MechTech

Thanks guys! Maybe next year I'll HAVE to do the SDF-1! (I have one good clear ball left). We actaully did manage to celebrate the REAL reason for the season, but I must admit I spent a lot of time playing, errr I mean building my children's toys. Yes I am a true Macross fan (if the Daedalus build doesn't say that clear enough, I don't know what will ). I thought the original ornament was naked, so I updated it a bit. Thanks again for your kind and entertaining words! - MT [attachmentid=39255] [attachmentid=39256]

Update 25 December 06 Merry Christmas! Here's the latest work so far. My family chipped in and got me this awesome drill press:Drill Press Link Thursday I got my fourth propeller in off back order (thanks Pandan! - Pandan Models) . Since the props thread on to the motor shafts directly and I have no way of securing them, I put dual grub screws on them to secure them. [attachmentid=39242] Drilling and allignment jig. [attachmentid=39243] Tapping the threads. [attachmentid=39244] Grub screw closeup - look at all that room! Six blades doesn't give you much work space! [attachmentid=39245] The controller water tight copartment. Individual holes were drilled for each wire and the small amount of space in between was filled with silicone. It came out better than expected. [attachmentid=39246] Battery holder posts and begining of conduit to run power wires. [attachmentid=39247] My young daughter wanted me to photograph her Play Doh pizza while shooting these, so enjoy ! I was hoping to have her test run for Christmas morning, but it looks like I'm shooting for New Years day now. Enjoy your holiday time off everyone! For those that may not get holiday time off, thank you for "holding down the fort" for the rest of us. - MT

Here's this year's Macross ornamnet. I didn't think I would keep to the ship's theme this year too, but it was easy and took less time from the Daedalus build (updating that today too). [attachmentid=39237] [attachmentid=39238] [attachmentid=39239] Last year's Daedalus ornament on the tree [attachmentid=39241] Open Merry Christmas! - MT

Thanks bigF. You must be spending too much time here. No wait, there's no such thing. I haven't seen the new transformers movie yet, hopefully it's good. How about the weather here lately!? You'd think we're in the Atlanatic or something . - MT

UPDATE 18 Dec 06 Here's the MPEG's of the stabilizers. The solenoids were too weak (worked on the workbench great ). The winch motors were overkill (but will still power other things), so I got a couple of micro servos and they were just right (starting to sound like a story about a blonde chick and 3 bears). [attachmentid=39068] Stabilizer out. [attachmentid=39069] Stabilizer in. I still used pulleys and string because springs tension the stabilizers out automatically. If they strike something or some dummy forgets to retract them before moving the hull around, they just roll back into their socket. I don't have them wired in (or anything else yet) so that's why the two movies, I had to switch the wires. On a side note, the great birthday cake my wife got for me: [attachmentid=39070] Desert Sand chocolate (tasted good too) [attachmentid=39073] This was the tank on the cake - cool in a Transformers kinda way. I'm off to bed. I'm hoping to finish some details on the motor pod and wire everything in for a test drive! - MT Stabilizer_Out.MPG Stabilizer_In.MPG

The Hygog looks like a lobster after throwing him into a pot of boiling water . Nice experiment with colors though. - MT

Oh great, you're already making more work for me ! I was supposd to have the stabilizers done and MPEG'd, but one of the arms sripped out so I had to fix it. I'll hopefully get it done this week. - MT

Looks great! Semper Fi! (Wait, did I just say that out loud?)

Hey HWR, looks great. I'm waiting for the figure to start shouting out commands in German! Too bad I didn't get to meet up with you. I know you're leaving soon. - MT

Hey neptunesurvey, yes, that is a drydock (although it was all wet after moving the ship from the water ). I'm going to make a fancy stand for it later on out of plxiglass sheet and tube. Some engraving with LED's to pickup the highlights would look cool too, hmmm. I haven't touched the superstructure yet, but I think on it often. I'm working out the elevator/door design and the ramp, main hatch designs. I'm going to have to build lighter than what I originally thought on. I've got lots of 1mm styrene, but I'm going to have to go with .020" to keep weight down. The ramp will have to be lighter too I think. I'm going to have to do some "supermodel"engineering to keep the weight down to a minimum up top. If she's not top heavy when all's said and done, it still is windy here a lot. Turning into the wind helps, but a good broadside gust could capsize her . I'm going for serious stability! - MT

UPDATE 12 Dec 06 Thank you guys again for the encouragement and compliments! Sorry about the whole water thing do not disturb. At least no one saw ME do it . After I finish the bottom, the top will have two elevators, opening main hatch, folding ramp, water guns and some other goodies I'm working on. Chas you're too funny man, "Daedalus Day, December 9th." You get the first "card." I was wanting to do the stabilizer actuators this week, but I figured I better fix the battery compartments first since some of the linkages will run through that area. Remember the battery on top of the front (and it was still VERY stable!) and the battery propped up towards the front, they're all fixed now! [attachmentid=38915] The front battery compartment. [attachmentid=38916] Another view. [attachmentid=38917] The midship battery area rebuilt and the tab box shortened with new strengthening. This will lower the center of gravity and increase the stability even more - yeah! Maybe I'll get to the actuators this week after all Take care guys - MT

All right dude, you're making me jealous, you're gonna be done before me ! It looks great! I'm gonna have the same problem with what to put in for details in those "holes." I've got some ideas though. Keep up the great work! When's the Daedalus coming? - MT

UPDATE 10 DEC 06 Make a stand! It's an expression. I needed a maintenance stand for working on it and for the water side. Thanks again everyone for the encouraging words. I always knew it would float (I've built a bunch of other ships before-but not scratch built to this degree). I just didn't know how well. [attachmentid=38837] Building the maintenance stand. [attachmentid=38838] Completed stand covered with pipe insullation and yellow foam board. [attachmentid=38839] My favorite lunch box and spare (still unwrapped) are going to become my electronics and radio boxes. The gasket seal on them and quick release handles make these perfect. I picked them up on sale at an asian market back home. [attachmentid=38840] One of the winches to control the stabilizers. [attachmentid=38841] Another view. [attachmentid=38842] The winches (one shown with lines on either end) and pulleys. These are what will actuate the stabilizers. I'll make an MPEG when it's all hooked up. That's as far as I got last night. - MT

UPDATE 9 Dec 06 Her first taste of the reservoir ! [attachmentid=38806] With the pod up. [attachmentid=38807] With the pod down. [attachmentid=38808] Regular side shot. [attachmentid=38809] Top layout. (Note the batteries towards the front) I was afraid I was going to have to make room in the front half for a battery and I was right as you can see. I always balance everything out before mounting it in place. The least amount of weight I have to add later on to balance her out, the better. Keep in mind the top half isn't on there yet either. The hull is VERY STABLE. It pops right back into place after rocking it in the water. Good news ! Everything went well except for my leg slipping into the freezing water and cutting my hand aftr falling - BUT THE SHIP IS OK! Tonight I'm hooking up the actuators for the side stabilizers. - MT

Another reason I cut back on sodas. Coke is great for cleaning REAL chrome bumpers too by the way. - MT

Great work Chas! Well worth the effort. Models rock! (Not that I'm biased or anything )

Thank you guys for all the compliments and comments. Two notes: it is actually shorter than six feet (by about three inches UNTIL the top goes on. There is significant over-hang by both thre rear and front parts of the upper hull sections. I used Krylon "Ruddy Brown" primer. I still have to fill some minor seam marks and resand-primer. I'm praying for "smooth seas" this weekend. It has been windy and rainy all week since Sunday! My only real concern is getting the electronics wet. I'm taking all the guts and doing a check to see how deep SO FAR she sits in the water. Remember, I'm only floating it with the bottom half so far. I'll be sure to get pictures and let everyone know how it goes - rain or shine - MT

He's stripping ! Now you can have a stealthy and translucent SDF-1! That kit looks like it has better detail than the old one I have! Keep up the good work and WELCOME! - MT

UPDATE 4 DEC 06 FLOAT TEST! YEA IT WORKS! NO PROBLEMS! [attachmentid=38635] Here's the front. It's so stable, you can rock it with the 4.5lb battery on top! [attachmentid=38636] Here's the back with all three batteries (13.5lbs). Plenty of buoncy to spare! I think I'll have to add some weight to the hull (still have more goodies to put on anyhow). When the winds and rain let up, I'm going to the reservoir! - MT

My favorite stuff is goo gone: http://www.magicamerican.com/googone.shtml I haven't had it ruin any styrene stuff and I wash any residue off with off the shelf isopropyl alcohol it doesn't seem to mess with paint either. It;s probably fine for ABS then too! - MT

At last someone makes one! Looks great! - MT

UPDATE 3 DEC 06 PRIMER!!! Hey SDF-1, sorry about the files. Funny thing is, I can't open them either!!!??? If you know of another way to post these, I'd be happy to do it. Like how some people post the picture directly into the thread - I don't even know how to do that. Thanks for the compliments Thor. Each thruster housing in itself is watertight. The covers with silicone RTV seal the back - that's easy. The front has a plate that holds the motor on with two screws. Each plate has a tube assembly filled with epoxy around the shaft seals. The shaft seals are a grease seal on the front followed by two brass rings that also seal the shaft. The area between the brass rings is filled with silicone oil (the silicone oil won't harm the styrene). If you look a few days back you can see the oil fill spouts. The primer revealed a few flaws (like I thought it would). You can see the width of the beam a little bit better now. After I glued the three skegs on the back (that's what they're called on a surfboard) it reminded me of a surfboard! [attachmentid=38624] Side [attachmentid=38625] Bottom [attachmentid=38626] The stern (three hydrodynamic skegs on the right). After my wife and I looked at several drawings, we agreed this type was the closest to canon (verses having a squared of rear right on top of the motor box). This week it's float test time!!! - MT

Thanks guys! Some more plastic work to the rear (conflicting drawings to choose from) and it's paint time! The front half has primer on it now! I'm changing the actuators for the stabilizers (old ones too weak), and it's time to make her ready to run. I've gotta float test her to figure out where the batteries go best. Maybe this weekend! - MT

Thanks guys! The scales are tipping now towards the show colors! I'm gonna have to work on some shades of blue and red. Maybe dark gray for the upper deck??? - MT

UPDATE 28 Nov 06 Thank you honneamise for the humbling words. I've been wanting to build something like this for about a decade now. It's all those years of collecting parts and models to build this thing that help keep me going. Not to mention tonight's test! Your work is awesome too by the way. I always wanted to build models professionally, but it's not my calling. Thanks isamu too! I'll let you know when it's ready to go! It might be spring time by then!? Yeah! We got steering now! If the MPEG's work, you can see for yourselves... [attachmentid=38553] This is a Futaba 3802 sail servo (brass gears and bearings) heavily modified. The stop pin on the inside is removed to allow 360 degree constant rotation and the potentiometer has been moved out to the external gear (you can just see it under the acrylic box). What used to drive a giant sail arm, now spins a pinion gear. That turns the spur gear giving me more power and a slower steering rate. The giant nut on the spur gear is part of a stop mechanism (underneath) to keep the gear from ripping the potentiometer apart should a bad radio glitch occur. [attachmentid=38554] Steering in action (MPEG). [attachmentid=38555] Steering in action showing the gears working (MPEG). This is only a test and all of the mountings and hardware still need cleaning up and lubricating. But all work and no play... I borrowed the receiver setup from my other 1/200 ship for now. I can't seem to get the MPEG's to work. Anybody got some ideas? - MT Steering_Side.MPG Steering_Below.MPG