Sci-Fi Industrial Structure part 3

 I had been debating what scale this structure is.

I started with the idea that it would be 1/24 or 1/25 scale and then after building the balcony and interior thought maybe it was closer to 1/35.

To make a determination I purchased some finely detailed 1/24 scale figures and placed them in the interior to see how they fit.

 For comparison I also put some 1/35 scale figures in there as well.

My conclusion is that the 1/24 scale figures look correct and the 1/35 scale figures look like children in that space. 

This means the structure is confirmed to be 1/24 scale and I can now obtain some correct sized ladders and possibly other scale parts and push on to completion.

Thanks for looking.

More soon...

Orbital Tug kitbash part 1

 I started a small kitbash project while waiting for some figures to turn up for the Industrial Structure project.

Every year I display some of my models at a scale model show which runs over two the days of a weekend. On the sunday morning they hold a plastic kit swap mart where I buy plastic model kits at a cheap price to provide me with enough kit parts (nurnies) to last for at least the next year of building. Occasionally the random haul of kits contains one or two that combine to inspire a new project.

In this case a 1/35 scale Scud launcher vehicle and two 1/48 scale Chinese Tiangong-1 Spacelab kits have been combined to make an Orbital Pusher Tug.

The rear of the tug is made from parts from two rubbish truck toys.

The engine bells are 3D printed and are made to accept 12 volt "eagle eye" cob led lights. I also added a couple of warm white LEDS in the front of the split cab. There is a dc power connector mounted top and bottom with a M10 tapped block of PVC for a possible mounting point. 

The engine lights have a green push button switch mounted underneath so the bright engine lights can be switched off independently from the cabin lights.

At the front I am adding some sort of pusher bumper that would connect with any space hardware that needs to be moved around. It is so far made from parts of a Sam Missile launcher from another kit with a chassis cross brace from a 1/25 truck kit. There is more to be added here yet.

I have some 1/35 driver figures which I tried out in the interior of the cab but found they were too big for the space. They sat too high and couldn't see out of the windows properly. I have ordered some 1/48 scale figures and am waiting to see if they will fit any better before I can finish off and seal up the interior.

I added some landing feet using much the same parts as the Submarine kitbash project recently completed.

Except the pusher bumper and a few small holes to cover over or fill, all of the major exterior surface detailing is now complete.

Thanks for looking.

More soon...

Sci-Fi Industrial Structure part 2

I have detailed the interior.

Below is the ceiling with some N-gauge railway signals glued on.

Notable details are out of date covid test receptacles in the central room. Blue transparent acrylic knitting needles are also added as pipes.

Here it is with the ceiling in position.

I added a flashing strobe beacon to the top of the tower.

It uses a two pin 12 volt 9watt led lamp that is made from clear silicon.

I found a strobe circuit on a video on facebook and converted it to a vero board layout. 

It has an adjustable frequency to change the flash rate. you can see its effect in the video below.

Further detailing is underway.

I added some pipes to the large diameter support tube.

The pipes are made from EPDM foam rubber solid round section. 

This material is easily superglued into position and is flexible so that complicated bends are simple to produce. 

It also forms a natural smooth radius as it bends and being solid does not flatten in a bend like tube does. 

It is spongy to the touch but once painted will just look like a hard surface. 

I have used it before to look like rubber hoses on RC vehicles.

Still many more pipes and surface details to add.

I started this project thinking it would end up being at 1/24 scale but then thought maybe it was looking more like 1/35. 

I have come round to thinking that in fact it is more like 1/24 scale after all so I am planning on adding ladders, hand rails and probably a couple of figures in that scale.

Thanks for looking

More soon...

Sci-Fi Industrial Structure part 1

I have had, for some many months, a pile of large diameter PVC plumbing parts and a commercial grade toilet roll holder loitering around the door to my garage/workshop, all of which I fished out of the bin at work. It occured to me that one day I could make an interesting industrial tower out of these parts. Well I got sick of nearly tripping over them all the time and so that day has now come.

The main support structure is made from some 150mm PVC pipe with a 150-100mm reducer on top. The base of this larger cylinder is  bottom part of a crayola toy. The large support is paired with a secondary cylinder made from some 90mm pipe. On top of this is the toilet roll holder with another piece of 150mm pvc pipe on top. Added to the top is a truss from a crane toy and a shiskabob of electrical conduit over which is slid a pile of round shapes, one of which is the top of a soy sauce bottle, to make an interestingly varied tower.

The large pipe is mated to the crayola base with a disc cut from 20mm foamed PVC sheet. The top 150-100mm reducer is joined to the toilet roll holder in the same way. The disks are superglued to the base and top and the pipe fittings are a secure press fit. They are not glued so I could remove them at some point if desired. The smaller pipe is fitted to a 100-90 reducer at rhe botom and has a similar disc of 10mm foamed pvc at the top where it mates to the toilet roll holder.

Disc of 20mm foamed PVC.

Press fit into the 100-150 reducer.

With the main construction sorted I have started on the extensive detailing process with an emphasis on pipes, lots of pipes. So far these are mostly made from solid ABS rod heat bent where necessary. The larger diameter pipes are from a pipes construction toy.

Some of the smaller pipes are the corners from model kit part sprues. I save all the cut off the corners of the sprue trees for pipes as they give you a nicely radiused 90 degree bend. There is a Doctor Who sonic screwdriver toy in the pictures below.

This is the back side of the upper structure.

I decided to add a cantilevered platform leading to an interior. The platform is made from the internal CD tray of a small Hifi system.

Some detailing has begun to be added to the support columns. The grey ribs on the large diameter pipe are the railway sleepers from a 1/35 scale railway gun. A piece of 20mm foamed PVC was added as a base to tie the two coulumns together.

12 Volt led strip lighting has been added to the interior. The lighting has been placed so you can see the effect of the lighting not the light source itself. The interior is yet to recieve any major detailing. The odd looking translucemt orange wall was from a submarine toy.

The smaller diameter pipe has a DC power connector near the base.

Thanks for looking.

More soon...