AKULA's Battlestar Galactica Project - Cylon Heavy Raider pg12

[AKULA]

Quick update - have sent the door I scratch built off to Slug Industries to get some resin castings made, so once these arrive I should be able to make more progress.

 

[Hammers]

Impressive.

[grant]

Return of the Space Canoe! Huzzah!

I've seen smaller canoes.

[AKULA]

Phil from Slug Industries did a great job with the resin casting of my scratchbuilt door, meaning I can now progress my ship build.




A couple of fresh paintjobs, sculpts by Hasslefree...




Rebased Sculpts by Andrew Rae, originally for my project, but now available from Hasslefree. Paintjobs by various paint monkeys 



There are many copies...



Statuesque minis (Andrews own company) with some head swops.

[Silent Invader]

Lovely pjs and door design/casting 

[AKULA]

Corridor section with a rough paintjob ....I'll doubtless go back over it again later, but it will do for now.  Will add in clutter, stowage etc along the corridors later.

[6milPhil]

Lovely pjs and door design/casting 

Thanks, on the casting front. Akula made the doors, and they'll pretty good - just needed some filling before being used for a mould. I've convinced him to use foamed PVC so they're rock solid - I'm looking forward to seeing what else he can come up with. 

[Elk101]

Now that's impressive!

[AKULA]

I must be mad, but I've decided to redo the flight pod.....again.

I seem to be caught in some sort of time loop, where I endlessly rebuild the ship, but I think the new variant (Mk IV) will suit my purposes better.

So anyway....this afternoon I was thinking about taking a game to a show again, and frankly how I'd transport it, and I've come up with a new layout that I think will not only work in terms of transport/storage, but also in terms of playability.  Up until this point I've been trying to build the entire ship on a table of 10' x 6' - this essentially limits the size of the flight pod, and means I'm trying to cram everything in. 

The new flight pod will be focussed purely upon the hangar deck - I won't be representing the launch tubes on table, other than perhaps the inner doors, nor will I include the upper landing deck - in essence I'm going back to my original flight pod design, but more than twice the size, and open sided to allow for sight lines and playability. 

The flight pod will now be of incredibly simple construction - the detail will be provided by the vipers, raptors and stores scattered around the deck.  The rest of the ship will follow the style of the new test piece , and be much more detailed - everything will be modular, which means I can represent a part of a much larger ship, and add to it over time - as with the flight pod though, I'm toying with leaving out some of the outer walls to make the whole thing more accessible.

Anyway....that's the plan....

[AKULA]

Quick update on the newly redesigned flight pod MkIV....

For starters, the new design is in component parts that slot together, meaning it can stored/transported more easily.




The hangar archways will fit in between the boards (each of which is 350mm x 550mm). It's not flush in the photos because I discovered after taking the photos that I'd left something underneath the boards.... 





I've also started making some walkways to connect the hangar deck with the main vessel - these are supported by the back wall of the hangar, thus hiding the storage boxes behind (and leaving a useful space if I want to add some lighting later on).




The upper tier of superstructure sits on top of standard sized storage boxes which will hold the figures stowage etc.






Two walkway sections complete so far....

[Elk101]

That's going to be fantastic!

[AKULA]

That's going to be fantastic!

Thanks mate.

I've got a good vibe about it this time, and I'm confident that the new design/look is exactly what I want, although it's taken literally years to get to this stage.

On the plus side, I've now got everything I need for the project in place, so I'm going to get on with it.

[Suber]

Man, it's useless to use any words for this project. All of them would remain short for this wonder.

[Mason]

You, sir, are obviously quite mad.
I do have to admire your commitment to getting it 'just right', though.
 

I am really looking forward to the next update.
Oh, yes!
 

[AKULA]

One thing I was really struggling with for my project was a heavy raider - no one had got around to producing one as a garage kit, and I had begun the unenviable process of figuring out how to scratch build one, with all its unusual shapes and angles....and then the Internet provided the answer.

A newly printed kit is available on fleabay....its described as 1:72 but it is perfect for my needs, and appears to be in scale with my existing 1:48 raiders.

It comes as a two-parter but the join lines aren't too bad. Just needed a little extra weight under the front fuselage to get it to sit properly.  It needs a little work to better define the Cylon cockpit, but other than that it's good to go, and ideal for a Cylon assault force.