jargonking

Assembly took about half an hour....clean up of the seams a little longer, here's the completed build up...chains and cape are just clipped on at the moment.... Without flash the detail in the face sculpt is more apparent.... Still need to clean up the chains and see to the seams at the shoulders.... The seam in the cape also needs filling....

After the rigours of the Pilgrim Observer build I thought I'd do a quick build of the new PL Superman that just turned up last week. Quick rundown of the parts then on with the build.... Boxart is great....although I'd like to see more manufacturers leaving the logo off the boxtop, or maybe as a sticker on the shrinkwrap like with the deluxe Batmobile, so you could frame the artwork.... Head sculpt looks good and should paint up well.... Torso detail looks a little soft but should paint ok... Arms and legs....I'll be removing the overlarge snapfit locators as I want to fit these after cleaning up the torso.... The cape is in two parts so expect a big seam to hide.... The chains are split into halves....might go with these or may replace them with real chain.... The base....think I'll paint this in the classic Red/Yellow.... A nice touch is the choice of decals AND stickers....not sure how opaque the colour is on the decals...will have to wait and see.... So on with the build....

Nearly done....just missing the three engine bells on the rear section due to a missing part. The Round 2 replacement service needs a letter from the Pope to secure the part and a follower on Facebook has promised me one anyway so just waiting for it to turn up.... I mounted the support rod in the base and found that the whole thing was a little nose heavy. To counteract this I removed the rear engine and filled the engine module with lots of small steel nails followed by a liberal application of CA glue.... So here's the mostly finished ship.... The business end certainly looks busy with all the antennae deployed.... I spent most of last night adding scores of tiny stencils.... The capsule is vastly improved by the addition of the etched details.... The 2001-like repair pod is busy on the rear module.... Another view of the command module.... And lit....these shots were taken in normal room light, I'll get some better pics once the rear engines are installed.... Note the tiny windows lit in the circular hatch.... Rear of the habitation module....

I've reached the main stage assembly point.... A combination of the kit decals and items from the Acreation sheet have been applied.... There are still a lot of fine stencils to apply but my eyes weren't up to it last night.... The capsule still needs it's service module and engine...somewhat annoyingly, and despite testing the lights at every stage of assembly, the LED's in the capsule are now refusing to work and it's too late to pull the whole thing apart again.... Still some touching in to do but overall it's looking 90% complete.... Need to weather the base now then I can install the various anntennae after mounting it....

With impeccable timing the Acreation decals turned up today from Steve Iverson....not sure what all those tiny crosses are for but I'll be using a combination of this shhet and the kit decals....

A productive day yesterday, got the rest of the main components basecoated and started on some of the detail painting. Here's the capsule basecoated in black and the windows installed with white PVA glue which dries clear.... I gave all the main structures a thin wash using MIG Starship Filth oil paint....this toned down the brightness of the white to a more scale effect and starts to bring out the detail.... The Hubble-like telescope was assembled...I went for various metallic shades here as a contrast to the white of the command module... Another view...the mirror at the bottom of the telescope is the only kit part I left in the original chrome.... A test fit of the antenna assemblies and telescope with the parts held in place with blutack... ...the concertina antenna/solar panel/whatever-it-is still needs painting... ...also the white areas are still to receive a pin wash to further enhance the details along with some selective panel detailing and drybrushing...

Some more progress shots .... The asteroid base was prepped to receive the mounting rod by first cementing a block of styrene pieces to the underside.... The base was then drilled through on the drill press to ensure the hole was vertical... A short pece of brass tubing was cut....the internal diameter of this matches the external diameter of the mounting rod... Here it is glued in place.... I also fashioned a shaping device for the four small etched dishes from one of the kit dishes fixed to a section of a pen body...the aluminium rod fits the hole in the centre of the etch.... After several failed attempts I finally managed to get the brass discs to conform to the shape....still not absolutely perfect but I think good enough.... I think the only way to get a better-shaped dish would be to either etch them in finer gauge material that may be slightly more pliable...maybe copper, although then much of the strength would be lost...or to have them formed under pressure in a metal former/mould.... That said, I think ParaGrafix have done an amazing job producing this sheet in the first place and I can live with some minor kinks given the quality of the rest of the parts....

Time to experiment with the main communication dish and attempt to turn a flat brass disc into a dome.... Here's the original kit part.... I fixed a piece of rod to the centre of the dish and used modelling clay to attach it to some sheet styrene before building a retaining wall all round... I mixed up some silicon and poured it into the mould.... I left it overnight then broke open the mould.... The cured silicon forms a rigid but slightly flexible female mould....into this I inserted the styrene rod again.... The brass was annealled by gently heating and then allowing to cool, it was then placed onto the mould.... Finally the kit part was placed on top and carefully pressed down.... The result....a domed brass dish....albeit with a few kinks in it.... The formed brass was then attached to the kit part using a dremel sanding disc bit.... The assembled dishes were then rolled around on edge on the cutting mat to iron out the creases around the edge.... A fresh attempt this afternoon and the dish still has a couple of minor kinks but overall is better than my first.... Here it is attached to the scratchbuilt mast.... I hit it with a coat of primer then a couple of coats of gold to give it a little texture to try and simulate mylar foil.... I did consider replacing the kit centre part with brass but I quite like the contrast between the dish and the three supports which are thick enough to look like they might house additional sensors or equipment....

The Revell reissue can be found pretty cheaply and it's the same kit with slightly better decals. If you're interested here's mine..... https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/media/set/?set=a.186765158055535.49538.185693711496013&type=3

Getting close now to being able to paint the remaining modules and start to bring this thing together... just been taking care of some final lighting tasks.... The observatory portion of the command module had the now redundant kit part #31 reversed and epoxied in place to act as a platform for the lights.... Three white LED's were arranged in a triangle formation on a scrap of sheet styrene .... The LED assembly was fed through the hole in the nose of the module and held in place using a cable tie....here's a lighting test.... From the back....two additional LED's were installed to light the tiny windows in the circular brass access hatches.... A quick test fit of all the wired components including the capsule to ensure there is enough wire to feed through.... A rear view shows the amount of separate feeds that will eventually be connected together.... One issue I have found is that the textured surface of the windows in the habitation module means that it is almost impossible to mask them using tape....after several failed attempts I resorted to using liquid mask applied with a cocktail stick.... A little more masking then it's on with the paint.....

Time to start thinking about how to mount the finished build.... I drilled a hole into the central column and glued in a small section of brass tube using 5-minute epoxy. Into this I CA glued a smaller diameter tube which carries the power feed.... The wires were then fed one at a time up the tube then fished through the forward hole which connects to the command module... I've also fitted some light boxes to provide illumination through the various ports in the command module....

More progress tonight.... I decided to clean up the rest of the etch and prep it for painting....as you can see there's quite a lot still to do, not least the shaping of the antenna which at the moment are just flat discs.... Here's the main telescope test fitted in place...the Hubble-like door really adds something to the kit parts... The solar panel was the most fiddly piece to assemble...I think I dropped it on the floor about ten times while trying to align the vanes with the frame... With parts like this attached I'll have to be careful handling the finished model.... The solar arrays for the capsule comprise of two parts....the face piece.... ...and the back piece which is very delicate and requires careful handling while assembling....

Girder comparison......

Another small but significant update.... I cleaned up the seams on the modules and added some etched detail to the ends.... Then it was on with the replacement girders....here they are removed from the fret.... They require folding twice to create the correct box section....I did this using the Photofold tool, I've got several folding tools and this is by far the easiest to use.... Here are the girders folded and awaiting installation....they needed a tiny amount of sanding at the end that attaches to the central access tube but otherwise were relatively easy to install.... And installed.... Definitely an improvement over the kit parts....

A test fitting of the forward module prior to painting and installing the lights.... All the gimbals for the various antenna were cemented in place...I'm not going for the folding option and so just used the hemispheres without the masts attached then drilled them out for the replacement masts.... Surprising how big it is now with the engine extended...and that's even before the modules are added.... Test fit of the three hinged modules here in roomlight.... And in the dark....still light leaks to fix.... It was at this point I suddenly realised that I'd sealed up the habitation module without fitting the shadow casters at the windows...DOH!!!!....never mind, the only option was to prise it open again and fit them.... Close up....I painted the front of them matt black then CA-glued them in place.... More soon....:

More progress with the lighting...this time the Hydroponic module....I decided to go with a green glow, partly to contrast with the rest of the ship and partly to give an impression of vegetation inside....yes. I know that they would grow the plants under 'daylight' conditions but remember this is designed to be a contractors desktop display so green it is.... I did something I rarely do these days in that I fabricated a couple of rudimentary circuit boards out of stripboard.... These were mounted back-to-back and held together with miniature cable ties.... The backs of the boards were lined with PVC tape to prevent shorts and the two separated by a thin section of card... A test on the bench.... And in the dark.... The assembly was mounted in the module using 5-minute epoxy.... A test with the module taped up.... And again in the dark.... More coming up....

Some more minor details.... The antenna masts provided in the kit are a little crude and given that they will be supporting some awesome looking etched dishes I decided they needed replacing....here's one of the kit parts... And here are the replacements made from sections of aluminium tubing grafted on to the kit hubs...the top one is for the four-dish array whilst the lower one is for the main communication dish.... Finally, I've had comments on various forums and Facebook particularly from people who think I must operate in some kind of zen-like bubble of order and calm....nothing could be further from the reality, here's my work area currently.... I do tend to clear up between projects but typically I tend to be working in a clear area about 4" square....

I've been experimenting with the lighting for the habitation module....I decided to go with just four 3mm ultrabright white LED's mounted two per side of a white card separator.... First I cut the card...this came from the backing card from the brass set and serves to both reflect the light and prevent a see-through effect through the module.... I also painted over certain windows to give the effect of certain cabins being unoccupied...this helps create the illusion of separate rooms rather than one large area like on Skylab... The LED's were taped on to the card facing opposite ends of the module...here it is test fitted... And lit....note the pieces here are not yet cemented together hence the light leaks round the seam.... The ParaGrafix set provides some tiny figure shadowcasters for the windows which I'll install before gluing up the module.... I'm currently bogged down in a lot of the smaller details which, due to the lighting, need completing before the next round of painting and major assembly... First up is the capsule...I wanted to have this docked with the main ship but with the cockpit lit so the first job was to carefully open up the windows... The interior is lit by two 3mm red LED's....space is tight in here so I soldered the legs together and fed the wires through the nosecone...the resistor will have to be connected on the inside of the main ship... The back wall of the capsule was lined with a piece of aluminium tape to reflect the light forwards...I did think of adding some detail here but the capsule is so close to the main ship when docked that you can't really see directly through the windows anyway so in the end I left it plain.... Here's a lighting test.... And in the dark....obviously a coat or two of flat black will be required as a primer to block those light leaks.... Here it is test fitted to the airlock on the forward module.... There are two viewing ports next to the airlock that I intend to light.... I'm not certain what these two assemblies represent...I'm guessing additional telescopes or cameras...anyway the end sections were not perfectly cylindrical after cleaning up the seams so I added an additional section of brass tubing....I'll leave these brass parts in their polished state to resemble mylar foil.... And on we go....

More progress tonight.... Finished lining the hydroponics module with foil tape and installed the windows....think I'll go with green lights in here.... Same deal with the habitation module...white lights in here with the odd window blacked out.... The nuclear fuel section.... Lined the forward module with foil tape ready for lighting.... The ParaGrafix set provides additional hatches... Hatches installed.... More soon....

Thanks for that Don....may be worthwhile seeking that book out....

Main engine module fitted to the truss.... I used Humbrol Metalcote Polished Steel for the main module and Plasti-Kote Chrome for the engine bell... Is it just me or does it look like a dustbin? I also added the larger tanks, again with some aluminium tape bandings.... I've decided to go for a very clean look on this build to resemble a NASA desktop model, the type you might find on the Mission Director's desk....

I'm fixing it open with all the modules deployed and lit....

Some more progress tonight.... Main engine was detailed with brass wire to replace the styrene pipework... First subassembly completed and awaiting light weathering....the main tanks are still to be added.... The aluminium tubing is a vast improvement on the kit parts. I also added some interest to the red tanks by wrapping a thin piece of aluminium tape around each end.... The bulkhead behind the red gridwork was sprayed gold to simulate mylar foil similar to that used on the Apollo programme... The painted truss test fitted....I'll leave it loose until final assembly to avoid damage...

Started work on replacing the soft-detailed chrome parts with sharper pieces made from sections of aluminium tube... The main engine assembled...I used a section of the kit's styrene truss to form a mounting point for the new brass one.... Side view of the engine a little washed out by the camera flash.... I cut some lengths of fine square-section Evergreen strip.... The strips were used to detail the inner wall of the rear thruster housing along with some aluminium tube....the strip locations were matched to the moulded strakes seen on the outside... Small sections of sprue were used to link the aluminium pipes to the moulded-on pipework... Test fit of the main engine components and truss... The brass truss really adds to the realism and lifts the kit out of the toy category.... More soon....

Well the Coke didn't work either so I resorted to caustic soda....12 hours later it had worked on all bar one stubborn piece...I'll scrape that back by hand....