The Building of the Galactic Fleet

This evening, I've been experimenting with making explosions to go with Cylon Raider & Colonial Viper skirmish dioramas. & maybe later, some serious ship to ship battles. I glued together some cotton balls, puffed them out some, then lightly hit them with some yellow, red & black paint. I'm going to pick up some orange to add later. What do you all think? Will it work?image.jpgimage.jpg
 
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I had parts from a mini- Tie Interceptor that got stepped on at some point, so I cut it up & glued it into the cotton to simulate an exploding ship. I'm just experimenting right now, playing around with ideas, but I image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg would love some feedback if anybody has any other ideas or suggestions. I'll add broken up parts of Raider's & Viper's for the skirmish, if it works. :)
 
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Here are a few pics of the same painted bunch of cotton balls with an exploding Tie Interceptor, this time with an LED light shining in the core of the "explosion". I have seen some pics of others model dioramas using electric "tea candles" for the core of their explosions. I am seriously considering going that route. They're not the best pics, but again, just playing around with ideas at this point.image.jpgimage.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg
 
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I also assembled the forward section of the port side engine. I thought I'd post a few pics of how they are assembled. All 3 engines, upper, left & right are exactly alike. I try to cut off the tabs & make my own where I can, so the joints are tighter & cleaner. But image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg I also try to determine how the tabs will affect the over all look of the part. I don't think it's always necessary to cut them off. I'll try to post some pics of the rear part of the engine section next.
 
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Chadepotts1273 said:
I also assembled the forward section of the port side engine. I thought I'd post a few pics of how they are assembled. All 3 engines, upper, left & right are exactly alike. I try to cut off the tabs & make my own where I can, so the joints are tighter & cleaner. But View attachment 148912 View attachment 148913 View attachment 148914 View attachment 148915 I also try to determine how the tabs will affect the over all look of the part. I don't think it's always necessary to cut them off. I'll try to post some pics of the rear part of the engine section next.
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Chad,

Nice job with the cotton ball explosions!:Bravo: Very creative. Nice way to take a broken tie fighter and make it useful.

Sky Seeker
 
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Excellent work Chad, just one suggestion the explosions for what it's worth, get some fiber optics, and put tiny parts on the ends shooting out faster, like you see in all explosions, maybe coating the fiber optic with something tacky, and cling some strands so that these objects looking like they are flying in different directions, leaving smoke trails. Beautiful, excellent work!! The lighting is brilliant, in all senses of the word! I believe this is truly one of the hardest effects to "freeze" in time, and damn, you are out of the gate running! :)
 
zathros said:
Excellent work Chad, just one suggestion the explosions for what it's worth, get some fiber optics, and put tiny parts on the ends shooting out faster, like you see in all explosions, maybe coating the fiber optic with something tacky, and cling some strands so that these objects looking like they are flying in different directions, leaving smoke trails. Beautiful, excellent work!! The lighting is brilliant, in all senses of the word! I believe this is truly one of the hardest effects to "freeze" in time, and damn, you are out of the gate running! :)
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Thanks for the suggestion Z! I hadn't even thought of using strands of fiber optics. I love that idea & will pursue it. :)
 
The forward engine section connects to the rear section with the smaller collar piece. There is not much to glue to, I just ran a thin bead of glue, let it dry, then added another to reinforce it.image.jpg
 
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& a few more greebles & parts on the rear of the ship. The dark conduit looking pieces are very small, I had to print them on regular copy paper instead of card stock to get them to roll. They were exasperatingly difficult for my fat fingers to work with. I finally called it "good enough", but will probably clean it up with a touch of paint or a marker before the model's finished.image.jpgimage.jpg
 
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Here are a few more pics with all 3 engines now mounted. It's getting really close to being finished. I might add a few more greebles toward the front. I also need to assemble & mount the communications array, as well as 6 small thruster cones, 2 for each engine. I also have a puckering issue with the curve of the bow section I need to resolve before completion. image.jpg
image.jpgimage.jpg image.jpg
 
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Chadepotts1273 said:
The left engine mounted, with a bit more greebling between the upper & left engine. I will do the same on the right side. Hope I'm not overdoing it with the greebles.View attachment 149006View attachment 149007
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Chad,

Your work on this model is incredibly AWESOME!!:Bravo: I love the detailing / greebling you've done to date! I agree with everyone else here that once you start detailing the ship does look better.:Drinks: I guess that you really can't over detail. The pipes / cables in the rear of the ship look GREAT! :King: I'll try to remember to use thinner paper for some of the more difficult parts in the future.

We're working with paper which isn't the easiest material especially for what we do here - which is part of the challenge. I always like the look on people's faces when they see these models and you tell them that it's "just paper". The look is always priceless in itself.:biggrin:

Thanks for sharing with us your fine work.:)

Take care and have a GREAT day!:robot2:

Sky Seeker
:tank:
 
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Sky Seeker said:
Chad,

Your work on this model is incredibly AWESOME!!:Bravo: I love the detailing / greebling you've done to date! I agree with everyone else here that once you start detailing the ship does look better.:Drinks: I guess that you really can't over detail. The pipes / cables in the rear of the ship look GREAT! :King: I'll try to remember to use thinner paper for some of the more difficult parts in the future.

We're working with paper which isn't the easiest material especially for what we do here - which is part of the challenge. I always like the look on people's faces when they see these models and you tell them that it's "just paper". The look is always priceless in itself.:biggrin:

Thanks for sharing with us your fine work.:)

Take care and have a GREAT day!:robot2:

Sky Seeker
:tank:
Click to expand...
I agree, I too love the " shock factor" when I tell people "Yes, it is paper." :) & then the questions ensue & then I warm to my subject. :)
 
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