Death Star trench run

Post by **JonMW** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:25 pm

To start off this SIG I plan to do a "small" diorama using two FM X-wings, two Bandai TIE fighters and a Vaders TIE. The FM one will be replace with one from Bandai as soon as I get it. This will be a pretty long diorama (probably not too hard to guess what it will depict).

Post by **Hillbilly** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:22 pm

Death Star trench run! :fly2:

Post by **ForbesHutton** » Fri May 01, 2015 1:39 am

The first Death Star is depicted in various sources of having a crew of 265,675, as well as 52,276 gunners, 607,360 troops, 30,984 stormtroopers, 42,782 ship support staff, and 180,216 pilots and support crew.[6] Its hangars contain assault shuttles, blastboats, Strike cruisers, land vehicles, support ships, and 7,293 TIE fighters.[7] It is also protected by 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,600 ion cannons, and at least 768 tractor beam projectors.[7] Various sources state the first Death Star has a diameter of between 140 and 160 kilometers.[6][8][9] There is a broader range of figures for the second Death Star's diameter, ranging from 160 to 900 kilometers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Star

So in 1/72 that's 2 real kilometers across, and 2km high. You better warn the neighbours.

Post by **kiwigav** » Sun May 03, 2015 9:24 pm

Now thats a mega idea.

Good Luck...May the 4th is on us

Post by **DBMiller** » Sun May 03, 2015 11:14 pm

Wow! Talk about going big!

Post by **JonMW** » Mon May 04, 2015 6:43 pm

I'm guessing this will be around 50 cm x 50 cm x 1.5 m at least, I have no idea where I'm going to fit this when it's done. Will probably make it so that I can brake it down into more manageable pieces. Any way hare are the what's in the boxes of the X-wings and Ties.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon May 04, 2015 10:15 pm

Big project, but I am sure you can pull it off

Post by **JonMW** » Mon May 04, 2015 10:23 pm

Have started the X-wings, got the cockpits together, not too many parts so pretty simple.

Then I stared working on the engines. And as the x-wings will be in flight in the diorama I figured I needed some lights for the engines.

To fit the LEDs I removed the locating tabs from the inside of the engines.

Made a small hole in the front of the engine.

Soldered a bunch of 5 mm LEDs to some 30 ohm resistors (or there about) the plan is to have an Arduino Pro Micro, micro controller controlling the LEDs. This way I can get some random flickering and not just have a constant light.

It is just that the LEDs fit both in terms of diameter and in length with the resistor attached.

Test run of the engines. I will probably add a clear frosted sheet of plastic to diffuse the light a bit. If you click the above image there is a video clip to show the flickering. I know the engine glow is more pink in the movie but my local electronics store doesn't have any so I went with orange for now, I might order some pink ones and see how it looks.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon May 04, 2015 10:35 pm

Awesome!!!

Post by **ladip63** » Sun May 17, 2015 7:14 am

This is going to be awesome! Wish I could make LED lights.
Lynn

Post by **mincemeat** » Sun May 17, 2015 11:39 am

Huzzah! Arduino! I've been mulling over using Arduino in a model kit for some time to automate lights, sounds and motion. Don't have the time or place at the moment. You are the first to even mention it on this site. I can't wait to see the progress on this awesome undertaking.

Post by **DBMiller** » Sun May 17, 2015 3:27 pm

Lighted?! Very cool!

Post by **kiwigav** » Sun May 17, 2015 9:23 pm

Love it when scifi stuff is lit up

Post by **JonMW** » Thu May 21, 2015 11:16 pm

Thanks, arduinos are fairly easy to get into one good thing is that there is a lot of code to download for a lot of projects. I found the code for this on some site and just changed the time and intensity.

I have finished the cockpits and pilots for the x-wings.

Also started planning some for the base, it will need a lot of tiles and as the Bandai kits have pretty good ones I thought I would make a few resin copies. Started with building some LEGO.

Mixed some silicon and poured it in the LEGO box.

The ready mold

First test casting, I'm guessing there will be a few more.

Will need a little bit of clean up but should be good. Will need to make some different ones as well.

Post by **Willem** » Thu May 21, 2015 11:24 pm

Brilliant idea and execution. Will be following your thread.

Post by **mincemeat** » Fri May 22, 2015 12:59 am

That's great work on the resin casting! Can't wait to see more!

Post by **Coen** » Fri May 22, 2015 4:03 am

Fan freakin tastic work!!!
This is an epic build dude and the casting is a really excellent touch.

Post by **Paul** » Fri May 22, 2015 7:23 am

Brilliant work, love the resin casts, this will be an epic build

Post by **Nige201980** » Fri May 22, 2015 8:21 am

wow great work on the casting mate this is going to be great.

Post by **JonMW** » Fri May 22, 2015 7:20 pm

Thanks for the comments!

Post by **kiwigav** » Sun May 24, 2015 8:55 am

Nice bit of casting there. Feel free to do a how too anytime!!

would come in hand I think.

Post by **Hillbilly** » Sun May 24, 2015 3:34 pm

Very nice job on the casting

With all the aftermarket resin casters now-days,casting parts at home has kinda become a lost art almost.

Post by **DBMiller** » Mon May 25, 2015 1:50 pm

How big will this be when you've cast all those extra parts?!

Nice work!

Post by **JonMW** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:15 pm

About a month with no updates, so it's time for it now. I haven't done too much but I got the Darth Vader TIE.

So I started making a a mold of the three remaining bases (one from the Vader TIE and two from the X-Wing) to cast more for the diorama. All the bases have a cut out at the bottom so you can link them together, this needs to be covered. For this I used regular electrical tape, it doesn't need to be perfect as the air under the plate has no place to go so only a small amount of silicone will leak in.

I tacked the parts to a sheet of styrene with a dot of super glue in each corner of the bases.

I use LEGOs to build a box, you could use pretty much any thing. For me LEGOs was just easy, I have a lot of it since my mom was kind enogh to saved all of it from when I was a kid and keep it. And you can reuse it as many times as you like and build it to any shape or size you need. I usually leave about 10 mm of space outside of the part to make sure the silicon don't rip, same goes for over the parts as well. Since the LEGOs are pretty old and well used (I loved LEGOs when I was a kid) I wrapped some masking tape on the outside just to be sure the silicon wouldn't leak between the blocks Also used masking tape to hold the blocks to the sheet.

The silicon I use is what they have at my local art supply store, it's a low viscosity silicon which is good as it will flow into all the nooks and crannies. The hardening time will depend on how much hardener you use (at least for this one, there are some silicons that are only 1:1 mix) 2% is about 6 hours and 2.5% is about 4 hours. When mixing the silicon and hardener I try to introduce as little air as possible by not stir it too quickly. This silicon has a density of 1.24 g/cm3, so to get how much I need to mix I pretty much just messure to LEGO box, calculate the volume, guesstimate the volume of the parts and then use that to calculate the weight of the silicon.

Then it's just a matter of pouring it in the mold. These parts are pretty simple and don't have too many super fine detail, if the part has that you could always use a finger and rub in the silicon to make sure it gets everywhere. A good thing with a long set time is that all the air bubbles have time to escape. I usually tap the mold on the table a few time to make sure all the air is dislodged.

For some reason the top of the silicon stays tacky for days if it's left to set in open air, so I usually put some tape over the mold. Not sure why this works but it does.

Then just wait for six or more hours, or over night as I did, and rip away the LEGOs and the mold should come off pretty easy.

Have also done a bit of work on the X-Wings. To get the wires for LEDs to the engines I used a 1 mm chisel to make two channels for the wires to run in and hide them as much as possible. You can still see a small part of it but it's really hard.

And the first X-Wing build.

When I was going to assemble the second one I couldn't' find one of the engines, looked everywhere for it with no luck. To solve this I took a build and half painted X-Wing off the shelf of DOOM to steal the engine from.

But as I didn't want to have that one sitting with only three engines I made a resin copy. The plan was to use the resin one on the painted X-Wing and the painted engine on the trench run X-Wing as I need a hollow one for the LED.

But as I was putting the replacement engine in the box, there was already four engines in there. I swear two days ago there was only three, there must be someone or something in my apartment stealing parts from me and then giving them back just as I finish a scratch build replacement.

Post by **Coen** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 1:55 am

Stupifyingly awesome work Jon....
I think the same creature lives at my house.... Only my missing parts are returned six months after I've finished the build

Post by **ForbesHutton** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 2:23 am

Coen wrote:Stupifyingly awesome work Jon....
I think the same creature lives at my house.... Only my missing parts are returned six months after I've finished the build

It's not a creature, it's your clothes dryer. They only start with the socks, but eventually the kleptomania completely takes control of them. Bolt the fatherless person to the ground and everything but the socks will be safe.

Post by **mincemeat** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 12:13 pm

Very Nice. Thank you for demonstrating the casting process.

Post by **Droflet01** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:34 am

Wow! Pretty much all I can say

Post by **JonMW** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:44 pm

Have finished the cockpits of the TIEs, pretty simple build, but looks good when done, too bad you can't see too much of it when it's all done. Didn't spend too much time on them, just painted all the parts in a few different shades of grey and gave them a wash using MIG Production Starship filth oil paint.

With the TIEs build I wanted to see how big this thing would be then it's done. So I put the three TIEs and two X-Wings on my coffee tabel, the table is about 55 x 90 cm. I'm pretty sure the diorama will be about 11 tiles long, six wide and four high, that means a total of 110 tiles. At the moment I have six, so I need to start making a few more. This also made me realise that this thing will be way too big for me to keep build up, I have no space for it in my one room apartment. So I'll need to come up with a good way to store this when it's done.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:52 pm

Yep, that dio is going to be MAMMOTH!!!
Still, it will look so cool you could probably sell it when you finish...lots of Star War fans out there
Love the casting demos, will have to look into that soon

Post by **ForbesHutton** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:04 pm

It is going to be big! But since it's about the size of the coffee table, why not take a lesson from the model railroaders and put it INSIDE the coffee table?

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:06 pm

That is a cool idea!!!

Post by **JonMW** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:20 pm

That's a pretty nice idea. I'm almost done building a new guest house at my summer house, that will need a coffee table.

Post by **Coen** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 9:52 pm

Fraking huge Jon!

Huge and wonderful!! Haha

Post by **Dopplershift** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:38 pm

That's going to be one hell of a coffee table!

What an inspired idea for a dio.

You certainly think big.

Post by **JonMW** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 8:23 pm

Dopplershift wrote:That's going to be one hell of a coffee table!

What an inspired idea for a dio.

You certainly think big.

That's the problem, I don't think! I just wanted to do a dio of the trench run, never thought about how big it would really be.

Post by **JonMW** » Sat Oct 03, 2015 5:12 pm

It's been a long time since the last update on this, but work hasn't stopped completely, just bee a bit slow due to other SIGs and GBs. Have painted the TIEs, first the black panels then a light grey for the rest. This was then clear coated in Alclad Aqua gloss followed by some Ultimate dark dirt and finished with a coat of flat clear. Going to add a filter to some of the panels using oils and I need to touch up the black as the grey bled under the masking tape and one small spot got ripped off with the tape. With most of my other big projects done for the year I hope to get some more done on this.

Post by **DBMiller** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 4:01 pm

An ambitious idea but worth it! The Tie fighter is one of my favorites from the movie. Yours are coming out super!

Post by **Coen** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 4:23 pm

Completely agree wit DB, excellent work, and and epic build.

Post by **JonMW** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 10:04 pm

Thanks for the comments! Really need to start making some progress on this.

Post by **mincemeat** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 12:42 am

This is looking pretty awesome! This is about the length of time I need to complete a sig 8 months.

Post by **kiwigav** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 12:46 am

Definitely Epic, nice stuff

Post by **JonMW** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:23 am

Finally got a bit of work done on the two X-wings. Started y laying down a dark grey color, I then added random dabs of liquid latex using a torn up sponge and painted everything in a really light grey, pretty much white with a few drops of light grey mixed in. This was then covered in a coat of Aqua gloss and are just waiting for the decals.

Post by **Coen** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 10:28 am

X-Wings Rock! Ya!!

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 3:19 pm

Were they Fine Moulds or Bandai's

Post by **JonMW** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:47 pm

They are Fine molds it was easier to put lights in the engines on these then the Bandai.

Have started to make more of the tiles, this is going to take some time! To save a bit of money I'm using microballoons to eke out the resin a bit. Micro balloons are basically a powder of really small hollow glass spears that you can mix into resin to increase the volume and make the final part lighter. Downside is that it also increases the viscosity so it's a little bit harder to pour the resin and there is a bigger risk of getting air bubbles. But for this project I can live with a few air bubbles as most people won't look too closely at the base. The resin I'm using for this has a 30 minutes demold time and about 2 minutes pot life. This means that you have about 2 minutes to fill the mold completely before it starts to gel and can't be poured any more. To make sure I had enough time I decided to mix part A and B with the micro balloons separately and then mix part A and B. For this I poured 35 ml of part A in one cup and added 30 ml of microballoons and then mixed the same amount of part B and microballoons in a separate cup and then poured A into B.

Then a quick mix and poured it into the molds, I've been doing two tiles at the time as it's a good compromise between making as many as possible and not taking too long so the resin gels.

Wait 30 minutes and take it out.

I haven't used any release in the mold as nothing sticks to silicone. Using a release will make the molds last a bit longer same for using a longer setting resin. When the resin set it creates heat, this will leach rubber out of the silicone and with time parts of the mold will just come off and the mold fall apart. It will also help if you let the mold cool all the way before you pull out the part. Doing this you should be able to get around 50 castings out of a mold. But if you use a quicker setting resin and just pull out the parts as soon as you can and pour in new resin you won't get that many castings. Like the engine for my J22 build, I used a quicker setting resin and made all the cylinders as quick as I could, I got 16 out of that mold before it started to fall apart.

I now have 15 tiles done, only 95 left, or maybe 51 if I skip the wall which I'm thinking of at the moment to save some time.

Post by **Coen** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 2:54 am

That's stellar work Jon, I've never seen microballons used that way before. Nicely done.
They look excellent. I may try to make a few myself with my bases.
I use microballons and artists matte medium to make snow on dios, makes realistic shine and glitter as well as forms drifts and banks wonderfully.
I've heard that you can also use it to fill R/C plane wings with it for ballast... But that's just silly haha.

Post by **JonMW** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 11:07 pm

Small update, all the decals are on the X-Wings. I decided to use the decals for the red markings instead of painting them so I didn't have to do all the masking. The markings included in the kit is for Red 1 to Red 5 and I needed Red 12 so I had to do a bit of cutting to get the right markings. Next up is a coat of clear and start the weathering.

Have also made a few more tiles, there is 32 in the picture and I have another 12 done so only missing 22. I managed to get 16 done today so it shouldn't take too much longer to get the rest cast. Then it's just the matter of painting.

Post by **rodrant** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:32 pm

Another awesome build here and looking to see it complete ! Will be a tremendous Diorama in the end , very nice work and great idea !

Post by **MikeyKb** » Wed Nov 18, 2015 5:45 am

unbelievable!
So freaking huge and wonderful!!
Can't wait to see it finished. Are you going to build any trench turrets?