Building The Death Star - PRODUCTION

[ProfKSergeev]

Use both thicknesses? To my eye, it looks like some panels are thicker than others, but that could be the shadows.

How permanent is vinyl? Or were you going to mold and cast the final dish?

 

[PHArchivist]

Use both thicknesses? To my eye, it looks like some panels are thicker than others, but that could be the shadows.

How permanent is vinyl? Or were you going to mold and cast the final dish?

Not casting; no...

I actually was in fact thinking about using both. The strips at 12:00 and 6:00seem thicker.

 

[robn1]

I think the 12:00 and 6:00 lines are casting deeper shadows because of their angle. The 11:00 line has a medium shadow and the 8:00 and 10:00 lines have hardly any shadow. That could be because of varying thickness, but more likely the light angle.

I also think styrene strips would be a better material than vinyl, being glued on they won't come loose like vinyl. They're available in very thin sizes.

 

[srspicer]

I think the thicker strip work better. The lighting angle is changing the thickness perception.

I concur with robn1, styrene will hold up longer. If you were to weld the styrene on the dish using solvent, un-primed styrene, they will never come off, super glue will also last a long time. You can obtain styrene strips from Plastruct in almost any dimension, .010x.020, .020x.040, etc.but you may already know that. Vinyl will last a very long time if you seal the edges with super glue. I use a pointed dental toll for fine applications, but you probably already know that as well.

Can't wait to see more!!

 

[PHArchivist]

I also think styrene strips would be a better material than vinyl, being glued on they won't come loose like vinyl. They're available in very thin sizes.

Nope - been there; done that. Good advice, (thanks!) but not going that route again... Model will never be under stress. Not worried about the strips coming off.

Another advantage in re-doing the dish is that when I first did it, I installed it incorrectly so the pattern was rotated clock-wise a bit (the 6:00 position detail was at about 8:00). I'll be able to correct that this time around.

 

[vaderdarth]

Can't wait to see more pics Rob.

 

[CutThumb]

Just did my annual watch of the entire trilogy.There definitely are two different thickness used in the dish. Very useful thing that pause button on the remote. And there is always something new to spot ,for instance I never realized the Probe droid appears in ROTJ until today! Glad you are back on this build , it'll be epic when you've finished it.

 

[PHArchivist]

Sanded the dish again - just didn't like the texture I got in the previous coat. Seems it was just a poor application of paint. I did a couple tests today with wet coats shot in warm sunshine, with no texturing ot the paint.

I also did some testing with the vinyl strips. Turns out painting them first is a no-go. Cutting does indeed tear the paint. But, in doing a test of a rich yellow strip on white styrene, two heavy wet coats covered the strip fine, and the edge of the strip was still sharp.

 

[JediMichael]

Well Happy 5 Years.....

Just signed up to say this.... Found this tread 2 days ago by chance. After 108 pages of applause, not much more I can add. I decided to FINAL paint an AMT death star model after years of just being plan gray. In trying to find some pics, ran into one of yours in google. Thought it sure looked really good for the "old" model in the thumbnail. Was surprised to find this thread and being a replica......almost not, more like a 3d photocopy you've made now. After skimming about 40 pages, I just had to then start over on mine, as you inspired me to repaint mine better. Nothing even close to yours, just better.
BTW, wish most the pics in the older pages worked, but now don't. Not sure if you deleted them or the sites not working right. If you still have them, would love to see the progress up til now. At least some of the pics. I read how you and others helped you get the right painted look on the surface. Anyways....good luck......

 

[PHArchivist]

Sanded the dish again - just didn't like the texture I got in the previous coat.

Finally had some warm, dry weather today in SoCal, so I shot a new base coat on the dish. So far seems much better (little or no texture). Granted, then its time to apply the new strips. Then wait for another warm, dry day to shoot the final coat.

 

[NextGenMaker]

O_O

Uhhhh, wow. Like, what?

 

[Last TimeLord]

amazing! the size alone is awe inspiring. Then to top it off, It is an amazing build. My hat is off to you.

 

[mb1k]

...and then?

 

[joberg]

Love this thread from the get-go and the amazing work you've put into that model is incredible! Keep up the greatness and the updates:cool

 

[PHArchivist]

On the verge of getting back on this...

Looking back, I realize that the years I've put into this have been some of the most active and formative years for my kids. My son was eight-years-old and barely into soccer when I started - now he's an accomplished, 14-year-old advanced level player narrowing his sights on the high school team next year (and I've been coaching all the while).

My overall involvment in the hobby has diminished over these years...

But this project will get completed, sooner rather than later.

One thing that has kept me dragging my feet is that I'm just not in the groove, so to speak. I'm "cold" on the reference materials, and just not totally into it now. I don't want to jump in on the dish (a primary focal point), when I'm not at my best.

Finidng time to both re-immerse myself into the project and time to actually work on it is difficult.

 

[Wes R]

I think we all have moments like this on all types of projects and it really is best to wait until you feel like it's time. If you don't the projects never get done the way you want and it puts you off working on them even more.

 

[PHArchivist]

Made some indirect progress last night - that is, I got my work area straightened up and dug into my reference materials...

Soccer games start up this Saturday. But granted I can get to where I need to be on home improvement projects during the week (which is challenging enough with soccer practices), then I'm hoping to start in on some real work on the beast on Sunday.

 

[Jedi Dade]

priorities in life shift around - as they are supposed to. Obviously Kids, wives, family and friends work etc, all effect our priorities... Nothing to be sorry for there IMO

Jedi Dade

 

[PHArchivist]

Ugh... Working on this today and discovered something I'm not happy about...

The center disc on my model is about 1cm too small. Mine is 4.6cm and the actual is closer to 5.0cm (assuming my outer diamter is correct). But regardless of the outer diamter, my ratio of outer diamter to inner disc diamter is about 1.9% off.

This is based on the best reference image I've found on the dish - a large (larger than life-size), quite clear, dead on (directly from the front) shot of the disch found in The Death Star Owner's Technical Manual, published a five years after I started this insane project!

Where oh where was this image in 2008!?

Anyway, I'm leaning towards letting this go...

Correcting it would not be too difficult. Would need to cut a new disc at the correct diameter, from plastic stock of the correct thickness, and re-create the center opening cone, then add all the additional radial detail strips. Then remove the old, add the new and move on.

But I really want to finish the overall project and not hassel with more set-backs.

 

[PHArchivist]

If I don't mess with the inner disc, then I'm all set to go on re-doing the strips...

Got my cutting tools poised and ready to go, have been studying my reference materials, have the vinyl adhesive set aside - bascially got all my prep work done and am ready to get on it.