HARDCORE MODELING! 80's Cartoon: STARBLAZERS

#1

In the year 1980, during my last year of high school I used to run home from school every week day to watch my favorite space saga: Starblazers. The show featured an appealing story of survival, sacrifice, interesting character development, and well done traditional animation space battles featuring space battleships and carriers that shared many characteristics with WWII naval vessels. The subject I have chosen for this Mini-Challenge is the space battleship “Argo”, the main star of the show which somehow was able to survive unimaginable obstacles and brutal battles, all in order to save life on Earth. At the end of each episode, the narrator would remind the viewer exactly how many days were left before the Earth became unable to support life, in case the Argo were to fail in its mission. It was all very dramatic and heroic. The original Japanese background music was kept, fortunately, unlike what happened with Robotech series. The series spawned two more seasons of adventures and several theatrical films which unfortunately were never released in the USA. However many American fans were able to watch these films on video.

It’s not a simple model, but I am going to give it a shot, since I liked the show so much and this is a golden opportunity to do so. The look of the ship varied slightly throughout the life of the series, my goal is to model an “Argo” which captures the “look” of the ship in general. I realize it’s a bit late, but I work better under pressure! Wish me luck.

Here are some reference materials I found online. I may add some more later.

#2

Very cool! Looking forward to see where you’ll take this.

Cheers!

#3

I finally started modeling the ship, beginning with the hardest part, which is the hull. Here are some images.

#4

Well here’s my first major update, I think it’s starting to look like the cartoon “Argo”. The wave motion gun chamber at the bow was tricky, because there are different versions in different reference sources. I tried to capture the “typical” shape most fans of the show remember.

I will post more references soon.

#5

An update on the references. I noticed that some of the kits of the Yamato/Argo had certain inconsistencies with the TV version, such as a lack of details in certain areas. I intend to correct these errors as I continue working on this project.

#6

… comming up nice! Keep it up with the good work.

Hope you can make it to the challenge as its hard work on that model to get it complete, very detailed.

#7

Wow. Looking very good so far.

This is gonna be nice! Maybe we could put up a diorama of both our battleships when we’re done… The Argo is a fantastic Battleship indeed.

#8

I was trying to insert the links to the WIP images, but for some reason it didn’t work. I must be doing something wrong, not too internet savvy. But here are the links, sorry for the inconvenience.

Can’t wait to model the main armament, the big gun turrets will make it looks so much better. Thanks to everyone for your kind comments.

#9

That is a great idea, the Yamato and the Arcadia in the same scene, very cool.

#10

Copyrights belong to Voyager Entertainment, as far as I know.

#11

GUNS! Finally we have guns! It is ironic that the “real” Yamato’s anti-aircraft batteries were not as effective as the cartoon spaceship version’s laser armament, since US Navy planes were able to put several torpedoes and bombs into her. This ended the age of the giant battleship forever. Or did it…?
Anyway, here you can see the different types of artillery I have added, there will be more in the superstructure, which I plan to deal with next. In later versions of the Yamato the anime spaceship designers came to their senses and added gun turrets to the underside of the ship, as seen in Harlock’s Arcadia.

I still need to add some details to the big turrets, but I will leave them alone for now. My goal is to finish the modeling part of the project within a week, so I can start texture mapping it.

Here are some WIP images.

#12

Wow, just wow.

It looks good, very good indeed. A friend of mine has the toy, I,ll have him take a couple of shots, it might help (though you are very accurate as is :wink:

Keep it up, I can’t wait for a diorama matchup… Side to side… FIRE!!

#13

Thanks FICTIS, glad you like it. Any pics of the toy would be great, no such thing as too much reference material, right? The bridge/supersructure is next. I think it’s going to be the hardest part to model because there are so many versions of it. From what I have seen, there are many differences between the original first season bridge and later drawings, toys and diagrams. Since my objective is a version that is “true” to the TV series this is going to be interesting. I will post more reference images soon.

Later.

#14

Very sweet modeling! :slight_smile:
Not much more to say at this point, other than if the images were to be directly seen in the tread, it would be even more of a pleasure to observe you progress. Does the “insert image” button (little yellow square with simplified mountains) not work when you enter the direct link in the dialog box? I don’t mean to be patronizing mentioning this, just asking since you made a remark about internet-savvyness.

Cheers!

#15

Thanks TheRazorsEdge, I followed your advice and figured out what I was doing wrong. Now the images are in the thread. I have also updated the previous WIP images.

Thanks again.

Mario

#16

The superstructure was by far the hardest thing to model, mainly because of the inconsistencies between the reference materials available. I really had to study my options and find a level of detail that would be faithful to the cartoon Argo. Except for a few minor details the model is pretty much ready for texturing, I still need to make some changes to the main gun batteries and anti-aircraft guns.

The Argo looks red and blue in the cartoon, but most toys and scale models of it show a weathered grey and red paint scheme. I have decided on a bluish-grey and red paint scheme, since the ship is reffered to as “the blue and red battleship” by one of the villains in the TV show.

Here are some WIP images, the colors are only temporary:

#17

Jeez, this is sweet work!
Are you aiming to fully texture it as well?

Cheers!

#18

Looks Great! It would be crazy to see a illustrated cut away shot of it.

#19

Looking very good Mario!

The tower part is a lot of work allright. It looks awesome!

#20

Thanks everyone, glad you are liking it so far. Texture mapping is not my strength, but I am definitely going to give it a shot. It would be nice to get it looking used and weathered, without overdoing it of course. I plan to add many details with the textures too.