Five Foot of Fun, ANH Style !

[bwayne64]

Hey Guys, thought I'd take a break from Battlestar stuff, and try my hand at some Star Wars. I figure with the new movie coming out soon, why not,  Inspired by the great thread by Andre and Maruska, Here,

http://www.therpf.com/f10/sw-anh-5-foot-...ld-199048/

I thought I'd go ahead and build a Naked Five Foot Falcon, I figure if it doesn't work out, I can always turn it upside down and make a bird bath, LOL. If I get it right, I can add detail as I buy kits. I started by making a 79.05 inch trammel to draw the curve of the hull. That would be one humongous sphere if you had the whole thing. I started thinking of all kinds of router jigs and such to carve the shape, but ended up putting on my sculpting hat. The only thing I hate more than sculpting, is painting , yuck ! Sorry about the picture quality, camera is old and on the fritz.


Drawing and Mdf Template

   

First I cut out a 1/8 th  pie slice of foam. I was going to do a whole quarter at a time, but it was too much to bite at one time.

   

I used the Mdf template to draw the curve on the foam.

   

Got out the ole hacksaw blade and started wacking away anything that didn't look falconish,

   


After a few hours of hacking and sanding, cough, cough, I had this.

   

Here it is from the back.

   

Here's one with the required Coke can, LOL. It's diet but it does the job.

   


Then I had to make another piece just like the first and glue them together. With the two 1/8 slices together I now had a 1/4 hull section.

I couldn't get it perfect by hand, so I made a jig I call the "Blade". It's a scrap piece of 1/2 inch Mdf cut to the exact hull curve. I

epoxied a piece of brass tube that can pivot on a bolt. I then glued on a strip of 100 grit sandpaper to the bottom of the  "blade". By

sweeping back and forth it sands the wedge to exact shape. It's hard to describe so here's some pics.

   

   

   

   

   

Now I'm just waiting for some resin and glass to harden up this puppy. Figure I'll glass it and pull a mold. Then I can cast up sections to piece together. I may end up making a half hull mold. I'll see how it works out. Should have my supplies in a week or so. To be continued........


Cheers,

Joe

[JAWS]

Ha! You'll never get your Battlestar done now. I too will be building one of these with Robert Bosjnak. Domes are getting blown as the originals were. The frame will be a replica of the original also. So will be a studio accurate replica.
Stay at mate.

[Stefan Hacker]

Wow nice skills!

[bwayne64]

Does anyone ever finish a Battlestar, LOL. I just needed to see how big this thing actually will be. Even naked, it will look good in the shop. I thought about plexi too, but then realized I don't have a forklift to move it around. Mine will be accurate, but a bit lighter. I'm by myself so don't have any help to move the beast around. Glad to see all the five footers coming together. You guys over there are always on the ball. I need to move to Aussieland. I think Australia is the studio scale capitol of the world. 

Thanks Stefan, I'm sure there's a zillion ways to do it, but this seemed the easiest to me. I am regretting not building a CNC router. Another of the many projects my family will inherit when I die, LOL. Cheers,

Joe

[dbhs]

Looks very cool. These things are ambitious.

[bwayne64]

(03-14-2015, 06:20 AM)dbhs Wrote: Looks very cool. These things are ambitious.

Thanks, I've always loved the Falcon. Since the first time Luke saw her and called her a hunk a junk, LOL. If she's a hunk a junk, well I'll see ya in the junkyard. Can't wait to get the hull together and see how big she actually is, cheers,

Joe

[dbhs]

The five footer is huge and very impressive at that size. I've seen the original in the SW Exhibition. It's the best version.

[LastBattlestar]

It does sound like fun. I originally built my Galactica just to see how it might look, only a few donor kits and not really seriously intending to finish it....

A bare Falcon hull would look pretty cool!

[bwayne64]

Yep its going to be cool to see it au naturale LOL. It's one of the few models I like almost as much as the Big G. That and the 8 foot Star Destroyer. I'll let Jullien handle that beast. Way too many kits for that one. Cheers,

Joe

[bwayne64]

Well been working on the Nekkid Falcon for a few months. Finally getting something I can mold. Here's the latest,

I needed to strengthen the foam up and get some nice 90 degree angles on the plug. So I made a frame from Mdf Parts.

This looks like a Baseball diamond, LOL.

   

   

   

   

   

I have a 3/8 steel plate for a table top, so I can use my 90 degree welding magnets to get a nice square edge.


   

I also added a 1/16 ply edge to the front curve. This strengthened it quite a bit, and makes the edge square.

   

   

[bwayne64]

Got my epoxy supplies a few weeks ago. I went with US Composites. Their stuff is cheaper than most others, and works great so far. You get almost a Gal and a half for under 100 bucks, including shipping. So here's the messy part,

   

   

Using 1 layer of 6 oz. and 1 layer of 2 oz. for the plug surface.

   

Layed on dry to have a looksie, ooh shiny, LOL.

   

   

Here it is wet out.

I'll try to post some more tomorrow of it trimmed and primed. Now I just have to make another pie slice for a half hull mold. I wouldn't want to lay up 8 pieces for every hull, Cheers,

Joe

[bwayne64]

Wow! Crickets, LOL.

[ColinSMT]

That's awesome!

That's a good approach your taking there, much quicker, just as strong as going rib for rib building up styrene. Going for at least a 1/4" thick in your casts -  just remember to do some extra reinforcement when/where you add the mandibles and cockpit tube.

Keep us posted

[bwayne64]

(06-16-2015, 11:40 PM)ColinSMT Wrote: That's awesome!

That's a good approach your taking there, much quicker, just as strong as going rib for rib building up styrene. Going for at least a 1/4" thick in your casts -  just remember to do some extra reinforcement when/where you add the mandibles and cockpit tube.

Keep us posted

Thanks Man, I did think of the rib technique first. Figured Id just make one rib and sand with it, LOL. Yea I'm going to have a lip anywhere there is an opening. The dish well, and maintenance wells ect. I did think about using carbon fiber in certain places, till I priced the stuff that is. Even the tape is expensive. I'll figure it out as I go, Cheers,

Joe

[bwayne64]

Sorry it took a few days longer to get these pics done. Finally got the 1/4 slice trimmed and primed. There were a few shallow spots here and there. Had to get out the ole spot filler. It doesn't matter how careful you are, there's always a few high and low spots. Even if I Cnc'd this thing, you'd still have mill marks to contend with. So here's a few more pics, Enjoy. 

   

   

   

After a few coats of filler primer, filled in the low spots with Filler putty.

   

   

Another primer coat, then hit it with a little drywall spackle compound. I like to use this to fill small spots in primer. It sands great, and filled those little spots easier.

   

   

The last few primer coats. I think I'm close now. Still want to throw on a black guide coat, to check for any sneaky spots that I may not see with my poor eyes, Then it's on to making the other half of this thing, Argg !

   

Couldn't wait to see what a full dome will look like. Threw a pic together in Photoshop to get a sneak peek.

Now on to making another quarter dome. Got a few tricks for this. Don't want to go through the same hassles for a new section. Stay tuned, Cheers,

Joe

[bwayne64]

Don't know what happened to all my pictures. Oh well

[Apophis]

I was hoping to see something

[bwayne64]

Yea sorry about that, don't know what happened
to my pics.

[Apophis]

Where’s Jase at?

[bwayne64]

Not sure, I miss all the guys. There are tumble weeds rolling through here

[bwayne64]

Reloaded my pics, I don't know how they get screwed up. Must be stray neutrons hitting the servers hard drives, LOL

[Bjorn]

Hey Joe,
Awesome work shaping the foam pattern for your hull. Being a composites guy I'm very impressed with this approach.

Though I recall you mentioning recently that you are now looking at going with vacuformed plastic which is cool too, and brings its own challenges.

Looking forward to seeing more progress!

Best regards,
Bjorn

[bwayne64]

Thanks Man, sorry I haven't been on SSM for a bit. Kinda been dead over here. I have a large vacuum former in process. Along with a dozen other projects. Been too hot here to work in the shop. Hope to get going soon, cheers,
Joe

[Bjorn]

Spring over here Joe so it will be warming up for me soon.
I'm currently trying to get my workspace tidy whilst planning my build. And doing a bit of plastic model aircraft building, which I haven't done in years.

Very keen to see where you get with your vac forming! Are you thinking of pulling the full domes or segments?

Best regards,

[bwayne64]

Probably do it in quarters or maybe half. I think my former will be able to handle a half dome. There are plenty of parts that will cover any seams. I've got so many projects going right now. All being held up by the weather. I'm mostly doing 3d work and blueprints in the office. Got AC in there, lol. If I hadn't sold my Amd stock, I'd have this whole shop air conditioned. But shoulda coulda woulda, I'll post here and at The Rpf when I have something, later,

Joe