Five Foot of Fun, ANH Style !

[bwayne64]

Well thought I'd go ahead and build a Naked Falcon, After the great thread by Andre and Maruska, I had to see how big this bird will actually be. I figure if it doesn't work out, I can always turn it upside down and make a bird bath, LOL. If I get it right, I can add detail as I buy kits. I started by making a 79.05 inch trammel to draw the curve of the hull. That would be one humongous sphere if you had the whole thing. I started thinking of all kinds of router jigs and such to carve the shape, but ended up putting on my sculpting hat. The only thing I hate more than sculpting, is painting , yuck ! Sorry about the picture quality, camera is old and on the fritz.

Drawing and Mdf Template



First I cut out a 1/8 th pie slice of foam. I was going to do a whole quarter at a time, but it was too much to bite at one time.



I used the Mdf template to draw the curve on the foam



Got out the ole hacksaw blade and started wacking away anything that didn't look falconish,



After a few hours of hacking and sanding, cough, cough, I had this



Here it is from the back



Then I had to make another piece just like the first and glue them together. With the two 1/8 slices together I now had a 1/4 hull section.

I couldn't get it perfect by hand, so I made a jig I call the "Blade". It's a scrap piece of 1/2 inch Mdf cut to the exact hull curve. I epoxied a piece of brass tube that can pivot on a bolt. I then glued on a strip of 100 grit sandpaper to the bottom of the "blade". By sweeping back and forth it sands the wedge to exact shape. It's hard to describe so here's some pics.









Now I'm just waiting for some resin and glass to harden up this puppy. Figure I'll glass it and pull a mold. Then I can cast up sections to piece together. I may end up making a half hull mold. I'll see how it works out. Should have my supplies in a week or so. To be continued........

Cheers,

Joe

 

[bwayne64]

Oops, forget the required Coke can pic, it's diet but it's all I had,

 

[vfxsup64]

Beautiful work! Looking forward to more...

 

[Vacformedhero]

Brilliant, we have to see some 5 footers take of .

 

[bwayne64]

Beautiful work! Looking forward to more...

Coming from the King of beautiful work, that is high praise, Thanks man, resin is on the way. Can't wait to get a mold going. It's all your fault you know, I wouldn't have even considered building this behemoth without all your work. Thanks man,

Joe

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Brilliant, we have to see some 5 footers take of .

That's funny, I actually did see a flying Falcon on YouTube the other day. Looks like we might have a fleet of these puppies soon. Cheers,

Joe

 

[rbeach84]

BWayne, you are using a fabrication technique similar to using a 'scree'. Think of having your profile mounted on a central pivot post, with a huge gob of clay around it. By dragging the profile over the clay, you 'screed' out the shape then suitable for laying up a fiberglass mold. I like your method since it allows you to use a more rigid material less susceptible to temperature variations (clay is best handled when cold...but for workability when cold... you see the problem with that...)

Nice job! I look forward to your further success! And I hope the 5-footer decal survey I'm participating in right now will be a resource for you when you get to that point in the project.

Regards, Robert

 

[bwayne64]

BWayne, you are using a fabrication technique similar to using a 'scree'. Think of having your profile mounted on a central pivot post, with a huge gob of clay around it. By dragging the profile over the clay, you 'screed' out the shape then suitable for laying up a fiberglass mold. I like your method since it allows you to use a more rigid material less susceptible to temperature variations (clay is best handled when cold...but for workability when cold... you see the problem with that...)

Nice job! I look forward to your further success! And I hope the 5-footer decal survey I'm participating in right now will be a resource for you when you get to that point in the project.

Regards, Robert

Robert, yep, I actually saw this done in Cinefex magazine back in the 80s. They were using a sheet metal template, and plaster for the medium. I also use a similar technique in my 3d program. You make a cross section and lathe it on an axis. So nothing original here, besides my extreme laziness that is, LOL. If I would finish my CNC router, I wouldn't have to leave the shop office, except to set up the machine, and sanding the mill marks off the finished shape. Oh well, laziness is the mother of invention, or something like that, Cheers,

Joe

P.S. I so loved the decal sheet. Already saved it to the computer. Guys are coming out of the woodworks on the Big Falcon. Great time to be spending money and breathing carcinogens, LOL !

 

[rbeach84]

BWayne, stay tuned! Retiredadguy's 'decal sheet' is still a work in progress; expect that there will be some very accurate artwork and placement maps produced & shared here in the future! Of course, the 'InSitu' decals image archive could serve if anyone wanted to draw their own marking as well.

One big challenge right now is how to convey the actual sizes of the decals. Retired and Imurme are both working on the relative scaling of those decals so once the model size is determined as a ratio of the 5-footer, the markings can also be scaled accordingly by the same ratio. So, if you're doing one of the 1/2 Studio Scale models (like the Hasbro 'toy'), you've got everything you need.

Regards, Robert

 

[Vacformedhero]

BWayne, stay tuned! Retiredadguy's 'decal sheet' is still a work in progress; expect that there will be some very accurate artwork and placement maps produced & shared here in the future! Of course, the 'InSitu' decals image archive could serve if anyone wanted to draw their own marking as well.

One big challenge right now is how to convey the actual sizes of the decals. Retired and Imurme are both working on the relative scaling of those decals so once the model size is determined as a ratio of the 5-footer, the markings can also be scaled accordingly by the same ratio. So, if you're doing one of the 1/2 Studio Scale models (like the Hasbro 'toy'), you've got everything you need.

Regards, Robert

will anyone be producing these decal sheets as scaled decal sheets for each of the current millenniums in the works,hasbro, deagostini etc,
or is there a way to turn these images into decals ?
Sorry if this covered in another post

 

[rbeach84]

Vacformed, that is the plan... Retiredadguy has stated he is using his artwork to size for the Hasbro 28-inch MF. I recommend subscribing to the thread and keeping an eye on developments... Regards, Robert

 

[Vacformedhero]

Vacformed, that is the plan... Retiredadguy has stated he is using his artwork to size for the Hasbro 28-inch MF. I recommend subscribing to the thread and keeping an eye on developments... Regards, Robert

Thanks I had already but it wasn't clear what the game plan was, it mentioned sharing but not if it would be a actual decal sheet, cheers

 

[bwayne64]

BWayne, stay tuned! Retiredadguy's 'decal sheet' is still a work in progress; expect that there will be some very accurate artwork and placement maps produced & shared here in the future! Of course, the 'InSitu' decals image archive could serve if anyone wanted to draw their own marking as well.

One big challenge right now is how to convey the actual sizes of the decals. Retired and Imurme are both working on the relative scaling of those decals so once the model size is determined as a ratio of the 5-footer, the markings can also be scaled accordingly by the same ratio. So, if you're doing one of the 1/2 Studio Scale models (like the Hasbro 'toy'), you've got everything you need.

Regards, Robert

Robert, I'm actually doing the big five footer, but I never even thought about decals until I saw your thread. I'm just building a naked falcon right now. One without details. Maybe later I'll be finishing it if I win the lottery, LOL. I've been buying kits for years for an SS Galactica. Still collecting for that project. Luckily there's some crossover on the kits used. I have bought two kits recently for the falcon. An Entex Mazda engine and the Airfix Pontoon bridge. I'll buy them off and on when I can. Maybe I'll get em both done before the Good Lord calls me home, LOL. Cheers,

Joe

 

[bwayne64]

Well finally did a bit more work on the Nekkid Falcon. The pink foam is great stuff to sculpt but it also dents if you breath on it, LOL. So I needed to up armor it a bit. I made this Mdf frame to strengthen it and to give me some nice 90 degree angles on the side of the plug. There was no way I was going to get a straight edge on the foam, so ya do what ya gotta do. Here are some pics,



This kinda looks like a baseball diamond,









Gluing in the foam core. Got a 3/8 steel top on the table, so I can use my handy 90 degree welding magnets here. Wanted to make sure I got a perfect 90 on the sides.



I also put an edge band of 1/16 Ply on the front edge . Strengthened it up quite a bit. Now just to fiberglass this beast and get it ready to mold, Yea !

 

[bwayne64]

Now on to the messy part. Got my epoxy supplies a few weeks ago. I went with US Composites 635 thin epoxy with the medium hardener. US seems to have the best bang for the buck. Under a 100 dollars for almost a Gal and a half. Seems to work well, time will tell. Here we go,

Here's the epoxy supplies,



Cutting the cloth for layup. 1 layer of 6 oz. 1 layer of 2 oz.



Layed on the first layer dry for a looksie, ooh, shiny,



Wet out.





I'll try to post some more pics tomorrow of it trimmed and primed. Now I just need to make another piece of the pie to make a half shell plug. Don't want to have to lay up 8 shells for every hull. This thing has a real nice curve, thinking of making a big flying saucer out of these molds too, LOL. Better than the original bird bath idea,


PS. Attachments weren't showing up right on my end. They work if you click on them, but a few don't show thumbnails. Checked it several times, hopefully it's just on my end. Old decrepit computer, LOL * Fixed I hope

 

[Vacformedhero]

Brilliant progress, I too have been trying to source a curve to mimic the 5 foot falcon, I did look at bird baths too but the closest I've seen are convex mirrors, especially the types used on public roads ( for Americans with your wide roads that may not make sense but we have some roads the width of the car Door mirrors and we travel at speed so a lot of tight garden exits need these mirrors)
anyway , Wayne are you doing this curve by eye? It looks fantastic,

 

[Jaitea]

Great thread,....so cool
J

 

[bwayne64]

Brilliant progress, I too have been trying to source a curve to mimic the 5 foot falcon, I did look at bird baths too but the closest I've seen are convex mirrors, especially the types used on public roads ( for Americans with your wide roads that may not make sense but we have some roads the width of the car Door mirrors and we travel at speed so a lot of tight garden exits need these mirrors)
anyway , Wayne are you doing this curve by eye? It looks fantastic,

Actually I made a trammel, basically a giant compass to the dimensions from the Andre and Maruska plans.

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=199048

Once I had the curve I made a template to sand the foam. There's still a lot of handwork to get it right. It is always surprising how hard a simple shape can be to get perfect. It's looking pretty good now. Good enough for gov'ment work, as they say. Thanks for the kind words, cheers,

Joe

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Great thread,....so cool
J

Thanks Man, its been fun doing this one, cheers,

Joe

 

[GlazyUK]

Five Foot of Fun, ANH Style ! I was hoping it would be Princess Leia !

Still great work so far !!!

 

[bwayne64]

Yea as long as we're talking Anh through Jedi , Leia, Thanks man, I'm having fun so far. Cheers,

Joe

 

[eagle1]

Looking great Joe!. Its interesting to see how we all approach the hull in different ways. Your method looks sound & will look great!.
I'm going now with a half section wooden buck & have vacformed in 3mm styrene. Still deciding on whether to laminate two 3mm sections together to get the 6mm hull thickness or just tweak things a bit.
Stu