That’s no moon!
Hello all.
This project is a completely scratch built model of every bodies favourite weapon of mass destruction, “The Death Star”.
The model is constructed in a similar way to the actual studio model for ‘Starwars episode 4 a new hope'. I used two 300mm diameter hemispheres then cut out the super laser section, inverted it and then stuck it back.
Sources vary but a lot of the research material puts the (supposed real life) Death Stars diameter at about 160km which would make the scale of this model a bit over 1/500,000
The two hemispheres are separated by an equatorial trench 1/2mm wide. Incidentally the trench was incorporated in the original model to cover up the fact that the two hemispheres didn't quite line up.
The model incorporates a bit over 300m of fibre optics and 6LED lights. Hope you enjoy it
Does one need a license to run a Death star?
An awful lot of fibers in that little thing. What material is the sphere, the walls seem a bit thick?
The sphere is clear acrylic. It is 5mm thick although as I discovered that thickness varies a bit between the edge and the top. I did originally try to go with 0.3mm fibre optic however half a dozen drill bits later I gave up on that and went to 0.5mm. Drilling and fitting the fibre optic took about 10 times longer than building and painting.
That is way cool.
This fully operational station is now the ultimate scratchbuilding project in the StarWars galaxy! You may fire when ready!
Very cool, including the weathering and painting. Very creative!
"Use the Force, Luke!"
Very cool project and great result.
Awesome. It would have a trial of mental strength fitting all that fibre optics.
Looks great. What did you use for the hemispheres? Hopefully you bought some stock in fiber optics before you bought all stuff for this build. :o)
The hemispheres are 300mm acrylic from HLNsupplies.co.uk.
They do a number of different sizes all the way up to 1.8m