Using the Google Translate App on Bandai's Japanese manual ... Not quite a Universal Translator but it'll do

Back in the day when video conferencing and hand-held communicators were a pipe dream, I never imagined some of the fanciful concepts and thingamajigs of this popular 1960s Sci-Fi series would eventually become a reality. First seen in Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2 Episode No.9, the universal translator (held by Captain Kirk, see photo below) was one of the many gadgets that wowed and intrigued me. Cue the Google Translate App ... not quite a Universal Translator but it'll do.

"Spock, I think Bandai wants us to attach part A to part D ..."

For a tech savvy painter/modeller who is strangely averse to the app revolution, the Google Translate Android App has been a surprising find; more so since I was a regular user of the browser version. Available to Android Smartphone users since 2010, the app is currently in its fourth iteration and it's only now that I had decided to take the plunge and install the app and its Japanese language pack. 

Using the Google Translate App to decipher the Bandai model kit instructions

Being fairly straightforward and intuitive to use, I had the app working for me in no time. It's a  simple process of using your smartphone to take a photo, then swiping to highlight the relevant text, and finally getting the translation on screen (see Steps 1 to 3 below).   

First language package I downloaded was ... surprise, surprise ... Japanese

Step One: Take a picture of the text you want translated

Step Two: Swipe your finger to highlight the text you want translated

Step Three: Text translated

Now, I don't know much Japanese beyond the very basics and even then it's more in the realms of spoken rather than the writing system of kanji, hiragana and katakana. Hence I'm putting a certain amount of blind faith and trust in the Google Translate app's translating ability. Based on a cursory glance, the app seems to be getting the basic phrases/words right. On the other hand, for more complicated sentences the translated text at times look like bad English with some nonsensical words strewn about resulting from the app's inability to understand the nuances of the Japanese language. But unless you have a personal live-in ex machina translator, this app is the best you've got.

More translations of simple Japanese text

Trivia on the Universal Translator; source: fsd.trekships.org/operations/comms-ut.html

For you casual Star Trek fans out there, you might be interested in this interesting little piece of trivia on the Universal Translator as seen above. Heck, in the future they might even have one with a PG-13 setting in which swear words are turned into beeps or, and this would be amazing, translate finger gestures into actual words. No more confusion arising from the middle finger gesture then. 

Just looking at the Bandai Star Wars model kits released (and those in its release schedule), I can tell you I'm already at the Shut Up and Take My Money stage. With my problem being a severely limited budget, I have to be careful where I source the model kits as in Malaysia prices range drastically from good value to ridiculously overpriced. For example, prices of the Bandai 1/48 scale Imperial AT-ST walker range from as low as RM82 to more than double at RM167.90. My advice is be patient and do your research before buying. Alternatively you can stay tuned to my blog for a future post on getting your Bandai Star Wars fix without going flat broke. You're still gonna have to tighten your belt but at least you'll have that shiny plastic kit in your hands. Search your feelings, you know it to be true ...  

Last Night on Earth - Star Trek Theme at Halfway Point

Any miniature painting project of mine that reaches the mid-point stage always gets its own group shot. These set of Starfleet Survivors and Zombies painted using pieces from the Last Night on Earth board game are no different. So without further ado, below are photos of the class of 1966 to '69. 

Last Night on Earth survivors as Star Trek characters Chekov, Uhura, Christine and Sulu (from left to right)

In this series of photos, I tried to compose a visual story of the foursome's first encounter with fellow crew members of the USS Enterprise who had been turned into zombies. Hope you like them. 

It was a dark and stormy night ...

Now that I have had some time apart from these finished pieces, they do look like they need more contrast, especially the zombies' clothing. Things weren't helped by the fact that I had to position the lights closer to this set of miniatures when the shots were taken, likely leading to overexposure. Regardless, I'm working hard to improve contrasts when painting light colours and I'm starting to (finally) have some success in this problematic area. Hopefully the next few work-in-progress miniatures I have on display will see some minor improvement in terms of contrast on clothing. 

Look out behind you!

Oops! Too late, the zombies are upon them ...

... and things look grim for the crew of the USS Enterprise

It's poignant that this post coincides with the recent passing of Mr. Leonard Nimoy, an actor who I have come to closely associate with the Star Trek franchise. This popular sci-fi universe is one of the few (if not only) TV/Movie series that chose to depict a positive view of humanity in the future. In reality, we are sadly too busy being offended by perceived insults and ever ready to hate things which we are ignorant of, don't understand or don't agree with. Whatever happened to live and let live?

Lived Long and Prospered

Thank you for allowing us to dream of a better future where one's skin colour didn't matter.

Rest in peace dear sir, for you have indeed lived long and prospered.

Last Night on Earth: Starfleet Survivor Pavel Chekov

Fourth in my Star Trek-themed survivors from the Last Night on Earth board game is Pavel Cheko, a young ensign aboard the USS Enterprise who also sometimes on duty at the science officer's station on the bridge. To represent Chekov I used Jake Cartwright the drifter, a board game piece that had on attire akin to Russian winter clothes. Alhough Walter Koenig the actor who plays Chekov had always denied the character's 'Russian origin', I felt his accent was a dead giveaway as to Chekov's roots. 

Starfleet survivor and ensign of the starship USS Enterprise, Pavel Chekov

Chekov was painted with a pale skin tone

For the clothes worn by Chekov, I used a colour scheme based on military attire worn by Russian soldiers in the 18th century. Due to the 'boring' nature of Chekov's clothes, I decided to concentrate more on the face and eyes as that was the most interesting part of the miniature/board game piece. As such, in terms of paint-hours, the most time was spent on the face and eyes, especially the eyes.  

Side views of the Last Night on Earth board game piece painted as Chekov, the Starfleet Survivor

Skin tone was kept pale as befitting the subject matter - a spacefaring ensign of supposedly Russian descent. Meanwhile, constant practice has allowed me to get better results when painting eyes on 28-mm to 32-mm scale miniatures. That and the use of a 6/0 Raphael Kolinsky Sable brush.

Some rust was added to the cleaver on his left hand

Back view of Pavel Chekov, Starfleet survivor

Axe on the right hand was painted in similar colours to the one carried by Uhura

Work on Chekov's weapons were fairly straight forward: The axe on his right hand was painted in a similar colour scheme to the axe wielded by Uhura (one would assume they both got the axes from the same source/location) while the cleaver on his left hand had some rust painted on to give it a little bit of character. The alternative - a shiny new metallic cleaver - seemed out of place somehow.

Walter Koenig, shown here playing Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series

Painted figure next to a 31-mm paperclip and a five sen coin for scale comparison

At last count, I have finished painting seven zombies and four survivors. Going forward from this half-way point, I am unsure if I want to continue the Star Trek Original Series theme for the rest of the board game pieces or paint something entirely different e.g. Walking Dead. I guess that's a good reason as any to take a temporary step back from my Last Night on Earth project, muse on potential themes and await new inspiration. It also gives me an excuse to start new projects. I love this hobby!

Last Night on Earth: Starfleet Survivor Nyota Uhura

Third in my Star Trek-themed survivors from the Last Night on Earth board game is Nyota Uhura, the Communications Officer aboard the starship USS Enterprise. To represent Uhura I used Sally the High School Sweetheart, the board game piece which I felt had a similar hairstyle to the one worn by Nichelle Nichols who played the said character in Star Trek: The Original Series. 

Starfleet survivor and Communications Officer of the USS Enterprise, Nyota Uhura

Uhura naturally had a darker skin tone

Clothes colour scheme was an interplay between purple, green and yellowish brown

Painting Uhura allowed me to practice blending and layering a dark skin tone. Based on the photo reference I used (see below), her skin approximated a light chocolate hue. In the end, I was pretty happy with how close I came to accurately replicating Uhura's skin tone. Vallejo Model Color acrylic paints were used to paint the skin while Reaper Master Series (RMS) paints were used for the clothes (jacket, blouse and skirt) except for the boots which were painted using Citadel paints.   

Nichelle Nichols portrayed the character of Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series

Side views of Nyota Uhura, the Starfleet survivor

Colour scheme for Uhura's clothes were predominantly purple (jacket), green (skirt) and ochre (boots) with neutral off-white on her blouse and jacket buttons. At times, I still struggle with chalkiness issues when using lighter hues from the RMS acrylic paint line. In this case, more work is needed on my painting technique because I had previously eliminated hard water as a possible cause. Well, sort of anyway as I had tried using distilled water to reduce chalkiness without much success.  

Bright red on the axe was actually painted in the shade of Uhura's original uniform

Back view of Starfleet survivor, Nyota Uhura

To complement her dark skin tone, I used a purple-green-ochre color scheme

Meanwhile, the weapons - specifically the axe - allowed me to add a bright colour into the mix. Red kinda works well with the rest of the colors and is definitely preferable to plain metallic grey.

Shots taken by a DSLR with macro lens can be misleading hence a scale comparison above

Next up for the Starfleet Survivors is a Star Trek character that always speaks in an accent. Actually, there are two - one Scottish and the other Russian - so it will either be Scotty or Chekov as the fourth survivor. Imagining these board game pieces as Star Trek characters is making painting them so much fun. And that's why we are in the hobby after all - to have fun. Otherwise, what's the point? 

Last Night on Earth: Starfleet Survivor Christine Chapel

Head Nurse Christine Chapel is yet another survivor who escaped the first wave of zombification together with Sulu and two other yet-to-be-named characters. I must admit I am continually and pleasantly being caught by surprise by the level of detail in these Last Night on Earth (LNoE) board game pieces. Granted that 'traditional' miniatures catered to painters are much more detailed and better sculpted, these tiny board game pieces still impressed me e.g. the hair on this Christine Chapel look alike. It was a no-brainer to use LNoE's Becky the nurse to substitute for head nurse Chapel.  

Starfleet survivor and head nurse of the USS Enterprise, Christine Chapel

With most shotguns made out of non-metal composite materials, I didn't have to use any metallic paints (yeaaa)

But Christine Chapel is blonde you scream ...

If you are a Star Trek: The Original Series enthusiast, let's get the proverbial elephant in the room out of the way first. In the 1960's TV show, Christine Chapel sported a blonde hairdo so technically if you are picky I have made a major blunder in her colour scheme. But I broke with canon and went with red hair because I felt it would make the overall colours more vivid. Actually if you observe the same character many years later in the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, you can clearly see that she now spots dark brownish hair. So Chapel would not have been adverse to sporting red hair. 

Christine Chapel was played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry 

Orange hair made for a better combination with the blue-grey-azure dress and green satchel

Side views of Head Nurse Christine Chapel

Here is a bit of Star Trek trivia for you ... did you know that Majel Barret also portrayed Lwaxana Troi i.e. mother of Deana Troi who is a major character in the Star Trek: The Next Generation. And she is also the voice of most of the onboard computer interfaces heard throughout the TV series. 

Her hair was well sculpted and made painting it very easy

Her skin tone was painted with a rosy undertone

I felt red hair made for a better colour combo with her green satchel and blue/azure dress

For her skin tone, I referred again to online references and found a Vallejo Model Color paint recipe for rosy skin. The rosy flesh colours formed an undertone upon which lighter skin shades were painted on. I might have gone a tad overboard with the lightness of her skin but I am happy the rosy undertones still managed to show through. In such cases, it helps to paint in dilute and thin layers. 

Chapel shown next to a 31-mm paperclip and the smallest coin in the Malaysian currency

Next up in this LNoE-Star Trek project is another major character from the Original Series who speaks Klingon. If you are a fan you know who I am talking about but if you're not please stay tuned!