Star Wars U Wing part 4

So as predicted in my last post I had to rip my model apart, well not all of it. After gluing the upper and lower sections together I found that the lower front was not centred, 4mm out might as well be 10mm. So I carefully cut it out and made a new one, seen here with the old behind.

The new one is much better.

A rubber mold was made of the engine and many casts poured. I have a bunch of resin to use up so I now have engines for future projects.

 I wasn't happy with the PLA 3D printed afterburner, mostly because I could not glue greebles to it. So I went old school and turned a new one on my lathe from acrylic rod. The end parts are 3D prints that I designed, those will be ok. 

Styrene and acrylic being a similar material makes gluing parts together with the same solvent easy.

The engine mounts and intake vents were also molded and cast.

I had to securely attach the engines, which are a bit heavy, to the mounts. These screws will fit into holes in the now hollow engines (because I drilled them out on a drill press)

You can see the ends of the screws in the engine.

Using some wood blocks, tongue depressors and rubber bands I lined up the two engines with the mount.

Then held in a vice so I could dribble some 5 minute epoxy over the wood screws. This held them in place quite well.

I had to build this jig to ensure the afterburners were perfectly aligned and centred with the engines.

Some greebles were added to finish off the front grill.









As you can see the engines and a few other parts were pre-painted. I used acrylic paints and then a method of wetting a section of the model with odourless paint thinner, then adding small dabs of artists oils and then brushed to blend. A bit tricky to explain but there are some videos online that explain various methods. After that it's a matter of assembly. 

And the finished model.

YT-1000 part 9 Docking Rings and sides.

A little while ago I glued the upper and lower hulls together. Now I can proceed with the side details.
The docking rings were one of the first things I made so they've been sitting around for a while. First off was finishing the two side corridors.

  
This meant adding pieces to the sides and adding ledger strips and some center supports for the end piece.







 




The ends were capped off.

Armor plates were cut to fit the end cap and around the docking rings.

The plates were glued in place and some patches were added.

The docking rings were glued in place and corner brackets were installed.

Greebles were added by gluing parts from my stock onto a strip of .75mm styrene. Then gluing that into place. I've built up a stock of cast parts and added them in with a few individual parts from model tanks, planes and ships.

 

And just a couple pictures showing the top and bottom views.

Modelling Techniques.

Hello again, taking a break from modelling the YT-1000 to talk about my modelling techniques. Here I'll talk about getting started with reference, tools and a bit on technique. 

To start with you need to get an idea of what you're going to build. If you are new at this I highly suggest you start small. Do not attempt to build a 6 foot long Imperial Star Destroyer, if you go big you most likely will be in over your head and may not enjoy your hobby. My first styrene scratch build was a 1/35 scale model tank from the video game "Warhawk"

I chose this model because I was fortunate enough to find a set of paper-craft instructions on-line.

This is a set of instructions to make the model out of paper. You simply print off the sheets then cut and fold on the dotted line. I printed the sheets up to the size I wanted (to match 1/35 scale tank tracks). Then I used the sheets as actual size blue-prints. I made some of the paper shapes just to see what it was supposed to look like, then took measurements off of those and made the part out of styrene.







I've got in my future projects drawer paper-craft instructions for the Mako from the video game "Mass Effect" as well as the space station from "2001 a Space Odyssey". The instructions are all in German, but I should manage.

 



















I also own several "Art of.." books from movies and video games, as well as art books from various artists.

There was a time when all my modelling tools and supplies fit into a fishing tackle box, then a large tool box, then two tool boxes. Now it all would fill a medium sized room. My new workshop is leaps and bounds beyond the dinning room table of apartment living. I bought two work tables from IKEA and covered them with RINO board, a type of self healing cutting mat. However I have seen many modellers build fantastic stuff on their dinning room table.

This is my work bench now. 

Some of my more used tools

You probably know what most of these are except for 'E'. That's a home made notch-er for cutting the notches out of the YT-1000's armor panels.












For gluing Styrene I mainly use Methylene Chloride, which is a solvent glue. It's very quick and uses capillary action to flow under the parts you are gluing. I recommend some sort of ventilation as this stuff is not good to breath, and try not to get it on your skin. I use a small paint brush (see 'M' in the tools photo) to dip into the solvent then run along the edge of the pieces I'm gluing together. Sometimes it's necessary to press the joint together, and somtimes the melted plastic will ooze out. You can run some more solvent over the joint to wash it away, or let it set for a while and sand it off. It will also leave a sheen to your styrene but this can be buffed with some 600 grit sandpaper. You should be able to buy it where ever plexi glass is sold as it is also used to glue acrylic sheet.
I seldom use CA glue (zap a gap). I will use it to glue two different types of plastic together, like gluing a cast piece onto styrene. I find it most frustrating as it sticks best when I don't want it to, like when the part goes on crooked. And won't stick at all when I most need it to.

This is an unfinished post, please come back later for more on this subject.
Bye for now!

YT-1000 Part 0, Specifications.

I thought I would make this post to inform you of what the Corellian Engineering Corporation's (CEC) YT-1000 Corellian Freighter is. 
First the Specifications:
(all info provide by the Haynes Manual for the Millennium Falcon)

Length: 28m
Maximum speed (atmosphere): 740kph
Hyperdrive: Class 3
Hyperdrive  backup: Class 16
Armament: 1 standard laser cannon
Crew: 2
Passengers: 4
Cargo: 75 metric tons
Cost: 85,000 (20,000 used)

For comparison here are the same Specifications for the YT-1300 (Millennium Falcon)

Length: 34.75m
Maximum speed (atmosphere): 800kph
Hyperdrive: Class 2
Hyperdrive  backup: Class 12
Armament: 1 standard laser cannon
Crew: 2
Passengers:9-15
Cargo: 25-100 metric tons
Cost: 100,000 (25,000 used)

These are of course factory specifications. 

Han Solo later upgraded his YT-1300 to a Class 0.5 Hyperdrive, making it one of the fastest ships in the Galaxy, and illegal.

The basic YT-1000 had fewer interior modular options than later models, but had a cargo capacity of up to 75 metric tons. The cockpit was placed in the center of the ships upper hull. It had large transparisteel windows which were retrofitted from earlier Barloz-class freighters.
The YT-1000 was well received by customers, but CEC decided to have a limited run of the YT-1000 in favor of building larger ships. 
The YT-1000 was replaced by the YT-1200 and the YT-1210, which introduced the side mounted cockpit. 

 

 

YT-1000 Test Assembly

Just thought I'd assemble the model to see how it's all coming together. Nothing is glued up, just held together with clear tape. Still lots to do yet.

More Small parts casting

I recently bought a couple model Flak gun kits to scrounge for parts. A 1/48 scale and 1/35 scale German 88mm GunFlak 36/37. I selected the parts I wanted and modified them so I could mold them with a one piece block mold. This meant back filling any gaps, holes and bridges, anything that would allow the molding rubber to get into or behind. Parts were then glued to a piece of .5 mm styrene and enclosed on each side with my LEGO blocks. The advantage of doing this is of course unlimited greeblies. I can now add as many as I want without worrying about running out.

Selected parts.

Set up ready for molding. I used OOMOO 30 for this mold.

Over night in the pressure pot and great results. I also cut the back off a tank model and molded it as well. I'll place it under the YT-1000 between the engines.

I used Smooth Cast 305, it has a longer pot life and requires 30 minutes to set, allowing more time to pour and for bubbles to be crushed in the pressure pot. 



I just dribble the Smooth Cast into each cavity and seal up the pressure pot. Even though the casting material sets up in 30 minutes, I recommend you leave it in the mold overnight. The cast may be set up, but I find it's still a bit soft and can easily be deformed by handling it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When molding and casting this type of mold, it is very important that the molds are laid out perfectly level inside your pressure pot or on your work bench. If not you will end up with a wedge shaped mold as the rubber sets up. Then when you set your mold up to cast, the casting material will flow to one side and you will not be happy with the results.

 

The cast parts are perfect and bubble free. All I have to do is cut away the overspill and sand the back side of each part.

Perfect copies.

I'm really impressed with how this part came out. As you can see it's only 34mm long and you can see that all the details of the part are cast with no bubbles.