USS Odyssey Build Thread

knew I should have save this in word. Any way since TS Fay hit this summer I've been working on Rocketflite's USS Odyssey. Gonna do a quick review of the process over the next few days and get people back up to speed so I can show off the decal work and such that I've been doing.

From left to right we have all the parts laid out, test fitting of the main structure, assembly of the main structure and fin can, a slightly misaligned transition that needed a strip of gap filler.

This is my favorite picture of the build process. My son is about 2 1/2 months old in this picture and it was the one of the first times we got a smile for a picture. He is holding the forward BT and Nose Cone. He's now 7 months old and starting to crawl. If I blink to many times he may be asking to help build a few.

Continuing the build we have

the transition and small piece of Gap filler I needed to inset and the sensor pod


The major sub assemblies, propulsion / fin can in upper left sensor pod, fuel tank, and main body


Here is the fully assembled rocket minus the instrument ring between the fins


Fully assembled


the detachable landing shuttle for those ever important trips planet side. I used a bit of copper head tube, a CA tip and some of the parts and styrene included in the kit.

Here are some more shots of the shuttle, and a close up view of some styrene work on the engine nacelles

Starboard aft of the shuttle


shuttle test fitted to the underside of the crew section


a loosely positioned test fit of the shuttle as seen from forward


the shuttle from sketch through the final version, I think the longer nose I wound up with looks way better than the stubby one I drew


Some styrene rod and a match resulted in the conduit below

More styrene detail work results in

the starboard instrument ring


some mass drivers that will be attached just aft of the forward crew compartment


the mass drivers painted


a little satellite for recon work that will be mounted on the central bulkhead piece


the outboard engine detailing

More greebles attached, a little bit of styrene can go a long way. Most of it is strips of 1/8" wide styrene and rods/tubes of various sizes. A little beveling and such makes here look pretty good.

Rear starboard detailing


Underneath detailing


Rear port Detailing


Center starboard bulkhead detailing


Center port bulkhead detailing

Getting ready for painting

Explaining some of the finer points to the little guy


Shuttle attached with small magnets I got from Radio shack


forward view


Port side view

I got the idea for some on the styrene here.
https://www.lyzrdstomp.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=216&Itemid=1
I found this buried deep in an old thread it covers plastic model kit/scratch building with lots of Nurnies / Greebles. While much of his style presented would create very high drag, his thought processes and explanations shaped how I detailed my Odyssey. Originally I was thinking of keeping her sleek and doing a cruise line type paint scheme (becasue I had just finished my pirate themed Deadman's Deuce not to long before starting this kit and I wanted something less combative) but this website and Scott's background info about why he designed the kit and how when he was younger would daydream about the aliens and such his Andromeda, would find if it were real. Well that combined steered me towards a bumpier more exploitation like vehicle.

My thoughts on the assembly of this kit. The instructions were very well written and well timed. It was clear that Scott put a lot of thought into these, the sub-assembles were built in parallel and there was enough work in between each sub-assembly that there was very little time waiting for glue to dry. I had all major construction done in the 3 days I got off work do to TS Fay. Painting and detailing however has stretched on for 5 months now. Florida humidity, work, playing with my now 7 month old son (the best reason) are some of the contributions to the slow pace.

One thing I would suggest is to do some of the finishing work at the sub-assembly stage. Usually I wait till after construction for most of my finishing work, might have taken a little less time, been easier to finish. Had I done sealing, and perhaps priming and final coat at the sub-assembly level.

Colors used: Testor's Model Masters: Intermediate Blue, Blue Angles Blue, Flat Black, Dark Gull Gray, Gunmetal, Gold, Aluminum, and Silver. May come back and use some jet exhaust for weathering.

Time for some painting photos

over all shot


Looking aft


Starboard side aft


Top view of aft

Wow, it looks great! It's nice to see this thread here so soon since the original one that I started that went through the whole design process went bye-bye with the old TRF!

I would suggest NOT using a B4-2 with all of those details you've got on it!

Yeah the B4-2 is right out. I launched her in November in a semi finished state on a B6-2, and deployment was a little heart stopping, but successful. So she is regulated to C6-3's only.

Wow, that thing is cool. I like all of the details you added on, great job.

last of the painting pictures

center bulkhead


starboard mass driver attach points


propulsion section


orbital adjustment retro rockets

As mentioned above I launched her at the November SRA launch before she was completely finished that way pushing the button when she was all nice and pretty with all the decals on would be easier. B6-2 was a bit underpowered, flight was plenty high enough, but packing that big chute in to that little space makes it take a few moments to deploy. At only a few hundred feet those few moments seem real long. Which of course Bernie commented on post flight.

post launch started applying the decals. Been a while since I've done water-slides, and first time with ALPS printed water-slides. Had some issues with post drying curling, so I applied some more micro set, and on occasion had to cut some clear decal stock to apply over curled edges.

landing shuttle shots, the tail log actually came from some Fockewulf decals Scott included as test decals.


Starboard propulsion section all shiny with the gold foil decals


underside of the propulsion section


center section, was left pretty plane

more decals, the crew section is going to get a little bit more work but she is mostly done except for a bath in future.

Forward center section got the USA banner decal


Shuttle docking guide


Port propulsion section


Crew section starboard


Crew section top