Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Scifi and Fantasy => Topic started by: Frank3k on January 28, 2012, 12:37:29 AM
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I've been reading Iain M. Banks' "Culture" series of SF books. In the first one, there was a pirate/cargo ship called "the "Clear Air Turbulence". He gives the dimensions of the ship and a rough description, which I've worked into a 3D model to eventually print. In the meantime, I've decided to convert a couple of my Pegasus Models "Apollo 27" kits into a similar cargo ship. The Apollo 27 kit doesn't have the right shape or dimensions to make a good stand-in for the CAT, so it'll have to be a similar ship in that fictional universe.
First, I removed the raised lip around the cockpit canopy, backed it up with some plastic sign material cut to shape and filled the 2mm deep void with several applications of cyanoacrylate glue and talcum powder. This makes a great putty that hardens quickly and is about as hard as styrene. I only used a small tube of CA glue and the whole process took about an hour. This surprised me since I was expecting a weekend's worth of PSR. Here are the four hull halves (why two kits? You'll see)
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv1.jpg)
The shiny one, second from the right is the upper half. It's the same as the upper hull part next to it (third from the right).
This is what it looks like from inside:
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv2.jpg)
The plastic sign material is welded in place with ABS cement. I curved it to match the curvature of the hull; this reduced the amount of CA putty that I had to make.
This is a very rough mockup of the "Hidden Variables" (it's a somewhat relevant physics term):
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv3.jpg)
This explains why I'll need a second kit - I'll cut out the central section of the spare kit and use it to extend the hull length of this one. The tail fin will be taller as well. The latticework connecting the engine pods to the main hull will be replaced by wings and the pods will be modified as well, with the front spike from the spare set grafted onto the rear.
The scale will be in 1/350
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Very nice :-* Can't wait.
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You've already got me interested, Frank and it looks like you're off to a super start! That tip about talc and CA is a good one. I'll have to keep it in mind.
Brian da Basher
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The ship names in the Culture novels are inspired. Looking forward to seeing this build progress.
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I've got a couple of these kits in my stash and love seeing what everyone does with them. This looks to be promising.
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Strangely enough, Starship Modeler (http://www.starshipmodeler.com/) has a "Seeds Contest" (http://www.starshipmodeler.com/contest/entries.htm) going right now and one of the "seed" kits is the Pegasus' Apollo 27.
The contest lists these seed kits as providing the necessary shapes for the contest entries for:
Pointy Shapes (Pegasus Apollo 27)
Saucer Shapes (AMT K-7 Space Station)
Odd Shapes (Mobieus Spindrift Mini-Rocket Transport)
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Very intersting; keep it up
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Looks promising Frank! I've only read "Use of Weapons" myself, but it's enough to know the guy has both one hell of an imagination AND a sense of humour!
The ship names in the Culture novels are inspired. Looking forward to seeing this build progress.
Indeed they are (just been looking up some more than the ones I already know). Two other excellent ship names for consideration though:
1. The Lying Bastard starship from Larry Niven's Ringworld books. IIRC, it got it's name because custom dictated that the ship's name should be the first words spoken aboard her...
2. The Linear Bee ether ship from Michael Moorcock's War Amongst the Angels books. Linear B is an ancient script, used in the Mycenean civilisation. The Linear Bee's Captain Quelch flies for the forces of Order, or "The Singularity", who wish to civilise the Multiverse by imposing linearity upon it, and thereby acting as gents of a simplifying, consuming force called "The Original Insect" by it's detractors, so it's a pun that works in at least three ways.
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I renamed the ship "Hidden Variables" since it's using parts from two ships. I should have renamed it "A lot more PSR than meets the eye".
It's a lot longer now; here it is held together mostly with tape and blue-tac:
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv4.jpg)
The wings and tail are from a 1/200 DML B-52.
The center section has a coke bottle shape at the joint because (as I discovered after cutting everything) the sections are slightly tapered cylinders. I may leave it as is or I'll wrap a wide strip of styrene around it.
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv5.jpg)
Everything is starting to fall apart in this pic; the rear section is not wider than the central cylinder; it's just sliding out of place.
The ship names in the Culture novels are inspired. Looking forward to seeing this build progress.
No kidding. Here's a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_of_the_Culture_setting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_of_the_Culture_setting)
The GSV Just Read The Instructions is clearly not a whiffer.
Jeff, I saw the SSM contest, but I had already picked this ship by the time I saw the contest. I love this one: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/contest/entry_02.htm (http://www.starshipmodeler.com/contest/entry_02.htm) and may borrow some of the ideas.
Thanks for all the comments!
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OOOOOOHHHH :-*Slick lookin classic ship shape :)
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Looks like something I'd expect from The Culture. Now, if you're looking for a really outre piece of fanfiction to read while working on this, try Culture Shock by Ruskbyte, http://ruskbyte.fanficauthors.net/Culture_Shock/index/ (http://ruskbyte.fanficauthors.net/Culture_Shock/index/) . It's a crossover of The Culture with Harry Potter and is rather a amusing and enjoyable read.
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As starships go, thats one slick looking ship. ;)
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You had me at "interstellar" ! :D
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This is more fun than cable TV Frank! The mock-up has that classic Sci-Fi look. I can't wait to see where this goes next!
Brian da Basher
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Any updates on this one?
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Any updates on this one?
I have to repaint it - I tried to do a swirl/marbling on the body and the technique doesn't work well with acrylic paints.
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Use Inks.
http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh50/sotoolslinger/Headhunter/ (http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh50/sotoolslinger/Headhunter/)
Mix the colors on the workpiece as you go.
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Finally finished this never-ending, miserable POS model. I can't believe it's taken almost a year to get this far; in retrospect, I should have stayed with the shorter fuselage.
The paint job was one disaster after another, for no particular reason. The paint is mostly Future with blue or black ink, or with acrylic aluminum color, mixed with iridescent acrylics. Nothing unusual there, but it just kept separating from the primer or having other issues.
As I took these pictures, I dropped the ship and it scratched the finish.
Par for the course; it's "battle damage", including one decal that once again lifted up. Oh and of course, it was sunny until I went outside to take these pictures. I may try it again tomorrow (or next week, since it'll be raining soon) if the model survives that long.
The aluminum decals read "Hidden Variables" plus the date (2012 12 27 - I was optimistically hoping to have it done yesterday) in two of the simplest forms of Marain (http://www.pcplayer.de/~ps/iainbanks/artikel/marain.html):
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv6.jpg)
"Battle damage" - the "grain" in the pictures is from adjusting the brightness and contrast. It got dark in a hurry:
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv7.jpg)
Managed to get some sunlight. Unfortunately, the cool iridescent effect isn't obvious at all in these pictures:
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv8.jpg)
(http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/Images/hv/hv9.jpg)
The Back Story -
Like "Clear Air Turbulence" (from "Consider Phlebas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consider_Phlebas)") the "Hidden Variables" was an Ex-Hronish ship, converted into a small cargo ship. Smaller than the CAT, it was newer, built in 1130 so it was only about 200 years old at the time of the novel.
Unlike similar cargo ships that skirted the line between pirates and legitimate vessels, the "Hidden Variables" was crewed exclusively by Culture citizens, who felt that being part time space-pirates would be a fun thing to do. The crew was exclusively humanoid - no drones - which was unusual.
In 1331, during the Culture-Idiran war, they decided to become upstanding Culture citizens and took part in the evacuation of the Vavatech Orbital. It was in a service bay near the "Clear Air Turbulence" when that ship decided to make its exit, and was slightly damaged in the excitement.
After Vavatech and the Culture-Idiran war, the "Hidden Variables" continued in relative obscurity. In 1421, it was within 100 parsecs of the Sun; the closest a Culture ship (or tenuously Culture connected) had come to our Solar System until 1977 and the events in "The State of the Art" (http://"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_State_of_the_Art").
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I totally feel your pain, Frank. Been there, done that, not even a doggone T-shirt!
Still, for all the challenges, I'd say you finished out on top! I love the iridescent paint job and the way cool markings!
Brian da Basher
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Well done!! :)
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Thanks guys. You sometimes have to have a hellish build to satisfy the modelling gods. I think this one was it for the year. Maybe next year's, too...