The Command module is one area that I feel will make or break the final presentation of a replica Eagle. It is so unique that slight imperfections show up as big flaws, to my eye anyway. After many unsucessfull attempts at making one I asked Mr. E. James Small for some help and he directed me to Mr Chris Trice who sold me a copy of the reproduction he uses on his fantastic models made from the original. I'm thankfull to him for this because now my Eagle will have something of the original in it, albeit ever so distant.

It came in two identical halves that needed to be cut free from some overlap from the casting. The two halves joined really well and were cemented into place with fiberglass and the minor seam filled with fiberglass resin. This left another problem, there was a line all around the horizontal edge and through the Sensor dishes on the sides There are really fine lines on the dishes that can't be retouched. This was resolved be casting one of the still perfect examples on the top with silicone RTV and then reproducing the part with fiberglass resin from this mold. After removing the side ones with a Dremel, the new 'dishes' were then superglued into place where the unsightly ones were, just minutues before. ( Thanks again Jim for the tip. ) I'll use Bare Matal Foil to give these resin parts the look of solid metal.

Well after using this Bare Metal foil I can say this Bare metal foil does work beautyfully. Thanks again to Mr E. James Small for the tip.

The window openings were easy to cut out of the fiberglass casting with the Dremel tool . I have cut two pieces of plexiglass from 3/16 stock obtained from Home Depot in the fotm of a 20X24" sheet. The 'Explosive Bolt' mounting piont joints are made from 1/2 and 3/4 inch brass channel. I can't find any so I've fabricated two masters from 1/16 inch plastic and made a silicone mold. I then cast the parts in a wire reinforced resin compound and they look very similar to the originals. They fit nicely and on a becchtop testing, are tough too, they can take a good smack with the but of a hammer and dont even crack.

The black viewport areas are masked off first with a thin 1/4 masking tape, the crves are followed as the tape is pulled and pressed into place. The rest of the piece is covered in tape and paper to keep the flat Black primer over-spray off it. The next thing for the Command Module is to spray on the panel details. I'm making a Melinium Falcon and I'm getting the hang of the Paasche double action airbrush as I detail it.