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The Haunebu Resin Repulsor Drive Project - Beam me up, Scotty!


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I have the Haunebu II Model Kits from Squadron Models and from Revell sitting on my shelf for a while. To make this clear: This is pure Fun-Fiction for me. I am lighyears away from any Nazi-Ideas or any questionable messages that people (especially here in germany) have associated with the Haunebu after the Revell Kit came out.

 

Both Kits offer the option to open the Bridge-Section with the "Repulsor Drive"-Unit in the middle. Both drives are pretty basic. The Squadron version is a bit bigger but just a hollow tube. Therefore my Plan is to replicate the repulsor drives in clear resin to allow LED-Lighting from the bottom an create something like a "Warp-Drive" effect that we know from Star Trek.

 

Bridge of the Squadron Models Haunebu II

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Revell Repulsor Drive

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...to be continued.

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As the hollow turbine from the Squadron kit looks prety basic i have added some detail by glueing a round 0,5 mm styrtene sheeth into the top and adding boltheads made with a punch and die Tool from RP-TOOLZ.

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Paint Strategy;

I think it would look weird if the complete Repulsors were in clear resin. My latest strategy is to mask the areas marked in red, then prime the whole devices in black for light blocking and add a steel tone on top. After removing of the Masking talpe the light from an LED inserted from the bottom can shine through the clear areas,

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I think about adding some green or blue pigments to the resin. Or even some UV-Active pigments and combine this with a UV/Blacklight LED.

 

...to be continued.

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21 hours ago, Tzulscha said:

cherenkov

Wasn't he that bloke on Star Trek?

 

21 hours ago, Reelyator said:

the light from an LED inserted from the bottom can shine through the clear areas,

Sounds interesting. Keep it coming.

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21 hours ago, Tzulscha said:

...the soft glow of cherenkov radiation lighting up the crews little faces!....

Hey Tzulscha! I hope the Cherenkov Radiation will not ruin MY Face throughout this project😉....at least not more then the last decades of model building.....

 

A certain amound of madness is always helpfult when you want to have fun, glueing small pieces of plastic togeter, right?

Edited by Reelyator
typo
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13 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Cherenkov  Wasn't he that bloke on Star Trek?

Nope, that was the bloke from Tschernobyl⚛️

Edited by Reelyator
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This is my  first attemt as a "Re-Caster". The Silicone was recomended to me by the folks from trollfactory.de. The "Turbine" and the jogurt pot was treated with a mold release agent before casting to allow easy release.

 

The outcome looks not to bad from what i can see now. It looks like the surface detail was well reproduced by the silicone.

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The Turbine partially fell apart after i pulled it out of the silicone but this will be easy to repair. Some lessons learned:

 

1) 1g is not always 1 ml!

I know density calculation this is engineering ground school (.....but i keep forgetting). I roughly calculated the pot is for 150 g of joghurt, volume should be around 150 ml, substracting the volume of the turbine i thought that 110 ml of silicone should be enough. Assuming that density should not be too far away from 1 g/ml i simply weighted 55g of Part 1 (Base) + 55 g Part B (Catalyst) to reach the desired amount (Volume) of silicone. This was not enough, the turbine was not fully covered. I had to prepare another 20 g to reach the desired hight wich is not so easy when you have only one hand availble for holding and stirring. This brings us to 2;-)

 

2) Do not underestimate the Uplift!

The Turbine is hollow. i had positioned it insite the pot with the help of a metal stick (see post #3) but this does not fix it in place, After filling the silocone into the pot, ther turbine was pushed upward and sidewards by the uplift and i had to fix the position manualy for around 30 minutes until the silicone was hard enough. It would have been smarter, to fill the turbine prior casting to compensate the uplift.

 

Next time i am smarter.     

.......to be continued.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The first attempt was not fully successfull. My Kitchen-Scale went Auto-Off while i was measuring the Katalyst for the second Silicone Mold😒. I had to guess the amount wich did not work soo well. The Mold was way too soft and sticky but i still tried it out for a first mold.

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I assume i have not mixed the 2 componnent of the resin well enough. After 24hrs a part was still semi-liquid, the rest of the part was sticky as hell. But i do not give up yet!

 

.....to be continued.

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The second attempt looks a bit more promissing.

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The silicone feels fully cured, My kitchen scale wass well prepared not to go auto off during the most important phase of measuring. After 12+ hours i could take out the Turbines again.

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No i am curious, how the first resin turbines from these molds will look like.

 

...to be continued

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.....a small step for mankind..

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But definitely a big step forwared for me: The second attempt looks much better than the first one. After 48h the casting seems to be completely dry and solid. The detail level looks pretty good, even the top of the Squadron turbine with the bolts. Mold lines and some air bubbles inside could not be completely avoided. Next Step is to trim of the casting channel, then clean and polish the whole part and finally to add the drill hole for the LED.

 

.....to be continued.

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This is the outcome after the first treament with sanding sponges and polishing liquid.

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Too bad that most air bubbles are stuck inside the "Ribs" of the Turbine. Not sure how to fix this....

 

....to be continued.

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Anyhow, i proceeded with the placing of the drill holes for the LED´s.

 

The Haunebu Turbine has a comfortable diameter of 2,5 cm. This allow´s LED Diameters up to 10 mm. Even 2 separate Drill holes of 5 mm would be possible to place LED´s of differen Colors. With this you could arrange a Color-Shifting effect, e. g. by using a arduino.

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The LED´s on the picture are 10 mm, 8 mm Straw-Hat and 5 mm. The Revell Version is not more than 8 mm wide at the base. This allows a maximum hole  size of 3 mm with a sufficient remaining wall thickness.

 

Note: After drilling the holes were white on the inner surface due to the surface texture on the inside. But after brushing over with Mr. Cement Deluxe this has cleared up again.

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A Few Days ago i got a parcel with some UV-Active Pigments i fould on Ebay. I will use them to colour the next casting and then combine them with some UV/Blacklight LED´s. Curious how this will look like.

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...to be continued.

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Your castings look pretty good.

A couple of tricks I learned casting clear resin.

To avoid bubbles mix your resin slowly so that you don't stir air in, pour into your mold along a stick or rod to help prevent trapping air in small areas like ribs and if you can pull a vacuum on your resin filled mold that will pull out all the bubbles you get anyway.

 

A lot depends on how fast your resin cures and how thick it is.

 

Looking forward to the coloured effects!

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Hi Tzulscha,

fully agree with you! Key to success is to mix all components homogenuous but without stirring air bubbles into the resin. My first attemt from October 15th was most likely not homogen enough. I found it helpfull to:

1) measure the resin

2) add the dye/pigment

3) mix it into the resin before

4) adding the Katalist

 

This gives you a better visualisation of the 2 phases of the resin (with dye) and the (uncoloured) Catalyst and helps you to see when everything is mixed well enough.

 

The visicosity is definitely a challenge, both components are pretty viscous and so is the mixture. I have no clue what options i have to reduce the viscosity without changing the components. My last semester of Rheology is a while ago, i remeber the temperature impacting the viscosity but higher temperatures will also lead to higher curing speed, Therefore not really an option....

 

I tried to pour the resin slowly into the mold. Holding it sideways and rotating it to avoid air bubbles getting stuck in the corners or in the ribs. Still a long way to the perfect casting....

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There are solvents that you can use to thin your resin. They may well alter your cure times though.

What kind of resin are you casting?  Polyurethane, polyester, epoxy...?

 

Something else that may help chase surface bubbles out of your casting is to brush a layer of resin all over the inside of your mold before you fill it.

Hopefully you have enough time to do it before your resin starts to go off!

 

Warming your casting resin will make it more liguid but will also accelerate curing.

If you resin isn't curing as fast as you like, perhaps warming it up will help.

 

I hope that didn't sound like lecturing, but I've messed up a LOT of casting pours and I think I know most of the ways it can go bad!  :angry:

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7 hours ago, Tzulscha said:

....What kind of resin are you casting?  Polyurethane, polyester, epoxy...?

 

....I hope that didn't sound like lecturing,...

Hi Tzulscha,

the Resin that i am using is an Epoxy-Resin with the Name SKresin 3221. That was recomended to me from the experts from www.harzspezialisten.de because it is clear and resistant to paints. laquers and varnishes.

 

No lecturing at all! Your feedback is highly appreciated!!

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Comparing the UV-Pigments with the (liquid) dyes i can state that the pigments clearly reduce the transparency of the resin. No wonder as those are simply solid particles that are suspended in the resin. The green Turbine is colored with green dye. the yellow and the blue one are colored with UV-Active pigments. But i think both methods should work when lighting from the bottom.

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The yellow pigments really have a nice "Toxic" appearence, even in plain dayligt🤢. Curious to see how this will look like in combination with a UV/Blacklight LED. I discarded one in pure Orange because that was  way to heavy for my taste. Next i will try out some "Cocktails" like yellow/green, yellow/organge and green/blue.

 

Air Bubbles are still a challenge. See marked areas on the yellow turbine. But not a show stopper as they can be fixed with putty. And luckily the bubbles are in areas that areas that will be painted over anyhow...

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..to be continued.

 

 

Edited by Reelyator
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  • 4 weeks later...

Over the last days and weeks i have tried out castings with various Pigment combinations. Lessons learned: It is easy to overdose the pigments wich leads to a reduced transparency of the resin (wich you can see at the yellow and the blue turbines). Here less is more. You can achieve a good saturation witth just a very, Very, VERY small amount of of Pigments but still maintain the Transparency of the Resin.

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Next Step is to drill holes into the bottoms of each Turbine ad then check how they react on Normal and UV/Blacklight LED´s.

 

....to be continued.

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The Small turbines (for the Revall Haunebu) can take 4 mm Drill Diameter wich is enough for the placement of 3 mm LED´s.

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The Larger Squadron Turbines can take up to 10 mm LED´s. The Dremel only takes up to 6 mm Drill Diameter. The Rest must be drilled out using a conventional Drill.

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