Case Mod - In Progress Battlestar Galactica Mod: Complete!

Another productive weekend!

I managed to get the side skirts integrated onto the main piece. Here's how I did it:

First I needed to make a paper template for the inner braces that will hold the side skirts in place.
Since I formed them on the same foam buck as the main piece, they should be a mirror image of it.
So I took a piece of paper, folded it in half and cut it to fit the curve with the fold facing up. I strung a
piece of tape across for something to square off of.




I unfolded it and cut my braces. Made two of those, then made two smaller shapes and cut four
of each so I ended up with five braces per side.


Next was to cut a floor with notches for the braces. I used the built-in line in the plastic (made from the
wood base of the foam buck) as a guide to glue down the floor.


Then I glued in the braces, making sure they were square.


When those set up, I tacked down the side skirts. It didn't matter too much that there were some
gaps here and there, as you'll see in the next step.


Out came the Plasti-Paste once again for a good helping of reinforcement. I cut the floor out temporarily
so I could get to both sides.


Even so, it was a bear getting the stuff in the inner pockets. That was a good stopping point,
so I let it set up overnight.


The next day I rolled the table out for some more sanding and bondo filling. Oh what fun.




Didn't need much, and only a few areas needed minor spot putty.


After working the edges a bit more, I blew all the dust off it and brought the case out for a test fit.








Not bad! I may not even have to shave anything off.

You might think I can put the ribs on now, but there's one more thing I have to do first. I want to
add some detail to the surface: Pipes, various sized squares of paneling and such. It will be much
easier doing it now, than trying to work in between the ribs. If all goes well, I can get that done this
week, then rib next weekend.

 

checked out your website, awesome work
737 rocks cos it's completely custom. mystique is very custom aswell... but BSG looks like some nice panels stuck on a pc case... i vote for another completely custom case, one in the shape of BSG. it doesn't have to be an exact replica, you can squash it up like you did with the 737

 

awesome!! Glad someone is doing a bsg mod and has the skill to do it. I love the way that you can actually use the landing pod to duct the exhaust from the top fan rather than it blowing straight up. sweet!

 

Thanks, but trust me when I'm done, this will be almost unrecognizable as a CMStacker. BSG will be more of a "custom" case than Mystique, because I will have a lot more going on on the inside as well.

keep watching!

 

Time for my Sunday evening update. Not much has transpired since my last significant update.
Last time we left off with finishing up the side skirts and preparing the surface for the detailing.
Well I got most of it done over the last two days. It was good because this type of work could
easily be done in the living room with the wife and our 3-yr old. Although when my pile of
styrene piping disappeared, I knew who to ask!

Here I had just finished cutting up the first batch of squares of various sizes and shapes. You can
see the printout of high res reference photos of the Galactica on the right (thank you Starshipbuilder.com).
In order to save myself some work, I drew a rough outline of where the outer armor plating will be,
so I knew where not to add the detail (since it will be covered up anyway.)


...And after I got one side completed. I basically followed the ref photos loosely, just using them
as a general guideline. I proceeded in a random fashion so as not to look too uniform.


Some close up shots. Keep in mind all this will be painted the same color in the end.








For the detailing I used .040 Styrene sheet, and half-round styrene rod for the piping. The sheet came with
ultra-thin flexible strips, so I decided to use them as well for a smaller size pipe.

After adding a bit more detail on the side skirts, I think I can finally prepare the landing bay for the ribs.
If it works out, it's going to look awesome! Stick around.

8)

 

awesome. thats very fine detailing you got going there, keep it up!

 

Holy cow!

I've never even seen BSG, but I cn tell this projects set to be top notch.

 

It looks like the detail will make this mod even better than I thought it would be. Great job.

 

your vacuum forming table in the link in your site is very impressive

 

I must say - you are seriously great!! Excellent mods!!

 

Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate the comments!

Well, my little ribbing scheme didn't work the way I thought it would.

I was originally thinking I could build up the ribs using more Plasti-Paste, first by laying down strips of weatherstripping with a 1/8" gap in between, then troweling the paste over the whole thing and working it into the 1/8" slots thus making up the ribs. But when I couldn't find weatherstripping of a suitable size, I turned to foam strips as a possible solution. I cut a bunch of those and sprayed one side with adhesive. But that didn't work either because the strips wouldn't take to the curves very well and the ends would pop up as a result.
So I am now in the process of laying the ribs down one by one, using 1/8" thick styrene strips cut to 1/4".

Sorry I don't have pics just yet, my DSL is down at home. I will post them tonight if I can get my internet back up.

 

Smooth and cool!
Great work!

 

So my internet at the house is still down, so I brought the pics into work and posted them.

Here's what I was trying to do with the foam strips, but they wouldn't stick.


So I cut up a bunch of styrene strips and went to work.


I have to fit each strip over the detail pieces. (had I known I was going to do it this way, I would have added the
detailing after laying down the ribs.)




The styrene is very soft. Doesn't need much heat to become pliable.


Here's where I'm at, about 1/4 done. But you can kinda see what it will look like.


Once all the ribbing is in place, I will add the outer armor pieces over select areas, then add detail to them.

 

Awesome. I had an idea to do a BSG mod once, seems like it's very similar.

I can't wait for this, you are the man.

 

totally awesome cant wait to see it done, the detail you put into is just grazy

 

I love the concept, can't wait to see the finished case!

 

I dont like battlestar glactica but I do like your work.

 

Jesus thats good! Any fans of the show will look at that and recognise it instantly even in this form

 

are there no tensions in the basematerial when heating the strips ?

 

my question is: we going for Combat landings? or what?
lol thats looking good.

are you going to add some "battle Dmg" in there?

personally im a fan of the Pegasus but still very impressive cant wait to see more!