MPC Cygnus

[Nwerke]

Why thank you, dude. Those were just quickie ref pics for Dave's benefit mainly; I was going to email them but hey, I'm a tart, I'll post any old thing to keep the thread alive. :lol I was glad to hear they might be useful for you too though.

I looked up the footage of your launch last night. Wow, that was a big rocket. DAMN shame the sustainer failed! Would have been magnificent.

But that's rocketry all over! They don't call it the LDRS for nothing. :lol I'd love to go some day.

 

[mrchester]

Man Martyn, are you kidding...building the lattices and the interior shell of the ship is one thing, but the plumbing was something I had planned to worry about later. As opposed to working from original photos , I really like these renderings (I find them easier to pull dimensions from).
Yeah, I built that rocket all by my self (the motors were made by a friend), Electronics for ejection charges and upper stage ignitions were relatively new (for hobby use)
and since it was a rather violent liftoff ( the launch gantry {my build , too} was pulled up with the rocket

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Man Martyn, are you kidding...building the lattices and the interior shell of the ship is one thing, but the plumbing was something I had planned to worry about later. As opposed to working from original photos , I really like these renderings (I find them easier to pull dimensions from).
Yeah, I built that rocket all by my self (the motors were made by a friend), Electronics for ejection charges and upper stage ignitions were relatively new (for hobby use)
and since it was a rather violent liftoff ( the launch gantry {my build , too} was pulled up with the rocket...lets just say the 4' rods that were driven into the hard plia were pulled halfway out by the launch), I think something was shaken loose. By the way, I had to pick up all 1200 pounds of debris, and I received a small fine from the BLM for the liftoff crater and some debris that the Black Rock winds blew away. My last LDRS was Lucerne Dry Lake bed in 2001 Which was the last time I sold my model rocket line at a National Meet (That would be Fat Cat Rockets). To pad the thread during the short Cygnus hiatus, look up' Down Right Ignorant' I was the main builder for that project...which was successful. Ooh, my arm hurts from patting myself on the back. Ldrs is a good event to go to...and of my 20+ years as a High powered rocketry, I can say they are a wonderful group of people ( a few odd-balls, but, not as the nut-cases that TV seemed to like to depict us as). My touching base with the old hobby on the rocket forum actually had someone post pictures of a finished rocket I sold him about ten years ago... that was cool.

 

[trnswrp10]

Your work is top notch. Can't wait for you to complete it.

 

[mrchester]

Thanks for the kind words, trnswrp10. I do hope to have a completed model one day. Looking way ahead, this bad boy will definitely be in a display box. I have also pondered on displaying the finished Cygnus with one built straight from the box (properly fitted but not painted). A sort of comparative study. Crap, now I've jinxed it ...this thing may not get finished :facepalm.
The wife does therapy tomorrow early...she's making progress. Since she is the family gardener, I must tend to her duties to keep our house from turning into a jungle. No time for lattice work, for now.
Finally, I am still camera and scanner-less. I might have to start that SBB Yamato thread...if my rocketry Minions will let me.

 

[mschester]

Thanks for everything!

 

[mrchester]

Thanks for everything!

Your welcome, Mschester...I'll see you at home. Don't forget to feed Chester.: D

 

[Aries2]

I have had this kit a long time and as yet, it remains unbuilt because of the shortcomings being tackled here. The ship is one section too short but take a look at E. James Small's build-up from Smallartworks. I found it on the Starshipmodeler site. He did add the missing section to bring the ship up to the correct length. Hope this helps.

 

[mrchester]

Thanks for joining in Aries2...on the first page I had mentioned his work but failed to give the extra info. Here's another site about his Cygnus.
USS Cygnus by E. James Small. The Starship Modeler site is:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/other/js_cyg.htm
I hope to be back on this project in a couple of weeks.

 

[mrchester]

Greetings folks...when it rains it pours. The wife is recovering nicely from tendon repair, so we continued a house project (bathroom redo) then , whammo... our AC goes on vacation. Summers starting in Marineville and does it get hot. Still cameraless, but hope to cure that soon.

 

[mrchester]

I placed an order at Shapeways for the A tanks that Martyn shrank down...its a start. Still, no camera.

 

[mrchester]

And now...Good news! Acquired a camera this morning and once I figure it out there'll be more photos (which means I have to do something). Also received an update from Shapeways that my order is complete...how about that. More soon.

 

[publiusr]

I can't wait to see more.

 

[mrchester]

Hey, Hey, Hey...here's the goodies from Shapeways. Nice work and a big thanks to Nwerke for the 'A' tank scale down. I checked the parts and the only thing I have to do to make them fit is shorten the pipes on the top. Looking forward to the 'B' tanks.

 

[Griffworks]

Nice work on this, very ambitious! I've found myself wishing multiple times that I hadn't trashed my Cygnus kit when I was a teenager.

Thanks for sharing the full breakdown on your work.

 

[mrchester]

Thanks for the input publiusr and Griffworks (that name sounds familiar Griff). I'm afraid that Cygnus has slowed to a crawl. Two reasons (hobby wise) I need to cast up the antenna box lattices (which I'm not in the mood for casting and I'm waiting to see how Nwerke's 'B' tank scale downs come out when they get to Shapeways...no rush Martyn, deal with the important things first). Also, It seems that Jon at Arvey Models is eager for me to finish my 1/350th scale Lexington (from Space Battleship Yamato). This also means that I need to start that 1/350 scale Arvey Models thread that I've been teasing. And I also decided to put together my Space Pirate Captain Harlock Arcadia ship... must focus.

 

[Nocoolname]

Hi Folks! I’ve been watching this thread and the one being run by nwerke for some time now and have been stunned by the work on both. I’ve wanted a model of the Cygnus for as many years as I can remember and managed to pick one up from eBay about 12 months ago at a… ahem… price! Because I’ve not long got back into model making after a break of a couple of decades and because of what I paid for the kit I have been as hesitant as I have been keen to start it. Like others, I’ve always wanted a ‘fully lit’ version of the model but the opaque styrene pretty much puts paid to this unless you have skills to paint the lighted detail like Jim Small did with his excellent build. Mrchester’s work to open up the lattice by milling out the styrene gave me some hope that the kit could be opened up to lighting and I set about trying to emulate the excellent work he has done. With most of the parts of my Eagle build being done I decided to take the plunge and have a crack at the Cygnus. Unfortunately, while my recent work on the Eagle has helped steady my hand it hasn’t given me much appreciation of the laws of thermodynamics as the first photo shows. While trying to mill out the styrene the plastic overheated and melted :cry. I’m fairly confident I can scratch build the main part of the section but I thought the latticework would be just too tricky so I took a leaf out of my Eagle project and… cheated! After several days slaving over the computer screen I produced the artwork for the lattice areas and have just had them custom etched. Every latticed part of the kit is represented and there are additional pieces to provide some extra detail to other areas of the kit. Like my Eagle, the aim is not to make it 100% canon (like the Eagle kit such a thing simply isn’t feasible) just to make it look like something I’ll be happy with. Once I’ve cut out all of the latticed styrene the kit parts will be primed and painted the final colour. The insides will be setup for lighting and clear styrene parts will be inserted into the areas where the latticework has been removed. The etch will then be primed and painted the main colour and each section will be cemented onto its respective piece of clear styrene. I’ll also start work on the lighting kits fairly soon. Cheers for now folks and please keep up with the builds, they’ve been a true inspiration.

 

[mrchester]

Greetings folks, sorry I've been busy with other projects and just checked in to see something nice from Nocoolname. I think I might want to talk to you. Oh, when I said mill out parts, that meant using a milling machine at moderate speeds.
Hope to get back to the RPF threads soon (I'm currently updating on the Project Dalek forum about a yard ornament that scratched together see pictures) however, I have many Irons in the fire...mainly Bandai's 1/1000 scale line from Space Battleship Yamato 2199.

 

[publiusr]

There was this painting of the Cygnus--not McCall's-- that we saw over the Cygunus dinner table. There, the ship seemed a bit wider with more piping..Who did that?

 

[Frankpr01]

U S S Cygnus Concept Art by Peter Ellenshaw[/h]

 

[publiusr]

So that was Ellenshaw. Looks even larger than what we saw on screen.