Click to viewWe love perfectly shiny stunning aircraft models, but these wrecked sci-fi models attract us even more. It may be the fascination with their decadence or that they remind us of ourselves after a Friday night out, who knows, but there's something irresistible about seeing a huge gallery of AT-ATs frozen in time, destroyed Star Trek ships or rusty Terminators:


[UPDATE: I talked with Dimitri Kaliviotis, the creator of the AT-AT and professional model-maker for many Hollywood superproductions, who explained to me how he did it and other very interesting bits.]


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These are some of the best entries of the 15th edition of Starship Modeler's Wrecks, a taste of an online contest that calls for modellers to create wrecks of anything they can think about: from figures and planes to famous spaceships, vehicles and full dioramas. The winning entry was that rustastic AT-AT, which is simply stunning. My other favorites are the Apollo XIII, the dead Terminator and the Batmobile crashing on the Xmas Tree. Can't get more kitsch and seasonal than that.


UPDATE: Interview with Dimitri Kaliviotis

I talked with Dimitri Kaliviotis, which not surprisingly is a professional model maker who has worked in a lot of Hollywood productions:

Jesus Diaz: Dimitri, first of all, congratulations on such an amazing piece of model-making.



Dimitri Kaliviotis: Thanks for the compliments and interest in my work.







JD: How long did this beast take? Was it a kit or built from scratch?



DK: It took about 2 months to complete.


JD: Is it a modified kit, right? Did you have to create new molds or was it mostly carving and painting?



DK: You're right, it is a heavily modified garage kit, which is not commercialy available. The molds and pieces already existed when I started the construction of this model.

Most of the work however is finding and integrating the "found object" elements. It was necessary to use found object because alot of the "guts" of the AT-AT are exposed. You have to find the right piece for the right crevice/opening. It doesn't show from the pictures but the interior of the AT-AT is also "dressed" with found objects.


A couple of close-up pics would have illustrated this "integration" better. "Found objects" usually include parts from vcr's, broken toys and sometimes parts of other kits. Carving and painting of course take up alot of time as well.

JD: I see that you are a professional model-maker. I have seen your work and it is stunning as well. What projects have you worked in?



DK: Yeah, I'm a professional model-maker. I've been working mostly on American film productions shot in Montreal, for the past eight years, since 1999. I work on SFX miniatures, which of course lend themselves more easy to "wrecked" subjects. Films that I've worked on include: "Taking Lives" (the straw figurines), "300" (the Persian coins + SFX miniature boat parts), the infamous "Battlefield Earth" (SFX miniatures) [poor him], "Night At The Museum" (dioramas) and "The Mummy III" (concept models) among many others.







JD: It shows. Amazing work again.



DK: Thank you again for your interest. It is very flattering indeed.


[Dimitri Kaliviotis via Spaceship Modeller]

Obligatory David Bowie's Space Oddity while you click on those images: