Scratch Build: TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod (8Rad LR232)

[MonsieurTox]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Looking great Marvin ! I notice you drilled holes on the back of your pulls, did you do that to save weight or that's another purpose ?

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Looking great Marvin ! I notice you drilled holes on the back of your pulls, did you do that to save weight or that's another purpose ?

Hi Julien,

No I'm not so much a weight freak as I am a "structural integrity" freak. I'll be capping of the ends with styrene with a bolt glued to the back for mounting. No way am I confident that this will be strong enough so I will be pouring in a bit of resin to secure the bolt. For added strength I drilled the holes so the resin can flow into the hulls a bit and all the resin parts become one and the bolt has absolutely no place to go.

Marvin

 

[MonsieurTox]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Thanks for the explanations Marvin.

If your pod is heavy, the styrene part will indeed have a lot of stress, I would have glued the part you did with the screw inside the pod (about at 1/2 or 2/3 of the height, of course yoou have to trim it to get it fit the inside of your pod) and another styrene plate with just a hole (same diameter as you mounting pipe), this way there would be a lot less stress and you wouldnt need to add more resin (then more weight) to the pod !

Just an idea though, keep up the good work !

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Good idea Julien!

I actually toyed with the idea of a central mounting point somewhere near the centre of gravity, but decided against it. I believe I reached critical mass: the point where a little extra resin really doesn't have a big impact on the overall weight anymore. Basically I'm going for a solid resin model right now.

Normally I think about the internal structure more. I usually work on vacuum formed styrene with an internal mounting structure, backfilled with polyurethane foam. This time I just wanted to be quick.... :lol

Marvin

 

[MonsieurTox]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

That's OK Marvin ! And I thought my rotocasted 223 pod was heavy ! :lol

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

I have a question to all who have built one of these.

I'm getting pretty significant seams between my hulls, around 1,5mm. So my question is, if you're using all kit hulls, can you simply glue all hulls flat onto each other or do you also get seams with kit parts. if not, then I'm afraid my resin hulls are warped. :angry

Marvin

 

[almar bouwman]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Oei,oei, glueing the hulls can be a real pain in the @$$. They have to form a perfect pentagon. Can be very tricky. But I didn't get any seams though. I just glued the hulls together.

 

[ralphee]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

No, no gaps or seams Marvin. When using the kit hulls, i kinda bonded aroundm till i had a small gap between the last hull to join, this was just a case of a slight pinch as the styrene parts have a lot of give.

Just a query, but are you trying to join these chassis to chassis, or hull to hull edge?

Im not sure the afforementioned will work, as that will create a gap i believe buddy i tried that wayyyy back with the 223 pod, it didnt want to join.

lee

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

OK thanks guys.

Lee, I tried both glueing just the edges as well as the undercarriage, but both gave big seams. I tried to line up my two masters (kit hulls) this morning and they gave no gaps at all while forming an almost perfectly 108 degree angle.

Somewhere during the night I decided to go the all kit hull route, because these resin parts have been fighting me all the way (well gravity didn't help). I actually hate working with large resin parts and only like to use it for smaller detail parts, not for the basic structure. Oh well it was a good experiment. I guess this will give me extra's for future models!

 

[almar bouwman]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Sorry to hear it didn't work out. But yes, with five 8Rads you're gonna have plenty of donor parts for future models .

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

So...... round three! Or should I say strike three 'cause if this thing fights me again it might be out!

Anyway, I ordered the remaining 8Rads to go all kits at least for the main hull. I started out by making patterns for the two pentagons I would need out of 1,5mm styrene. For anyone who wants them, here are the patterns.

Cheers,
Marvin

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

This is the way I made my mounting structure this time. (Julien, lighter and supported on both ends of the pod and in the middle ).

First I cut my outer pentagon and made the hole for the mounting bolt thread:

Then I secured the bolt with two-part epoxy glue

Then I 'encased' the bolt in styrene with the pointy bits sticking through. This way the bolt won't be able to turn if it would come loose, which it won't....

And finally I attached a piece of styrene tube which will guide a metal tube to be put inside the model (see next post).

Marvin

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

And here's the mounting structure inside the pod. The top/front pentagon is not glued into place yet. I will wait for that until I have all my hulls in place.

The result is a very sturdy and lightweight mounting structure. I wanted to be able to mount the pod from the front and the back. When mounting I will thread a long bolt thread though the model so it will actually be held in place by bolts on both ends of the model and guided through the tube in the center.

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

And this is what it looks like from the outside (not all unimportant...). You can see the detail part consisting of the plastruct dome and the flag cartridge holder, which I cast in resin.

I did this because I know that these parts would snap off in my house eventually, seeing as I can't melt them in place as I would do with glueing styrene on styrene.

Now it's a matter of waiting for the other 8Rads and the five Leichters, cause who am I kidding, you can't have one Despatch pod without the other can you?

 

[MonsieurTox]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Looking good and very clever so far !! :thumbsup

 

[ralphee]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Ill agree with Julien, a very techie and clever mounting point Marvin, this build is looking superb.

lee

 

[almar bouwman]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

That's a very interesting and clever solution for the mounting problem. Looking great :thumbsup.

 

[Scott Graham]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Clever(x4)!

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Hahaha.... techie solution.... thanks guys...

Can't wait to get my other three 8Rads and the four Leichters so I can really get going with these twins.....

Marvin

 

[marvin]

Re: Another 8Rad TESB Probe Droid Despatch Pod

Well the other 8rads arrived and I got them all on. Looks like crap because of the reworking I did on previous attempts. Looking forward to seeing what it will look like after a coat of primer and some sanding. Stay tuned....