# Moebius big Jupiter 2 WIP



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Yeh! This is a great kit and I'm totally stoked about building and lighting it.

I just started, so Im looking for ideas about early construction. I plan on using the Moebius Lighting kit and some Paragrafix photoetch parts.

Right now I'm looking for ideas on how to make the top and bottom hull sections easy to separate, and how to make the landing gear and covers removable for both in-flight and stationary display. I already have a couple ideas that I'm testing now.











IT'S ALIVE!


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Got the lower hull light blocked, primed and painted with initial coat of German Silver. Still not sure how I want to finish it - dull or gloss. Leaning toward dull as that will be much more realistic - but it would look sweet with a nice gloss too!

I went with the un-finned fusion core, though I know its not canon. The fit of the fusion core to the hull requires modification in order to avoid unsightly gaps, which are caused by pressure on the 3 mounting tabs by the opening in the lower hull. This can be resolved by simply cutting off the mounting tabs or deepening the tab notches in the lower hull. I went with the latter, but the notches are visible once the core is mounted -but the gaps are gone and the core fits cleanly. Since the notches aren't much more visible than the seam between the core and lower hull, I just used a thin bead of caulk to fill in the gaps - worked great.

Also realized that there is a 4th mounting pin on the inside of the core for the clear insert which must be snipped to allow proper fit of the insert. 

I want the ability to display the ship in both in-flight and stationary mode so I elected a simple method to pressure-fit the legs into the gear bays. I snipped the mounting tabs off the top ends of the landing gear and instead glued on a thick piece of sheet styrene. I built the rear walls of the gear bays out as a slot to allow the gear to pressure-fit. I built the gear with the struts glued solid for rigidity, since the ships weight rests mostly on them, not the legs. 

I plan on using magnets to allow for easy mounting/removal of the gear bay covers for in-flight mode.

To allow for easy mounting/removal of the top and bottom hulls, I opened up the mount pin holes and cut 3/16 inch off the mounting pins. I also made a very slight rounded notch in the rear of the lower hull so that I can easily remove the top hull by using my fingers.


----------



## Opus Penguin (Apr 19, 2004)

I like this idea. I have been struggling on how to have both landing gear down and flight mode. Seems you accomplished this.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Gear done and pressure-fit into hull


----------



## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

Great ideas.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Painted the guide rail in the landing gear bays black. Painted the floor - painted the entire floor dark brown first, then tried the vinyl center from Paragrafix and that went badly - as careful as I was I could not get it to lay as flat and smooth as it should, so I had to peel it off and resand - then when I tried to use the outer vinyl as a mask for the center that went badly too - I should have de-tacked the vinyl so it wouldnt pull the paint below - resand, repaint floor - aarggh. Then I made a mask for the center with a compass and cut it out by hand and lightly tacked it on with repositionable spray adhesive - finally worked! Then sprayed the elevator base aluminum and sprayed the entire floor with dullcote. So far, pretty good but still not as good as I would like.

Then assembled the walls - the front seams where the vertical white light band goes is a less than perfect fit - in order to be able to mount white tape over it flush I had to do some delicate hand trimming of the band/seam area, mostly at the the lower front edges. Then I might lightly fill the entire seam to make it flat inside the outer raised edges in hopes of getting a nice, clean look where I dont see the tape lifting out of the seams. But I wont know this till after the walls are painted and trimmed to fit nicely in the floor.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Got my first wall done - trimmed the white light band seams, painted base coat, painted the insert masks and stuck them on the wall (instead of masking to save paint - worked great) - then painted the aluminum rails around the white light band, then applied the light band cut from gloss white sticker paper. Not too shabby! I hope the rest of the model comes out as good as this one wall...


----------



## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Your off to a great start! This is, to me, THE most pleasurable model I have ever built. In fact, I have built and sold (2), and have a 3rd started. This model fits together like a high-dollar jigsaw puzzle. Take your time, and it will be the masterpiece of your model collection. The fact that we have so many great cottage-industry parts at our fingertips, ie: lighting kits, photoetch parts, resin parts and figures, makes it even better. Make full use of them as well! (By the way, I prefer the VoodooFx light kit. It WORKS!) There's also some great boards out there for the computer wall Fx now, they really bring it to life! Throw some fibers in the astrogator too! The B9 robot from Johnny Lighting can be easily modified (remove the "wheels" and grind off the botttom slightly) to fit perfectly inside, and Drew's figures are great too! Best of luck, keep us posted on your progress! Tim


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Thanks Tim! Though I dont plan on as intricate with the lighting as you have with your intense build - I dont have the skill or patience for that level of work, so I'm just gonna build a clean and simple Jupiter 2 

Support walls are done!


----------



## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Colhero

Your paint job is so amazingly sharp and clean! Even in close picture there is no marks of paint blurring along the seams between colors!! Fantastic!!

That explain your incredible job on the PL 1/350 E Refit.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Fernando Mureb said:


> Colhero
> 
> Your paint job is so amazingly sharp and clean! Even in close picture there is no marks of paint blurring along the seams between colors!! Fantastic!!
> 
> That explain your incredible job on the PL 1/350 E Refit.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


Hey Fernando, nice to hear from you again and thanks for the compliments! Actually, I cant seem to get airbrush coats to be smooth - even on these flat walls, with a very thinned mix -arrrgh. If all these various colors were available in rattle-cans I would go that way! 

I painted 2 doors - the one on the left was done by hand/brush - the one on the left by airbrush. All the intricate masking and touchups after masks were removed almost makes the hand brushing method easier.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Wow - I wasnt fully prepared for all the small detailing on this kit - BIG KUDOS to all of you who have seriously tackled the detailing. And even bigger kudos to those of you who have added lighting for the small details :thumbsup:

When I opened the box up I was shocked at how small the parts were - some of you guys made the interior look like it was 2 feet in diameter. 

So then came the choice of how to tackle the details - photoetch, paint or decals? I bought the Paragrafix brass set and again was shocked at how small the parts were. Then came the realization that the fine decals would not work over the brass or kit parts - then the realization that the brass is really only good for lighting, unless you fill all the open light holes, and risk compromising the fine detail in the process. 

Then I came to the choice of grinding the details flat and using the decals, which would look very clean and crisp (but one-dimensional) or paint the details on the kit parts. I decided that the only way to keep the raised details was to paint the kit parts. Aaarrgh. So they wont look nearly as sharp as the decals but they will have dimension. 

I did use the brass for the speakers though - but I wish they were a little smaller - the only advantage to using brass for the speakers is the speaker holes. Again a compromise that I'm not completely happy with. Whatever, it will still look good when it's done and it's a lot of fun.

Notes:
-I will be painting the wall mounting tabs so they blend in with the floor.
-My camera adds red, hence the salmon-flavor to the walls.
-I used the Paragrafix "Derelict" inlay for the scanner screen to commemorate my favorite LIS episode.


----------



## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

*GASP!!*

Man, I can't remember a so well done paint job like this, especially on the "lights" and buttons. You made them so perfect that I now am seriously considering do the same on those places where I will not use lighting.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Got a couple of the walls done. The ladder rungs were kindof a pain - only one of the 4 were molded straight so I had to bend the others and even cut and rebuild one of them - ack. The clear elevator floor is impossible to paint so I might get the Fedoratron inserts which will show more detail. 

I think I mounted the 3 red tanks on the left wall upside down - oh well! :thumbsup:


----------



## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

Great painting details ! ! The thing about the decals is that they are very nice, and transforms the jupiter 2 into a nice display , However, painting those same details as nice as you have DO bring those great details moebius included to life, I mean your interior IS OUTSTANDING ! !, I WILL be watching your progress.l
BERT
MODEL MAKER


----------



## scifimodelfan (Aug 3, 2006)

Beautiful, great work the best one I have seen as of yet. Your crisp details are amazing.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Thanx for the kind words gents!

I made the landing gear and covers removable - I showed how I setup the landing gear in an earlier post. For the covers, I glued magnets to the insides of the covers and in the sides of the gear bays where they wont typically be seen at the most common display and photo angles.


----------



## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

Looks great so far! The sharp details are what makes this kit something else!


----------



## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

You have mad painting skills--just amazing!


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

I put down the paintbrush for today to do some utility work - installed the Moebius light kit in the lower hull - I put the 2 controls and the power socket all in the rear landing gear bay so it would easier to hide in both stationary and in flite mode.


----------



## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

She is so... big.


----------



## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Very nice work.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Captain Han Solo said:


> Very nice work.


Thanks Mark - I'm a big fan of your work!


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Just about finished with the computer wall - mostly hand painted with a few of the stock kit decals. I went with the Second season silver tape reels instead of the third season yellow. For the circuit wall I sprayed the entire clear kit piece black, then the wall color - then i sanded the paint off the raised squares by just rubbing the face flat across sandpaper - this left a light-blocked framework around the raised circuit panels which I then painted clear yellow and red - then I applied the kit circuit decals and dullcoated the entire circuit wall - looks good but preliminary light testing shows much of the detail and color differential becomes lost with the yellow light behind it.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Light testing:

I tested with the top hull fitted on and discovered that in order for the top and bottom hulls to fit properly, the floor, walls, ceiling and lights all have to fit with close tolerances. Which unfortunately means that the ceiling lights end up protruding past the plane of the ceiling and are therefore visible at most angles.


----------



## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Absolutely Fantastic!


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Quick update - been working on the Freezer Tubes and walls;


----------



## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

Outstanding detail painting, wow ! ! !
Bert


----------



## Maritain (Jan 16, 2008)

Did you paint the interior consoles with a brush or did you mask and spray? 
Either way it looks fantastic!


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Maritain said:


> Did you paint the interior consoles with a brush or did you mask and spray?
> Either way it looks fantastic!


Thanks for the compliments gents!

The walls were a mix of mask/spray and brush - the base color and aluminum were masked/sprayed and the rest was brushed.

Another couple update shots:

The freezer walls/tubes were fairly straight forward. Not finished yet but testing well.

The flight console will be a challenge - I decided to use the photo etch parts, painting the base colors, then applying decals over each of the smaller sections, not as a whole decal in order to achieve both part and decal details. Some decals sections will be applied water-slide (like the 2 small side panels on the console shown) and some will be cut and glued on with their backing so they dont deform over the part detail (like the 2 large round decals in the lower corners of the console shown)


----------



## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Great paintwork. Outstanding really. Love your ideas for the landing gear with the magnets and slotted mounting tab arrangement. Not to stray too far OT but I was wondering if there is enough room inside the hull to mount a battery pack of some kind. I was thinking it might be neat to install a slide switch in one of the landing gear wells so you could switch between external power and internal batteries for when you want to fly the ship around the room or take in-flight photos without a cord attached. I did something similar with my AMT TOS Romulan Bird of Prey but had to use small watch style batteries which tend to drain rather quickly.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Thanks Mr Trekriffic! - yeh there's enough room in the 1:32 kit for a battery pack configuration. Sounds like a good idea.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Quick update - Flight Console
Again, I completed the 3 control panels using both hand-painting and Paragrafix decals over Paragrafix photoetch parts.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Pilots chairs: spray painted the pieces separately, then assembled to avoid brush painting - then I used a permanent black marker for the armrests and the round sections.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Flight Console and Astrogator finished -


----------



## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Man, your pictures will certainly be reference to me when building mine. Of course, my shacking hands won't be of any help.


----------



## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Incredible!


----------



## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Again, excellent work. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Finished with the interior! I used hot glue to bind the floor and walls together so it's pretty solid - I used black RTV to bind the freezer tubes to the floor to help light blocking. The walls are nice and tight to the floor with no spaces or light leaks because I glued it all together while the ceiling was taped on. Very happy with it


----------

