My Alpha build

[basetech]

Wow! Compared to what I see here, I feel like I'm unveiling my eighth grade science project. My medium is cardboard. I'ts easy to work with, very inexpensive, and if you make a mistake, into the recycling bin it goes. The base is in phase 3 or so by my count and now the painting, details, and other nitpicking can begin. (Yay!) I have other photos of the earlier stages, but this is the current one. I'll post more if I'm happy with how the nitpicking goes. I did manage to get the buildings lit up, it's very cool to look at in the dark, I will try to get a decent shot of that later. My wife says this is cheaper than therapy as long as I'm careful with my sharp objects.Later!

[VTracy]

Looks like you put in a lot of effort there! Nice work

Keep us posted

How about a pic with the lights on, in the dark, or at least low light?

[eagleharbor]

Wow very nice work!!! It should look awesome when done, hey, it even looks awesome now. keep us updated on your progress What scale are you working with ?

[basetech]

O.K! Now I'm psyched to continue! I just added a much needed extra counter in my workshop, so now I have all the space I need, so I did not get a whole lot done on Alpha this weekend. Now to answer your questions.

V-tech,thanks for writing! My neighbor is a photographer who is now drooling at the prospect of a low light shoot when we can put everything together-he was hooked the second I hit the lights. Please be patient, we're on it.

Eagleharbor, Howdy! Hang on to your slide rules, gang I am about to commit a model makers sin, and admit that I have no friggin' idea what the scale is. When I started I had a basic idea how big I wanted it, and using the many Alpha drawings on the net as my guide, eyeballed the recreation and dining building and built that first, then used that and each subsequent building as a size guide for the next building. Each of the buildings wall were constructed with 2 inch wide strips, which has led me to a problem I hope some of you can help with.

When I watch my dvd's I notice that on some of the buildings there appear to have second stories, balconies, and other stairstep effects, but when I consult my amt model and scrutinize the shots from the show, alpha looks flat as a board from above. I also have no way of telling which building is how tall. So until I can figure out otherwise I just went with a uniform height, with the exception of the main mission tower.

Hope that catches everyone up, take care!

[MADsen]

Hi.. Basetech..

Wow.. it looks great... Nice work...


Looking forward too see more in the future...

In which scale are you building it in..???

[basetech]

Good Timing, Madsen, I just took some measurements, and even converted it to metric as well. Here goes; the flat base the buildings sit on is 4 feet by 4 feet 7 inches or 122cm by 139cm. The buildings are all 2 inches in height or 5.2cm. The dining recreation building (the one that looks like a pizza slice) is 17 inches long or 43.3cm long. the Main Mission tower is 4 inches tall, or 10.2cm. I hope that helps.

Today is also your lucky day gang! Here are the low light pictures, currently there are 50 led lights going, but I found I will need a few more for the launch pads. Enjoy the pics!

[MADsen]

Hi... Basetech ...


Thanks for your replay...

Yes it helped... buy the way your build looks awesome ..

[Ham Salad]

Is that as big as it looks? Are you planning to add the outlying tube stations and launch pads at some point?

[DARKVIEW]

that looks big, great work so far ;-)

[healvis]

Very nice basetech. Are you taking advantage of the ref pics that Bernie posted?
http://www.eagletransporter.com/foru...558#post324558
John.

[cmdrkoenig67]

So far It looks very neat, Basetech!

Dana

[Captain Sci-Fi]

It's a very promising start....

I will be following where you lead with this project, artists that can think out side of the box really fascinate me.

[basetech]

okay, lets try that again.

Hello one and all! I am sorry to report I have no new pics to post, I have been busy hot gluing the rooftops to the bulkheads. I knocked out most of it Sunday, only 5 buildings to go. I just wanted to say Hi and thanks to all who have shown me more love on this thing than I expected. Heres a few answers; Ham Salad! love your pic dude! It just so happens I came into enough small cardboard tubes that the travel tube system and launchpad will happen. I have a trick or two up my sleeve for the launchpads, so stay tuned and thanks! Darkview, CdrKoenig87, and Captain SciFi! Thanks for the shouts, and Healvis, I saved you for last, buddy. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for pointing out those pictures. Holy Cats, I almost ruined my keyboard trying to contain my drooling! Those are great! I really appreciated that, and please, stay tuned, there will be more, but please be patient, I'm working (and writing) as fast as I can. Cheers!

[basetech]

Forgive me, but I did not take any progress photos for this, but I totally rebuilt the base table, complete with barrier and a quarter inch of playsand, to be colored later. No more light leakage from the foundations, now I can build some launchpads and start with travel tubes and a couple of other million details. Enjoy!

[Captain Sci-Fi]

100 % for the atmospheric look of the lights, you nailed that.

I realise this is an artistic impression but the buildings look very chunky, if you halved the height of them they would really look better. Alpha sits less than an inch above the landscape for the most part with the Main Mission Tower being the only "tall" structure.

I think this upsets the scale effect, reducing the height over all will help, plating the side will add another detailing effect that will transform the over all look of your model. Cereal packets cut into strips would work, thinner strips applied to the horizontal roof surfaces would cast dramatic shadows and get the busy surface started with kit parts or other small details to add drama. I don't think verbatim detailing is needed but study my images and you could certainly recreate the major features.

The attached images should make it clearer, good luck.

[basetech]

Thanks for the pics, they will come in handy. Those details that you mentioned are the next phase, to be done one building at a time. I work in a gasket company warehouse, so I have scads of stuff to use for the details. I will also be using my AMC model of Alpha for guidance. Take care!

[richardlamer]

Very nice work there. Can't wait to see the launchpads too.

[basetech]

Hi everyone!

Here are the latest photos taken mere minutes ago. Finally, I seem to have arrived at the detailing phase! Cap'n Scifi, I took your observation of chunkiness to heart, but in it's defense, prime viewing of this thing is about a meter and a half away for the perspective to look right. However, I did add more sand around the buildings eliminating about a quarter inch of height. It made a world of difference. The pictures here do not do the effect justice, but I am planning on more pictures as things progress. By the way, I couldn't help lighting up the deep space observatory. I think it looks pretty neat. Hope you enjoy the shots, more to follow! Later!