glueman Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Hello everyone ... I'm back ... this time with another exciting project. Some eagle-eyed members will know that I have two other projects that are currently on the go at the moment ... a Vulcan build and a Viking lander build. I'm still working on them and hopefully will update those posts soon. As this was a fantastic Christmas present I couldn't resist starting yet another project. 2001 is one of my all time great films. I remember going to see the film when it was first released and it completely blew me away ... it was just so awesome. I did have a kit of the Orion Clipper Plane at one time in the past but that has long since gone. For being good all year long, Santa brought me the Space Station kit for Christmas. The box ... with a nice cover photo. Note the different scales. Three different scales of the Orion Clipper planes are supplied with the kit as there is some uncertainty as the size of the original space station in the film and hence the scale of the model. You get lots of resin parts to build the hubs and the rings. Some parts have good surface detail but there is often a faint texture on the parts, like a carbon fibre print which presumably is to do with the resin forming process. And lots of PE parts to build the incomplete rims and to add detail to the arms. And lots and lots of flash especially on the arms that link the hub to the rings. Guess what I'll be doing for a while ... slowly carefully removing excess flash from all the resin parts. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestar12chris Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Will watch this with interest, always fancied this model but baulked at the price. Happy modelling this makes into a great model. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 The surface texture looks like an artefact from 3D printing, presumably used to make the master. On the arms my first thought would be remove the "out riggers" and replace with metal bar, then they would be straight and it would make clean up easier. Looks like a fun project, good luck with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prenton Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Hello everyone ... I'm back ... this time with another exciting project. Some eagle-eyed members will know that I have two other projects that are currently on the go at the moment ... a Vulcan build and a Viking lander build. I'm still working on them and hopefully will update those posts soon. As this was a fantastic Christmas present I couldn't resist starting yet another project. 2001 is one of my all time great films. I remember going to see the film when it was first released and it completely blew me away ... it was just so awesome. Wow! Santa was nice to you. What an MARVELLOUS kit. I agree - 2001 was one of the best ever Sci-Fi films. I too remember going to see it back in the late 1960's when it came out - in CINERAMA mode, where the screen was a full 180 degrees (great especially if you sat in the front row.... I was too young then to be smoking pot, as allegedly some fans did up front in the cinemas). Of course, the ending mystified me, as it did many others, until you read Arthur C Clarke's short story, the Sentinel, upon which the premise of the film was based. And then the book of the film, which explained everything (or did it....?.). I look forward to seeing this one come together...brings back happy memories. I still cannot hear the Blue Danube without seeing, in my mind's eye, the Clipper manoeuvring and entering the space station..... Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 You lucky guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowler0000 Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glueman Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 Thanks for all of your comments. Before I forget, I'm actually following the build described on the web site (link below). It describes a number of 'issues' associated with this kit (and solutions) which I'm finding very help. http://www.starshipmodeler.com/2001/sj_ssv.htm Back to the story ... another evenings worth of removing flash ..... getting there albeit rather slowly. Most of the 'arms' are now clear of flash and I've glued the two sections of the short hub together. The surface detail is pretty good where there is no flash. The inside of the docking chamber is smooth ... couldn't quite get the windows with the people inside to show up at this scale Another job is to enlarge the holes in the hub so that the arms fit nice and snug. The instructions don't really mention how deep the holes should be opened but there is a guide on the actual arms themselves. There is a faint grove on the arm (for PE parts to be added later) that ends at the same point as the ends of the out riggers. The end of the grove and end of the out riggers should rest on the surface of the hub. The hole in the hub need to be about 2-3mm. Some gentle sanding with a rotary tool is on the cards for tonight. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glueman Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 The surface texture looks like an artefact from 3D printing, presumably used to make the master. On the arms my first thought would be remove the "out riggers" and replace with metal bar, then they would be straight and it would make clean up easier. Looks like a fun project, good luck with it. I did have the same thoughts as you Nigel regarding the out riggers, but thought about using plastic strip or narrow U-shaped trough as the original parts appear to be grove shaped. I still may swap the original out riggers for new ones. Pete 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glueman Posted January 28, 2016 Author Share Posted January 28, 2016 A little more progress ... this time with the completed ring. First step was to dry-fit the four quadrants of the main ring together and to overlay the quadrants onto the plan to make sure that they followed the plan and formed a circle ... which they didn't. After reading the build log (see earlier link) I was expecting this problem. Some of the quadrants are 'too' curved especially towards the ends of each quadrant. The solution (as suggested in the build log) was to put the quadrants into boiling hot water for a couple of minutes to soften the resin, then to gently bend the quadrants outwards to open up the curvature a bit. It worked!! I also followed their advice about pinning the quadrants in position as they cooled down (see lower photo). Just for reference, the rings shown on the plan don't actually form a perfect circle. The diameter measured horizontally on the plan from left to right is 220mm. The diameter measured vertically from top to bottom is 218mm. The hubs also are not perfect circles being about 0.2mm wider than they are tall. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 This looks to be a very interesting build. Have been tempted by it in the past but so far resisted simply because I've got too much else to build already! Will be watching with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Cool. I just love this Space Station. That & Elite are what gave me a love for the Blue Danube 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glueman Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 Some more progress with the build. In the end I decided to remove the little 'out riggers' (as suggested by Nigel) along each arm partly because I had already broken two Removing the out riggers was a good move in that I could then clean up the resin flash on the arms and man-handle the arms without fear of breaking the rather delicate out riggers. I have some U-shaped channel strip of about the same size that I'll use for the out riggers. This is a photo of the before and after removing the out riggers. Once the arms were glued into the hub is was then time to build the completed ring. I did this one section at a time, doing a dry fit first to check the fit ... the fit was generally ok ... but ... (more on this later). Then it was out with some super glue. The end of each ring section has two PE parts (#26) that attach to the end of each section and extend partly down the arm. They look nice ... but are a bit fiddly to glue in place and line up with the change in shape of the arm. It didn't help matters when I realised that I had made life very hard for myself. Remember I used the plan that came with the kit to make sure the sections of the ring were the correct curvature. It turned out that by changing the curvature slightly (and cleaning off the flash at the end of the sections) I had inadvertently decreased the diameter of the entire ring by a couple of millimetres. This meant that the arms linking the hub to the ring were slightly too long to fit into their recess and the PE parts were also slightly too long. I got around the arm length by taking a razor saw to each arm and removing the excess. As for the PE parts, I just moved them further back a bit on the end of the rings ... but doing this has resulted in a few gaps where each ring joins together. Good job I have some filler Below is a photo of the rings 3/4 completed. Finally, all the ring sections were glued in place (one at a time) using some wood spacers to prop up the ring sections. It's worth noting that each ring section is quite heavy and after attaching the second section I was having to add a bit more super glue than usual to make sure the third and last sections would stick firmly in place. A rubber band was used as a rim clamp to hold everything in place whilst the glue was setting. The ring sections line up pretty well (minor step here and there but not really noticeable) and there are some gaps at the joins that need filling and smoothing out. On a happy scale of 1-10, I'm at about 8.5 ... pleased that it went so well ... but probably could have done a bit better. It will do (unless it is for Stanley Kubrick then I would have to do it again ... and again ... and again ... repeat many times). 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Its great to see it coming together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glueman Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 Just emerging from a dark room ... last night I spent over two and half hours adding some very small PE parts to the Space Station. To set the scene ... each arm that connects the hub to the rim has 10 tiny PE triangles around the base that form a gusset. Each PE triangle is about 1.5mm tall by about 4mm in length. As the hub is a curved surface there are three sets of slightly differently shaped PE triangles per arm. Each PE triangle fits into a tiny grove on the arm. There are 80 little PE triangles to add (10 per arm, 8 arms in total). It's been a very long time since I've done anything this fiddly and a fair bit of time was spent swearing and cursing ... and learning the best way to do it. Luckily I didn't lose any parts and managed to do an OK job. I used a magnifying glass that I clamped to the table top and a head torch that provided some much needed illumination. The first step was to remove each of the PE parts from the PE frame. I used a pair of PE scissors to cut as close to the part as possible. These parts are so small it is very tricky to remove excess PE from the part. In the build log they suggest using a demmel type tool to remove any of the PE flash. I haven't tried that yet. Again following the instructions in the build log, I worked on the same PE part number starting with part #29 (x4) as these occur closest to the 'out riggers'. Then is was part #27/30 (x4) then finally part #28 (x2). To attach the PE part to the arm I used a pin to lay some super glue along the faint grove on the arm. Then with a steady hand and some small tweezers positioned each PE part on the arm. There was a bit of overspill of the super glue which I managed to tidy up a bit. The very last job was to add two new out riggers made from 1.5mm U-shaped strip. The finished product ... one arm at least. One arm done ... 70 more PE triangles to go. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 The PE and outriggers look very effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Wow that is damn fiddly stuff! Looking great though, a wonderful commitment to detail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matiwashere Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Looks like an awesome project, can't wait to see it finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Just came across this thread. I'll be following with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68 SQUADRON Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 nice work, looks like a real labor of love though. good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glueman Posted March 29, 2016 Author Share Posted March 29, 2016 Hope everyone had a lovely time over the Easter holiday. I've been a busy bee ... Started work on the second, uncompleted ring of the Space Station. This part of the build has involved lots of preparing, lots of dry fitting, lots of removing excess resin flash, lots of cutting PE ... and comparatively little actual gluing. The first part of the build was to set up a template to help with the alignment of the ring segments. The correct alignment of the segments is critical as they effect how the framework of rails is positioned around the hub. I prepared a template consisting of a series of concentric circles. I then pinned the hub and arm assembly onto the template. Using the circles as a guide I dry-fitted each ring segment at the end of each arm. As the fit is not perfect I had to dry-fit - sand resin - dry-fit several times in order to get the proper alignment. Once I was happy ... hmmm ... I glued the segments in place. The photo below shows a dry-fit of two ring segments. Note the excess resin 'flash' along the segment. There was plenty of this resin flash to remove I'm at the stage now where I'm fitting the long, curved longeron rails to the segments. Actually ... I'm at the stage where I'm dry-fitting the rails. I had thought that adding the gussets at the end of each arm was tricky ... the build has just gone up several big jumps in trickiness. I'm spending a lot ... lot more time just thinking about how to do things and trying out different ideas. I'm only showing two rails in the photos. On each quadrant there are 6 longeron rails (that attach to the ends of each segment) and 2 partial rails. There are between 7 and 8 frames per quadrant. In the build notes that I'm following, the authors suggest adding the rails in a specific order. I think I'm doing it the correct order ... build the basic box shape first then add the two upper outermost rails then the lower partial rails. Just need to try it out first and get it all clear in my head before squeezing out the glue. They also suggest threading the frames onto the rails beforehand. The first thing to realise is that the alignment of the longeron rails and frames is 3-dimensional. Not only do the rails have to be aligned in a horizontal plane with respect to the ring segments (and also follow the curve of the ring segments) but each frame that slides onto the rails has to be aligned both vertically with respect to the segments and also with respect to the central hub. Each longeron rail has a series of very small notches that also have to be aligned from one rail to the next (the notches are where the frames are attached). I found that the only way I could work on this part of the build was to pin down the hub and ring segments onto a board and to try and figure out a way of supporting the rails and frames whilst making sure the frame alignment was correct. One key observation ... the location of the frames on the rails are symmetrical in that the location of a frame in one quadrant of the ring is in-line with a frame on the opposite quadrant. That makes perfect sense as they wouldn't build a non-symmetrical open framework that is spinning Sorry ... I digress. To help with the alignment of the frames, I ended up mapping out the location of each frame onto my template and drawing a straight line from the frame location (on one quadrant) across the centre point of the circle to the frame location on the opposite quadrant. Detailed view of the frames, looking straight down onto the middle frame, which has been pushed out of alignment a bit. If you look at the upper most longeron rail you'll see a very small notch cut into the rail. These notches have to be aligned with respect to the hub as they are the locations where each frame is attached. Next step ... is to figure out a way of applying super glue to the ring segments in order to attach the rails without disturbing the alignment ... to apply tiny blobs of super glue to the rails to attach each frame onto the rails. Getting there ... albeit very slowly. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Whoa thats some precise looking fiddly work there man, good going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glueman Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Made some good progress with the build ... one quadrant of open framework is finished ... yeah, time to open some bubbly One down ... three more to go. The photo below is an oblique view of the framework with the penultimate rail in place. The blades provide a bit of weight and leverage to hold the outer rail in place The finished quadrant You might be able to see some excess blobs of glue at the frame-rail joins. My plan is to gently remove as much surplus as I can ... without braking anything. Admiring the finished the quadrant ... as one does ... I noticed there was something a bit odd. If you look at the photo of the kit, at the ring segment marked A at the top of the image you'll see a frame (going anti-clockwise) set about 5mm to the left of the resin segment. However, on the plan (lower image) the first frame going anticlockwise from the top ring segment should be right up against the ring segment. The opposite occurs at the other end of the quadrant (bottom left of image). The first frame going clockwise from the resin segment (A) is right up against the ring segment in the build but about 5mm away in the plan. Couldn't figure out what was wrong as the rails and frames are in their correct location. Was beginning to bug me ... a lot :( After a while I discovered that I had made a mistake way back in time when assembling the separate resin segments on the arms. When I glued the resin segments together I used the shape of the edge of the resin segment (where it goes from smooth outer surface to inner ribbed surface) and the relative position of the windows (small squares) on each segment to make sure I was pairing up the correct resin segments and that they were all facing the correct way ... facing towards the front of the hub ... the front being the docking port What I didn't realise is that the back side of one resin segment marked A has the same relative position of windows and shape of edge as the front side of the opposite resin segment marked A. In other words ... the sides of the resin segments marked A you see in the photos are facing the wrong way ... they should be facing backwards towards the other completed ring. So if you take the bottom left resin segment (marked A) and flip it over so it's back side now faces to the front you have a longer resin segment in the location at the top of the image and therefore will be closer to the first frame. Of course ... and with hindsight ... I could have used a ruler to check that I had the correct length of resin segment in the correct location. What a lad eh :( If I don't say anything, do you think any one will notice? dd 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I have no clue what the problem is you are talking about, however I what I do see is an excellent bit of building of delicate PE pieces! Looks superb so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greased Lightning Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 This is great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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