Building The Death Star - PRODUCTION

[PHArchivist]

Just a thought.

I was looking over my OT Chronicles book and there are some nice photos of the Death Star II during painting.

If the DSII looks like the DSI on screen, my logic would tell me they were 'made' the same way to look the 'same'.

Do you think those painting photos might be useful ?

Sort of... But the DS II, in my opinion, appears distinctly more silver than the DS I.

On the DS I, it is predominantly shades of grey, but there are sublte elemements of silver. They are hard to pick out, even if you see it in person. My guess is that on the DS II, while base colors are still likely grey tones, they used more silver here and there.

And the patterns of the cityscapes of the DS II are a bit differet, too.

 

[BrianM]

Actually, I'm pretty sure The DS 2 was built at ILM in a diferent country by different people.

BrianM

Just a thought.

I was looking over my OT Chronicles book and there are some nice photos of the Death Star II during painting.

If the DSII looks like the DSI on screen, my logic would tell me they were 'made' the same way to look the 'same'.

Do you think those painting photos might be useful ?

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

My line of thinking was when they went to build the DSII they said "Hey, how did you paint up the first one ?" and it was done in a similar style with obvious color and detail differences but the same basic starting style and approach.

I thought the pics of the DSII in early paint stages might help getting from primer to paint if you thought the 2 models were painted similar.

 

[Jedifyfe]

So yesterday I was over at Robs house. We spent the morining talking and got around to working on the DS later in the day/evening. Most of the earlier afternoon was spent looking at the pics that Rob has of the original DS.

The painting of this thing is going to be 100 times harder than I ever imagined. We spen about an hour or two looking at the intriquite painting design this thing has. Rob will need to take a lot of time to map out the paint scheme and masking off pattern.

In the evening Rob and I started to make the painting rig. This is an arc that extends from north ot south pole and will swing freely to be able to mark longitudinal and lattitudinal lines. We got the painting rig almost done, Rob just has to figure out how to attach it to the south pole and make it swival.

Rob also sanded the entire DS so that it is smooth as glass.

Once Rob has the rig finished, the hardest part will be mapping the surface paint design.

Thanks Rob for the fun day and let me say that this thing is even more impressive in person! Right before I left to go home (at 7:00pm) we lit this up and even with the little light that leaks throught the dish, I could imagine what this will look like painted and lit up! I hope to be able to go back and help Rob out again, soon!


Brad

 

[Jayn]

Could it not be marked painted by just rotating the model on a ball bearing swivel plate and keeping the marker in a stationary - but movable position? Like you would paint lines on pottery? (or is that what you're doing?) Trying to picture it all

 

[Jedifyfe]

Could it not be marked painted by just rotating the model on a ball bearing swivel plate and keeping the marker in a stationary - but movable position? Like you would paint lines on pottery? (or is that what you're doing?) Trying to picture it all

Possibly. In essence that is what Rob is doing but keeping the DS stationary and rotating the arc around it. This is how the original was done as well. The 2 biggest reasons to do it this way is that; The DS is HUGE and would be hard to keep flat and not wobble while turning it, and Rob needs the rig to be able to scribe longitude lines as well. The way this works he will be able to do both with this process.

I am sure Rob will post some pics of it when he gets it working.


Brad

 

[darth_myeek]

Brad & Rob,

this may be old news, but I was looking for a cheap alternative to airbrush frisket. I remembered this peel and stick carpet protector and thought of you guys. Lots of sq. ft. for $20.00.

I think you can find it at ACE and Home Depot.


-DM

 

[PHArchivist]

Perfect recap, Brad! And yes; I spent WAY too much time jabbering and showing off my house/collection. Hey what to you expect when you get a couple of prop nuts together to oogle, share, and shoot the ****! Good times...

Yeah, I snapped a pic or two last night of the rig/jig/painting guide, but just need to get around to posting the pics.

So I still need to do some light proofing of the trench and the dish, and devise a way to affix the guide to the south pole (more on this later). Then I need to scrutinize the model for any errant blobs of glue, paint or anything else that in scale would be the size of a house! Then its base coat time!

 

[Jedifyfe]

Perfect recap, Brad! And yes; I spent WAY too much time jabbering and showing off my house/collection. Hey what to you expect when you get a couple of prop nuts together to oogle, share, and shoot the ****! Good times...

And might I say that Rob has one the most amazing Terminator 2 busts!!! Painted by Rob and it is so friggin life-like. Thanks again Rob and I hope to get back down your way again.

Brad

 

[PHArchivist]

All right guys - here's the latest.

As Brad mentioned, we worked together devising and building the painting guide/rig. Was nice to have an extra set of arms to help hold it in place.

In the second pic, you can see the challenge. What you're looking at is the MDF arc loosely butting up against the PVC sleeve that fits over the lead pipe that holds the whole mother up. The challenge at hand is how to attach the wood to the PVC (or the south pole in general).

Today I had a stroke of brilliance (Brad, listen up - you know this better than the rest).

It came to me to build a small square box that fits around the PVC. Since its square, it would have a flat surface that I could use an L-bracket on to attach the arc. The other three sides of the square would fit around the PVC, and - though square - would rotate freely around the pipe. Brad, not unlike adding a wider diameter length of PVC, but without the headache of splitting the PVC and re-gluing it into a cylinder, or dremel-cutting the existing one like we talked about.

Thoughts...?

 

[Jedifyfe]

That should work Rob. You will have to make sure the box is tight fitting around the PVC. If you don't get it just right, it will not move fluidly. I still think a bigger PVC pipe would be best. You could cut it a slit in it that made it possible to "snap" onto the existing PVC pipe. Then attach the arc to that with modded brackets.


Brad

 

[Jedifyfe]

Okay, I have a confession to make.

Sorry Rob...



The real reason Rob is making this is because he is an alchoholic!

 

[PHArchivist]

--Hinge upper dome to lower dome
--Fill lower dome 40% with ice
--Stock with favorite beverage

:lol

 

[mb1k]

I'm only mad that I didn't think of that Photoshop gag first!

 

[Jedi Dade]

Sort of... But the DS II, in my opinion, appears distinctly more silver than the DS I.

On the DS I, it is predominantly shades of grey, but there are sublte elemements of silver. They are hard to pick out, even if you see it in person. My guess is that on the DS II, while base colors are still likely grey tones, they used more silver here and there.

And the patterns of the cityscapes of the DS II are a bit differet, too.

I think it was in the "Making of Return of the Jedi" where there is a discussion on the construction of the DSII. In it there is a breif bit about how the DS II color selection is differnt form the DS I. It might be worth digging that interview out for some pointers that are just kinda flung out ther off the cuff... its only been like 15 years (at least) since I saw that but I do remember it...

Just a thought.

Another thought -

You need to make a similar jig for the bottom section of your arc to give it the needed rigidity. You may have been planning this already but I did not hear you mention it so I thought I'd chime it in case. You may want to figure out a nice clamping method as well so you can draw the longitudinal lines without movement, and a clamping method to the arc so you can clamp your scriber/pencil (whatever) to the arch for the latitudinal lines. Also whatever clamping method you use should allow for a bit of "float" because unless you were extremely lucky or you used some high precision method of alignment the odds of it being completely "true" when you spin it are slim. Not a Dig (no pun intended) just my Father was a Millwright and I grew up around high precision stuff and have seen the headaches... ever try to balance and true a turbine fan... Ugh... but the same basic principle applies here Its gonna "wiggle" a bit most likely. Probably just a little but if you're scribing that little bit can make for some deep scribes, and some light spots. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Looks truly inspirational by the way. I'm really looking forward to seeing it finished.

Jedi Dade

 

[Laffo]

I have your shirt, looking for the pants. The ensemble should be ready when you start to take pictures of the finished thing.
Laffo.

 

[PHArchivist]

I have your shirt, looking for the pants. The ensemble should be ready when you start to take pictures of the finished thing.
Laffo.

Sweet!!!

 

[PHArchivist]

You need to make a similar jig for the bottom section of your arc to give it the needed rigidity. You may have been planning this already but I did not hear you mention it so I thought I'd chime it in case. You may want to figure out a nice clamping method as well so you can draw the longitudinal lines without movement, and a clamping method to the arc so you can clamp your scriber/pencil (whatever) to the arch for the latitudinal lines. Also whatever clamping method you use should allow for a bit of "float" because unless you were extremely lucky or you used some high precision method of alignment the odds of it being completely "true" when you spin it are slim. Not a Dig (no pun intended) just my Father was a Millwright and I grew up around high precision stuff and have seen the headaches... ever try to balance and true a turbine fan... Ugh... but the same basic principle applies here Its gonna "wiggle" a bit most likely. Probably just a little but if you're scribing that little bit can make for some deep scribes, and some light spots. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Looks truly inspirational by the way. I'm really looking forward to seeing it finished.

Jedi Dade

JD this is weird... Spent the afternoon working on exactly what you wrote about, THEN read your post! Your comments are dead on accurate.

Yes, a method of attachment at the bottom is necessary and part of the plan. And yes, I spent a large amount of time and work trying to get it as true as possible. And yes, there will unavoidably be some slop. The set-screw at the top offers some play. The angles, though quite possibly 89 degrees or even 89.5 or 90.5 degrees, are most likely NOT exactly 90 degrees...

Here are the pics...

 

[Kuhn Global]

Sweet! That is kewl!

I can't wait until you start painting and detailing this beast Rob! That will be a HUGE treat to view!

Great job my friend!

 

[chris_s]

Does the guide need to be offset from the center so when you draw the line following the side of the wood it ends at the pole? Otherwise the poles would be off by the width of the wooden guide.