Topic: Delaton's custom 1:18 scale SW vehicles

[JediMerc]

This is one of the coolest customs I've ever seen!  Such great detail; the cockpit alone is worth the price of admission!  Can't wait to see more updates...

[StenHunter]

Hello Delaton,
I have studied your twilight gallery and am in awe.. amazement at its splendor does not put into words what I saw or what I felt..... However, after seeing all that work  I have questions for you. = ) I hope that what I ask is not out of line, I know how everyone has their secrets. But I'm about to embark on a scratch built project and I'm coming at it head on with no clue = )

Questions..
I see that you built the entire TW out of 1/4 inch foam board? Is that the right size or was it some smaller board?
How do you cut your foam board? Do you use just a razor and straight edge, scissors or hot blade?
I noticed that you use software, is it the paper craft software? Do you use this to print out template shapes to cut out of the foam board?
What kind of glue do you use?
Do you build with any skeleton under the foam board or just out of the foam board.

If I have questions later would you mind if I ask? = )

Thank you for responding to all or any of these.

[Delaton]

Quick answers to your questions:

1. I used 3/32" foamcore board.  Since my day job is an Architect, we have a lot of older presentation boards for projects that are complete.  I use these boards to form the base of the ship.

2. I cut the foamcore using a zipknife, breaking off pieces to keep the leading edge sharp very often.

3. Software?  I'm not sure I follow.   There is no pattern.   Although I'll go over this in further detail when I start sharing the early pictures, I started with the cockpit pieces and built the ship around it, basing all my decisions on proportion and reference photos.  There were no scale plans.  Just on-the-fly adaptation and trial-and-error using corked-back rulers and math.

4. The glue for the foamcore base is standard medium temp hot glue.  The trick with making a strong base is to not skimp on the glue.  Major joints will need the strength of a lot of glue.  You'll see from the pictures I'll post soon that I mocked up the whole thing with taped joints first, then glued it up before covering the piece with styrene.

5. Some areas that needed a lot of strength had some additional reinforcement, but not as much as you might think.  The floors and roofs of the cargo bay and cockpit add a surprising amount of rigidity to the whole piece.

Thanks for checking it out.  I'll try to "go back to the beginning" and share the process with future posts.

[Delaton]

So as I mentioned, the Twilight started with a mock up.  I intended this to be a pattern only.  However, when I realized how strong I could make the ship with foamcore and hot glue, I turned it into the actual base.  As you can see from the following picture, I was taking lots of measurements to get everything to fit.  However, I was never concerning myself with exact tight joints because I knew everything would be covered in a skin of styrene.



The cargo bay floor became a crucial component to the rigidity of the entire model.  Once that large flat piece was installed, I wasn't afraid to move the model around!



What I found was very important as I worked on something with such a complex geometry was reference lines.  You can see one down the belly of the ship.  That allowed me to confirm that I was staying square when forming the angled panels.

[Clonehead]

Loving these wip pics. show us more please.

[krztfr]

yes these wip pics make it all the better

[Tamer]

I am with Clint. I love to see how this was all put together. I just have to put this back on the front page.

[Luke Sprywalker]

Yes, so glad you decided to join up Ashley! As I have said before this is an amazing build and will be the highlight of your collection when you complete it! Thanks for sharing!

[StenHunter]

Thanks for all the answers! I have one last question for the weekend = ) What kind of putty did you use as joint filler? Aves Fixit? or something different?

Thanks, this project is awesome!

[Mungo Baobab]

WOW!!!

Picking jaw up from the floor! This is simply stunning. Something I am sure would have been a big hit if Hasbro had chosen to make something of the same scale.

[Delaton]

I use a modelling putty called White Putty from Squadron:

http://www.amazon.com/Tube-White-Putty-Squadron-Tools/dp/B000H7L6RC/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1358441851&sr=8-6&keywords=model+putty

The stuff is great because it not only fills the holes but is made for this purpose so it melts into and bonds to the styrene.  This allows feathering of the putty and a smooth result.

[Delaton]

So continuing on with the story of the Twilight build, I figured I'd showcase the rest of the foamcore base before going into the details of the styrene.

I discovered that the dorsal wing is canted towards the stern, which made the mockup a little more complicated. 


The front engine pod are created by a grated cheese container, a Gungan cannon base, and a GI joe wheel.  The rear engine was fabricated from baby formula containers and a GI Joe wheel.


The front of the engine dome was made using half a plastic Christmas ornament.  I made sure to pick up a bunch of these for other projects before the holidays were over.


Keep in mind, other than the GI Joe greebles and the grated cheese container, everything else will be covered with styrene, meaning you can use just about anything as a base as long as you're willing to wrap it in styrene!  The engine pods have the duty of counter-balancing the long single-sided wing so their weight wasn't as much of an issue, at least not until I figured out the landing gear.  More on that soon....

[Tamer]

Anyone else seeing red x's for the new pics? Could be my computer.

[Delaton]

They look fine here but then again, I posted them.   

[Tamer]

They look fine here but then again, I posted them.   

I got em now, must have been my work comp. Love this build. Thanks for sharing.