Model Of The Month: 2001 EVA Pod Build

[eatonad]

Before beginning this build please let me add my voice to the chorus of appreciative fans of UHU02. The brilliance of his models is matched only by his generosity in allowing the paper modeling community access to his work. It behooves us all to protect and respect such a priceless gift.Thank you UHU02 from one more disciple.

UHU02’s EVA pod is a fantastic model. It comes in 10 sheets. Most of the sheets make up into subassemblies so I plan to take one sheet at a time. I am not going to hide anything. The pictures will show my mistakes as well as my triumphs. I will point out my mistakes. If this is to be of any value you need to know the pitfalls.

The first page is the interior of the pod. It’s a pretty straight build. I printed the model on 80 pound cover stock. I have a bunch of oversized sheets I cut down to an A4 size for the printing. I printed the first sheet twice so I could raise the buttons on the control panel. I took some pics but they turned out blurry. The first image shows the finished control panel and the rest of the parts cut out. Note that I have added an under dash panel.


At this point I need to talk about the seat. I’ve read the comments concerning the fact that there is no seat. I watched the movie and while a seat is indicated, you never see it. UHU02 provides a seat on page 8 as an option. This seat seems permanent and would get in the way of movement in the cabin. I opted for a fold-away seat so I drew up a quick sketch of what this might look like.


The next images show the completed interior with the fold-away seat.





I used the tabs to build the interior subassembly but halfway through switched to back tabs. Back tabs are simply 20 pound bond paper cut into small pieces and glued to the back where the regular tab would have been. I have found that the bond paper absorbs the glue faster and forms a quicker bond. It allows me a little more control in some situations. I can use tape to hold the pieces together while I glue the back tabs in place. Don’t get me wrong I use regular tabs, It’sjust knowing when to use them and when to do something else.




I hope I am doing this right. I know many of you know this stuff already.

Thank you for your support. I liked UHU02's reference photos. I dream of builing an all out lighted EVA pod. I am really into this model now. Page 2 is the interior dome. I cut the dome out staying just inside the guild lines. All the cuts are staight so this was easy.

I assembled the dome using back tabs.

Inside the seams are nice and tite.

I wanted the interior detail to have demsion so I raised buttons, build the tubular thingies, and raised the button boxes.
.I then gluded the dome to the cabin base and control panel. Now it was time to add the window. I used the pattern provided which of cource was perfect. I attached a frame made of sticker paper and then used tabs to glue it onto place. You can see that I used masking tape to position the window.
The interior assembly is now finished.




I am not sure if this is the way to continue this build or not. I have tried to update my previous thread to no avail. Anyway here it is.
The second page is the interior dome. I cut the dome out without tabs.

I cut the guide lines off. This was easy as all the cuts are straight.

Here is the finished dome. As you can see I used back tabs to pull it together.

Inside the seams are nice and tite.

I wanted some demension to the interior details so I raised more buttons and build housings for the 2 button boxes on each side of the window and even build the tubular thingies.

The dome is now finished. I raised the lights a little too.

After gluing the dome to the cabin base it was time for the window. I folowed the pattern on the page and it was perfect of cource. I then cut out a sticky backed label and applied it to the plastic window. As you can see I then glued tabs to the label and taped it into place. I then glued the tabs to the dome.

The interior is now complete.

You are sure off to an excellent start. I like the raising panels etc, enhancements, they really do add texture to the model. Very nice indeed!

[ThunderChild]

I'll second Zathros' statement. I love the raised detail! Great work so far!

Also, your seat idea is really innovative. Congrats!

[SEBRET]

First off, Amen on UHU02s greatness. Great work so far. I'll third Zathros' statement about the greebles. lots of fine detailing. definitely going to look great when finished

[uhu02]

My friend made ​​a new study. It is a thorough study...

'http://clapstick.sakura.ne.jp/sblo_files/chandler2001/pod/pod060.jpg

'http://chandler2001.sblo.jp/article/45019227.html　

'http://chandler2001.sblo.jp/article/45225568.html　

Those are some really great reference photos UHU. It makes me appreciate your design of the pod even more!

For some unknown reason to me, "eatonad's" posts on this build thread were not showing. I have fixed that problem and I am so sorry eatonad, that these excellent pictures did not show earlier, Please forgive me!

[eatonad]

Thank you Zathros. I really appreciate your support. It makes doing this that much more rewarding and frankly helps a great deal when the going get tuogh.

[eatonad]

The next 3 pages will make or brake this model. They are the door and the spherical shell. Of the 4 basic geometric shapes: a square, cylinder, cone, and sphere the sphere is the killer for paper modelers. This is becuase it is one big compound serface. UHU02 has done a masterful design to meet this challenge. In order to take full advantage of of the design I cut of the tabs. Also you must cut off the guild lines. The challenge is to make smooth precise cuts just inside the guide line.


To do this I used french curves. The trick to cutting with a plastic french curve (and not hacking it to peices) is to "ALWAYS" face the curve edge. You must see the curve edge, the knife blade and the part guide line at the same time.

This is not the best picture but it shows the part without the guide lines.

I glued the door together using back tabs. This was done by squeezing the gaps together and holding it with my finger then applying the tab. As you can see the seams are tight and not as visable.

Here is another view. I didn't cut off all the guide lines on the seam at the far left. Woops!

I finished the door by adding the interior bulk head. The edges look kind of rough. I'm not going to do much about it because they won't be visable.

Wow,, I mean like, WOW!! I am amazed how fast you are putting this together, and still maintaining such quality. I continue to watch with patience.

[Marco Scheloske]

Amazing buildup!

[eatonad]

I desided to build pages 4 and 5 together. They make up the spherical hull of the EVA pod. Once again cutting the parts out accuratley is critical. Using french curves I tried to cut off the guide lines.

This is the aft section. Note no tabs.

Using back tabs I squeezed the gaps together, working from the center gap outward, first one side then the other.

This process when fairly well but as you can see I was still not entirely successful in cutting off the guilde lines.

Actually the front turned out pretty good. I consentrated on the area above the red dotted line as anything below this line will be hidden by the under carriage.

Here is an image of the finished forward hull.

Note here that the design of this model is so good that the widow well fits perfectly unto the oval window hole in the hull. I simply forced it snuge to the outer surface and ran a bead of glue around the inside.

With the hull finished I found I needed to tweek the door rail.

I got this wrong in that rail was to high for the door to slide easily. So I had to rip it out and remount it.

That is coming out really nice. Those circular cuts scare the heck out of me! You did a great job though.

[eatonad]

Thanks Zathros and everyone who has comented. The next step was to assemble the hull and the interior. I wasn't to confident about gluing the window well to the window so I made a half well and glued it to the window.

The idea was that this half well would slip over the window well and thus aline the parts. I didn't do as accurate a job as I would have liked with the half well. You could see it from inside. I used a black marker on the backside which looked like hell.

The half well worked great. I simply glued some tabs in place to finish.

From the outside it looks perfect.

This step was finished by gluing the back entry wall to the hull.

[Danscrew]

I love detailed model and this one is perfect. you make a great gob on this one. I have download this model for futur and i hope mine will be like yours.

Some hours of fun !

Have a good life
"So say we all"