A Miracle has occurred - I've really started cutting
plastic! Thus far it's only the antechamber walls, floor, risers, and
armrests but after 9 months or so of planning it feels really good.
A couple of things about what I've done:
- Thanks to Clyde Jones for his nice article on
cutting styrene sheet (Starship
Modeler). With minor modifications to his curve cutting
technique (due to the annoying universal holder for my compass)
everything was a snap.
- Everything's out of 1/16" thick sheet plastic.
Picked up a 4'x8' sheet at one of the dozen local plastic supply
houses for $20. They even cut it into manageable sizes for no extra
$$. Less than 1/4 the price of buying Plastruct or Evergreen at the
local hobby shop.
- You'll notice (maybe) that the main floor is
actually 2 layers thick. This is because of the keyways for the
walls and the opening in the lower sheet to fit the piece that holds
it up off the base. (I'm using a 3-sided prism for the holder even
though the plans call for a tube - I hadn't worked out the revised
curve cutting technique before assembling that part.)
The keyways for the walls are intended to make it easier to fit the
pieces together (kinda like the pins on an injection molded kit).
Don't know if they work well as it fit together so well (except for
one thing, mentioned in a sec) that they might have been
superfluous. Oh well.
- I messed up in the plans for the parts and made the
lower portion of the rear walls 1/16" too short. During
construction I assumed that I'd messed up both that part AND the
risers that go under the main consoles so I added 1/16" to all
four pieces. D'oh - should only have added it to the rear walls -
the extra 1/16" on the console risers comes from the thickness
of the console itself. The adhesive I used is amazingly strong stuff
and I'd have to destroy everything to get the incorrect console
risers out for replacement, so I've opted to take very careful
measurements and saw the 1/16" off the top of them. Wish me
luck.
- The antechamber floor is actually a box made of two
small risers (about 1/4" tall) surmounted by the floor itself.
I had my doubts that this would be strong enough to stand on its own
with the antechamber walls removed (more in a sec) but as I stated
above, Plastruct's Plastic Weld is super strong. No problems.
- The antechamber walls are only taped in place right
now. I needed them in place so that I could fit the other pieces in
place properly, but they need a lot more work yet:
- The starboard side wall will be remade with a
small extension at the rear top to help hold up the ceiling.
Right now it comes to a point and I can gain the extra space
because of the off-center shape of the door. I just haven't
gotten around to designing it yet.
- The rear walls of the cockpit proper will be
mated to the antechamber walls (similar to way they are in
the original kit parts) before adding them to the main assembly.
This is because I wouldn't be able to work on the padding with
them actually in their final locations.
Next up come the clear parts which have to be cut out
before I can proceed further. I bought a 1/16" thick sheet of
acrylic from Plastruct. This is the only material I could get that thick
and I want these parts to be strong - little did I know how strong this
stuff is! It's solid as a rock and brittle so it's very tough to cut.
Luckily the Plastic Weld does a d**ned good job creating a welded joint
that's very strong without any crazing whatsoever. Once I actually work
out the best technique for cutting this stuff it should be smooth
sailing with the next portion of the cockpit.
Stay tuned ... |
