Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 10th update with pics page 4 **

Hey guys,

thanx for the kind comments. My model will not have any details or panellines. Although tempting, it's not what the client wants to have, so i have to leave it out. Personally i think it adds to its decorative function.

Well finally here's a new update.

I got some thick MDF from the shop, and printed the basic 120 degree layout of the wings on plain A4 paper. Stuck it on the MDF, and mapped out the exact position of the bulbs on the wing.

I left a tiny hole on the exact center of each bulb, for ease of positioning it on the mdf. I put some pins in the MDF lining up perfectly with the bulb 'hole'.

I positioned the wings with some dots of poly filler, and subsequently filled up each wing slot in the hull with PU resin, completely locking them in place.
After each pour, i placed it back on the MDF base, making sure the lineup stayed correct.

The foam hull needed to be sealed, so i made a paper template for the fibreglass sheets, and cut them in two different shapes. This way they will overlap and strengthen the laminate.

Laminated the hull with polester. Messed up a bit on the top (fibreglass was a wee bit too big there), but nothing that can't be fixed. I realised my spraymask wasn't here, so worked without it :sick. I wanted to get the hell outta there after i was done, so the pic is a bit blurry. Looks better in person.

On to filling and sanding.

More soon.

Cheers,

Wasili

 

[Jeeves]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 11th update with pics page 5 **

lovelovelove

 

[Jet Beetle]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 11th update with pics page 5 **

FANTASTIC!

I love big giant props like this. And whats up with that cool Lotus and jumbo landspeeder!!!!

 

[Laffo]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 11th update with pics page 5 **

Killer.
Laffo.

 

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 11th update with pics page 5 **

Thanx guys,

But you're giving me too much credit. The laminate looked a bit like crap. And off course this is a timeconsuming process. If i had known i were to get more time, i would have made proper silicone molds for the hull....

Ah well, that's for the next one..

Friday's update.

Spend the better part of the day filling and sanding with poly filler. Tomorrow i'll fill the hull between the legs. Btw, my apologies for the hideous gardenroof of my neighbours. It could use a bit of soap....:lol

To get a feel how much still needed to be done, i sprayed a layer of primer from a rattlecan.

Some flat spots to sand and fill, but besides that the end is near for the hull.

More soon.

Cheers,

Wasili

 

[Alan Castillo]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 12th update with pics page 5 **

This is one cool project you have going here :thumbsup

 

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 12th update with pics page 5 **

Thanx alancastillo1..

Sunday's update. Found my spraymask, should add a few days to my life. Added more poly filler, filled and sanded the areas between the legs, and finally my favourite:

Sprayfiller......

Last bits of sanding to go. With a bit of luck, she'll be white tomorrow.

Cheers,

Wasili

 

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 13th update with pics page 5 **

Tuesday's update...

After the first coat of sprayfiller, there was still a bit of rough sanding and filling to do. Me being lazy ended this with 4 thick coats of sprayfiller. I still have some old stock of an automotive sprayfiller that's off the market, but i haven't seen anything better yet.

While the sprayfiller dried in today's warm weather, i cleaned the workmate.

I had to be able to spray the rocket from all sides, so i came up with the following setup on my cheap workmate. Three 2mm dia stainless steel rods, with some brass tube around it to strengthen it a bit. Each rod stuck to the workmate just by glueclamps, then the rods interconnected with ordinary steelwire to prevent the whole setup from collapsing.

It's still flimsy, so i was a bit nervous with all the weight of the rocket on it.

When sanding the dried coats of sprayfiller, it started to rain, so i had to move inside. When i was finished sanding, it stopped raining...excellent timing.

Out comes the paint. I use DuPont Centari 600 paint, very easy to spray, nice finish, albeit far more expensive than a rattlecan.

When mixing the paint and thinner, for some reason i had "Thunderbirds March" in my head. :cool

Let there be white....

The end is near. Masking the last bits tomorrow.

Cheers,

Wasili

 

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 14th update (PAINT) with pics page 5 **

Actually this is wednesday's update, as i finished the model yesterday. But i felt it right to show it to the client first, before showing it here.

Anyway, the last steps were masking the white sqaures on the hull. First i taped up the hull with 1" wide 3M gold tape ( wider tape, like 2" is preferred, but i only had smaller size ). As there are no markings or engraved lines on the model to guide the cutting, i made a setup from MDF and strengthening it with wood profile on the bottom.

I superglued some scalpel blades on sheet to make sure the blade was perfectly flat to the cutting guide.

I heightened the MDF guide to the levels as needed. This took quite a while as i should have used thicker MDF (it was sagging a bit), making a simple stick support necessary.

I marked those squares that i didn't need to peel off, get rid of the rest. And away the red spray...........

 

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 14th update (PAINT) with pics page 5 **

And here it is....

Done.

I'll post more pics tomorrow, maybe a bit of photoshopping if i feel up to it.

This will be worked out as a kit and complete buildup, in the next two weeks. I'll open an interest thread in the JY this weekend with details and pricing.

Hope you all enjoyed the work-in-progress reports. I know i did..

Cheers,

Wasili

 

[Contec]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 14th update (PAINT) with pics page 5 **

Love it
On the kits are you going to add those things that your client dident want. Like the Ladder and the hatch. ?

 

[Jeeves]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

Yaay! Congrats on finishing your build - it was clean and fast! Great work.
What is the gold tape? I have used the blue, but never even seen the 3m gold.

-Raj

 

[modeleers]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

Great Model!!! But be careful selling these...

Steven Spielburg's TinTin film - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0983193/ - is currently in production & due in 2011.
He has B I G plans for the Toy, Figure & Model side of a 3 film TinTin Franchise. (And the MoonRocket is one of them!)
The copyrights to Anything TinTin was the first thing Mr. Spielburg secured over 2 years ago.
Fantastic Plastic was just slapped with a Serious C&D by Steven's pal at LucasFilm - St. George. (just a friendly heads-up)

 

[Laffo]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

Great.
Laffo.

 

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

Hey guys,

Thanx for the kind comments. As for your questions:

Contec:
The only thing i will add on the outside are engraved lines for the white and red squares, to act as a guide for the cutting. On the inside i will make some easy assembly for positioning the wings.

Jeeves:
3M gold tape is basically yellow in color, and does not have the texture that the blue tape has. But it sticks far better, and removes without a trace. You can buy it from specialised paint supply stores (thick and long rolls), or as hobbysupplies (thin and short rolls). Tamiya also sells it under their own name in various thicknesses, but it's basically the same. An example is this one on the HLJ site:
http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM87033

Modeleers:
Thank you for the headsup. Sorry to hear of Fantastic Plastics C&D. I will probably only make a few (i was thinking of 10) and then move on to other commissioned projects. I have absolutely NO intention of starting a production line. This is just for fun, so when these are gone, they're gone.

Cheers,

Wasili

 

[NAZGÛL]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

Very nice result! Well done!

 

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

Thank you NAZGUL, it was fun to build.

Btw, i'm finalizing the kit, it will be up in the Junkyard tomorrow. I'll post a link when it's active.

Cheers,

Wasili

 

[Jiminydog]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

I am more of a lurker than a poster here but I just wanted to say that I am very interested in getting this kit when it is available!!

 

[Nwerke]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

That was great. Thanks, Wasili.

Any chance you'd consider doing a layup of the kit in lightweight epoxy glass?

 

[wasili]

Re: Tintin - Moonrocket 3,5ft high ** 15th update (FINISHED) with pics page 5 **

Thanx Nwerke..

With regards to the kit:

The hull will be a two part (left and right) polyester fibreglass layup. The wings are all cast pu resin with metal reinforcements. The silicone mold for the wings is closed, so no layup there.

Cheers,

Wasili