Yet another studio-scale BATTLESTAR

[star-art]

This is a complete body structure build for a client who wants to handle the surface detailing himself. This is being built using the same patterns and components developed for the Custom Replicas battlestar project.

I started this build a while back and it was delayed by a movie model project. After that, my good friend Richard2001 stepped in to help me move things along.

At the same time, my shop was being remodeled. Richard is a talented craftsman. In addition to being an excellent model builder, he's also an experienced carpenter. I designed custom cabinets and shelves for the shop and he built them. Together, we got them installed so I could at long last get my rather extensive plastic kit collection out of storage. What you see here is only part of what I have -- the rest have spilled over into the garage.

[star-art]

We're making good progress on the build so far. It's very tedious and precise work. Our goal is to achieve a very high degree of precision. That means everything should be square, plumb, and neatly fitted.

To that end, I have developed special jigs and tools to make construction as accurate as possible. This includes an expensive machined aluminum table that is absolutely flat and allows parts to be bolted and clamped directly to the metal surface during assembly.

Right now we have the main body and neck sections permanently attached to the armature. This required a good deal of fiddling and adjustment. In addition, both landing bay cores have been built and fitted to the rest of the ship. After final alignment of the arms is completed, the bay bottom skins can go on and then the end caps.

The coffin and pyramid that go under the main body were built a while back. Before we can fit them, however, a pipe sleeve must first be fabricated. The armature I designed goes together without welding because it uses IPS pipe. This allows the use of very special fittings. But, the outer diameter of this pipe is slightly smaller than the one used on the original Galactica. As a result, this replica armature must be modified where the pipe is exposed under the main body and neck.

[star-art]

The amount of work that goes into this is just staggering. I would be far behind where I am now if I didn't have a capable helper. It’s quite easy to spend a year or more building something like this.

Fitting the bays was quite an experience. I created a design whereby the ship can come apart in sections for easy detailing. This is a huge blessing but it has also made things more complicated to assemble. For example, the armature cross arms have been split into two sections so the outer part that is attached to the bay is removable. This allows the landing bays to come off so they can be detailed more easily.

Unfortunately, we discovered this important design feature makes the bays challenging to test fit. To get the pipes to fit together, there has to be some wiggle room at the joint. This means the bays can sag at the point where the two pipes come together.

Once the cross arm pipes are epoxied in place, none of this will be an issue. Until that happens, however, we can’t fully align the landing bays without adding some temporary supports underneath.

[star-art]

Once we complete the body structure, I will be making a plug-and-play wire harness before building a large crate in which to ship the model. The client does not want to have to worry about any of the wiring or lighting. I have a background in electrical engineering (and a good bit of experience with wire harness design – see the movie model thread for a great example). So, I will be making it easy for him by pre-installing all the lights and wires in the ship.

If anyone reading this is building a studio-scale battlestar, would you be interested in a complete lighting “kit”? I’ve invested in some special tools to do this kind of work. The components needed just for wiring have become very expensive in recent years thanks to ravenous demand from China. Also, I don’t like to cut corners so I use only quality parts such as gold plated connectors wherever possible. A complete wire harness for this model won’t be cheap. But, you can be assured the quality and reliability will be very high. PM or e-mail me if you’re interested.

[darkimmitator]

Just the jigs for assembly of these builds are as incredible as the builds themselves . Simply amazing Charles !!!

[Wombat]

Soon ta be another happy builder out there going on where you are at with things Charles. Sure that client will be very impressed when they receive it, hard not to be when ya see what goes into this particular design afterall. You guys have made some good progress for sure but no slacking off now, keep on it till it's done!

[star-art]

That's right -- you need a wire harness, too! Anyone else?

[Wombat]

That and those other pieces we discussed, so get cracking there!!!

[darkimmitator]

Charles , does this wire harness handle household voltage ( 110 ) ?

[star-art]

Absolutely not! It's not safe to have line voltage inside a model IMHO. I am designing the lighting to maximize efficiency and also to accommodate the Custom Replicas landing bay boards. A transformer will plug into the wall and deliver only low voltage to the model. The wiring will be designed to limit any heat output from the components so everything should run cool.

[LastBattlestar]

Looking good Charles and Rich. Is the completion date this year? What the hell am I talking about?

Say, are those CR bay boards still available Charles? They are expensive, but I don't think I can source a viable alternative.

Mike

[star-art]

Sorry, I don't really know Mike. You'd need to contact them directly.

If not, it isn't really that complicated to make a sequenced lights setup. It does require some experience with electronics. If you check out the Engineer's Mini Notebook series by Forrest Mims, he talks about basic circuits that can do things like this. (His excellent book Getting Started in Electronics sparked my interest way back in high school.) For example, a 4017 Decade Counter chip advances through a series of outputs in sequence and then resets. The timing can be controlled by pulses from a 555 chip. It's a little tricky for a novice to figure out, but not nearly as advanced as, say, a microcontroller-based setup.

I'd like to explore the microntroller route myself (just haven't had time to dive into it). Anyone who wants to film one of these ships will need direct control over the timing and output of the sequenced lights. That is most practical using something like a microcontroller that can have both an automatic and manual control option.

I really like what Jim C. did with his. You make one sequenced light output using LEDs in the main body. Then route the light to both bays at the same time using fiber optics.

If you can't get anywhere with this Mike, let me know and I'll see if I can help you out.

[easo111]

Awesome work on the studio scale i really appreciate both person works.Specially carpenter work is really nice.What is the weight of the battle star?How much voltage current is consumed?

[star-art]

Thanks. I can't answer either question just yet. We don't have the entire thing assembled (almost though, update coming soon). The original weighed about 50 pounds when it was all done. All the details do add a bit of weight. I won't be doing any detailing, just the structural work. So, I can estimate the weight of the structure only.

Once this is done I will be doing the wiring. Then I will know how much power it requires.

[star-art]

Richard and I held another marathon building session last week. The bottom of the ship is now complete. We installed the coffin and pyramid assemblies that Richard had so elegantly built earlier. We then trimmed out the exposed armature pipes. That turned out to be quite a job!

The armature on this replica is made from rugged IPS pipe. It's a bit smaller in diameter than the muffler pipe used on the original. The typical solution is to wrap the exposed pipe in styrene sheet to make up the difference. Because the plastic needs to be rather thin to wrap onto the pipe, this can require many layers to get the proper thickness. I've also learned from experience that thin styrene tends to wrinkle when glued. Thus, keeping everything nice and neat could be a challenge.

This time, we chose a different approach. We crafted "sleeves" out of stainless steel tube that is nearly exactly the same size as what was used on the original studio miniature. This way, all the visible pipes have the correct diameter. Later, when all the parts get glued on, everything will be spaced correctly.

On the original studio model, they wrapped the lower longitudinal (i.e. length-wise) pipe in styrene while the bay cross arms simply had parts stuck on them. This replica also features exposed metal bay cross arms. And, just like the original, we wrapped the lower main pipe in styrene the exact same way it was done at Apogee in 1977/78.

Thanks to the sleeve, the pipe had the correct diameter. Thus, we had to apply only one thin layer of plastic. This was accomplished using epoxy. Since the sleeve could be removed, we were able to apply the plastic wrap with everything off the model. To keep from having any wrinkles or other surface blemishes, we hid the seam where it would not be visible. The result was a very clean finish.

We also made more progress on the engine section. The side boxes were built and the rear "thruster module" was fully assembled. All the cast resin "thruster vaults" were cleaned up, fitted, and installed. They are simply tacked together for now. In order to detail them, it will be necessary to split them apart again. Then, once they are fully detailed, they can be glued together permanently.

Richard also completed work on all six of the arms. These are built as shells that fit over an internal acrylic structure. The bottoms of each one are simply taped in place at the moment so the entire arm can be removed for detailing.

Right now, the entire ship is assembled upside down on the work bench. Next, we will start work on the landing bay interiors and we will also continue working on the engine section until it's done.

I chose not to install the landing bay bottom panels yet for a couple reasons. First, the rear end caps are rather complicated and I want to make sure we have full internal access to get those installed. Also, I decided to make a revision to the internal bay structure. That's because the client will be using circuit boards for the rear bay end caps supplied by Custom Replicas. These have surface-mount LEDs and a number of resistors that are likely to generate some heat.

To make sure the model stays cool, I was able to figure out a way to mount a small computer case fan inside each bay to blow air across the boards. The most important thing is access for future service and repair. Due to the number of components crammed in there, this was quite tricky to engineer. I got it all figured out, however, and the needed parts were laser-cut. I also ordered the fans themselves (quiet models with a stated noise output of only 12 dB each) along with some anti-vibration mounts like the ones we're using for the engine fans. These will keep the bay fans from sending vibrations into the structure over time. All those items should be here sometime this week.

Bottom line: Progress continues, but there is plenty more to accomplish. As always, no matter how much work you put into a project like this, there's always still more left to do. Even so, we are very excited to see it so close to being completed.

More soon. . .

[Wombat]

I'm sure your client is excited also..

Coming together very nicely fellas!

[kbilly]

Engineered to be a battlestar, that's for sure. Thing of beauty even at this stage.

[star-art]

It's time for a long-overdue update!

We got a lot done in March. Unfortunately, I had the flu for much of April. Then, in May I got run over by a car! Thankfully, I was not badly injured. But, it has taken some time to recover.

While all this was going on, we had a few more week-long marathon building sessions. The most recent one was just last week. We made every effort to completely finish this beast. Of course, she did her best to fight us every step of the way. LOL

The engine section is now completed and ready for detailing. All that’s left to do is glue in the “waist” with the custom-made air intake assembly. That is built and fitted and ready for permanent installation.

The rest of the body of the ship is pretty much done as well. We’ve spent a great deal of time working on the landing bays. The rear end caps have turned out to be a project within a project. I think we've put almost as much effort into building those as we have the rest of the ship (minus the head section).

The original plan was to use the cast resin parts I designed for Custom Replicas. These form a finished shell, ready to detail, with an interior framework made of plexiglass. Unfortunately, the resin parts warped. While this could be fixed, they also shrank a bit. This shrinkage was not uniform. As a result, in terms of angles and dimensions they no longer fit the bays.

The client asked that we discard the resin parts and build all four landing bay end caps from scratch. That has turned into a major undertaking. Because this model uses custom made printed circuit boards (PCBs) for the sequenced landing lights, we were forced to use the lower resin shells for the rear end caps. These were specifically designed to fit the circuit boards and allow then to slide out for servicing.

The rest of the end caps were then carefully built from scratch around the existing lower resin parts. At the same time, the resin parts had to be altered to precisely fit the surrounding bay structure.

Inside the rear of each bay is a cooling fan, a custom printed circuit board, a complete miniature interior “set” to match the one on the original studio model, and a back-lit module containing a copy of the matte painting that was used on the original studio miniature. All this is connected via a plug-and-play wire harness.

It is ironic that, on a model this large, we were forced to cram so many components into such a small space. In many ways, this was like what we went through last summer working on the C movie model.

Fortunately, both rear end caps are now built, the interiors are finished, and all the landing bay wiring is done. Before finishing our last work session, we connected both landing bays for a lighting test. After all this work, it was quite a moment when I plugged it in and turned on the power switch. They worked perfectly!

I need to shoot some video to show how cool it really looks. The pictures just don’t do it justice. It’s also neat how the fans are so quiet you can barely hear them. If you place your hand over the bay opening, you can feel a gentle breeze.

The next step is to continue wiring the rest of the ship. I spent more than a month working on the wiring diagrams and they are ready to go.

This replica of the Galactica was always meant to be a museum-quality display model. It was never intended for filming. The client, however, is a professional cinematographer and he wants to film the finished miniature. As a result, extra steps will be taken to ensure all the wiring is compatible with that intended purpose. As with the C movie model, all the lighting will accomplished using LEDs and no pulse-width modulation (PWM) will be used for dimming of any lights that I install.

Since this model is very time consuming and expensive to build, no time or expense will be spared with the electronics. I will also be installing a microcontroller and temperature sensors. The computer will monitor internal temperatures along with the operation of all four cooling fans. If a fan quits, or if the temperature inside the model gets too warm, the lights will shut off automatically.

In terms of the structure, we also need to build the new front end caps. After that, all that will remain will be the mount covers for the landing bay side mounts. All the parts we need are here ready to go. It's just a matter of getting it all done. . .

More soon!

[JAWS]

Good to see you still in action & keeping busy Charles.
Plenty of work there that's for sure.
Such a beautifully designed kit.

[jedimaster]

Excellent!!!!

[LastBattlestar]

Hey, great update Charles! Nice to know you are OK, especially after being run over by a car!. I hope you are on the mend!

Those bay caps are indeed a challenge to scratchbuild to say the least. My latest versions of the front caps took two attempts to get right. I still have to build one rear cap and they are even trickier with interior detail of my own design to fit in there. I feel your pain Charles and Richard. They are some serious work to complete.

Mike

[Wombat]

Scrubbing up nicely there, and that build also.. lol

[JAWS]

(08-02-2013, 11:17 PM)Wombat Wrote: Scrubbing up nicely there, and that build also.. lol

Thanks for the help buddy.



Once I get the base color figured we're good to slap styrene        

[star-art]

Time for another update. . .

Richard has been hard at work finishing the landing bay rear end caps. Making these from scratch has been a real challenge. It’s not easy matching the quality of 3D-printed and/or laser-cut & etched parts. But, I think we’ve managed to do pretty well so far. At this point, the rear end caps have been masked and primed. All that’s left is some final “preening.”

In the meantime, I’ve been working on the complex wiring. I spent weeks designing everything. Now, it’s time to see if what I’ve drawn up actually works as planned. As with all complex projects, a number of things will need to be tweaked along the way.

The landing bay wiring was installed during the previous update. It has now been finalized and connected inside the main body. One of the challenges in this area is the fact not one but two fuses are needed inside each bay. With little or no room to spare, it was not possible to install panel-mounted fuse holders. Thus, I was forced to employ inline fuses. Because they must be accessible in order to change the fuses, these take up a lot of room in the wire harness.

Everything must be done through the narrow opening at the end. This includes being able to remove and service the custom printed circuit boards, each custom back-lit interior painting with light box, the 40mm computer fan, and of course the two fuses.

Once all that was sorted, it became apparent that, with all the wires stuffed in there, it might be possible for one or more wires to find their way into the path of the fan blades. I asked Richard to make a custom “fan guard” assembly and he did a brilliant job as usual. It is pretty neat and should be quite effective I think.

So far, I’ve made up and installed the main body harness. That went fairly smoothly. I still need to make the circuit board that will go in the main body (and a similar unit that mounts inside the head section). I also have to make up all the individual LEDs with their own wire harnesses. These will plug into the circuit boards.

The engine wiring was next. There’s a lot going on in there, so it’s the most complicated part of the ship to wire. I’d say it’s about 2/3 done at this point. I still need to install the custom computer control module behind the port side cooling fan. And, of course, we need to fabricate and install the main engine lights themselves. These will be completely custom made.

The computer module will monitor four internal temperature sensors and all four cooling fans. In the event of a problem, it will be programmed to cut power to the printed circuit boards inside the landing bays and/or the main lights inside the engine section, as well as any or all of the cooling fans as needed. For example, it should be able to detect if a fan gets stalled or jammed and shut it down in order to prevent the fan motor from burning up. In addition, if a fan quits working, the associated circuitry will automatically power down to prevent overheating.

A lot of careful planning and design work has gone into figuring all this out. Once I get it all wired up, there will be some extensive testing in order to make sure everything works correctly.

I had hoped we would completely finish the structure during this session. The ship had other plans, however, as we spent a lot of additional time on the wiring. As a result, we still need to build the front end caps and side mount covers. That should happen next week.

In the meantime, I still have a lot of soldering and wiring to do!
I’d like to say “thanks” once again to Richard Lindstrom for all his hard work helping me finish this beast. We’ve put in a lot of 12-hour days trying to get it all done.

Until next time. . .

[Richard_2001]

(08-24-2013, 05:40 PM)star-art Wrote: I’d like to say “thanks” once again to Richard Lindstrom for all his hard work helping me finish this beast. We’ve put in a lot of 12-hour days trying to get it all done.

Charles,

You are most welcome!

Richard

[Wombat]

Almost there and i bet you guys are pretty happy about that!

Wow i think complex should be your middle name there looking at all the stuff you are throwing into this build. It looks every bit and perhaps more of just that. It's a good thing you know where all that stuff plugs into as there seems to be heaps of things going into the electrical side of it but i'm sure it's all gonna work just fine.

Good work fella's!

[LastBattlestar]

That electrical stuff is totally nuts guys, but I like it! Are you expecting the LED lighting to need fan cooling? But regardless, it looks like a hell of a lot of fun to be building!

I'm quite looking forward to wiring up my model in future. It's a nice challenge and there is nothing like hitting the switch and seeing it all light up, eh?

Mike

[star-art]

LED lighting can certainly require cooling depending on the type of LEDs chosen. In this case, the strip lights in the engine section will get quite warm. They will be mounted to a custom-made aluminum heat sink and cooled by fans.

Even if the LEDs don't get warm, the resistors required to run them sometimes do. In my article for Sci Fi & Fantasy Modeler, Volume 30, I talk about heat being dissipated by the resistors and some of the problems that caused.

In the landing bays, there are custom printed circuit boards (PCBs) in very tight quarters. These were made by a third party. While I don't expect them to get hot or even warm, the cooling is there just in case. For a project this time consuming and costly, "better safe than sorry" is the rule to live by.

[LastBattlestar]

I'm still wondering what sort of lights to run for the engines. Phil gave me a couple of domestic LED downlight 12V bulbs a while back and they look OK. I still have to fine tune the distance from the diffusers, but haven't run them long enough to see how warm they get. Shouldn't be too hot at 12V, but the engine comparment is MDF with chrome cardboard insulation and can handle it.

Mike

[star-art]

The problem with LED bulbs is they are constantly evolving. Today's products will be long gone tomorrow. If one ever goes out, you won't likely find a replacement unless you keep spares handy just in case.

I'm going to give LED strip lighting a try. The challenge with these is dimming them without getting a "flicker" effect. That can wreak havoc with cameras and filming equipment. It's not really noticeable to the eye though.

LED strip lights can eat a lot of current and they can get quite warm. Depending on the type of LEDs, they may require heat sinks. But, you can buy them by the reel (5 meters is standard) so there will be plenty leftover if replacements are ever needed.

[LastBattlestar]

So when are you beginning Richo's Battlestar? The poor bugger must be getting anxious, or put off the idea completely by now?:p

Mike

[star-art]

You mean Richard? He's eager to get started on his own build of course. I can hardly keep him from gluing parts on this one right now. LOL On the other hand, I'm getting so sick of this subject I want to build something else -- anything else.

Speaking of Richard, he was here last week and we worked to button up the remaining structural details. The landing bay front end caps are done! They turned out very nice, but that was quite a project. . .

We also built and fitted the side mount covers on the sides of the landing bays. All that remains is to glue them in. This means we have completed the structure and we are now down to touch-up work.

I don't have very many pics because, as soon as we'd completed all this, we had to tear down the ship again for me to get back to work on the wiring. I am attaching what I can.

I'm still working to complete the complex engine compartment wiring so Richard can lock down the waist structure. I've also been building all the circuit boards that go inside the ship. Soon I will start work on the control box. Right now, the "core" of the ship is upside down on the bench so we can work on the umbilical.

The best approach IMO is to have the wires come out of the model and then run straight to the control box. But, this would mean a 10-foot cord would be sticking out the bottom. The client wants to film this model and he would never be able to hide that. In order to shoot from below, the umbilical must be disconnected just underneath the ship.

This will make it a bit tricky to get the model on and off its stand. But, that is the trade-off for being able to film it from every angle.

[LastBattlestar]

Yeah, that's what we'd call him if he lived here. Not sure how to Australianize 'Charles' though.

Nice work guys!

Mike

[Wombat]

I think it'd be Charlie wouldn't it? Just to be sure sending him down to the bay for a dip in some budgie smugglers should pretty cover it...Australianized he'd be..LOL

Thats a sexy looking model you boys have got there. Looking better and better all the time! Nice work with the latest additions, the front caps look really good that you've come up with. More precision laser cut parts which is the story of this build so very fitting. You boys are really getting close and it shows. The wiring sounds like another matter but something you'll get it all right as you do. I see Richards can there in frame so i take the other is yours? Now there something ya don't see everyday!! LOL

Looking great Charles!!

[star-art]

Budgie smugglers??? LOL

Richard was cleaning out his garage and found that old beer can. Apparently, it's vintage from the period! He brought it to the shop so we could have a more "authentic" piece to put in the photos. It's for sure not mine as I don't drink. . .

[Wombat]

You may just change your mind about that after ya been down the bay in your budgie smugglers...

   

   

[darkimmitator]

Lol !!! Crazy Aussies !!

Love that shot of the gal headon beside Richard !

[LastBattlestar]

Check out an Aussie slang dictionary guys and Be Amazed. We can string whole sentences together and you won't have a clue what we are saying...you'll be totally cactus!

Mike

[star-art]

I was ROFL over that one. You guys are too funny!!!

[Wombat]

You'll never look at a budgie the same way now will ya?? LOL

A bit of humour is good for all of us at times especially anyone takling a subject such as you are there.

Hope to catch up with you guys again on skype over the weekend.

[LastBattlestar]

C'mon guys, is it finished yet?

Mike

[Wombat]

I think Richard is finished with his side of things, although he may still need to make that BFB* still and hopefully Charles will have an update with where he's at soon. You know how Charles is with everything though.. LOL


























* Big Fuckin Box

[Richard_2001]

Yeah,

Richard is pretty much finished with his side of things even the "BFB" got finished long ago.

Just waiting on Charles to get the electronics bashed together so I can go help him lift it into his truck for shipping.

Richard

[star-art]

I'm still working on the control box, umbilical, lighting, and wiring. These things shouldn't be rushed. Everything (and I mean *everything*) is custom designed and custom made from scratch just for this particular model and for this client's specific needs. Did I say "custom?" LOL

[LastBattlestar]

Another day has passed. So is it finished yet?

Mike

[Wombat]

^
Did you not read what Charles posted?

(11-19-2013, 09:04 AM)star-art Wrote: I'm still working on the control box, umbilical, lighting, and wiring.

Theres another year right there!!

[star-art]

Very funny!

[star-art]

I know it has been a while since the last update. Still, work has continued. In fact, the model is about to be shipped to its owner. Once we have it crated, I'll organize the pics that have been taken over the last few months and post a new update.

[Wombat]

Fantastic news, Charles!!

Your client is going to be so rapt to finally have it.

[star-art]

The structure of the battlestar replica, as well as all the lighting, has been completed. The ship is on its way to the client as we speak.

Because the client wants to film this model, the electrical design on this project was more challenging than usual. It had to be treated as if it were a *real* filming miniature. That meant eliminating all pulse-width modulation (PWM) from the circuitry. PWM creates a "flicker" effect. While it might not be noticeable to the eye, it certainly shows up quite well on camera.

The other major requirement for filming was creating lighting that could be fully dimmed from "off" to maximum brightness. In order to accomplish this, I chose a linear control strategy. This was more complex and difficult than what I created for our last major project, the 'C' movie miniature.

It is much easier to use ordinary PWM dimmers to control the brightness of LEDs. Here, I had to design my own power supplies that could provide a variable voltage without any pulsing. All this had to be controllable using small potentiometers that could be installed in a control panel.

As with the last project, I opted to build a completely custom control box that featured illuminated controls. There are seven separate knobs for dimming and seven switches for "ON/OFF" control, plus a main power switch and panel dimming control.

With all this figured out, we still had yet another challenge to overcome. The client wants to be able to film the model from below. Because it was designed for display rather than filming, this miniature has only one mounting point -- beneath the ship. To solve this challenge, I added an auxiliary power point inside the main body on the top side of the model. It is hidden underneath the main body lid. To film the ship from below, the client can remove the access lids on the top of the ship, flip the entire model upside down, and power it from the auxiliary connector.

The primary power connector is designed to be hidden inside the lower mounting point. It tucks neatly inside the pipe, helping to keep it out of the way. All the client has to do is make a cover plate to hide the main mount on the bottom of the ship during filming.

Once everything was done, my good friend and faithful assistant Richard Lindstrom built an enormous crate to protect the model during shipping. It is quite strong and should help ensure the model reaches its destination unharmed.

Once again, I must give my thanks to Richard for all his hard work on this project. It has certainly been a learning experience for both of us. For one thing, I did not realize just how much work it would be to assemble all the different modules *after* they had already been built. I already knew how much time and effort was involved in building the different sections of the ship. That alone can take months. Putting it all together, however, is like taking on a whole new project.

This ship was very challenging and time consuming to build. Still, we are both very proud of the finished product. I'm sure the client will feel like a kid on Christmas morning when he opens the crate!


Before we shipped it out, we managed to capture some video of the lighting effects being tested. We also demonstrated how the modular design works:

Main Power Connection
Modular Design
Lighting Test