Oblivion bubble ship[Randy Cooper]
- Thread starter Kiwimaddog
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- oblivion
Update-time. It will be that last one for some time since I'm leaving on a 10 day holiday in New York City. 
Anyhow,
Since the last post I've been focusing in the Bubbles/Engines. I sanded and painted the RH one, and basically just glued the LH one together(And poured hot water over it to let all tension settle)
After painting(and testing out some weathering-techniques) I noticed that the little depression in the front between the two main halfes was way off shape wise, and not at all symmetrical front/back as in the cast so I'll have to redo those later.
It looks like this front and back. and I can't stand for it.....
I fixed the unpainted one for now, I'll deal with the RH-one later.
Furthermore, I've done some work on the main fuselage, sanding and painting mainly. And a lot of it.
And as it looks at the moment. Coming along slowly. I'll end this post with a workspace-shot, (Since I really enjoy those myself )
Anyhow,
Since the last post I've been focusing in the Bubbles/Engines. I sanded and painted the RH one, and basically just glued the LH one together(And poured hot water over it to let all tension settle)
After painting(and testing out some weathering-techniques) I noticed that the little depression in the front between the two main halfes was way off shape wise, and not at all symmetrical front/back as in the cast so I'll have to redo those later.
It looks like this front and back. and I can't stand for it.....
I fixed the unpainted one for now, I'll deal with the RH-one later.
Furthermore, I've done some work on the main fuselage, sanding and painting mainly. And a lot of it.
And as it looks at the moment. Coming along slowly. I'll end this post with a workspace-shot, (Since I really enjoy those myself
)All credit to you for your patience and application, it's looking good. I admit that I gave up with this kit as a result of similar problems to those you have encountered; in my case the main fuselage joint proved insurmountable, a combination of asymmetry, size differences and twisting was too much for me.
Yours is going to be great by the look of it.
Yours is going to be great by the look of it.
Thank you. I do not at all regret ordering the kit, since I learned a lot from working with it. That said, I am not really that impressed with the resin casting done. There is a lot of bubbles, pieces of silicone in places, places where details have been molded short where I have to add material etc. The warping I found is quite easy to deal with regarding the pieces with an even wall-thickness, since this brand of PUR seems to respond quite well to the heated water-treatment which makes it malible and possible to reshape. That was not an option for the fuselage though.
All in all, It's kind of more of a scratch-build then to simply pglueing a kit together but it's quite rewarding in the end.
Thanks,
The white part is actually Tamiyas white primer. It really popped when I sanded it with a finegrain paper, So i decided to keep it that way. I plan to put on some layers of semi-gloss clear ontop later after weathering.
There is a alu-rod molded into the center-part of the bubbles, All I've done is to cut it in half.
rbeach84
Sr Member
KMD, you are doing an excellent job building this model. Sometimes we get a bit 'jaded' by some of the high-precision, modern injection-molded kit & think all kit media / process can achieve similar tolerances. Given that Randy essentially hand-builds his kit masters from scratch, you can expect a different level of constructional challenge. I have tackled some truly hideous "kits" in the past & can say this one is far from being 'bad' (but you say as much, too.) It strikes me that you are 'modeling' and not 'kit assembling' as you work to improve the basic fits and correct the admittedly minor accuracy errors. I'm not, btw, saying 'kit assembling' is a bad thing, just that it is a different standard on the spectrum of modeling skills.
That said, since I am 'catching up' with your project I wanted to toss a couple of constructives for you. One is when using your 'needle scriber', keep it chucked in as much as possible to reduce the amount of unsupported length. This reduces the amount of 'chatter' the needle will exhibit, providing you better control (aka, fewer 'skips and jumps'.)
Second, did you look at a pearlescent finish for it? The full scale mockup has a kind of semi-metallic sheen that reminds me of mother-of-pearl.
Lastly, when masking, you can seal the mask with a compatible clear coat (I use Pledge Multi-Finish acrylic floor coating) to seal the masking & prevent any bleed-under. Because it is clear, if it bleeds, no problem.
Keep up the good work!
R/ Robert
That said, since I am 'catching up' with your project I wanted to toss a couple of constructives for you. One is when using your 'needle scriber', keep it chucked in as much as possible to reduce the amount of unsupported length. This reduces the amount of 'chatter' the needle will exhibit, providing you better control (aka, fewer 'skips and jumps'.)
Second, did you look at a pearlescent finish for it? The full scale mockup has a kind of semi-metallic sheen that reminds me of mother-of-pearl.
Lastly, when masking, you can seal the mask with a compatible clear coat (I use Pledge Multi-Finish acrylic floor coating) to seal the masking & prevent any bleed-under. Because it is clear, if it bleeds, no problem.
Keep up the good work!
R/ Robert
joberg
Legendary Member
Garage kits are, after all hand made and, as such, can sometimes be frustrating to work with (as you know by now). Good work for sure (love the painting) and yes, those panel lines can be a PITA, but it seems that you've enough patience to make them right. Keep up the great work.
Thank you for the tips and tricks. Definitely appreciated. I'll look into the pearl-effect, It's kind of hard to judge from pictures and I have not seen the full-scale build in person.
And I agree with you all the way regarding what should be expected out of a silicon-molded garagekit. I mean no disrespect towards the labor Randy puts in in any way, This is my first ever resin-kit so I do not have any previous experience to compare towards.
Although this one defeated me, I too have no regrets. Having built Randy's Blockade Runner and having his Spinner, I remain a fan; the bubble ship is a tricky subject for the vagaries of resin!
There is some excellent casting out there, Crow's Nest Proteus, Spicer's "Moon Truck", AJA's Aries and everything I've had from Industria Mechanika are amongst the best I've had.
There are some HR photos and a good video on you tube with Daniel Simon with the full size ship, the finish is immaculate.
There is some excellent casting out there, Crow's Nest Proteus, Spicer's "Moon Truck", AJA's Aries and everything I've had from Industria Mechanika are amongst the best I've had.
There are some HR photos and a good video on you tube with Daniel Simon with the full size ship, the finish is immaculate.
rbeach84
Sr Member
Aye, I don't believe any disrespect was apparent. You are certainly adapting to the resin kit "challenges" (like fixing the engine pod's shape) with aplomb. Of course, it never hurts to call a stinker a stinker - as long as you have perspective on what that actually involves! ;^)
If you want some entertaining reads, Google up 'Bondo Phil' (RIP) & see how he worked with resin kits. It is a hoot!
Cheers! Robert
If you want some entertaining reads, Google up 'Bondo Phil' (RIP) & see how he worked with resin kits. It is a hoot!
Cheers! Robert
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Ok, So I'm Back from a week+ in NY and I've had some time to cure my kit-building abstinence that built up during the trip.
So, What's been done since the last update? I've worked on the legs / Landing supports.
I had to do some minor modifications since I wasn't entirely happy with some features, particularly the birdbeak on the rear strut that is too big compared to photos, so that was redone.
I also decided to go for the concept-style of have the rear strut primarily white instead of chromed since I feel that is a better look.
Further more, I've done some work on the Pilot/Passenger doors. These have been quite the challenge. The issue is basically to get the split between frame to door to look good. Hard as hell to get a nice and even split just by sanding, and I actually painted these Aluminium and realized that the split looked so bad, and that these will be highly visible that I sanded them down again and restarted the process. I'm waiting for the filler to dry up and then I'll see if I've improved them any from try # 1.
Otherwise, some minor work has been done, I was seriously pleased with the masking on the flaps, I used some plastic masking tape for curvatures and it worked wonders.
Also, I painted the pilot bubble and cut the vacuum-formed pieces into shape and repainted the main guns and started to add some weathering onto them.
So, What's been done since the last update? I've worked on the legs / Landing supports.
I had to do some minor modifications since I wasn't entirely happy with some features, particularly the birdbeak on the rear strut that is too big compared to photos, so that was redone.
I also decided to go for the concept-style of have the rear strut primarily white instead of chromed since I feel that is a better look.
Further more, I've done some work on the Pilot/Passenger doors. These have been quite the challenge. The issue is basically to get the split between frame to door to look good. Hard as hell to get a nice and even split just by sanding, and I actually painted these Aluminium and realized that the split looked so bad, and that these will be highly visible that I sanded them down again and restarted the process. I'm waiting for the filler to dry up and then I'll see if I've improved them any from try # 1.
Otherwise, some minor work has been done, I was seriously pleased with the masking on the flaps, I used some plastic masking tape for curvatures and it worked wonders.
Also, I painted the pilot bubble and cut the vacuum-formed pieces into shape and repainted the main guns and started to add some weathering onto them.
Thank you guys, I think it's coming along quite nicely. Not that far to go now either.
Original ship was done by Daniel Simon,think hes doing stuff for Lotus now..Beautiful work so far..
http://danielsimon.com/oblivion-bubbleship/
http://danielsimon.com/oblivion-bubbleship/
postmanpat
Sr Member
Fantastic work mate!!! Look forward to following your progress.
crackerjazz
Sr Member
Absolutely gorgeous work so far!
Thank you guys :thumbsup
Not all that far from finished now. I'll try to get an update posted this weekend. The cockpit is finally finished and basically what's left is some painting, gluing the Engine-bubbles onto the fuselage and a lot of weathering.
Not all that far from finished now. I'll try to get an update posted this weekend. The cockpit is finally finished and basically what's left is some painting, gluing the Engine-bubbles onto the fuselage and a lot of weathering.
