I Know This Shape.

Go4Fun · Post by **Go4Fun** » Mon Nov 12, 2012 4:56 pm

I am building a 2060s Space freighter. It's something I drew up for a book I'm writing called "Princess of The Stars". I've drawn and refined the shape, including update during refittings as the story takes place in 2211.
Now it's crying "Build me Please!" and I really want to. But the main body hull is a shape I'm sure I've seen before but I can't place. It's about 6 to 8 inches long, rounded and I think it is either a container or carrier for a female hygene product. No females in my house to ask about that!
Drive nacels and most other bits are easy but this one shall be a challenge.
I am a styrene modeler and just don't want to learn another method at my age. "Comfort Zone with plastics" and all that.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z102 ... Object.jpg

Moderator edited to remove inline images. Please read the forum rules and posting regulations.

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 10:25 am

Doing curved or rounded shapes with just styrene is moderately difficult, but certainly not impossible.

Option 1
Hunt various Dollar Stores / thrift shops until you find a useful near-matching shape amongst the sundries & knick-knacks. Get it home, cover half of it with styrene, and dunk in VERY hot water for 30 or so seconds.

Then dunk it into very cold water immediately, and that should lock the shape into the styrene. Obviously, use some common sense and do it safely. By doing this twice, you make 2 half hulls that should be easy to attach together.

Option 2
Draw it out, and then start cutting styrene ribs to match the sections of the drawing. By making forward, top, bottom, side, and aft views yourself, you should be able to do the shape profile in styrene in a straight forward fashion. It may be tedious, but it's fairly simple to do.

Here's an example of a Mon Cal cruiser with rounded styrene (and putty) shapes:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/pb_mon.htm

A wealth of building data is buried in here:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/site.htm

Post links to your build progress!

Go4Fun · Post by **Go4Fun** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 1:25 pm

Thank you Joseph. Someone on another site said some magic words: Revell Zepplins! I might have to alter some of the shape around the 'neck' where the rear hull mates with the forward 'Command' section but otherwise it might be a great shortcut.
Get two and build a second as a 'cut-away' to show the decks and such?

THAT will come later.

Andrew Gorman · Post by **Andrew Gorman** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:28 pm

You need a Glencoe Blimp:
http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/ ... 5504.shtml
At least I think it looks like what you are looking for...

Go4Fun · Post by **Go4Fun** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:08 pm

I'm wondering if the GlenCo kit has a lot of raised detail on the blimp envelope body? I know one of the Revell Zeppelin NT, has a smooth body. The Glenco art shows ridges but the picture of the kit shows a smooth shape.

Johnnycrash · Post by **Johnnycrash** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 5:06 pm

Go4Fun wrote:I'm wondering if the GlenCo kit has a lot of raised detail on the blimp envelope body? I know one of the Revell Zeppelin NT, has a smooth body. The Glenco art shows ridges but the picture of the kit shows a smooth shape.

That's why they make sand-paper. Just sayin'.

Andrew Gorman · Post by **Andrew Gorman** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 5:23 pm

The Glencoe blimp is pretty smooth. and what detail is there will come off with a few swipes of a piece of sandpaper. The Zeppelin NT is completely smooth, but is not nearly as bulbous-
http://www.modellversium.de/galerie/18- ... evell.html
The NT hull also comes in three pieces, like a Strombecker Moonliner which can get fiddly to assemble. For a smaller size, check out submarine kits. The Aurora/Revell Germany Skipjack is insanely cheap, and easy to shorte (or lengthen):
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_su ... 36730.aspx
Other modern subs have similar shapes.

Go4Fun · Post by **Go4Fun** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 5:59 pm

What scale are all these? I might decide to crew this ship in a cut-away on a 2nd model and don't want to be limited. on choices. Hmmmm. Tiny pirates?

Scotaidh · Post by **Scotaidh** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:05 pm

Check out the Rocher candy displays, especially this time of year - they come up with all kinds of shapes for their candy boxes.

Go4Fun · Post by **Go4Fun** » Wed Nov 14, 2012 6:24 pm

I'm not familar with Rocher brand. Where is it sold?

Scotaidh · Post by **Scotaidh** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:10 pm

Here's their homepage.

Around the holiday season they start to come out in all kinds of different displays, usually in clear plastic. Someone here used one as the body for a rocket-bus/shuttle/local mass transport - it was very cool.

The candy's not bad, either.

Go4Fun · Post by **Go4Fun** » Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:07 pm

I guess if a soldier stationed in Iraq can take plastic flatware and figure out how to build a passable USS Enterprise from it

anything is possible with good planning and a different outlook or view of common objects.

Post by **TER-OR** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 4:42 pm

Any of those plastic containers/shippers can be backed with epoxy putty to make them very rigid - and depending on the plastic, you might just get away with using them directly. Otherwise, a simple mold is all you need for a one-off model.

Go4Fun · Post by **Go4Fun** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:01 pm

I found a Kit that I can convert.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z102 ... Rocket.gif

A little work and I think I can make it what I want.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z102 ... Diana4.jpg

Go4Fun · Post by **Go4Fun** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:32 pm

How does the ion drive engines that preceeded Warp Drive differ in appearance?