StarshipBuilder's Studio-Scale Galactica #2
- Thread starter star-art
- Start date
Hey Greg! It's been a while. Great to here from you. I hope you've been well!
Charles I am doing well thanks for asking. Got a new kiddo on the way so I have been pretty busy.
Its good to see you working on what you do best
I broke out your model book this morning I am looking at it right now :coolG
darthsideous
Well-Known Member
Thanks for posting the information on how to safely work with this stuff!!!!! :thumbsup
star-art
Sr Member
Moving along. A huge box arrived yesterday with parts for another engine section build (in addition to this one) and included a few missing pieces for this build. Most notably, the resin thruster openings for the back end are finally here. While I designed these for the model now on display in the Science Fiction Museum, I've never actually had the raw castings in my possession before.
I did a quick test fit just to see how they went together. The resin parts need some cleaning up, and there is minor distortion typical of such castings that needs adjusting. But, overall, they look like parts that were manufactured in a factory. I'm very pleased with how they turned out.
I took the main engine box off the jig and secured the acrylic pipe sleeve permanently in place. Work has also started on the front end. Finally, I built the sub-structures for the side boxes. These will get skinned in 1/16" black acrylic prior to final installation.
I did a quick test fit just to see how they went together. The resin parts need some cleaning up, and there is minor distortion typical of such castings that needs adjusting. But, overall, they look like parts that were manufactured in a factory. I'm very pleased with how they turned out.
I took the main engine box off the jig and secured the acrylic pipe sleeve permanently in place. Work has also started on the front end. Finally, I built the sub-structures for the side boxes. These will get skinned in 1/16" black acrylic prior to final installation.
star-art
Sr Member
After a bit of a wrestling match with some massive resin parts, I have completed the thruster module. This is a removable assembly containing all the engine openings for the ship. It is removable to make the job of detailing the inside of the openings much easier. Some details are already molded into the castings.
What makes this a challenge? First, the thruster openings are cast resin. As a result, they tend to shrink and warp (typical for resin parts). The tolerances on this build are very tight (about 15 thousandths of an inch or 015). Not having had these castings in my hands until now, I had no way of knowing how well they would fit. As it turned out, they were off maybe 1/16. Not too bad. In addition, the warping/twisting caused a misalignment of about 1/8 inch on top of that.
Now that I am aware of this, I probably should have added more clearance to my laser-cut parts. As it is, they were very tight and so I had to do some hand cutting and machining to allow room for a proper fit. That took quite a bit of time.
Next, the thrusters are split into parts to allow you to get at the inside surfaces to glue in the details. In order to test fit everything and correct any warpage, they needed to be glued together. But, permanently assembling them would negate the advantage of having them split into sections for detailing.
The solution was to tack them together with CA and then heat and coax the parts into alignment. I then did some minor machining of the resin parts to achieve a near perfect fit. The finished assembly looks more like something made in a factory than anything I might have built by hand. So, there is a bit of a "cool" factor for me when I look at the final results.
BTW, I don't like to rely on glue when joining dissimilar materials. It's fine when gluing acrylic or styrene to itself as those materials achieve a molecular bond when using the proper solvent. This creates a very strong joint that will stand up to stress.
When bonding dissimilar materials, however, you need to take things into account like expansion and contraction that can cause a glue joint to fail over time. While I could have used CA to glue the resin parts to the acrylic structure, that would've resulted in a brittle joint that could snap if flexed. Just getting all this to go together required quite a bit of handling and I would have been popping glue joints right and left (I already ran into this problem because I tacked the thruster castings together).
I solved this issue by using screws to secure the thruster castings to the structure. No glue was required at all. The castings were specifically designed for this by way of screw bosses and pilot holes that line up with matching holes in the acrylic structure. All I had to do was drill out the pilot holes and install self-tapping #4 screws.
This module is still not completely finished, but this is about as far as I can go for now since the client will need to disassemble everything in order to detail each opening. But, I can still install the diffusers and honeycomb mesh. My design allows light to shine through while also permitting air to flow for ventilation. I'll tackle that next.
For now, I put the thruster module into the engine box just to see how it looks. The lower side boxes (now skinned) are loosely attached at this point. The front sloping section is also still under construction.
What makes this a challenge? First, the thruster openings are cast resin. As a result, they tend to shrink and warp (typical for resin parts). The tolerances on this build are very tight (about 15 thousandths of an inch or 015). Not having had these castings in my hands until now, I had no way of knowing how well they would fit. As it turned out, they were off maybe 1/16. Not too bad. In addition, the warping/twisting caused a misalignment of about 1/8 inch on top of that.
Now that I am aware of this, I probably should have added more clearance to my laser-cut parts. As it is, they were very tight and so I had to do some hand cutting and machining to allow room for a proper fit. That took quite a bit of time.
Next, the thrusters are split into parts to allow you to get at the inside surfaces to glue in the details. In order to test fit everything and correct any warpage, they needed to be glued together. But, permanently assembling them would negate the advantage of having them split into sections for detailing.
The solution was to tack them together with CA and then heat and coax the parts into alignment. I then did some minor machining of the resin parts to achieve a near perfect fit. The finished assembly looks more like something made in a factory than anything I might have built by hand. So, there is a bit of a "cool" factor for me when I look at the final results.
BTW, I don't like to rely on glue when joining dissimilar materials. It's fine when gluing acrylic or styrene to itself as those materials achieve a molecular bond when using the proper solvent. This creates a very strong joint that will stand up to stress.
When bonding dissimilar materials, however, you need to take things into account like expansion and contraction that can cause a glue joint to fail over time. While I could have used CA to glue the resin parts to the acrylic structure, that would've resulted in a brittle joint that could snap if flexed. Just getting all this to go together required quite a bit of handling and I would have been popping glue joints right and left (I already ran into this problem because I tacked the thruster castings together).
I solved this issue by using screws to secure the thruster castings to the structure. No glue was required at all. The castings were specifically designed for this by way of screw bosses and pilot holes that line up with matching holes in the acrylic structure. All I had to do was drill out the pilot holes and install self-tapping #4 screws.
This module is still not completely finished, but this is about as far as I can go for now since the client will need to disassemble everything in order to detail each opening. But, I can still install the diffusers and honeycomb mesh. My design allows light to shine through while also permitting air to flow for ventilation. I'll tackle that next.
For now, I put the thruster module into the engine box just to see how it looks. The lower side boxes (now skinned) are loosely attached at this point. The front sloping section is also still under construction.
Wow, man, just wow. I remember all the years of painstaking effort you put into drafting this thing inside and out, and I admit to thinking once in a while 'is he ever going to actually build one?'. (Like *I* have any business saying something like that, lol. I can only dream that my decades of fiddling around with Executor, Nostromo, Narcissus, Cygnus and SDF-1 drawings might pay off some day.)
But as you say, it has paid off in a major way. Great stuff.
But as you say, it has paid off in a major way. Great stuff.
-... . .- --..
Sr Member
Incredible!
It really does look like it was precision machined and assembled by robots in a Toyota factory, doesn't it?
Incredible!
It really does look like it was precision machined and assembled by robots in a Toyota factory, doesn't it?
Incredible!
star-art
Sr Member
Thanks guys! LOL Martyn. After all this, I still don't have one of these things built for myself!
Excellent idea, Rick. Here are a few shots of the completed CR model being installed at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, Washington, USA last October. A few weeks later, I got to attend the VIP opening and meet Glen Larson himself. It was quite an honor. Edward James Olmos was there, along with several other cast members and the creator of the new Galactica series, Ronald D. Moore.
[Click an image below to enlarge.]
Excellent idea, Rick. Here are a few shots of the completed CR model being installed at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, Washington, USA last October. A few weeks later, I got to attend the VIP opening and meet Glen Larson himself. It was quite an honor. Edward James Olmos was there, along with several other cast members and the creator of the new Galactica series, Ronald D. Moore.
[Click an image below to enlarge.]
Last edited:
star-art
Sr Member
With things going on around the house and some construction in the shop, progress has been a bit slow. But, with that said, this engine section is very close to complete.
The front sloping section is currently being built from laser-cut styrene and the bottom portion of that is complete. The lower side boxes are permanently installed. (The upper side boxes remain removable for now to help facilitate detailing and they were removed when the attached photos were taken.)
The waist assembly has been fitted and only the top panel remains to be installed. Other than that, about all that's left is to build the upper sloping sections on either side at the front, install the main sloping front panel, and build the "light tunnel" for the center engine outlet. Then, I will install the ventilation fans and set this section aside until the main body is completed.
The front sloping section is currently being built from laser-cut styrene and the bottom portion of that is complete. The lower side boxes are permanently installed. (The upper side boxes remain removable for now to help facilitate detailing and they were removed when the attached photos were taken.)
The waist assembly has been fitted and only the top panel remains to be installed. Other than that, about all that's left is to build the upper sloping sections on either side at the front, install the main sloping front panel, and build the "light tunnel" for the center engine outlet. Then, I will install the ventilation fans and set this section aside until the main body is completed.
t2sides
Master Member
BRAVO Charles, BRAVO!!! Looking just fantastic!!
Ya know, for us 'old timer' G builders, your new techniques are reminding me of the "Genesis" project - as McCoy said:
"Not anymore; now we can do both at the same time! According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now, watch out! Here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes! "
HAHA!!
Keep up the GREAT and FAST work!!!
-Sean
Ya know, for us 'old timer' G builders, your new techniques are reminding me of the "Genesis" project - as McCoy said:
"Not anymore; now we can do both at the same time! According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now, watch out! Here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes! "
HAHA!!
Keep up the GREAT and FAST work!!!
-Sean
