So, since I moved in with the gf about a month ago, during my off hours at home I've been conjuring up yet more ideas for future projects and drawing more blueprints. Not like I don't have enough in mind to do already, lol.
Anyway, after rummaging through some of my prop stuff a few weeks ago I rediscovered the 6" Spacedock model I'd bought on eBay back in 2006, which reminded me of my plans to do up a larger scale build for myself.
With all things scratch-built, of course I first had to draft a decent blueprint to work from, and here's what I came up with (based my blueprint on a scanned copy I came across online):
Federation Spacedock -- Pic 01
After all is said and done (whenever that'll be, as I'm still not in a financially feasible position to buy all the prop-building supplies I need), this beauty will measure in at just under 18" (1 1/2 feet) tall, not including the top and bottom antennae arrays. And it'll be about 15" at its widest point.
Definately more imposing and impressive than 6", that's for sure, lol. Also allows more detail to be put into it, which I like.
I don't know what scale that would be exactly, but as someone mentioned some time ago about the one he planned on building measuring between 3 1/2 to 4 feet being 1:2500 scale, given that mine is roughly half the size of that I guess that would put this one at about 1:5000 scale.
And as I wanted to add an extra touch to mine when I get around to building it, I also drew up the interior of the top section:
Federation Spacedock -- Pic 02
Of course, I traced the outline of the overall blueprint to do this one, so everything is proportionate. Took me more than a few hours pouring over whatever reference pics I could find online to get the inside looking just right, lol.
I figured the easiest way to do up this build would be to procure some formed styrofoam cylinders and balls of varying thicknesses to make up the basic shape of the model, and then cover everything with a thin layer of sheet styrene to allow detailing. That way, I'd only have to fabricate the top section (still thinking about how to do that).
The problem is, with this model at its current size, none of the styrofoam I've come across has been the correct size for any of the individual sub-assemblies. They were either too big, or too small, and I want to avoid having to shave them down in size for fear that I won't manage to keep the pieces round as they should be.
So, I'm debating whether or not to simply up-size the model a bit in order to use what's readily available. Maybe resize it to make it in scale with the Micro Machine starships.
Either way, I'm hopeful I'll be able to get started on this project sometime soon, given that some of my other planned projects (TNG Medkit, DS9 Runabout Subspace Transceiver) have sorta fallen flat for the time being considering the higher material costs involved for those. May be a while though, given the focus I'm putting into my studio-scale TOS Shuttlecraft at the moment.
Anyway, after rummaging through some of my prop stuff a few weeks ago I rediscovered the 6" Spacedock model I'd bought on eBay back in 2006, which reminded me of my plans to do up a larger scale build for myself.
With all things scratch-built, of course I first had to draft a decent blueprint to work from, and here's what I came up with (based my blueprint on a scanned copy I came across online):
Federation Spacedock -- Pic 01
After all is said and done (whenever that'll be, as I'm still not in a financially feasible position to buy all the prop-building supplies I need), this beauty will measure in at just under 18" (1 1/2 feet) tall, not including the top and bottom antennae arrays. And it'll be about 15" at its widest point.
Definately more imposing and impressive than 6", that's for sure, lol. Also allows more detail to be put into it, which I like.
I don't know what scale that would be exactly, but as someone mentioned some time ago about the one he planned on building measuring between 3 1/2 to 4 feet being 1:2500 scale, given that mine is roughly half the size of that I guess that would put this one at about 1:5000 scale.
And as I wanted to add an extra touch to mine when I get around to building it, I also drew up the interior of the top section:
Federation Spacedock -- Pic 02
Of course, I traced the outline of the overall blueprint to do this one, so everything is proportionate. Took me more than a few hours pouring over whatever reference pics I could find online to get the inside looking just right, lol.
I figured the easiest way to do up this build would be to procure some formed styrofoam cylinders and balls of varying thicknesses to make up the basic shape of the model, and then cover everything with a thin layer of sheet styrene to allow detailing. That way, I'd only have to fabricate the top section (still thinking about how to do that).
The problem is, with this model at its current size, none of the styrofoam I've come across has been the correct size for any of the individual sub-assemblies. They were either too big, or too small, and I want to avoid having to shave them down in size for fear that I won't manage to keep the pieces round as they should be.
So, I'm debating whether or not to simply up-size the model a bit in order to use what's readily available. Maybe resize it to make it in scale with the Micro Machine starships.
Either way, I'm hopeful I'll be able to get started on this project sometime soon, given that some of my other planned projects (TNG Medkit, DS9 Runabout Subspace Transceiver) have sorta fallen flat for the time being considering the higher material costs involved for those. May be a while though, given the focus I'm putting into my studio-scale TOS Shuttlecraft at the moment.
