mung
Sr Member
True to form, with many unfinished projects on hand begging for completion, I started a new project.
In fact I have outdone myself this time, starting another new project on top of that new project and it is the second new project that is the subject of this thread.
I came up with an idea to use the second abandoned front end of the "unfinished old spaceship" that has since become the Science Vessel. Below are a couple of pictures of that abandoned front end.
It was made from a cheap disposable salad bowl found in the supermarket. The bowl was cut in half and cut down in height and glued back together with an extended scratch built section made from 6mm PVC foamex sheet bulkheads skinned with 1mm styrene.
As usual, while at work I had an idea of how to employ that abandoned shape and doodled a rough thumbnail of the concept on some scrap paper.
The vertical panels at the end of the "wings" were inspired by the fact that I had a couple of Object279 1/35 scale tank hulls on hand which I thought would be ideal.
I picked up one of these Amusing Hobby kits quite cheaply a few years ago at a model show and was always on the lookout for another one at a price I could afford. It was a couple of years later, that finally this year 2021, at the same model show (which was cancelled last year due to Covid) I stumbled across another one at an affordable price.
The next part of the process was to take the thumbnail concept and rough out the proportions on the computer in 3D.
I generally only do this if most of the shape is going to be scratch built.
If the model is predominantly going to be made of found objects this step is not necessary as you can physically lay out the parts in front of you taping them temporarily together and see roughly how it will look.
In the computer I build roughly to scale with each of the major divisions on the grid 100mm long and each subdivision 10mm.
You can see that the model will be roughly 650mm long. Divide that 650 by 25.4 to get inches, so roughly 2 feet 1.5 inches.
I then scale all the views in the computer so the grid lines are all the same size, screen capture each top, side and end views and print them out.
Measuring the grid on the print out and comparing it to the 100mm divisions then gives me the scale to multiply the measurements from the drawing to then mark out the bulkheads on the 6mm PVC foamex sheet I am making them from.
For this model I decided to use a flat 19mm (3/4") piece of pine wood for a spine that the bulkheads would be attached to as well as the 15mm (1/2") water pipe flange I use as a strong model support.
Each of the bulkheads had a 19mm slot cut out centrally so they could be slid to the correct position a secured with super glue. There is a flange mounted on a 9mm plywood spacer top and bottom of the wooden spine with bolts. To locate that existing front end I glued in a PVC fitting that mates with the 32mm PVC pipe that goes through the front end bulkheads. You can also see I have started laying out the the wiring for the 12v DC power connectors and cockpit and engine lighting.
Below you can see one of the DC power connectors mounted to the 2mm styrene skin panel.
The pictures below that show the installation of a switch on the under side that allow the engine lights to be switched off separate from the cockpit lighting.
This switch will be buried amongst a load of detailing in a trench so will be reasonably hidden.
To be continued...
In fact I have outdone myself this time, starting another new project on top of that new project and it is the second new project that is the subject of this thread.
I came up with an idea to use the second abandoned front end of the "unfinished old spaceship" that has since become the Science Vessel. Below are a couple of pictures of that abandoned front end.
It was made from a cheap disposable salad bowl found in the supermarket. The bowl was cut in half and cut down in height and glued back together with an extended scratch built section made from 6mm PVC foamex sheet bulkheads skinned with 1mm styrene.
As usual, while at work I had an idea of how to employ that abandoned shape and doodled a rough thumbnail of the concept on some scrap paper.
The vertical panels at the end of the "wings" were inspired by the fact that I had a couple of Object279 1/35 scale tank hulls on hand which I thought would be ideal.
I picked up one of these Amusing Hobby kits quite cheaply a few years ago at a model show and was always on the lookout for another one at a price I could afford. It was a couple of years later, that finally this year 2021, at the same model show (which was cancelled last year due to Covid) I stumbled across another one at an affordable price.
The next part of the process was to take the thumbnail concept and rough out the proportions on the computer in 3D.
I generally only do this if most of the shape is going to be scratch built.
If the model is predominantly going to be made of found objects this step is not necessary as you can physically lay out the parts in front of you taping them temporarily together and see roughly how it will look.
In the computer I build roughly to scale with each of the major divisions on the grid 100mm long and each subdivision 10mm.
You can see that the model will be roughly 650mm long. Divide that 650 by 25.4 to get inches, so roughly 2 feet 1.5 inches.
I then scale all the views in the computer so the grid lines are all the same size, screen capture each top, side and end views and print them out.
Measuring the grid on the print out and comparing it to the 100mm divisions then gives me the scale to multiply the measurements from the drawing to then mark out the bulkheads on the 6mm PVC foamex sheet I am making them from.
For this model I decided to use a flat 19mm (3/4") piece of pine wood for a spine that the bulkheads would be attached to as well as the 15mm (1/2") water pipe flange I use as a strong model support.
Each of the bulkheads had a 19mm slot cut out centrally so they could be slid to the correct position a secured with super glue. There is a flange mounted on a 9mm plywood spacer top and bottom of the wooden spine with bolts. To locate that existing front end I glued in a PVC fitting that mates with the 32mm PVC pipe that goes through the front end bulkheads. You can also see I have started laying out the the wiring for the 12v DC power connectors and cockpit and engine lighting.
Below you can see one of the DC power connectors mounted to the 2mm styrene skin panel.
The pictures below that show the installation of a switch on the under side that allow the engine lights to be switched off separate from the cockpit lighting.
This switch will be buried amongst a load of detailing in a trench so will be reasonably hidden.
To be continued...