[BFG] Siluria ~ A Scratch Build

[Comrade-K-Rad]

So, with the 2010 FAQ and additional ships just out there floating around awaiting a GW stamp and post, I decided my Battlefleet needed a Siluria Class Light Cruiser.  It's a nice light cruiser all around.

I thought a Siluria should be a bit smaller than a Dauntless, considering it doesn't need space for torpedo or lance systems.

The first thing I did was draw up a picture of about what I thought the vessel should look like.  It's pretty fast, so it should have lots of engines.  It's a light cruiser, so it should not be too large, etc.  The main things were fist, the prow, and second the weapons batteries.  Since it's an early Imperial ship design, I did not want to make the prow as large as some of the newer light cruisers.  With the Dauntless as my guide I drew up this narrower smaller prow.  For the weapons batteries I wasn't sure if I was going to make it compatible with the GW sprues or make my own. I drew both.



Next, I cut out the basic hull shape from plasticard, here it is with a Dauntless for comparison.  Slightly shorter, but a bit taller.



Next I went to work on the prow, when I make a prow I first cut out the shapes I want for the profile, the top, the bottom and the back.  Then I fill this with milliput.  Once that has cured I sand it all smooth.



I decided to make my own weapons batteries.  Onto a rectangle of plasticard I glued pieces of sprue and then used mostly strip styrene to add details. The guns themselves are 2 thick small pieces of plasticard which I drilled holes into.



The next thing I did was make the "wing," a common feature of Imperial Navy vessels. It's practically all plasticard and strip styrene, along with some Aquilas and GW kit antennas.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5240/5907551052_2b5ede3387_z.jpg

Today, I started out by beginning to bulk up the hull.  I added width to the rear section, added the vertical "wing" and the engine exhausts. No details yet.



I also added the piping to the prow, along with some etched brass eagle's wings.  I decided against an eagle's head or skull on the fact it's an older Imperial ship and they tended not to have such things based on what is shown as chaos ships.



Lastly here is a shot of the whole thing blue-tacked together.



I still need to finish detailing and fleshing out the hull, and add some details to the engines.  I will have to detail the bottom of the prow as well.  The most major thing I have to do is to build the bridge.  In order to duplicate the weapons battery, as well as this ship as I would like more than one, I will be getting a casting kit from the hobby shop sometime soon.

Hope you enjoyed the post, that's all I have for today.

[Geep]

That's looking great- you've really done a nice job of making the prow appropriately curved but smooth (I'm terrible at making curved non-organic shapes)

Looking forward to the end result.

[fracas]

Fantastic work

[Comrade-K-Rad]

Thanks, both of you.

Geep:  Making the prow is just about my favorite part of the build.  I've always liked Imperial Navy ships for their prows, so I've always wanted to shape one.  In this and my Voss I got to do just that.

[mangozac]

Mate that is fantastic work so far - I can't believe I didn't see it yet! A great demonstration of just how straightforward scratchbuilding Imperial vessels is. Looking forward to more progress!

[Comrade-K-Rad]

Thanks a bunch man. That really means a lot coming from you.  I should be able to get back to work sometime in mid August.  Summer course is taking a real bite out of my free time, and the hobby shop's been out of casting materials since I posted this.

[Kelsik]

Your scratch build tutorial is excellent as well as the quality of the piece your working on.

As for getting casting material,  Have you gone to Tap Plastics?   To get good quality replicas id suggest  2 part silicon rubber.   molds made of silicon rubber retain a high level of detail as well as able to handle a large variety of liquid casting material such as apoxy resign that generates heat as it cures.
Another mold material that id suggest for what your making is called  Instamold.  ( I think its instamold,  ill check when I get home)  Insta mold is  heat activated,  meaning you heat it in boiling water to get till its soft and plyable,  next step is to press the part you want to make coppies of in it.  you could go try a 2 part method  or wrap around method  to get both sides of  your piece.
since insta mold is heat activated you cant use casting material that generates heat as it cures.
But you can use Milliput.   So far Ive only made one mold and casting last week with it.  Ill post them in this section tonite,  I took pictures of the mould creation that may help.

Last thing about insta mold,  its reusable,  just reheat and remold for your next piece.  its handy.

[Kelsik]

The product is called Instant mold.  you can look it on at www.instantmold.com
I think it may be of help to you.  I purchased a package for about 6$ U.S.
Here is a couple of pictures that I took last week testing it.  The part is the tau railgun off of the x42 piranha.




Top picture is the frame that keeps the mold and piece straight and prevents warpage. Legos are used to custom the size of the box frame.
The picture was taken just after the second half of the mold was added.  the stack in the upper part was used as a piston to make sure the mold fit snugly. 
Second picture is both halves and the milliput  casting.  shown is the better side.  The other sides detail was less defined due to the instant mold of the second part of the mold bieng applied too late and the material was cooling too rappidly.  with better timing Im positive that clean 2 sided molds can be achieved with instantmold.   
I hope this helps move your program forward.

[Comrade-K-Rad]

I have a package of instant mold, I had thought of building a surround to apply pressure with legos when I first got it.  But I forgot about it since then, so thank you!  I will now have to do this.  As for resin, I have a 2 part epoxy that is pretty low heat, but also has a higher viscosity than I would like.  I have had success using "brown stuff" or "green stuff" to mold some torsos.  I was planning on getting some silicon though, which is what was available at the hobby store, since it has a better final quality mold.  Thanks very much for the comment and suggestions and tips. Now I can finally get this project rolling again!

[mangozac]

Wow I'm surprised at how well the instant mould works for something like the railgun, but honestly for duplicating anything as fine as a BFG ship you really need to do a proper silicone mould and cast in resin. There's heaps of discussion about this over on the Resin Addict forum.

K-Rad, you want to avoid epoxy resin - it is terrible for making models with. You need to use polyurethane.

[Comrade-K-Rad]

Yes, the epoxy is quite bad.  It worked okay for some torsos, but everything else has been sub-par.  That's why I wanted the casting kit.  They still haven't restocked though.  But I can use instantmold and brown stuff for some other duplications I have to make which don't require the detail.

[Comrade-K-Rad]

Long time no update.

That's because for a long time this little cruiser has sat as a pile of parts on my table.  Recently however, I have done a bit more work on the Siluria, despite the death of the FAQ.

I have started a bridge for the ship,  it's still just roughed in and needs a bunch of bits to be finished though.  I added more details to the body of the ship, mostly beneath the bridge.  I also made the dorsal gun batteries, 2 in front of the bridge there and one on the prow. I the most major change is that I shortened the whole thing by removing one of the main gun batteries.  The reason I did this was because the ship was going to be about as long as the Dauntless models and I wanted it to be slightly shorter and more compact.  Also, that one gun would have needed to have been rebuilt as it was misaligning the whole battery.



So, there's still plenty to do, the rear still needs more details, so does the bridge as well as the underside of the prow.  Shouldn't be too long now.  I still need to get some casting supplied so I can make the second weapons battery as well as additional Silurias.

[fracas]

looking good

[AndrewChristlieb]

That's really nice, it just looks a bit naked between the prow and the guns and then between the guns and the bits beneath the bridge.

[Comrade-K-Rad]

Thanks.
Those are the spots I still need to figure out what I want to add to.