Set 10 - The Ceiling Takes (more) Shape
[ My Pod Home | Batch 1 | Batch 2 | Batch 3 | 4: A  New Interior Begins 5: Interior w/ Overlays | 6: Revised Interior ]
[ 7: Cutting Plastic [ 8: Real Progress | 9: Ceiling Taking Shape | 10: More Ceiling & Walls | 11: Padding the Walls ]
[ 12: Real Ceiling Work | 13: AC Vent Beginnings | 14: More Interior | 15: Misc | 16: Ceiling & Walls ]
[  17: Joysticks | 18: Handles & Base | 19: Decals | 20: Primer! | 21: Colo(u)red Paint ]
[ 22: Joysticks Redux ]
Ceiling_01.jpg (83904 bytes) Overhead. Note the new antechamber ceiling. Ceiling_02.jpg (70000 bytes) Side view. The rectangular projection of the wall will be cut off.
Through_Door_01.jpg (20760 bytes) Port Side. Notice how the curved walls meet up with the flat front one. A little putty ... Through_Door_02.jpg (21368 bytes) Through_Door_03.jpg (21039 bytes)
 
The  ceiling is really coming together. Haven't had any time to work on it in weeks, but today I spent a couple of hours creating the first rough antechamber ceiling, cutting out the window and tweaking the positioning of the walls so that everything fits smoothly.

Basically I rotated the way the curved walls meet up with the front wall - for some reason after I disassembled the three pieces (so I could cut out the window) the curved walls didn't meet up with the antechamber ceiling properly anymore. Very strange, but it it gave me the opportunity to bring the side walls in a bit so there isn't really any gap between them and the top portion of the rear wall.

Discovered a minor problem in the antechamber - the ceiling height's a little low. I measured the area about 30 times after my initial screw-up, but I guess I should have gone for 31. Luckily, much of the problem is caused by the base below the antechamber which I have to cut back a little. Right now it hits the rear hull and forces everything to rotate down a little. Once I've cleaved a bit of the base away (it won't be seen) then all should line up pretty well. It can never be exact, however, as the top of the door it curved and the antechamber ceiling is flat.

I thought cutting the window would be amazingly difficult because of its oval shape. It actually was pretty simple - I shone a bright light through the window (with the interior in place) and marked out where the window should go (only the 4 quadrant locations). Then I disassembled the ceiling, removed the glass from the window and traced the shape onto the front wall. Slowly and carefully I traced the line with a #11 blade, then went over it a bunch more times. After I snapped the piece out all it needed was a little work with some sanding sticks to smooth out the imperfections.

Hit upon a much easier way to build up the ring between the antechamber ceiling and the main ceiling. I had spent too much time trying to get it in an oval shape (which would make figuring out the shape of the piece between the two a major pain) and tried using a simple circle. It fit the space just as good and allows the ring piece itself to be a much simpler shape to figure out and cut.

Next up - rebuilding the antechamber ceiling to match the new wall location and building the main ceiling.

Stay tuned ...