Building The Death Star - PRODUCTION

[PHArchivist]

Either he is busy doing all the work he said would take weeks to do, or doing something else. But I know what you mean, it suddenly got quiet here.

Affirmative.

Not much to show or report. Just been farting around with the damn trench. Making solid progress; just taking a bit of time.

I have the new thicker banding on the lower dome, which - as hoped - has helped the upper dome overbite a bit. But it has created a massive "step" on the lower dome, in that the banding rises a full millimeter off the surface of the lower dome (60 scale feet, about). The lower dome should be smooth.

So today, I sanded off all the paint and primer just below the banding, and added another thin strip of styrene that is only half as thick as the banding, so the "step" is now two smaller steps. The hope is that with some generous coats of primer, and some sanding, I can smooth it all out.

See...? Boring tedious ****...

 

[NAZGÛL]

I just got to say Im a HUGE fan of this project. Its so well made! Thanks for the inspiration!thumbsup:thumbsup

Cheers

PS. The trench thickness look dead on right in proportions.

 

[jawsmodels]

Gday, new boy on death star from Tattoine(Terra Australis). Love this build, my son wants this in our garage along with all the other mad replicas/kits he sees me looking at:eek Seriously excellent work, thanks for sharing, best regards!

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Jeze, isn't this thing finished yet ?!

You would think it's a holiday weekend or something.

Looking forward to some deathstartastic update pics in a few weeks.

 

[darth_myeek]

Rob,

The race is on my friend. Star Wars shop is throwing down the DS gauntlet on 9/20.

Exclusive Death Star Cookie Jar:
The exclusive Death Star cookie jar is built to hold an Imperial army of your favorite cookies, and can even double as a festive ice cooler or candy bowl at your next Star Wars soiree. Sculpted from polyresin with great detail and featuring three sturdy feet to keep your Death Star from rolling off the counter. Oh, and no exposed thermal exhaust ports for hungry young rebels. A very cool exclusive available only at StarWarsShop!

mmh cookies

 

[wbundrick]

Come to the dark side, we have cookies!

 

[BrianM]

Rob,

The race is on my friend. Star Wars shop is throwing down the DS gauntlet on 9/20.

Exclusive Death Star Cookie Jar:
The exclusive Death Star cookie jar is built to hold an Imperial army of your favorite cookies, and can even double as a festive ice cooler or candy bowl at your next Star Wars soiree. Sculpted from polyresin with great detail and featuring three sturdy feet to keep your Death Star from rolling off the counter. Oh, and no exposed thermal exhaust ports for hungry young rebels. A very cool exclusive available only at StarWarsShop!

mmh cookies

I think their trench is too wide. :lol

BrianM

 

[Jedi Dade]

and the profile is very spherical...

Jedi Dade

 

[FANTAMATION]

Rob-I think I made a better one,more vertical lines.Ill send them to your email along with the others

Just wanted to throw in my two cents worth on this little conundrum, I think what the ILM boys might've done to get this speckled pattern without getting too technical is to use an old trick I learned in the industry. You get some varying shades of paint you want to use (in this case black, different shades of gray and maybe some white) then you take a toothbrush and dip it in the paint and then flick the wet bristles by rubbing your thumb across the top of them which will spatter the area you want covered with tiny speckles of paint. This should give you the look you want, I noticed on the detailed pics of the DS surface that the speckles were all varying sizes and shades so this should work nicely for you without too much hassle

 

[nwjedidave]

my local post office's walls are similar. In some places it almost looks like it was hand brushed on (with a large 4"/6" brush) if you think it'll help I can go snap some cell phone pictures.

 

[ave4uevoli]

Just wanted to throw in my two cents worth on this little conundrum, I think what the ILM boys might've done to get this speckled pattern without getting too technical is to use an old trick I learned in the industry. You get some varying shades of paint you want to use (in this case black, different shades of gray and maybe some white) then you take a toothbrush and dip it in the paint and then flick the wet bristles by rubbing your thumb across the top of them which will spatter the area you want covered with tiny speckles of paint. This should give you the look you want, I noticed on the detailed pics of the DS surface that the speckles were all varying sizes and shades so this should work nicely for you without too much hassle

Oh yes - I've heard of this too and I've tried it on some SS models to add some minor details- But MAN you'll be flicking for days with a death star that size. :lol

 

[FANTAMATION]

well then just mask the thing off and have a paint flicking/speckling party, I guarantee you'll have the entire thing done in an afternoon with just like three people....... But DON'T forget the beer!

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

Be careful with micro sol - it's harsh and can eat decals. It's used to make decals conform to compound surfaces better. Micro set is much friendlier.

Mirco sol and Micro set is a two part process

 

[wbundrick]

It's a very long thread. Spatter brush was already discussed and you can see some tests of the technique on page 90.

 

[FANTAMATION]

My bad, you guys have it well covered........ this is looking great by the way!!!

 

[Too_Many_Cars]

That's a pretty rockin piece of acrylic you have there. I haven't read through the 100+ pages of the thread, but has anyone managed to smuggle out any shots of the original Death Star from the Sci Fi Museum in Seattle? That one had absolutely no texture, looks like it was airbrushed and then had a whole bunch of spot windows scraped off with a razor blade.

--Brian

 

[wbundrick]

That's a pretty rockin piece of acrylic you have there. I haven't read through the 100+ pages of the thread, but has anyone managed to smuggle out any shots of the original Death Star from the Sci Fi Museum in Seattle? That one had absolutely no texture, looks like it was airbrushed and then had a whole bunch of spot windows scraped off with a razor blade.

--Brian

Page 87, post #863

 

[bleyd]

Been lurking for sometime on this thread and I HAD to just throw in how great his model is and it is most impressive at how you achieved near perfection with this model. Only reason why I said NEAR perfect is you even managed to capture the very subtle flaws the original seemed to have. Any new photos that are most current and how many hours would you say you've put into this so far.
Just curious and great job! thumbsupcheersthumbsup:thumbsup

 

[vaderdarth]

alright what's the hold up on this project???? U know we're dying to see progress!!!

Dave

 

[MsngPcs]

Did some one leave an exhaust port uncovered? :angel