The Fastest hunk of junk in the Galaxy - Part 1

There is little argument about the importance of the Millennium Falcon in the world of fictional space ships. Its a design classic and arguably the best movie ship of all time.

Master Replicas released a beautiful studio scale piece, but its only for those with a lot of spare cash to throw around, not to mention the space to exhibit such a fine model.
Fine Molds have produced what many believe to be the definitive Falcon model kit, much more accurate than the ERTL kit which currently sits unmade in my loft, awaiting my attention. (One day I'll sort it out, thin out those walls and paint it good!)
The Falcons in my collection include the Micro Machine version, the Tomy version, the Titanium version and, most recently, the De Agostini version. Lets start with Tomy.

Tomy Millennium Falcon

Released in about 2003 this was available in the UK via imports from Japan (I think). Its about 3 inches long and the level of detail on this little gem is great. There is some warping of the soft plastic but its worth it for the detail and finish.
The gun turrets and landing legs are supplied separately and need to be attached to the main body. Do NOT try this on a train! In my excitement I did this with the first version I bought a few years ago and lost one of the five landing legs! This version now lives in my car, pictures in a another post soon.
The turrets and legs have not been weathered in the same way as the main body so can look a bit too clean when put in place, nothing a serious modeller couldn't fix.
All in all its a lovely piece, they retail for about £5, if you can find one.

Watchmen Owl Ship

This replica is a bit rich for my blood at nearly £200, I'm hoping they bring out something for under a tenner.

HMS Camden Lock

This little beauty is a scratch built model created by the very talented Velbor. The ship is the HMS Camden Lock from Hyperdrive, the BBC 2 sitcom that I worked on. The ship design is a joint effort by writer Andy Riley, modeller Andrew Glazebrook and myself. Velbor created this from very little reference, guessing at sizes and proportions. He's got it almost spot on. The detail is great and its a very nice addition to my collection that means a lot to me. He's now got some proper reference and dimensions so he's planning on making one about two thirds of this size.
In Velbors own words: H.M.S. Camden lock , made from a leftover pillar from a gothic building kit, Various bits of tubes from broken toys, Plasticard and Milliput. Scale about 1/3000th . Diecast titanium shown for scale comparison.

Corgi Enterprise D

Celebrating 40 Years of Star Trek, Corgi released this die-cast replica of the USS Enterprise D from Star Trek, The Next Generation complete with a special Starfleet emblem stand.
Its a nice piece, my main complaint is that the surface work is too heavy. It looks pretty good in pictures but seems very dark to the eye when compared to the ship we're used to seeing on the TV.
The model is made from a combination of die cast metal and plastic. The saucer section is kept in balance by being made of the lighter plastic, the metal is kept for the engineering section.
The nacelles look quite nice in when the light catches them and passes through the coloured plastic.

• Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 27.9 x 12.7 cm.
• Boxed-product Weight: 481 g

See my earlier post on all things related to the Enterprise D here

Rare Scorpio Picture

Glazy sent me this picture of the Scorpio model from Blake's 7. Pictures of the model are rare and this one looks like it might have been scanned in from a magazine. (See my earlier post for more pictures). The detail is really nice and it once again proves that what was seen on screen didn't do justice to the craftsmen who made them.
We've been having some building work done at home over the Summer so I've had most of my collection boxed away. I hope to be able to resume normal posts again soon.

Update
Glazy sent me this info: The 3 shooting miniatures of the Scorpio were 4 foot, 16 inches and 5 inches.

Liberator Spotters Guide - Part 2 (updated)

DSV 2
A common mistake is to label the Liberator as DSV1, or Deep Space Vessel 1. This is an error that seems to have surfaced with Comet Miniatures release but is repeated even today with Titan Find's kit. Apologies in advance for being pedantic but the ship is clearly identified in the episode Redemption as DSV 2, (see clip, about half way through).

Here is the Comet Miniatures Box art, clearly labelled as DSV 1.

How big is The Liberator?
The size of the Liberator was never stated on screen or in any official literature. The scale seems to conflict in different episodes depending on the relative size of other models produced. I got the impression it was meant to me a huge ship but we never got to know. But if we take the first appearance of the Liberator where we see it next to the Prison Ship London we can deduce its apparent size. (Warning, this gets really geeky!)

Looking at this picture above of the London, the circular connecting tube hatch is approximately 2 meters in diameter – big enough for a man to cross. This makes the length of the ship approx 30 meters.

Now compare this to the size of the Liberator in this picture. We know the London is very close to the Liberator as it uses its connecting tube to dock with the Liberator. The London fits about 10 times into the length of the Liberator so I would put it at about 300 meters from engine to end of prongs. (smaller than I’d imagined it to be!) This is just my own theory , if you can suggest an alternative please leave a comment.

Update

Glazy sent me the following compilation of grabs from the DVD, see his comment below for further details.

There are several instances during the series where we see closeup detail on the surface of the Liberator that is difficult to reconcile with the wider shots without presuming its absolutely massive. Personally I've always seen it as being very very big and perhaps my efforts to pin down its size are missing the point and removing some of its mystery. Whatever you think this is a big old ship.

With regard to Glazy's note about the Flight Deck location this is another mystery. The novelisation describes a lift just inside the airlock that turns are rises rapidly suggesting the Flight Deck could be somewhere totally different.

Titan Find's Scorpio

This is one to save up my pennies for. If you're not in your 30's and from the UK you might not recognise this gem. It's the Scorpio, the 'other' ship from Blakes 7. The Liberator was a tough act to follow but over the years I've warmed to this particular hunk of junk.
Now Titan Find are releasing a great kit, details are still a bit sketchy but the pictures on their website look pretty good to me. You can view an earlier post about the Scorpio here.
Here are a few reference image I've collected from a number of sources.