Scratch Build: TESB Cloud Car

Hi All,

I've decided not to make the speeder bike my next model, since I don't feel I can do it justice at the moment (metal casting of front forks got me worried). Instead I'll be scratch building a Cloud Car in Studio Scale. I built one about six years ago, but it wasn't in Studio Scale.

My basic modeling principles for this model are the same as always:

• I'll be casting copies of parts where possible to save costs and to save parts for later use in other models
• I'll be modeling it only with the mounting points that I need to display my model and not necessarily with all the mounting points on the studio model
• I'll be painting it "real-world" instead of studio accurate. Basically I'd like it to look right in daylight versus under studio lighting

Although there are only a few kit parts on the model, there's also not much information I could find in previous threads. I did get one or two part ID's from previous threads and (re-)discovered one or two ID's for myself. A few are still an enigma to me, but perhaps you guys can help with those.

Thanks go out to Michael (3d-builder), Allan (Imaginager) and finally Lasse who inspired me to make my first Cloud Car all those years ago. For your viewing pleasure, here's how far I got six years ago. Thanks for looking!

Marvin

Part A is a brake caliper from a 1/12 F1. Cant recall which one, but I think it's from the BT44.

Wow your first one looks amazing.......your going to have
no problem doing one is SS!

Marvin, cant be of much help unfortunatly. I bought these button head allen screws for the SS SHuttle but they turned out to be too big. I send them all to Michael for his model. Cant recall the size but I'm sure Michael can put the calipers on the head of one of these to tell you the size, then search for button head allen screws on google ! I got mine from the US because I wanted to get imperial size, but I'm pretty sure you can find a close match in metric size.

Whoa! Your first build looks awesome. Did you post that here originally?

I like the options in kit parts on this build! Hey, marvin, let me know what size hardware you need. I'll run around here looking for it. If I find it, I'll pick it up and send it to you.

Joe

Marvin, I'm pretty sure part C is just the brabham, or similar, part cemented on its side instead of upright.

I know the part varies a little from one to the other, even in the same kit, so that's why I say similar.

Marvin just a hair under 5mm on the button head allen screws.
Thanks again for those Tox!

Man, this is one of those ships that, I can't explain why, but I just lust after. Can't wait to see more!

cayman shen said:

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Man, this is one of those ships that, I can't explain why, but I just lust after. Can't wait to see more!

I hear you on that . I could have one three times studio scale . One of my favorite ships of the SW saga.

-James

@ Michael, Joe: Thanks guys! Building one before should help in deciding how tot tackle a couple of things during this build. And Joe, I might just take you up on that offer when I've identified the imperial size of the allan screws!

@ Scott: You could be right. I just don't have any reference that I can check to confirm. Doesn't anyone know of a link with a couple of nice pictures of the studio model?

@ James, Cayman: I hear you! I like this model BECAUSE it's so different from all other models in the old trilogy, shape and color wise.

I started drawing up plans last night. I'm going by the overall length from Chronicles, but does anyone have one of those pictures of the studio model with the ruler for exact measurements? If I get those plans done this week I should make some progress with the vacuum plugs this weekend. More to come.

Marvin

Your initial scratch of the CC is very nice, indeed! This is one of my faves, too (obviously). I think it was Ro (echoleader) whose buildup inspired me to get off my can and build mine. As far as parts, I think I used an F1 shock for the vertical piece at the back of the canopy. I just pulled parts until I found something close, don't think mine's the correct part, though.

Good luck!

I thought about that too. When I was looking through the Brabham scans the shocks did ring a bell. I also thought about the shocks from the Hanomag. I'm looking for a Brabham right now, maybe I'll make the ID once I have it in hand.

I was impressed with your build up as well. I won't be motorizing the pilots but your build did get me thinking about lighting her up.... we'll see....

Marvin

I lit mine you have to light yours! LOL

wow. great work on this. this isn't one of my favorite designs but it does look great at studio scale.

So I finished up the drawings needed for the vacuum plugs. Pretty hard to get right. I had to compensate for the parallax and lens distortion of the reference pics by comparing different views.

Sizing up from the various kit parts I get an overall length of 41,5cm (including the engine cowls on the back) while Chronicles actually states a length of 43cm. I'm pretty confident that my measurements are right. I took the outline I made (dashed line) and took back 1,5mm (line), because I'll be vacforming with 2mm styrene. When formed I'll be sanding back to get the outline shape precisely.

Here's some pics and a link to the file if anyone wants it.

Next up: printing and cutting styrene!

Marvin

http://www.cincworks.com/_rpf/TESB_C...iefelhagen.pdf

Duse, those drawings look impressive!

Joe

Those look great, and very cool of you to share your work!

Yea awesome stuff Marv thanks for sharing......soon you
will have your bucks! What are you using to make yours...
i used Apoxie sculpt i had a mad amount.

No problem. I figure the work has been done and maybe somebody else can benefit from them. The drawings aren't perfect and won't give you a "vacuum plug kit". But it'll give you a good start from which to sand the vacuumed shells to perfection!

I'll be using styrene ribs off course and then pour some higher density polyurethane foam. After that I'll either vacform a 0.5mm styrene sheet or put down a thin layer of glass for overall rigidity. We"ll see. I'm interested to see if I can do this without "bondo-like" putty or Apoxy/MagicSculp cause I friggin hate sanding the stuff!

Marvin

Hey MArvin!!
awesome for you to share!!
even your drawings are super neat!
excellent, although i dont need those as I will wait for the kit!!lol

mars

marvin said:

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No problem. I figure the work has been done and maybe somebody else can benefit from them. The drawings aren't perfect and won't give you a "vacuum plug kit". But it'll give you a good start from which to sand the vacuumed shells to perfection!

I'll be using styrene ribs off course and then pour some higher density polyurethane foam. After that I'll either vacform a 0.5mm styrene sheet or put down a thin layer of glass for overall rigidity. We"ll see. I'm interested to see if I can do this without "bondo-like" putty or Apoxy/MagicSculp cause I friggin hate sanding the stuff!

Marvin

LOL LOL LOL yea i hear you about the sanding but i found when you really
let the apoxie sculpt set....at least 24 hrs its not to bad! LOL

It's a fun model but found it draining to work on the same
model twice at the same time. I would never make another
one of these took me way to long to finish......over 6 months
LOL.....but hey I am S L O W!

It took me two nights to get all the 2mm styrene ribs cut and glued. After everything was in place I taped the body halves together and sanded the styrene ribs to get everything nice and continuously curved. It doesn't look pretty, but I'm going for function here .

I found a few small errors in the drawings so I updated them in the previous post.

I then started with foaming everything up. It looks a right mess right now, but after sanding it should give me the shape I'm after. I used high density urethane foam instead of regular urethane for the first time, but it looks like it's excellent for this type of use.

Next up: sanding the foam and putting down some glass fiber matts.

Marvin