# Tiny Flying Sub



## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Hey guys,

I just thought I would share these photos of my completed Moebius Flying Sub from the 1:128 TV Seaview kit.
There have been many photos posted of this subject. Most of them a lot better, taken by people who have better cameras and understand photography.

I purchased a Paragrafix etched brass interior for the sub, but I decided that I wanted to illuminate the three hexagons on the floor, as on the studio set. 
I ended building the interior from scratch and just using the photo etched girders. _Sorry Paul._ 

The floor was made from the clear tapered plastic from the back of an old cell phone screen. This stuff is used to disperse the light, applied across one edge of the screen, over the whole surface. A couple of tiny SMD LEDs epoxied onto the back edge supplies the light source. Some Tamiya clear yellow to tint the hexagons, masking and blue paint completed the floor. The rest of the interior is styrene sheet with the wonderful Paragrafix girders added. Yes there is also a little bunk bed. I used a photo of the rear control panel and printed it onto decal sheet.
I made a couple of new chairs that looked more like the ones in the Flying Sub rather than the main Seaview control room ones supplied. A 1:100 model railway figure was chopped up and shortened, to look more like 1:128 scale, and posed to sit in one of the chairs.
I found a multi-color LED that had a chip in it to flash through all its colors. That illuminates the reactor wall port holes through a frosty piece of plastic.
Another SMD LED was epoxied to the ceiling, right at the front tip, to provide some general illumination as the interior was a bit too gloomy.
Two SMD LEDs where also glued in behind the headlight moldings.


Here is the sub doing a low pass over the trees in the backyard.
Well it was actually hung by a thread (Photoshopped out) from the clothes line.
A brilliant day here in Wellington and not a cloud in the sky.
The two small holes at the rear are where the power connection is made.









Here is a view from the top. I made a new more accurate hatch and cast some copies.









The view from the front. Hope you can just make out the illuminated floor.
Impossible to get a good shot. _For me at least!_









And here is the guts in all its gutsy glory.









Hope you like it.

Alien


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## BWolfe (Sep 24, 2013)

Fantastic!


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

Nicely done! (No offense taken.  )


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

!!


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Pretty darned amazing build!! Haven't seen any better. Love the shot of the FS over the trees.


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## Nova Mike (Apr 26, 2009)

Well done indeed! And a nice clean paint job. :thumbsup:


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## Seashark (Mar 28, 2006)

Hey, that's great!


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

HOLY HAMSTER TURDS !! That is amazing!! BRAVO!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Hard to imagine a better built version of the little Flying Sub.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks for all the kind comments guys.
I am sure glad that I don't need to paint more yellow.

I used Tamiya yellow enamel and it is very 'translucent'. It needed a lot of coats, even over a light grey primer. Most annoying.  I should have stuck with Humbrol.

On to completing the 1:128 Seaview that has been sitting on a shelf for a couple of years, looking semi-completed with a coat of grey primer, but actually needs a lot more work.
At least my completed Flying Sup and Diving Bell will inspire me to get back into it.

Alien


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## fortress (Apr 1, 2006)

Alien said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I just thought I would share these photos of my completed Moebius Flying Sub from the 1:128 TV Seaview kit.
> There have been many photos posted of this subject. Most of them a lot better, taken by people who have better cameras and understand photography.
> ...


Very nice indeed! I was wondering where did you get the contol seats and the pilot
figure from?


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Hi Fortress,

I made the new seats from scratch.
The seat backs were cut from a piece of Evergreen styrene tube. That gave them the concave shape. (Not that you can see it now the sub is all sealed up)
Standard flat styrene for the seat. Another piece of tube cut so it goes around under the seat and up to the arm rests. Styrene strip for the armrests and a styrene rod to mount it all on. 
Sounds a lot of work but it took less than an hour. And paint covers a multitude of sins, especially at this scale.

The figure is a Preiser 1:100 scale Mechanic figure from their 74009 set.
It is a standing figure so he had to be cut at the waist and knees to 'sit him down'. Also cut at the elbows to bend his arms.
As the figure is a larger scale I trimmed him down at the cut points to shorten him up a bit. 
Preiser figures are exceptionally well molded and make a real difference to a model. Their heads are particularly realistic.

Alien


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

Again.....wow!
Did you say the floor hex sections light up? ...Its hard to tell from 
the image....so cool! :thumbsup:

I guess a small section of light sheet could work as well.

You want nutz.... I used a tiny pc light sheet for the upper 
view screen on my old school Bandai Space Battleship YAMATO
that is still on the bench from over 7 years ago....dont ask :tongue:
The image is kinda fuzzy from several transfers but there are super
fine cross lines on the blue screen.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Hi Fluke,

Love that Lightsheet in your Yamato.:thumbsup:

I did think about using Lightsheet for the small flying sub. (I will certainly use it for the big kit.) It would have worked really well but the problem would not be with the sheet, rather the more bulky inverter required to drive it. An inverter would not fit inside the sub and that would mean running high voltage into it via cables. 
So I thought the better of it. And I had the old cell phone screen available.

I do know what it is like to have something on the bench for a long long time.
Sometimes your interest wains, or you are just waiting for inspiration to strike.
Putting a model aside for a time never hurts. You just may have to clean the dust off it. (Depending where you store it.)
I certainly had a layer of dust on the Flying Sub.
My Seaview was just the same after waiting patiently for years on the shelf. But after doing some touch up filling on the seams and wet sanding I just took it outside, hosed it down, and let it dry in the sun. No more dust!

I do love a big model
Alien


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

wow. This turned out very well indeed! Great job! And thanks for sharing the "how" of the build as well!


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

Thanks for the kind words! 
Yup.....builds on the ol' bench. I started the Yamato then
I gotz me one of them Salzo 1/32 bsg Raptors....needlessly to say
that was quite the thrill build.


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