SS Battlestar....attempt II

[Cylon-Knight]

Thank you kindly for the help Wombat!
2" it will be.

[darkimmitator]

Looks the part to me .

[LastBattlestar]

Looks amazing mate, really sharp and refined. The brass pipe work really gives it finesse. I really must replace some of mine with the thinner brass stuff.

CK, are you Dale? Sorry, I get confused between all you Cylons! One thing you MUST do is get the proportions of the ship looking close to correct. You can then fudge a lot.of the fine details to save money and time, but at least it will look right when you stand back and look at it. Besides, it would be really interesting to see one detailed differently. Call it Acropolis, Poseidon, Olympia or something different to explain the greeblie differences.

Mike

[Cylon-Knight]

Hi Mike - no, Dale is GoldCylon... I'm John (Cylon-Knight) we both have "blue text" names as Admins over at BYC, it is easy to mix us up - no worries. Thanks for the tip! I've found an excellent reference that is to scale with overall sizes given in a classic magazine article of the Galactica. It exciting to dream about having a Battlestar... "Olympia" ... I like that - A LOT!

Mine will be a humble "B String" Battlestar that is in the background behind yours, Wombat's and all the other amazing ones on this forum.

Wombat, how much would you guess your ship weighs at the moment - as your build stands?

[Wombat]

Thank you again fellas but Mike, i think you've done enough of them re do's already. If you keep going the way you are there will be not much left you haven't gone and re done. The only person i know that has basicly built 4 Battlestars but only has the one nearly completed example to show from it.

CK, have no idea what this would weigh in it's present form. As the head, engine section and bays are still removeable i've never picked up more than a section at a time. My guess is it'll be pretty heavy when put together but couldn't put a figure on it.

Mike or Charles would have more idea on the weight of one of these suckers i would feel. Think Mike did weigh his at one stage but the weight will come from what materials are used for the construction. It'll really depend on what you use that'll be the key factor there.

[LastBattlestar]

Mine's 20kg at this time, but thats with fairly lightweight aloooominum armature, thin MDF and styrene panels. No electrical gizmos either, so probably will be 25kg at most when done. Yours would have to be another 10 over that?

Mike

[Wombat]

Not sure but it wont surprise me if it goes 10kg+ over what yours is and will end up being. Straight away this one has a thick walled alooooominum (think you left out an o there) armature and a lot of acrylic. How that stacks up against the materials with yours i don't know but picking the pieces up there does feel like it could have gone on a Jenny Craig diet. I don't have a set of scales to check it but it would be interesting to know now that it's been brought up.

[bwayne64]

Quote: "One interesting experience was making the Plascore honeycomb engine vents. I have never worked with this material before. It's made from paper-thin aluminum and its about as hard to find as KoolShade. So, I could not afford to make any mistakes."

To Phil and/or Charles,

Does anyone have a supplier for this stuff. And if not what is the cell size on this. I've been to the Plascore website, but don't think they sell to individuals. Thanks,

Joe

[Wombat]

Have you tried Custom Replicas? Jim had a sheet and there would be a good chance he would still have some perhaps.

[darkimmitator]

it's not cheap stuff . if i recall it runs about $500 per square foot !!!!

[Wombat]

I can't recall the pricing on it for enough to do the engine ports but you are correct in that it was not cheap even for just that amount.

[darkimmitator]

I believe it is $100 from custom replicas . A 3 piece set , enough to do all three engine ports .

[LastBattlestar]

I still think it's taken from Elinchrom pro photography studio flash unit diffusers. I've seen it at several different studio when checking their gear and it's really close. Makes sense that Apogee had some lying around the studio?

Or you can scout around for old overhead projectors, some have a perfect sheet of mesh in the overhead lens assembly. Or do like I did, find a cheap halogen heater and steal it out of that! Better things to spend your Galactica budget on than overpriced Plascore.

Mike

[bwayne64]

(10-05-2013, 08:57 AM)darkimmitator Wrote: it's not cheap stuff . if i recall it runs about $500 per square foot !!!!

What ! Oh hell no, LOL. I bought 6 or 7 sq foot of Kool Shade for under 200 dollars. No way am I paying that. I guess my Galactica blew out her baffles goin to light speed, LOL. Thanks for the info guys. Another hurdle to figure out, Cheers,

Joe

[bwayne64]

Darn Posts not showing again, Frak a doodle doo, LOL

[Wombat]

Didn't seem to get much done over the weekend when looking at things but spent plenty of hours on it just the same.

Bit more done on the the neck side and bar a few pieces that i haven't found it's basicly done.

   

Rest of my time i was messing around with these buggers pretty much.

   

Had a brief look at the map for the underside of one of the arms and see there is a few parts unknown just on the first one i've looked at. The joys of it all!! LOL

Guess you guys can look forward to a post in the help thread sometime soon!!

[bwayne64]

Wow ! And I thought the Head underside was gonna be hard, Man the parts on that underside. That's one busy area. That
looks awesome Phil ! You guys are making it so much easier for the rest of us. Not that it's ever really easy, but it could be much harder without the pioneers clearing the trees for us. Thanks,

Joe

[Wombat]

Cheers Joe!! You are right and what has been provided for us newer generation of builders to work with is simply amazing. Said many a time that without the maps that were made public i doubt very much that i would have ever attempted it. Sean C in particular is the one who i thank for releasing what he did. Sure there was others that assisted with the parts hunting but if not for Sean then perhaps no one else would have done what he did. This subject is just so damn secretive with many people for there own reasons and things really could easily have stayed that way if not for Sean. I for one am very glad for what we have!

You know once you start detailing your build you'll find that things go down pretty easily actually. Things just look a lot busier than what they are and most of it isn't too bad actually.

So get cracking!!

[LastBattlestar]

Great work Phil, nice to see you keeping it moving along. Are the arms attached now? There's a ton of detail on all six for you to enjoy.:p

Don't worry Joe, like Phil said, a lot of the detailing looks busier than it really is. One thing I've noticed over the decades is the wildly different detailing styles of the Apogee guys. One person in particular laid on beautifully intricate detail with very fine styrene pieces where someone else just painted an area with glue and emptied the greeblie bag over it and hoped some would stick!

Mike

[Wombat]

Thanks Mike! Yeps them four are on now, they gathered enough dust.. LOL

You know the detail on the underside may be some of the easiest on this thing. Theres not much to em on that side. But there are parts not listed so it'll be a case of hunt for a bit and then improvise if need be. As it's all new this area to me i don't know what i'm looking for until i get there. Looked at two of the underside maps now and both have parts not listed. A couple i know what they are for one arm i looked at but the other has a few i don't know off the top of my head. Those arms should keep me busy for a bit but at this stage the plan is to do the undersides of them and then do the body sides. At this stage anyway..

[Wombat]

Just when you thought that was it for the year with this i thought i'd throw a quick update at ya's and i guess for myself to look back on how far things were along come another years end. I'm sure there still a good couple of years to go still and this will record the build at the end of 2013. Yeps just snuck it in.. LOL The pictures are very average sorry about that and some things are out a little here and there but once all painted i hope things will look a bit better. You can see i've got most of the stb body side detail done and made a small start here and there on a couple of the arms. This was more to do with running some of the pipes but i went ahead and played around with the aft ones a little more on there rear faces. I started looking at them and couldn't help myself..The stb is mostly done and the port is 1/3 to 1/2 detailed at present. I've also detailed the underside of the front and aft arms as far as i can, the rest i wasn't able to find at the time so will go back and sub things at a later stage if i don't find them in the meantime. It's been sometime since it's been together so i spoilt myself just a little and threw it together again for the pic's. It look so different having a head and arse end on it again.. LOL


                       

Thank you again to all that have assisted me in any way throught the year, much appreciated fellas!! Oh and Happy New Year everyone, heres to some really great progress in 2014 for all of us with our different projects.

[darkimmitator]

She is an absolute beauty Phil .Nice update , thanks for sharing , and Happy New Year mate !!

[Wombat]

Thanks Ken, same to you mate!

It's funny i sort of forgot how big this sucker is it's been so long that it's been all together..

But then big is beastie as ya know!!

[LastBattlestar]

Yeehaa, now THAT'S looking the goods Phil, bloody fantastic! It's certainly the most complete I've ever seen it, you always have it apart when I call in ya bastard.

Nice neat work as always and I can see a few more odd little greeblies you have identified in there too, nice job. I have some small and large TB-1 here for you too, hope you didn't need it right away? Hey, tried contacting you a few times recently, but now I know that you've been busy working on the model! I'm lovin' looking at the pics, she's a thing of beauty.

I haven't been building since my last update on the bay end caps, but the bench is now tidy for another round.

Happy new year to ya guys.

Mike

Mike

[padawan-builder]

Phil,
A thing of beauty to be sure. I am still amazed at how clean your build looks. I so appreciate the updates too. It keeps me motivated. I am hoping that this is the year that I finally finish, but we all know how that can be. So, heres hoping......
Keep them updates coming and Happy New Year everyone!

Mel

[star-art]

That's looking really great, Phil!

Happy New Year to you and to everyone here at SSM.

[ZAP]

HI to you all

happy new year to all

i am a great fan of all the work done in this forum , someday i will get the quality to post something in this forum ... i am learning a lot with all of you

thanks

[LastBattlestar]

Hey Phil, at the rate you are building now, we might be able to paint both models at the same time! You can paint mine, I don't trust myself with a rattle can.

Mike

[Cylon-Knight]

*WOW*

Great work, Phil. That is one sharp Battlestar!!! *Jealous*

[Wombat]

Thanks everyone for your encouraging and in some cases optimistic words. It's been a little slow going on it again the last few weeks but still a few parts have been going on over that time and keep the motivation is the hardest bit at times. Still it comes and goes but when it comes i need to do what i can really or this will become another decade long build. I'm pretty much ready to move onto something else now and more than likely will head to the port neck for the next lot of fun when i do.

I glued a few more part's on today but not a real lot in the scheme of it all. Had this face of the port arm somewhat detailed already but still had to glue half to 2/3 of the part's on still. No matter where i detail i can never seem to make things match the ref exactly but as the designer reminded me a few days ago besides my mistakes there also the thing that this design was made symmetrical so the playing field is not exactly the same to start with. It frustrates me a bit i can't make things match exactly but even so once it's all done and one colour it's gonna look pretty close and close enough for me.

       

[ZAP]

HI Wombat

a question coming from Portugal , did you order from CR the Galactica KIt with all the parts , or just the main structure , head and the resin islands ?

is very motivation to see all your progress , if you don't mind i will make your work as a reference to , i hope, also start building my Battlestar Galactica

thanks once again for your sharing

Gonçalo

[darkimmitator]

Looks preety damn close to me Phil .Clean as always too !!

[star-art]

For a lot of reasons, no replica will ever match the original exactly. The original structure was a bit sloppy and asymmetrical in nearly every area. For example, each arm was slightly different.

In creating a replica that could be turned into a "kit" of sorts, it was not practical to recreate this level of asymmetry. As a result, compromises will have to be made here and there throughout the ship.

Still, I think yours is the closest so far in terms of accuracy. You have paid attention to the smallest of details and the work so far has been very clean. I know you think it is not that great, but compared to just about every other project out there, it is really top-notch. And, like you said, when it is finished, no one will be able to tell the difference. It will definitely look like a battlestar!

[Wombat]

Thanks again guys.

Charles, not having a dig at your design as i know why it is how it is and really for a display piece it's the better option in my book. My problem is just getting my brain to understand all this when detailing, which it slowly is, i think. Having it all together together again the other night reminded me just how beastie these things are and some pieces being out of position a bit here and there isn't a big issue with anything (bar my stubborn brain i guess).

Gonçalo, yes i purchased the kit from CR with the resin islands and a few other part's also. I just have this thing for styrene greeblies so for the most part have been using original kit part's for the detailing.
I don't know if CR are still producing the kit but you could contact the designer (star-art) as another option as i'm sure something could be worked out. Always look forward to seeing more join the building group so hope to see you part of it soon. You can look at my build to help but you really can't go past the pictures of the original as your reference. That way you can't blame me if something is wrong.

[peza]

eh up buddy.
wow mym8 ya build`s really movin on!hope ya had a good festive season!
from me and mine to you and your`s .......cheers peza

[ZAP]

hi Phil ,

thanks for the feedback , i think is type of modeling is like doing a giant puzzle , but thats in my opinion is the part that is so incredible attractive, i think its impossible to portrait a true copy , every model has the signature of the owner , and that is impossible to recreate

thanks once again for putting your work for all to see , be sure that across the ocean you have a true fan

(01-04-2014, 09:21 AM)Wombat Wrote: Thanks again guys.

Charles, not having a dig at your design as i know why it is how it is and really for a display piece it's the better option in my book. My problem is just getting my brain to understand all this when detailing, which it slowly is, i think. Having it all together together again the other night reminded me just how beastie these things are and some pieces being out of position a bit here and there isn't a big issue with anything (bar my stubborn brain i guess).

Gonçalo, yes i purchased the kit from CR with the resin islands and a few other part's also. I just have this thing for styrene greeblies so for the most part have been using original kit part's for the detailing.
I don't know if CR are still producing the kit but you could contact the designer (star-art) as another option as i'm sure something could be worked out. Always look forward to seeing more join the building group so hope to see you part of it soon. You can look at my build to help but you really can't go past the pictures of the original as your reference. That way you can't blame me if something is wrong.

[LastBattlestar]

I'm fortunate enough to actually see Phil's model in person from time to time and I assure you it is one impressive piece of work. Very sharp, clean and THE most accurate one built yet. I dread parking mine next to it, my build would look like it's made from dough in comparison.

Mike

[Wombat]

(01-06-2014, 07:54 AM)peza Wrote: eh up buddy.
wow mym8 ya build`s really movin on!hope ya had a good festive season!
from me and mine to you and your`s .......cheers peza

Cheers peza, hope you've had a great one over there also and it's good to see you around again. Hows the Falcon coming along, any more progress with things?

(01-06-2014, 08:45 AM)ZAP Wrote: hi Phil ,

thanks for the feedback , i think is type of modeling is like doing a giant puzzle , but thats in my opinion is the part that is so incredible attractive, i think its impossible to portrait a true copy , every model has the signature of the owner , and that is impossible to recreate

thanks once again for putting your work for all to see , be sure that across the ocean you have a true fan

Thank you Gonçalo. You are probably right and i agree each of us builders has our own way of interpreting things and i guess style even when it is the same subject. It's extremely hard to replicate at times what others have done and is really why close enough should be good enough. Glad ya like the build but really all the different builds being posted are fantastic.

(01-06-2014, 03:27 PM)LastBattlestar Wrote: I'm fortunate enough to actually see Phil's model in person from time to time and I assure you it is one impressive piece of work. Very sharp, clean and THE most accurate one built yet. I dread parking mine next to it, my build would look like it's made from dough in comparison.

Mike

There ya go again, putting down ya own work for no reason. Obviously your the only one that can't see how good your own build is there. She's a stunning piece what you've got and the closest to finished out of any i know of that are being built. It be way cool to have em displayed next to each other but you'll be waiting at least a couple more years for this one to be finished. If yourr is not finished by years end i think it simply comes dowh to being slack!
Just remember that beast of a thing you've constructed has been a lot of inspiration to follow you down this crazy path. For me and others out there.

Just hurry up and finish the bloody thing will ya!




Small update with the port side neck detailing. This is almost all the parts glued that i'll glue down bar a couple more. After those next couple of pieces it'll be time to chip the crap out of this section as it's a nightmare when i look at them all. After that lovely job it'll be another favourite of mine and time to run all the damn pipes to everywhere they get run on this area and they run everywhere don't they..
Once i get all that fun done i'll be able to then add the final part's here and there and hopefully it'll look sorta like it should. For now though this is where it's at.

   

[LastBattlestar]

SHAAAWING! Lookin' good there my man, very nice!

The neck areas look really scary when starting from scratch, but once the big parts go down, they detail up quite quickly. Like you said, it's all those bloody chips and pipes which soak up the hours. I quite enjoy bending up the pipes, but the chips certainly stretch the friendship at times.

We need to catch up, look at both models again soon and have another epic chin wag.

Mike

[darkimmitator]

Another nice clean update Phil . Keep em coming !

[dbhs]

Hey Phil. You've made some decent progress on the old girl. Man, that thing is big. I hope your stand has wheels on it. I hate to ask but I don't remember it mentioned... have you started any of the lighting on this yet?
Looks fantastic.

[Wombat]

Cheers once again guys..


Mike you are right, we are long over due for a good chin wag and you are correct this neck side starts to cover pretty quickly just with the larger pieces going down. All them chips though are not something to look forward to though which is i guess why i haven't started on that yet. When i'm in the mood for it again i'll make a start on that side of things but getting in the mood for that make take some time.

Doug, yeah it's on castors the base so moving it arond is pretty easy mate. No start on anything lighting related yet, that will be one of the last chapters in this tale and something all new to me again. I'm already worried just how many part's are gonna dislodge when drilling holes through em for the fibres. To me there is probably gonna be a few that are not going to like being drilled into when the time comes.

[peza]

eh up buddy,i`m sorry to say no i`ve been on a busman`s holiday,i`ve been buildin a snowspeeder dio for a show in may,but the good news is that it`s really done and i can start on the old bird again soon...it was doin my head in the old bird but now i miss the old girl!!cheers buddy
   

[Wombat]

I know where ya comin from peza and it's good to step away from the builds at times when things get too much or when you're simply not enjoying it. That happens to all of us at times i think? What you've done in the meantime looks really great though so that time spent away from it has been put to some good use. Your speeder dio looks fantastic there!

[peza]

cheers dude!
im startin to get me mojo back lookin at all these builds again,i kept off here cos i can resist everything bar temptation!!lol....cheers peza

[Wombat]

This thread has been dormant for some time just as the build has been. Just didn't realize it's been this long. Must get back to it one day!

This post isn't about my own build but to see if there would be any interest still in a set of the engine section castings created by Charles. This is not about me but trying to help Jase cover his costs for the moulding of the parts that was required as part of the deal in getting them made.

The castings are very good that Jase provided so I can clear my debt in their regards. Charles did an amazing job looking at the finished pieces' it's just a shame his great work has been for nothing really. I think it's great we all know what the donor to these elusive parts now is, it's just a pity it wasn't known publicly prior to funding this project. Charles didn't charge a cent for his part but the actual 3d printing along with postage worked out to be very expensive for me. Still I wanted the best for my own build and these weren't just being created for an exclusive club so it was worth it at the time to get em as best as they could be.

Now that the donor is known the only useful part of this set really are the tubes that run up to the D51 boilers. They in themselves are a piece of work that some builders may be interested in? Jase has the moulds so can provide them along with the other pieces if required by any builders. Again any sales will be to just help cover him for his time and materials to cast up the couple of sets I have owed. 

If interested let's hear it and I'll see if he will post up something in the market place. :-)

       

[Satazius]

Oh yes. Count me in Phil. It's great that these got done.

[star-art]

For anyone who has the actual plastic parts for this area, I wish you good luck trying to cut them to fit. There are a few tricks involved and it could be very challenging to get them trimmed up just right. Since the original parts are so rare and sought after, I would not want to see them get screwed up while being trimmed as they are not easy (or cheap) to replace.

These resin replica parts are good to go as-is. Plus, if you still want to use original plastic parts in the center of the engine slope, the resin copies can serve as a guide/template for how to cut them correctly.

Finally, as Phil mentioned no one knows what was originally used for the tubes on the outboard sides. These may simply have been plastic tubing cut to fit. But, there are some tricks to getting these to work as well. The resin version can simply be glued down and, voila! You're done.

[bwayne64]

I'd definitely be interested in a set. I was just thinking about these parts the other day. I was hoping some one could measure them so I could scratch them. But this is the better option, cheers,

Joe

[Wombat]

I don't think you give enough credit to the abilities of some of the people out there, Charles. I get what ya saying though and yeah cutting things up isn't everyone's forte, let alone rare to find rocket kits.. :-)

For those who have shown some interest Jase has mentioned the whole set will cost $30. That's a bargain when the printed parts by the time they landed down here had cost 20x that amount. He should be posting something up soon.

The two sets that I owed have now been sent out so this whole little saga is over for me now. Time to move on and get back to some building again! :-)