Motorized 1/72 VF-1J Flight Deck

[arbit]

The last gear on the Prometheus Flight Deck! 

I would appreciate your comments and feedback.

Edited October 19, 2019 by arbit

[Shawn]

I wanted to congratulate you on such an incredible project, great job!! I simply can't believe how much detail you've put into each stage of this build.

Thank you for sharing it!!!

Shawn

[arbit]

Hi Shawn, Thanks for your kind words. I really appreciate it.

Bit by bit, it's starting to come together. 

 

Edited October 24, 2019 by arbit

[Big]

Wow, superb job!!!

Can't wait for the final video!

Great job!

 

[CrossAir]

Awesome, looks perfect up to the tiniest detail. 

[arbit]

Thanks guys. She is up! Lots more to do, but we're getting there. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by arbit

[Thom]

That's a great looking dio! Great kit and scratch work.

[derex3592]

that's just pure awesome right there! 

[mickyg]

Looks GREAT!

Was just about to ask "why the door?" when I remembered the base the aircraft sits on is the elevator.  Makes you wonder why "real" aircraft carriers don't use this approach.  Seems like it'd potentially save a lot of space.  Though, I'm guessing space is the reason it exists, as it's likely to be a design choice for making sure it holds atmostphere when it's, you know, in space.  A big rolling door would be perfect for that when the elevator is lowered.

[arbit]

Thanks mickyg. Glad you passed by.

21 hours ago, mickyg said:

"why the door?"

1. Because I thought it would be cool , and I like gimmicks. It is fan fiction, but looking closely at the TV line art, those valk elevators seem to be closed. Maybe someone has other line art examples.

2. Theoretically, its an "airlock". Only you and I know it's just a garage door roller.

3. A sliding airlock would be better, but would double the width of the deck... it has to slide somewhere, right? So a roller was the only option for me.

Edited October 29, 2019 by arbit

[MechTech]

That's looking awesome Arbit! Did you use reed valves in place of micro switches for your electrical door "stops"? I didn't add any stops to my "garage door," but think it will prevent something from being broken. Better be safe than lazy and break something I can't easily fix after its painted. - MT

[arbit]

3 hours ago, MechTech said:

That's looking awesome Arbit! Did you use reed valves in place of micro switches for your electrical door "stops"? I didn't add any stops to my "garage door," but think it will prevent something from being broken. Better be safe than lazy and break something I can't easily fix after its painted. - MT

Hi Mechtech. Thanks for visiting!

Yes, I used reed switches for the roller. You can see in the previous images how I placed them, and the big ol' magnet is on the exterior of the door. 

I had to test them carefully for placement to ensure they contact before mounting. Also, the pins of the switches tend to break off the body of the reed switch, so I strengthened them with epoxy.

[arbit]

I finished mounting the valk base to the elevator lift. I made a clam shell for the valk base with all its electronics for light and sound.  It seals with magnets so I can get at it in the future. The clam shell is mounted on the scissor lift and will go up and down independently of the remaining electronics for the project.  I only have two sets of wires which come out the bottom of the clam shell for external power and wing motor control. So I can control the wings from the outside with bluetooth along with the other 3 motors in the project.

The set up inside the clam shell base is an Arduino Micro, speaker, amp, and SD Card, controlling 27 leds and sound in the valk and base.  I only need to access the base for reprogramming, but otherwise power and battery charging will be done from the outside with the lead wires out the bottom.

The rest of the Flight Deck project is controlled by a second arduino with bluetooth control of the 4 motors (Deflector, Door, Lift, and Wings), and is independent of the valk electronics. 

The two Arduinos will be turn on at the same time, with the valk's Arduino running a sound and light sketch, and the flight deck Arduino for 4 motors controlled separately by the bluetooth app.

Edited October 31, 2019 by arbit

[MechTech]

It just keeps getting better and better! Waitnig on a video with some good lighting to see all the details. These photos are nice and clean too. - MT

[Gatsu]

This is absolutely incredible!!!! My only displeasure is that you didn t adhere to the vf_1j hikaru schemes

[Thom]

It's looking fantastic!

What is the ultimate set-up going to look like?

[arbit]

3 hours ago, Gatsu said:

This is absolutely incredible!!!! My only displeasure is that you didn t adhere to the vf_1j hikaru schemes

Thanks Gatsu. No worries, I left that scheme for you to do 

7 minutes ago, Thom said:

It's looking fantastic!

What is the ultimate set-up going to look like?

Thanks Thom. Since you asked, I am working on the exterior box and interior elevator shaft. Sheets of styrene will enclose the box. This is more like carpentry than modeling, and I'm no carpenter 

[arbit]

Finished the internal elevator box.  It also provides additional support for the flight deck.

The elevator shaft should be a bit bigger based on the line art, but I had to sacrifice to fit the project in the flight deck.

Edited November 14, 2019 by arbit

[arbit]

Working on the exterior. Now I just need to connect all the wiring to finish up.

 

Edited November 21, 2019 by arbit

[Darth Mingus]

50 minutes ago, arbit said:

Working on the exterior.

Great work, but your exterior is a bit boxy... shouldn't it look like this?

[arbit]

1 hour ago, Darth Mingus said:

Great work, but your exterior is a bit boxy... shouldn't it look like this?

You are correct. But a 1/72 sdf-1 won't fit in my paint booth 

[derex3592]

WOW!!! Looks awesome!!! 

[arbit]

3 hours ago, derex3592 said:

WOW!!! Looks awesome!!! 

Thanks derex. 

[mickyg]

It looks very, very nice.  Your attention to details is also spot-on.  I see nothing but respect and a labour of love on this project.

[arbit]

2 hours ago, mickyg said:

It looks very, very nice.  Your attention to details is also spot-on.  I see nothing but respect and a labour of love on this project.

Thanks mickyg. Your nice comments give me more motivation. If only I had the painting skills to match.

[Bolt]

Looks fantastic! Great job

Truly inspirational.

[arbit]

Just some more photos. I guess you all want to see the valk. What was I thinking?

And I do plan to detail the exterior with some warning decals. 

Edited November 22, 2019 by arbit

[arbit]

I think painting is done. Unless anyone has any recommendations.

[MechTech]

That looks absolutely fabulous Arbit!!! I think it would be worthy of entering into a model show and garner you a prize! You brought electronics, mechanics and styrene to a whole new level! - MT 

[arbit]

13 hours ago, MechTech said:

That looks absolutely fabulous Arbit!!! I think it would be worthy of entering into a model show and garner you a prize! You brought electronics, mechanics and styrene to a whole new level! - MT 

Thanks MechTech. That's a big compliment from the MechMaster himself.  We're Not Worthy... To be honest, I still can't figure out 90% of your Daedalus Scratch Build.

Edited November 25, 2019 by arbit

[arbit]

Finished onboarding the electronics to fit inside the box. Basically I had to redo all the electronic connections and reduce the footprint as much as possible from the prototype photo. Very stressful and time consuming. The least enjoyable part of the project, cause you're done, but you're far from done at the same time.

[Bolt]

That's some good cram-fu

[arbit]

Finished the exterior walls with some more Macross themes and some generic sci-fi panels. Not going to kill myself on detailing these, as I just didn't want to leave the walls bare.

 

[Bolt]

This looks awesome man.

[arbit]

Thanks Bolt. Final daylight photos. We are 99% done.