will touch on the Bridge Tower of the ISD Avenger

Part 5 - Darkmoonspirit's Magnificent Scratch Build Imperial Star Destroyer

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.

Part 4 - Randy Cooper's Imperial Star Destroyer (ISD) Resin Kit

Let me introduce to you someone who helped inspired me to get back at scale modeling. He's not the only one of course, there were others as well, but this guy really takes passion to a whole new level. To the ardent Sci Fi scale modeler fans out there, this man really do not need such an introduction, but to those outside of the USA, you may want to get to know this guy.

His name is Randy Cooper, scale modeler extraordinaire.

A long time ago I had browsed through one of his Imperial Star Destroyer creation, and I remembered feeling so overwhelmed by this guy's skills, talents, eye for details, how the heck did he do that, etc etc etc. I don't really know much about this guy except that he is the modern scale modeler version of Einstein. Yeah, I know, I'm putting too much praises onto this guy, but believe me, this guy is really remarkable. He basically creates from his heart, and almost everything he does comes out beautiful. Its something I had always wanted to emulate. He have a blog here which you may want to follow.

From what I have read, Randy Cooper's kits are of very high quality with details up the cahoots you'd need a friend to help close your jaw when you see one. There was only ONE unsatisfied customer that I know of but his complaint wasn't too much on the quality of his resin kits, but rather more on some warped (bend) parts. I didn't really follow through with that forum thread so I don't have the whole story here, but bear in mind, that's only ONE out of over a DOZEN compliments I have read, and from the numerous images of other people's build up of Randy's kits, well, the one thing that comes to my mind is that I can't afford them. They're really high end requiring a more professional skill level to handle - or at least that's how I rationale this whole thing after feeling intimidated by all those excellent work out there .. yeah .. lame, I know. *Blush*

OK, enough about Randy, lets check out his 37.5" Imperial Star Destroyer. The following are images I had saved from Randy's site and these should give you an idea just how magnificent his Avenger Star Destroyer is. Better prepare some tissues to wipe off your slobber.

Part 3 - Anigrand Sci Fi Dynamics Imperial Star Destroyer (ISD) Avenger Resin Kit

If you're looking for an Anigrand Sci Fi Dynamics 27" Imperial Star Destroyer, about the only place you can find these now are either through eBay, or the Market place at some of the Sci Fi Scale Modeling forums. I waited too long to get mine from Anigrand, a remarkable Garage Kit maker with its company based in Hong Kong. At that time, the kit cost about USD238 not inclusive of shipping, so I thought I'd wait a little to see if they would come up with a promotion. Boy, did I regret that move. The company got hit by a C&D Court Order (Cease and Decease) in 2010 courtesy of George Lucas's lawyers for infringing the copyright laws for Star Wars. Well, with the royalties and license cost, I doubt you can get this kit at USD238.

By coincidence, the legal action took place days before Fine Molds released their 1/144 scale Millennium Falcon kit, so a lot of fans all over the world assumed that this Japanese company had something to do with the C&D. Far for me to acknowledge this claim or deny it, but whatever the actual reason was, Anigrand did infringe on Star Wars' copyright. A real pity as this company was producing an awesome array of Star Wars kits that included the Lambda Shuttle and Medical Frigate among other, all highly detailed and beautifully casted.

So what is so remarkable about an Sci Fi Dynamics Anigrand kit? For starters, these kits are casted in very good quality resin, they're huge at 1/2256 scale (which puts her in scale with any other 1/2256 scale vessels like the Revell's Venator Class Cruiser)and the level of details can only be compared to those you find on the actual studio models. And as a bonus, most of their kits comes with additional extras, for example the ISD came with a 1/144 scale TIE Defender and TIE Clawcraft.

See for yourself the amount of details found on an Anigrand Resin kit.

Another nice thing about the Anigrand kit is that the instruction sheet are quite comprehensive as they chose to use photo images to illustrate what parts go where. From the numerous feedback I had observed, this kit do not have any fittings issue, and I have yet to hear of any complaints from anyone to date on the kits' quality.

The Sci Fi Dynamics Anigrand's ISD came with 82 resin cast and photoetch parts, measuring a span of 466mm (18.3") and 711mm (about 28") length. Since Anigrand no longer produces any of their Star Wars line, the link only shows her as discontinued, but you can still access Anigrand's Homepage to see the other goodies they have. But if you could get her, the packaging would be something like this, currently offered by elend at the Starship Modeler marketplace section (link works as of 20th April 2011 until such time item is sold or removed). If you're interested, send elend a private message (PM) and don't try to post any replies in that thread as the moderator has disallowed that function for the market place.