U.S.S Cygnus 1/700 scale… a study in insanity

[mrchester]

Greetings folks, I’ve had to take some time to really move the ball down the field. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Display stand is worked out and I’m on the cusp of final wiring and main body assembly. However, time for more photos. Lighting the front engines would be tricky. Using a Micro drill holder, I was able to drill into the lower (reverse) engines which the wires would thread through the lattice frames and into holes I drilled into the light box. The upper engines was more difficult, being mounted on three ‘booms’, getting a hole drilled and keeping it (and the wires) hidden was problematic. I solved this by cutting off the rear fuel lines and would replace them with the same sized brass tubing. I cut off the forward lines and replaced them with styrene rod. This all eliminated having to deal with a seam pat way up the old lines.

 

[mrchester]

More pics of the bow ‘horns’. I’ve opted to use 30AWG wire for the lighting. When I was in high powered rocketry, I used this stuff to make engine igniters. The stuff held up rather well considering the volatility of a solid rocket motor.

 

[mrchester]

As things progressed, I did random light testing. My model has a combination of LEDs and CHIP spring lights. I see chrome Monokote trim stock to line the insides of the forward observation domes. I also did Radom antenna box testing, too. To get my desired color, I started with warm white lights. Then I painted the LEDS and CHIPs with acrylic chrome yellow paint.

 

[mrchester]

The great thing about this model is that the main body sections can be stuck together. There is a lot of friction fitting going on here. Matter of fact, my model is assembled with white glue. If I need to get into it, I can open it up with a little water. Now, more test pictures.

 

[Searun]

An adult “erector set” build. Great discussion regarding the past contribution of crazy experts you mentioned that provided their Cygnus project methods. Spent some wonderful hours looking up and revisiting their posts.
Glad you were able to obtain the parts now impossible to obtain. Has to be the most complex model ever designed. Beautiful lighting treatment in highlighting the truss work. Gothic art. Stunning photos, yours and others, on this web site that tackled this iconic craft.

 

[mrchester]

Greetings Searun, I am impressed with the engineering of this model. The acrylic boxes are well thought out, too. I have encountered about six issues with the entire package. I’ll be mentioning them as I post my progress. My hat is off to the work that Nwerke and PrimitiveDave did in developing both this size and the larger 1/350 scale models. It is too bad about Shapeways. I timed my final purchases well.

 

[mrchester]

I wanted to light the docking elevator somewhat like the shooting model. I found small string lights on Evan’s Designs website. Since the docking section is its own piece, I could do some experimenting on it. It ended up that I could thread through the lattices without making too many frame cuts. I was able to use half of the string on two decks in the front. I passed the rest of the string through the ‘Reception’ corridor and coiled the rest through the front box. The only drawback is that the fine wires can be seen at the very front of the bow… small price to pay for the effect. Assembly and light test shots ahead.

 

[mrchester]

I was able to hide the black resistor package under the upper observation dome. For this section, I plan to be able to access through the bottom observation dome panel.

 

[mrchester]

I must admit, I like the way it came out…more pics.

 

[modelerdave]

That looks great! Excellent work figuring out your wire chases.

 

[FawltyFX]

View attachment 1853976View attachment 1853977View attachment 1853978
Well, I’ve decided to jump on the grenade and try to tackle the above mentioned subject. This is the Primitive Dave model that was available through Shapeways. For those who followed my failed MPC Cygnus thread, you would know that I had purchased some of the 700 scale parts back when it and the 350 scale one was being developed. As time passed I acquired some other components. This past January I was still figuring out what the devil I was doing with my new life ( this is the first anniversary of the passing of my wife, Monique). Something told me to go ahead and get the rest of the parts from Shapeways. The only parts I couldn’t get were the Probe ship, the Palomino, and the upper Command tower spire. These parts were available through Shapeways and were used on a previous thread for this same model. I’m mentioning this early because they were listed as ‘Not For Sale’ at Shapeways. And now the worst part, for those who don’t know, Shapeways has folded and Primitive Dave’s files had disappeared (along with Dave). If you can help me with the previously mentioned parts, it would be greatly appreciated. Now on with the show.
The first pictures are of the obligatory ‘put the pieces together for the first shot of ‘Wow’ ‘.

Mr Chester, I really wanted to do this build myself, and I went looking high and low. Over on Cults 3D - mriconoclast has posted most, if not all of the parts, including the palomino (for free). Some of these files were in need of repair, or missing some of the objects, and the poster doesn't respond to messages. Do with that what you will. If you would be interested in sharing the "good" files that you have or know where I can get them, that would be fantastic, as I have scoured multiple places, and they seem to have sadly disappeared off the internet.

 

[mrchester]

Greetings FawltyFX, thank you for the info. I’m afraid that I’m an old school modeler/machinist and mainly purchase 3D products and have no files. As for my call for the missing items, I have made good progress on two of the three mentioned. I plan to turn and scratch build a Probe Ship. Considering that this Cygnus is a near representation of the shooting models, I have room for some creative liberties (the detail that Disney Imagineers created is still amazing). I found an excellent solution to the Command Tower/ Observation Domes spires. I purchased one 1/48 scale and two1/72scale aftermarket “Wind Piercers” for a B58 Hustler. The lengths and shapes are perfect and I can add the extra little details to them. As for the Palomino, I’m not going to be too broken up if I don’t get that piece. I’ll check out the info that you found, however, I’m okay with taking this model to the upcoming show without it. And now to step out of order for a posting…pictures of the bare spires and the Probe Ship that Szarchie’s Cygnus has. Ill pat myself on the back for that Spire workaround.

 

[mrchester]

I found with building the stern section that certain modeling tactics do not work. Mainly, sub assembly of lattice parts. I was able to glue the upper wings to the center top section of the stern but found that gluing the rear engine section was a mistake. Because of the shape of the acrylic boxes that made up the rear armature, and that the engine LEDs are mounted into the rear engine frame, I had to remove the fear lattice from the assembled stern pieces. White glue plan pays off. As with the Bow, I am using both LED bulbs and string CHIP lights. I had to noodle out lighting the Command Tower. There is a core tube that runs up the center for the light in the dome. However, I wanted to simulate the lighting of the shooting models. There are lights shining down into the Command Tower mounting ring and lattices and shining up into the laser cannon emplacement. I had to custom wire the four 3mm LEDs for this. The tower has two sets of eight braces inside to ‘hold’ the center tube in place. I removed four of them. No pictures… sorry. I fried out two sets of lights before I got it right. I like the final result and found some light leaks. More body work.

 

[mrchester]

More pictures. I missed some Stern shots. Sorry, I little out of order.

 

[mrchester]

 

[mrchester]

An added bonus is that the panels just below the dome light up from the Bridge dome.

 

[mrchester]

The Center Section consists of two Power Centers, six Section boxes and their spacer frames, Upper and Lower Spine, and Forward and aft Tank sections. The Tank sections are identical except that the Aft one has the landing pad for the Probe Ship. They have I set of tanks cast into one side but the opposite side has an open bay for a tank kit that goes in there. It is a nice print job but I wish that the other tanks were accessible so that I might paint them in a slightly different color. However, there is no real way to get in to paint them. You have to attach four loose tanks into the sides of the bay(s) and then the tank cluster goes between them. I’ve tried to take pics to convey what the end sections are all about.

 

[mrchester]

More pics…

 

[mrchester]

And I had to break out the drill again.

 

[Analyzer]

Simply amazing!