Plastic modelling - Battlestar Galactica WIP

[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.

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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.



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.



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.



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.



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.



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.

[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

[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.

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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.


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.


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.



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

[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.

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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.



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.



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.



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

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