Zvezda Star Destroyer

[Ken Gilkeson]

love the subject and even more so the build

[Rider]

This is great work, I am really enjoying all the additions. 

Edited July 3, 2019 by Rider

[Madhatter]

Thanks for the encouraging posts guys - I appreciate them

I realised I have forgotten to post pics of the finished hangar bay. Well, I say finished but I still have to install the lighting yet, but that won't take too long. I already have a plan for it all and it's ready to go

And with paint on and installed:

I didn't go crazy here as it's underneath and I doubt there will be a mirror on the base as that's been done a lot.

Speaking of bases, I am still not 100% sure on how I'm going to display it. I thought about having it hovering over a cityscape but I kinda want to save that for my SSD display.

If you have any ideas, I'm all open to them

Thanks again for the interest guys

Si

[mustang1989]

So much to see...….

You're a true ace at this stuff. Watching.....

[Madhatter]

Hi again

Thought I'd share some pics of the successful lighting test of the hangar bay. I'm very happy with how it's come out. The light's aren't too strong which is good.

Not far from finishing the top section. The windows have all been drilled out and is now ready for the fun task of installing the fiber. Joy

Thanks for looking

[afx]

Lighting effects looks great.

[Madhatter]

Hi again everyone

I had been asked on another forum for some lighting help and so I did up a very quick photo tutorial on how I use and install SMD's and fiber optics, so I thought I might as well post it here too for anybody to reference if they have never used them before.

The pictures aren't the best as I took them quickly and had rubbish light today but they will convey the message adequately enough.

First up are the Fibers. These are "Hobby Spools" which are available from here. They're cheap and there's more than enough there to light several models. You can make out the sizes on the labels.

Next are 64 strand fiber cables - these are the smallest you can get AFAIK. You can also get 32 strands as well. Pictured are 60 ft and15 ft lengths. These are also the ones I am using for the SD windows.

To use them, cut off the length you want - making sure you have more length than you need to allow for curves etc. You'd need to decide where on the kit you want the attach the light source before you cut.

Once at the length you want, very carefully run a sharp blade along the side of the sleeve from one end to the other. Then gently pry the split apart the sleeve and pull the fibers out - carefully. To roughly and you'll split or fracture the fiber rendering it useless.

Next up are the items you'll need to install onto your subject. In this example, a piece of scrap plastic card, some plastic tube - in this case a 1 cm section of 4.8mm diameter tube. The drill bit is a #80. These fibers are 0.25mm and the next sized fiber up would use a #78 drill bit. The SMD in the picture is 1mm in size.

Heat shrink tube and a lighter.

To install, drill out 2 holes close together on the scrap plastic and run the wires through the card. You can secure the wires on the back with a drop of CA or my preference is PVA as it's less likely to make the plastic coating on the wires brittle by providing some flexibility.

Then glue the tube section over the top of the SMD. Trim off the excess plastic.

Once that's dried, slide the heat shrink tube over the top leaving enough length at one end for crimping. It's where the fiber will go in. Gently heat the tube from below with the lighter until it's shrunk enough to hold everything in place. I usually also seal the ends where the wires exit with PVA and then go one step more and paint the dried seal black to light block it further.

Once that's done, heat and crimp the other end of the heat tube and insert the fibers - again, sealing and securing them with PVA. Again, once dried, paint them black.

Try to avoid painting the fibers themselves as I have had instances where the paint makes the fibers brittle and prone to snapping. I can't tell you enough how annoying it is to have to remove a broken fiber and replace it. PVA doesn't react to the paint..

And 'hey presto', you have lighting on a small scale. Notice that one of those fibers has split in the middle. This means that the end you want lit isn't as bright as the others.

Some other things to consider are: you can naturally use a smaller tube. The length of the tube is also wholly variable according to your size limitations.

You also don't need to shrink wrap the tube either. You can paint the tube black and use model glue to secure it against the subject as well. I prefer to shrink wrap it as it provides better protection for the SMD/LED

If you use an LED - 3mm or more, a good tip to avoid harsh light is to sand the LED itself until it's frosted. This will diffuse the light so much better and provide a nice glow. I'll be doing this on the SD. It should dull the light down enough to make the effect more realistic and so that the SD is not powered by the sun.

Well, that just about sums it all up. If you have any questions or you want something clarified, by all means drop me a line.

Happy lighting folks!

Edited July 15, 2019 by Madhatter

[David G.]

Master level work! 

David G.

[NOBLNG]

WOW! Absolutely fabulous detail work!

[Madhatter]

Thanks guys

 

So, here I am with another update.
The roof is finished - or finished enough for now. It's looking pretty good to me. It's hard trying to keep it all in scale but I think I am doing alright.
A test fit of the bridge and neck was okay but I had to remove some stuff off the back left sidewall to allow the neck to slide all the way in. The fit is not the best - I'll be honest, I'm not sure if it's all me, or part me and part kit or just the kit itself. Either way, I'll have to think carefully about how the final construction is going to go.

Well, that's me done for another couple of weeks I think. I'll be making a start on the lower level sidewalls tonight hopefully, then the main body which will be very time consuming I think.
Till then
Adios amigos

Si

[mustang1989]

It's all in the details here folks. I'm enjoying every minute of this build. Can't wait for more.....

[SfanGoch]

Man, all of those micro-details are simply amazing. In love it!

[Agent G]

Beautiful work. Are the resin bits part of an upgrade set, or did you cast them yourself? 

I spy torpedo tubes, deck guns and Carley floats!

G

[Madhatter]

Thanks guys - glad its keeping you interested

G, yeah, I cast them myself. I made molds of parts I use a lot of so to avoid having to buy new ship upgrade sets each time. Much cheaper! And yes, those are among the parts used

[BallisticMsl]

Wow. This is an awesome model. Very well done.

[Cpt Tuttle]

All the small piping and stuff....it almost gives me a headache, I would never have the patience.
Impressive work.

[Madhatter]

thanks very much guys

Hi guys
Well, it's been 3 weeks and I've done 5/8ths of bugger all. I have made a start on the back end of the top hull plate which you'll see in a sec. I've not really touched it in this time as I have been building a Tarangus Viggen but that's stalled because I just can't bring myself to do the complex paint job.
I have however think I have settled on a suitable base. It's also going to take some work but it'll be worth it. I just can't bring myself to do all this work on this and cheap out on the base. I certainly won't be making the same mistake as the Venator.

[

I was blabbing on about some small side hangars in one of my last posts somewhere. I don;t think they exist on the filming model but I can safely say I think we're well past that....

You can see why I would think to have them though - those spaces look like they're meant to be like this, although I am wondering how much artistic license Zvezda used when tooling this kit

Sorry to say but this is all I have for you.
Till next time
Happy modelling and thanks for looking in
Si

Edited August 9, 2019 by Madhatter
replaced doubled up photo

[Madhatter]

hi guys
Well, time for another update. Not sure how many more I'll do for a while as I may take a break from this, but not just yet.
I keep looking at how much I've done versus how much is left to do and I start shaking inwardly. Definitely a long term build.

As you can see, I have made a start on the port side. I've installed the mini hangars and they look alright. I tried to dial down the brightness but may need to do more.

And something I haven't shown you yet - a lighting test of the rear engines:

Well, that's it for now but as always, thanks for sticking around and having a look
Till next time
Si

[David G.]

I have to say that I'm completely... what is that saying?

Gobsmacked!

Yes, that's it. Completely gobsmacked!

David G.

[Madhatter]

Thanks David

I suck at building cars (which is why I joined here so I could pick up some tips on painting and finishing) but I am more in my element with Sci-fi stuff.

[Madhatter]

Hi guys

It's that time of the fortnight again - yup: update time!

I've been plugging away at yet more side walls and naturally, there is still a heap more to do yet. I did say this will be a loooooong build (ticked over the one year mark already with so much more to do). I sometimes wonder why I do this to myself but for the rest of the time, I love it

I have to remind myself that I still have the other side to do yet as well as the bottom and then the sidewalls. Maybe by 2021 it'll be done..... 

As you can see, I still need to add some details to the hull to tie in the sidewalls but that'll happen soon enough.
Anyway, that's all I have for now but I will be back again once I have done something worth showing
Thanks for looking and if you have any suggestions for details etc, I'm open to them
Cheers
Si

[David G.]

I think that most model builders would like to build something on this scale with this level of detail, but most of us never will.

Thank you for taking the time to share yours with us.

David G.

[Madhatter]

Your more than welcome David. Thanks for looking!

hey guys
I've started the roof panels now and added some details onto the body to try and blend it al in a bit better. It's slow work but quite rewarding (well, to me it is)
I'll start making my way forward now and finish off this side and then mentally prep myself to start all over again for the other side! Joy

I only took 5 pictures before the light ran out, so that's it till next time. Which incidentally won't likely be until I have finished most of the other side, so another few weeks away.
I'm also going to take the plunge and teach myself how to use Arduino boards, which ought to be interesting. There's heaps of forums about how to do it, so I reckon I'll pick it up easy enough. (famous last words)
Thanks as always for looking. Feel free to comment - good or bad. You don't need too though
Cheers
Si

[Madhatter]

hi fellas
Time for a quick update. The wife is heading away for a week with the boy, so I shall have lots of spare time to invest in getting some serious work done on this - provided World of Warships doesn't interfere too much. I promise nothing....
 
I've started work on the "nose" as you'll see. I steered clear of cutting it off and dropping it like others before me. Fair enough if I was replicating the studio build but it's not necessary here. I realised I had cut out the backing board where the front roof sits thinking there would be something sitting in front of it - there is, but it's not what I thought. A quick sheet of styrene fixed that and I shall add some detail to it in due course. My intention is to have some pipes running back over the edge up into the cavity above it.
Time will tell if that will be something that could work as the roofs will be the last thing to be glued on after the fibers have gone in.
Still lots of detail to add to the rest of the surface but I am getting there slowly but surely

The rear side roofs are also completed and ready to go on. They were a nice quick and easy job - well, in consideration of everything else they were

Well, that's all I have for now, but hopefully the next update will be better
As always, thanks for stopping by and having a look

Si

 

[David G.]

Thanks for the update Si. I am continually amazed by the level of detail you keep adding to this model.

David G.