Valkyrie Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 I posted about this project in the 'what's on your workbench?' thread earlier today with a couple progress pics (a mere 24 hours into the project). I've been working on it a bit more tonight, and I took some more pics to document the project a bit more. And I thought I'd post them here. So if you're at all interested in the project or how it's being done... then by all means, read on. Keep in mind, I'm by no means an expert at this kind of thing. This is just me applying a few tricks I read on the 'net, and a few more build ideas that I came up with, that sounded good at the time. This isn't exactly my first attempt at a scratchbuild, but it does hold the potential of being the first one that I actually finish. And in less than 6 months, no less! First, here's the earliest pics I took of it. I wish I thought to start taking em sooner. At this point, the latest application of putty (Avees Apoxy Sculpt) was still curing, so I started on the wings. I got the shape of the wings onto styrene by drawing them in AutoCAD, then printed them at 1:1 scale. Then I cut them out, used spray adhesive to glue them on to sheet styrene, then cut them out. I based their thickness on the 1/144 drone kit that I have. They're about 0.04" thick at 1/144, so I'm making them 0.08" at 1/72. But, of course, they're thinner than that at the leading and trailing edges. I could have just cut them out of .08 styrene and sanded down the edges, but I thought it might be easier to make them consistant if I did each wing in 3 layers. Here's what I did: 1) cut out wings on .04 styrene 2) cut out 4 more on .02 styrene, with the edges trimmed back, then glued one on each side of each wing 3) same thing for the canted wingtips 4) fill in the gaps with putty, tapering down the edges And that's about where I left off. I hit the dome with a bit more putty while I was at it, to flesh it out a bit more. Same with the nose, which looks very close to being right to my eye. I'll leave you now with a couple mock-up pics I took along the way. I may be biased, but I think it's looking pretty good so far 'Til next time, whenever I have time to work on it more... I'll probably start on the engine pod then. Quote
robokochan Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 Wow! That looks awesome. Excellent job! Rob Quote
Less than Super Ostrich Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 Cool, man. But you seriously have some major modeling ADD (I know because I have modelers ADD too!)... whatever happened to that VF-11 project? Quote
memnon Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 Hehe I have the dreaded modellers ADD too. However I think we can help him see this through to the end. Keep going valkyrie, you're doing an excellent job! Quote
Sdf-1 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 It's weird why so many of us have this ADD. Man I wish I could simply start a project, finish it and then start something else. Won't happen. Quote
Sweet-1 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 Hi, my name is Lonnie and I too have modellers ADD! I have at least 8 different models on the go and have only finished 3 this year. But the good folks at VISA and Paypal love me. Quote
Less than Super Ostrich Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 (edited) 8?!? You've got a long way to go to catch up with my problems. Edited April 14, 2006 by Less than Super Ostrich Quote
Sweet-1 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 (edited) What can I say. I'm a classic underachiever! I'm not counting the 48 inch monstrosity (Lusankya) that I've been working on for almost 2 years. I'll be posting pics on SSM soon, I just finally got the angles perfect. Edited April 16, 2006 by Sweet-1 Quote
Valkyrie Posted April 14, 2006 Author Posted April 14, 2006 Cool, man. But you seriously have some major modeling ADD (I know because I have modelers ADD too!)... whatever happened to that VF-11 project? 391121[/snapback] The VF-11 is done. I've just got a bunch of casting left to do at this point (which is mind-numbingly boring). I think I've got 5 kits ready to go right now, on top of the ones I shipped to the kit donor on wednesday. They'll go on sale when I'm closer to having the whole run finished.And yea, modeler's ADD is a good way to describe my condition... Quote
THOR Posted April 15, 2006 Posted April 15, 2006 MADD? damn already taken.... sweet job valk! can i get on the list for the vf-11? I missed it. please add me to the list for this drone too. -THOR Quote
Viceland Posted April 15, 2006 Posted April 15, 2006 Cool, I was hoping somebody would make this, I'll take 3 drones! (...and 2 VF-11s) Quote
gunsight-1 Posted April 16, 2006 Posted April 16, 2006 Very nice job ! I feel being impatient to see the final result. Quote
Valkyrie Posted April 16, 2006 Author Posted April 16, 2006 Very nice job !I feel being impatient to see the final result. 391514[/snapback] I am too! More pics later tonight -- I've got the general shape of the engine pod nearly finished. Quote
Sweet-1 Posted April 16, 2006 Posted April 16, 2006 Looking good, is it going to be armed? Any approximate price range? Quote
Valkyrie Posted April 17, 2006 Author Posted April 17, 2006 Looking good, is it going to be armed? Any approximate price range? 391592[/snapback] I'm going to at least attempt to make missiles for it. Assuming they turn out halfway decent, they'll be a part of the kit. They'll be optional though. As for the price, it'll probably be $50 or less. Quote
Sweet-1 Posted April 17, 2006 Posted April 17, 2006 When the list goes up, put me down for one. Armed if the missiles turn out. Quote
Valkyrie Posted April 17, 2006 Author Posted April 17, 2006 Alrighty, got a couple days of progress to post on. Rather than wait until my next days off work, i'm finding myself working on this thing for an hour or so every night after work. I seriously can't keep myself away from it! So it seems my Modeler's ADD is temporarily cured! But as a result, I probably won't get my Wonderfest project done in time Anyway, onto the build: (using my own webspace this time) I'm going to need the engine pod to be a seperate piece, so I started by laying down a strip of styrene to conform to the V shaped groove, and a small block to act as a locator for easier assembly. Then I cut out the intake extension and the vertical guide for the pod. I assembled it with plastic cement, reinforced with CA (superglue) when it was dry, threw on a very rough coat of putty, and called it a night The next night, I drew and cut out horizontal guides for the intake and two 'ribs'. The intake wasn't quite to my liking, so I did without it for the time being. When mounting the ribs, I immediately regretted throwing on the putty the night before. But I still made it work. Just had a bit more plastic to cut. After gluing them in place with CA, I fleshed it out a bit with more Apoxie Sculpt. Which brings me to tonight. I got the intake guide fixed up. Gluing it on centered and square was the hardest part here. More fleshing out with putty A bit on the fuselage too (the two parts are still seperated though) And here's a better angle. And one more thing, about the missiles -- I completely forgot, I already have some! The Club-M YF-19 and VF-11 come with High-Maneuver missiles! Honestly, I've never been a huge fan of Tanmen's sculpt of them. But they'll definitely be a good starting point, if nothing else. Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying watching as I fumble my way through this project. Though I know somewhere out there, Cap'n A is reading this and thinking "Hah! Amateur!" But it's all good. I'm having fun Quote
THOR Posted April 18, 2006 Posted April 18, 2006 Hey Andy! I print directly onto sticker paper I find at Wally World. Maybe your spray adhesive method is cheaper? Messy? -THOR Quote
THOR Posted April 18, 2006 Posted April 18, 2006 I wanna try your putty. What is it called and where do you get it? Quote
Valkyrie Posted April 19, 2006 Author Posted April 19, 2006 (edited) I wanna try your putty. What is it called and where do you get it? 392099[/snapback] Aves Apoxie Sculpt. Excelent stuff. http://www.starshipmodeler.com/cfstore/ind...&category_id=75 Edited April 19, 2006 by Valkyrie Quote
HWR MKII Posted April 19, 2006 Posted April 19, 2006 Yes we need more Aves converts. great stuff and youll never go back. Quote
Sdf-1 Posted April 19, 2006 Posted April 19, 2006 I just wonder how expensive it would be to ship over here... Quote
azrhino Posted April 19, 2006 Posted April 19, 2006 (edited) I'm rather partial to Magic Sculp myself. I have yet to try Aves Apoxie Sculpt. Would anyone that has used both like to start a new thread comparing the two? I don't want to hijack Valkyrie's build-up anymore than we already have. Edited April 19, 2006 by azrhino Quote
Viceland Posted April 19, 2006 Posted April 19, 2006 You could do that, or go search on StarshipModeler's forum, theres a few good threads about Aves there to answer most questions. Quote
Valkyrie Posted April 28, 2006 Author Posted April 28, 2006 *BUMP*Are ya done yet? 394779[/snapback] Heh! Lately, its progress hasn't been moving at the brisk pace that it once was. I'm going to be spending a good chunk of the day working on it in between casting VF-11s today tho. Planning on building the rear of the plane, fine-tuning the nose, and hopefully fix the shape of the engine pod so I don't have to rebuild it (I'm not too happy with how the shape has turned out) Quote
Sdf-1 Posted May 21, 2006 Posted May 21, 2006 I wanna try your putty. What is it called and where do you get it? 392099[/snapback] Aves Apoxie Sculpt. Excelent stuff. http://www.starshipmodeler.com/cfstore/ind...&category_id=75 392301[/snapback] Heh, I ordered 4 lbs all the way to Finland. Waiting to see progress pics Valkyrie. Quote
Valkyrie Posted May 21, 2006 Author Posted May 21, 2006 "Get back to work!" bump 400918[/snapback] Heh. It's on hold for a bit, while I work on my Wonderfest project (which may or may not be entirely in vein -- I've got 4 days left to finish it). I'm building a resin kit of the Starblade, a space fighter from a Namco arcade game of the same name. I should be pretty damn cool, if I can finish it Quote
cobywan Posted May 21, 2006 Posted May 21, 2006 "Get back to work!" bump 400918[/snapback] Heh. It's on hold for a bit, while I work on my Wonderfest project (which may or may not be entirely in vein -- I've got 4 days left to finish it). I'm building a resin kit of the Starblade, a space fighter from a Namco arcade game of the same name. I should be pretty damn cool, if I can finish it 400936[/snapback] I'm going to be there too. Though I won't have anything to enter. Quote
neptunesurvey Posted May 25, 2006 Posted May 25, 2006 I'll be seeing you guys this weekend at Wonderfest. Quote
Valkyrie Posted May 25, 2006 Author Posted May 25, 2006 (edited) I'm on the way to Wonderfest at this very moment. Looking forward to meeting all you! I've got the target drone with me And a couple VF-11 kits, if you can find me in time Edited May 25, 2006 by Valkyrie Quote
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