SS Battlestar....attempt II

[star-art]

One of the reasons the original studio models from Star Wars and Galactica were made from acrylic is how well it can be bonded to itself. The late Grant McCune knew this and so he chose to use this rather exotic material called Plexiglass because it could be assembled quickly and the glue joints were quite strong.

With laser-cutting, however, the edges are never quite square. A strong bond requires perfectly flush joints with no space between parts. Thus, it can be quite tricky to get a good bond when using laser-cut parts that have beveled edges. I solved this by adding "fillets" at each and every joint using square and round acrylic rod. It takes a lot longer to build this way, but the resulting structure is very solid.

In fact, once a glued joint has cured overnight, it becomes so strong the acrylic parts themselves will shatter before the glue bond will break! As a result, it should be solid and good to go for a lifetime. . .