FLYING SAUCER sighting....
I picked up Atlantis Models' Flying Saucer E.V.E. ('Exploration Vehicle of Earth'...in precise 1/864 scale) on an impulse when it was first released. It's a nicely-molded two-piece 'kit'...comprising only an upper and a lower saucer half, with a rather lame little tripod base...which also came with a gimmicky little battery-powered lighting insert to provide a multi-colored 'spinning' effect visible through the translucent plastic of the lower half.
The delicate molded detail seemed too nice just to cover up with some solid metallic shade...and too finicky to be able to detail-paint neatly...so the kit sort of languished. I'd pull it out every once in a while and fiddle with the lighting insert...and scan the internet for inspiring ideas for finishing it...then back on the pile it would go.
The last time I pulled it out I vowed to at least start experimenting on it. I accented that lovely molded detail with an overall application of Tamiya 'Black Panel Line Color,' thinking maybe a semi-transparent mist of some metallic steel shade on top would show just enough of the accented texture to look cool. But what happened surprised me: the enamel-based accent color--over the nice texturing and the translucent whitish-green plastic--gave a sort of 'bronze-ish' look to the whole thing, with a subtle but very appealing (and slightly 'not of this earth') metallic sheen.
Now we were cooking with gas.
The next impulse took me to some long-unused decals sitting in my collection: PNT Models 'Hull Plating' decals in gray [available from Federation Models]. These are similar to the well-known Trek 'Aztec' patterns...just rendered in a generic form suitable for name-your-own project.
I first struggled with trying to figure out how to turn these very 'linear' patterns into something 'radial,' more suitable to a disc...but finally threw in the towel. This was an experiment, and I figured I might end up stripping the thing and re-doing it anyway, so just decided to press on, laying the pattern strips 'front to back.'
I really liked the way it turned out:
The distinct brownish cast of the 'gray' used to print the decals worked perfectly with the 'bronze-y' look of the wash. Even occasional overlaps of the decals look like 'space weathering' picked up in the intestellar (inter-dimensional?) void, or experienced while entering the atmosphere at impossible velocities. The subtle plating pattern itself sort of gives the impression of strange alien glyphs written on antiqued parchment...a look much more 'otherworldly' than I could have intentionally planned.
Still haven't decided whether to leave it as-is, or strip it and try for a neater presentation of the same effect. For the moment I'm satisfied to have it hovering over my bookshelf, perched on the taller lucite-rod base I made to replace the the kit's sad little inch-and-a-half 'upside-down footstool' piece.
I also have another of Atlantis's tiny UFO's waiting in the pile...the triangular TR-3E (the one said to be based on an above-top-secret alien-technology craft being operated by our own military); I may just put that in USAF markings...or use some of the early 'Star Trek era' markings I have left over from an earlier project.
Keep watching the skies....
