Scratch Build- 2001 Space Odyssey- Clavius Moon Base
- Thread starter Carlb
- Start date
Carlb
Sr Member
Thanks for your concern Joberg, and by the way, your Space Station V build was magnificent! I have looked at that thread many times, it was an amazing effort.
Indeed, I thought I could just mark off my pieces with a compass or a trammel, but any minor imperfections would throw the angles off.
Oh well.
I should have an update this Sunday.
Indeed, I thought I could just mark off my pieces with a compass or a trammel, but any minor imperfections would throw the angles off.
Oh well.
I should have an update this Sunday.
dynasoar62
New Member
fantastic work
Sans Monolith, I consider what we saw in that middle act of 2001 a good indicator of what that era was probably like in the future history of Star Trek. A lot of what was being speculated in the mid-to-late-'60s was based on NASA's and the US Air Force's efforts and projections. After Apollo XX, they were expecting to have the first permanent space station online by 1980. That would be a way-station to getting the first manned moon base operational by 1990 (and, yes, Clavius was one of the front-runners as to where), and the first manned missions to Mars and the outer planets by 2000.
That obviously didn't happen for us, but for Star Trek to happen, it had to have for them. We know from the lore that the Discovery I mission was already in the advanced planning stages when the Monolith was discovered, so I happily port that -- with its original objectives -- over to Trek. So much about this era we almost got fascinates me... Nixon vetoed the space station and cut NASA's budget (even as he was congratulating Neil and Buzz), but retained the service vehicle. The civilian shuttle was cancelled (bye-bye Orion clipper), but the one to meet the Air Force's size requirements for placing surveillance satellites in orbit went ahead. A service vehicle to nowhere. I like to think it would work to get the missile platforms up, too, by the late 1990s.
I've dug so much into what was supposed to happen and I love seeing any of it realized. Proposed art for the final (repurposed and scrubbed) Apollo missions, the plans for the passenger shuttle and its manned booster, and Clavius Base and Space Station V were both extrapolated from plans for where those agencies were aiming a quarter-century down the road. A lot of what went into designing Clavius was a more extreme-environment version of the planning that went into McMurdo and Scott bases in Antarctica. I like to look at those for the psychological factors that would need to be overcome.
And about the biggest thing that they had in Trek by the 1990s that they didn't in 2001 was gravity-manipulation. By Trek's mid-1990s, the Dy-100 was being built, with an early version of continuum-distortion drive. The sort of thing that we're only just starting to get near in Reality-Land. There are times I wonder if A.C.C. or Kubrick allowed that possibility to enter their minds, or if such advances by the end of the century they deemed improbable. Because staying up on the moon for any length of time, you're going to need to find ways to compensate for the impact of the microgravity environment on the human body...
All that to say, you're damned right there are still fans of 2001 around! Several of my grail items are from this film and I intend to have them someday: A lunar spacesuit (already have the Clavius patch), 1:72 Discovery I with full interior, and a scale model of Clavius Base to go alongside a scale model of Hadley's Hope from Aliens. Every time someone tackles an orbital missile platform or a HAL faceplate or a better representation of the Orion or a re-creation of the dinner tray and silverware... or a scale model of the Clavius moon base, I am pleased to see the popularity of the film carry forward that much further. You're doing a masterful job.
That obviously didn't happen for us, but for Star Trek to happen, it had to have for them. We know from the lore that the Discovery I mission was already in the advanced planning stages when the Monolith was discovered, so I happily port that -- with its original objectives -- over to Trek. So much about this era we almost got fascinates me... Nixon vetoed the space station and cut NASA's budget (even as he was congratulating Neil and Buzz), but retained the service vehicle. The civilian shuttle was cancelled (bye-bye Orion clipper), but the one to meet the Air Force's size requirements for placing surveillance satellites in orbit went ahead. A service vehicle to nowhere. I like to think it would work to get the missile platforms up, too, by the late 1990s.
I've dug so much into what was supposed to happen and I love seeing any of it realized. Proposed art for the final (repurposed and scrubbed) Apollo missions, the plans for the passenger shuttle and its manned booster, and Clavius Base and Space Station V were both extrapolated from plans for where those agencies were aiming a quarter-century down the road. A lot of what went into designing Clavius was a more extreme-environment version of the planning that went into McMurdo and Scott bases in Antarctica. I like to look at those for the psychological factors that would need to be overcome.
And about the biggest thing that they had in Trek by the 1990s that they didn't in 2001 was gravity-manipulation. By Trek's mid-1990s, the Dy-100 was being built, with an early version of continuum-distortion drive. The sort of thing that we're only just starting to get near in Reality-Land. There are times I wonder if A.C.C. or Kubrick allowed that possibility to enter their minds, or if such advances by the end of the century they deemed improbable. Because staying up on the moon for any length of time, you're going to need to find ways to compensate for the impact of the microgravity environment on the human body...
All that to say, you're damned right there are still fans of 2001 around! Several of my grail items are from this film and I intend to have them someday: A lunar spacesuit (already have the Clavius patch), 1:72 Discovery I with full interior, and a scale model of Clavius Base to go alongside a scale model of Hadley's Hope from Aliens. Every time someone tackles an orbital missile platform or a HAL faceplate or a better representation of the Orion or a re-creation of the dinner tray and silverware... or a scale model of the Clavius moon base, I am pleased to see the popularity of the film carry forward that much further. You're doing a masterful job.
I've seen a lot of people play with the DY-100s, including Trek production people. I cringe at the stuff in Voyager showing it launching on a booster assembly from Earth, when Matt Jefferies intended it be built in orbit. Those that weren't fitted out as high-sublight sleeper ships being sent to Alpha Centauri were rigged as asteroid-belt ore-haulers. They were never intended to land, except catastrophically*. But, regardless of what others have done with them, this is what was on the Botany Bay, launched from Earth Orbit in 1996, carrying convicted war-criminals into exile to Tau Ceti:
Nothing that I'd classify as a typically-Newtonian thrust exhaust. But if it had an early version of something like an impulse engine, creating a gravitational gradient differential the ship "slides down", that covers both forward and reverse thrust -- as there are no visible retro-rockets at the front of the craft, either.
Side note: I wish they'd made the cargo modules in Wrath of Khan actually look like these things attached to the ship...
[*This does not mean "crash", but, something like the Enterprise-D's emergency landing in Generations, it is a landing from which the ship is not intended to be able to take off again.]
Carlb
Sr Member
I worked on the remaining Clavius moon base sub-sections.... After studying the extraordinary filming model of the base in Adam Johnsons book " 2001 Lost Science Vol 2", the sheer size of it obviously allowed for much more intricate detailing than I can attempt here.. For me, a bit of a disappointment, that this entire diorama will be less than 3 square feet! I placed as much as I thought plausible without too much overcrowding. I had to remind myself, it's a research facility, not an interplanetary vessel..
I began adding the sidewalls of each section. Each piece was cut short, and raised to meet the "top", because all sections will be "sunk" into the lunar surface.
After that was complete, I light blocked all the interior sidewalls with black craft paint.
Bottom of each section was sprayed with Rustoleum shaker can black....
Till next time....lighting...and the landing site dome...
I began adding the sidewalls of each section. Each piece was cut short, and raised to meet the "top", because all sections will be "sunk" into the lunar surface.
After that was complete, I light blocked all the interior sidewalls with black craft paint.
Bottom of each section was sprayed with Rustoleum shaker can black....
Till next time....lighting...and the landing site dome...
joberg
Legendary Member
You're right not to cram that model with too many greeblies because of the scale and, as you mentioned, because those are mainly buildings/housing with a few machines on their roofs and other "stuff". Careful with the black paint, it will not mask all of the light bleed.
Usually, we use aluminium tape to be sure everything is covered. Are you going to use plaster for the Lunar surface?
Usually, we use aluminium tape to be sure everything is covered.
Are you going to use plaster for the Lunar surface?
Carlb
Sr Member
Thanks for the thumbs up folks!
Joberg- Thanks for the advise.... I like the aluminum tape technique, but I couldn't use it here. I use individual 0603 SMD LEDs'-with my own resistors attached. Space is REALLY tight inside the sections, and I felt the tape could cause issues. You'll see what I mean later on.
I am not using any plaster for the base, that would be very heavy. I am experimenting with a new foam product (to me), called Smooth-Finish, which is extremely lightweight, easy to work, and cleans up with water. Testing looks great. Pricey though....
PS.,,,, Uh-oh... the manufacturer is claiming "closeout".
Joberg- Thanks for the advise.... I like the aluminum tape technique, but I couldn't use it here. I use individual 0603 SMD LEDs'-with my own resistors attached. Space is REALLY tight inside the sections, and I felt the tape could cause issues. You'll see what I mean later on.
I am not using any plaster for the base, that would be very heavy. I am experimenting with a new foam product (to me), called Smooth-Finish, which is extremely lightweight, easy to work, and cleans up with water. Testing looks great. Pricey though....
PS.,,,, Uh-oh... the manufacturer is claiming "closeout".
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Fits well with the Leif Erickson
AMT Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser and U.F.O Mystery Ship
Frank Henriquez's home page
frank.bol.ucla.edu
Now! If I had to do TOS-R…I would have gone with the HLLV shown on page 6, figure 12 here:
That actually could have launched in the 1990s….and it looks like a Junior League Enterprise…just say it used metastable hydrogen to make Orbit as a complete stack…with an EM Drive display or other digitally inserted.
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I've always loved that one, and include it in my early 21st-century interplanetary section of my Trek Human spaceflight timeline. I'm building one with SAC and Aerospace Defense Command markings. Thinking of applying some to my 2001 American missile platform.
That thing is one of the wilder concepts I've seen. For both Trek and 2001, I like to go with some version of this for the Orion launch assembly:
A piloted booster to get the spaceplane to the upper atmosphere and fast enough for its scramjets to kick in and take it up to where rockets took over.
Sorry, Carlb, you've gotten me thinking about all this again.
joberg
Legendary Member
You can cheat using foam used for floral arrangements
You don't need a hot wire to shape it; sand paper will do (120 grit). You can sculpt anything with it and then apply a thin layer of plaster. Wet application of the plaster and some of the craters can be done by dripping water on that wet surface.It'll give you small craters in scale with the Moon Base! Keep up the good work.
tsenecal
Well-Known Member
the foam product you show is also known as "balsa filler"... the amazon link is cheaper, but if that disappears, you know that there are alternatives: Deluxe Materials Model Lite Balsa Filler, White: 240cc | Tower Hobbies
Robert Goslin
New Member
Hi Carl. You're off to a great start. Looking forward to seeing what you do over on this forum.
Members here will give you a lot of excellent advice. Will be following along.
Certainly different type of modelling to what you are used to.
Regards Rob Goslin
Members here will give you a lot of excellent advice. Will be following along.
Certainly different type of modelling to what you are used to.
Regards Rob Goslin
