MLP for 1:144 Bandai Space Shuttle Endeavour *FINISHED*

[Hotdog]

So I finally broke down and shelled out the $$$ to get the magnificently-awesome Bandai Space Shuttle Endeavour (click the link for more pics). Kinda nice for me to have right now, since I can't work on any of my shuttle builds during the ongoing remodeling of my house.

I love the shuttle stack, but I'm not too thrilled about the base that it sits on (even though it has LED spotlights). So, I want to build a MLP for it, or at least some sort of realistic representation of an MLP. Nothing too involved. I'm thinking something along the lines of what crowe-t did with his Discovery stack.

My first thought was to just get the Revell stack and use the kit MLP as my base like crowe-t did. Then I thought perhaps I could scratch-build something that fits on top of the Bandai base (so I can still utilize the LED spotlights). I could use 3D printed parts from Shapeways for the tail masts and the front of the MLP and scratch-build the rest. This might look better than the sandstone-printed MLP already available for the Bandai shuttle here. Obviously, this would be a much more expensive route than the approach crowe-t used, so I will have to consider that.

My other option is to get the Educraft paper MLP that Manfred has been using as the basis for his STS-6 build. I would likely get into making a hybrid of paper, wood and styrene platform just as he did, especially since the metal Bandai stack is likely too heavy for a MLP made of paper alone.

So I thought I would share this with you guys and get your thoughts on how I should approach making a MLP, and see what ideas you have.

Oh, and one more thing. What do you guys think about weathering this thing? Any reason why I should not try and go about further detailing and weathering a high-end diecast model such as this?

Edited July 10, 2016 by Hotdog

[crowe-t]

Hotdog, This is really nice! You have so many good options for improving the base. It's hard to say what's the best approach. The Revell MLP could possibly work but I like the approach Manfred did too.

Either way you have a very nice display here.

Weathering will look nice but do you want to do it??? It could possibly ruin some of the value but if you don't intend to ever sell it then go for it and weather away.

[K2Pete]

I hafta agree 100% with crowe-t ... whatever you feel like doin'.

But if it was mine ... I like the pristine look of this and weathering it ... I don't think it's at all necessary.

Regarding this die-cast ... I hadn't even looked at this before ... but ... my gawrsh ... this is a really nice model! And at 1/144 too! Wow-w-w! The details on the Orbiter caused me to look at all the pix ... with my jaw on the floor!

Keep us posited Hotdog!

[ApolloMan]

Hotdog, this is a great diecast from Bandai, I have a few friends that own this & great comments & reports. I have the Apollo 11 Saturn V from them & its Beautifully detailed, & worth the $$$

I loved watching Crowe-t's come together, & I think that would be a nice add on, as you do not want to take the attention off the stack. The paper option from Bandai is not to good, & would take away the realism of the stack.

You could do a Spaceman build, That could take a while.....

My MLP took me around 12 months, that was off & on, you could build it quicker in a basic form.

Good luck with the stack & the reno's

[Hotdog]

Thanks! Yeah I just want something basic and not too complicated or time consuming.

Educraft paper kit of the MLP is on order, so we'll see if that gives me further inspiration.

The Bandai Saturn V is on my Christmas list and will look good next to the shuttle!

[ApolloMan]

Woohoo. Lucky boy, is it the Apollo 11 or Apollo 13 one your after? :D

The Apollo 11 comes with a lunar base dio, with the Apollo 13 coming with a splashdown recovery.

[crackerjazz]

That diecast looks beautiful! Definitely more so with a platform. Looking forward to it and learning from your build.

[spaceman]

Hello Hotdog,

now I can understand your interest in the MLP.

With the Educraft kit you are on the right track, I'm very curious.

You also do not have to scratch quite as many details as I do, then it does not take so long ...

I wish you much success and fun.

[Hotdog]

DAY 1

4 hours

Build cost to date: $420.24

So I have spent the last month researching the MLP, how to go about building a decent (but not perfect) representation of it, and creating drawings that would eventually become the laser-cut acrylic pieces that will make up most of the model.

I decided I would use Michael Key's 3D printed Shuttle MLP Side 1 and create the deck and remaining sides myself using laser-cut acrylic that I would draw in Illustrator, using scans of the Educraft MLP kit as a guide. With each side of the 3D printed MLP running at about $70 a piece, it did not make sense economically to get all 4 of his 3D-printed sides. I designed the basic shapes to be cut into a 3.0mm sheet of white styrene, and the overlapping details would be cut into a 1.5mm sheet of clear styrene (clear was cheaper than white at that thickness).

Today I received the laser cut pieces. Here are the 3.0mm parts:

You can't see them in the photos, but there are engraved details on the deck and side panels. I expect these details will be more visible after painting.

Here are the clear 1.5mm parts that will overlap the parts in the previous photo. I had to include the blast chamber panels on this sheet since I ran out of room on the 3.0mm sheet. Some of the clear parts shown here still have the protective tape covering them.

Here are the rest of the 3D printed parts that I ordered from Michael Key on Shapeways. I decided to get the tail masts, SRB pipes, and rainbirds since I didn't want the tedious task of scratch-building them.

Here is a quick dry-fit of the main components. So far, it looks like everything is going to fit together nicely. :)/>

After 2 hours spent carefully peeling the protective paper off of all of the fragile acrylic parts, I can finally start building. Above you can see where I am in the process of gluing 3 of these triangle shapes together to create the part that the SRB nozzles sit on. These assemblies will eventually be glued inside of the SRB blast chambers.

And this is as far as I got tonight - gluing the panels for the SSME blast chamber to the bottom of the deck. I'm using balsa wood affixed with Tiger grip goop to help bolster the thin 1.5mm parts to the acrylic. You can see that the forward and aft sides are a bit long, that's because these parts were originally intended to be cut from the 3mm sheet.

I'll get back to this build tomorrow. Sorry there's not much to see right now.

[ApolloMan]

I'm officially jealous

This is amazing, I had allot of droughts over 3D printing models, taking away our scratch building skills. After building the 1/12 rover and now seeing this beauty, I am speechless.

[crackerjazz]

Beautiful -- Grabbing a seat! Those printed parts look amazing -- and the piping looks fantastic! :thumbsup:

[johnlove_mk_II]

Nice!

[Hotdog]

DAYS 2-3

4.5 hours (8.5 hours total)

Build cost to date: $420.24

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'm thinking I can knock this build out pretty fast.

Jumping back into it, it was time to assemble the SRB blast chamber panels.

I went ahead and glued the pieces the SRB's sit on onto each blast chamber wall. This would have been much harder to do had I completely assembled the blast chambers first. I just hope the Plastruct bond with the acrylic will be strong enough to support the weight of the heavy die-cast metal shuttle stack! :pray:/>/>/>/>

Here is the port side SRB blast chamber coming together:

Now I'm preparing to glue the sides around the deck. You can see that I've added more balsa wood braces around the edges for support, and labeled each side and piece. I was afraid I was going to glue a piece on the wrong side, or upside down, or both!

Here are the sides being adhered to the deck. Notice I am using a lot of the tiger grip goo all around the seams of the inner deck assembly. I am taking every precaution to keep this thing from falling apart under the weight of the heavy die-cast metal shuttle. Before closing it all in, I'll likely fill the empty spaces with some filler of some kind to add more support.

While waiting for all of that glue to cure, here is a look at the outside of the MLP as she stands so far:

Looks like I've got a small spot of glue seepage to clean up on the top of the deck, and a gap or two to fill, but you can start to see where all of this is headed now. I figure I still have a couple more days of assembly left before I can move on to the painting stage.

Thanks for looking!

[egt95]

That's really impressive. I'm impatiently waiting for the finished product.

[crackerjazz]

Wow! Im amazed at your progress and organized work. Looking forward to your updates.

[spaceman]

Hi Hotdog,

yep, this is also a possibility.

Your high-speed approach looks very interesting and comes along nicely, I stay tuned.

BTW, what is the weight of your shuttle stack, your MLP must bear?

[Hotdog]

Spaceman, the weight of the Bandai shuttle stack is 8.8 lbs. I am kinda wondering if I should have engineered the triangular supports inside the SRB blast chambers to stretch all the way to the ground under the MLP to aid in support so there's no worries of collapse. But, this is a hindsight matter and I must press on...

Edited August 28, 2015 by Hotdog

[spaceman]

Hotdog,

that's a whole lot of stuff.

BTW, some other questions, how should stand the MLP, on a crawler like this,

Source: Shapeways.com (baztrains)

or on pedestals?

And what do you think about, how the heavy stack should be balanced on the MLP?

Edited August 28, 2015 by spaceman

[ApolloMan]

This is Awesome Hotdog, I so wish this was around years ago. I very impressed with the speed this is going together.

Manfred I used aluminium tube (the large centre hydrolic that are surrounded by the 4 smaller) that gave enough support and distributed the weight for my MLP and Shuttle stack. You could have the rods go to the base, as you will not see them. Though I only place the MLP on for short periods for pictures and comps.

Edited August 28, 2015 by ApolloMan

[spaceman]

Hi Mike,

that was a very stable construction for your stack, but the weight of your shuttle stack is surely not 8.8 lbs like the Bandai stack, right?

[Hotdog]

Spaceman: I don't plan to have a crawler for the MLP to sit on. Once I finish the MLP, that's it for my Bandai shuttle display. No pedistals either, it will sit exactly as it's sitting in this picture.

Apolloman: The speed of construction comes at the price of a full month spent researching and carefully engineering the Ponoko laser-cut parts so that everything gets cut to fit and look like it should when glued together with the other pieces. The availability of the 3D printed parts for the more tedious components of the MLP are also a "Key" factor in keeping this project simple!

I like your use of metal rods, I may do something like that in the corners of the MLP deck to add some more support before closing it up. If I can find my glue gun, I will cover all the inside seams one more time with hot glue to bolster them up some more. I may also fill in any open spaces with wadded up newspaper or something.

The tail masts will be up against the wings of the orbiter, with a lip on the backside of each mast to grip under each wing flap. This will help provide some support to the stack as well.

The base that comes with the Bandai shuttle includes a clear plastic brace that grips the backside of the ET, and I thought about cutting a hole in the top of the MLP deck to accommodate that. Doing this would mean eliminating the rainbird that is between the SRBs, so I opted not to do this. I figured the tail masts would be enough to hold up the stack without a need for the brace.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Hotdog

[niart17]

Looking GREAT! I love the approach with laser cut and 3d printed combined. Keep up the great work.

One thought about the worry of the weight. Perhaps drilling holes and inserting metal pins to strengthen the joint of the shapes inside the blast chamber walls that hold SRB nozzles. Glue probably will hold fine but that is a lot of sheering force that might cause it to give over time. A couple of simple metal pins would help with that. Just a thought.

Bill

[Hotdog]

Hmm great idea, but I've already got 'em glued and closed in now. Would be difficult to drill hole at this stage. Perhaps I can rig up something underneath the chambers to add support and lessen the strain on the glued joints.

[Hotdog]

DAYS 4-6

7 hours (15.5 hours total)

Build cost to date: $455.98

My day job has been keeping me very busy the past couple of weeks. Somehow, I've managed to squeeze in some time for this project here and there. Seven hours to be exact, and yet I don't really have that much to show for it.

I purchased a hot glue gun and some more Plastruct cement, and used it to strengthen the bond of the balsa wood support beams inside the platform. Then I filled the box with newspaper and sealed it up.

After getting the box closed up, I cleaned up the outer surfaces of any stray spots of glue, and filled in any gaps with putty. I also fixed a few minor issues with the design of some of the pieces.

With the box enclosed and all of the exterior surfaces clean and ready, it was time to prepare the 1.5mm detail pieces for gluing. This meant peeling the protective paper off of both sides of the thin, delicate plastic parts. I had to go slowly and carefully, using a pair of tweezers, so as not to break them.

First, I glued on detail piece for the rear (Side 3):

Next came Side 4:

And finally, Side 2:

I used a permanent spray adhesive to attach the pieces onto the acrylic platform. This saved from having to tediously cover each panel with Plastruct or super glue which tends to set a little too fast for such a task. I did use Plastruct to glue the detail piece onto the top part of the platform that goes around the flame trenches.

Above is a dry-fit of the remaining 3D printed parts onto the deck. Now we can see how the MLP will come together. The next step will be to smooth the surfaces of the rainbirds,tail masts and maybe elements of the Side 1 panel with XTC-3D. After that, I'll give the whole thing a coat of primer to see how she looks before adding the final structural details like railings and pipes.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Hotdog

[crackerjazz]

Your work does show -- very impressive with all the 3D printed parts dry-fitted! Looking forward to seeing the XTC-3D results.