Mutara Nebula DeBoers Enterprise and Reliant Build

[Shawn McClure]

Looking great.  Man is that a lot of wires.

Shawn

[MSgtUSAFRet]

James,

As always, this is looking fabulous!

Don't worry about the little "uncorrectable" mistakes (Bob Ross calls them "happy accidents" anyway) as you will probably be the only one who sees them. The rest of us will be in awe about your build to see the happy accidents!

Stay strong and Airman on!

Steve

BTW - Love the R2D2 thingy!

[karve]

Looks simply amazing James! You set the bar way too high for most of the rest of us. 

[jwood314]

A HUGE thanks for the super kind words!  Really helps to stay motivated on these years long slogs.

Update #??
I am not writing this from my normal machine, I am TDY and away from the house but wanted to post some cool pics.  I got the second shuttle bay complete for the Reliant this last weekend, and took some shots of the two shuttle bays in the Reliant, looking good.  The second shuttle bay went much better than the first, took the lessons learned and made this one a lot better.  Next step is to finish the white paint on the back of the Reliant and work on getting the shuttle bays installed level and then finish the gap between the shuttle bay and Reliant hull.  These two shuttle bays add a crap load of wires to the model, LOL.  For the base onto revision 5 of the design. I plan on using 6 inchPVC pipe for the rotating portions on the base, but 6 inch PVC pipe is really 6.25 inches! So got the files updated and off to LaserFire.  I have some big personal news, but waiting on confirmation before I post.  This could delay the build for over a half year, more to come on that.

Cheers,
James

[Shawn McClure]

Those came out great.  Way to go.

Shawn

[jwood314]

Thanks!!

Update #82

Back to my house after driving around the south for the last week.  Got to visit some cool places.  Still waiting on confirmation of my news, which was a short notice tasker to deploy to some place not in CONUS for some amount of time.  So prepping all of the stuff I am going to take with me.  The plan will be to do the panels for the bases for the models while over there.  I will also write the code for the various boards, shield board, landing bay lights boards and the shuttle blinking lights board.  If I have time will start working on the main control board code.  I will also see if I can figure out how to get some custom PCBs made for hopefully not a lot of money.  Since all of the LEDs run at between 8-12V I need to put a transistor in between the Arduinos and the LEDs so I do not blow up the Arduinos with the too high voltage.  So making the voltage translation boards instead of hand wiring everything will save a ton of time and slightly increase reliability.  So, not all of the work was prep work today, I did my first aztecing on the Reliant nacelle, and I am actually really happy with how it came out!  This is not usually how I feel about my work, so refreshing.  Lol  Painting the aztecing took 6 layers of paint, so the amount of work to get the whole model painted is going to be stupid, but oh well.  I think the end effect will be worth it.  I do want to tweak the colors to help get some more separation on the final product.  Also, the last photo of the toned down multi layer aztecing does not do the paint job justice, it looks waaaaaay better in person.  I am sending off the no kidding final file for the base tonight which is also really exciting.

Cheers,
James

[MSgtUSAFRet]

James, you are just an impressive builder! I am drooling over the paint job on just the pylon! Well done!

Keeping OPSEC is tough, but good luck and be safe on your TDY! We'll be here when you get back - assuming you may not be able to post during trip.

Stay at it! This is looking great!

Steve

[Shawn McClure]

Those are turning out great. 

Shawn

[Tiburon]

The Aztec panels look great!

Pretty awesome you are coding your own stuff too! That

[jwood314]

Thanks for the awesome compliments!

Update #83

So basically been painting all week, and closing in on finishing the first Reliant nacelle, woohoo.  In general the paint adherence is AMAZING compared to acrylic.  I am loving these lacquer paints from AK Interactive.  However, the random not sticking paint reared its ugly head again, a couple shots of the damage, but since there are so many layers and little squares, it is actually quite easy to patch up the affected areas and make them blend in.  So in a way, the 6-8 layers of paint for the aztecing on the Reliant makes patch work easy.  Sand, tape off a little square around the blemish, paint with one of the aztecing colors and then tone down with some base white paint.  Problem solved.  I touched up the black on the outer part of the nacelle to show the daughter, it looks great, with two minor exceptions which will get fixed.  I also got my duck egg blue equivalent mixed up, so ready for that color when done with the aztecing.  After that, put down the copper and touch up the inner nacelle grill and this assembly is almost done.  Progress.

Cheers,
James

[Shawn McClure]

Ugh on the paint issues.  At least you are still making headway.

Shawn.

[jwood314]

Update #83

Paint Guide  What I am using to paint the models

Lacquer Paints
Base White  Poly Transpar Ultra Hide White  McKenzie.com


I use AK Interactive Lacquer Paints  WHICH ARE AWESOME!
Reliant Specific
Aztec Colors
Medium Gray  1 Bottle Flat White 004 + 20 drops of NATO Black 082
Medium Dark Gray  1 Bottle Flat White 004 + 40 drops of NATO Black 082
Light Blue  1 Bottle Flat White 004 + 4 drops of Blue 011
Light Brown  1 Bottle Flat White 004 + 20 drops of Ochre 016 and 4 drops of NATO Black 082

Duck Egg Blue  1 Bottle Flat White 004 + 3 drops of Blue 011

Shuttle Bay
Light Grey 054
Deck Tan 019
Yellow 007
Signal Red 005

Shuttles  Poly Transpar Ultra Hide White

Yellow highlights/RCS Thrusters/Blinky Lights  Yellow 007
Red Highlights and lines  Signal Red 005

Here is my paint selection so far.  I am using AK Interactive Lacquers and they are AMAZING!

All I have been doing the last week is painting, getting close.  I need to do some touch ups on one side, I bet you can tell which ones from the pics.  This nacelle is about done, will get wrapped up in a super soft cloth to protect that paint job and then I will probably pause on the model, still not sure when/if deploying, but if going will take a break from the model, and get ready to walk out the door with all of the electronics I need.  I have also mailed off the part examples for the base, and the materials have been ordered to make the bases.  So there is some progress there.  I am still looking for the veneer I like to veneer the bases, probably do it in black and white ebony, but still undecided atm.  When I decide, will post some pics of the veneer that is going on the bases.  Progress continues, I should get the shuttle bays in the Reliant to fit, I do not know, maybe.  Oh and I suck at taking pics, the paint job is pretty darn awesome in person, one of the pics gives you an idea of all of the layers in there and the layering, 8-9 layers in certain areas.

Cheers,
James

[jwood314]

Update #84

Well, I am putting the models into mothballs.  Going into storage on my gaming table and will be covered with some sheets, need to keep the dust off!  Last pic is of a lot of my electronic stuff I am taking with me, not pictured soldering iron and a few other items.  Since I have the box layout done, I can actually start writing the code and doing layouts of the box bottom, how all of the boards are going to fit.  Matt over at LaserFire will ship me the front and rear plates to me over in my deployed location and the rest of the box stuff to the house.  So here is what I plan on getting done over the 7ish months I am gone. 
1.   Write the code for all of the boards, how many boards, not sure.  I know there is 1 mega Arduino per box, and then some number of nano Arduinos.  I have to get all of the Starling Tech boards integrated, they handle a lot of the effects and sound effects.  I have tried and failed to get twinkle effects he has done, so going with his code.  Also, Stan is an awesome dude!
2.   Get the box bottom layout complete
3.   Design and get manufactured all of the LED voltage interface boards.  Since the LEDs will ruin from 5V-12V, depending on what they are doing in the model, I have to have a way for the Arduino to control that LED without getting destroyed by the voltage driving that LED, when I have the boards done, will post a little circuit for you.  I also have to have a way to integrate all of the manual switches into the Arduino control. 
4.   Wire up all of the switches that are going into the panels.  Something like 200 switches, will give an exact number later.  However, some of those switches have a TON of wires needing to be soldered to them.  The little rotary switches have something like 16 wires on them, and they are small. 

I am sure I am forgetting something, but that is the plan.  So when I get back, more painting, gluing etc.  I will have the box components and will go up to Dallas to do the veneer work.  I need to figure out what wood species I want to use for the veneering.  So not much is going to be posted over the next few months, I am sad, but when Uncle Sam says go, you go.

Cheers,
James

[TK Iain]

Freakin' awesome.

Going to pinch your paint guide/colours for whenever I get around to building another 1/537 version. Really looking forward to all the updates as they come.

[TD1701]

I am really enjoying following this build. Watching your work on the Reliant has been the most fun and I am impressed with those shuttle bays! I don't see a lot of the DeBoers kits being built so this has been really informative. Keep up the great work!

Tom