Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Completed

Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks, Alan. :) I hope I do justice to the 38-inch prop.

This gold Christmas ball gets my respect. It put up a good fight, long and hard, to the last round, that I just had to take a photo of that last patch of gold paint. My fight with the red ones were easy - I'm glad I had two of those. The green one was a TKO. But this gold one was a valiant warrior to the end. I think its paint had twice the thickness of the red ones and kind of harder too.

001GoldWarrior.jpg


Now that that's over I can work on the spheres in earnest. With good "tooth" they're ready for the primer. But first, the holes and windows.

Freshly washed and squeaky clean:

002FreshandClean.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

I am GLAD these are plastic. When I first saw pictures of them, I thought they were glass and I was going "He's not seriously going to try to use THOSE to make the sub, is he?!" Great idea to use them BTW as the size should be perfect when done (not too big, not too small). Do you plan to wire it up for lights in the front?

BTW, there is ONE theme song you need for this build thread...

Big Balls by AC/DC. :D

Hmmmm, how about a "Big Balls" themed Man from Atlantis video featuring the Cetacean. ;)
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thank you so much for doing this. Man From Atlantis was my absolute most favorite show back then. I would have loved to had a good model of this and still would. I am looking forward to your build.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks, JMChladek - it's been a long time since my soldering iron has seen service, but lights will certainly make this model come alive - I'll try to search for some flashlight bulbs for this scale.

05Lights.jpg



Thanks, CaptainDave1701 - I will see to it that this model gets completed - I'm notorious for leaving projects hanging whenever I get stuck, but seeing how this is one has a relatively simple design (I hope I don't end up eating my own words) - it might just be the scratchbuild to redeem myself :wacko.

02Drawinglines.jpg


Scribed passageway hole:

02aScribing.jpg


Took headlight dimensions.

02HeadlightDimensionsYellow.jpg


Marked cutting lines for headlights and windows. The trammel I bought for use with the Falcon plating sure proved useful.
03Draftingholesforheadlightsandwindows.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

You know, it is kind of weird of Cetacean seems to have a 2001 Discovery vibe going for it. In fact I can sort of remember the first time I saw scenes from 2001 as a young kid (after watching a few Man from Atlantis episodes) I seem to recall kind of wondering why the Cetacean was flying through space. ;)

Instead of incandescent bulbs, I would go with warm white LEDs and maybe place them in smaller clear spheres to give that bulb look in the light housings. That way, you can cut down the voltage needed to power them, reduce the complexity of the circuit and also use light sources that essentially don't burn out easily.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Good idea, JMChladek - will look into that. Started the openings for the headlights. Where's my reamer - I just know it'll pop up when I don't need it.

02Headlightopenings.jpg


01Filing.jpg


03Progress.jpg


04Frontview.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Guys, I'm thinking about the 38-inch prop if I should go for the unevenly opened windows - seemed like someone was in a hurry with the rasp, maybe it was past his shoot-off time. If I made perfect openings, then I wouldn't be happy knowing it wasn't screen-accurate. But then if someone were to look at my model, then they would say I was sloppy. I'm thinking that sometimes, though, it's the sloppiness that gives a model character and that "human touch". What to do...?

001Wonkywindows.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Well, that is always going to be a judgement call whether to build it better than the original, or do it just like the original. My own personal judgement when doing models is to try and make them a little better. No matter what we build, there is always going to be a little variation from the studio model anyway as we might not have access to exactly the same materials used for the original (or better ones are available) or there might be a lack of references to say one way or the other on how to detail something. Granted I have tried to strive for getting it as close as possible, but if I can correct something that seems a little sloppy to me, I tend to do it.

But of course, it is your model and you can always do it however you want. I'm sure it will look great in any event.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Your own "human touch" will be leaving its own mark anyway. Do your best. :)
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

you could always build two, one version as the studio model and one nice and pretty.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks a lot guys, really appreciate it. It certainly helps a lot having all your inputs to weigh out the pros and cons. CaptainDave1701, that's great - looking forward to seeing your build and please post lots of pics!

This is one build I'm really enjoying myself. The only thing about it is that now, everytime I see a ball, I see a potential Cetacean sphere. It's driving me bonkers. Like these ping-pong balls, for instance. I couldn't resist but visualize them as a little model. These were throwaway ones - discarded because they don't bounce well, so I might as well put them to good use. I'm still waiting for some materials for my 38-inch, so I'll spend a little time on this little critter in the interim.

001PingPongBall.jpg


Slightly less than the official 40mm. I knew it wasn't my playing! :) Ok, I admit it, it's not the size of the ball - I need practice. But we need to look harder for those really nice japanese Nitakku ones to use at the ping-pong table. For the little Cetacean, though, these will do just fine.

002Drawingtheline.jpg


003Drillingthewindows.jpg


004Mightlightitup.jpg
 
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Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

The tube cutter's itching to do his job.

001Cutter.jpg


But first, the front ball. Opened up the headlights and windows.

003Frontview.jpg


002Tocutwindows.jpg


006Lightbehind.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

I never knew ping-pong balls had air in them. Before drilling a hole I stick a compass needle into it to make a pilot hole, and air hisses out. Couldn't read the brand but looks chinese - maybe it's just this particular make? Anyway, I had better get back to the bigger model.

007Rearballremaining.jpg
 
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Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks, Hemrie.

I'll soon get back to the bigger one, but the smaller model draws my attention at the moment. Tried to get the passageway sizes right.

04PassagewayLengthandWidth.jpg


04Cuttingthetube.jpg


05Cetaceantakingform.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Hmmm, I wonder how close in scale your ping pong ball Cetacean might be to one of the Seaview or seaQuest kits out there. I know the sub wasn't too big since the center ball interiors were the set pieces. I like this little creation as it makes a nice mini project.

I'm also wondering (and this is not a knock on the model) if the thing will float and dive if you fill a channel with baking soda and stick it in a fishbowl. ;)
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks, JMChladek. You just gave me an idea. The little one would be nice in an aquarium :)

04PingPongCetaceanprimed.jpg


Scribed the windows and rubbed with a felt-tipped marker to show the lines clearly before I sawed them out as pencil lines easily smudge.

01Dremeledoutthewindows.jpg


02Windowsopenedforfurtherfiling.jpg


03Electrofiling.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks, Captain Finney. Working on getthing the right passageway dimensions.

04PassagewayLengthandWidth-1.jpg


It's gonna be a long ship:

04Itsalongship.jpg



I want to get the conning tower placement right.

06Placementofconningtower.png
 
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