6 Foot Long Daedalus Scratch Build Up

[elintseeker]

wow!!!impressiivveeeeeeee

[big F]

So when you gonna offer up a recast of it so we can all build one.

[neptunesurvey]

Your lighting the kit now. So what's left? Thats right, attach it to a flying, transforming 1/200 Macross.

[do not disturb]

haha, your wife must be siked you took over the kitchen with your project.

[Sdf-1]

Your lighting the kit now. So what's left? Thats right, attach it to a flying, transforming 1/200 Macross.

DAEDALUS ATTACK!!!

[valkyrie13]

DAEDALUS ATTACK!!!

That's right. We need to scratchbuild possibly a 8 ~ 10 feet long Zentradi battle cruiser just to bust it up!

[Nexx2]

Thank you for the news That's great to see the progress of your project

Edited August 28, 2007 by Nexx2

[MechTech]

Hey guys, the chickens worked! We got pinned!!! Special thanks to that special mod out there - whoever you are!

UPDATE 29 AUG 07

Here's what I've done this week so far. Got the starboard side ribs glued and trimmed to fit precisely around the carbon fiber frames.

Here's a blurred view sneak peak at the side outline (my camera has it's good and bad days).

A sneak peak at the interior with unfinished models for comparison.

Panel lines etched for whatever the heck they are for.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. This is a great board to learn stuff and find vendors. I've gotten a lot of both here and just trying to return the favor.

My workbench JUST butts up against the kitchen counter. If I push my ship over a little too far when needing extra room, I find it moves back "all by itself" mysteriously.

The ship will be lit up in the interior. If you imagine a mail slot 12" deep and only 3" high with no light coming in around it, that's what the interior decks will look like. Plus lighting just adds to the realism; especially when put into fixtures.

The main hatch will have Daedalus Attack capability. The door will open and the ramp come down - or the door opens and the ramp extends outward. Engineering that has been really fun. Somebody make a paper mache Zentraedi cruiser!

If someone comes up with a metric ton of silicon rubber, we can recast it! I'm not paying for shipping though! Talk to you all later. - MT

[isamu_dyson]

you don't need a lot of silicon juste to have a 2cm layer , then you made a hull with polyester resin

anyway great work ... as always lol

[Odyn]

If someone comes up with a metric ton of silicon rubber, we can recast it! I'm not paying for shipping though!

First off wow I've been watching for a while and this just a great project. Looking forward to seeing more. Have you thought about maybe writing an article about it for model building magazine? Like for example Finescale Modeler.

Now I don't have a metric ton of silicon rubber, however you will need far less then that. Check out this brush on Silicon rubber how to.

http://www.smooth-on.com/howto5.htm

Edited September 1, 2007 by Odyn

[MechTech]

Thanks Odyn and welcome to the borads! I'd still need a ton of that stuff or at least resin. I don't know if if you could rotocast with that stuff to make it hollow. - MT

[cool8or]

This will be incredible!!

[MilSpex]

If it hasnt been already this project should be brought to the attention of Miyatake. I`m sure he`d be flattered/impressed.

[nightmareB4macross]

Hey guys, the chickens worked! We got pinned!!! Special thanks to that special mod out there - whoever you are!

UPDATE 29 AUG 07

Here's what I've done this week so far. Got the starboard side ribs glued and trimmed to fit precisely around the carbon fiber frames.

Here's a blurred view sneak peak at the side outline (my camera has it's good and bad days).

A sneak peak at the interior with unfinished models for comparison.

Panel lines etched for whatever the heck they are for.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. This is a great board to learn stuff and find vendors. I've gotten a lot of both here and just trying to return the favor.

My workbench JUST butts up against the kitchen counter. If I push my ship over a little too far when needing extra room, I find it moves back "all by itself" mysteriously.

The ship will be lit up in the interior. If you imagine a mail slot 12" deep and only 3" high with no light coming in around it, that's what the interior decks will look like. Plus lighting just adds to the realism; especially when put into fixtures.

The main hatch will have Daedalus Attack capability. The door will open and the ramp come down - or the door opens and the ramp extends outward. Engineering that has been really fun. Somebody make a paper mache Zentraedi cruiser!

If someone comes up with a metric ton of silicon rubber, we can recast it! I'm not paying for shipping though! Talk to you all later. - MT

Wow. Awesome work. Evertime I see this thread go to the top of the forums listings I always have to see what's new.

One question: Do the barrels of the Monster obstruct the closed position of the Daedalus forward hatch?

[warpaint22]

Wow MechTech your work is just awesome!!! This has to be one of the best build ups ever, I'm really enjoying your work and attention to detail. I'm sure this will be any Macross collectors dream and a true one of a kind. Can't wait for the finished result.

[MechTech]

Guys, thank you ALL for your comments. I'm humbled, but more motivated all the same to finish this thing (someday soon I hope)! I have considered submitting it to FSM for an article, or maybe even Hobby Japan. Who knows.

Nightmare, the barrels will come close to the main hatch, but still clear it (everything will work like the "real" thing - despite some of the anime magic in the design. My original drawings came close, but I just have to move everything back; easily done at this stage since nothing will be glued in yet.

I'm drawing the interior parts and submitting them hopefully this week for engraving/cutting out with a laser engraver. I want one of those things!!!

UPDATE SEPT 8 2007

The starboard side bow panel is completely engraved and wired with lights. What a major pain; I redid all the light fixtures in about half the size as before and used them instead. It's blurred (sorry), but you can see the small size (LEDs are 3mm wide) and better shape. The small white piece is conduit I made by taking plastic strip and running it on its edge through the table saw. This is what you see all over the siding. The LEDs had to be soldered together outside of the conduit of course... I even had to make my own wire since I could find the type I needed. Just get small gauge wire, tie it up and put the other end in your Dremel turning SLOWLY! Pictures of the conduit completely installed wires stuffed inside. Thin plastic strips will cover the conduit and the catwalks will attach to these. With the lights on (at 2/3 the voltage) . I put this on the hanger side and covered the top. Still very effective even with reduced voltage. Full voltage will be used when the whole thing is done. I gotta go cut some strips for the covers now. Take care. - MT

[Sdf-1]

Holy...!!! Sweet mother of... Merry Christmas!!!

[do not disturb]

Holy...!!! Sweet mother of... Merry Christmas!!!

is right!

i knew you were going all out but damn, its gonna be sick when its done.....in the year 2009.

[big F]

is right!

i knew you were going all out but damn, its gonna be sick when its done.....in the year 2009.

LOL

Next he`ll do a 1/200 ARMD1

[neptunesurvey]

Looking good as usually MechTech. How much voltage will it be using when you are done?

[warpaint22]

Well I don't mind if you don't fdinish till 2020, just means we get plenty of entertainment. I think you should submit your work to a hobby mag, it would be a shame not to. Great work as usual the lighting is great, will it shut off when the hatch is closed or remain on?

[MechTech]

Thanks again everyone for all the compliments. The lights will be on their own switch. Remember the port (left) side will be able to open up so the completed project will double as a display case when not in the water.

The lights will use about 4 to 4.5 volts when done - I think. I took them all off some Christmas wreaths I got really cheap on sale. I saw the price and realized how much the LEDs cost on their own. Anyhow, they came with battery boxes for three AA's and there's circuits inside with resistors. I could hook them back up and make a "giant" 1/200 destroid disco with flashing lights !

I probably will submit my work to a hobby magazine, but I have to get to the point where it's done or nearly done to get finalized looking photos. There's no pictures of what the Daedalus looks like in the rest of the ship, so the rest of the construction should move quicker. I can just make it up as I go along. - MT

[warpaint22]

MechTech did you find you had to change some design points to the ship due to the line art not making sence. I find I have to do this with the 1/700 Prometheus as some pics show different shapes to others and so on, makes for a lot of redesigning to get the look right. Just thought I'd ask.

[big F]

MT you gotta love the like of Homebase and Tesco for pumping out the Xmas stuff really cheap just after the event. Roll of blue led tree lights for £5 reduced from £20...... I think so !

[MechTech]

That's the true sign that you're serious; you're always looking for "potential" materials. I don't even mind going to some of my wife's favorite stores because I know I might find something I can use. I'm at a loss though for how to use lingerie ! - MT

[Sdf-1]

I'm at a loss though for how to use lingerie ! - MT

Camouflauge netting...?

[neptunesurvey]

That's the true sign that you're serious; you're always looking for "potential" materials. I don't even mind going to some of my wife's favorite stores because I know I might find something I can use. I'm at a loss though for how to use lingerie ! - MT

Camouflauge netting...?

Using to paint camo patterns on armor?

[Sebastian]

This is definetelly the coolest Macross custom I have seen in.... ever. Last suppa cool proyect I was crazy about was Johns Mocato's Alpha, too bad it was never finished. This boat is trully amazing, it definetelly will make it to a HJ or Dengeki magzines. It is just way too cool...

[MechTech]

Camouflage netting and armor masking; I'll have to remember that. Thanks Sebastian! I'm trying to make this project as canon as possible and deal with the "anime magic" where the stuff wouldn't work in real life. I just finished covering the conduit and am working on drawing the hanger interior parts and building the catwalks.

Another problem is the catwalks have no railing, so I'm considering putting some on. A real catwalk 75 feet up would! - MT

[Greyryder]

UN Spacy does not answer to OSHA.

[neptunesurvey]

They will once someone falls.

[MechTech]

Sebastian, sorry, I didn't see your post earlier. Thank you for the compliments and my wife and I were just talking today about submitting the ship to a magazine or two.

In all honesty I'm working on the ramp and main hatch areas now. The engineering is taking a little while to keep the weight down. Part of the plan was to put flashing lights and "safety" paint/markings for realism. Well, at least I won't get written up by OSHA for that. Does any one have the OSHA regs for intergalactic semi-submersible ship safety? - MT

[Greyryder]

Does any one have the OSHA regs for intergalactic semi-submersible ship safety? - MT

I think they're right next to the material safety data sheets for the dihydrogen monoxide.

Snarky comments aside, I really can't wait to see more of this project.

Edited September 17, 2007 by Greyryder

[MechTech]

UPDATE 23 Sept 07

I thought which parts I need to be working on first and I figured I better get the ramp and all it's mechanisms in first. That way I don't have to worry about working around walls or destroying details. Plus this is the toughest engineering part of the whole ship for me.

It's not exciting, but here's 42 pieces of precision cut and machined carbon fiber being epoxied together. The two metal parts are keeping all the parts squared off while the epoxy cures (Devcon 2-Ton). These three frame make up the panels for the bow ramp. The sides and tops will be thin styrene to keep the weight down. I don't know whether I'm building a ship or plane some days in trying to keep the weight down.

These three panels will then be hinged together and have three actuators to fold and expand/retract the ramp into the bow. That's where I'm really having to do the thinking! Talk to you later. - MT

[neptunesurvey]

Will you be using more carbon fiber on other sections of the structure or just the ramp?