Scratchbuilding Oberth

[jardann]

That is looking really cool!

What kind of putty are you using?

[honneamise]

Thank you Ravenstar, and I´d love to make a kit out of this if there is enough interest. But at this stage I hesitate to announce this as a fact because there are still many things that could go wrong or in the end it might just look wrong. I build this ship in sections so that I can decide whether to just glue everything together at the end or make molds out of the individual parts and have a kit. You may have noticed the nose cone is fastened to the rest of the body via two small wooden plugs. That´s where the hull will be split to allow casting of two separate pieces ( that fit into my pressure pot).

And jardann, I´m using a standard polyester car putty, almost white stuff, mixed with a small amount of red hardener. Curing time is about 2 minutes, after 20 minutes you can sand it. I guess it is made for fast car repairs you get it in almost any bigger store. You can work fast and the best thing is - it doesn´t shrink! (but it smells....)

So IF I make a kit out of this I´ll be using pressure casting for the first time. My last project was an Aeroshuttle from Voyager (the Captain´s Yacht style ship that can be seen under the Saucer of Voyager but they forgot about it and never used it) and I have a hard time hand laminating all the parts to avoid air bubbles. Still came out OK , here is a pic on a finished Aeroshuttle.

[Zentrandude]

looks great for your last project and your work in progess. can't wait for more in the future. Guess janeway wanted to keep her captain´s yacht in mint condition

[godfather]

Are you planning on Kit'ting the Oberth?

Yah! What he said.

p.s. Are ya selling kits of the Aerowing? I only have a teeny tiny one I bought from FederationModels, and would like a larger kit.

Edited May 5, 2005 by godfather

[Grayson72]

Yup, I'd definately be interested in buying one.

[Ravenstar]

Yes that is a very nice looking model , love the aero wing. Yea I noticed the pins thats why I asked. keep up the good work.

chris

[honneamise]

Grayson72 did you mean the Oberth or the Aerowing?

Thanks for your support guys, yes there are still some aerowings for sale, at least the mold for the main body will still be OK for about five more I think. But, first of all, let me point out that by posting the aerowing image I did NOT intend to turn my own thread into a non-Macross-related promotion for this kit!

Still, for once, here is some info on this one:

It is my own take on the aerowing based on a photo of the Voyager underside and the CG image from the Starship Spotter Book. It is basically guesswork and so it looks slightly different from the small Federation Models kit. The upper surfaces are less flat and the engines are somewhat slimmer.

Length is 17,5cm, scale is around 1/144, 1 solid main body (no clear windows, can not be lighted), option for landing gear up/down (just my own assumption that it HAS a landing gear unlike most other shuttles in ST), parts count 30, most of them being sensor strips for the recessed areas around the ship, decals with registrations for 3 ships (Yoy, Intrepid, Bellerophon) but only printed on ink jet printer so no white, look OK but JT Graphics is lightyears ahead.

Here in Germany it is sold for 80 EURO but considering the current USD exchange rate I will make it 60 EURO for MW members (plus shipping) to get you a USD=EURO rate. Please consider this model is not pressure cast (though the Oberth will be if I get it right) so there will be some imperfections. I do howewer hand-laminate the surface of the main body so the quality is still somewhere on the upper end of the ST Garage kits you can get nowadays.

I will have to make some new molds for smaller parts so it will take some time to finish these kits. And I will translate the instructions of course. I don´t want any downpayment, just PM if you want one and I can send you a shipping quote/more pics/whatever you want. Finally here is a pic of the instructions to get you an idea of the build.

[honneamise]

More Oberth now... more filling and sanding and the underside is slowly starting to look like it is supposed to be - still very rough though

[Grayson72]

I meant the oberth

[cobywan]

Are we starting a waiting list for these kits? If so I want on it.

Guys. This board is really rockin'. There is so much talent here that keeps growing and getting more sophisticated every year. All my favorite projects to watch are on this board.

Keep up the great work. I never even knew about that Aerowing kit. And I spend hours on the Spachip modeling boards.

[Viceland]

Are we starting a waiting list for these kits?  If so I want on it.

Guys.  This board is really rockin'.  There is so much talent here that keeps growing and getting more sophisticated every year.  All my favorite projects to watch are on this board.

Keep up the great work. I never even knew about that Aerowing kit.  And I spend hours on the Spachip modeling boards.

Here, here.

I love these scratchbuilding/build-up threads, I just eat'em up and learn as much as I can from them so I can apply any new ideas and techniques to my own projects.

Another thing I love is encouraging the "Garage Kit" industry by buying little jems like these created by extremely talented craftsmen, I am therefore in line behind Coby and Grayson if you ever decide to make this into a kit

Edited May 7, 2005 by Viceland

[Zentrandude]

excellent progress. remember to make more so we can buy it

[Gerwalker]

More Oberth now... more filling and sanding and the underside is slowly starting to look like it is supposed to be - still very rough though

Wow!! amazing!! You are modelling on the ceiling?

BTW: I love your project!! Keep us updated!

[honneamise]

Wow!! amazing!! You are modelling on the ceiling?

Of course. Dont´you, Gerwalker?

Honestly, I had the lineart of the underside in mind and thought it might look good for a comparison. Could just have turned the model upside down instead of the picture i guess.

I was rather busy with other things so only little progress for now: I glued the first part of the upper deck to the fuselage. It has a slightly curved profile and recesses where the upper guns go.

[honneamise]

The bulges for the big guns are drop tanks from an old 1/72 MIG-15 kit. Those Anti-UN-Parts look exactly ike the lineart! With styrene discs of the right diameter glued to the front, they fit into the little slots I have left in the fuselage so the whole assembly will be forced into the right angle. At least I hope so.

[Grayson72]

Man that thing is looking awesome, you absolutely must cast it and sell it to us.

Yes, another talented sculptor joins MW!

[honneamise]

Finally, a pic of the underside (sort of). At the front you can see the thinned down area for the vernier thruster belt (All credit for naming this part goes to Nanashi. I didn´t know what this was meant to be. To me it was just one of those recessed panels which has to be painted black).

[honneamise]

Thanks Grayson72! I guess casting this ship will not be too difficult since it is neither too big nor too complex. The more I´m working on it the more I like it, so, if I don´t screw it up for any reason, I will make a kit out of it. But I guess I shouldn´t start a waiting list or something before I´m finished with the parts.

[cobywan]

I'm not too worried about small mistakes. I can fix them in the casting.

[Gerwalker]

Wow!! amazing!! You are modelling on the ceiling?

Of course. Dont´you, Gerwalker?

Honestly, I had the lineart of the underside in mind and thought it might look good for a comparison. Could just have turned the model upside down instead of the picture i guess.

I was rather busy with other things so only little progress for now: I glued the first part of the upper deck to the fuselage. It has a slightly curved profile and recesses where the upper guns go.

Actually the ceiling is the only place free enough to work in my modelling room!!

Good kitbashing! Those Mig-15 parts looks very well on the model!

This is the kind of stuff that keep me coming to these forums!

[honneamise]

Hi guys I wanted to post new images with bridge and gun bulges, but these items can only be added after the hull is completely smooth and symmetrical. So I prime the hull, draw stripes on to be able to check if left and right sides look the same, they don´t, so I sand again, then redraw the stripes, check again, find the next flaw, sand again,......this sucks but without an accurate shape all following work will be wasted - and who said modeling has to be pure fun? At this stage it is more.....er...challenging i guess.

[honneamise]

This is going to be the bridge. For the three intakes on each side (or are they machine guns like on an F-86?) I glue syringe needle tips to each side. The sides will be "beefed up" by 1mm and, hopefully, only the openings will be visible then.

[honneamise]

Shaping/sanding of the hull is nearly done and I have added the bulged "upper deck" to the front section.

The bridge and the aft portion of the hump that goes behind it take shape. Still very rough and I think I´ll have to reduce the hump a bit.

I will not go with the very short hump as seen in the side view of the lineart, though. It is much longer in the perspective view and it looks the same in the anime (that scene where the Oberth blows up, 3rd ep.).

[Grayson72]

mmmm keep going, I want that ship on display with my other built models.

What kind of materials are you using to create the "hump"

Anyone got any color shots of this sucker?

[cobywan]

It looks like styrene sheet and bondo filler to me.

[HWR MKII]

I know you know what your doing just b looking at your work but i cant help but remind you to be sure to prime that thing really well beforeyou paint it. Bondo is extremely pourous and will drink up most paints.

I think you knew that already though

[cobywan]

Yeah. You can't paint bondo. What you need to do is make a rubber mold and cast up your parts for paint. Then you need to cast up more for us slobbering resin hounds.

[Grayson72]

Slobbering resin hounds... that's strangely fitting

[HWR MKII]

Oh you can paint bondo you just need to hit it with a good filler primer first.

[honneamise]

Well the stuff I´m using is not called Bondo - that stuff is not available over here so I cannot comment on it. What I am using is just called "Polyester Filler Putty" and, after it is dry, you can file, drill and paint it as you like . It does not shrink (not even after some years - I found out most of the one-component-fillers like Revell or Green Putty do and ruin your stuff after some time) and you don´t really need any primer prior to painting.

I use lots of primer at this stage though, because it is the only way to show any defects in shape or bigger scratches or seams that still need some fixing. I use Citadel space wolves grey(actually a light blue-grey), best primer ever - sticks to anything, dries fast and leaves all details intact. Only bad thing- those §%&@*%§ don´t make it anymore so this is my last can of it! The other Citadel primers work well too but, being white or black, they will hide imperfections rather than highlighting them.

The hump is a thin styrene base plate for the right shape in plan view, a thick piece of styrene (5x5mm) glued along the length then sanded to shape and the rest is filled with the putty. The putty sands easier than the styrene so before you sand past your desired shape you will notice the difference.

I still don´t know if the hump looks ok, I have tried with another drop tank filled with putty from the inside, then filed to shape. Looks ok as well but much different with a more aerodynamic shape. The plan view of the hump is not defined in any line art I know so I guess I just have to go with one of them. Pretty hard though, since I consider the whole bridge/hump-assembly will later make up the "face" of the ship and define if it will look cool or just so-so.

[honneamise]

Have been working on the bridge. I have abandoned the syringe needles for the intakes and have just drilled three holes into a styrene strip on each side. Much easier to work with. Then I beefed up the bridge by 1mm each side to get the right thickness at the base. Then a lot of putty followed by a rough sanding. Here is a sequence of it.

[honneamise]

Ah, I forgot as you can see I made a "canopy" by cutting out a length of sprue, filing it to a half-round diameter, then bending it to match the required front curve. While the base of the bridge is almost OK, it has to be sanded to a conical shape towards the top where it should be almost the same width as the canopy. More sanding, then I added primer and sanded again. Almost there...

[honneamise]

Without too much thinking I just glued the bridge to the upper deck with a slight overhang to the front. Then I glued a piece of tube to the front end-this will be puttied over and sanded smooth to make a big intake as seen in the lineart.

[cobywan]

That's really nice. Bondo is a brand name for catylized polyester body filler. It's very similar to what you are using. It's similar to calling any facial tissue Kleenex. Or any cola Coke.

Just for curiosities sake: where is "here"?

[honneamise]

Well, cobywan, "here" is Germany, also known as the most underdeveloped country in the world when it comes to Macross!

NO Macross show has ever been on TV here - the people do not even know the Robothing. Now we have LOTS of anime fans but the younger ones are into dragopokedigi-moon, the older ones like newer stuff like Hellsing, Evangelion or Cowboy-Bebop.

I´m into it since 1983 when a hobby shop here in Cologne had "accidentally" ordered some IMAI kits. Without a TV series to back up any interest they soon vanished from the shelves, but I was immediately hooked by the great boxart. Long story short, I am a Macross fan DESPITE living in Germany.

So my filler seems to be the german equivalent to Bondo, guess I am lucky because my paint sticks quite well to it!