Tandem Build - Colonial Defender

[Griffworks]

Greetings. This thread will be about my Fantastic Plastic Colonial Defender kit builds. With the plethora of detailing, accurizing and other pieces/parts now available thru venues such as Shapeways.com, I've decided to revamp my first FP Defender build, as well as build the second kit I purchased a year or two back.

The main thing I'm doing here is to remove a lot of the dorsal superstructure detail and replacing it with Aptivaboy's Colonial Defender Top Piece, 3D printed at Shapeways. I really like the detail added here better than was on the original kit, as it just seems to fit in a bit better, IMNSHO.




I purchased two of them, which took about 10 days total turn around time.




I started by removing the upper hull detail on both kits, using a grinding wheel on my Dremel. I sanded the semi-rough surface with 320 grit sandpaper and got most of the lines out of the resin.




Next, I glued on the detail piece, as well as an extra TOS Galactica bridge assembly piece from the old ARVEY Model Products TOS Battlestar Accurizing set made for the Monogram Galactica. This is something I had also seen Aptivaboy do with his own build and I thought it looked pretty darned kewel.




I then started adding more and more detail parts to both builds. The tan resin parts are more from the AMP set, with the white looking parts printed 3D parts from Aptivaboy's Greebly Package Set, which gives you a bunch of pieces/parts to play around with.

Dinner is calling, so I'm going to have to end this for now. More a bit later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[peza]

eh up buddy lookin forward to this!! cheers peza

 

[Griffworks]

Thank ya kindly, sir!


More work done over the last five days. Not as much as I'd have liked, but you know how that pesky "Life" thing gets in the way of our fun! Lousy Life! Makes me want to become a Berzerker (Fred Saberhagen reference, Yo!) and eradicate life from the universe....

The highlights:
* Drilled holes in the connection points of the main hull and engine pieces, then added some brass rod (clothes hanger snipped to size) for Ephesus so the parts will adhere better, as well as not drop off at the slightest bump.
* Added a bunch of little detail bits-n-bobs on the surface of each model.
* Gun platforms of two types added: Defender gets the older Galactica-type platforms and Admiralty Modelworks guns, Ephesus gets the Aptivaboy Pandora gun platforms and Pegasus type guns.
* Added photoetch to both models, mostly to represent armored hatches, tho there are some vents added to Ephesus and small ECM release hatches for drones for Defender.
* Added more resin bits to the ventral engines to represent RCS thrusters. I had originally added some to Defender way back when, but only to the dorsal section. Now both have it on the dorsal and ventral aft surfaces.
* Drilled out RCS thruster points at a couple of points on the hull, to include the aforementioned resin bits on the aft engines and six points on the forward hull.
* Removed a section of the ventral resin detail "superstructure" bits that are glued in and repositioned the one section that I kept.
* Decided to do away with the forward set of "chin guns" and will place guns there. I figure the two large holes in the front are heavy-bore cannons (similar to what Pegasus has), with the smaller holes representing forward RCS thrusters.
* Cut the kit-included flight pod in half using a Dremel circular saw bit. I then used a router-looking bit to remove most of the upper section interior resin - then did a couple lines of resin using an Evergreen plastic tube stock - , then used a polishing bit to smooth out the interior surface. I did the same with the bottom piece, then added to pieces of .030" sheet stock, laminated to give it a bit of thickness. I gave a little extra height to the side walls for the top section to make sure there's plenty of clearance for auxiliary craft that might have to land inside and am in the process of
"skinning" the interior with walls.
* Using some of the Marko Osterholtz mastered ARVEY Model Products TOS Galactica Accurizing Kit (made for the Monogram kit) hangar bay opening sections, I started work on larger flight pod. I used the bottom section of a Monogram kit for the ventral surface, then scratchbuilt a simple interior, which includes some detail pieces and two large doors. I need to detail paint the interior now (it's base-coated), glue in a shuttle or two, then start building up the internal framework so I can then skin the outer hull section.
* Added a lower antenna for Ephesus to represent her role as more of an ASW / ECM ship.
* Started primering the outside of the main hull sections, then ran out of primer....

And now, DaPics!



Here are pics of the flight pod that will go on Defender. This is the original part that I built/painted (very crappily!) for Defender. I cut along the bottom section of the side "trenches", cutting almost all the way thru. However, there was still roughly 1/16" of resin in the center that I couldn't quite reach. I separated the two parts using a wedge, then Dremeled the interiors to remove excess resin.

I then used a polishing bit used for grooming the nails of dogs. It got the interior pretty smooth, which I was most happy with. I had apparently damaged he opening's a bit, so had to go back and add sheet stock and/or putty to even it up some. Still not done, but mostly there. I've started skinning the interior walls and plan to added some sheet stock to the pylon/arm assembly to thicken it up a bit.

Or maybe I'll add some half-round...?




As mentioned previously, I'm using some TOS Galactica hangar bay doors and the bottom section of a Monogram flight pod to build a somewhat large - for the size of the Defender-design - flight pod. Ephesus is meant to operate as a ASW (Anti-Ship Warfare) / ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) ship as a Fleet Defense measure. As such, the flight pod is much larger to reflect her being able to field ECM Raptor's and shuttles. I've added some sheet stock for interior supports, some liquid storage along the walls and an LSO / Observation deck in the center of the flight deck ceiling.

The pod, as you can see above, is literally large enough to hold at least the dozen shuttles in those last three pics, as well as more auxiliary craft. There's enough room in the flight pod above the deck for one more large deck for storage and maintenance of various ships, as well as one more, smaller deck above that for parts storage and aircrew ready rooms. Munitions, such as they would be, would go on the deck immediately below the flight deck. I figure she can field roughly 18 shuttles, 40 Raptors and a dozen Recon Fighters ("Stealthstar's", a name I hate for a small recon fighter), mostly geared towards scouting and ECM use, tho likely has a few "assault" Raptor's aboard meant to be used predominately for defense.




Ephesus, being the aforementioned ASW / ECM ship, will have less of a direct combat mission, so will only have about 14 gun emplacements, versus the 18 that Defender will sport. I also added some "advanced" AA gun emplacements on Ephesus, meant to represent the type that eventually is mounted between the armored plates of the Mercury-class battlestars. These are represented by some of the parts from Aptivaboy's Greebly Package set, purchased from Shapeways. They're independently controlled, yet can also be networked, capable of standard "turret" gun fire and smaller missiles. I also used some detailing parts from the set on both Ephesus and Defender. I also added some "venting" that I pulled from a 1/72 scale BF-109 photoetch set, and some doors from one of the Kotobukiya (I think it is?) PE sets for both ships to act as armored hatches. Ephesus also got a large FTL communications antenna to the ventral surface.

Defender sports the "old" standard" emplacements similar to what is seen on the surface of Galactica, between the ribbing. I cut up sheet stock to represent these emplacements and made them just a bit thicker, to represent that they're armored, so a bit more robust than those on Galactica. It took me forever to cut and apply those things, as I kept losing the bits of styrene, plus had to reposition some of them after realizing that I had them improperly aligned. Defender also sports some small "drone hatches" along the ventral "leg" sections, meant to represent hatches used for ECM related drones, with said "hatches" being pulled from the same aforementioned BF-109 PE set.

I've since primered the bulk of both models, tho ran out or primer - guess I'll have to go to WallyWorld tonight or tomorrow! {NOTE: ENDED UP SENDING MY DAUGHTER TO GET IT, WHO WAS GOING ANYHOW!} I'll take another set of pics sometime after they're fully primered. In the meantime, the main hull sections are complete and I'll get back to the flight pods of both ships. I'll have to scratchbuild some sort of connection arm assembly for the Ephesus flight pod, which will be held in fairly close to the hull, tho actually a bit further away than the Defender design originally called for. The arm will likely be "anchored" inside the flight pod so I don't have to worry about accidentally bumping it and shearing it off from the top of the flight pod. My hope is to have them both finished by the end of this week so that I can then get the main hull color, do detail painting around the areas that the flight pods will "cover", add the flight pods in such a way that I can touch up with the main hull color, as needed, then finish both ships.

I've got some custom decals from JBOT that will serve for the Colonial Fleet emblem on the top of the "dome", as well as each ships name - to include one to go on each side of the flight pods. I've not yet decided if I'll go with traditional red for the hull markings, but am considering going with a shade of dark blue for Ephesus. Defender will get red, once again.

- - - Updated - - -

A few new pics. No major work done, just did some minor clean up of the main hulls, primed and then gave them both a base coat. I'm about at the point on the Defender flight pod where it's ready for decals, and am at the point where I can decal the Ephesus flight pod. Once Ephesus' flight pod has the decals, I can then get started on constructing the outer hull for it.



Showing the space above the flight deck, as well as an interior shot taken w/a flash of what I'm thinking I'll do once I'm ready to seal up the interior flight deck section and start work on the exterior hull.




Primered!

More in a day or three.

.

 

[Griffworks]

Migraine that hit me early Saturday morning and stuck w/me thru Sunday evening stopped me dead in my tracks from much in the way of building. Got a bit done on Monday and some yesterday, tho had a sick 7 year old with me, so it was slow going, even then.

Latest updates:

* I decided to add any flight deck decals to the Ephesus flight pod after I've completed construction and painting. Less change of me damaging it and I'll only have to close off the interior section of the flight deck this way to keep the two shuttles I added from getting overspray.
* More work on the Ephesus flight pod exterior, to including the connection arm. Minor work, really, tho it still took me over a day to get it to the point of the last pics.
* Minor work on the Defender flight pod. I'll finish that one up once I've completed the Ephesus' pod.




Size comparison of the scratchbashed pod w/the kit pod.




Various shots of building the exterior "skin". The top of the "T" for the connecting arm was built using two cut down pieces of Evergreen Rectangular Tube .250" x .375', with sections cut out to fit the connecting "arm".




Some more rectangular tube stock was cut at an angle and used as reinforced "skin" for the exterior of the flight pod. I also used some half-round to simulate conduit coverings. I'll put some additional detailing on the top of the "T", as well.




Checking out some views of the exterior.




Peekaboo, I see you!




My favorite pic, so far. She's really gonna look great, IMNSHO, once completed and added to my RTF. Then, I'm also pretty biased about this particular project, so there's that, as well.

 

[Griffworks]

I'm pretty much done w/the detailing of the flight pod for Ephesus. Worked on it yesterday for about two hours and got all the of the pieces/parts I wanted to add in-place. Most of the detail parts are from the AMP TOS Battlestar accurizing set, with a couple being from the Aptivaboy Greeblies Package, mentioned previously.



I plan to do a fine-grit wet-sand to see if I need any more touch up puttying, and if she's good, I'll give her a light primer coat, wash her down after a full cure time and get to painting the base coat on the pieces/parts. Once that's done, I'll start with the interior details for Defender's flight pod.

 

[Griffworks]

Below are a couple more progress pics. Before that, tho... Something that April "Keptin Barnes" Welles said over at Starship Modeler earlier echoed my own thoughts of the last two days. That is how smooth the flight pod for Ephesus happens to be on the sides. Lacking much in the way of detail, it's somewhat incongruous to the rest of the main hull, with all kinds of detail parts or armored hull plate pattern.

Initially, my thinking about not going too in-depth with the rest of the detail was that Ephesus was one of several ships that were fairly recently "refit", as a cost saving measure on the part of the Colonial Fleet. As such, the much larger flight pod was "custom" made for this sub-class of the Defender design. The primary mission of the Ephesus-type ships is similar to that of a lot of modern-day US Navy Frigates and AWAC's type aircraft - to act as an early warning "picket" for the fleet. Not only does Ephesus herself have a series of sensitive detection equipment aboard, she has her own air wing of Raptors and AWACS shuttles, which are similarly equipped.

Not unlike her later cousins, Ephesus-type picket ships are capable of launching ECM specific systems and aircraft designed to cause incoming enemy guided ordnance to go haywire, as well as shoot them down with her AA missiles and guns.

All that being said, the pod is much newer, thus had a much more smooth appearance. At least, that was initially my thinking - along with getting a bit weary of working on these two models, as I want to finish them already. It sorta bugs and April bringing it up has made me think on it even more I was thinking to add some extra detail pieces/parts and/or use some extra decal sheets or pencil in some panel lines. Still not sure where to go with it, tho need to make a decision soon.

Anyhow, latest pics.




Ephesus with her completed base coat on her stand. For those who are curious, it's the 4" Flight Pose Stand. I've got several in each of their sizes - 2", 4" and 6" - and all of them work great for even solid resin models, like the Fantastic Plastic Defender kit, the Timeslip Creations TNS Galactica kit, the old Monogram/Revell battlestar kits or the Moebius Models TNS Galactica and Pegasus kits.




I'm almost done with the Defender flight pod. I decided to add some side bays to the inside large enough for a Mk II shuttle to fit into. One of them has a door assembly and is a Raptor bay. My overall thinking is that the standard complement of auxiliary craft on a standard Defender is 3 shuttles and three Raptors. Obviously, I don't have any itty-bitty Raptors, tho I've thought about scratchbuilding a little something that won't really be seen to put in the Raptor Bay. Dunno if I'll even try, tho.




I also added some half-round rod to the outboard part of the arms. They're meant to represent elevators for carrying personnel and light cargo from the flight pod. I figure replenishment supplies & munitions are brought aboard directly to the main hull.

I was sick today - stomach bug or bad reaction to the flu shot I got at the end of last week? - so didn't get anything done. I'll give it another shot tomorrow, prolly go back to focus on the flight pod for Ephesus, tho. I've already given some thought to what I might add in the way of physical parts, as it's occurred to me that I've got some PE that might work for additional plating-type detail....

 

[Nwerke]

Build logs. This is how they are done!! :thumbsup

 

[Griffworks]

Thank ya kindly, sir! I like to read others logs and am oft-times stumped at how some things might be accomplished, so have to ask questions, which I sort of hate to do as it sometimes "sullies" a thread. As such, I like to add as much info on my builds as possible. Glad you appreciate it! :thumbsup


Not nearly as much progress as I'd hoped, tho I did add a couple of antenna to Ephesus. I figure she's serving in an AWACS/ELINT capacity, so why not more thingy-mabobs, right?



This are (I think?) 1/1400 modern warship propeller shafts from my kit stash. I've seen some pretty "bland" looking antenna on ELINT aircraft and figured this would fit the bill. Only required some minor trimming at the base to get them to fit in between the armor plate sections.
I'm getting more and more mobility in my left hand, so will do some extra detail work over the next couple of days - I hope. So, maybe more pics soonish? At the very least, I get this bandage-like-cast (not a hard cast) on Monday, so should have at least a little extra movement. Hard to do much of anything with this big honkin' thing in the middle of my left hand!