BB43MAN
Sr Member
“2130, day Five-Four-Seven. Unscheduled course correction due at 2200. Pre-correction check: rotation axis plus 3 degrees. Nitrous Oxide pressure 4100, rising to 5000. Quad jets C & D on pre-select. Rotate ignition sequence beginning in three zero. Thrust-align reactors on standby.”
Well, the title of this thread says it all: PALOMINO! Yes, my friends, it’s true! After many long years, I ‘ve finally started on the ship model that I’ve always wanted. Some folks don’t care for this ship but me, I’ve waited long enough! My paradigm is “if it has to be, let it be me!”, so, me it is!
First, this thing was more difficult to master than it looks. In the past I’ve read other builders say that the PALOMINO didn’t have much interest to them because it was so “simple” a design. Charles Adams said it best in an older thread "don't let the old lady fool you, she's got some curves on her!" and he was right! I say to anyone who thinks this is an “easy” build.....try to build one! IT’S HARD!!!! So much harder than a normal build. So hard in fact I had to get the main body and engines CNC’d for accuracy! I still don’t know how those boys back in 1979 made the original, especially the engines. I think it was a combintaion of lathe work and sculpture.
Now, speaking of CNC and before some of you out there say something like “I get my stuff CNC’d all the time!”…well, not all of us blokes can afford that and I had to save up to do this one so, unless you’ve access to a lathe, or you do this stuff professionally, or you’re God, this thing is, dare I say (dare, dare!), impossible to scratch build and make it look accurate at the same time! My failed attempt at the body is the photo with the discs.
Accuracy of the overall shape was my goal for this one. I took screen grabs of every shot in the movie, dug up photos of the filming model and used the ONE available drawing out there to create what I feel is the most accurate hull of this ship ever attempted. Let me tell you, this ship doesn’t get much screentime so screencap reference was sparse! As a matter of fact, the CNC guy got tired of me making change after change to get the shape and angles correct. I sure hope I didn’t burn any bridges with this guy as I have a few more projects on the horizon that I could use his help with! LOL!
What you see so far is the main body and lower body base, the lower platform production masters, hatch masters and some smaller details. I’ll cast a first generation master of the hull and base then I start adding surface details, with the production masters being pulled off that.
“Like a tree on Christmas morning!”
At present I plan to cast the cockpit area in clear resin or fiberglass allowing for lighting but, it remains to be seen how that will go. I’m gonna try some window making techniques that I saw using tape and body primer. The lower body base has a window, which will be marked and drilled out, and the tops of engines have lights that will have to be drilled out as well.
From the master parts the photo etched brass artwork will be drawn up for the engine platform supports, struts and the various antennae on the main body. The engine masters are coming later this week and I’ve already seen the Solidworks renders. The results look nothing short of amazing. Decals will be provided by the incredible JT Graphics.
“There are three basic types, Mr. Pizer, the Wills, the Won’ts and the Cant’s. The Wills accomplish everything, the Won’ts oppose everything and Can’ts won’t try anything.”
Now before anyone asks, I’m planning on making this a kit however, it will not be studio scale and the main reason is size. I estimate studio scale on this bugger to be over 1½ feet in diameter and almost 4½ feet tall so that’s not an option if I wanted to keep it affordable. Can you imagine a fiberglass/resin casting that large? No, I wanted to keep this one affordable, manageable and small enough so you could display this on a shelf or desktop and not take up half the room. So, the overall size will be just slighty over 6” in diameter and about 15” tall, including the top spire antennae.
Now, very important here: this will be a kit for the advanced modeler, which shouldn’t be a problem for anyone here but if there are some of you fine folks that like to pull parts off a sprue, glue them on, paint them and think you’re done, this kit is NOT for you. You’re gonna have to do some sanding, angling, leveling, bending wires, bending photoetch, etc. I hope to have detailed instructions so there should be no suprises for anyone, since I’m building one first and working out the kinks!
Accuracy: Every modeler, obviously, wants their kits to be as accurate as possible to the original filming model but, this subject has been VERY difficult to find decent photos of details, like I mentioned before. Many requests for help in this area have turned up little to nothing in the way of reference photos and I think it’s because there are none out there! My educated guess is that there were at least three filming models of PALOMINO (large primary version, smaller solid strut version and pyro version). Large hull model sections (when V.I.N.CENT makes his repairs to hatch #4) and matte paintings, both that were extremely inaccurate, were used for close up shots. AND, like so many films where the sets differed from the filming models, I made concessions between all the models and sets to create an easy balance between what was seen and what is model-accurate. I hope you agree.
Now, here’s the skinny on costs: I can’t give an estimate of cost at this time because that will depend on the costs from the brass, decal and resin suppliers and I WILL NOT TAKE ANY PREORDERS at this time. I’ll be making the kit in small batches of 10 to 15 at a time and will only take orders when those kits are ready to ship, not before! Don’t worry; I’ll let you know when. This will save me from any monetary loses if someone backs out at the last minute and, most importantly, if I can’t deliver on time. I’ve heard the horror stories of builders who take money up front and drag out a project for years (not gonna mention any names……….just saying!) so, I want to avoid that headache and I still want to be a member here in good standing when all is said and done.
I haven’t decided how to accept payment but it will probably be PayPal.
I’ll be posting more updates and progress pics as I go along. I do welcome questions and advice and if things go right, I really look forward to getting this out there!
Until next time, as V.I.N.CENT says, “Out of the frying pan, hopefully not into the fire!”
Well, the title of this thread says it all: PALOMINO! Yes, my friends, it’s true! After many long years, I ‘ve finally started on the ship model that I’ve always wanted. Some folks don’t care for this ship but me, I’ve waited long enough! My paradigm is “if it has to be, let it be me!”, so, me it is!
First, this thing was more difficult to master than it looks. In the past I’ve read other builders say that the PALOMINO didn’t have much interest to them because it was so “simple” a design. Charles Adams said it best in an older thread "don't let the old lady fool you, she's got some curves on her!" and he was right! I say to anyone who thinks this is an “easy” build.....try to build one! IT’S HARD!!!! So much harder than a normal build. So hard in fact I had to get the main body and engines CNC’d for accuracy! I still don’t know how those boys back in 1979 made the original, especially the engines. I think it was a combintaion of lathe work and sculpture.
Now, speaking of CNC and before some of you out there say something like “I get my stuff CNC’d all the time!”…well, not all of us blokes can afford that and I had to save up to do this one so, unless you’ve access to a lathe, or you do this stuff professionally, or you’re God, this thing is, dare I say (dare, dare!), impossible to scratch build and make it look accurate at the same time! My failed attempt at the body is the photo with the discs.
Accuracy of the overall shape was my goal for this one. I took screen grabs of every shot in the movie, dug up photos of the filming model and used the ONE available drawing out there to create what I feel is the most accurate hull of this ship ever attempted. Let me tell you, this ship doesn’t get much screentime so screencap reference was sparse! As a matter of fact, the CNC guy got tired of me making change after change to get the shape and angles correct. I sure hope I didn’t burn any bridges with this guy as I have a few more projects on the horizon that I could use his help with! LOL!
What you see so far is the main body and lower body base, the lower platform production masters, hatch masters and some smaller details. I’ll cast a first generation master of the hull and base then I start adding surface details, with the production masters being pulled off that.
“Like a tree on Christmas morning!”
At present I plan to cast the cockpit area in clear resin or fiberglass allowing for lighting but, it remains to be seen how that will go. I’m gonna try some window making techniques that I saw using tape and body primer. The lower body base has a window, which will be marked and drilled out, and the tops of engines have lights that will have to be drilled out as well.
From the master parts the photo etched brass artwork will be drawn up for the engine platform supports, struts and the various antennae on the main body. The engine masters are coming later this week and I’ve already seen the Solidworks renders. The results look nothing short of amazing. Decals will be provided by the incredible JT Graphics.
“There are three basic types, Mr. Pizer, the Wills, the Won’ts and the Cant’s. The Wills accomplish everything, the Won’ts oppose everything and Can’ts won’t try anything.”
Now before anyone asks, I’m planning on making this a kit however, it will not be studio scale and the main reason is size. I estimate studio scale on this bugger to be over 1½ feet in diameter and almost 4½ feet tall so that’s not an option if I wanted to keep it affordable. Can you imagine a fiberglass/resin casting that large? No, I wanted to keep this one affordable, manageable and small enough so you could display this on a shelf or desktop and not take up half the room. So, the overall size will be just slighty over 6” in diameter and about 15” tall, including the top spire antennae.
Now, very important here: this will be a kit for the advanced modeler, which shouldn’t be a problem for anyone here but if there are some of you fine folks that like to pull parts off a sprue, glue them on, paint them and think you’re done, this kit is NOT for you. You’re gonna have to do some sanding, angling, leveling, bending wires, bending photoetch, etc. I hope to have detailed instructions so there should be no suprises for anyone, since I’m building one first and working out the kinks!
Accuracy: Every modeler, obviously, wants their kits to be as accurate as possible to the original filming model but, this subject has been VERY difficult to find decent photos of details, like I mentioned before. Many requests for help in this area have turned up little to nothing in the way of reference photos and I think it’s because there are none out there! My educated guess is that there were at least three filming models of PALOMINO (large primary version, smaller solid strut version and pyro version). Large hull model sections (when V.I.N.CENT makes his repairs to hatch #4) and matte paintings, both that were extremely inaccurate, were used for close up shots. AND, like so many films where the sets differed from the filming models, I made concessions between all the models and sets to create an easy balance between what was seen and what is model-accurate. I hope you agree.
Now, here’s the skinny on costs: I can’t give an estimate of cost at this time because that will depend on the costs from the brass, decal and resin suppliers and I WILL NOT TAKE ANY PREORDERS at this time. I’ll be making the kit in small batches of 10 to 15 at a time and will only take orders when those kits are ready to ship, not before! Don’t worry; I’ll let you know when. This will save me from any monetary loses if someone backs out at the last minute and, most importantly, if I can’t deliver on time. I’ve heard the horror stories of builders who take money up front and drag out a project for years (not gonna mention any names……….just saying!) so, I want to avoid that headache and I still want to be a member here in good standing when all is said and done.
I haven’t decided how to accept payment but it will probably be PayPal.
I’ll be posting more updates and progress pics as I go along. I do welcome questions and advice and if things go right, I really look forward to getting this out there!
Until next time, as V.I.N.CENT says, “Out of the frying pan, hopefully not into the fire!”
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