Plastic modelling - Battlestar Galactica WIP

[Iriorne]

Hi all,

Early last year I started working on a plastic model kit of the Battlestar Galactica from the 2004 TV series of the same name (if you haven't seen it, you're missing out). After working on it off and on over the past year I've decided to make a big push and get it finished - I thought I'd share my progress here to help with motivation. :)

The base kit is the Moebius Models 1/4105 Battlestar Galactica. I also bought a third party set of decals and photo etched metal detail. Actual progress is pretty far along now, I just have to take some more photos.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/1_sm.jpg
Test fit of the main hull straight out of the box, held together with tape and rubber bands.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/2_sm.jpg
Aftermarket decals and photoetch.

The photoetch set contains replacement gun turrets, raised name plates, windows for the museum hangar and internal structure for the landing bays. The decal set includes decals for almost the entire ship, covering the armour plating as well as the spaces between all the ribs.

In addition I'm incorporating some of the modifications to the kit that I've other people use, including:

Lowering the 'head' section to eliminate the height mismatch between the top of the head and main hull and correcting the head angle to make it level with the hull.
Removing and re-making the armour plating on the sides of the head.
Undercutting all the edges of the armour plates to give the appearance of armour plating sitting on top of the rib structure.
LED lighting for the landing bays, 'neck' windows, landing bay garages and engines.


As I said, I'm much further along than those photos now, so some of this will be more of a retrospective than recent progress. I've gotten most of the boring, tedious bits out of the way, mainly just waiting on the electronics so I can start planning installation and assembly.

More soon :)

[Deonasis]

Cool, so finished it'll be ~35cm long?

[gamblor916]

Sweet! Love to see more progress.

[lancalot]

Wow ..:eek: would love to see more wip stuff !,, keep posting pic man... Is that all water slide decal? There seem a lot!! I always had problem with water slide ...any tips? Great stuff ...Keep it up

[Iriorne]

A couple more older photos. The lighting is pretty bad and they were taken on a mobile. I've tried to correct as best I can but they're not great to begin with.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/orgrib_sm.JPG
Upper main hull (starboard). The most obvious problem here is that the ribs just merge into the plating on the dorsal surface.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/modrib_sm.JPG
Upper main hull (port side). You can see that I've chiselled out area to recreate the ribs and the appearance of armour plating. I should probably have continued chiselling another millimetre higher for proper accuracy but I felt it would severely compromise the integrity of the model and it wasn't worth the time and effort to fill in the back side of the curve so I could chisel deeper. That one piece had over 100 points that needed fixing so near enough is definitely good enough. :)

This armour plating is one of the more annoying issues to fix. To keep the production costs down the designer has taken short cuts, basically moulding the armour plate on. The nature of injection moulding means no undercuts, which results in some pretty ugly areas. This (http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff99/cylon75/000_0366.jpg) is from somebody else's build but you can see how thick the armour plating is compared to the CG model (http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/kg_cg_ns_galactica-046.jpg). In the first picture above you can see I've filed down the armour plating on the head. As of last week I've made replacement plating too, and it's a vast improvement.




Cool, so finished it'll be ~35cm long?

Yep, I forgot to say above but it should be about 35cm from the bow antenna to the engine exhaust. I believe the CG model was actually the basis for the design so it inherits some of the quirks from the show. Chief among them the fact that the landing bays don't actually fit inside the ship! If you watch the show carefully you'll notice they're always very careful about what angles they show the bays opening and closing from in order to hide this.


[...] Is that all water slide decal? There seem a lot!! I always had problem with water slide ...any tips? [...]

Yeah, 3 pages worth of water slide decals in the third party set, probably hundreds of individual decals, covering all the armour plating and the spaces in between the ribs. I've actually had a rethink in the last week and decided not to use the rib decals as I think they'll make it look too busy. Instead I'm glueing small chips of styrene into all the rib spaces to give it some physical detail without the cluttered appearance. Another boring and tedious process, but hopefully worthwhile.

My general work flow with decals is to lay down a gloss coat first to seal the paint and provide a smooth surface for the decals to adhere to. When cutting the decals, use a sharp hobby knife and score around the edges of the printed artwork to trim off the excess decal film. Dip the decals in warm water for 10-20 seconds, then rest on a damp paper towel, don't leave them in the water till the adhesive dissolves completely. After another 20 seconds or so the decals should move freely. Wet the surface of the model and using a soft wet paint brush slide the decals off the paper onto the model. You should be able to slide it around fairly easily to get it in position, then gently squeeze out any water from underneath the decal with a damp cotton bud.

I'm a big fan of Microscale MicroSol, which is a decal setting solution. I wasn't keen on decals until I tried this, but it really is fantastic. Just brush it on to the decal after it's placed and it will soften the decal film, helping it to adhere to contours (may still need to run a knife along any panel lines) and look like it was painted on. It makes the decals very fragile but I've found it pretty easy to work with. Don't be alarmed if the decals curl and wrinkle up - they should settle back down as they dry, and if you get any air bubbles just pop them with a knife and reapply a bit more MicroSol. You may need to use a cotton bud to squish down the decals if the film is particularly thick.

Once the decals are down, reapply another gloss coat to seal, apply any weathering or washes, seal again, then matte/satin coat if desired.

I've not worked with aftermarket decals before, but I understand they can be more fragile than those typically included with kits. You can buy liquid decal film from hobby shops that you can spray or brush on to the decals (before use) to give them a bit more strength.

This is my 1/1000 refit USS Enterprise from a few years back. All the detail in that picture except the blue dome at the back is done with decals. Took lots of pricking, squishing and microsol to seat them down properly but the end result is fantastic, if I do say so myself. I'd say they were painted on, if I didn't know better. :)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/1701_sm.jpg

[lancalot]

WOw...even the grey square are decal?...:eek::eek: that really nice....love the Enterprise...any pic of the full ship...
Thanks for the tips...that great to know... need to get Microscale MicroSol then....was always afraid to use decal on my perfect grade gundam cause i had really bad result with them,they just looked like horrible stickers ...

[Iriorne]

I know what you mean about the sticker look. Try MicroSol, you won't be disappointed. They also make something called MicroSet, which is supposed to help adhere decals to the surface, I don't think it's required for use with 'Sol, but it might help prevent decal curling. Not too sure.

More (large) pics of the Enterprise for you:
Image 1 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/Enterprise/E1.jpg)
Image 2 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/Enterprise/E2.jpg)
Image 3 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/Enterprise/E3.jpg)
Image 4 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/Enterprise/E4.jpg)
Image 5 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/Enterprise/E5.jpg)

It's basically a coat of pearl white, with a few areas painted (mainly on the warp nacelles, the deflector dish and a few blue panels on the lower saucer), then decals for everything else. The decals weren't a perfect fit, if you look at Image 5, you can see the decals at the saucer/neck join are misaligned, in order to try and get the port holes to line up. The tops of the nacelles were probably the biggest pain as the decals were one piece, trying to wrap around a stepped upper surface. Thought I'd mess them up but after much trimming and microsol they look pretty good.

Such a beautiful ship, I'm glad they kept so much of the design in the new movie Enterprise. :)

[lancalot]

That really good...:eek: i didn't know water slide can look like that ....totally amazed .... wouldn't it be hard to do on curved surfaces..and that the whole ship!!:D .... man must been hard for the nacelles!!

[Iriorne]

Yeah, compound curves are tough. Luckily most of the decals were in smaller sections so this wasn't a huge problem. In future I'd probably trim the nacelle decals into sections. Even cutting around the outline of the 'steps' wasn't really adequate and they were still a pain.

------

A major issue with the stock kit is the misalignment of the various sections of the 'alligator head'. If built unmodified, the lower jaw would sit a fraction of a millimetre too high, while the dorsal surface of the head would be about 0.5 cm higher than the body, and pointing at a slight upward angle.

Correcting this was pretty nerve wracking as it was difficult to work out where and how much material to remove and the potential to really screw it up was quite high. I colour coded the areas that were altered in the picture below.

Orange: removing the alignment pins on the lower jaw to allow it to sit flush with the lower hull.

Green: removing the top millimetre from the central section of the head. Also removed all alignment pins for upper and lower sections.

Blue: removing about half a centimetre from the 'shelf' on the upper hull.

Red: removed some of the detail on the back of the upper head to allow it to sit lower

Purple: constructed a shim to fill the gap cause by levelling the head.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/head_mods_sm.jpg

This was mostly done last year, you can see some of the parts have a coat of primer and some styrene chip detail that I decided to add.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/head_shim_sm.jpg

Close up on the shim, made from thin strip styrene that I laminated together. Scribed some mostly straight panel lines, should blend right in with another coat of primer.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/head_plates_sm.jpg

Rebuilt armour plate for the nose section. Held on with blutack temporarily but will remove for painting and reattach at the end. Looks heaps better compared to the original kit detail. Also plenty of styrene chip detail in evidence here.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/engine_detail_sm.JPG

Reconstructed some detail on the engines. The CG model has recessed detail here while the kit was smooth. This was relatively straightforward to do and will stop it looking too plain. There's some fine scribed detail on some of the parts too that doesn't really show up well.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/hangar_int_sm.jpg

Starboard landing bay. Spent an evening super glueing little bits of aluminium foil into the upper sections to block light from the LEDs. Managed to avoid glueing my fingers together. :) Real pain though, probably should just have used some thick black paint (which I've since bought for other parts anyway).

I folded up one of the photoetch landing bay inserts too, to see how it fits. Should look good all painted up, and the etch will stop anyone seeing the slightly rough internal surface, not that you could see much through the opening anyway.

Next step is to paint the bay interiors and apply the runway decals provided with the kit. :)

[Soundwarp]

Awesome, so glad they spent some money and finished the series off. Yes the ending sucked but it was better that just being cancelled!

Awesome model!!!!!!!!!

[gamblor916]

I love following WIP threads. Nice work.

[SharkyMcShark]

Are the flight pods going to slide out like in the series?

[SkyWarp91]

Awesome that you're going through the efforts to build it man, I got lazy and just pre-ordered the completed, painted version.

[Iriorne]

Are the flight pods going to slide out like in the series?

No, the flight pods will be static. The model has inherited one of the quirks of the CG model in that the landing bays are slightly too big to fit inside the ship. It's possible to fit them in if you leave out the recessed 'garage' inserts, and I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to scratch up something to fill in any gaps from the inside to fake the garages but it would be permanent.

I don't think it's possible to make the arms retractable, or at least it would take a lot more skill than I have. There's just not enough room at the point where the arms connect, and if you make the arms into two part slider mechanisms, the pods might end up being too heavy.


Awesome that you're going through the efforts to build it man, I got lazy and just pre-ordered the completed, painted version.

Haha, yeah, the prepainted version looks pretty good and it's actually about the same as I paid for the kit alone, let alone the detail sets, tools, paints, electronics. The unpainted kit does allow me to mod it for accuracy and add electronics, plus I (mostly) enjoy building it. :)

-----

Lighting

I'd originally decided not to light the model, but had a change of heart recently. I figured, I'd spent so much on it already, why not go all the way? :)

The plan is to have:

White fibre optic lights in the head
Red fibre optic lights in the garage recesses
6 blue LEDs in the engines, with the central engines on a separate switch
White surface mount LEDs in the hangar bays


The model will be powered through a 3.5 mm audio jack, at the top of it's support stand, with a corresponding socket mounted inside. Space is a big problem but I managed to find a small socket designed for PCB mounting which will work perfectly.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/hangar_arms_sm.jpg

One of the SMD LEDs I got from China via Ebay. The LED itself is a little yellow square at the end of the black tube. Easier to see in the photo below. These things are TINY (~1.5 mm square) but it makes them pretty easy to fit in the bays. I've drilled holes through the arms and into the bays and the shrink tubing fits nicely inside the arms.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/body_internals_sm.jpg

Garage inserts sitting on the lower hull with an arm in place. Also the socket and jack for power. Putting this together will be a bit awkward as I'll have to glue the garages to the hull first in order to fill the seam properly. Will probably have to solder some wires on to the socket first so I can then attach all the other wires without melting holes everywhere.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/hangar_wires_sm.jpg

I was having a play with LED positioning in the hangars last night and decided to use four LEDs instead of two to get more uniform lighting through the hangar. If I had the skills I would probably have soldered the LEDs in series, directly within the hangars but because they're so tiny and I've never soldered before, I decided it was safer to get pre-wired ones.

The hangar arms have room for two sets of wire, all I had to do was drill another exit hole on the inside end of the arms. Looks like a bit of a mess at the moment, but I think there'll be enough room for everything.

This is as much as I can do with the lighting until the rest of my components arrive in the post (should be any day now). LEDs are crazy expensive here, for the same price I got 3 LEDs in Australia or 30 from the UK. Only downside is the waiting time.

[Deonasis]

I too, like wip threads and this is a great one. I am not following all the modifications because i have not see much of the show but i thought this was a slap it together and paint it deal. I was really wrong :eek:

What is the single styrene strip taped onto the green mat for? It is in many of the pictures.

[Iriorne]

[...] What is the single styrene strip taped onto the green mat for? It is in many of the pictures. [...]

Cheers, yeah a lot of the mods are kind of nit-picky. I was perusing other peoples builds before starting my own and I probably wouldn't have noticed if others hadn't made a point of fixing them. More a case of not being able to unsee them once you know. It's still a great kit out of the box, though. :D

The strips taped to the mat are actually three strips of styrene (1 mm x 0.4 mm). I'm cutting off small bits and glueing them into the spaces between the ribs to give it a bit more detail, rather than use the aftermarket decals that I bought. Have a look at some of the previous photos and you can see the white squares everywhere. I taped the strips together (and to the mat) to make the cutting easier - I can now cut three bits of similar size instead of one without worrying about everything slipping. :)

It shows up a lot because the pics are mostly pretty recent. I only decided to do use the styrene chips a few weeks ago and sticking the little squares everywhere is annoying and fiddly so it takes a while. Nearly done though, only one engine pod left.

Some illustrations of the major issues I'm fixing:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Galactica_head_mod.jpg
Head fix. correcting the head angle and making the bottom and top flush with the hull.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/head_armour_comp.jpg
Armour fix. Removed all the kit armour (red) and replaced to better match the CG model. Chiselled under the armour plates (green) to simulate armour plating on top of the ribs.

-----

Hangar bays are painted, decaled and matte coated. Pretty thick decals, took a lot of setting solution to get them seated down, and then I lost 2/3rds of a bottle when I knocked it over accidentally. :(

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/hangar_bays.jpg

The photoetch inserts are painted up too, you can see one on the far landing bay above. Looking pretty good - a few minor rips in the decals (small triangle at one end of a decal and a complete break through the middle of the other) but no one will be able to see once it's all closed up. A shame really, they look great.

Next step will be to finalise the LED placement in the upper section of the bays, do a final check for light bleed then glue everything together.

[lancalot]

:eek: wow that attention to detail man...... great stuff...

[Iriorne]

LEDs and fibre optic turned up in the post today! :D

Unfortunately I didn't properly plan how much fibre optic I'd need and I think I'm quite short. :rolleyes: At a 6 cm average length I'll only get 25 windows a side, rather than the ~40 I'd like, and that leaves nothing for the garages.

I've ordered a couple of cheapo LED fibre lamps from Hong Kong. Each lamp should have nearly 30 metres of fibre in it which will be plenty sufficient, but does mean more waiting. The fibre optics for the head section are a pretty self contained element so I can at least get on with everything else.

I also discovered the variable voltage DC transformer I was using to test my circuits with is faulty. Thought it was weird that 12V LEDs worked all the way down to "3V" without any loss in brightness. I suspect it was actually spitting out a lot more than 3V, so will have to dig out a multimeter and see what's going on. Surprised I didn't pop any of the new LEDs when testing them, they just didn't work which is how I realised there was a problem.

[Iriorne]

Playing the waiting game is slow. My fibre optic lamps turned up, along with my set of micro drill bits. I've drilled out all the holes for the fibre optic and done some test threading, but will hold off glueing anything until I finish with the engines and can get a better feel for how everything will fit inside.

I'll need to obtain a better DC transformer too. After testing it turns out that the 3-12V output on the one I had was more like 9-12V. :rolleyes:

Windows in the 'neck' section. There's about 70 holes with 0.5 mm diameter on each side.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Neck_holes_sm.jpg

Scratch built the large lower antenna for the lower bow using some styrene rod, putty and the tip of a sewing pin (grid is 1 inch):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Lower_main_ant_sm.jpg

Used pin tips and pin sections to add secondary antennae to the lower hull:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Lower_sec_ant_sm.jpg

Those pin tips are super fiddly and, even with pliers, are a real pain to grip onto while filing the ends flat.

Next step is to assemble the upper section of the head, fill and sand the seams and prime the lower hull and remaining head parts.

[Cat]

Awesome that you're going through the efforts to build it man, I got lazy and just pre-ordered the completed, painted version.

Of the same model kit?

How does it look? I've been eyeing them off, but unsure of if they were up to my skillset (square through circle...hmmm...someone fetch me a hammer!!)

[Deonasis]

Damn i like this thread. Look at that shadow it casts :cool:

[Iriorne]

Of the same model kit?

The scale looks to be the same, though I'd imagine it's using a simplified mould compared to the kit, for easier mass production. Doesn't seem like it's available yet as most places are showing it as a preorder still. The release date looks like it might have already slipped from January, and could slip again. Moebius were almost a year behind on the Battlestar Pegasus, though the wait looks to be worth it.

---
A few more photos:

From a couple of weeks back, the LEDs glued into position in the landing bays. They barely fit into the space left between top of the photoetch insert and the roof of the bay.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Hangar_LED_off_sm.jpg

I got a new DC transformer and spent some time soldering together a proper power lead so I can test things without needing 6 hands. This is what the LEDs look like with the bay open.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Hangar_LED_on_sm.jpg

I misjudged when installing the photoetched museum windows in the starboard pod and glued them in a fraction too low, causing a small gap between the bay halves when closed up. Spent ages filling it with superglue and sanding it back. Should be invisible once it gets a coat of paint.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Hangar_closed_LED_on_sm.jpg

Hard to take a good photo with the LEDs on, might try making an HDR photo later on.

[Iriorne]

Had a sudden pang of doubt as to whether my circuits would work (high school was a long time ago!) so I bought a breadboard to test the entire circuit.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/breadboard_sm.jpg

That's about 75 candles worth of light. The room is actually normally lit but the LEDs are so bright I had to underexpose the photo a lot.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/nameplates_sm.jpg

With the name plates on she's starting to take shape. :)

[lancalot]

you make it look like LED so easy to work with ! cool stuff

[gamblor916]

Nice work, that's going to be a sweet display piece when you're done.

[Iriorne]

Thanks guys. I thought LEDs were going to be hard too but they're pretty easy to put in simple circuits. You really only need a basic understanding of series and parallel circuits, and one equation to calculate the resistors. :)

----

Spent a bit lot of time threading optic fibres. In total there's roughly 200 fibres, 140 in the neck section alone.

Common wisdom with fibre optic is to thread the fibres through the holes, do all your painting and weathering, then trim the ends flush with the surface to expose the ends of the fibre. I've already started painting the neck section here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/neck_fo_sm.jpg

These fibres are going to provide the subtle red lighting in the garage recesses:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/garage_fo_sm.jpg

Windows in the lower hull. I hadn't planned to do these, but figured I might as well. The midships fibres are definitely going to kink when I place the garages in but they should still work fine as long they don't snap. *fingers crossed*

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Lower_hull_fo_sm.jpg

LEDs glued into the engine pods, ready to close up. The black paint on the inside is to stop light from bleeding through the plastic.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/engines_open_sm.jpg

Things get a bit tricky from here on - going to be a few rounds of painting assembly and lighting installation to get everything in place in the proper order.

[lancalot]

200 optics :eek: man i cant wait to see that in action.... totally amazing !

[Iriorne]

Glued the neck onto the lower hull and got all the white fibres connected up to LEDs. There's one LED for each side of the neck, and a third for the rest of the fibres in the lower hull.

You can see I had to get a little creative with routing the fibres around the socket I'll use to connect the model to a stand and run power to it. The set of fibres on towards the aft (left most) were potentially problematic, as glueing the garage recesses in place required kinking the fibres with the possibility of snapping if they were too stiff from the glue holding them in place.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/Hull_fibres_sm.jpg

I've since glued the recesses into position and luckily the fibres all still work great. :)

Engine pods closed up, gaps filled, primed and with their base coat of Tamiya Dark Grey. I'd started painting with German Grey but wasn't happy with the colour. Turns out dark grey is almost the same, but I'm a lot happier with how it turned out. I think it's a fraction lighter, and a little bluer than German grey, even though I have trouble telling the difference in a side by side comparison.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/engines_grey_sm.jpg

Most parts are now painted in dark grey, which will be the main base colour for non-armoured areas. The armour panels will be Sky Grey, and I'll dry brush the ribs to lighten them up a bit. Next step is to gloss coat and decal the garage recesses, as well as continuing to paint the other sections.

[Iriorne]

Painting is progressing. The paint is quite delicate so I'm working in stages and clear coating in between to protect it. Unfortunately waiting for the paint to dry and then the clear coat to dry makes things a bit slow.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/28%20hull_painting_sm.jpg

Half the masking done on the lower hull. It can be quite fiddly, but I quite enjoy doing it. :) The upper hull has had it's armour painted and is waiting for the clear coat to cure.

The contrast looks a bit high, but I plan to dry brush the ribs and engine detail to hopefully tone it down. The decals will add some variety over the armour and an oil wash should help even things out a bit too.

[Iriorne]

Almost all parts are painted and clear coated now, ready for decals to be applied. I found the paint was abrading quite easily just through handling so I started laying down clear coats between colours which made it a fairly lengthy process. The only parts left to paint are the main antennae, radar dish greeblie for the bottom, and all the gun turrets which I haven't assembled yet. No hurry as they'll be the very last things to go on.

I also managed to wreck the paint on one of the engines when I tried to test out my dry brushing. Tamiya acrylics are great for airbrushing but dry too quickly for dry brushing, not to mention that the solvent and brushing action ate through my paint. Luckily the damage was pretty minor, easy to fix with a light sand and respray. :)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/29%20parts_painted_sm.jpg

I'd planned to make a little triangular stamping tool to paint the openings for the Viper launch tubes to the sides of the landing bays. Unfortunately at the tiny size (1 mm a side) the paint tended to form a circular blob. I ended up spraying some gloss black over a bit of decal film trimmed from the main sheets. Tested it on an old junker I never finished and the results look good (thin stripes on the near aileron and duct). Now the fun part - cutting out 80 tiny triangles!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/30%20decal_test_sm.jpg

[Iriorne]

All 80 launch tube decals are now in place. Working with such tiny decals is a real pain, and getting them in the right position is even harder as the surface tension of the water tends to make them cling to edges. I hit my stride after the first 30 or so, and the rest were fairly straight forward.

I'm really pleased with the end result. It doesn't even matter that they're not all the same size or shape - just having them there is enough. :)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/31%20launch_tubes_sm.jpg

Detail of above image:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/31%20launch_tubes_det.jpg

'Aztec' decals are done on all the engine pods too. I'm very impressed with the armour plate decals, they really help give some life to the ship.

I did one pod in 4 large sections but it resulted in the panel lines being slightly off. For the other pod I cut each large decal into a half dozen smaller sections which produced a much better fit. I think I may be worrying over nothing though as even I have trouble telling which is which in this image:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/32%20engine_decals_sm.jpg

Also painted in the RCS thrusters (black circles), which I forgot to do before.

[lancalot]

the decal look really good man.... i cant believe you did 80 of them little thingy!

[Iriorne]

In progress shot of decals on the head section:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/33%20head_decals_sm.jpg

All the decals applied and clear coated. There must be something funny about the red ink in the decals as it was incredibly fragile. The larger stripes were ok but I had to paint the stripes on the landing bays by hand.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/34%20full_decals_sm.jpg

The photoetch replacement gun turrets. Even folded in half they still look a bit flat but I think they're still better than the kit parts.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/35%20turrets_sm.jpg

A test weather using powdered graphite to simulate blast marks.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/36%20pastel_sm.jpg

Another test, this time of an oil paint wash in the panel lines. This is after two applications, which might be a little dark.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/37%20wash_sm.jpg

Once the clear coat cures, I'll use a combination of dry brushing oils on raised detail, a panel line wash, and combination airbrush/chalk pastel blast marks to weather the ship before final assembly.

[lancalot]

the blast mark looks good man.... it coming along really nice bro...

[UltraMarginal]

Wow, the pannelling detail in the decals makes it feel massive. really good work, and I really like the black wash panel lines in your last pics as well.

[AJ_Prime]

This is looking absolutely amazing, brilliant work man! Esp with the fibreoptics and LEDs! Not to mention those teeny tiny decals! Your attention to detail is uncanny!

[Iriorne]

Thanks guys, it's getting closer to being finished. :)

I've been flip flopping on the battle damage and I think I've settled on keeping it clean, though I'll use some ground artist's pastels to do some shading and add some variation to the scheme.

It's ready for a matte coat tomorrow, followed by pastel work and then final assembly. Hopefully I can solder all the wires together without melting anything! :eek:

[Iriorne]

All the weathering is finished now. I flip flopped again on battle damage, and it now has blast marks on the hull. :) The pastels worked really well to give some subtle colour variation to the plain areas.

I glued the engines into their respective hull pieces, then threaded the wires for the landing bays through the holes and glued them in place too, before soldering all the LED circuits together, managing not to melt anything this time. :)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/38%20wires_sm.jpg

With hind sight, I was almost too ambitious with my lighting plans. It all only just fits inside.

I'm also not totally sold on the headphone jack connector idea as it seems a little flaky. I've pulled it apart once and nearly broken it trying to pull it apart a second time after the glue was dry when I thought the lights weren't working. Luckily there was minimal damage, and nothing a little superglue and paint can't fix.

Very nearly finished. :)

[SkyWarp91]

Holy moly man your dedication goes along way in making this bad mother a super-bad mother.

I'm so lazy I just bought the finished version, will post pics for comparison's sake but it'll never match the quality of what you've done here!

Great work man

[Slag]

:eek::eek::eek:...... I'm speechless.

When will she be ready to launch?

[Iriorne]

When will she be ready to launch?

Very soon. I just sprayed some flat coat on the touched up areas this morning. Once it's had a few hours to cure, the only thing left is to glue the top of the alligator head on. Should take about 2 minutes, plus drying time. :)

It'll still need a stand to be 'display ready' - I've soldered the wires to the plug, now I just have to figure out how best to jam it into the brass rod I want to use as a support.

[lancalot]

what happening with this Iriorne ..it was almost finished and then no more updates?..... I want to see the finally product :)

[Iriorne]

Yeah, sorry, I'm really slack. I finished it and it looks great. I had a post ready to go but I lost it, couldn't be bothered re-doing it at the time, then the last couple of months have been busy as I've moved to Melbourne for work. Galactica's all boxed up in Perth but I've still got the photos from earlier so I'll try and get something sorted out in the next day or so. :)

[Wheelie]

Don't know how I missed this thread, the wip pics look great, can't wait to see the finished product

[Iriorne]

Right, take 2. Sorry for the wait and thanks for your patience. I did some calculations and worked out that the build cost roughly $700, with about $170 being consumed items (kit, PE, resin, LEDs, etc) and the rest tools and other multi-use items. I've got no idea how many hours have gone into it; probably in the hundreds, but I hope you'll agree the result was worth it. :)

A few beauty shots.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/39_sm.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/40_sm.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/41_sm.jpg

Port flight pod with tiny viper launch tube decals.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/42_sm.jpg

Engine lights are super bright.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/43_sm.jpg

Flight pod recess lighting. The lights are optic fibres in the top of the recess. The port side looks best with all 6 spots, but the starboard side has the last one missing. It broke and had to be redrilled several times and even though it's hooked up to it's own LED it's still very dim.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/44_sm.jpg

Flight pod recess lighting.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/45_sm.jpg

All the fibre optic lights. Some of the fibres broke but it still looks great. :)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/46_sm.jpg

Bow section.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/47_sm.jpg

Dorsal surface with Colonial seal and replacement gun turrets.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/48_sm.jpg

Port flight pod.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/49_sm.jpg

Port flight pod with internal girder details.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/50_sm.jpg

Starboard flight pod.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/51_sm.jpg

Starboard flight pod.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/52_sm.jpg

Starboard bow, wth scratch built armour plating.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/53_sm.jpg

Underside of bow with antennae created from pin tips and photo-etched gun turrets on the underside of the upper hull. Also note the gaps between ribs underneath the side armour plates.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/54_sm.jpg

Engine detail. There's a small amount of light leakage from the cover for the centre engines but it's more trouble than it's worth to try and fix. I'm really happy with the way the extra greebles I added to the sides of the engines turned out. I actually almost forgot I added them.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/55_sm.jpg

I tried painting the approach indicator lights on the landing bays. It's hard to get the dots even at such a small scale but I'm happy with the result.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/56_sm.jpg

Galactica joins the very rag-tag and out-of-scale fleet. :)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/57_sm.jpg




-------



It's actually not quite finished yet. I recently bought some new cast resin gun turrets to replace the photo etch ones. They look phenomenal, and the photo doesn't do them justice, but as Galactica's currently boxed up in Perth while I'm in Melbourne, it might be a while before I get to install them.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233731/BSG/58_new_guns.jpg

[MayzaPrime]

Awesome! :D

[gamblor916]

That's spectacular! The finish looks great and the leds really sets it off.

[M-bot]

That's just EXTRAORDINARY. Loved the WIP shots, but the finished product... Wow, just wow. Simply amazing work. Thanks for sharing!!

[Deonasis]

It looks fantastic!

[lancalot]

:eek: OMG that is friggin AWESOME ! The fibre optics and Port flight pod with internal girder details :eek::eek:. just Wow.... your attention to detail and patience is up there ! great job

[UltraMarginal]

WOW. that is the best custom starship I've ever seen
The details, the internal structure and led's and fibre Optics. just wow.

[AJ_Prime]

I'm left speechless after looking at that! I'm literally picking up my jaw from the ground! That is absolutely amazing work dude! So much attention to detail, but it definitely paid off. You've gotta be proud of that effort! Thanks heaps for sharing, I've been looking forward to seeing the finished product for some time now.

[Iriorne]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Please believe me when I say the photos don't do it justice by half. :)

Next up for the BSG fleet is the Battlestar Pegasus, also from Moebius Models at 1:4105. The kit's a monster; at 40 cm long it's 30% longer than galactica, and substantially more massive. In addition to the kit, I've got 2 sets of photoetch to add some missing details and, most importantly, convert the flight pods from simulated interior to true full length landing bays (http://www.paragrafix.biz/gallery/Pegasus-Landing-Bay/IMG_0938.jpg). I'm planning for LEDs in all four flight pods, all 8 engines and plenty of window lighting too. Also toying with the idea of red and green approach lights on the landing bays.

Now that I know what I'm doing, and with the larger, more detailed kit, I'm hoping it will prove to be an easier build. Unfortunately I'm now in Melbourne and most of the bits are in Perth, so this will have to remain in the planning stages for now.