Studio Filming Model by Apogee
I was never satisfied with the old Monogram kit (bad details and the proportions were all wrong), or even the much improved Moebius releases because they were all too small,
and too difficult to MOD. (It didn’t help my finishing skills weren’t that great either).
10 years ago the best kit you’d find would be the ½ studio scale (3 feet) Mike Salzo garage kit, although it was very expensive and very, very intensive to build. It was the most
screen accurate option available, but few ever finished them. Even that awesome kit got some details wrong. But I’m not a rivet counter, so that’s ok. That’s not a knock on Mike’s kit at all,
because the original studio model was a unique thing of beauty, and was an insane kit bashed wonder IMHO.
Mr. Salvo and his resin cast Galactica
But still I’ve always wanted a large scale Galactica model, and that’s what primarily led to me to 3D printing.
STL file screen render
In late 2023 I discovered the Gambody Galactica 3D printed set. They offer STL files for a 14” SLA resin and 24” FDM plastic version. The files are very high quality (some parts are difficult to print well)
and I was able to print out the PLA version pretty well. Some of the details are wrong of course, or not sized exactly right, but the digital files are well thought out and designed, and it looks pretty good - worlds better that the old kit from the 1970s. I know I’ve showed this version on the webcast and in the forums but here is the 2 foot version printed.
I loved having such a big model to work on, but I couldn’t help wonder how would this scale up?? (and that my friends is the real beauty of having actual production files to print from).
So I decided to scale it up 200% and contracted a shop to print some of the larger pieces. Here are the test mules – I say test because I wasn’t really happy with the shop’s print resolution
and layer height settings. That’s a printing issue, not a file issue though.
Having the HUGE parts in hand, it was obvious some of the design and gator head panels needed correcting. When you’re dealing with a 50” monster, the details or lack of are NOW pretty glaring.
Things you can get away with in smaller scales doesn’t really cut it now. Thankfully I have a lot of detailed shots of the studio model before and after it was correctly restored for a second time in the mid 2010’s.
(Yes, even the original filming model wasn’t screen accurate for 30 years!)
Since I knew I wouldn’t use these first parts for the final model, I decided to start marking, grinding, scribing & testing new elements needed to help this become a little more screen accurate with the original studio model.
marking some changes
Testing some color shades
I’m also planning some new elements that are a first that I know of, things even the filming model didn’t have.
new hanger bay design elements
I expect this thread to be updated every so often as I’m working on the model. I hope you find this build interesting!
