SS Battlestar....attempt II

[JAWS]

Agreed.
?????????

[Wombat]

Oh, i do have a small update i've just been too buggered the last few days to sit down and post anything.

I received these on Tuesday*.

   





















* and things haven't really been the same since!

[Richard_2001]

Phil,

Whats the holdup I have it on good authority you have received your boxes now Why no post on it yet???


Richard

[Wombat]

^
You mean them boxes in the post before yours?

Well if you must know, having only about 12hrs sleep over the last 3 nights has been leaving me pretty much buggerd after each day at work. I'm struggling ta catch up with everything and enjoy what came in the boxes a lil also. I can only do so much at one time though!


Anyway, what did come was simply incrdible! Like the sections looked fantastic in the pictures but seeing them first hand is just another thing again. It was a really great night, the best in a very long time for me. It was great having Mike up here and also Charles join us for the crate opening via skype. I'm sure you've heard a lil about the night? LOL
I'm keeping the two bit's of timber from the two crates that you wrote on. They'll be something to look back on one day when it's all done as a nice lil memento from you. Thanks! I have the sections from Charles and am more than happy with them from his side of things. LOL

That man can build!!

Anyway, i'm sure you'll all be hearing more about it soon but for now heres a lil mock up of it all.

[dbhs]

Open open open

[star-art]

Awesome! So glad you like them Phil. Thanks very much for the kind words. It's also been a crazy hectic week here as I just finished crating and shipping my own Galactica (the one I started building years ago) to its new owner tonight. Thanks to Richard for building the crate, it turned out fantastic. The fellow getting my model has no idea how much work went into just packing this monster. But, that's another story. . . LOL

Phil, I feel like I'm just now coming up for air so I haven't caught up with e-mails yet. But, I'm glad to see you're so happy with the finished product. We'll talk again soon. Now, for me, it's time to call it a night and get some much needed rest.

PS The bit about posts not showing up has just happened to me. I saw in the thread index where it stated Jase had the last post, but I could not see it and the last post from my point of view was Mike's. Then, all of a sudden, Phil's, Jason's, and Richard's posts all showed up today. Weird. . .

[Wombat]

^
It seems to be happening a lot, i don't think Doug could see the post above his? Well unless he was asking to open up the model? LOL
I think Richard couldn't see the post prior to his either obviously looking at it. I couldn't read Jase's even though i could see he had posted something. I was replying to Mikes last post which again was the last post on that page. Doug said something about that earlier as well. Hmmmm.

Anyway mate, it has been a huge week for me and you also with what you've been doing there. That's fantastic news that you got your build away. Wow that'll be a sight for it's new owner when it gets to it's destination.

Oh i'm bloody happy alright with what you sent me, i'm still feeling the effect of that night now. Oh i do need some sleep!! LOL
You really do incredible work Charles, as a client i couldn't have asked for more and as it was got more than i was really expecting for my dollar. Thank you!

---

^

[Richard_2001]

Phil,

You are correct, I didn't see anything after Mikes Ahem post!

Glad you liked the souvenirs ;-) and the Battlestar is looking very awesome!

Awesome overload WOW meter is off the scale!


Richard

[darkimmitator]

Congradulations Phil ,really stoked for you recieving your battlestar sections . Now the rest of us are lookin forward to them wombat battlestar update starting back up again .
Get some sleep , and then get yer arse in battlestar update mode !!! LOL

[LastBattlestar]

Well, so much happened on Tuesday night that it might take us a few posts to relay it all to you guys! But I had a fantastic time for the uncrating, talking to Charles live for the first time EVER (I've known him since 97-98...) while he was able to see the whole circus at the same time, the uh-oh's when crate no.1 was opened....

Holy crap Phil, I just knew that you'd have zero sleep for a few days! That looks so cool sitting up on the stand. Damn! But waiting until I got to your place at 7pm before opening those boxes was the definition of coolness mate.

But yeah, good times all round. And sorry Charles for keeping you up until 5am with the crazy Aussie enthusiasm....

Mike

[JAWS]

Thats a Battlestar right there.
Congratulations Phil.
Very glad youve finally got your ship.
Look forward to some build action now mate.

[star-art]

It was worth staying up for, that's for sure. It was **great** talking with you guys. If we were all in the same place at the same time, it would be a party. LOL Maybe we can all meet up in person at WonderFest? Heck, if all goes according to plan, the guy who got my G will have it on display in 2012. I encouraged him to bring it whether it's finished or not. Seeing a finished battlestar is amazing, but seeing one in progress can be just as inspiring.

Looking forward to more updates! And, don't forget to get a better Webcam. LOL Something full HD with 1080 output would be good. (I have the Logitech C910, it's fairly cheap and works great.)

[dbhs]

Yeah I couldn't see the other posts. It did seem odd that no one had responded.

The G looks bloody awesome, mate. You just need to coat it in glue and roll it around in greeblies.

[Wombat]

Thank you everyone!

This whole project is just incredible and it's really great getting such support from you guy's here on the boards. You're all part of the lil Battlestar community with the same spot i have for Galactica related subjects which makes sharing all this with you goes fun for me.

I think once i come down from the excitment of it all i'll be ready to hit that detailing. Its strange but days later i'm still feeling the effect of it all. Lack of sleep hasn't helped and for the most part that has been because of the sections arriving. Plan of attack on all this will be those exhaust ports again. I think this is an area i'm not looking forward to repeating and is why i've chosen to hit that area again first. Just want to sort a couple of othert things firsyt and i'll be abck into it again. Been a while, hope i can still do it?

You guys are great as shown by your post's.

Doug, if i could i would but the G ain't gonna roll very easily so i guess i'm just gonna have ta do it the harder way. LOL

Charles, it was so cool having you join Mike and I.Theres technology for ya though. Incredible to think you was the last to see em being packed there and also part of the first to see em being opened down here. I enjoyed having you join us very much, it was a fantastic night! Will look into getting one of those better cameras so things look a lil better for you.

Jase, thanks bud! Got a lot of work to do to catch up to you again but feel i'm close to getting back into the swing of things again. I'm looking forward to showing the detailing and i hope to see the same from you and the others building one of these. It's all very motivating for a fellow builder to see.

Mike, it was a fantastic night. Even more so as both yourself and Charles were present. It was really cool that the both of you guy's got to talk together live like that for the first time. Wow the hours ticked bye and you was in full flight as the say from memory. Or was that me? LOL

Ken, cheers there mate. You know i see you build as a lot of inspiration for me. You went and made that very hard call to start over again and look at the outcome now. You've got that structure there now that is looking really good a major improvement everyway you look at it. Wombat updates will be coming your way my friend and look forward to seeing more of yours also. Gonna be like old times again! LOL

Richard, yeah i figured that must have been the case with the post after Charles brought it up. The site update is gonna fix all that hopefully and everything will run smooth again.
It sure does have the WOW factor about it mate, I'm impressed everytime i see it already!
I dread to think how things would have been without the crates you knocked up. I don't believe i would've been showing you those pictures if they hadn't been used. The bit's of timber are keepsakes for sure, thanks mate!


So won't be long and i'll have another update, a start to some detailing should be the next installment.

Thanks again fella's!!

[Wombat]

So first up i've changed the title.. SS Battlestar again sorta sounded like i've built one already and as ya's know, i've built squat! LOL
I think attempt II is more fitting anyway.

So here we are again. Sunday was the first day since the opening that i actrually woke up filling half good again. Up untill then i've been as flat as. So Sunday came around and my original idea to start detailing the ports got a lil sidetracked. One reason mainly as i somehow didn't have of all things, some plastruct the size i need. Anyway after looking at the reference i can see i don't need as much as i thought. Finding stuff like like that can be a total PITA down here at times but i was fortunate enough to pick up a couple of lengths of abs and one of styrene so i should have enough to do the job i think. Looking forward to that i tell ya!

It was Sunday and i had a lil bit of life in me, Battlestar time for a bit then. One area that needs doing before things can be finished off to engine box structure is the engine trench detailing. The design allows the two top sloped side assemblies to be removeable to make detailing the trench so much more easier. This is pretty cool really! I've done it the other way already and this is just incredible being able to get into this area without the tight confines.
So some detailing began again on Sunday and i finished it off tonight after work. The side trenches are now done, the only pieces missing are the two forward tracks as they protrude a lil onto the panels in front so i wont glue them on unti the sloped panels are fitted for good. All the part's will pretty much be the same part's i used previously so i'm not sure how things are going to look since everything was pretty much glued down last time, bar the D-51 boiler pieces. The parts that had been primered i've stripped again the best i can and thankfully it was really only these trench parts and all the Roco's that sat on the lower sloped side panels. I'm keeping me fingers crossed the part's will still look ok being used a second time and i guess we'll only know that once the primer starts again.

Sorry about the crappy pic's but you get an idea how this works.

[Richard_2001]

Phil,

She is looking better with every picture! The removable slope is another great idea that I stole from Charles to use on mine. I am totally sure that when you spray primer coats on the parts it will look fantastic again ;-)

Richard

[darkimmitator]

Atta boy Phil ....back in the saddle baby !!! Shifty idea that removable slope is . Trenches look great , now lets see some more !!!

[dbhs]

It's great to see this oneback on the bench, Phil!

[LastBattlestar]

Great to see that you have started work on this already Phil, can't wait to see it mocked up on the stand!

Mike

[JAWS]

Good to have you feeling good again mate.
Its been a big year with its ups & downs & am just glad that you have somehing you love to keep you going.
Just always remeber we're here for ya too buddy.
So now there better be alot more posting going on cause I am one jelous mofo.....

[LastBattlestar]

He'd better get cracking because I have video of the grand unveiling! Phil in fully stoked mode is pretty damn funny.

Mike

[JAWS]

You will be able to upload video's after the upgrade!

[Wombat]

Thanks fella's! Appreciate the motivating and also kind words there.

I guess it was a start and it was fun, fun enough that time was just ticking by on me. Thats normally a good indication afterall..

Not sure there will be too much in the way of updates coming again soon. I plan to start those ports next and who knows how long thats gonna take to do again? From memory it took me a fair bit of time to detail last time and i'm as rusty as hell. Still pretty fussy also which ain't gonna speed things along any. LOL
Still, i'm sorta looking forward to making a start on em.

Thanks again my friends!


As for video, i think that needs to be approved before being posted?

[dbhs]

Phil's right. I approve the video posting !!

[LastBattlestar]

OK, mod approval. That's all I need!

Mike

[JAWS]

Just need thye update when Rons back at it.
Poor bugger had to fix my screw ups which did his head in....
Cant blame him him for having a break.

[Wombat]

Well finally i have a small update and it's really just that when you look i the big picture in front of me. Still after i don't know how many hours these ports are pretty much done. I decided to leave the old back plate as it was except for just a few pieces i don't have spares of. Everything seen in these pictures is new parts again bar the two turrets that i didn't have. Gee this has been killing me doing even just the detailing on these again. Like before things are not exact with all the chips and stuff but hopefully it looks the part still. I'm not as happy with the result compared to the first one but that one i just really arsed my way with it when i look at the end result. Just little things aren't as neat or good as before. I think they'll do anyway though and i'll be primering them probably later today so i can seal em up and get em back in there supporting structure.

Still have the small centre port to do but that should be all smooth sailing compared to these horrors. LOL

So thats about it for now, more again soon..ish.

[darkimmitator]

Looks bloody good to me Phil . Damn good to see you back on the galactica saddle again too !!

[star-art]

Merry Christmas!! (Oops, a day late for you guys, sorry. It's still Christmas here though.) Looks good! This could be one of the most tedious and challenging parts of the build in terms of the patience required. Just imagine though how much more difficult it would be if the ports weren't split apart like that.

If I can make a suggestion: I really wish they had not added the C-channel to the inside corner of the master pattern right where the castings split apart. I can't imagine how difficult it would be trying to fill that seam with the cast detail right up against the seam line. Therefore, I recommend carefully grinding this off. Then, you can fill in the seam nice and neat. After that, glue a piece of real C-channel back over the top and it should be neatly disguised.

Hope that helps!

Charles

[Wombat]

Thanks guys!

I think i'll be saddle sore before too long, Ken? LOL
Damn they took some time as i mentioned, and that was just to prep the part's and glue em down. At the rate it took me to do this much i'll be lucky to detail this thing fully in whats left of my lifetime. Need ta stop bitchin though and just get on with it! LOL

Charles, you are correct, trying to detail this are would be near impossible if the shells didn't seperate as they do. Theres just no room to work in there really once they are joined up. Least work in there and keep things sorta tidy. I agree the best thing would have been if the master was done without the c channel in place in the corners where the joins are. The joins could have then been under where the channel sits and simply covered by a piece once put together. Thats what i would have done myself.
Your idea of grinding away the casting is something i looked at but i feel i'm probably not up to to the task of that. Because that channel is moulded right up next to some pre moulded platting in places also i don't think i'd be able to remove it without damaging the plating also. Then i'd need to remove that and re do which then means i'd probably damage some of the t strip and so on. It'd just snowball on me for sure!
There is another issue also which i don't know how it happened when there is such good ref of this area. The c channel used in those corners is the wrong size. It should be the size larger but instead they have used the smallest there is which is C-2. This shows up when looking at it as C-2 is used in the ports in other areas and should look smaller than the corners pieces. The only way i can see to fix it would be to remove all the pre mouded detail and start again.
I think i'll just live with it but may order another set of those castings incase i feel the desire to do it down again down the track at some stage.
Plan of attack with these is to see how bad the seam looks and use a putty to fill that i can just smooth out with water and leave as is. No sanding at all. Thats the plan anyway..

[Wombat]

Ok so have these pieces in primer now. Gotta love this bit of it, just makes it all pop.
Overall it's cleaner than i was expecting so thats a good thing.
Small middle port has also had the treatment and now everything is ready to be joined up. Thats when i'll see just how bad the joins look.
Hopefully with a lil elbow into it things will join up pretty good.

[LastBattlestar]

Looks awesome mate!

Mike

[darkimmitator]

(12-26-2011, 08:31 PM)LastBattlestar Wrote: Looks awesome mate!

Mike

I second that vote !!!!!

[Wombat]

Thanks fella's!!

Scrubbing up better than i thought and heres another small update then.
Someone said to keep them coming right? LOL

Well got the ports glued together and they came out pretty good. They still need work on at least the lower joins but the ones up near the ceiling are barely noticeable so will probably get away with what i have already. I plan to reinforce the joins with some epoxy putty on the outside as there is still some force trying to pop these outa shape more than they already are. I'll do that after some sleep, calling it a morning here now. But whats an update without a picture or two? I wanted to make sure things went back into there structure ok so went ahead and dummied it up for the first time with the backplate in place also. Almost brings a tear ta me eye i tell ya's! LOL

[darkimmitator]

Lookin awesome Phil !!

[JAWS]

Great stuff buddy.
Your definately back in the game.

[star-art]

Looking good so far!

BTW, keep in mind I made the underlying shapes, but CR added the surface details. If they used the wrong C-channel, oops on them. . .

These castings were a PITA to prep because of shrinkage and warping. So, you are best off keeping what you have there. If you get fresh castings, you'll have to go through the process of straightening and aligning them like I did for you. Believe me, not fun.

Like we've said, this is a very tedious and difficult part of the build. Probably a really smart move to get it out of the way up front.

[JAWS]

(12-20-2011, 03:45 PM)LastBattlestar Wrote: He'd better get cracking because I have video of the grand unveiling! Phil in fully stoked mode is pretty damn funny.

Mike

Post that video Mike!

[Wombat]

(12-27-2011, 07:39 AM)star-art Wrote: Looking good so far!

BTW, keep in mind I made the underlying shapes, but CR added the surface details. If they used the wrong C-channel, oops on them. . .

These castings were a PITA to prep because of shrinkage and warping. So, you are best off keeping what you have there. If you get fresh castings, you'll have to go through the process of straightening and aligning them like I did for you. Believe me, not fun.

Like we've said, this is a very tedious and difficult part of the build. Probably a really smart move to get it out of the way up front.

Thank Charles!
Yeah this is an area i want to get out the way and i think the worst part of it all is now done. Still plenty to go on the face of the back plate but i'm happy the inside areas are done.

The C channel is just one of those things and sometimes we just have ta live with em. It's a shgame as they did really nice work with the detailing just this one size they didn't get correct from my way of looking at it anyway.
I can tell from looking at what you had to do to the castings to get them to be acceptable they were not real pretty when ya received them. Even now they aint the greatest but now that they are together you probably wouldn't ever know.

Thats all that counts to in my book!

(12-27-2011, 08:23 PM)jase72 Wrote: Post that video Mike!

Um, I think the video turned out blank, pitty....



Anyway, while i'm here some more ta show. Not much this time but wil show anyway.

Ports are now done!
Did a lil gap filling and how they look i can live with. The actually scrubbed up betta than i was thinking they would considering how they were and the amount of trouble i wanted to go to with em.
With that done i added some epoxy to the back side of the joins for a lil added peace of mind before fitting them into there carrier again for the last time. Glued that together and fitted the million screws that hold the ports in place. that took 3hrs alone.. Ok there wasn't a million of em and it didn't take 3hrs, but there is a lot of em.
Anyway with that all fastened up i then glued the backplate in place. Getting there as i said.. LOL

Last thing i did with it is apply the some putty to fill any gaps between the ports and back plate. Any largish gaps i filled with styrene first as a pre filler so less putty. It's messy right now and for the most part it wont be too critical how things looks as a lot of joins will be covered by part's. Will rub back the putty later today after some sleep and see how things stand.

One other small thing done was some primer action again. Inside the engine trench area this time. Needed to get that done so the upper boxes can be glued on for good. It allows me to do a lil putty work and then things will be almost ready for detailing again there also.

One thing at a time though so i'll be back to the backplate.

More again soon...ish.

[LastBattlestar]

(12-28-2011, 12:56 AM)Wombat Wrote:

(12-27-2011, 08:23 PM)jase72 Wrote: Post that video Mike!

Um, I think the video turned out blank, pitty....

Maybe like the mission video in 'Contact'? Two days of recorded static? You wish!

I'm not sure if the old laptop is up to editing lots of video. And can someone tell me how to bleep out all the colourful metaphors for public viewing? I'm sure one day it will surface....

Dude, the engine ports work looks great. It's really falling together now. I'm going to have to start gluing on cut-off allen bolt heads all over the interior of my model just to make it look nice and technical like yours!

I'm here 15 minutes away at 3am also working on the build. We're both on holidays and am trying to get some serious progress on our builds!

Mike

[Wombat]

Short update here as i wanted ta share this with ya's.

OK, the putty was sanded back and i had to re do it a couple times more. in the end That slowed things down but it did give me the time to prepare some part's for detailing the backplate while it was setting.
Anyway, will post more on it all maybe later today, thats if i get out of my burrow at all.
Picture 1 is the final rub back of the putty before part's and well the other is my first completed SS backplate. Never got that far with the other one. It's not perfect and i had to make a small compromise with it but still It feels good to have it done finally and thats even with it just going 5:30am.

More later i hope

---

Theres still rats in the corn..The last post i just made is not showing.

[darkimmitator]

you are really haulin arse on this engine plate ,Phil ! Good on ya , it is really motivating to see steady progress reports again from fellow battlestar Bretheren { I think that's a word ) !!!!

[LastBattlestar]

Test post, I can't see your last one either, Phil.

Mike

[Wombat]

Heres another small update to see if it's the one that gets this thread going again.

Nothin new just a couple slightly betta pictures of the completed backplate.

[Wombat]

Another try at getting this working again.....

Backplate is in and has been, in primer for some days now. Not perfect, could be neater, but aye, that'll do donkey!! LOL



Edit: Oh fuck me, now it's working again, least for me.

[dbhs]

I'm sure you'll hate hearing this but with your pristine building and grey primer it kinda looks CGI....

I only mean it as a compliment !!!

[LastBattlestar]

My gods Phil, I've been waiting days to see these updates and they were DEFINITELY worth the wait! I'm not joking mate, that's top-end, world class work there. Probably the highest quality Galactica detailing I've seen yet as you are not hurrying it for a client and aiming for 100% quality instead. The completed build is going to be mind boggling if you keep up this sort of work.

You are really pushing me to up the level on my build, that's for sure! I can't wait to see it ASAP, but I'll have to put the entire front suspension back into the Falcon tomorrow and cruise down to your place soon.

Mike

[Wombat]

Thanks fella's!

I guess it does look a lil like a rendition of someones CGI work in the particular picture, Doug. Not quite the same to the eye but still will do. Least for now.. LOL

Mike, there ya go again. There no difference in the detailing on this piece than what you did with yours. I think just seeing kit part's makes you think it looks betta than what you crank out but when we compare em side by side oneday i'm sure the level will be pretty much the same to the eye. You've raised the bar enough, just finish building that sucker, mate!

[Wombat]

Things have slowed down a lil on this. Going back ta work and oh yeah, life, really has put the breaks on the progress quite a lot. Still plugging away though a lil each night although it don't seem ta be getting very far with it quickly.
Since the last update the bottom of the engine section is now complete, minus just two remaining part's It may be all done but as per normal things may get re done here in there if i see anything i don't like too much. Will get some better pic's up in the next couple of days but here the bottom of that arse end all but done as i mentioned.

[darkimmitator]

AAAAAHHHHH , A battlestar up date . Just what I needed ...Thanks Phil !!!! Looks like alot of progress to me mate . Lookin bloody stellar as well . Stellar and Tidy !!!!!