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Most folks out there seem to think very little of Disney's film "The Black Hole". Perhaps rightly so -- I presonally felt the ending was quite lame. Of course, modelers don't build plastic replicas of movie storylines. What we do build are replicas of the props and vehicles and locations that make these movies so visually appealing. The Cygnus served as location and starship, with massive interiors and a suitably dark gothic exterior. The filming model was several feet long and was crammed full of detail (I like to think of Event Horizon as the updated version of the Black Hole -- great ship, neat idea, less than great film). MPC's 2 foot long treatment of the Cygnus leaves much to be desired. It still can serve as an excellent starting point for someone who wants to make a more accurate version of the ship, as shown by Jim Small's incredible Cygnus (which combined 2 kits to accurize a single version). I'd like to do this myself, but shelling out the additional $75 or more is a bit discouraging.
I purchased my Cygnus at a Trek convention for about $50. The box was still sealed and all the parts were present. The basic shape was OK, though the model was manufactured missing a full hull section (See link, above), though I didn't notice at the time. What I did notice was the extremely soft molding of the numerous antennae which adorn the hull of the ship and the command tower. The first thing I tried was to replace these with scratchbuilt brass rod and styrene disk replacements. I had to cut at least a hundred of these disks in two different diameters, and when finished, the spikes were sharp enough to make handling the finished kit a bit tricky. Ouch.
I treated the Palomino as a separate project, detailing the engine struts, hollowing out the space between them, and adding a weathered paint job. If I go back to this kit as I'd like, I'll go ahead and add a thin antenna to the very top of the hull. The landing bay has been detailed as well -- the solid bow has been hollowed out, and a styrene sheet "deck" added between the top and bottom of the hull. Thin styrene strips were crisscrossed to form the characteristic latticework and add additional depth to the area. A landing ring was added as well (I saw it in the movie, so it went in the model). The Palomino is attatched to the Cygnus via a small aluminum rod, which doubles as the boarding tunnell.
The control tower recieved a partial hollowing out treatment as well, though not as extensive. I replaced the horizontal antennae on the tower, as well as the main mast on the top of the structure. The dome here (as well as the dome toward the bow) was painted with a brush from the inside to maintain the high gloss exterior. Styrene sheet plugs were added "below the waist" of the dome, where I'd drilled out the plastic between the latticework. The method of painting this kit was a departure from the norm, for me. I base-coated the ship with light gray, but rather than airbrush on another layer of darker gray, I chose to hand paint successive washes of thinned black watercolor. This produced a grimy and inconsistent look (several still photos and shots in the movie seem to indicate a dark brown to black appearance), adds to the feel of the ship as being someplace you do not want to be. The variation of tones also adds to the scale effect, in my opinion.
