Vidar_710 Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 (edited) The vertical sections are not glued in yet. They are supported with brass tubing. Here, I'm establishing the longitudinal axis of the vertical sections with the core of the Lunar Model parts which you can see here are significantly off as per the penciled in reference lines. Resin outside the pencil markings will be removed. Here the new leading and trailing edges are established, but not without problems. 17deg angel established on the leading-edge starboard side based off the small tick off the recessed grill detail... 17deg angle established on the port side... COOL!!! Port side trailing edge established with just a little reshaping to the resin core. HOWEVER!!! The starboard side is a wreck! The starboard pylon is off-set where the rear pops outboard by about 4 degrees off the longitudinal axis. All resin material outside of the new trailing edge will be removed to resculpt the pylon. Sculpting material will be used to fill in the inboard surface between the newly established leading and trailing edges. The plan is to sculpt in the new inboard surface first, so the core is not weakened by the huge loss of material, then the outboard side will be ground down to the leading and trailing edges for an entirely new shape. New leading edges established at 17deg sweep. It's nice that ILM used 17 deg on everything in the pylons. Sculping the new vertical pylons to come... Tracy Edited June 12 by Vidar_710 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Short update... Free Form Air sculpted in. They're a bit messy now, but you can see where the sculpting material was added to form the new shapes. There was resin removed as well to get the cord line of the vertical sections to align with the rest of the ship's Centerboard - old Navy term for imaginary line down the center of the ship forward to aft. I'll give the Air Form epoxy dough 24 hours to cure before I sand them into their final shapes. Then, on to framing out the blisters at the tops that connect the pylons to the nacelles, then sculpt in their shapes the same way as seen here. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 The footpads of the blisters made of sheet styrene where the pylons attach to the nacelles. They've been pulled around brass tubing to match the shape of the nacelles. Reference lines on the nacelle masters and the blister patterns aligned. The side profile patterns for the blisters have been cemented in place. But first, the nacelles have to be aligned to ensure they are parallel to one another, then the pylon assembly is placed on the nacelles to determine their positions before forming the blisters to the nacelle's shape. Using the grid pattern to ensure all sub-assemblies are square. A profile gauge used to copy the nacelle's shape. Making the ribs of the blisters Ribs in place and curing overnight. Sculpting material will be filled in between the ribs to sculpt in a rough shape of the ribs. Once cured, the ribs will be sanded down to their final shapes. More to come soon. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 Short Update... Filling the spaces... All filled in and slightly larger than need on purpose... When the Form Air Epoxy Dough fully cures 24hrs after mixing, I can slowly work the shapes back down with a Dremel sanding drum and assorted sanding sticks. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Short update... Pylon blisters sanded down to shape. Next, I'll apply some fillers to unify the surfaces and finish up fully opening the foot pads for wiring access. Next... Adding these to the horizontal section to complete the pylon assembly. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 2 hours ago, Vidar_710 said: Pylon blisters sanded down to shape. That could inspire an entertaining moment of bewilderment in someone who didn't know the context ... (phone rings) Hello. Hang on a second, let me put this down. "Okay. What'cha doin?" Sanding my blisters. "... 🤔" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 Another short one... Final Pylon assembly. Starboard side blister aligned with its reference line on the starboard nacelle master. Port side... Nacelle masters still secured to the mat grid to ensure they are square and parallel to one another before placing the pylon assembly for alignment. The pylons are not glued to the nacelle masters. Starboard side: 1-2-3 blocks in place on the grid to ensure they are a pure perpendicular to the nacelles and apply weight to the assembly to ensure full contact is made at the joints. Port side: I'll allow the 20 min Epoxy to cure overnight, then I'll sculpt and blend in the vertical pylons into the horizontal section. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 Another short... Excessive sculpting material pressed into gaps and blending the vertical sections into the horizonal piece. Starboard Port When fully cured after 24 hours, I'll shape and blend everything together. A coat of acrylic filler will be applied to even out the surfaces as seen on the blisters. Once I'm happy with that, a 3/4" hole with be drilled for wiring access, then it will be ready to cut down the middle of the wing for ease of assembly. Steel rods will be inserted into the forward and aft brass tubing within to act as armatures. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 (edited) Sanding to the final shape with fillers is complete. Now it's time to divide the pylons so they will be able to assemble within the Warp Pylon blister... Here a special bit was used to drill through the multi-media of materials, which includes brass tubing. The hole was a tad too big because it exposed both armature brass tubes, so I shimmed in some styrene then backfilled it with epoxy dough. A cut line has been established here as well. Top and bottom views The cut went almost perfect. Small repairs and some clean up were required. Two armature brass tubing and one larger wire conduit tube. Steele rod armatures inserted. Due to the fit being so tight, air would get trapped in the brass not allowing the steel rods to fully seat. To fix the problem, I ran each rod across the belt sander to make a flat spot on one side. This allowed the air to escape as the rods were pushed in. Fully seated and still perfectly aligned. Test fit into the blister. Like a glove! I think I'll tackle the long blisters on the bottom of the nacelles next... scenes-n-film... Tracy Edited June 28 by Vidar_710 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 That's going to be a solid assembly, well able to keep the nacelles in line. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 Couldn't help myself. Had to show how everything is tying together... Warp Nacelle bottom blisters are next... Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 Warp Nacelle bottom blisters from scratch... Drawing out the paper templates. Tracing paper used on scaled images to copy the actual shaped of the leading and trailing edges of the blisters. Front Rear Tracings about to be transposed to the paper templates. Paper templates placed to check position, size, and shape to the nacelle masters. Paper templates completed and the preliminary parts cut from sheet styrene have been clamped together to ensure they are sanded into identical shapes for symmetry. The plan is to cement triangle shaped styrene strips around the edges. This will add enough material to allow shaping to the contours of the nacelles, as well as sculpting their outer surfaces into their blister shapes. Well, I need to order the triangle strip styrene. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 1 hour ago, Vidar_710 said: Well, I need to order the triangle strip styrene. Yep, that's the scratchbuilder's life - it it's not the shape of strip styrene that you need to order, it's the size. Same holds true for metal tubing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 (edited) The fabrication of the bottom nacelle blisters. Two layers of sheet styrene laminated with cement, then 2mm 1/4 cut styrene dowel (not triangles) were cemented to the edges to create height. Front Rear After the cement cures, the blister's gluing surfaces were sanded down with sandpaper wrapped around a nacelle master to recreate the contour of the nacelle onto the bottom of the blisters for a perfect fit. Blisters match the shape of the nacelles. Then the material was removed to match the shape of the smaller pylon blisters. Epoxy dough was applied to the gluing surfaces to give more strength and rigidity to the nacelle blister assemblies. After the filler cures overnight, they will be rounded out to their required shapes scene in the studio model references above. More to come on this section... Tracy Edited July 1 by Vidar_710 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Nacelle blisters sanded to shape. I'll lay is some red glazing filler to smooth them out and call them done. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 (edited) Nacelle top pattern scratch-build... Drafting everything to determine the shape in my scale. Here are the offerings from (middle: The Collective halfway decent try to at least look somewhat like what was on the studio model, but poorly vacuum formed and too narrow.) and (Bottom: Lunar's big hunk of resin that nowhere near represents what the nacelles look like. Since I've modified the nacelle masters (top) and lengthened them to the correct size and shape, the original parts are too short. The actual ILM masters will guide me to make a single master that I will mold, then cast two copies from. Edited July 5 by Vidar_710 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Hand drafted plans completed... Scratch building the components to the top details of the Warp Nacelles. There are six sections to make the shape of this assembly. A section was cut out of a 1/2" styrene tube that I saved from a yard sign, then cemented to a strip for styrene to keep its shape. Here the aft tip has been ground away before applying Epoxy dough to fill it in and shape it to a taper. The base is made into a box. 1-2-3 blocks are being used to keep this assembly flat, and square as the cement cures. Two of the six sections are complete. The other four will have to wait until a special-order of styrene shapes arrive. The Nacelle cowl masters shown at the top are not included in that count. While I wait for those styrene products, I moved over to the Main Shuttle cowl. The vacuum formed part from the Collective version of the kit had more to work with than the Lunar kit cowl. It actually didn't come out of the sheet half bad, but still have some significant detail and shape issues. The resin hanger bay doors are from the LM kit. Note their current shape here. I will have to modify them to get things to pull together correctly. First off, the doors are elevated on a thin platform. They do not set directly onto the top surface of the secondary hull. Second, material needed to be removed so the Observation Dome slips under the cowling to the proper depth. ... as seen here. The cowling is decent but still needs work. The pencil lines depict where material will be removed so a more correct shape can be added back on - Note the paper template. The two squares on the top have already been backfilled on the inside surface with sculpting dough and has since been sanded out smooth. The Main Shuttle Bay and Observation Dome with the paper template correction. Reference on the NX Dome. Note that the center of the dome is covered by the cowling, and only eight vertical window stanchions are exposed outside the shadow of the cowling. I think I removed just enough material from the bay door parts to get it to look right. To give the thin vacuum formed cowling some strength, I applied a thin layer of epoxy dough to the inner surface to give it strength and hold its shape - as well as allow me to sand out that pair of nasty raised panels that do not exist on the studio model. Once it cures, I'll remove the forward sections at the pencil lines and install the corrected shapes. Hopefully the styrene parts will be here before I return home from my next set of duty days up in New York, and I'll finish that top nacelle master. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 It all keeps on adding up. Cool stuff. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 Wrapping up the top master to the Warp Nacelles, and more progress on the main hanger bay doors and cowl... Here the 3mm x 3mm styrene strip outriggers (for lack of a better word) have been added to the bottom box. I would later decide to stack a 2mm x 2mm styrene strip on top because it looked better to the eye from the references I have. The box with a sloped side has been added to the front of the top assembly. I had to search the world for 5mm quarter styrene dowel. I found some in France at a Doll House company. To my frustration, they rolled the dowels up like a rope and stuffed it on a small bag to ship. It took some time heating it up in hot water to get it somewhat straight again. (Who does that?!!!) 5mm dowel cemented to the bottom box assembly. 1-2-3 blocks keep it flat as they cure. I cemented 2mm x 2mm styrene strips on the inside 2mm from the top to use as a gluing surface for the top assembly. Top assembly cemented into place. The front and aft ends are still open. Later I filled them in with epoxy dough to seal them off. This master will be molded so I can slosh cast two top assemblies for the nacelles. Top assembly complete after filling and blending all the sub-assemblies together. The 3D printed part placed in it position... New extension cemented and blended into place. Re=enforcements seen on the inside. I also slathered a thin layer of thinned epoxy dough to strengthen the cowl so it will better hold its shape. Original part to the left with a modified part to the right. Other differences... 3D modeled and printed Trans Warp dome with the solid resin Warp Models offering. Bottom nacelle blister comparisons. Warp Model's resin offering to my scratch-built blister. More details to be added to the hanger bay doors... Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Here's the front end of the nacelle top master before filling it in to show the layers of scratch building. After getting the new extensions on and blended them in, I discovered this subassembly is based on the original shroud that matched the original incorrect shape of the secondary hull. Since my secondary hull has been corrected, the shapes here are considerably off. You can see here that the sides are too flat, and the door deck aggressively bends inward to the stern of the hull. After sculpting in light weight material to the outer skin, layers of filler are added to smooth the surface. Note the new continuous gradual curve of the assembly throughout the outer edge of its base. The original Lunar Models solid resin bay doors have been filled in and re-scribed in at their proper shapes. Before all the above, I also discovered some serious symmetry problems in the original shroud part as well - particularly at the overhang of the bay doors. The new bay door deck I added was thrown off centerline due to the asymmetry above, so sculpting clay was added to re-shaped the crest to centerline. After layers of fillers and primers, I'm really happy with how this sub-assembly matches the contour of the corrected secondary hull. This was taken before the build base was cut away. The 3D modeled hanger bay dome came out as a near perfect success. However, due to printing limitations at Shapeways (at the time), The inner surface was going to cause a distortion problem for lighting. The base of the dome required to approve the print was too broad. The inner radius of the base caused a vertical wall straight up into the inner surface of the dome right at the window level. This caused a seem line to develop horizontally all the way around the inner surface right through the middle of all the window panels. The fix was to grind away the material until there was a smooth inner dome shape that went all the way to the base. This is the inner dome surface being filled and smoothed out. After primer, the dome will be ready to mold, then be cast with crystal clear resin. Other than adding the raised panel greeblies located at the base of the shroud and on the bay doors, the main shuttle bay subassembly is complete. Here's how the Warp Nacelle Top master came out after a few coats of primer... Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ExchefAndy Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Amazing work... I saw your updates over on RPF! It's a beautiful passion piece, just wow! Andy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 Adding the Greeblies to the skin of the hanger bay shroud, and doors. Hand cut squares and stretched spue shorter than a mm... My eyes hurt! I'll apply a thin layer of primer to protect and lock them in and the Main Hanger Bay assembly will be DONE. Tracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted Friday at 02:12 AM Share Posted Friday at 02:12 AM This is where I make several templates on both card stock drawing paper and translucent tracing paper for the secondary hull. There are recessed details, raised panels, and junctions to other sections of the ship that need to be plotted so they can be cleanly transferred to the vacuum formed secondary hull part during assembly. The traced shape for the top of the secondary hull will be used as a template to create the upper deck/surface of the secondary hull. It will be cut from 3/8" thick clear acrylic. This upper deck will be re-enforced with two clear acrylic stripes to act as armatures. The inside of the dorsal seen below has been traced out to depict where material will be removed from the acrylic deck to allow for wiring of the lighting kit to pass from the saucer into the secondary hull. Recessed details are being traced in-scale so that they can be transposed to the surface of the vacuum formed secondary hull part. These openings in the bottom surface will be cut away so that the scratch-bult recessed panel details can be cemented into position at these openings. Checking that my scaled image matched some of the 3D printed parts. Top details placed in position to again check for scale and determine their positions for the assembly phase. The Top surface... Determining the size, shape, and positions of: The two large-raised plates forward of the warp pylon blister, and the aligned position of the warp pylon blister and where their holes will be drilled into the acrylic plate for the brass tubing armatures. This also helped me to realize, I needed to modify - once again - the main shuttle bay cowl. The bottom surface... Positions of the plate for the aft torp launchers, and where the position of the two recessed square trenches are. Here, new modifications to the main hanger bay cowl have been made. The extensions were too short. You can see how short they are a few images above. The ends were nipped off for a flat gluing surface so 40mm more material could be cemented on to lengthen them to the correct profile - as depicted by the tick marks on the template. Filler has already been applied and awaiting to fully cure before blending in the new extensions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vidar_710 Posted Friday at 07:09 PM Share Posted Friday at 07:09 PM First panels made from the new templates are the two big, raised panels on the top surface of the secondary hull forward of the nacelle pylon assembly up to the base of the neck. Even though I drafted out both plates, I decided to choose the best between the two to make a single template for both plates. That way they are exactly the same shape and maintain symmetry. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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