Karl's 'Tough Little Ship' - DNF :-(

[carlos]

I've been a little reluctant to join another GB after my last two have ended with DNFs - This year I've only finished 4 models so far (I'm usually at about 15-20 completions by November) going through a bit of a lull period, and in need of a mojo boost.

It was papermodelling that first got me back into the hobby some years back, so I thought this GB might rekindle the spark. I've chosen something fairly simple to get me going, and depending how long I take over it, I'm hoping this longer build might allow me to do more than one entry.


Anyhoo - enough waffle!
This is the USS Defiant from 'Star Trek' (DS.9 and the movie 'First Contact')- by a designer known as 'Ninjatoes', redrawn by Bill Perry.
Available here:
http://ninjatoes.wordpress.com/2003/08/ ... -nx-74205/;

Pics to follow once I've printed it off...

[Dirkpitt289]

I'm looking forward to seeing a starship built

[carlos]

Parts and instructions were printed last night, and I'm planning to make the first cuts tonight.

For anyone who may not know Star-Trek's USS Defiant (Where have you been for the last 20yrs or so..?) this is what it is supposed to look like:


The parts - printed from PDF at 100% on 120 GSM coated paper (10 sheets of A4 in total)


And the instructions, very clear exploded diagrams, but covers 14 sheets


And here are a couple of pics I found through Google images, of the finished model


According to the info on the printed files, the designer reckons it to be about 1/500th scale when printed at 100% on A4.
A quick measure up of the parts and it looks like it'll be about 14" long by 10½" wide, which means the ship would have to be around 180m in length with a beam of around 135m. (3½ times the length of a B-52, with a beam 2½ times the wing span )

[splash]

14 sheets of A4 sounds like a lot of parts I look forward to watching this build.

Regards Splash

[SJPONeill]

Me too...very keen to see this take shape...

[Molly-new]

This one is going to be an interesting build.

I tend not to print out the instruction sheets as I have my computer on when modelling so just refer to them when needed. I have also recently got a HUDL so can take the instructions with me on that when I am working away.

[Dirkpitt289]

That looks like it builds up into a respectable model.

[carlos]

It's been a while, but after being run off my feet for a few weeks, I've finally had some time for modelling.
As I said way back in November, I did start cutting parts that night, and finished the following night....
I numbered them all on the back in pencil so I don't forget what's what.



......and then they sat in a cardboard kit box until last night.

In about an hour while watching TV last night, I got the rear sections of the hull assembled.
The following pic shows the parts of the rear section before I joined them together with that longer part which has 'Defiant 74205' on it.


Quite relaxing, moelling on a side-table in front of the telly

I've assembled the front hull section today, and I'm currently waiting for the glue joining front and rear to set.
(pics later on)

This pic shows me scoring the tabs on an internal 'former' part.

I know that looks like a scalpel-type modelling knife, but I've blunted the blade specially for scoring paper parts. As well as being blunted, it's also been sanded along the length of the edge (as opposed to 'across' it) so that the edge is smooth and doesn't 'scratch' the paper.

The idea being to 'compress' the fibres, rather than scraping or tearing them - so that the folds don't have a tendency to open up into 'cuts'.

Even though there are 76 parts (I counted them yesterday)... relatively-speaking, it's not that time-consuming to build.
Well... with all the parts pre-cut some time ago, the actual assembly of them isn't too time-consuming.
I probably won't get much more built tonight (other stuff to do), but I reckon there's probably only about another 3hrs or so of work left in it. So even at this late stage, the deadline is still achievable.
(And I really do want to finish this one in time, to avoid a 3rd GB fail in a row)

[SJPONeill]

Now that you have made a custom scoring tool, you will be obligated to build a few more paper models!!! That's a good tip about writing the part number on the back of the parts - took me a long time to figure that one out when I started...

[carlos]

Not happy - the deadline has come and still no further forward - That's 3 DNFs in a row.

It seems like things have conspired to keep me away from the workbench, but if I'm honest, I've been letting other things..... other hobbies.... come before modelling for a few months now.
This whole year has been very sparse as far as completed builds are concerned - I really hope the mojo returns in the new-year.

A couple of Airfix New-toolings brought by Santa might help...........

[SJPONeill]

No worries...still a great effort taking the plunge into a new medium and sooner or later you'll get tired of hearing those cut-out parts calling your name and will finish the build..!