Outland Shuttle Build

Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
173
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Kingston, Ontario
I spent some time building one of the landing gear legs. Whew. That was maybe one of the hardest things I've ever built in paper, and I've built some tough models...even built a couple of naval ships. For some reason paper ship models seem to have some of the finickiest teeny bits in them, and by comparison, science fiction paper models have seemed a little less cruel...until now. I think a little redesigning is in order.

Anyway, here are a couple of shots; one of the leg sub-assemblies before being put together, and another after.
 

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Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
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Kingston, Ontario
Here are a few more shots of the landing gear leg. I've included a couple to show how the legs will sort of look in their final positions on the model.
 

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Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
173
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Kingston, Ontario
Oh and these things seen in the background above are the main thruster arm supports. There will be 4 of 'em. They hold the main engines and are covered by lots of top and side plates. In the studio model, these were made of brass plating and lots and lots of tubes. I had to go for strength here so only the bits where the tubing really showed has been made into a fold-over tube-looking part.
 

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Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
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Kingston, Ontario
A very worn and beaten copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar too. Its been through two little boys and is currently being heavily used by a third...

The photos seem to reveal all the horrible flaws in my folds and edges...it didn't seem to look so bad to me until I saw those closeup pictures.

I used a shish kebab stick to help roll the main leg tube, and then decided to just glue it and leave it in place for strength. Also, after trying to roll 4 teeny tiny little tubes with thinner paper for the small hydraulics assembly, I gave up...my fingers weren't cooperating, even with the help of tweezers. I just coloured a few round toothpicks with a silver inked pen and voila. Wish I'd thought of that from the start.
 
S

Soaring

Le gasp! I think it looks great! From my point of view, the pictures portray a very detailed monster :_
 

dhanners

Member
Mar 17, 2004
142
93
16
st. paul, mn, usa
My operating theory is that toothpicks or shish-kebab sticks are perfectly ok. They are made of wood, as is the cardstock we're using. The wood is just "pre-paper" material. It all comes from the same place....
 

Gearz

Member
Mar 13, 2006
258
16
16
OZ
Maybe difficult to build but boy they look good!

eeerrrr.... ummmm.... Ahhhhhhh.......

At risk of having bricks thrown at me by the hoovers, I'm certainly looking at a model that would qualify as ummm... *commercial* quality.
:yep:
 

Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
173
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Kingston, Ontario
Thanks. (and thanks for the nice rating to whomever did that. Nice.)

As for commercial. No, I'll give this one away when its done. I suck at too many important little details, and don't have the graphic skills necessary to bring this to that level in my opinion. Plus, I've resigned myself to this activity as hobby. Many many people devote huge amounts of time to their crafts and hobbies simply because it brings them pleasure without expectation of turning it into income generating activity. Some want to make money at it...I just don't. I have a good job, and don't need the extra income...or the stress that would accompany the whole "vendor" thing. If someone complained after paying, I'd feel like crap. If someone complains when its free, I just say: "Hey, it was free, whadidja expect?" Anyway, thats a discussion for another thread, but I appreciate the vote of confidence immensely.

It fuels my motivation to push forward. Its gonna be awhile, though.
 
E

ekuth

Well, let me add my fuel to your inspiration.

I've been stealth lurking on this one since you started, and i've got to say,

FRACKING AWESOME!!!

And I know you've given up on the landing gear/spring/tube idea, but I had an idear...

Have you thought about using those little springs inside of ball-point "clicky" pens?

They could be hidden inside the struts or painted and no one would ever be the wiser... :rolleyes:
 

Gearz

Member
Mar 13, 2006
258
16
16
OZ
Well said Duncan ~ creativity, satisfaction and FUN.. all the things a hobby should be. ( Well... Disregarding Dev stress :mrgreen:)

:yep:
 

Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
173
0
16
Kingston, Ontario
Sorry. I'm in the middle of an insanely busy work stint. Plus parenting...oh and a new computer that's sucked up a bit more of my otherwise rare free time.

I hope to get some more building done this weekend, but this will, unfortunately, be a slow burn type of project for the next little while, I'm afraid.
 

Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
173
0
16
Kingston, Ontario
Also, there was a disturbing setback in my progress. My oldest son knocked down some of the the bits I have been working on from their safe place at the top of a bookshelf, while climbing the shelves to get at something else he wanted (which he knows he shouldn't have done, but...he's 5). He failed to pick them up from the floor afterward, and the toddler (20 mos) son "got at them" squish, slobber, squish.

Now we get to watch daddy cry...

Lost my scale cube and the two engine supports. At least the landing leg was OK.
 

Elliott

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2006
648
1
36
Kids......don't ya' just love 'em sometimes?? Sorry to hear about your King Kong episode though. I was just dropping in on this thread to tell you how much I am enjoying it and how much I admire your craftsmanship and ingenuity. When you recover sufficiently to pick up the thread again it'll be great news.
 

Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
173
0
16
Kingston, Ontario
Got another piece of news that'll set this project back abit. Just learned that my (eldest 5 yr old) son may have cancer. Yup. Freaked. Stressed. Not sure what to say or do. Reeling, feeling rudderless, and "it always happens to someone else" no longer applies. Needless to say, hobby stuff's taking a back seat until we get a clear diagnostic and histology report from the most recent surgery.

Now I wish I hadn't barked when he climbed the shelves.

Will be on hold for awhile. Thanks for your patience.
 
E

ekuth

Darmat:

My hopes and prayers are with you. From experience, though:

Don't deal with the worst case until you're sure it is the worst case. Doctors are often wrong, and this sort of thing can take awhile to confirm. I know from experience.

If you ever need to talk, shoot me a PM.

Please keep us posted, brother.
 

Hot4Darmat

Member
Apr 16, 2007
173
0
16
Kingston, Ontario
Thanks very much...and my apologies for taking this build thread suddenly into the personal realm. I appreciate your thoughts and yeah, I tend to immediately go to the worst case scenario, regardless. Occupational hazard, or maybe unhealthy personality trait. Nevertheless, I'll be perfectly happy to eat crow and say that I over-reacted if that ends up being the case. Still its unlikely I'll be building much on this model for awhile (...but ironically, i can see that I may become very focused on it too, who knows). For those who may be interested: my wife's blog on this and other related stuff.

Stay Calm and Carry on
 

Gearz

Member
Mar 13, 2006
258
16
16
OZ
Duncan !! very disconcerting news cousin. As parent of a child with a disability, I can understand how traumatic any problem with a child's health can be for a family ( Even if its only a scare) Its a real roller coaster ride of emotion for quite a while. Your family will be in our thoughts, and I pray that the diagnosis is favourable.