Cacique Caribe | 07 May 2014 5:03 p.m. PST |
Now that I've got your attention
I've always wondered how you guys scratch-build small corridors and tight spaces to look something like this:
link
link
link
link I think those pipes and conduits would have to be about 3mm, at most, in a 20-25mm tall hallway, right? What do you use for the pipes and electrical conduits? And do you add them to the wall pieces before putting together all the corridor floors and walls? Dan |
Fatman | 07 May 2014 5:09 p.m. PST |
Usually the other Jock's just blow the out of the place while the Piper gives Scotland the Brave laldy. Fatman |
Sigwald | 07 May 2014 5:10 p.m. PST |
Now that I've got your attention
I thought you were referring to bagpiping in the closet
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Fatman | 07 May 2014 5:10 p.m. PST |
Errrrr sorry slight cultural misunderstanding. ;-P It might be time cut down on the new pain killers! Fatman |
Sysiphus | 07 May 2014 5:11 p.m. PST |
Looks like a job for plastic card, plastic wire and a Dremel drill |
Fatman | 07 May 2014 5:13 p.m. PST |
See I wasn't the only one. Sigwald what meds are you on!?! ;-) Fatman |
79thPA | 07 May 2014 5:23 p.m. PST |
I'd build it as four sides and then assemble them. |
Weddier | 07 May 2014 5:31 p.m. PST |
Various gauge wires are probably your friends here, possibly from floral display suppliers. |
Cacique Caribe | 07 May 2014 5:37 p.m. PST |
"American components, Russian components
All made in Taiwan!"
link Dan |
Porkmann | 07 May 2014 5:39 p.m. PST |
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Jeff Ewing | 07 May 2014 5:58 p.m. PST |
Many good suggestions, to which I'd add: plastic rod and tubing from Evergreen or the like. |
haywire | 07 May 2014 6:34 p.m. PST |
Lots and lots of plastic rod, bic pens, and sprue. Pegasus Hobbies Imex Chem Plant
another suggestion is the hirst arts molds 273 and 325 link link
link It depends on what you are doing. Mostly I have seen wall and floor sections with plastic supports and the pipes glued to the supports. |
Lion in the Stars | 07 May 2014 6:56 p.m. PST |
Heat-shrink tubing or insulated electrical wire for the pipes, because they're cheap and easy to cut/bend. Not to mention potentially already color coded for your convenience, too. Thread for electrical runs. Masses of thread, really. I'm torn between "doing it right" and building in place, and building subassemblies then gluing big pieces in. Sometimes it's easier to build in place, but big electrical runs are usually easier to build first, then install. |
Cacique Caribe | 07 May 2014 7:11 p.m. PST |
The Hirst Arts stuff seems nice for large pipe systems. With 15mm I wish there were things that were more in scale, that end up looking like the pictures on my original post. Thanks, Dan |
Toshach | 07 May 2014 8:25 p.m. PST |
You can also get wooden dowels in a variety of diameters from your craft shop. Plastruct has round rods in a variety of diameters. One of my local hobby shops has brass tubes in a variety of diameters. |
grommet37 | 07 May 2014 9:09 p.m. PST |
Dan, There are a lot of standard electrical/electronic standoffs, clips, clamps and brackets that might do something fairly similar. I wonder if cannibalizing some old electronics you have kicking about or scrounging in your town's best junk hardware store might inspire you with some heretofore unforeseen bits and bobs. I'm thinking Panduit stuff, flat-cable clips/clamps/brackets, standoffs and routing rings for 18/20/22/24 gauge wire. Think wire management. Might work well with thin plastic rod or tube. I'd build each wall section, and the flooring, and glue/attach modules upon completion, with final washes and weathering after completing at least the dry fit (clamped, if necessary). Short of that: granny grill off-cuts and coffee straws? |
Ark3nubis | 07 May 2014 10:09 p.m. PST |
Right, read this. I made a 4th x 4th 3D space hulk board for GW's Games Day '97 as my store's contribution to the tables to play on. It looked fantastic and I would have kept it till even this day if my store manager (what a git) sold it off to a random customer wighout even ofdering it to me just to make up the monthly total!!! I would have bought it for twice the price too, grr! Anyway
(not that I'm still bitter after nearly 20 years or anything
) 1mm mountboard/card was used to make the wall sides at abiut 3"/75mm high and in a length to suit GW's 40x40mm square bases (so say for arguments sake you make a section 6"/150mm long). Then at right angles I made 'abutments' that would be stuck along the length of the wall at regular intervals (say every 40-50mm/2"). These abutments would only stick out from the wall about 12-15mm/ 1/2" or so but THIS is where the most fun comes from yet the hardest work. The abutments can be shaped to any configuration to give a different feel to each section, so corridors are very pipe laden, lots more panels for a room, and can be different to loading bays etc. The real hard work comes though from having to make/cut out the abutments. We needed several hundred but I had 2 driers who were well up for helping and they cut out the majority while I assembled them and co-ordinated the rest. I also Made it so that doors could be slid in and out (just made a simple slot to either side of the corridor so that you could lift the doors in and out) and the 3" height allowed sections with raised walkways only about 1/2-1" high max to make a section that replicated the part in aliens where Newt was under the walkway just before getting taken by the alien. For the pipes; McDonalds balloons. They come on a handy 2mm (or so) plastic rod that's easy to use and 2-3 side by side running along the length of each wall section and on/in the abutments just looks awesome. Avoid drinking straws I'd suggest unless in a controlled area or short lengths. Cut strips of papaer about 1-2pm wide and glue around some 'pipes' for additional detail. Any spare tank wheels or similar can be added to allow the pipes to make a valve shut off point or something too I'll try to sketch up the method later and post on here. I hopo this is of use, I just know that when we started to put the corridor sections together to stick down on the 4' by 4' board it looked immense, even before painting
A |
Pedrobear | 07 May 2014 10:16 p.m. PST |
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Gunner Dunbar | 07 May 2014 10:32 p.m. PST |
I lay pipe with a pipe layer. |
napthyme | 07 May 2014 11:27 p.m. PST |
The same guys who sell plastic sheets and strips sell half round pieces. That was what I intended to use for this when I did my test piece or corridor. |
grommet37 | 07 May 2014 11:49 p.m. PST |
Dan, I forgot to mention this stuff: link One man's everyday item is another man's "never heard of it". Wide enough to stick your hand inside and move stuff, the "roof" snaps off as one piece, side pieces snap out for varying cable thicknesses. Also, because heavy sidelighting. 8) I think you could easily line that baby with granny grate and plastic rod, and play some games sooner rather than later. Basic structure: built. Git a'gluin'. But, Dan: How are you going to play in that tight of a space? Are you using magnets and rods? Rebuilding a 1970s hockey game? Using dry ice or Rosco fog? ;) |
pegasusfridge | 08 May 2014 1:49 a.m. PST |
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Cacique Caribe | 08 May 2014 3:13 a.m. PST |
"But, Dan: How are you going to play in that tight of a space? Are you using magnets and rods? Rebuilding a 1970s hockey game? Using dry ice or Rosco fog? ;)" I hope the walls end up being no taller than 20-25mm, but the floor space itself will have to clear on or two small bases. The key might be in staggering some of the bulkier wall components so that they don't always face each other and make movement prohibitive. But one if my biggest concerns was not making the pipes and electrical conduits so large that they made the figures look like tiny ants invading a plumbing network. Lots of good ideas so far. The half-pipe rods sound fantastic. Dan |
GROSSMAN | 08 May 2014 5:08 a.m. PST |
Don't overlook the disposable straw. I used these in my Stalingrad kit. Perfect size for drainage, steam and conduit pipes. |
War Monkey | 08 May 2014 5:48 a.m. PST |
You can get different size gage wires and use them almost as you wish, I would build the walls first them add them to your floors, I thought this through some time ago and was going to use those molds from Hirst, I just have to wait until my budget will allow this to happen. :D |
JezEger | 08 May 2014 6:42 a.m. PST |
I'd use the dowel rods purely because they would be easy to cut. For cabling you could look at a thick fishing line, or plastic garden wire. After working ships for 20 years, you also need to think about a crash barrier about a foot tall all along the corridors. This would protect all those nice pipes from pallet lifters etc. usually this is made from piping about 4 inch thick. Don't worry too much about coloured cabling, everything on a wall gets painted the wall colour. |
Ark3nubis | 08 May 2014 6:48 a.m. PST |
Gees Haywire, project Hulk looks immense. Almost made me not want to post, but I suppose Cacique needs options. Here's a link to a sketch I just knocked up of the method I used to create the walls of the Hulk I made. It doesn't really portray the real quality I ended up with, but once sprayed black even, the effect was great, and the depth and layering worked really well. link I took ages to work out a really good set of 3 types of abutments as previously mentioned. One for corridors, one for rooms, one for more service or loading bay type. I'd defo say don't make the space between them less than 30mm (as most sci-fi minis are getting larger these days) and you have extra room with the abutments' shape too. You could easily make sections like the project hulk ones or stick them down to a board like I did or whatever. Downside is that the card although lightweight can be frayed at the edges if not handled carefully, but as a light, cheaper alternative that is easily adapted on the spot for great effect this is my endorsed method. Hope that helps, I've got this on my 'to-do wish list' of projects, among many others too of course
Post pics of whatever you decide to do of course, all the best! A |
Tom Reed | 08 May 2014 8:59 a.m. PST |
What about using wire of wavious guages as 15mm pipes? If it was stiff enough you could keep it straight and have bent sections to go around corners and the like. |
javelin98 | 08 May 2014 12:29 p.m. PST |
Another option for bundles of cabling is to tear apart an old desktop and use the "rainbow ribbon" cables that connect the hard drive to the motherboard and whatnot. You can carefully clip the plastic in-between two wires and then just peel off the number you need in a complete bundle (so, if you want five or six cables along your hallway, you can peel those off and they'll all be in perfect alignment with each other). Here's the stuff I'm so ineptly trying to describe:
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Cacique Caribe | 08 May 2014 4:27 p.m. PST |
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John Treadaway | 09 May 2014 5:13 a.m. PST |
I'm with Javelin98. I have also used ribbon cable for building pipework. This building under construction here link
Has ribbon cable up the rear of the building and to the dish aeriel. Granted in 28mm not 15mm but the effect is much the same. Finished
John T |
Cacique Caribe | 09 May 2014 5:41 a.m. PST |
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Twoball Cane | 09 May 2014 7:05 a.m. PST |
I thought this was a naughty question. |
javelin98 | 09 May 2014 9:58 a.m. PST |
John, is that dish a GPS mount?? That's brilliant! And, if I say, I'm stealing that idea. |
Historicalgamer | 09 May 2014 1:42 p.m. PST |
I usually just ask her nicely
. |
Cacique Caribe | 09 May 2014 4:59 p.m. PST |
Here's a nice pic, but it looks like most everything is behind plating of one type or another:
link
harryharris.com/modular.htmDan PS. What's the correct name for those upright metal supports? |
grommet37 | 09 May 2014 5:13 p.m. PST |
I believe the judges would accept: Strut, stud, pilaster (column against a wall), rib, column
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TNE2300 | 09 May 2014 5:20 p.m. PST |
javelin98 at shapeways calls them "stanchions" link |
haywire | 10 May 2014 12:56 p.m. PST |
Ah
yep keep forgetting about 15mm
honestly I think the Hirst Arts Industrial Edge Mold #325 would work quite well with 15mm. It would only be 1/2" high. I think I have the mold. If I do I can cast it up and put it next to some 15mm minis |
Cacique Caribe | 10 May 2014 8:17 p.m. PST |
That would be awesome, if you could. Thanks so much. Guys, I almost forgot how pipe-ridden were many of the corridors in Pandorum:
Lots more here: link
link Dan |
Ark3nubis | 12 May 2014 10:54 a.m. PST |
Right Cacique Caribe, I'm going to try to build some sections in the next wee while to show you that the way I have suggested works well, believe me or not, muhahaha
I've never seen Pandorum, is it any good? (no spoliers please
) |
War Monkey | 12 May 2014 7:36 p.m. PST |
Found this hope it helps
Using Hurst Arts molds TMP link |
John Treadaway | 13 May 2014 2:50 a.m. PST |
John, is that dish a GPS mount?? That's brilliant! And, if I say, I'm stealing that idea. Javellin, yep – it was a mount for some small GPS like device (a weather station, as I recall) that packed up in short measure so I used the bits for modelling projects. Glad you liked it! John T PS I'd say the Hurst Arts moulds work better with 15mm than 28mm |
haywire | 15 May 2014 6:33 p.m. PST |
Ooo
thanks Warmonkey!!! just as I put plaster in my molds
. but I also have some of the pipe floors cooking as well. |
grommet37 | 15 May 2014 10:00 p.m. PST |
Dan, Have you considered drag chain for the hallway? link You could probably get a lot of mileage out of various plastic extrusions. PVC pipe, drag chain, cable trough. I think you might want to borrow a Grainger catalog and just peruse it while you're on the bus. |
John Treadaway | 16 May 2014 2:54 a.m. PST |
Have you considered drag chain for the hallway? I'm intrigued. I had – and have – no real idea what a drag chain is used for (so I looked at the link). What would/could you do with it in a model corridor? I'm not arguing, you understand: just genuinely puzzled John T EDIT – now I've googled what a real life drag chain actually does, I understand a bit more! |
javelin98 | 16 May 2014 8:59 a.m. PST |
That drag chain's a cool idea, but how would you handle corners and junctions? |
Ark3nubis | 16 May 2014 9:58 a.m. PST |
Its a chain so it has the joints and can bend easily I imagine. Lay it on its side and you'll be fine. The bigger issue is being able to cut it down to length to get exactly what you want, especially at 15mm scale. I think wire (as in metal wire, not electrical cable type wire) would be great, along with the McD's balloon rods/tubes I mentioned before. The wire we used on our Hulk too, worked a treat! |
grommet37 | 16 May 2014 2:19 p.m. PST |
Drag chain is used in automated machinery, where an electrical harness (or hoses, like hydraulics) needs to move along with whatever mechanical piece is being thrashed about. It contains the wires, cables and hoses, and keeps them from getting pinched, cut, etc. It's made of individual pieces, that snap together, like a giant snap-tite model. It's that boxy black plastic umbilical you see in a factory, or on an industrial robot. While flexible on the draw, it is usually rigid on the push. You could snap off the top caps, and get a pretty Giger-esque corridor or access hatchway. Or stand it on its side and make some decent curves. I worked in electrical construction, and in automated scenery for theater, so I'm used to having stuff like this laying around the shop gathering dust. I heartily recommend a McMaster-Carr or Grainger catalog, if anyone is looking for groovy ideas for building stuff. Cheers. P.S. You might want to also explore wire rope. 1/16" might look cool and in-scale-ish. |