Marvel's Agents of SHIELD - The Bus

I thought about just getting one kit and casting the wings and 2 engines for the rear set of wings, but decided I could possibly use the leftover greeblies for the 1.20 meter Victory II Class Star Destroyer project I'm working on or some other future project.

Well, it's my first ever "big" conversion, and my first ever time making my own parts, resin or otherwise. I decided it would be easier to do the big changes (like the hump with the skylight) on a donor model, kinda like making a facial prosthetic on a model's lifecast. From what I've figures out sofar with the scaled up plans for the C-17 and The Bus and the Revell parts I think using the spare wings from a second kit would very easily make your second pair of wings. Need to move some engine mounts, but otherwise pretty easy.


My plan now is to do the hump as a single piece of resin, that would just drop into the existing model kit's fuselage when you cut a hole along a few choice panel lines. But yeah.. it's a plan. We'll see how it works out. :D

Rob
 
While I was looking everything over, I was trying to figure out how to display it.... I see 3 general options...

1. In Flight - real easy
2. On the ground - so so on the easy scale
3. either version 1 or 2 in VTOL mode. This one is obviously being a much bigger PITA to build since it would mean all 6 engines need to be in the hover position along with flaps and slats in the right position. :wacko

This has the potential to get bananas. :D
 
I'm leaning towards option 2. Ramp down, Lola parked on it. Nice view of the lab (lit up, ofcourse...).
That being said.... Hover mode, with the engines lit up with blue LEDs? Oooooh, so tempting. Maybe... maybe for the second one... Definitely toying with the idea of a Lola in hover mode. Low hover, wheels tilted sideways, lit up with fiber-optics or LEDs...

Rob
 
looking at side views of a C-17 vs The Bus it looks like the top deck of The Bus follows the same basic profile as the top of the C-17 but the cockpit is moved forward and down which means the bottom of the fuselage is flatter.

I have 2 kits in hand - 1 fuselage I bashed together to get a 3D scan of the front and rear to help figure out what needs to be modded at the front and where the rear wings attach.
 
The cockpit is actually in the same place on both aircraft. On the Bus, since the nose cone is different it changes the look of the forward slope and the hump on top changes the line that comes off the top making it look like it's been moved. Everything forward of the wings needs modding... same goes for aft of the wings... matter of fact, I don't think there's a single section of this bird that doesn't need modding... It's longer, taller and it's fuselage diameter is wider by a foot (I checked against what Boeing has)... Yay!

Something I found that looks interesting...
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aWsdZ7bngaU/Uk8Cs4t-kbI/AAAAAAAAn5Q/Ni3McD4HItw/s640/aviondeshield.png

So while I wait for the 2nd kit (and possibly 2 more for another one) and my fiber optics to arrive (this week), I started to work on the easy things... 4 of the 6 engines, all those wheels, and general prep/paint of parts.

I'll start posting pics when I get a new camera. My last one committed suicide by diving into deep Mediterranean waters while on the way back from a Greek island. There's a reason for the wrist/neck strap that comes with these things...
 

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roughly lining up views of C17 and The Bus schematics - it's clear the schematic is based on similar views of a C17. Whether the CGI model follows the same lines will have to wait for someone to find orthographic plan and elevations of the actual CG model

But, assuming the animated gifs show up, the tail and wings can be made to line up - which leaves the cockpit and nose of the Bus forward and down a bit relative to a C17.

c17.gif

c17_side.gif
 
WOOT!!!! Got my fiber optics yesterday and finally obtained the 2nd c-17 kit today along with some styrene I was waiting for and a new camera... This badboy is in full swing now... well, tomorrow, got a date tonight. Ahhhh the single life of a late 30's modeler. Most times when girls ask what I do and I say "I build models" they think I build careers for runway models cause their eyes light up like a kid in a candy store.

Also ordered another 2 C-17 kits that will be built as "in flight" and mimic the one on Coulson's desk in the office. That one will probably get going some time after this one is done and I get a couple other builds out of the way.
 
I already have two C-17 kits, and yesterday I got a small package from Revell Germany...

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I used the contact form on their site to contact Revell's Excellent "Abteilung X" (their spare-parts department), explained what I was planning to do and asked them if I could get/buy some extra parts, a.i. the complete set of parts for the four engines...

IMG_3026_zps996708fe.jpg

Score! All(!!) the parts for the four engines! I'm planning to cheat and build one Bus, but make the engines in such a way I can swap them out between normal and hover mode. I've done similar using small magnets on fighter-bombers to swap load-outs. And... yeah... I'm nuts... gonna try and light the hover-engines with 0603 SMD LEDs. Which means making an electrical connection in a 1/144 scale pylon as well. Crazy, but do-able.

My start-up is gonna be a bit slow, as I have other stuff to clear from my bench and recovering from being on sick-leave since Januari. But sofar the research is going well. I'm probably going to take the "If it looks like a duck..." approach on this conversion, trying to get it all as best as I can without too much major surgery. Making the hump and the upper deck is going to be the biggest job, and even with that I am going to see if I can make it as painless as possible.

Rob
 
WOW dude :wacko ... I was looking over the hover mode and yea, it's nuts especially at this scale. I noticed that not only do the engines pivot, but the structure of the pylons on the top side of the wing also transform a bit. Best of luck man.

Why not use fiber optics and put the LED in the wing or something? This way all you need is 1 connection point for the fiber which can be recessed on one side so you have a male/female connection. Once the 2 ends of the fiber optics meet, the 2nd portion will light.
 
Well, I have never used fiber-optics, and I am going to try this as low-budget as I can get away with. Already been brainstorming, and I think I can get a a solid connection on either side of the engine-pylon's connecting tab to allow for a flow of juice.

Magnets in front and back of the connecting tab, electrical connections on either side of the tab. The magnets I have are quite small yet strong, and the engines don't weigh that much anyway. And they will be roomey enough to hold a 0603 SMD LED. Soo yeah... the challenge is probably going to be soldering leads to a 1,6x0,8x0,6mm LED...
 
I think it's about time for an update to The Bus... :D

I started working on the engines as I 'thought' they would be easy. :facepalm
I know these areas will never be seen, but I'll know and that's enough... So, sand, fill, sand, fill, rinse & repeat...
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Again, never to be seen, but still needs to look good.
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While I had the airbrush out, I fiddled with the color of the fan disks. I think they look good... I still have time to change it before installing if needed.
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Each of the 6 Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 engines need to be modified to match what's on screen... in total, 18 pieces of styrene are fitted to each one.
Step 1...
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Here's the side-by-side of the kit supplied engine and a "2nd step" modified one.
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This bit makes all the difference IMO...
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Cut, inserted and cleaned up a bit... still a bit more cleaning and sanding to shape, but I like it. :)
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Now I gotta do this 5 more times and I can be 1/2 done with the engine pods.

While waiting on the glue to set on the engine bits, I started some work on the main wings. Light proofed the interior of the wings, passed the fiber optic...
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Just to see it, I held it up to the lamp... I love fiber optics. I'm using .75mm plastic fiber optics for this. I'm also going to custom make the electronic board with the various LED's...
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More to come sometime soon... life keeps interrupting me.
 
where are the rest of you guys at with the build? I'll post up some pics later, but I've rough-cut the rear wings and once I fabricate the mounts for them, I'll work out the forward section stretch. :)

FYI, don't rack your brain on getting it correct against the "blueprint". That thing is wrong on many levels when compared to the screen used aircraft.
 
I'm still working on clearing my bench, and waiting for my LEDs to come in from EvilBay. My current build is in the painting stages, so shouldn't take that long to finish (I suspect all done by this weekend.)

Here's a sneak;


Old (nay, ancient) Matchbox Handley Page Halifax with a lighted scratchbuilt interior. I do like my old kits...

Rob
 
FYI, don't rack your brain on getting it correct against the "blueprint". That thing is wrong on many levels when compared to the screen used aircraft.

Tell me about it.

Just tried to whip up a 3D version based on it, body came out too thin, wings too big.

I just wish there was a site for the FX from the show with a decent set of orthos on.
 
Tell me about it.

Just tried to whip up a 3D version based on it, body came out too thin, wings too big.

I just wish there was a site for the FX from the show with a decent set of orthos on.

I feel you man... Initially, I had an interesting time trying to figure it out. Here's a quick chop I did based off the blueprint. Forward section was stretched and the rear wings were added accordingly.
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When compared to the screen aircraft, the rear wings are too far back.
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Coulson's desk model
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To make things even better, there seems to be a bit of trickery with the CGI version regarding the emergency exit and lab in the cargo bay. When entering the cargo area, the right side emergency exit is where it should be on a typical C-17. However, if that's where the lab wall is, the distance between that and the cargo hatch on this model is nowhere near enough for the space shown on screen. Moving the wall and exit further into the cargo area where it should be puts it right in the middle of the gear well... the only thing that I see as a solution is stretching the aft section a bit....
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I wouldn't worry about the inside V outside thing regarding fitting, remember on Knight Rider when Kitt would ride up in that truck and only just squeeze in, then they would cut to the inside and there would be enough room to open the doors and walk around?

I wonder which FX site made the original Bus?
 
I wouldn't worry about the inside V outside thing regarding fitting, remember on Knight Rider when Kitt would ride up in that truck and only just squeeze in, then they would cut to the inside and there would be enough room to open the doors and walk around?

I wonder which FX site made the original Bus?

Yea, I remember that... all this hollywood tomfoolery is annoying.

If it's someone on here, they're keeping real quiet. :ninja
 
Since we're on the subject of the rear wings...

rough cut... set them up... :D
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dry fit on 1/2... still needs tweaking but noice!
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Lovely work so far, how are you going to handle the shield emblem?

Sometimes it looks raised from the hull, other times just painted.

Speaking of paint, that is going to be tricky too, half the time it looks black, the other half a dark shade of copper.
 
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