Centuri Alien Scout Ship Flying Saucer embossing templates

Because apparently I don't have enough projects I've started a new one. I'm trying to recreate the embossed cardstock shrouds for the classic Centuri Saucer. I'm going to draw up embossing templates for 3D printing and, using a standard craft embossing tool, recreate the shrouds. I'll share my progress here.

So far I've done the template for the inner core tube. This is a repeating pattern so only a small template is needed. Here's a couple of photos of the template and the results. I don't have an original to compare with and I built my original over 30 years ago but I'm pretty happy with these results.



If there is enough interest I can print up an extra, "traveling" set and send it to someone on the forum. That is, provided, the modeler agrees to use the templates to build a Saucer and then, in turn, pass the templates on to someone else here. The goal, to fill the sky with Saucers.

I'd love to hear comments or suggestions.

Rob

I've been toying with the idea of a 4x upscale but didn't really want to lay all those bits by hand. I don't know what's involved in the embossing process at 1:1 scale, let alone at x4...

It's pretty simple actually. In the first photo, on the left, is the embossing die. you lay the shroud on it face down and go over the details with an embossing tool. Basically it's a ball on a stick. A bit tedious but the results are good. Since the dies are 3D printed upscaling them, to any scale, and reprinting them is simple. Only limit really is the size of the bed of the 3d printer.

Rob

Here is the minor shroud template and a sample embossed piece. You need to slide the template down the shroud and do a section at a time.

Nice!

Very nice.

Very nice indeed! That's a very creative use for 3D printing!

I like the idea of passing along the templates for the next person to make one before passing it along. Don't forget the glow-in-the-dark stickers!

I've ordered a sheet of glow in the dark sticker stock off of ebay. My hope is to use a 3/16" hole punch to punch out a series of "dots" for the glow in the dark decals. The originals were 1/6" so 3/16" is fairly close. If the sticker idea doesn't work I had thought of using the same punch to punch holes in masking tape, mask off a decal film and spray it with glow in the dark paint. Once it dries I would peel off the tape to reveal round glow in the dark decals. I've never played with the paint though and I hear it can be kind of crappy so if that doesn't work I thought of getting the powerful, Europium-based glow powder and mixing it with liquid decal film to make my own glow paint.

Anyone else have any ideas for the glow dots?

Here is a rendering of the first of six embossing templates for the main shroud.



I also made up a 3d printed circle cutting jig for cutting out the shrouds. If anyone is interested in that I could put that up on Thingiverse too. It consists of the two 3d printed blocks a piece of 1/2" aluminum angle, an x-acto blade and a nail for the center.

Cool I had a Centuri Saucer back in the day..with glow in the dot decals.

So cool to see it come back, it started a long line of saucer follow ups.

I still have what's left of mine, it got stepped on and one time the engine was stuck in the tube, and trying to pull it out the entire body tube broke out from the fins. I have been thinking about rebuilding it, or starting from scratch. Not sure how much of the original I can salvage. I thought about rebuilding it to use D-sized engines, if it can be reinforced and sturdy enough for the extra thrust. I was just thinking about printing up the templates on card stock, but the embossing process really adds a lot, and doesn't look too difficult, this is a great idea. I am looking forward to seeing your progress, this will inspire me to salvage what I can and rebuild mine.

Another option to glow-in-the-dark paint or decals, would be retro-reflective stickers, or paint, or those glass beads you put on top of wet paint to bond them to the surface. Then when you shine a light on it, like in a flash picture, it will shine back at you. When you hit it with a flashlight, it will shine back. Also, there is probably enough room to put some LED lights on there, like from a small toy, just have to be a little careful with the balance and c.g. location.

GlenP said:

Another option to glow-in-the-dark paint or decals, would be retro-reflective stickers, or paint, or those glass beads you put on top of wet paint to bond them to the surface. Then when you shine a light on it, like in a flash picture, it will shine back at you. When you hit it with a flashlight, it will shine back. Also, there is probably enough room to put some LED lights on there, like from a small toy, just have to be a little careful with the balance and c.g. location.

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These are all great ideas. I hadn't thought of using LEDs That could be pretty wild. I will keep posting my progress here.

Very nice, I am looking forward to your updates!
I made a downscale saucer clone from one of the old Estes "Snitch" RTF rockets a few years back. I'll try to find some photos of it.

So I've drawn up the templates for the main body wrap. It broken up into six sections. Here's a test:



I also did a test for the decals using a sheet of Strontium Aluminate glow-in-the-dark adhesive sheet. They look pretty cool!

Oh dude that looks so crisp! Better than my original unbuilt one. Very cool project!

Very nice. If you do put together a travelling set, I'd sure like to be on that list.

Finally got around to cutting and embossing the two main shrouds. This is a big step in what seems to be a slow moving project but I am happy with the results. I noticed after the embossing that one of the templates has a goof but it's minor and I doubt only the most exquisite Centuri saucer nerd would even notice. I've got a couple of more shrouds to do and then I can start assembly.

Rob

Looks great!

I've finally finished all the templates and embossed all of the parts. I've also made the wire landing legs and cut out the base place. The latter was especially tedious. I tried numerous techniques to cut the many inside curves (1/4" radius) and gave up for a while because I was getting terrible results. Ragged edges, knife slips and all-around inconsistent results. The original must have been diecut. That gave me an idea. I got a 1/2" leather punch tool on Amazon and used that to cut the inside radius of each cutout. I connected them to finish off the capsule shape using a homemade circle cutting jig. The results are pretty good.

Here's some more pictures of all of the parts. Now I can start assembly.

Here is the first test fit of the main shroud and the core tube.

Well thought out and nicely done!

Greg

Coming along nicely. I still need to add a couple of detail pieces and the 3 L-shaped center ribs but that should be done tonight. This came together quickly, probably since I spent all of the time up-front making the parts. I could have saved some time and skipped the interior cutouts on the base plate where it meets to core tube. Those cutouts are probably to reduce weight but are covered with a piece of trim. The whole think is pretty light, about 50g without paint so not sure it is necessary. I suggest skipping them.

That is just awesome. Upscale! Upscale! :drool:

Finished! Now I need to paint, apply decals and 60 glow in the dark stickers.

So the Centuri Alien Scoutship Flying Saucer is finally finished. The painting took a little longer than I hoped. The clay covered cardstock takes paint nicely but the parts that were made out of chipboard did not. It was similar to painting unsealed balsa. I did give the chipboard a coat of sanding sealer before the paint but the parts could probably have used a second or third coat before painting. Overall I'm happy though. The decals and glow in the dark stickers are really nice.

I still need to clean up the design files for uploading to thingiverse so others can make up their own embossing templates. I also have a DXF drawing of the base plate and I redrew the decal file in Inkscape to make it print better.

Here's the final photos...

I like this build a lot. Having never embossed anything before, can I assume you simply place the thin card stock over your template, then using the embossing tool simply press down and move it around until the card stock conforms to what it is over.

I've stayed away from old kits that use embossed card stock since I had no way of replicating it before spending the money on a production tool. Thanks for sharing this.


John Boren

John,

I'm a big fan of old kits. There's many I never got a chance to build back in the 70s or have since lost that I wanted to add back to my collection. I too avoided kits that used embossed parts because of the difficulty or tedium of producing parts that could pass for originals. I've always wondered about making my own templates and this project was designed to be a test for that.

You are correct about using the templates. You place the cardstock facedown in the template and then go over the outline with the embossing tool to make the impression. It's a straight-forward process but it takes a little practice to get sharp impressions and it can be tricky because you can't see the template and are working "blind" There is a limit to how fine the details can be mostly due to how fine your 3D printer can print. For example the "stripes" on the tailcone of the Estes Shrike is a bit too fine for my printer to make a good template. I plan to experiment with a semi-accurate pattern that uses ~40 stripes vs the ~80 in the original to compensate.

Overall I'd say that this technique is sound for use in recreating old embossed shrouds provided one has the time to draw them in CAD for printing. I intend to upload all of the designs to Thingiverse so others can build their own saucers. I'd also be open to lending the patterns I used to someone who is really interested in making their own saucer.

JumpJet said:

I like this build a lot. Having never embossed anything before, can I assume you simply place the thin card stock over your template, then using the embossing tool simply press down and move it around until the card stock conforms to what it is over.

I've stayed away from old kits that use embossed card stock since I had no way of replicating it before spending the money on a production tool. Thanks for sharing this.


John Boren

Click to expand...

Great job on the tools & the saucer! I love that low-light shot w/ the glow-in-the-dark windows!!! Congrats!

I've added links below to a PDF with redrawn decals and also a DXF with a 2D drawing of the base plate part. The later is nice to use as a template for cutting out the part or if you have access to a laser cutter.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4u8xcjddkr79ot3/cen5325o.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ebhzcv0aom7vox/Saucer%202D.dxf?dl=0

Look'n good, I love "Lumpy Stuff"

I've posted the design and STL files for this project on Thingiverse. Everything you need to print your own templates are there. Enjoy and post pictures here of you make your own.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:702871