Moebius-1 AKA FlatTop

mung

Sr Member
I have started a new project, a spaceship model and one I have been thinking about off and on over the last
3 years or so.
I came across a concept sketch of a background spaceship called Flat Top from the original late seventies
Battlestar Galactica series on the website galactica.tv a site that has a lot of interesting info on the original
series.
The sketch may be by Joe Johnston, it certainly looks a lot like his style, but is not signed so it's attribution
is not certain.
Here's the sketch below followed by the Flat Top model made for the show;

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and for comparison here is Moebius's original ship;

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The Flat Top in Battlestar Galactica is a particularly rough and ready model perfectly suitable for use as a
background ship in the so called Rag Tag Fleet.
It does not faithfully copy the two seater bubble Moebius design but ups the scale somewhat making it a much
larger ship.

As is my custom, I am not making a Flat Top replica but am freely interpreting the concept sketch in my own way.
I rather liked the Moebius two seater configuration and the clear bubble cockpit so one of the first questions as to
the feasibility of the project was to locate a suitable clear plastic sphere or more usefully a pair of half spheres.
A couple of years ago I did eventually find some cheap domes on ebay in the form of dummy CCTV cameras at
about 100mm in diameter.
Scaling up the drawing I reasoned that the length of the craft was roughly 10 times the diameter of the sphere so
a 100mm sphere would equate to a metre long model.
The scale works out to be 1/24 as I think I can comfortably fit two 1/24 scale driver figures into the 100mm bubble.


More recently I started on a rough 2D cad drawing tracing over the artwork scaled up to size in the free 2D CAD
program DraftSight.



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In both Moebius's ship and the BG Flat Top there is a single central support column that ties the flat upper part
of the ship to the lower crew hull.
This is one of the areas in which my interpretation of the concept sketch differs significantly in that I propose
that there are two angled columns either side of the central spine that sits under the flat top section.
In my view, the concept drawing suggests that the column is in front of the large ribbed form and not in line with it.
The other significant difference is in the shape of the flat top section.
Mobius's original design shows a simple rectangle and the BG version follows suit.
I am going for what I can only describe as a coffin shaped outline.


One of the first tasks was to make a supporting armature that rigidly held the major sections together and
provide mounting points and electrical power connectors.
This I made using aluminium rectangular and channel section, 3mm aluminium sheet and 3/8" steel water pipe
fittings.
I did make an error in the angled cuts on the rectangular section.
The angle struts are are several degrees too steep fore and aft but I should be able to correct this with the cladding.

As a TIG welder capable of welding aluminium is way beyond my means I used aluminium brazing rod.
It goes under a few different names such As Durafix or HTS-2000 and only needs a propane torch to melt.
Unlike a silver soldering process, the rods do not work with capillary action, the melted material will just bond
with the surface and bridge across the joins much like welding, so to get a really strong bond, where possible, I
will tin both surfaces first before placing them together and reheating them until the material on the joints melts
and fuses together.
This means you have to be able to precisely locate the two parts together where they need to join so they can't
move whilst heating and joining. I drilled a small hole in the plate and the strut and bolted them together whilst
reheating the joints.
Once remelted I had to tap the parts until the melted brazing rod flattened and joined together.
The solidified material on the pre-timnned surfaces takes up some thickness which the bolts are tightened against.
Once it melts again the bolts will become loose so it is a tricky operation to get right.
You have to scratch the rod on the surface to get the material to bond properly as this process removes the
aluminium oxide on the surface of the parts which floats to the surface, increasing the bond strength.
You can also use a piece of stainless steel wire (I use a piece from an old kitchen wisk) to scratch the surface
under the molten material during the melting process.
In fact you have to thoroughly clean the mating parts with a stainless steel brush before you start or the stuff
will not stick.
Any contamination from ordinary steel and the bond wont work at all.


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The flat top surface is made from 6mm foamed PVC sheet with a stiffening spine of 12mmm aluminium C channel
and a reinforcing bridge of 10mm solid grey PVC.
Provision has been made for mounting on the top surface as well as the under hull section along with 12volt DC
power connections.
A second layer of 3mm foamed PVC sheet will be added to the underside so that the 3mm aluminium flat plate
will become flush.

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The main spine forms and under surface detailing will incorporate a number of charity shop toy parts I have on
hand and some I have recently acquired. As an example here are a couple of recent charity shop acquisitions;

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The large clear plastic part of the babys' toy on the left is being used along with a similar clear dome part to the
one on the right.
I don't know what this clear plastic is but it has a slightly rubbery feel to the surface, deforms without cracking
and sticks with the normal solvents that cement acrylic, ABS and High Impact Styrene.
It can also be sanded and painted just like the previously mentioned plastics.

Below is some preliminary laying out of the charity shop main central spine parts.
From the rear the order of parts is as follows; half an acrylic wine glass, the clear dome from a baby toy followed
by the baby toy part shown above, then dummy CCTV camera bases joined end for end and cut down, the inside
of a plastic double walled drinking cup, two wheels halves from a WallE truck toy and then half of a strange Toy
Story electronic TV game toy.

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I was contemplating a few notions for the engines when I pulled out some bits left over form the first toybash truck
project that used a couple of cheap rubbish truck toys.
These are two front cabs with the roof, grills and bumpers removed and turned to face upwards.

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Here's a picture of the original toy for reference.
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I installed two 12volt led light strips per engine which then get a screen of old fluorescent light diffuser in front and
styrene strips glued over all the gaps from the inside.

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I also installed a switch on the top surface so I can turn the engine light off separately from the rest of the lighting.
The baby toy shapes were made removable for access using a magnetic cupboard catch at the front.
The magnet part was stuck into the clear shell using a lump of epoxy putty placing it into position until the quick
hardening putty set. The rear has a convenient lip which fits snugly under the half acrylic wine glass at the back.

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I have been playing around with the arrangement of the other large detail pieces to go on the underside of the flat
top section.
These comprise parts left over from the Bruder bulldozer and a transformers toy SCVNGR.
There is also wheely bin from the rubbish truck plus the two green roofs from the cabs.
Except for the central spine parts these are not yet glued into position.

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The two orange ribbed tanks are the handles from the controller of a cheap motorised crane toy.

On the sides at the rear are a molding from an old washing machine with a section of disposable razor handle
and a part from the WallE truck toy.
The brown shapes in front of the green engines are some inner parts from the WallE truck toy.

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It all looks pretty chaotic at the moment but hopefully, with further work, will start to get a little more cohesive.

Thanks for looking, more soon...
 
Most of the large toybashed detail pieces have now been superglued to the underside of the flat top.
The final placement differs only slightly from the preliminary layout and I have laid out a couple of non-lethal plastic
mousetraps which you can clearly see labelled Big Cheese.

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The clear baby's toy housing has had some 10mm ABS half round strips added to mimic the ribbing in the concept
sketch.
It took a lot of bending by hand to get them into the contour to match the surface of the baby's toy.
The half round strips were purchased online from HobbyKing along with a selection of the other ABS profiles they carry
such as square, rod and tube. They are not very precisely extruded, for example the half round shapes are a bit flatter
than an exact half circle and the square sides are not exactly at 90 degrees or flat but they come 500mm long and are
very cheap.

On the sides there is half a section of a crane toy, another charity shop find and the Blade support arms from the old
Bruder dozer toy.
I have to find something to go in the gap at the side in front of the mouse trap, it may be half a cab from the Transformers
SCVNGR toy.

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The front section is pretty much sorted with just a layer of finer detail and piping to come.
I have to remember to leave a space for the "pontoon/float" support struts you can see in the concept sketch.
In fact I still havn't come up with anything for those pontoon shapes. I was thinking of a couple of submarine hulls
chopped up but I cant find any sub kits cheap enough at the size I need and I haven't stumbled across anything
suitable in my charity shop visits so far.

The vacant space in front of the engines is also still unresolved at this point. I haven't found anything in my stash I
like for that area yet, might have to build something...


Thanks for looking, more soon.
 
Thanks to a reader's comment on my build blog site rcscifi.blogspot.com I have finalised the design and construction
of the forward pontoons.
The reader suggested that the original Battlestar Galactica flat top pontoons were made from Bolton Paul defiant
fuselages and that lead me to look at other suitable aircraft kit donors.
I was originally thinking submarine hulls but couldn't find anything cheap enough or the right length to width ratio.
Finally I found some 1/144 scale Kawanishi " Emily" flying boat kits at the right price and importantly the right size
for my needs on the Hobby link Japan website.



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The fuselage sides are cemented to a central spine made from two layers of 2mm styrene sandwiching a core of
two layers of 1.5mm styrene.
The two layers of 1.5mm styrene leave a 3mm wide pocket for the support struts made from heat bent 3mm PVC sheet.


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A section of fuselage was cut away for some recessed nurney kit part detail.


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Here they are with the first coat of grey primer. There is still a bit of spot puttying required here and there,
along with some detail on the struts but for the most part they are done.


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And finally here they are in position on the spaceship hull.


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Thanks for looking, more soon...
 
Last edited:
I started paneling and detailing the flat top side of the moebius-1 project.
It's still a work in progress.

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The long grey finned panel at the rear above where the engines sit is a paper guide from an inkjet printer.
The two large red panels in the centre are from the transformers SCVNGR toy.

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The rest is an assortment of kit parts, evergreen panels and strips, black 2mm, 1mm and 0.5mm styrene and
3mm and 6mm foamed pvc sheet.

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There is still more paneling and piping to be done as well as a fine detail pass.

Thanks for looking.
More soon...
 
Along with some more styrene sheet and kit part detailing, I have added a piping layer to the underside of the Flat Top.
The large pipes are made from 8mm ABS solid Rod from Hobby King with mid sizes from assorted plastic knitting needles. These were heat bent using a hot air gun and a simple right angle made from a slightly rounded corner of a scrap of 9mm plywood. The solid works well for heat bending as it maintains its profile while bending unlike tube that would collapse and fold in on itself.
Some short pieces of Evergreen Styrene tubing were used on the 8mm rod for joints.


The small size pipe is from the usual pvc sheathed copper single core electrical cable at 4mm.

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Then, to see how how well it is looking and whether any more detailing is needed it was time to spray some grey primer.

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I think it is probably enough detail for now, the rest can be done in paint.


It is time to get started on the hull and cockpit bubble.

Thanks for looking.
 
That grey primer reveal of a technicolor kitbash just never gets old, does it? One of the most satisfying moments of any kind of build. Full compliments on how you've taken your time to procure pieces that actually fit and mesh together in a cohesive design. You've got a great eye. Really looking forward to watching this progress!
 
I have started on the main hull and cockpit section.

First up I reinforced the 3mm aluminium plate with some 3mm thick angle, pop riveted on.
The weight of the flat top was sagging a bit after pressing on it while detailing the top surface of the flat top.
Next some 10mm thick foamed PVC sheet formers were positioned and some 2mm black styrene sheet was added longitudinally.

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67mm OD PVC tube was cut up on the bandsaw and superglued to the sides of the black styrene box to form the curved sides of the top of the hull.

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The hull was carefully profiled with a Dremel sanding drum to match the curvature of the dome/half sphere which was masked up and superglued to the front end of the hull.

I then filled in the compound curve section of the lower hull with foamed PVC leaving about 2mm left for car putty to form the finished surface.

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Car Putty was then applied.
When the filler was still at the leather stage unwanted lumps were cut away with an extended Olfa snapper knife, then after fully set sanded with a sanding stick, a piece of 6mm plywood with 80 grit wet and dry sandpaper spray glued on.
This was repeated with rapidly decreasing amounts of filler about 4 times to eventually fill in all the low spots.

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The Blue tape covers a DC power connector installed flush with the bottom of the hull.
The other hole is for the support pipe.

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The dark line shows the point where the hull is split. It hooks on at the top with a tab that fits into a slot and is retained at the bottom with a screw that goes into 3 layers of 2mm styrene.
I didn't have this split originally but found I had no room to remove the ribbed cover under the flat top that is held on by a magnet to access all the wiring.
I think it will be better to have the cockpit section removable to work on anyway so its turned out for the better. I will install a plug and socket for the electrical power to the cockpit lighting.

Here is the model the right way up so far with a few shamefully unfinished projects in the background.

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I was attempting to get this finished for the Wasmex scale model show which is in April but I don't think I will make it as there is still a lot to do.
Hopefully I will have it done by Supanova which I believe is in June.

Thanks for looking, more soon...
 
G’day Mung , another one of your fantastic builds I’ve subbed onto.
It’s looking very impressive so far, and it’s Möbius inspired as well ! (y)
Regarding the Wasmex doo, according to their FB page it’s gonna be held in early May - 4th & 5th this year, will that be long enough away for you to have this beauty done ?

Ged
 
The interior of the bubble cockpit is now more or less complete in construction.
I will need to spray some grey primer to be sure but I think its got more than enough nurnies to do the job.

I started by making up a cardboard template with the outline of the interior space so I could make sure the centre seat console module and the overhead panel module would fit inside the bubble as I built it.

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The occupants are from a Fujimi 1/24 scale drivers set, with the seats a very nicely molded resin cast aftermarket racing seat set.
After I received the seats in the post I happened to find a nearly identical pair of styrene seats in a 1/24th scale Supra kit I found in a charity shop.
I have had that kit box sitting around for a while now and never thought to look in it.
I modified the female figure by making the skirt look more like trousers. I wrapped some thin strips of masking tape around her very skinny legs and the put some white heat shrink tubing over the top and shrank it into place to make some kind of thigh high boots.
Their arms had to be heat bent to get then to reach to the side for the seat mounted control panels.
I also had to hack away at the male figure to get his shoulders to fit between the seat wings.
The foot rest is a couple of photo etch kit parts superglued to a bit of bent brass rod.


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At the moment the figures and the seat section is removable to help with access while painting but will be permanently fixed in place later.
There are a couple of bright white leds buried in the central console which will throw some light onto the figures.
I am planning to add some blue leds behind the central orifice in the back wall.
The large white round shape on the back wall is an ABS part salvaged from an old washing machine.

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The front bubble can be positioned in place with friction alone with the help of a couple of bits of Hobby King half round ABS, top and bottom that go through some half round holes that were already conveniently in the dome molding.

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Thanks for Looking.

More soon...
 
The cockpit interior is now painted and the lighting tested.

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As you can probably tell figures are not my strong point particularly in these small scales, 1/24 in this case.

I don't know how people work in the small scales it's all too tiny and fiddly for me.
I much prefer 1/16 and larger, they are easier for me to both see and hold with my clumsy mitts.
Big spaceship models often don't have visible cockpit interiors so it never becomes an issue
however this model has it all nakedly on display.

Most of the interior light is white and is coming from the central console lighting the pilots and the back wall with two bright white LEDs.
Added to that are four bright blue LEDs coming up through a chunk of acrylic (perspex) from behind the back wall and exiting sideways for some blue fill light and possibly some kind of wierd power source, who knows, I just make this stuff up as I go along.

Next job is to mask up the bubble and complete the exterior detailing.

Thanks for looking, more soon...
 
Absolutely Brilliant !
You’re going great guns mate, and that cockpit interior is gorgeous..., as is.
I seriously have me fingers crossed that she’ll be ready to be seen in all her glory come May..., if not, well still appreciate you sharing this insightful & inspirational build here.

Ged
 
Another awesome project you have going there!!!

And you know what? By "accident" this is the actual proof of how Moebius must have been a major influence for the design of a majority of the Star Wars universe. Now where is that old thread about Moebius and George Lucas ...
 
I think I am finally done detailing.

Primering is next and then I will know for sure but with winter here the weather is not conducive to spraying outside at the moment.

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I was hoping to get this done for Supanova which is this weekend, but sadly due to unforseen circumstances I won't be able to attend this year.

More soon...
 

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