Studio Scale Battlestar Galactica Shuttle

[JAWS]

Thanks Doug. I shaved off the flash on the hull s & centre piece. Finally got my Shuttle together. Just gotta sort out the mounting hole for the underneath & she'll be up tomorrow.

[79 Daytona]

Great start!!! The armature looks great can't wait to see more!

[JAWS]

Alrighty 4 hours of gardening in 35o heat is stupid but its my Birthday tomorrow & want everything toi be neat & tidy so I can get drunk & relax. The year has started great & Im very happy with life in general. After my gardening I tydied up my work area(garage) & got back on the shuttle. I wanted the girl mounted & ready for parts application to begin. I am going about mine much like Mike Salzo as I have the same armature design but am watching Doug very closely cause turned out to be a bit of a magician.
   
   
   
The first pictures look good but she's just sitting there with no support other than resting on the waiste armature brace. The first problem to tackle was the belly hole for the armature pipe to sit through.
   
Scary stuff. The good ol hole saw on the drill did the trick with great relief & tension in the process.
   
Does the cockpit wall sit flush under the bottom/top of the roof section?
   
That being done was time to sort out the cockpit base try & figure out where the 6 odd shaped mount braces go... Anyone got that figured yet for sure
   
All good for now. Just gotta know where the brace parts go & I'll button her up. Oh yeah drill holes & thread wiring for lights aswell.
   

[dbhs]

Either my or mike's thread on RI show a picture with the bracket locations with a correction by sean.

Wedge with a hole = front
U shaped block = behind cockpit cube
Square with beveled corners = bottom
2 triangles with half-holes = sides
Rectangle with angled side is at the rear hole. The angle fits against the top.

[JAWS]

Thanks Doug. Love your work mate. Wheres Wombat? Better drop him a line.

[79 Daytona]

Looking GOOD Jasonwright!!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY FRIEND!!!!

[JAWS]

Thanks mate. Much appreciated.

[dbhs]

Happy birthday, Jase !!!

[427 Cobra]

This would look great with wheels on it! Happy birthday,Jase! Today is also my youngest nieces birthday as well. Drink a beer for me,and I'll drink some rum for you.

[JAWS]

Thanks everyone. This is my last drinking day. I give up tomorrow to conserve funds for a house. Otherwise I have to give up modeling... I obviously chose to continue modeling.

[Wombat]

Happy Birthday Jase!!

Hope you had a bloody good one mate and didn't get too extremely drunk there.But then if ya giving it up ya might as well gone out on a good sesh!!
Damn,you've made some real good progress there,good ta see it all coming together now!
You'd think i was a tortoise at the pace i'm going compared to the rest of you guy's!

[JAWS]

Thanks Phil & other mates! Phil Im bloody dreadn what you pop out on us buddy. I know you had alot of the kits used on this & youve been doing some serious homework. That & the fact you been a bit quiet has me worried. What you been doin in that burrow of yours?

[Wombat]

To be honest with ya,i been doing a bit of sleeping in that burrow of mine and not much in the way of building.But thats about to change now that i have the internals here thanks to my partner in crime so ta speak.
You guy's are all off to great starts therewith yours and i hope i can get mine together as quickly as what the rest of ya's are doing.
You're right,there'll be a lot of original kit part's going on this build,thats why we buy these kit's.If it's part's i can spare from the other build then they are good to use.
Hoping to get some quality time spent on mine this weekend,we'll see if it eventuates or not i guess?

[JAWS]

Ok Wombat & Doug you guys seem to have the same lighting & mentioned something about a different power source? I got these which look the same but am not getting them all lit up like yours. Yes I have no idea so help me out boys.

[dbhs]

The box says 12Volts there and 5Watts so you have the same power and should about the same brightness as the ones we're using. You'll need a plug in transformer rated for 12Volts output to run these. The trick will be then to resistor down your LEDs so they also run on 12V. Phil and i have very little idea about this so we're getting pre-resistored LEDs to run on 12V. They are still in transit to Phil but I'm sure he'll post a pretty picture for us when they show up. you could probably push a 9V battery against these guys but you won't get near the full-brightness without 12V of juice in them.

I have been trying to find a source for mini power plugs but the ones I just got were so shoddy that I won't use them. Now i'm thinking i'll give the bare wire and brass a shot to see if i can make it work like Phil's. I've never done that before but i'll give it a shot.

I don't want to start installing any of the insides in mine until all the pieces are here so I'm pretty much on hold until the LEDs arrive.

[JAWS]

Thanks Doug. I thought Id pretty much found your equivilent with these. All my LED's are soldered to 12vlt resistors. That way it doesn't matter what power you use. You can use 6 or 9vlt & they work just fine. I use connector boards the electrician gave me. I'll post some pics so you know what Im on about. I just run my main power into one side & can then hook up all the other light wires into the other side & they all get 12vlt or whatever your using. Ive got LED's & can get themn & resistors easily so if you guys need stuff just let me know. I'll look into this transformer thingy. The electricians back tomorrow so will ask him. He may have something.

[Wombat]

Well Jase,as Doug said they are the same voltage and same amount of watts we are running,so i'd think you'd get a similar effect.I honestly don't know if the halogens we are running will be brighter than those globes.But perhaps throw the question in the section down below,i'm sure some people that know there stuff on these things will tell you.I'd think you can always take em back for a refund if they aren't gonna be as bright and you haven't used em yet?
As for the transformer,i got mine from Jaycar,not sure if you have them up there or not?I tried Dick Smiths and they didn't have one with with enough amps.The one i ended up with is a 12V 2.5A one.

[JAWS]

Thanks to a new associate & friend the Shuttle is back in action. Well sort of anyway. Lighting arrived for the engines which i anm extremely thankful my friend went out of his way to get these & some extra parts for my armature which IO decided I wanted to extend. So I hooked right in to my existing armature to make the adjustments with the new cross piece etc. It turned out to be a battle between me & the existing armature in which I had to resort to brutt violence to win.... I needed all these tools & some WD40 to get some of it apart. Bugger! Anyway I won, eventually So the armature is now a 5 point armature. On test fitting also realised my trials & tribulations with this rare 1/8 pipe & fittings are not over
To be continued..........................
   
   
   
   

[Wombat]

The battle might not be over but it's that much closer to the end now!

Great stuff dude,it was very good of that person to help you out with the extra fittings and the light you wanted so much.
Now ya just need some spare time to be able to get stuck into it properly.
You betta make sure you make some of that spare time,this build is one that you really will be impressed with!

[LastBattlestar]

Hey, that looks nice and neat Jase. I've had so many car expenses recently and now Nikki has us saving for a house, that it might be a while until I get one of these. But at least I'll be able to watch you guys get these built as a guide for me later on! Hopefully Mike will continue to produce them for a while...

Oh yeah, I forgot to thank you for sending down the armature Jase. Oops!

Mike

[79 Daytona]

The armature looks great!!!!

[JAWS]

Phil, Mike, Mark, Doug & everyone else, Thanks! Its really good to be on this lilsucker again. Mike, no problemo matey. Its good the wifes got you savin for a house mate. Im doing the same right now, thats why alot of my builds have slowed down. Finaces not available. Im lucky i got some things to keep me occupied. Especially the package I just recieved from a certain hairy nose tunnel digger we all love..... Damn Phil, I opened the box up & closed it straight away. That will certainly keep me occupied. After a good night sleep I really appreciate the difference the adjustments have made. It just wasn't right before. Has symmetry now & just feels stronger. So now Im just deciding whether to go the whole hog & make the front mount meet the mount point as there will have to be some serious excavations. Im figurin if its good enough for Apogee & me other counterparts then its good enough for me. Update later tonight. Off to work now chaps.

[Tordoc]

Guys,

I've been watching all these shuttle threads with great interest but no-one has addressed a question I have. Can anyone explain the differences in these two photos (the yellow), and does anyone have these parts in their kit? I just can't seem to find anything resembling these parts in my box.


Ken

[Wombat]

Ken,

You should only have the part in the second picture.The one in the first picture is not the correct part.
If you didn't get the part in the second picture contact Mike and have him dend you it when he sends out the Decals and other couple of part's he missed.

[Tordoc]

All is good. I found the part on the right. It was hiding.

Ken

[JAWS]

I hate that. When your looking for a part & you search & search. Then you finally give up & its been in front of your face the whole time.....

[Richard_2001]

It is even more frustrating when doing Part ID's and the part you have been searching long and hard for and not finding, was actually in the 3rd kit you bought 5 years previous! Huge Duh moment!!!!!

Richard

[427 Cobra]

It's worst when you can find,or ID the part you need!

[JAWS]

Alright after my molding for today it was time to get some shuttle in. I tested the lights cuase now I know how to light stuff i just love light tests All good thanks Doug! So now i drilled the holes for the side armatures & rear, well the initial holes to make sure I was on target & 3 strikes is a winner! So while I had drill in hand I thought I better drill the LED holes in the cockpit mount. Ive drilled my holes so the LED.s sit inside pointing out firm. The wiring will run in through the middle & be connected to the section of power board the elictrician gave me. It was bigger but I cut it size. Great gadget for joining multiple wires into power source. All lights get the full 12vlts. Hmm thats it for tonight. Got my second job to wake up to at 2am. Had to work in the rain for the last 4 weekends & Im about over it

[79 Daytona]

The lights look great . It looks like you are really making some great head way can't wait to see more.

[dbhs]

Looks great, Jase. I'm itching to get mine back on the bench again.

[Wombat]

^
I know where ya coming from,mine's sitting on the other end of my bench to remind me ta get back to it also.Motivation is in another mode now though,but i'll get back to at sometime.Didn't quite get there with it how i'd planned.

Jase,good to see some progress on this one again there.Been way too long with it for one reason or another as we both know.I just bit the bullet earlier on the the problems we had with the first armatures which got mine started earlier here.But you will have yours up to the same point in no time im syre dude.Infact you'll probably have yours finished before me i'd say.

Enjoy the build my friend!!

[JAWS]

Ok I just had to get this done so hooked in after work. Ive decided to abandon the front armature mount in favor of retaining the cockpit detail plus with my lighting wiring its a little cramped. Its hard to tell from the pictures but the lighting is pretty good on the side. Its not lighting the front the same which is throwing me off. I need light to bounce on the front but I don't want to add any more lights if I don't have to. The dark shot is blurry from my hand shaking. I wish I had my tripos but that was stolen when I got robbed. Anyway Im happy I got this much done this evening as I have a couple of full days of moulding & casting.

[Tordoc]

looks great!!!!

[427 Cobra]

Damn,Jase - that lighting looks spot on! This will be one of the greatest Galactica builds ever! I know that the Galactica itself will be phenomenal,with your knoweledge and skills.

[79 Daytona]

Looking GOOD!!!! Say i don't know if its a good idea but you might try some kind of reflective tape around the front of the cockpit.

[JAWS]

Thanks guys. Mark something like that will work. Phil used white styrene which I have plenty of. I'll cut some & see how we go. I want to get the engine lights done tonight after I get some other obligations finished first. I can't say to unwind with. You should have heard me putting the cockpit lighting in. I didn't make it east for myself thats for sure.

[Wombat]

^
Making things easy for yourself is no fun anyway mate?

Thats looking fine there Jase,good enough by my book i reckon.Yeah,i just used some styrene for a little reflectivity in the cockpit on mine,nothing flash but it works just fine really.I also sanded the LED tips like Doug mentioned to me can be done to get rid of the hot spots they were throwing on the sidewalls.The two front LED's i angled in the cockpit part to throw the light forward more to help with lighting up the front but the original model in the sceencaps also looks to have a dull spot right in the middle looking at it from the front.
Good to see some more progress on it,and i know you've got the rear lighting sussed from our chat earlier.

It's all Looking good there mate!!

[dbhs]

Jase,
That lighting is looking really good. Here's a pic of the cockpit lighting. There is a darker spot in the front on all the screen caps I have just like this one. I think it's caused by the same thing with the lights being on the side of the cockpit.
-Doug

[JAWS]

Okly Dokly mate. thanks for that. does anyone know which episodes have shots of the inside of that bugger. I want to see what the interior looks like? If anyone out there has interior reference would be greatly appreciated?

[bwayne64]

Jase,
It's looking good, Mate ! I think the episode with the most interior shots is "Gun on ice planet zero", part one. I haven't watched them all in a while so I could be wrong. I grabbed a few frames from that episode, hope they help. There seems to be a big pallet of containers in the center of the cockpit. I guess thats what that big block in the kit represents. I suppose you could leave that out and still be accurate. There may be other shots where theres a large console or something in the center. In this episode it was just supplies or such, with a net holding them down. I think it would look good either way. Cheers,

Joe




   
   
   
   

[JAWS]

Hey they're great. Thanks heaps I'll put it on tonight & have a watch. It might be a different style shuttle. Like a Supply Shuttle or Transport Shuttle?

[dbhs]

number one has these.

[LastBattlestar]

For what it's worth, I tend to build interiors to match the full scale sets, rather than match the original model as they are often wildly different. For instance, I'm building actual bay interiors about a foot long with mini shuttles etc. for my Galactica, not using the matte painting. If I ever get a shuttle kit, I'd like to make it look like the set inside, not that it's easy to see with the roof on!

It depends if you want it like the original FX model or not. But that's just me.

Mike

[427 Cobra]

I'd just build it to the original model specs for accuracy. Wouldn't that make it more desirable?

[bwayne64]

If anyone has pics of the Studio model interior, that would be great. I've never seen it myself. Except through the windows. I have no idea what it looks like. I agree with Mike myself, and like the full size look. There's always some fudging involved, when trying to reconcile the full size mockups to the models. If you look at the full size mockup of the shuttle exterior , it's downright fugly, LOL. I guess it's a personal choice of the builder. Cheers,

Joe

[JAWS]

Thanks for those too Doug. Looks like the interior is open with seating or space for cargo. Its a two sided coin as you all said. 1:1 acuracy to the set or 1:1 studio scale miniature. Both are good. How do you guys do those screen grabs? Anyone have an estimate of the scale on this kit? Some figures would look kool.

[dbhs]

For the screengrabs I'm low-tech. I just watch the DVD on the computer in full screen mode then pause and "print screen". Then paste into paint or photoshop and save. Tedious but the image quality is decent.

Ok for the shuttle scale. I did some calcs when I was discussing the new shuttle design with Charles Adams. The front windows of the set piece are 4 feet wide. Scaling this off of the model puts it at 110 feet long from nose to the end of the body (not the end of the engines) and on the model this is 19.5 inches long so the scale would be just under 1:68.

This is my interpretation.

Charles said he believed that the size of the shuttle [as originally designed] is much smaller and using the interior set which was designed later and too big for the model inflates the size. I didn't get any hard numbers from Charles on what he thought it was but he said the various theories put it anywhere between 65 to 110 feet. I can definitely see how a disconnect between the studio model builders and the set designers working somewhat independantly could occur. There's no size cues on the shuttle that set the scale. If you're going to build the set interior into the cockpit I'd go with the 110 as that would make it "fit".

[bwayne64]

Thats how I do the screen caps as well. Full screen in media player and hit the print screen button. I paste it into photoshop and crop it or whatever. Don't have a fancy dvd capture program yet. Don't know if the quality would be better with one, just do it the cheap and dirty way, cheers,

Joe


P.S. If somebody will send me one of the shuttle kits, I'll build an interior and cast it up. Just kidding, Like somebody would do that, LOL.

[JAWS]

Great I thought that might work but thought "nar thats just too easy!". I'll give it a go. just taught me another trick boys. i'll probabl;y go nuts doing screen grabs of everything!!!!