Halo: Pelican Dropship

Strode · Nov 30, 2013

Hi all. I'm going to attempt to make the Pelican dropship from Halo. As is my wont, i will use a very nice paper-model created by user VFR over at Zealot Hobby Forum (thanks!) as the base plans for my Pelican and use sunboard (a type of PVC plastic board) to build it. I say 'attempt' as it is quite a complicated model (at least for me) and i may attempt to light it as i go along. I will also have to learn about LED wirings and so on as well so it might take a while.

Anyway enough chatter, on to the model.

I have just started to build this and can only work on it after work hours and weekends so progress might be a little slow. here are some screenshots of the paper-model:

top view

bottom

side view

and here is what it looks like in paper form. the model looks very, very cool and is freaking hugemongous! To give you an idea of scale, the forward thrusters are about as big as my palm.

so anyway. will update as i build. and a big thanks to VFR for sharing his work.

Dragontomb · Dec 1, 2013

looks awesome

Wes R · Dec 1, 2013

Man i've never seen that file, all the ones i've found for the Pelican are pretty small. That thing looks scaled to the figures. Can't wait to see it in plastic.

Strode · Dec 6, 2013

cheers guys. hopefully i can live up to expectations. meanwhile, some updates. and i must iterate again, this thing is HUGE. severely underestimated its size and seems i will be running out of pvc very very soon.

i decided to start from the back. seemed like a simpler start than the heavily detailed front so i'm trying to replicate this bit:

so side plates:

added some things to make it stronger and join the other plates better:

realised the frames are a bit too flimsy and doesn't match my reference pictures so i widened them. will be puttied and sanded later to hide seams

still have to work on this bit...

and so temporarily taped together is this.

obviously not complete but so far here is where i am...

more later

Svenis · Dec 6, 2013

yay dude seems to come out great so far how big will it be when finished ?

Strode · Dec 6, 2013

Svenis said:
yay dude seems to come out great so far how big will it be when finished ?

honestly mate i have no idea. at a wild guess and some very amateur measuring work, i'd say about 3 feet long....

edit:
could be wrong though :/

Wes R · Dec 6, 2013

At least it gives you enough size to do the details without having to worry about small parts. You plan on lighting it? You got me wanting to build one. i'm using a generic pelican pdf that isn't as nice as the one you're using.

Strode · Dec 6, 2013

Wes R said:
At least it gives you enough size to do the details without having to worry about small parts. You plan on lighting it? You got me wanting to build one. i'm using a generic pelican pdf that isn't as nice as the one you're using.

oh absolutely. i'm really liking the scale. like i said though. just gotta worry about running out of materials and the question of where to put it

. i will try to light it yes. it will be a first time for me so i have to learn how to wire up LED's without burning my house down and so on. and i do believe i know the pelican file you are talking about. it is sadly lacking.

Eric Ardros · Dec 18, 2013

Nice! Good job so far, dude. I'm a big fan of the HALO franchise, so it's a pleasant surprise to see someone tackling a build like this. Haven't ever seen anyone try to make a proper model out of this before.

Been wanting to make one of these myself, but like Wes have only ever been able to find the generic, low-res Pep file. Was thinking of registering at Zealot Hobby Forum so I can access their Downloads section after the proper length of time has passed.

I plan on building mine up using varying thicknesses of sheet styrene, so I can achieve the different depths of the surface details.

Truth be told, all the exterior detail aside, I think the most intensive part of the build will be the rear compartment. So much detail in such a confined space.

Keep up the good work. Looking forward to seeing more!

The Terminator · Dec 18, 2013

Very nice start!

can't wait to see it finished, best of luck! We could use more Halo around here.
You definitely picked the best Pelican version too

they really screwed it up for Halo 4

yuumi2891103 · Dec 19, 2013

Hey! I love this beauty and your build guaranteed to be awesome already.:thumbsup

katsu

Strode · Dec 20, 2013

Eric Ardros said:
Been wanting to make one of these myself, but like Wes have only ever been able to find the generic, low-res Pep file. Was thinking of registering at Zealot Hobby Forum so I can access their Downloads section after the proper length of time has passed.

I plan on building mine up using varying thicknesses of sheet styrene, so I can achieve the different depths of the surface details.

Truth be told, all the exterior detail aside, I think the most intensive part of the build will be the rear compartment. So much detail in such a confined space.

yeah i think i know the low res pep file you guys are talking about. Zealot is pretty awesome. some nice builds over there. i would contribute but i don't think i'm gonna be pepping anything in a while.

this would be my approach too, cutting parts out or adding them using the plastic sheet to achieve the surface details. i plan to really make this a halfway decent replica with panels and everything. hopefully it turns out ok man. As for the rear compartment, i may not build the interiors at all. what with all the wiring and everything for lights and stuff, plus a battery compartment (maybe) it would be too crowded and difficult to hide. lets see how it goes.

cheers for stopping by guys. the kind words are very encouraging

some progress to report. unfortunately my house was being painted so couldn't work on it much. but here is what i have so far...

began work on the rear thrusters

intakes

rear exhaust ports. i've attempted to glass the inside edges to really strengthen the piece up and prevent any warping that might happen.

grills attached. and some of the edges glassed.

and finally, filled the open edges with some filler to smooth them out. i have yet to sand them of course

s'all for now.

cheers!

Eric Ardros · Dec 22, 2013

I see you're going about it exactly the same way I've done before, taping the Pep pieces to styrene and using them as cutting templates for all the parts

As for the rear crew compartment, if you opt not to detail the interior in lieu of space for wiring/lighting then you could always just fashion yourself an access hatch with a tiny window/viewport as we see at one point later on in HALO 3 on the Admiral's Pelican dropship as it flies away from Master Chief.

That way, it would still look the part of the in-game model while allowing you to hide all the wiring/lighting. Just a thought, anyway. Personally, I'd try to incorporate the wiring/lighting into the design so I could still have the detailed aft compartment, but that's just me, lol. To each thier own.

Btw, that's some good work you've done on the other parts so far. You might think it's not much, but the way I see it any progress is good progress. Given the size of this build, it's to be expected it will take you quite a while to get all the parts detailed and the whole thing put together.

This sort of thing takes time, so just be patient and don't rush it. We'll all be following you along the way, dude. Keep it up!

Strode · Dec 26, 2013

Eric Ardros said:
I see you're going about it exactly the same way I've done before, taping the Pep pieces to styrene and using them as cutting templates for all the parts

As for the rear crew compartment, if you opt not to detail the interior in lieu of space for wiring/lighting then you could always just fashion yourself an access hatch with a tiny window/viewport as we see at one point later on in HALO 3 on the Admiral's Pelican dropship as it flies away from Master Chief.

That way, it would still look the part of the in-game model while allowing you to hide all the wiring/lighting. Just a thought, anyway. Personally, I'd try to incorporate the wiring/lighting into the design so I could still have the detailed aft compartment, but that's just me, lol. To each thier own.

Yep. this pep method is currently the only way i know i can keep the scale and have it turn out reasonably well. till i learn how to make blueprints myself, it works

As for the crew compartment, i'll try my best. now that you mentioned it, i went on another reference picture binge and found a lot of information. i would love to make the crew compartment but unfortunately, i don't think i have the requisite skills for it yet man. however i shall try, lets see what happens. I spent the better part of the week trawling youtube and tried to learn everything i could on lighting LEDs and parallel circuits and god knows what else but seem to actually have not learned much at all. Holy crap too much info! some ideas are floating around and i have to do a bit more learning, buying, building and trying before anything materializes. again, i will try for sure.

thanks for the encouragement dude. it really helps

did some work, but the holiday season is crunch time at work so little progress to show. did some more work on the rear thrusters

i will not glue anything permanently till i can figure out this LED and wiring business so open edges everywhere :/

thruster exhaust

and here is where i am now. six inch ruler for scale

cheers

peza · Dec 26, 2013

Strode said:
Yep. this pep method is currently the only way i know i can keep the scale and have it turn out reasonably well. till i learn how to make blueprints myself, it works

As for the crew compartment, i'll try my best. now that you mentioned it, i went on another reference picture binge and found a lot of information. i would love to make the crew compartment but unfortunately, i don't think i have the requisite skills for it yet man. however i shall try, lets see what happens. I spent the better part of the week trawling youtube and tried to learn everything i could on lighting LEDs and parallel circuits and god knows what else but seem to actually have not learned much at all. Holy crap too much info! some ideas are floating around and i have to do a bit more learning, buying, building and trying before anything materializes. again, i will try for sure.

thanks for the encouragement dude. it really helps

did some work, but the holiday season is crunch time at work so little progress to show. did some more work on the rear thrusters

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums...elican/IMG_20131221_164850301_zpsd72df75a.jpg

i will not glue anything permanently till i can figure out this LED and wiring business so open edges everywhere :/

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums...elican/IMG_20131221_164948097_zps92dbb486.jpg

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums...elican/IMG_20131221_165016513_zps3dfbc9ce.jpg

thruster exhaust

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums...elican/IMG_20131221_203633236_zps0cace183.jpg

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums...elican/IMG_20131222_001148683_zps8d5ad0b5.jpg

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums...elican/IMG_20131222_173052548_zps3b9526c4.jpg

and here is where i am now. six inch ruler for scale

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums...elican/IMG_20131225_102245693_zpsfe0c0aea.jpg

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums...elican/IMG_20131225_105521808_zpsd1a38779.jpg

cheers

wow buddy,this is mint!!
how big is the final model be.it looks massively impressive and twice as big!!:thumbsup peza

Eric Ardros · Dec 26, 2013

Strode said:
Yep. this pep method is currently the only way i know i can keep the scale and have it turn out reasonably well. till i learn how to make blueprints myself, it works

As for the crew compartment, i'll try my best. now that you mentioned it, i went on another reference picture binge and found a lot of information. i would love to make the crew compartment but unfortunately, i don't think i have the requisite skills for it yet man. however i shall try, lets see what happens. I spent the better part of the week trawling youtube and tried to learn everything i could on lighting LEDs and parallel circuits and god knows what else but seem to actually have not learned much at all. Holy crap too much info! some ideas are floating around and i have to do a bit more learning, buying, building and trying before anything materializes. again, i will try for sure.

thanks for the encouragement dude. it really helps

did some work, but the holiday season is crunch time at work so little progress to show.

[...]

cheers

Trust me, I understand your apprehension at trying to build the rear crew compartment. I've been successfully scratch-building props now for about six years, and the thought of it makes me hesitate. So, you're not the only one.

Of course, the only way to know is to try, though. Even if it doesn't work out as planned, you'll still have learned a thing or two for similar future projects. So, it's never a failure. It's an on-going learning curve. We never stop learning things in this hobby.

For myself, when the time comes that I'm able to build one of these into a proper model I know the rear compartment is probably going to be the most daunting part of the build.

There's so many minute details in a relatively small space. The rest of the build will be a cake walk compared to that, lol. But, being as anal-retentive for accuracy and detail that I am when it comes to my props, I know I won't be happy unless I include that as well.

If you have any questions or need help with any of the styrene detailing, like for the crew compartment, just shoot me a PM. I'd be happy to help.

Btw, does the Pep model come with a detailed cockpit interior? I've debated whether I'd actually go so far as to detail the cockpit too, or just black out the windows to make things a little easier on myself

peza said:
wow buddy,this is mint!!
how big is the final model be.it looks massively impressive and twice as big!!:thumbsup peza

I believe the Pep model he's using as the base for this measures about three feet long (approximately the same size as the Polar Lights 1/350 TOS Enterprise). It's going to be one helluva display piece when it's done.

Strode · Dec 27, 2013

peza said:
wow buddy,this is mint!!
how big is the final model be.it looks massively impressive and twice as big!!:thumbsup peza

Thanks very much peza. big plans for this, hopefully i can do justice. estimated length nose to tail is about three feet.

Eric Ardros said:
Btw, does the Pep model come with a detailed cockpit interior?

it would be really cool to see how you would tackle something like this. i mainly have a patience problem and what with work and everything i get bored really really fast :facepalm haha but it seems to be improving now.

thanks for the offer man, i might just take you up on that. The pep model has no interior. it's a hollow shell so custom detailing is very possible. all depends on how far you are willing to go. i have some reference pictures but none really that show off the cockpit well. if you need reference pictures, let me know. got quite a few from google and whatnot.

Sentinelforce · Dec 27, 2013

Nice to see someone tackling this project.
I have 2 of these in pep files. I enjoy your detail work.

peza · Dec 27, 2013

cheers mym8,i think it would be ashame if you go to all the work and dont bling up the cockpit!but thats just me....top marks so far cheers peza

Eric Ardros · Dec 27, 2013

Strode said:
[...]

it would be really cool to see how you would tackle something like this. i mainly have a patience problem and what with work and everything i get bored really really fast :facepalm haha but it seems to be improving now.

thanks for the offer man, i might just take you up on that. The pep model has no interior. it's a hollow shell so custom detailing is very possible. all depends on how far you are willing to go. i have some reference pictures but none really that show off the cockpit well. if you need reference pictures, let me know. got quite a few from google and whatnot.

BOLD #1: Yeah, it would be kewl, to say the least. To be perfectly honest though, after tackling the rear compartment I don't know if I'd want to do the cockpit as well, lol. But, it's definitely something for me to consider earlier on in the design process. Only problem is finding useable reference pics showing the cockpit, of which there aren't many.

BOLD #2: Ah, okay. I thought maybe there'd be a basic framework to work from like with the rear compartment, but that works too. Like you said, it allows for complete custom detailing. I've taken some in-game pics, but I'd likely need more reference pics, so will come to you for those when they're needed. Thanks for the offer, dude.

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