Scratch built DYRL launch arm...

[redfinger61]

Ever since I saw the bas Gundamhead built I have wanted this kit it looks sooooo cool.....SSM aparently has the masters for this but they say that it is months away...so I was thinking I would make my own.

If I ever did get my hands on one of those bases I was gonna make some changes anyway to make it a little more screen acurate, so i suppose building my own isnt that far off from modifiying one up...

So I have a plan to make the arm very solid, I am desiging this to be mounted off my wall, so I am using 1/4in alluminium solid stock and I will build the arm up around it.

Not to take anything away from the fine work that Gundamhead did, but there are some changes that I will make in my version that I think will make it look more accurate to the movie

1. The "hull" base- It was originay modeled as a square opening with the door shut and the "boom" attached to the door. I am planning on having the entire opening visible and looking like it does in the movie. This could pose a problem, how do a design/build the shaft so that it is merly not a black empty hole....I was thinkinng of using mirrors or something.

2. The launch arm, at least in the drawings doesnt seem to come out as far so I will be shortening it up a little.

3. The lauch arm seems to have more of a taper to it, I will try and fix that.

4. instead of 2 plates on the grasping arm there should be 3.

All in all they are pretty minor changes but I am hoping it all turns out fine, of course mine will look different and I am not out to try and copy Gundamhead or anyone else who worked on this model, I just figured if I am gonna build it I should make it look close to the movie.

My biggest concern is the Tunnel opening..I could maybe have a door closed partially or something, but I dont want it to look closed completely, that is one of my pet peves with the current kit that is out there.

Any tips?

Ashton

*photos I am using*

[redfinger61]

I have spent the majority of the evening laying out how this launch arm will got together, I dont think I am going to use the alluminium stock...instead I am going to use 3/16 steel rod and weld it all together, basically it will follow the angles of the boom and launch grapple.

The plan then is to build up around the steel rod with putty and styrene to get the shape I want.

I dont have any pics yet but I will post some in a day or two when I get some gas back in my welder again...

Ashton

[winterdyne]

There are a couple of tricks that might work for the opening:

1) Build a deeper recess. This means you'll have a fairly large block on your wall and presents the problem of having sides that need detailing.

2) In the recess use a reduced apparent scale to fool the eye for depth - you need to build the back part of the recess larger than the front, and put detail on the back wall in a smaller scale. Looks very good for static camera shots but doesn't work so well when the viewing angle changes.

Both of these can be helped with good lighting (drawing the eye to the back wall rather than the 'warped' sides of the recess - internal LED's ftw) and paintwork (again use highlighting tricks to draw the eye back or to the launch boom).

At the end of the day though, if you look at it with 2 eyes your depth perception will make the warping apparent. This is probably why the shallow recess / closed bay door was used.

[PetarB]

A metal armature sounds like the go.

I think Umi Ryuzuki on the SSM forums put in some pretty good advice on using two way mirrors to achieve the hollow effect you're after... I believe they did that sort of thing for some of the effects shots in Return of the Jedi, specifically when the Falcon was flying through the Death Star Mk 2.

Good luck!

[redfinger61]

A metal armature sounds like the go.

I think Umi Ryuzuki on the SSM forums put in some pretty good advice on using two way mirrors to achieve the hollow effect you're after... I believe they did that sort of thing for some of the effects shots in Return of the Jedi, specifically when the Falcon was flying through the Death Star Mk 2.

Good luck!

Yeah the more I think about it the more I think that is the way I will go..

Ashton

[big F]

A metal armature sounds like the go.

I think Umi Ryuzuki on the SSM forums put in some pretty good advice on using two way mirrors to achieve the hollow effect you're after... I believe they did that sort of thing for some of the effects shots in Return of the Jedi, specifically when the Falcon was flying through the Death Star Mk 2.

Good luck!

Yes they did. They also used it in ANH for the DeathStar laser scene to make the tube look longer.

[redfinger61]

I have got all my supplies together to weld the frame of the arm together...I am at work this weekend but I should get to it in a few days, Iwill post some pics then...

Ashton

[Froy]

You may take a look a this, I think that you will find good references here. wm Cheng is the Master

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...t=0#entry341193

Edited October 28, 2007 by Froy

[redfinger61]

You may take a look a this, I think that you will find good references here. wm Cheng is the Master

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...t=0#entry341193

Yeah I have viewed thaqt thread many a time...While Gundamhead's and WC's work is great, even inspirational, mine is probably goning to look a bit different, a little more screen accurate, or at least as accurate as the screen grabs/concept art I could find.

Ashton

[HWR MKII]

or you could wait a few months since the kit is in the casting que for reissue at Starship Modeler

[redfinger61]

or you could wait a few months since the kit is in the casting que for reissue at Starship Modeler

Yeah that was a thought, but accoarding to Linda it is several months to possibly a year...I really dont feel like waiting that long, and since I was gonaing to make some pretty significant changes to the original, I thought I might as well make my own.

Ashton

[warpaint22]

Awesome idea Ashton I can't wit to see how it turns out. I've been thinking of the same thing for a while but just don't have the time at the moment, but I'm looking forward to seeing your's completed and get a few ideas. Great work as always.