Building the Slave I

I have a question:

Here's a photo of the original Slave 1 wings.
There are small varaiations in the two wings.

slave1_wings.jpg


So should I build the wings with these imperfections or both of them PERFECTLY symmetrically?
(I already started building the wings, and I have made a decision, just wanted ot know what people think.

Tim
 
Hey Tim,

you are in fact the one who pointed out to me the unsymmetry in props like the vader helmet and stromtrooper helmet, giving them their disctinctive looks.

Of course the detail you are asking about is not as crucial in defining the "look" of the ship, but I would always now go for a little unsymmetry.

I am curious what YOUR decision was :)

cheers,
hart.
 
I think it depends how true to the subject you want to be.....but the"imperfections" are so small..most people wont even notice them.If you want a replica identical to the original ILM minature.....include the imperfections...but if ya want it dead on,balls accurate....go for the semetry.
 
In most cases I wouldn't hesitate to make straight lines straight and round things round, but detailing is another matter. Looks to me that these greeblies are "meant" not to match (unless some fell off or something), so I'd leave them asymmetrical. If you flipped your car over, the "greeblies" on the bottom are not going to be identical on either side, right? (Okay, the wheels should be, but the battery's only one one side, AC compressor only on one side, etc.)
 
Hey Tim...have you gotten around to assembling any of the kit bashed detail underneath the Slave I ?How about that radar dish?I was mucking around one night trying to determine how big it was.....I came up with a little over 5" or about 12.8cm in diamenter...that anything close to what you got?
 
I have all the parts for the detail underneath the Slave 1. Most of it is put together, but not inside the ship yet.
There is a photo of the radar dish on my website. Mine is 13.7 cm. The ruler in the chronicles book seems to be either distorted thru perspective or added later.
My measurements are based on the parts that are next to the dish.

Tim
 
Looks great Tim!Thats about the measurment I came up with.....I knew it was gonna be a big dish......where in the world did you find that wall socket cover?I dont think i can find that brand here...but then again...i have'nt gone shopping for wall socket parts lately.I love your ingenuity!Those Slave I wings look like monsters to assemble..did you use 2 Harrier kits for each one,or did you make castings?There are alot more 1/24 Harrier parts in there than it seems...aside from the wings&main engine piece..there are at least 2-3 other pairs of parts by my count from that kit...some are small..a few I'm uncertain of,but between the pictures available in the Chronicals&the parts from the kit I have....the parts look all too familiar to be mistaken for anything else.Keep up the good work Tim....I cant wait to see it a bit further down the assembly line.
 
Wow, Tim. This thing is looking FANTASTIC - no surprise.

As far as the symmetry issue, I would say, without a doubt, make it like the ILM model with the non-symmetric wings. Since you had the good eye to spot these details, I think you should note it in the final model. If you ask me, it just proves that you REALLY know this model.

GREAT work, and good luck!
 
Thanks guys.

I just added a new photo of the wings to my site.
I am trying to build them as close to the original as possible.

Tim
 
Very cool Tim.....out of curiosity...would you suggest buying 2 1/24 airfix Harrier kits for building the wings,or will 1 kit do the job?I cant wait till you have this one finished..it will be Spectacular,I'd even venture to say...it will look better than the ILM minature,but you have the luxuary of spending more time&not rushing........kinda nice not having any time constraints.Anyway..love the pictures..very inspiring...whats yur next project you are gonna tackle after the Slave I,or are you gonna cool off a bit for a while?
 
As some of you guys might know, last week I discovered a problem with my Slave 1 model: The dimensions and proportions are off. Way off.
Two photos of the SAME model:

http://www.ketzer.com/slave1/slave1_compare.jpg

See the part with the arrow. That part is what my calculations were based on. As you can tell, it is (almost) the SAME SIZE in BOTH images! So are the half-round holes in which the wings will attach to later.
These are the two main dimensions I based my model on.

The problem: lens distortion. The top photo of my model was taken using a long lens from further away and the bottom one from closer to the ship with a short lens.
ALL the kit bashed parts fit almost perfectly, although the ship looks A LOT longer in the top image.
(my calculations are based on photos of the original model similarly distorted like the bottom image)

I have started building a new CGI model. If any of you guys have photos of the original model taken with a long lens, from far away, please let me know. (basically, if the model was on display, out of reach and you zoomed in to make the model appear larger, that is the kind of photo I will need)

Look at the bottles in the background and how differet they are in size. Hitchcock's "vertigo" effect created at home. :)

Tim
 
Sorry Tim... yeah, the perspective problem from a photo can be a pain. If I recall, we discussed this a bit in email.
I really hope you get your dimensions nailed down. I've come up with an all right average for mine, but fear it's still going to be a bit on the short side, maybe 3/4 of an inch or more.
Would be brilliant if someone had taken a good side view and gotten focal length and distance to object info. But highly doubtful I'll wager.

If anyone's able to come up with a shot or two, I'd love to see them as well.
 
I think I am close to figuring out the right scale. I got some measurements of the original model (thanks Ed!) and was able to guess the focal lenghts of some of the photos I have.
My goal is to get the model accurate to about 1 cm.
I also found out that my first model was not as far off as I thought it was. The main problem with the first model was that the wings were about 1.5" too far in the front. That did not leave enough room for the radar dish. (it did fit, but it looked crammed)
And the whole lower dish was about an inch too short.
The new lower dish will also be about half an inch deeper, so the Porsche fenders will fit properly. (recessed, and not flush with the bottom edge)

edit: I heard the original ILM model will be on display in Australia soon. Is there anybody down there that can take some photos of the model?



new_old.jpg


new one on the left, old one on the right.
Tim
 
Hey there,

I noticed that you had a list of a bunch of different kits for your model for Slave 1. I understand that certain model kits were used for almost every Star Wars model or costume. I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor. I'm currently working on a Boushh helmet and am looking for some parts. I was wondering if you could possibly identify any from any of the models that you currently have. I currently have the Tamiya Ferrari 312T and the Airfix Harrier G3 which has several pieces for the helmet. I have a link to some pics of pieces I'm looking for. I would be most greatful if you could look over those pics and your models to see if there are any in there. Thanks in advance. Look forward to hearing back from you.

http://www.printroom.com/ViewAlbum.asp?userid=boytroy&album_id=65585&image_id=
 
I am working on the Slave 1 again, trying to get the new CGI model finished.

I am still looking for more photos of the original model. Does anybody have several full views of the model from different angles, all taken with the SAME CAMERA with the SAME focal lenght?

Tim
 
It would be a tragedy to lose this thread.

Bump.

Sounds like the biggest obstacle is lack of long shot photo-ref of the filming model? Anyone know where the Slave I is - assuming it's still on tour? It wasn't at the OMSI Exhibit in Portland Oregon...

I know this is kinda a rudimentary idea. But, if you have all the underside parts, couldn't you simply lay them out on a physical outline (plan sheet) of the skirt, then make adjustments (redlines) to the shape/size of the skirt? Depth will still be an issue. But, I would think that the variation in the curvature of the hull skirt, as it affects the "stacking" of parts inside the hull skirt, wouldn't be as dramatic.

As was mentioned in the interest thread, you really need most of the underside parts - at least, the ones close to the top (or, bottom, depending on your perspective), to accurately size the hull skirt.

Rambling over, bump executed.


Allan
 
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