Building The Death Star - PRODUCTION

[GKvfx]

He hasn't even gotten the thing built yet & you're all planning the destruction! :lol

Heck, when I was a kid, I planned the destruction of damn near every model I built - as I was building them........ :angel

Gene

PS - Rob - You should factor into your budget for this build a LEXAN display case. Think of it as a shield generator.......

 

[PHArchivist]

OK ladies...

After 100 peices of plastic:

 

[PHArchivist]

I still have some cleaning up to do; some fine sanding here and there to clean up some glue globs, trimming some of the radial strips, etcetera. But its essentially done.

And yes, I am thinking about molding it (if can get some help!).

 

[TridCloudwalker]

Have you thought about mounting a 20 - 50 Watt green laser behind the dish?

You can get them ridiculously cheap at http://www.kaidomain.com/.

Anything in the 20 - 50 watt range will pop a balloon. A light blue balloon with a few white clouds painted on it looks a lot like Alderan.

.....of course you can also slice open plastic garbage and grocery bags and permanently blind someone. However, you can see the solid green beam in low light conditions. A smoke machine isn't even needed.

 

[PHArchivist]

Have you thought about mounting a 20 - 50 Watt green laser behind the dish?

You can get them ridiculously cheap at http://www.kaidomain.com/.

Anything in the 20 - 50 watt range will pop a balloon. A light blue balloon with a few white clouds painted on it looks a lot like Alderan.

.....of course you can also slice open plastic garbage and grocery bags and permanently blind someone. However, you can see the solid green beam in low light conditions. A smoke machine isn't even needed.

I actually have! Though not true to the film, I could fire one out of the center of the dish!

 

[TridCloudwalker]

I actually have! Though not true to the film, I could fire one out of the center of the dish!

It's only inaccurate for the first 8 inches, but from there on you have full on screen accuracy including some nice destructive power.

Oh, I also found out that the link I sent you won't ship the high watt lasers to the US. You'd have to have it shipped to a buddy over seas, then have them repackage and ship it to you marked as flashlight (or something) on the customs form. Apparently US customs wont let any lasers higher than 5mW get imported.


EDIT: OR, you could take a solding iron to the resistor inside a 5mW laser and burn it out, which turns it into a MUCH higher wattage. You just need to be careeful you don't fry anything else on the board.

 

[vaderdarth]

Very nice work man!!!

Dave

 

[robn1]

That's a super laser :cool Great work.

Rob

 

[JudgeSabersmith]

Looking at how you're progressing, I think it would be really cool to add some sort of features to the model to bring a sense of realism to it.

While a laser might not be the safest thing, what about a Luxeon LED behind the dish to flash and pulse? What about adding sound of some sort? Here's a link to an electronics package made by Plecter Labs that could easily be adapted for use in your model:

http://www.plecterlabs.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=136

Great work so far. I really like how this is turning out.

 

[PHArchivist]

I've thought about lights, LEDs, Lasers... But considering the original did not have these (to the best of my knowldge) I may pass.

Thanks for the comps on the dish. I have some slight finessing to do here and there, such as sanding down some of the relief, smoothing out/blending in some panels with a tad more paint, trimming some of the radials a bit. And I wish my level of precision was slightly higher (for example getting these lines to line up

But... As they say - it is what it is.

 

[madrobot]

God this is cool.

Everytime I look at this thread, I want to build my own.

 

[vaderdarth]

I'll bet the original lines didn't line up either man......don't sweat it. They wouldn't have had time to make it happen......LOL.

Dave

 

[Jayn]

God this is cool.

Everytime I look at this thread, I want to build my own.

I KNow!! Isn't it??
Nothing like an audience to spur progress too..

 

[TridCloudwalker]

And I wish my level of precision was slightly higher (for example getting these lines to line up)

If it's really bugging you, pop them off. All you need to do is lay the strip styrene all the way across the disk, glue, let it dry, then using a very sharp exacto, snip off what's laying across the middle.

 

[PHArchivist]

I'll bet the original lines didn't line up either man......don't sweat it. They wouldn't have had time to make it happen......LOL.

Dave

I really hope that's the case! Then I can call it "IIW" (Intentionally Introdced Wonkiness)!

And we'll never know, unless some previously unseen reference shots of of the original pop up. In all the ref pics I have, you can barely make out the details on that center disc, and the shots are not taken straight on like my pics here are.

The other thing too is scale. Its easy to see the lines that are off and other examples of a lack of precision, but the photos I posted really magnify everything. To the eye, it all sort of blends.

If it's really bugging you, pop them off. All you need to do is lay the strip styrene all the way across the disk, glue, let it dry, then using a very sharp exacto, snip off what's laying across the middle.

That would work, and I've thought about doing that. We'll see. Again, based on scale, its really not too bad.

 

[CTF]

A busy time of the year, I know... but here's a little bump, anyway.

 

[PHArchivist]

I've got the front half of the domes "frosted" (sanded), and am ready to attach the dish. But I really want a friend to help "spot me" on installing the dish.

 

[madrobot]

If I lived there, I'd help.

I'm dying for more pics dude.

 

[TridCloudwalker]

I've got the front half of the domes "frosted" (sanded), and am ready to attach the dish. But I really want a friend to help "spot me" on installing the dish.

Fly me out and I'll spot you. Or pop on over to Utah mid-Feb. I'll be there for a wedding for a week. heehee

 

[PHArchivist]

Thanks guys!

The challenge (and why I need a spotter; one that is more "into it" than my wife or kids) is that - by design - the dish needs to stick a millimeter or two past the hole in the dome.

So I need someone on the back side to peer through the acrylic and tell me if the dish is situated evenly all the way around the circumference.