Kitbashing the U.S.S. Cavalier, NCC-1967-B

[daltman1967]

Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy!
Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy!

Well, just in case others are interested in my build, I'm going to be posting from time to time, including pictures. I may have questions to ask, as I have no idea what I'm doing.

All that being said, it's going to be a fun project.

As far as the ship itself goes, my first comment is "ack!" Seeing the number "1:350" on the computer screen and acutally holding the model in your hands... well, it's worlds apart.

The 1701-A main saucer is about 18" across, the nacelles about 12", and the secondary hull about 9". The completed model is supposed to be 22" long. Mine will be about 27" when completed.

I'm reusing the main hull, nacelles, sensor array, arboretum, and shuttlebay. The mockup of the secondary hull will be made up of styrene sheet and pieces of the original; once I'm done with it, I'm going to use RTV to make a mold and cast it over.

I figured that casting would give me better detail, make the whole model lighter, and also make it easier to do lighting. The entire model will be lit using trekmodeler.com's do-it-yourself kit.

I have scale drawings of the Enterprise-A from Side, Top, Fore, Aft, and Bottom (done in CorelDRAW!), and am using these as a referent to create my ship. I've already done about half of the drawing.

Once I'm done with the drawings, I will increase them to 1:1, and then begin a "cutaway" so I can create structrual bulkheads to build the secondary hull and the upper part of the main hull. This will be a "measure twice, cut once" project all the way through; I'm going to print the parts on my laser printer, and then cut them out of chipboard, using the chipboard to construct a maquette (a scale model). This will ensure that all my angles, curves, etc. are correct before I start using the more expensive styrene.

I'm so excited! If anyone has any suggestions for me, I'll be very pleased to accept them.

 

[ewokus]

Sounds like you're gonna have fun for sure... Looking forward to seeing how things progress.

 

[CCP]

Can't wait to see progress pics

 

[MooCriket]

Looking forward to this

 

[clancampbell]

Yup, looking forward to this too!

 

[daltman1967]

I'll probably have the drawings done in about a week, and then the work will really begin. I'll post the drawings first, as that's easiest.

For parts duplication, I plan to do a small-scale RTV casting of one of the side pieces of the main deflector array. If I screw up the piece itself, it's no big deal, since I'm not using this particular part. Since I've never done anything even remotely like this before, I want to see how the RTV works; how pliable before/after casting, how much it takes, etc.; plus how much liquid plastic I need to make a casting. How hard is it going to be to remove the part from the casting? All these questions and more.

Once I've done that, I'm going to do a mock cast of a built-up part. A lot of my ship build will be custom-made sections built up of styrene, clay, model parts, and casting material. I will only be able to do the RTV cast of the outside section on these. Once that section of the mold is done, I plan to fill the mold with?? Something?? Thinly; once THAT material dries, I can then pour the backside mold. The middle medium will be to give the part thickness.

Anyone have any suggestions on what I can use for this? The material needs to be liquid (I don't think clay would work; I think it might stick to the mold), and it needs to set up like plastic when done.

I have a long project ahead with removing flash and prepping the pieces. I'm going to spray paint the inside of every piece with two coats of black, then two coats of white. The black will block all light from leaking out, and the white will reflect the lights inside so that the ambient light will go out the windows etc.

One thing I'm sure of is that I'm going to have to assemble parts of this model and secure them temporarily with masking tape, just so that I can use the built section to build my maquette on.

There's a LOT of planning involved in this. Some things are obvious as to their shape; other things not so obvious. A lot of what I'm doing will already be completed with the drawing. Other things will have to wait until I can build the maquette, to ensure that the shape I've envisioned is possible, aesthetically pleasing, and true to my vision.

 

[daltman1967]

A lot of guys have worked hard to make a REALLY nice arboretum... I'm planning that as well.

 

[daltman1967]

Lighting

Well, the project actually begins. I've finished the drawings (I uploaded a better copy, both here and in my album) and increased the drawings to full scale for a construction version. I used this to plan bulkheads to build the shape with, and I'm printing that today.

I've also done two layers of primer on the main parts - first coat of black paint (to block the light) and the second coat of white paint (to reflect the light). This should be sufficient. I'm not getting any more spray paint on this model.

I've also uploaded my 3-D view of the Cavalier. Please excuse the crudeness of this drawing; I'm not sure I can do any better with it in Corel, but at least it looks like something. I'm also starting the maquette tonight.

I'm going to cut out each of the pieces I've laid out in my construction drawing on chipboard (thicker & stronger than cardboard) and work to assemble the pieces. I'm pretty sure I have some of the secondary hull shapes wrong, and this will be where I sort all that out, long before I do it in styrene. This will also give me a good idea on placement of holes for wiring, as well as anything special I might need to do during assembly.

I have a structural brace designed to attach to the upper inside of the saucer section and the lower inside of the secondary hull to hold both parts together, as there is no "neck" on this model. These two braces are going to be glued right where the neck would have been; there's two sets of plastic "turrets" there to connect to, designed to attach the upper saucer to the lower. I may do other structural bracing as necessary.

I've also drilled the 1/2" hole in my display stand for the copper tube that will hold all the wires. I've marked holes for all my switches (6 in all!) and plan to cut those holes tonight.

Also, I'm very far down the road (in the design stages) of making WORKING, OPENING SHUTTLEBAY DOORS! Yes!! My shuttlebay doors will open & close at the flick of a switch. I have the motor, switches, wiring, and plans for the doors themselves.

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

sand the inner surface with some 800 grit, that will give it a nice diffused look without it being transparent

 

[daltman1967]

Thanks! I do believe that the "diffused" look will be great; it won't be so "transparent" that I see the wiring, but it will still pass all light. Great idea!

The costs on this project are starting to give me the heebie-jeebies:

Model $ 68.00
Lights $175.00
Paint $ 96.00
Dremel Tool $ 86.00
Airbrush $100.00
Modeling tools $ 25.00
Modeling supplies (i.e., styrene) $200.00
===============================
Total: $750.00

That's a lot, just to build a starship. Well, a lot for ME, that is. *SIGH* So much for my tax return...

 

[daltman1967]

Well! The drawings are done! I'll be finishing the aft view tonight or tomorrow. Which means that, in a day or two, I'll have my plans for the structural bracing needed. Woo hoo! I'm actually starting! Here's the finished picture for all interested.

 

[Jedi Dade]

Another thing you can do to prevent total transparency is spray the inside of the defelctor with cheap clear acrylic. The cheaper brands tend to lightly "craze" clear parts, which is usually a bad thing, but in this case almost exactly what you're going for... a hazy translucent effect. very similar to the sanding option - heck do both

Jedi Dade

 

[daltman1967]

Well, the project actually begins. I've finished the drawings (I uploaded a better copy, both here and in my album) and increased the drawings to full scale for a construction version. I used this to plan bulkheads to build the shape with, and I'm printing that today.

I've also done two layers of primer on the main parts - first coat of black paint (to block the light) and the second coat of white paint (to reflect the light). This should be sufficient. I'm not getting any more spray paint on this model.

I've also uploaded my 3-D view of the Cavalier. Please excuse the crudeness of this drawing; I'm not sure I can do any better with it in Corel, but at least it looks like something. I'm also starting the maquette tonight.

I'm going to cut out each of the pieces I've laid out in my construction drawing on chipboard (thicker & stronger than cardboard) and work to assemble the pieces. I'm pretty sure I have some of the secondary hull shapes wrong, and this will be where I sort all that out, long before I do it in styrene. This will also give me a good idea on placement of holes for wiring, as well as anything special I might need to do during assembly.

I have a structural brace designed to attach to the upper inside of the saucer section and the lower inside of the secondary hull to hold both parts together, as there is no "neck" on this model. These two braces are going to be glued right where the neck would have been; there's two sets of plastic "turrets" there to connect to, designed to attach the upper saucer to the lower. I may do other structural bracing as necessary.

I've also drilled the 1/2" hole in my display stand for the copper tube that will hold all the wires. I've marked holes for all my switches (6 in all!) and plan to cut those holes tonight.

Also, I'm very far down the road (in the design stages) of making WORKING, OPENING SHUTTLEBAY DOORS! Yes!! My shuttlebay doors will open & close at the flick of a switch. I have the motor, switches, wiring, and plans for the doors themselves. This could be done on the original Enterprise model, with some modification of the fantail section to allow for the doors themselves. If anyone is modeling that ship and wants details, contact me. I'll be glad to clue you in on how I'm doing it. I'll also be posting pictures as I do it. When complete, I'll also post a video of the doors opening & closing. What fun!

 

[Treadwell]

What is the source of this ship design?

 

[daltman1967]

*I* am the source! At one time, I had 100 ship designs. Old series, movies, interim, Next Generation, and even a few modeled after the Prometheus. Names, registration numbers, and in a few cases, crew and ship histories.

UNFORTUNATELY... I lost everything when I moved. Now I have eight designs, pulled out of my memory. Each of these ships COULD be built, but the Cavalier was my first, and my favorite.

Captain Howard R. Jackson [Human]
1st Ofcr. Cdr. Trent Miller [Human]
Chf. Science Lt. Cdr. Leandra Holmes [Human]
Chf. Nav. Lt. T'serin [Vulcan]
Chf. Helm Lt. Arthur Chang [Human]
Chf. Engr. Cdr. David Altman (that's me) [Human]
Chf. Med. Cdr. Marketh [Andorian]

I'm working on the other designs bit by bit, rebuilding my fleet. Ship design services are available to those interested for a VERY reasonable fee!

 

[JPolacchi]

I've got a DVD with a whole bunch of Star Ship designs on them.I'm not sure which ones,most tend to be "old school" TOS design (CG/computer made) plus I think there is a whole bunch of stuff also on the DVD that isn't related to anything concerning model building.The CDs came with a kit I biught a while back.I've not really looked at the disk/files myself,so I can't say for sure what is on it. There may also be allot of "duplicate" files/folders.Anyway, if anyone is interested....you can buy a DVD from me if you like-$25.00.I'm not sure I'll ever use it,and figure that some of you guys might get more out of it than I ever will.

 

[daltman1967]

Hmm... if you could give a file list, or perhaps small examples of what's on the disk, I might be interested. But sight unseen, no idea what's on it? That's too much a shot in the dark.

 

[daltman1967]

Well, I finally started building the maquette.... sort of. I opened up the box of chipboard I'd planned to use as structural material until I'm sure everything's right - instead of the expensive styrene. Well, the stuff is MUCH thicker than I thought. It took me an hour to cut two small pieces out of it.

Well, good news: I found a pair of scissors at Home Depot for $15.00 that will cut it beautifully. As soon as I have some money, shopping I go!

I'm working on the faceplate for the base, preparing the decals; I've attached a picture to show what it's going to look like.

 

[Mechamaniac]

Interesting design, what's her purpose?

 

[daltman1967]

The Cavalier class is a cruiser, just as the Enterprise is; her multipurpose mission includes border patrol, scientific investigation, and occasional diplomatic missions. However, the primary purpose is as a testbed for new technologies.

Like her successor, the Excelsior, the Cavalier incorporates a LOT of new ideas all at once. The Cavalier has a rudimentary ODN network, a first in Starfleet; her double-warp core design is unique. It was intended to prevent a "warp core breach" where the ship would be left without warp power. Eject one core, you still have the other. Separate engineering rooms service each core.

Of the eighteen Cavalier class ships built, eleven are still in service by the time of the arrival of NCC-1701-C; following that, the design gets a refit - a completely new keel, along with upgrading all the technology to fit with the scheme in place with NCC-1701-D.