 |
|
|
Building the Classic Enterprise
Part Three
|
|
|
|
|
|
High relief and sharp-edged portions of a model are not caught at all well via the vacuforming plug process, so those areas of
the model have to be built up of separate parts. Such is the case with the sharply defined forward area of the Secondary Hull, which is a separate cast resin piece. Also, the three 'wells' on the sides
and bottom of the forward portion of the Secondary Hull had to be made from separately vacuformed pieces. Here, I'm inserting into a cut-out in the side of the Secondary Hull a well piece.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To insure a slight relieve to the after end of each Secondary Hull well I first installed a suitably shaped piece of masking
tape and then built up around it some putty. When dry, the tape was removed, revealing a very crisp, slightly raised area over the after portion of each well. This 'relief build-up' is a good means of
achieving panels and lap-joined seams.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One last look at the Primary Hull pieces before permanently bonding its two halves together with CA adhesive. Here you can
clearly make out the four radial support frames used to assure strength and rigidity of the piece. Also note the two parallel pieces either side of the Dorsal cutout - these provide plenty of glue area
to assure a sound and accurate mating between Primary Hull and the interconnecting Dorsal piece.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At the time I was building this model the only real 'authority' out there (and continues to be, to this day!) was Paul Newitt.
His Star Fleet Assembly Manuals were a very useful departure from the awful Franz Joseph plan set and other bogus 'information' sources claiming to represent faithfully the geometry of the 1701 effects
miniature(s). I had worked with Paul earlier and found him to be most generous with advice and documentation in support of this project. Paul Newitt is most deserved of credit for helping to make this a
successful project.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nearly done with the lathe turning of this Sugar Pine master of the Secondary Hull bow. After it has been worked to shape and
given a perfect finish with automotive primer (DuPont 131S gray acrylic lacquer) it will join the many other small item masters needed to produce the rubber tools. In turn, the rubber tools are used to
form the many resin parts needed to detail out the ENTERPRISE model.
|
|
|
|
For the difficult job of turning the thin-sectioned 'sensor' dish master from wood, I employed a hand drill as a simple lathe.
Here I'm applying some touch-up filler - in the form of CA hardened micro-balloons - to repair some dings about the outer edge of the dish sensor.
|
|
|
|
On the left are some of the worked vacuformed structures. To the right are some of the wooden and acrylic masters ready to
create production part tooling.
|
|
|
|
After creation of all the small detail item masters, they were mounted in clay, or on a flat surface, and surrounded by some
sort of dam to keep the liquid RTV rubber contained as it cured hard. The RTV rubber captures, perfectly, the shape of each item immersed within it.
|
|
|
A study in Small: Here are the masters representing the parts that make up my ENTERPRISE Shuttle craft. The Shuttle will later
be mounted within the Hangar Bay. The masters of the Warp Engines were turned on a machine lathe with brass sheet pieces soldered on their sides. The Shuttle hull was cut from a piece of Acrylic sheet.
The 'wings' either side of the hull was made from thin gauge styrene sheet.
|
|
|
Here are the completed Shuttle masters pressed half-way into some backing clay, readied for creation of the first half of a
two-piece RTV rubber tool. With the shank end of a drill bit I pushed into the clay some 'dimples' - these are captured by the rubber as positive 'tits' which in turn render dimples again upon the second
half of the rubber tool. It's the dimple/tit network between the faces of each tool half that assure precise registration of the assembled tool.
|
|
|
Cast polyurethane parts produced from the RTV silicon rubber tools. As each model parts were pulled from its tool the sprue and
vent channels were cut off and the nibs filed and sanded flush. Vacuforming is great at achieving lightweight large structures of moderate detail. Resin casting is the choice for small, highly detailed
items of complex geometry. Model Building involves mastering and applying the right fabrication technique for the right situation.
|
|
|
|
The only use on this project of an off-the-shelf, 'pre-shaped' commercially available item was the use of corrugated
Evergreen sheet. Here, seen used to wrap the stern section of each cast resin Warp Engine. The 'ball' shaped items set at the ass-end of each Warp Engine are cast polyurethane as well.
back to the introduction or on to part 4
|
|
|
|
|
