29 | May | 2009 | Eavesdropping with Johnny

Archive for May 29th, 2009

May

Pin-up photography with ’40s model, Miss Amanda Lee

Categories: Pin-up

Ever since I was a little tyke I was a fan of the 40’s,50’s and my generation the early 60’s ( the Sci-Fi/ Aviation/ NASA part of the 60’s to be sure) I loved the music, the WWII stories, the jets & the Atomic age, and I was especially fond of the pin up models and the awesome nose art displayed on our Military aircraft. To me when I saw a pin up painting on the side of a plane I would cheer for those all American boys flying off to battle Taking their girls with them into battle, and hoping to get back home and to be with their real sweethearts. I still love the nostalgia of these long gone eras, and have tried to bring back that look and style in both my art and photography. Looking for models that had that look and the same passion for the 40’s and 50’s as I did, I came across Miss Amanda Lee who is also from my home town of Phoenix Arizona. Her portfolio and web page were awesome and she so captures the style and look so very beautifully and effortlessly. I gave her a call to compliment her work and before you knew it we had set up a shoot. I Had to go to Phx to set up some chrome Enterprise models for the Star Trek tour and we coordinated the shoot in between the model set up. Amanda brought her Mom along as the prep and hair stylist & wardrobe coordinator, and we met in an awesome park in Scottsdale around lunch time. The sun was high and bright and when it hit her blond hair or fair skin she would simply and literally glow. She fell into character from picture one on and really had some great ideas thrown into the mix of my wish list angles and poses. We shot with both digital and 35mm and both have captured some very gorgeous images. Here are some of the pictures from that shoot and I’ll pass on the links to her pages so you can visit and see all her wonderful work. We are in the process of retouching the pics so I’ll keep a posting as they get finished. Also here are some pin up images drawn for “ST Deep Space 9” from the episode “Far Beyond the Stars” these were the drawings used in the editors office that were handed out to the writers to inspire their creativity and write story’s from. One of the drawings went on to be the cover of my own fanciful Sci-Fi mag, lots of fun for sure!!!

http://www.jitterbugdoll.com

http://www.modelmayhem.com/132424

that glow is real!! No photoshop enhancing here!

at the park

as a calendar page

and as a fall themed image

the DS9 sketch

the Mike Okuda poster

the color

and the B&W

May

Desert crossing, and the Torothan Cruisers

By johneaves 26 Comments

Categories: ENT

I found these odd little ship drawings yesterday and thought I would throw them up just for the heck of it today. They come from an Episode of Enterprise called desert Crossing #24, and as I recall I was asked to draw a cruiser and a fighter. Here are both vessels and also the little desert hideaway sketch of the alien encampment.

the camp

and the vessels

a CU of the mudpie architecture

here are some little alien BG vessels

May

It’s April Welles, better known by her fans as KITBASH GIRL!!!

By johneaves 47 Comments

Categories: General Trek and Wonderfest 2009

Wonderfest is chalk full of talent, and the Garage kit world revolves around Louisville Kentucky!! one of the great highlights and biggest challenges is to be one one of the model judges for the great model contest. Steve Iverson (the Cultman) as well as Terry Web, Nelson Broskey, and a host of other incredible folks all come together to go thru all the entries and pull out the top guns in each category. We all get a table to judge and I remember two years ago when I was teaming up with Broskey to judge our table and looking over at the one next to ours, there were these awesome kit-bashed Trek models. later found out that they were all created by the infamous Kitbash girl. Before the show ended I got to meet the one and only and it was a real treat to chat with her for a few minutes…. From that day on I was a big fan of her hers. 2009 Wonderfest was a couple of weeks ago and April had a flurry of new creations to see including the hillbilly/red neck lightsaber which was constructed from a paper towel tube wrapped in foil and had a ring of matches glued around the outer rim,,, Once ignighted you and your Billy-Bob opponent could battle Star Wars style in the swamp for a couple of minutes until the entire saber catches fire! Totally hilarious piece,, The Bluesman (Justin Miller) and Kitbash girl, AKA (April Welles) are buds and we had a good time chatting, as well as I got my picture with The mighty KBG, WOOO-WEEEE the fan boy got an awesome new picture for my office wall!!! HAAA! As usual she won some Major Awards for her sleek Trekkie-esc concoctions. Aprils’s got the gift of laying down some mean Bondo and putty fillers and can really throw some cool design’s together from just about anything!!! April was born in Fargo ND, in 1968, (which is the registry # of one of her kits), and as a young girl was hit with the old parental block of “Girls shouldn’t make models”,,,,,,, So glad she didn’t listen,,, She was Always on the move for most of her life until a few years back. She now calls Portland Oregon home and creates her model magic in her studio there at the house. April wrote an awfully fine Bio about herself for me and I’ll share her story in segments with all you blog readers in the posts to follow! Her tale is one of great inspiration I have to say. with that said here are some of April’s Creations!!! If any of you have tried to make any of the Star trek models kits you know the nightmare and pain it takes to put one together, especially with those impossible to line up window sections that go along the saucer rims!!! Oh the Pain,,The PAIN!!! I Gotta hand it to you KBG you made all that torture pay off!!

Here are April’s own words from her bio describing some of her work:

I have many favorite builds. One of them is a 1/72 NuBSG Cylon Raider.
He was built up according to the instructions. However, I created a backstory that he had defected to the Colonials. I painted him up with a Light Gray body and Colonial Red stripes, as well as Cylon kill markings. His name is ‘David’.

Another favorite is the kitbash of the 1/1000 Baton Rouge-class resin kit using Polar Lights 1/1000 nacelles and calling it the USSRepublic.

Another is the kitbash of the old Monogram Battlestar kit, making it into the destroyer Hawkwind for my own Battlestar Fleet (part of a fan fiction I’m working on).
And, of course, my TOS BSG Viper with Napoleonic Violet stripes. Done up for my character Captain Ishtar ‘Lady Killer’ Dolyn.

My first kitbash (after not building for 15 years) was the ST ship USS B’Tain, built using the old 1/1600 3-ship set. It was built using the Saucer and nacelles of the Enterprise, and the Secondary Hull of the Klingon ship.
I built that ship again for a friend using the Polar Lights 1/1000 scale kits. This time lit and called the USS Scorpion.

I think one build I am pretty proud of is my 1/1400 Enterprise-E. I didn’t kitbash that particular one, however, I tried to add the missing weaponry from the original kit. That model won 1st Place and Best in Category at a IPMS show a few years ago.

I think one of the most special kitbashes I have built was the FSS Athena (Yes. FSS. The Federated Empire of Matriarchs starship. A parallel universe I created).
I built it in memory of my deceased girlfriend. She meant a very great deal to me, and that was the only way I could release a lot of my pain.
It also was featured in the Starship Modeler Calendar in 2006. A great honor for me. The first time a build of mine ended up in print.

I have also built a number of models on commission for people over the years. The vast majority of them Star Trek. Though I have built a few others including the resin WoTW diorama kit from Monsters in Motion.

I currently build from my studio in my home. So not too much travel occurs.

Namaste.