Space Balls, Part Deux!

Building a different pair of balls... Part one!

Building the Aries 1-B from Moebius Models is an interesting challenge if you want to do more than just assemble it as per the instructions. As I write this, the two models of the ship I’m building for two clients are still under construction. The kit itself is quite well engineered. There are a few minor accuracy problems but overall it’s quite a spectacular model that is about the size of a basketball when finished. Lighting and mounting the model (it will be mounted to a stand in a very similar way to how the studio miniature was done) will add a lot of work.

REMEMBER… you can click on all the pictures shown here if you want a larger higher resolution view.

The first thing that had to be done was to build the landing gear and engine assembly. I discovered that when doing that, although there are cams to hold the gear down when the model is set on a table….

… The assemblies are too loose and floppy nad NOT held by the cams to stay retracted when gravity is against it. Thus I had to install magnets on the “knees” of the gear struts to hold the assemblies in place when the model is to be displayed with the landing gear retracted, which it can be when mounted to the stand (to be covered in a future installment of this newsletter).

The magnets and the strip of metal at the top of the gear well to which the magnets will stick, very much visible in these photos, will be for the most part hidden when the triangular-shaped shrouds are eventually in place. This was the simplest and most fool-proof way I could think of to keep the gear retracted.

Another small modification I did was to put a magnetic attachment into the engine exhaust assemblies too. My philosophy in building a model, especially those with moving parts and lighting, is to make it as “accessible” as possible in case repairs may be needed in the future. Given the fragile nature of the landing gear and cam system (used so the model can be VERY GENTLY supported on its deployed landing gear) installed in those engine sections, that is a possibility. Therefore if I can screw two parts together or use magnets instead of gluing them, it can allow for possible repairs, or at least ease of painting, as I build it. The extra work done here often saves more work or allows for easier assembly later on. So I put some flat head drywall screws drilled into some plastic “chunks” I glued in place on the inner side walls of the engine cylinders and small neodymium magnets on the facing surface of the engine exhaust part. Why screws? Because they allow for easy adjustment. You can turn the screws in and out to get the magnet as close as possible for attraction without a hit-or-miss one-time gluing of another magnet or similar that is immovable. Quicker and easier than going crazy with measuring and still possibly not getting it right. Only one magnet per engine was needed because the side opposite the magnet is trapped by the cylinder caps on the side walls.

The next thing I had to tackle was figuring out the lighting. I had to make light boxes to reflect and contain the lights thrown by the LEDs used but making them from sheet plastic in the normal “cut and glue” box-making method would have taken a long time and would be very boring, repetitive work. I don’t like boring and repetitive work! So, I decided to vacuum-form them instead. That automatically added some low-grade excitement.

I had recently bought a nifty little vacuum forming machine and it was time to put it to practical use. I made some bucks from wood which took very little time to carve out. These were placed on the former platen, and from those, multiple hollow “tubs” could be made to use as light boxes. Holes were drilled into the ends to accept the LED lights and then they were glued in place in the ceiling plate above the clear light panels installed. The next photo shows the process. A piece of plastic sheet is heated by the electric elements which work exactly like the broiler in your oven, making the plastic sheet soft and pliable. When the right softness is achieved (this is a judgment call based on experience, backed by trial and error!) the vacuum is turned on, and the plastic is brought down against the wooden bucks using the red lever you see on the side of the machine, and sucked into shape around them, producing the desired tub shape. This is how many items you buy in grocery stores are produced, such as those thin decorative plastic trays that hold ridiculously expensive Valentine’s chocolates in boxes that make you think you’re getting a lot more than you really are!

Below, you can see the result. The tubs are cut from the plastic sheet and ready to be glued in place. Vacuum forming is relatively crude and great for producing basic shapes, but is not good at reproducing fine detail. That’s no problem in this case. Flaws in the process, such as “ribbing” between parts (which you can see in the left-hand photo below), won’t matter a bit. Here you can see the LED being tested when installed into the tub by drilling a small hole in the side and securing it with cyanoacrylate (superglue) adhesive.

The tubs with LEDs installed are glued in place over the light receptacles…

Why are the inner “windows” unlit? Because they were unlit in the film! That’s why! ;-)

The vac-formed light boxes would also be used to light up the side instrument panels of the cockpit section as well. The overall cockpit area will be lit with red LEDs to give it the effect seen in the film. An LED tester is used to check the viability of the side panel light. It seems to have the right effect, don’t you agree?

For the floor, I needed to light up the centre sunken section around the “elevator’, the elevator itself and the stair step risers. Since just two were needed (one for each model) I just opted to slab-side the light boxes using sheet styrene. (Just building the eight quadrants is nowhere near as boring and repetitive as it would have been to use the same technique for the 32 smaller light boxes needed for the ceiling and cockpit sections I mentioned above!) I made eight sections (four per model) and fixed them to a centre section as you can see here.

The “straw hat” LEDs (which throw light in all directions rather than project as a narrower beam like a flashlight as “regular” ones do) were fitted in place and tested, ready for installation on the floor. I used light boxes to maximize the amount of light that would be reflected rather than just “escape” into areas that would not need it. Some side panels to further isolate the light between the boxes at the centre section are yet to be added.

Yeah, there may be an easier way of doing this in retrospect, but I was making this up as I went along. ;-)

And that about does it for this first installment of building these particular space balls. Stay tuned and SUBSCRIBE to the Small Art Works Newsletter to be notified of the next episode of “Space Balls Part Deux”, part 2!

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