3 foot Star Destroyer WIP/Update 4/12/12

morsesith21

Hi guys,
Its Chris again. Here is the wip of my Scratch built star destroyer. This is my second build and its proved to be very challenging. I ve run into a number of problems. I m not very experienced so this is an UGLY build. I haven't worked on it for about 6 months and have thought very long and hard about abandoning this project because it hasn't come out like I wanted.
One of the biggest issues is I think I made the bridge a little too big.

Plus I have learned much since its beginning. However I have decided to just finish it and use it as a reference to build a better, and bigger model that will include fiber optic lighting.

The WIP begins a little further down. Thanks for looking!

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robn1

Oh, now you're just showing off

But it's awesome work so keep it up

ringa

That looks really great, Chris. I know from experience that an ISD is not an easy model to take on.

Is this model actually 3-feet long? I built two star destroyers at 3-feet long before I learned that the original ANH model (my favorite) is really 4-feet. Like I've written on my thread, all the books and interviews call it the 3-footer, so naturally I built mine at 3 feet. That's why I started building a third one at 4-feet.

I found when it comes to detailing a star destroyer you can pretty much do your own thing because every ILM rendition of the ship in different scales has almost completely different detailing, so I think of it as kind of like an impressionistic painting. Your detailing looks fantastic. It captures the 'feel' of the ESB model very well.

Great job!

morsesith21

Thank you for the comment! The model is actually 3' 2". I did not know that about the ILM model. I thought it was 3' because in the From Star Wars to Indiana Jones book the measurements say it's 46x91x46 cm. 91cm is the length and that is 3'. I wonder if it was a misprint. o well. Thanks for the info though.

morsesith21

Thanks for the comment rob. I wish i could show off! im still far behind a lot a people on this site. I m actually not very happy with this model. I might start over.

ringa

I noticed that too about the measurements in that book. I think they pulled them out of the air, because they are WAY off.

jedimaster

Your right you should start over, just send this old one over to me .

morsesith21

Do you happen to have the exact measurements?

morsesith21

By the way, I appologize, I called you rob earlier in stead of RICK! oops! won't happen again!

morsesith21

SD is on its way to you!

Mois

This thing is absolutely breathtaking. Great work.

morsesith21

I began by drawing out the pattern for the upper and lower hull on a large piece of .90 styrene. I then cut them out and began mapping out the details.

NOTE: the date on the camera pics is not correct. My camera doesn't always work right and I could never get the date to appear as the correct date.

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morsesith21

One main regret I have, and sign of inexperience is the fact that i did not start off with the frame. I should have built it first so it would be easier to build up off of it. This caused many complications later!

morsesith21

Next, I glued a strip of .25 styrene under the edge of the upper and lower panels. I did this on both the port and starboard side to create the lip.

I then started adding greeblie detail.

As I stated in my snowspeeder thread, I like to see how the progress is looking so I primer as i go!

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morsesith21

Thank you Mois! I appreciate it.

morsesith21

I started crudely laying in the main hangar bay. I made a frame out of styrene and then glued kit bashed detail over that. I wasn't sure how deep it was gonna be so the walls were a little high at the start, but I soon corrected it.
The first attempt at the crane claw is in the last couple pics. This would later be removed because I didn't like it.

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morsesith21

I built the secondary hangar as well as started detailing the bottom hull with various panels and other detailing.

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glen3631

Looks Great!

crackerjazz

Morsesith21, what a fantastic build - I can see the pain and sweat from your labor. I imagine a nerd who never takes a bath and never sleeps, matted hair all standing up in all directions, squinting through inch-thick glasses in a grimace, and hunched over the model from 2 inches away. Seriously, I'm at awe with people like you who can just go ahead and build. This is one beautiful model and I cannot see anything ugly about it at all like you mention.

morsesith21

I appreciate the positive comments crackerjazz. And you're not far off from the description of me!
The model is turning out ok. Its just because I am so primitive with my building that there are probly far better, and easier ways of doing it. Like I said I just wish I had not only built the frame first but also planned out the entire build. Im stuck on part of the rear, and also I think my bridge is too big. But I really appreciate your encouraging comments!

morsesith21

Continuing to lay out the bottom detailing. This includes the trim that runs down the center of the hull from the main hangar bay to the rear. I also put a temporary dome in place to fill the hole. It will be replaced later.

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morsesith21

With the main trim panels done, I began cutting out the meticulous and painstakingly time consuming detail that layers the panels! What a pain in the !!

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morsesith21

The finalized dome is in place and detailed. A coat of primer makes it look a little better. I intend to add the line pattern detailing after the dome is painted. I will lightly scribe some of the deeper lines and pencil in the rest.

I don't know for sure but maybe someone can verify this for me: In the book "Sculpting a galaxy" by Lorne Peterson, it shows a couple close-up pics of the underside of the avenger. Most of the paneking lines are scribed but some look as if they have been penciled on. Has anyone noticed? Can any one confirm?
Thanks

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jme3

More awesome work!

Do you have strict preferences for which models you ultimately build, or just eenie meenie miney moe?

morsesith21

Honestly, my favorite movie of the whole Star wars saga is Empire. So I've been goin with that. I buils the snowspeeder, now Im building the Star destroyer, and I have started a tie bomber on the side. I have the vader wings, and cockpit shield, but just have to find the rest. However I plan on breaking the empire formula and building the shuttle tydirium next.