dbhs
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone. I've been a long time lurker here but haven't posted much - and I'm hoping to change that. This will be a long first post as I'm catching up with the progress. There's some fantastic talent here and I appreciate any feedback and suggestions you have. Thanks for looking.
-Doug
My new project is a scratch-built Studio Scale model of a Ralph McQuarrie concept design for the Cylon Raider. This concept was not used for the show in favor of the Raider that we all know and love. To my knowledge a model has never been built of this concept design. I'm calling this a Studio Scale model because I will be building it in 1:35 scale to match the scale of the Studio Raider.
http://www.galactica.tv/battlestar-galactica-1978-news/ralph-mcquarrie-concept-sketches.html has a lot of McQuarrie's sketches and there's some really good ideas for scratch builds in there.
This sketch and the one above are the only two reference sketches that I have found for this design but they show enough of the ship to extrapolate the design for a scale model.
To round out the scratch built parts I'm going to add just a few kit parts from the Leopold and Morser Karl that were used on the studio model. The kit parts will be used in keeping with the design but will add just a little 'lineage' to keep this in the Cylon Raider family. Phil (Wombat) is helping me out with some parts from his stash. Thanks, Phil !!!
This photo show the Studio Scale Cylon Raider kit next to a 1:35 drawing of the Concept Raider. The Concept Raider is a slightly smaller craft as it is a single-pilot ship. In physical dimensions the model will be just under 16" from nose to tail.
My first step was to draw up to-scale plans in AutoCAD. The plan view-sketch was very helpful getting started but after a while I started noticing subtle differences in the design between the two drawigns. I really liked the feel of the perspective sketch so I used that as my reference whenever something didn't match.
The shape of the hull has subtle compound curves so I'm using AutoCAD to study the geometry and generating the series of ribs that will create this curve on the skin.
Most of the ribs and parts are ready to go so the next step is to start cutting styrene.
Transferring the pattern to the styrene went really well. It was a little tricky to get the top and bottom to line up exactly but I got it really close.
This is making cutting the ribs out to the right size really easy.
Here's the bottom flat section getting glued up.
This is what I printed the drawing on to. Sticks great to the styrene and luckily it doesn't get melted by the solvent glue. Doesn't seem to react at all. I do have to trim out the label film where each rib goes so the styrene will contact styrene.
I don't have a vacuum former so I had to improvise to get the styrene bent to shape. I did two before this one that I had to scrap but this one turned out ok.
The scoop will go on after the rest of the ribs and some of the plating are down.
I sacrificed a couple of pens to build the guns. There's some additional parts from the pens that I can use on this as well.
The first layer of plating is glued on.
Here is the projection under the engines under construction.
Here it is with the rib detailing added on. The two flat areas directly forward of this will have big grilles placed in them. I'm going to use the grilles from the Centurion Tank for these (used on the top part of the Studio Raider behind the cockpit). The details on that piece will look good there.
Here's the top view of the same area. I need to finish up around the engine compartment and then start working on the ribs on the top side.
-Doug
My new project is a scratch-built Studio Scale model of a Ralph McQuarrie concept design for the Cylon Raider. This concept was not used for the show in favor of the Raider that we all know and love. To my knowledge a model has never been built of this concept design. I'm calling this a Studio Scale model because I will be building it in 1:35 scale to match the scale of the Studio Raider.
http://www.galactica.tv/battlestar-galactica-1978-news/ralph-mcquarrie-concept-sketches.html has a lot of McQuarrie's sketches and there's some really good ideas for scratch builds in there.
This sketch and the one above are the only two reference sketches that I have found for this design but they show enough of the ship to extrapolate the design for a scale model.
To round out the scratch built parts I'm going to add just a few kit parts from the Leopold and Morser Karl that were used on the studio model. The kit parts will be used in keeping with the design but will add just a little 'lineage' to keep this in the Cylon Raider family. Phil (Wombat) is helping me out with some parts from his stash. Thanks, Phil !!!
This photo show the Studio Scale Cylon Raider kit next to a 1:35 drawing of the Concept Raider. The Concept Raider is a slightly smaller craft as it is a single-pilot ship. In physical dimensions the model will be just under 16" from nose to tail.
My first step was to draw up to-scale plans in AutoCAD. The plan view-sketch was very helpful getting started but after a while I started noticing subtle differences in the design between the two drawigns. I really liked the feel of the perspective sketch so I used that as my reference whenever something didn't match.
The shape of the hull has subtle compound curves so I'm using AutoCAD to study the geometry and generating the series of ribs that will create this curve on the skin.
Most of the ribs and parts are ready to go so the next step is to start cutting styrene.
Transferring the pattern to the styrene went really well. It was a little tricky to get the top and bottom to line up exactly but I got it really close.
This is making cutting the ribs out to the right size really easy.
Here's the bottom flat section getting glued up.
This is what I printed the drawing on to. Sticks great to the styrene and luckily it doesn't get melted by the solvent glue. Doesn't seem to react at all. I do have to trim out the label film where each rib goes so the styrene will contact styrene.
I don't have a vacuum former so I had to improvise to get the styrene bent to shape. I did two before this one that I had to scrap but this one turned out ok.
The scoop will go on after the rest of the ribs and some of the plating are down.
I sacrificed a couple of pens to build the guns. There's some additional parts from the pens that I can use on this as well.
The first layer of plating is glued on.
Here is the projection under the engines under construction.
Here it is with the rib detailing added on. The two flat areas directly forward of this will have big grilles placed in them. I'm going to use the grilles from the Centurion Tank for these (used on the top part of the Studio Raider behind the cockpit). The details on that piece will look good there.
Here's the top view of the same area. I need to finish up around the engine compartment and then start working on the ribs on the top side.
