Building The Death Star - PRODUCTION

I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is an incredible undertaking, and it continues to inspire. Can't wait to see more!
 
Wow July since I last posted... Where does the time go...

Finally got my studio straightened up a bit and am working on this again. At least until soccer starts again in late February

011316 001.JPG

011316 002.JPG

011316 003.JPG

011316 007.JPG
 
My closest friends are those that are fastest on the keyboard! :D:cool

Hope all is well with both, and until we meet in person a virtual :cheers ( or :cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers) will do...

Is Harrison driving yet...? In all seriousness, mine (who was 8 when this all started) will be licensed next month...!
 
PHArchivist said:
All right ladies and gents, hold on to you butts because HERE WE GO! (I say that lovingly - you're greatest bunch of hooligans and scallywags I know!)

This past Friday I picked up the two acrylic domes to begin building the Death Star.

So...

After many years and various threads, NO MORE TALK! It's being built!

However, I anticipate this to be a six to twelve month project. I suspect the physical construction should take a month or less, but the masking and painting will be considerably longer. Then the lights... Good god!

For the record, this is a personal build project intended solely for my personal collection. It is not a commission, nor can I, or will I repeat this project on a commission basis.

http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/DSPost002.jpg

http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/DSPost001.jpg
Click to expand...

This is a real labour of love...approaching 8 years in the making, just a bit more than the anticipated 6 to 12 months. But then Real Life has a way of disrupting our hobbies. Awesome work..looking forward to those last few holes being drilled and photos taken. Hang in there. Its been an interesting ride.

Good Luck finishing her
 
Last edited by a moderator:
PHArchivist said:
My closest friends are those that are fastest on the keyboard! :D:cool

Hope all is well with both, and until we meet in person a virtual :cheers ( or :cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers) will do...

Is Harrison driving yet...? In all seriousness, mine (who was 8 when this all started) will be licensed next month...!
Click to expand...

That is just insane! I saw a pic of you and him standing enxt to each other and I couldn't believe that he was the same hyper kid that was coming into the garage every 5 minutes. LOL. He's a good looking kid, who's his father? ;)

I remember the first day coming to your house and us spending about 4 hours figuring out how to even paint the damn thing. Hahahaha.

Harrison is 6 1/2 and Bella just turned 8. Time flies brother. Harrison hadn't even been born yet when you started this and Bella was only like 6 months old.
 
Jedifyfe said:
That is just insane! I saw a pic of you and him standing enxt to each other and I couldn't believe that he was the same hyper kid that was coming into the garage every 5 minutes. LOL. He's a good looking kid, who's his father? ;)

I remember the first day coming to your house and us spending about 4 hours figuring out how to even paint the damn thing. Hahahaha.

Harrison is 6 1/2 and Bella just turned 8. Time flies brother. Harrison hadn't even been born yet when you started this and Bella was only like 6 months old.
Click to expand...

Remember that VERY well...!

And need a repeat - I've made a significant decision about the equator lights, and would actually love to have your help.

I've decided I'm going to sand away the paint off the back wall of the equator trench (at least the center 30%-40%), and then create the lights by adding a strip (or strips) of pre-punched styrene onto the existing back wall

This will allow me far greater precision in maintaining size, shape (rectangle) and position of the trench lights, and will allow me to match the original better.

It took a lot of work (and paint) to make the trench light-proof, but the biggest challenge was the seams where the back wall meets the edges of the hemispheres. By removing paint only in the middle 30%-40% of the current back wall, the seams top and bottom should remain painted and light proof. The new strips of styrene will be primered, painted silver, black, or both plus the base color coat, so getting the new back wall light proof shouldn't be too hard...

Looking at the original, makes you wonder if thats the way they did it. We may never know, but there ARE NO trench lights there today, and some physical elements of the trench are gone today.

By the way, some have asked - on that day Brad and derived the best method of painting the city blocks, which was splattering thinned black paint (and some white too) onto the properly masked areas, then painting out the spots that were too big with grey paint (on a brush) and adding more small dots with pen or pencil.
 

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