Current and Finished Projects > Scifi and Fantasy

Interstellar cargo ship "Hidden Variables"

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Frank3k:
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)


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:

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):


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

sotoolslinger:
Very nice :-* Can't wait.

Brian da Basher:
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

Dr. YoKai:
   The ship names in the Culture novels are inspired. Looking forward to seeing this build progress.

Doom!:
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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