Joseph Osborn
New Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 75
Hello, Nerd-herders 
This is my first post on the forum but I've been following Scott's adventure since just about the beginning. Here's a little background on me: I've been model building off and on since I was about 5, which was about 36 years ago. For the past ten years I have been focusing almost exclusively on static scale helicopter modeling, and I operate an aftermarket resin and decal operation called "Fireball Modelworks" that has allowed me to pursue the hobby to a level I only dreamed about when I was younger. Okay, enough of me-- on to this model project. I have a best friend since elementary school who is impossibly hard to buy gifts for, so I just build him models. Over the years, I have chosen Christmas as the time to present him a new model, but this past year I had nothing made for him. I had intended to make him a Colonial Viper from the original Battlestar Galactica series, but other obligations ate up my time. So, after planning this build for over six months, I have finally started. And as a nod to Scott, I will post my build progress as a way to keep me moving on the model.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this kit, it was originally released by Monogram in 1978 and has been re-released only a couple of time since. The newest release, under the Revell brand, is also a re-tool: it adds a new interior cockpit and pilot figure, a clear canopy, and revised engine parts. It is approximately 1/32 scale, and builds into a nice-sized display piece.
Here's one of the early releases I made last year as a one-week stress-relief build:
The kit makes a really sweet model right out of the box, but I am going to add/remove/change aspects of the kit to make it a little more faithful to the original studio miniature and to give it some individuality. I bought this kit at Hobby Lobby last year when it was released.
The first change I made was to remove some excess plastic around the base of the intake scoops:
This model will be lit, so I adapted the display stand hole in the bottom to fit a nice beefy two-conductor jack from Radio Shack:
The male portion of the jack will be in the top of the new display stand, so the model can be removed from the stand with ease.
The engine lighting has been a fun (heh heh) project to tackle. I am using three super-bright LED's with flicker circuits to replicate the engine effect. The flicker circuits were harvested from LED tealight candles. The kit's engine housing is not very friendly to lighting, so I had to come up with a way to seal the individual LED's from each other and direct their output. I used 3/4" PVC pipe to make light guides. The pipe segments were machined to fit on my Taig lathe (sorry, Scott-- a proper lathe is the only way to fly), and I also cut LED holders and diffuser disks from some scap polycarbonate:
When the LED's are lit up, they glow brightly against the diffusers:
I still have to establish the best position from the end of the pipe for the diffusers.
The cockpit will be lit with fiber optics and probably one dim LED behind the main display screen. The kit's pilot figure is disappointing to me-- I would have liked to have seen a better sculpt, if only to have better details to rob for my replacement figure. This Viper will have a female pilot, and I have made a rough figure from 1/32 Preiser Eve parts, Verlinden 1/35 hands, and the kit figure's helmet:
I am really no good at sculpting, so adding the clothes to this figure will undoubtedly lead to much moaning and gnashing of teeth. The pose will have her head looking to the left, with her left hand held in the air in a "thumb's up" gesture and the right hand holding the control stick. The helmet looks a little big, but I went back and watched the old episodes with the female pilots and some of them looked like they were wearing a toilet bowl on their head:
This is a "budget build" which means that I'm basically limiting myself to the items I have on-hand to make the model. Thanks for indulging me, and I'll update the progress when new things happen ;D
Regards,
Joseph
This is my first post on the forum but I've been following Scott's adventure since just about the beginning. Here's a little background on me: I've been model building off and on since I was about 5, which was about 36 years ago. For the past ten years I have been focusing almost exclusively on static scale helicopter modeling, and I operate an aftermarket resin and decal operation called "Fireball Modelworks" that has allowed me to pursue the hobby to a level I only dreamed about when I was younger. Okay, enough of me-- on to this model project. I have a best friend since elementary school who is impossibly hard to buy gifts for, so I just build him models. Over the years, I have chosen Christmas as the time to present him a new model, but this past year I had nothing made for him. I had intended to make him a Colonial Viper from the original Battlestar Galactica series, but other obligations ate up my time. So, after planning this build for over six months, I have finally started. And as a nod to Scott, I will post my build progress as a way to keep me moving on the model.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this kit, it was originally released by Monogram in 1978 and has been re-released only a couple of time since. The newest release, under the Revell brand, is also a re-tool: it adds a new interior cockpit and pilot figure, a clear canopy, and revised engine parts. It is approximately 1/32 scale, and builds into a nice-sized display piece.
Here's one of the early releases I made last year as a one-week stress-relief build:
The kit makes a really sweet model right out of the box, but I am going to add/remove/change aspects of the kit to make it a little more faithful to the original studio miniature and to give it some individuality. I bought this kit at Hobby Lobby last year when it was released.
The first change I made was to remove some excess plastic around the base of the intake scoops:
This model will be lit, so I adapted the display stand hole in the bottom to fit a nice beefy two-conductor jack from Radio Shack:
The male portion of the jack will be in the top of the new display stand, so the model can be removed from the stand with ease.
The engine lighting has been a fun (heh heh) project to tackle. I am using three super-bright LED's with flicker circuits to replicate the engine effect. The flicker circuits were harvested from LED tealight candles. The kit's engine housing is not very friendly to lighting, so I had to come up with a way to seal the individual LED's from each other and direct their output. I used 3/4" PVC pipe to make light guides. The pipe segments were machined to fit on my Taig lathe (sorry, Scott-- a proper lathe is the only way to fly), and I also cut LED holders and diffuser disks from some scap polycarbonate:
When the LED's are lit up, they glow brightly against the diffusers:
I still have to establish the best position from the end of the pipe for the diffusers.
The cockpit will be lit with fiber optics and probably one dim LED behind the main display screen. The kit's pilot figure is disappointing to me-- I would have liked to have seen a better sculpt, if only to have better details to rob for my replacement figure. This Viper will have a female pilot, and I have made a rough figure from 1/32 Preiser Eve parts, Verlinden 1/35 hands, and the kit figure's helmet:
I am really no good at sculpting, so adding the clothes to this figure will undoubtedly lead to much moaning and gnashing of teeth. The pose will have her head looking to the left, with her left hand held in the air in a "thumb's up" gesture and the right hand holding the control stick. The helmet looks a little big, but I went back and watched the old episodes with the female pilots and some of them looked like they were wearing a toilet bowl on their head:
This is a "budget build" which means that I'm basically limiting myself to the items I have on-hand to make the model. Thanks for indulging me, and I'll update the progress when new things happen ;D
Regards,
Joseph
