Learn from my mistakes: ILM style

[tooth]

Fortunately, I have no risk of needing to interrupt my current lifestyle and move to California because George Lucas wants to hire me. But I was inspired by the recent Apogee newsletter #600 article on building a rocket in the style of Industrial Light and Magic, so I decided to give it a try. I made several mistakes that I will pass along so if you build one you might avoid them yourself. First tip would be to go back and reread that Apogee newsletter article- they did a great job of laying out the process.



Pick a Bristol board or card stock that is 2 or 3 levels thinner than you think you need. I went with one that was about 3/16” and it was nearly impossible to curve it without the layers separating, or the board creating bends. You can see on the photos the thickness looks odd against the body tube.



I picked a BT-50 body tube kit – the Galaxy Rescue from Custom. It would be easier to wrap the paper panels around a larger diameter. It took a lot of rubber bands just to keep the panels against the body.



Look at the way the writer did their panels in that Apogee article – a totally rational and integrated layout with each segment relating to the next. I got WAY too random, and the overall look suffers because of it.




Despite what the article implied, gray primer doesn’t really turn your creation into a new model, is just makes it all look the same. I started out with a pretty clunky build, it’s still clunky after the primer.



Gluing on the greebles and randomly splashing “rust” paint around was seriously fun. Instead of striving for a perfect finish it’s liberating to just get messy on purpose.

To compensate for all the weight I added to the body, I epoxied 4 grams into the nosecone. My initial launch went perfect with just a slight bit of corkscrew on its way up.

Despite the fact it didn’t turn out looking quite as professional as I hoped, it really was an enjoyable build. There are no rules when building a rocket like this – I even chipped off a couple places on the fins to look like battle damage.. Give one a try yourself, it was a kick.

 

[teepot]

View attachment 587036
Fortunately, I have no risk of needing to interrupt my current lifestyle and move to California because George Lucas wants to hire me. But I was inspired by the recent Apogee newsletter #600 article on building a rocket in the style of Industrial Light and Magic, so I decided to give it a try. I made several mistakes that I will pass along so if you build one you might avoid them yourself. First tip would be to go back and reread that Apogee newsletter article- they did a great job of laying out the process.

View attachment 587037

Pick a Bristol board or card stock that is 2 or 3 levels thinner than you think you need. I went with one that was about 3/16” and it was nearly impossible to curve it without the layers separating, or the board creating bends. You can see on the photos the thickness looks odd against the body tube.

View attachment 587038

I picked a BT-50 body tube kit – the Galaxy Rescue from Custom. It would be easier to wrap the paper panels around a larger diameter. It took a lot of rubber bands just to keep the panels against the body.

View attachment 587039

Look at the way the writer did their panels in that Apogee article – a totally rational and integrated layout with each segment relating to the next. I got WAY too random, and the overall look suffers because of it.

View attachment 587040
View attachment 587041

Despite what the article implied, gray primer doesn’t really turn your creation into a new model, is just makes it all look the same. I started out with a pretty clunky build, it’s still clunky after the primer.

View attachment 587043

Gluing on the greebles and randomly splashing “rust” paint around was seriously fun. Instead of striving for a perfect finish it’s liberating to just get messy on purpose.

To compensate for all the weight I added to the body, I epoxied 4 grams into the nosecone. My initial launch went perfect with just a slight bit of corkscrew on its way up.

Despite the fact it didn’t turn out looking quite as professional as I hoped, it really was an enjoyable build. There are no rules when building a rocket like this – I even chipped off a couple places on the fins to look like battle damage.. Give one a try yourself, it was a kick.

That's really great. I am inspired.

 

[kuririn]

If you cut out the greebles from a scrap piece of body tube that's the same diameter as your airframe that would make it a lot easier, since it's smooth and pre-curved.

 

[tooth]

love that idea kuririn - seems the trick would be peeling the tube off thin enough.

 

[techrat]

I like that Star Wars look. I'm sure it adds hella drag, but it looks great so who cares. Definitely trying that on one of my next builds.

 

[tsmith1315]

Despite the fact it didn’t turn out looking quite as professional as I hoped, it really was an enjoyable build

And that’s all that matters.

Thanks for posting! Something’s telling me to revisit the Photon Disruptor I never finished in youth.