View Full Version : Moebius Seaview (with mods)
Picked up the kit, fit the parts together - just about perfect alignment and well-thought out - and started taking a real look at the proportions and shapes. One non-problematic oddity came up while I was fitting circular hull-bulkheads (I travel to a lot of shows with my models and have learned it's better to reinforce wherever possible), and found that the lower hull between the strakes is an 1/8" deeper than the hull is wide, resulting in an oblong/egg-shaped cross-section. This isn't a drawback to the overall look of the model; on the other hand, anyone converting this model back into the eight-window version should account for it if they're using the studio-plans which have a fully circular hull cross-section. The one other thing that struck me was that the strakes along the hull have semi-rounded edges, and this leads into the manta wings around the bow, which grows even more more rounded/blunt. Also, my opinion only, the cross-section was too flat, with not enough down-curvature down toward the tips. First thing I did was to score the lower half of the wing-set around the hangar, with narrow wedges fore and aft 'notched' out (the score-lines marked in photo) and the re-sectioned parts glued back onto the main section. A .40 by .188 Evergreen strip was glued around the outer edges. The upper half of the wings were scored and snapped away in a similar fashion, but spread out farther to 'wrap' around the lower tips (the white areas inside the score-lines), and packed with styrene strips. The joints and the edges past the recessed joint-seams were filed down to thin them. I used Bondo glaze to fill over all the work. When I'm finished installing the control-room, the wings will be glued together and shaped; the few topside pictures I've seen show an ogive leading-edge til they reach the inset bow-planes.
The control room is a straightforward buildup, with glow-medium added to the acrylics for the missile-control panel, lights, radar/sonar screens, and TV displays (both have the same image, a giant manta ray creature gliding beneath an ice-flow). The two scientists arguing about the creature, the two crewmembers at the helm-station (whom I had to bisect at the hips to fit behind the control-wheels), and the standing crewmembers, were resin castings I made impressions from in clay, then painted up to match the kit crew-figures. The control-room looked a little barren of people so I went with this quick fix; because they were only detailed on the front-side, I positioned them at angles only visible through the main windows. The remaining controls, etc. were picked out with pens, pencils, acrylics, and enamels. The world-map was painted in on the port side of the observation room. I lost one of the center-girders that fits behind the central window-frame, so traced the opposite piece on plastic sheet, drilled out the holes, cut out, and glued in place. Still have to sort through some LEDs and rig internal lighting. There is no ceiling or crossbeams in the kit, so making clear PETG ceiling with the beams glued in proper position.
rider
05-15-2008, 04:31 AM
A great start. Look forward to this, my guess is it's going to look most dramatic ;)
Sherlock Holmes
05-15-2008, 07:46 AM
I am picking up one of these in the next few days.
And am looking forward to building and lighting it.
(after a few other projects are done....:rolleyes:)
This ones a greeat start so far.
Colors for the control room look real good.
Gil
Batzilla
05-15-2008, 09:09 PM
Hey Orne!
It's Joe from Boulder Station and Vegas IPMS. Good to see you're still at it and nit picky as ever ;). I'm sure this will be an awesome build. I'm going to the San Diego IPMS contest in June. Hope to see you and the "Nelson's Folley" there. Be cool.
Joe =/\=
Joe, heard you might show at the Best of the West, but didn't see you. San Diego is real iffy right now, same family medical problems only moreso now.
Don't take what I'm saying above as nitpicky, the kit is a real treat, and I can say that honestly since I've scratchbuilt a 36" and 66" version (don't think you saw the pictures of that one). One other alteration I might attempt is a 2" hull plug in the mid-section; some pictures were posted on another site showing the corrections. The model is fine if it's based on the 8' shooting model, and only comes up a bit short in length compared to the 17' model. It's really all apples and oranges, I've already seen another build-up straight from the box and it looked great as is.
Haven't gotten around to flicking off a few shots of the side-view of the bow-section, maybe tomorrow, had a busy day/night.
Side views of the manta ray wing re-work.
Still have to trim the hull-extension, but the basics are done. 1 1/2" plug-extensions from inside the rear hull opening, and the 2" exterior hull skins. The outer parts are two layers of .030 laminated together, will wait till the fore and aft sections are together, and laminate thinner .20 skin to finish off the 'plating', and insert the deck, strake, and keel extensions.
A better closeup of the starboard interior.
Captain Han Solo
05-18-2008, 07:46 PM
You Mods look Great.
I am currently going to do the same on my Next Seaview, after I finish my current build.(See Avatar)
High Regards
Beatlepaul
One thing about hull-extensions, finishing off all the work with the port and starboard halves are together, not as fore and aft assemblies. Reading others are making control-surfaces operate; the center rudder and tailfins are a simple mod, groove slots between the assembled parts and insert RC aircraft barndoor hinges. There are even simpler thin nylon tabs.
Batzilla
05-18-2008, 10:41 PM
All Hail to those who have the cajones to rip into a hundred dollar model with no fear of failure!
Joe =/\=
Not the first time - my Lunar Models J2 had a stiffer price-tag and so worked that one over the only thing that was still original was the dome atop the saucer.
Raytheon
05-19-2008, 05:30 AM
^Ain't that sometimes the way? :D
Gonna be a peach this one!
More dryfitting tonight, checked the control room and it fits snugly inside the bow, with appropriate gaps between the front girders and the window frames to insert the clear kit parts. Replacing the windows with distortion-free .030 PETG inserts and some strips to match up to the girders. The center hull 2" extension is mostly completed; that may be slightly larger than stated on other forums, but making some deck modifications to take advantage of the stretched hull. I know this is heresy to some, maybe a lot, but wiring wheat bulbs and some bayonet bulbs for the light-system, possibly one large LED salvaged from a flashlight for the searchlight. My J2 was wired with bulbs (72 altogether, including several 7.2 maglites), and I've never had a problem with it since '92 with the exception of a blown fuse. It's KISS time.
The control room with lighting attached. Some parts salvaged from a pair of rechargeable flashlights, including two halogen lights for the rear lighting and searchlight, and the two square housings with LEDs mounted to the centerline. The rest are clear/colored wheat bulbs. The inner hull-halves around the control room were painted flat black and lined with metal tape; extra tape strips were added around the halogen bulbs to reflect any heat off the plastic. Some added photos of the interior before lighting was attached. It's very hard to see with the camera flash, but the interior is pretty well lit; most of the color wheats were washed out but a pair of clears mounted over the two recessed bays just behind the window area illuminates these. All the wiring is connected to a power jack fitted inside the first display stand mounting-hole, and is powered by a standard 9V wallpack transformer.
The sail has three colored wheats for the position lights (two clears were mounted in the tailfins); I mounted a balsa inner deck with holes drilled out for the aluminum tube shafts. One extra shaft was added for a second periscope. I'm using the kit masts, but fixing them to aluminum tubes which will fit inside the shafts. The trailing edge of the sail is a little too blunt, so added some evergreen strips and filed down to a knife-edge.
Update - the hull coming together minus some of the deck and engine pods. Reshaped the leading edge of the tailfins with .060 strips. Widened the pod horizontal fins by half an inch at the rear edge; they looked a little too narrow out of the box.
The only serious flaw I've found with the kit design, the hangar bay has an egg-shape to it, instead of the flattened hatch opening of the originals. Inserted wedge-spacers inside the opening at the corners (arrows) to support the hatch (pressed the corners down and left it sandwiched between two bricks in the sun, let it cool down, and filed the edges a little to fit more snugly); the entire surrounding area (bordered with white lines) of the bay hump was padded with sections of sheet styrene, filed down smooth at the corners, and packed with several layers of glaze. Still working on that section.
To match the extended hull length, moved the deck section with the sail plug back several inches; reinserting other deck pieces to fill the gap. Because most of those 'limber holes' made little sense on a modern nuclear boat, added thin .020 strips (cut from cheap 'For Rent' signs) to cover those; left exposed two small sets of vents on each side.
The 'bow-tie' outline of the main windows was opened up; added benefit is that more of the control room is visible. The panes were cut from the upper cone of a liter pop bottle and glued inside the front-section.
Rebuilding the upper deck, and positioned some of the re-sectioned kit parts. Added scratchbuilt features, a cruise-missile (or sounding rocket) launch-tube bay forward of the sail; a revised missile-deck sized to accomadate anything up to a Trident C-2 ICBM, with staggered hatches scribed in place, will add thin hatch covers later; and a vertical sea-launch bay for the Venus Probes seen during the run of the show. While the Venus Probes were shown in a few scenes, and a complete (and typically oversized) interior control-center was built and filmed, the Seaview models weren't changed for what should have been the placement of a large hatch. I used the 2" hull-section I built to extend the model as the location for the bay, drilling out the thick plastic and opening a square hole in the deck. I decided on a dimensional shape for the Venus Probe that I'll build later (the only full-size exterior 'set' used for the Probe was actually the FS tail-piece, but I'm designing something that would be more fitting, with a 'prototype' Jupiter II style fusion-core as the interplanetary drive-engine), and used the base to erect a six-sided launch-bay with vertical rails to keep the model from slopping around. The upper half of the bay was capped with an interior opening piece which I glued R/C aircraft CA hinges to the lengthwise edges. The two door-halves have some interior detail shaped from .060 strips.
Accurate blueprints of both Seaview studio models were posted over on HT, and showed the bow-profile was much more sloped than the Moebius model; did the best I could to follow the plans without hacking the model apart, and added a ridge made from strips, extending from the forward deck between the windows, and down over the searchlight housing.
The notch in the keel where the forward kit stand attaches is now the port for the power-jack. Building an all new support stand for the model.
Kuhn Global
08-08-2008, 10:47 AM
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
HOLY BUCKETS!!!!
This is BEAUTIFUL Work! :D
Thanks.
Added the hatches a little while ago, cleaning up the model for more Duplicolor filler primer. Still deciding on topside color; underside will be white.
Minor update, main hull colors laid down with 'station' demarcations. A lot of the pre-shading faded a bit under the finish coats; more visible against the white under-hull color. Pentel pen and charcoal pencils for the markings, applied between strips of painter tape. Sail the same shades as the upper hull; taped off for the rest of the upper paintwork. Fouled up the spacing toward the stern and will repaint that section. Deck and missile hatches next.
abledog
11-04-2008, 10:23 PM
Gorgeous... I've loved this sub since I was a kid, and it's one of those silhouettes that just stick with you. I think I'll put this kit on m y Christmas list.. ;) I really like what you're doing with her, and look forward to the finish on this baby!! :D :D :D
suki5150
11-04-2008, 10:39 PM
Fantastic work.
Doing mine soon. Love the panel work. Nearly all the versions I have seen have been too clean. This looks far more realistic.
Cheers,
Chris.
Suki, I mention it further back, but paint the stern before you attach the engine pods, makes it easier to mask.
suki5150
11-08-2008, 09:02 AM
Great tip, thanks.
It looks the best I've seen.
:D
Short update, went back and pretty much repainted the boat from the sail all the way to the stern-ends. Remade all the matching station-demarcations.
suki5150
06-12-2009, 11:19 AM
Sensational job there.
Love it !!
Cheers,
Chris.
Kuhn Global
06-13-2009, 02:29 AM
Looking really nice! Especially like the modern details on the top of the deck. Great work!
Agreed! :D
rider
06-13-2009, 01:15 PM
This is great work, and that color is fantastic. ;)
U-boater
06-13-2009, 03:15 PM
Magnificent piece of work! :notworthy:
I've always wondered what a modernized Seaview
would look like.
Well done Sir!
Damn. Thanx for all the nice compliments.
Didn't mention before, the topside is feather-blended (i.e. spraybombed over and over again til I liked the coverage) with the same shades of Duplicolor I used on my Year 5 Enterprise, metallic medium blue and pewter (the deck will be a lighter contrasting shade). The underside is just flat white with finish coats of Krylon gloss (matte finish later when I get the detailing done).
Getting closer to finishing the paint. The wear along the underside station-markings was pre-shaded with a medium blue penbrush, then lightly oversprayed with flat white and matte clear to seal. The upper mid-hull was weathered with combinations of grey and dark blue gelpens, blended with fingertip (looked like I had voted often in the last Iranian election). I masked the mid-hull, and the missile-hatches (painted a dark shadow grey), then spraybombed the entire deck with another blend of Duplicolor medium blue and Krylon Hunter Green. I used a different spacing for the deck-plating than the hull-stations, and scribed the plating in place; the stations were marked with black gelpen, weathered with combinations of green, brown, red penbrushes. The 'staining' from the limber-holes was drybrushed acrylics. Painted/weathered the hatches, etc. with drybrushed acrylics. The area between the tailfins looked a little bare with just the station-markings, so repainted that area and added the panel-detail with pencils, penbrushes, and acrylics; the panels were basically copied from the upper-fuselage panels of an F-16, but tapered to match the angled base of the fins.
Lost the original sail-planes from the kit, my bad, and scratchbuilt a new set from laminated sheet styrene; drilled both for connecting steel rods and faired them into the sail before pulling away the masking tape seen in the last batch of photos. The colors were matched to the mid-hull and underside. This is where I was last night, decided to shoot some pictures before I finished detailing the sail.
Closer to the finish of the finish. Added a misty spray coating of green over the deck and upper hull where a combination of sea and air 'wash' would rush along the exposed areas boat while it's running on the surface; mostly around the window area which rode above the bow-wave and the demarcation angling rear to the base of the tailfins.
Added Future to the windows; had some overspill but everything cleaned up with 70% alcohol.
Carl Goldberg 1/16" white trim tape marking the large hatch-edges, etc., and the depth-gage markings on forward hull, sail, and tailfins.
suki5150
10-12-2009, 12:58 PM
Brilliant job.
Cheers,
Chris.
Without getting into details, real life took some sharp turns since I last posted WIP pictures. Took a day out and did as much as possible with the construction/finish just prior to a local contest in October (and 'as is' I was surprised to take 1st place in SF vehicles). Still have some more work to go.
JAWS MODELS
02-06-2010, 05:16 PM
Damn this is looking good mate. Great work.
Final paint, finish, and detailing shot after return from Phoenix Nats. Spent a day beforehand touching up the weathering and re-doing the hull-station markings along the belly which had been obliterated in the meantime. Picked up an MCM variable-power adapter, but wasn't able to use it in Phoenix because the available sockets were on other side of aisle from the scratchbuilt category tables. Next around, completing FS-1 and auxilary vehicles.
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