2001 Space Station docking bay WIP

[joberg]

Well, it's going to be a first for me: a Studio Scale model My project is to re-create as detailed and accurately as possible this original screen-used model:

Not easy for many things: 1: some pieces of the original are missing from the face and the sides.
2: the inside of the bay is difficult to see...so in terms of accuracy, I'll have to guesstimate the details and the greeblies.
3: some greeblies will have to be reproduced by hand (or moulding if many of the same kind)...I'll count on my fellow RPFers to identify those which are identifiable.
4: If someone can post better pics from the movie (4K version) that would be great to help me i.d. the side greeblies and panels
5: decals are also on the face...same kind of decals (as far as I can see) that were affixed on the Aries-1B

So, stay tuned and a shout to anybody with great pics of the original...wish me luck

 

[Pyramidrep]

joberg,
I kinda thought that you might get tempted to have a go at building this replica. Hope it goes well. At least it’s smallish at 40cm diameter .

 

[joberg]

joberg,
I kinda thought that you might get tempted to have a go at building this replica. Hope it goes well. At least it’s smallish at 40cm diameter .

Thanks and yes, it's small indeed...something that will not scare the GF (for once).
Here's a few pics of the face being built. Cardboard + sandwiched foam = beginning of something.

 

[stevielewis]

I'll be watching this build. Looks fascinating.

 

[joberg]

I'm trying to reproduce the paneling (going blind looking at those pics on line and on Youtube)!!
Question for the Studio Scale Artists: some paneling is missing from the face. Some are very easy to see (trace of lighter section, sharp and well defined). Others are very hard to distinguish (traces of glue, lines fading, etc) And, last but not least: greeblies missing and impossible to see on pics of the original.
What should I do with those variants? Should I replace the ones clearly defined, or leave them "as is"?
Should I leave the ones hard to see (unless, and that goes for every option, I'm supplied with better pics)
Should I use artistic liberties to replace the greeblies?

 

[mktodd]

I thought the original model was lost? Last seen rotting in a kids playground near the studio in London?
Did someone find it?

 

[Treadwell]

That was the entire station itself. He's talking about a different model of just the docking bay.

 

[Pyramidrep]

I thought the original model was lost? Last seen rotting in a kids playground near the studio in London?
Did someone find it?

The docking bay has apparently survived. Have a look at joberg’s thread “ the death of a Space Station” in the general modelling forum ( page 2)

I'm trying to reproduce the paneling (going blind looking at those pics on line and on Youtube)!!
Question for the Studio Scale Artists: some paneling is missing from the face. Some are very easy to see (trace of lighter section, sharp and well defined). Others are very hard to distinguish (traces of glue, lines fading, etc) And, last but not least: greeblies missing and impossible to see on pics of the original.
What should I do with those variants? Should I replace the ones clearly defined, or leave them "as is"?
Should I leave the ones hard to see (unless, and that goes for every option, I'm supplied with better pics)
Should I use artistic liberties to replace the greeblies

joberg,
so I have the same problem in a few small areas of my own project where reference is poor and images indistinct. The way I‘m dealing with it is to regard the model,even when it will be finished , as an ongoing work in progress. Meaning I will build to the best reference I have whether it’s right or wrong and then change those areas when clear/ better reference turns up ( and it will).
In order to stop yourself going bonkers, it’s best to try to enlarge the reference images their actual real life size and print them out, in a montage if necessary, so you have one master image of the 40cm disc. Everything is easier to gauge and see, even if some areas are blurry. you can then make notations of the difficult areas that need to be resolved and then look at those specific areas on the bluray.
I don’t know if Gene Kozicki is still on the forum here but he’s probably the one to resolve the greeblies identification ( mostly Airfix kits used, I think.)
Hope that’s of some help.

 

[joberg]

^^I appreciate the help mate...my biggest issue is that, apart from the greeblies (Airfix, UPC, and some building parts made for train set dio), no matter how much you're looking at pics of the screen-used Space Station, you cannot distinguish, or approximate some of the greeblies that were used to dress that docking bay. Some paneling and other details on the side are not too difficult to get (looking at videos and pics, I'm going to be able to be close from the original). One pic in particular is that of the Station photographed in the studio and posted on a U.K. site. When blown-up to a bigger size, the pic is very blurry and all the details are washed-up in a sea of pixels Back to work, I guess

 

[Pyramidrep]

Yep. I understand the frustration. I suppose the difficulty comes with the territory of Studio Scale modelling particularly with subjects that haven’t been built before. Few , if anyone, have the answers ( unless they have the reference not in the public realm).
I think all of us on the RPF are waiting on a Pathfinder to find some solution to the kind of problem which you face.


Be a Pathfinder, joberg.

 

[Studio Kitbash]

I think this docking bay from 2001 must be one of the strongest and clearest influences that Colin Cantwell had on the Star Wars universe -- the rounded corners of the bay get replicated in everything from the Death Star docking bay to the rounded corner hallways of the Rebel Blockade Runner. And of course, the rounded-corners is now the universe we live in, from the iPhone to just about everything else that seeks to replicate/imitate that original space-as-promised-land futurism mythology. Would love to know if anyone has done a history of this pattern, or if any documentary films address it, or whatnot.

In any event, it looks like a great build project, and would be of course very fun, when done, if behind it (on the blue square/screen(?) in the very back, you had a picture or mini-model of the Death Star, just as an intertextual nod to the future from the perspective of 1968.

To your question/frustration regarding greeblies, are you aware that Colin Cantwell is still alive and answering fan mail? I wrote him a little over a year ago, and even though his wife answered me, and I didn't get the answer I was after, I did surmise that he encountered my letter. So you might try that avenue -- if so, I recommend a large-format blow-up series of photographs with circles indicating ID's needed and lines/blanks where he can respond, and a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) to make his response as easy as possible.

 

[joberg]

Thanks Studio Kitbash. While C.C. contributed a lot regarding the designs of 2001, the SS.V was built by other model makers, thus putting their artistic ideas on that particular model (as for any models built for the film). I'll try my best to reproduced accurately the docking bay, knowing for a fact that the inside will be my biggest challenge, since I don't have clear pics of the details used in its construction.

 

[joberg]

Well, after a week of going blind; here's my first pass (and first row) of mainly panels and a small amount of greeblies.

 

[Bondo Fett]

I'm so glad you are tackling this subject. I fully support winging it when you simply can't identify the doner kit items. I figure, if you don't know, you don't know, and it's not for lack of trying. It's the spirit of the thing, after all.

I'm interested to know how you sealed the foam that creates the beveled threshold area.

 

[joberg]

I'm so glad you are tackling this subject. I fully support winging it when you simply can't identify the doner kit items. I figure, if you don't know, you don't know, and it's not for lack of trying. It's the spirit of the thing, after all.

I'm interested to know how you sealed the foam that creates the beveled threshold area.

Thanks! As for the foam; I used a very thin Sintra that I cut in 6 pieces to obtain the look. Since the angles and curves on that entrance are quite crazy, I opted for that technique. Still a few areas to sand flush...the paint will raise (or not) those problem areas

 

[TazMan2000]

Yes, those are complex curves but it looks like they are perfect. I'm kind of wondering why whoever built the studio model, made them look that way. They could have easily just made a trapezoidal door and nobody would have blinked. Perhaps it was something that already existed, like a part off of a vacuum cleaner.

TazMan2000

 

[joberg]

Thanks Taz Yes, for a Space Station the opening's design is quite complicated to achieve. I don't know why they'd opted for that kind of crazy angles and curves In terms of construction, I cut two circles (cardboard) and sandwiched the blue foam in between those.
But first, I had to cut-out the "back opening" of the docking bay. Easy trapeze to create and cut out of one cardboard circle.
Next, I drew the "front opening" (you know, the one with the crazy angles) and cut it out of the second circle. Prior to glue that second cardboard circle onto the foam, I had to cut the foam out of the trapeze of the first circle. By cutting the front opening, I could, then, place the second circle in its proper position, aligning the back with the front. Next, I cut the excess foam with a hot wire cutter (cardboard will not melt) following the cardboard curvature and used the same technique for that crazy angled front opening: by simply following those two different openings (one is higher than the other) I achieve the wanted look...if that makes sense

 

[Pyramidrep]

Joberg,
Look good already.
Yeah, the Station Bay opening is a bit of a “pig of a shape to model but you,ve done a fine job in reproducing it.

I’d love to have seen how they originally cut and milled that shape in acrylic sheet. That required a lot of skill from an experienced machinist and the appropriate equipment ( way out of reach for ordinary folk).

Can I ask about the “Sintra” you used. Not familiar with the stuff here in Ireland. Is it similar to polystyrene?

 

[3Dsf]

Sintra is similar to Foamex in the UK. Foamed PVC sheet.

 

[joberg]

Joberg,
Look good already.
Yeah, the Station Bay opening is a bit of a “pig of a shape to model but you,ve done a fine job in reproducing it.

I’d love to have seen how they originally cut and milled that shape in acrylic sheet. That required a lot of skill from an experienced machinist and the appropriate equipment ( way out of reach for ordinary folk).

Can I ask about the “Sintra” you used. Not familiar with the stuff here in Ireland. Is it similar to polystyrene?

Yes, when you think of it and as you know, most of the model were made out of wood milled and shaped by experienced and very skilled Artists!
I took the easy road on that opening