Builds By Baz - Full scale MKII Colonial Viper

[BuildsByBaz]

Cheers Moe.

All three legs now finished. All steel. No more wood.

Marathon day of welding today.

 

[Tyvern]

This is so very awe inspiring and just outright amazing!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

UPDATE 19 March 2021

SIGH. It's really hard to update all the social media and forums. I have little time on my hands and it eats a lot of it.

As my main aim here is to inspire folks to try their hand at ambitious projects on the path to betterment etc, hopefully it's OK to just post a quick link to the one page where the updates live.

Mods is that ok with you?

Baz.

Here's the link to the latest works in progress.

Secondary Propulsion. Yes – TURBINES!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Updated the flight suit WIP too.

Viper Pilot flight suit

*This page will be updated with work in progress on the flight suit. There are flight suits available on Ebay that are not very accurate. I suppose you could buy one and modify it, but then you may…

www.buildsbybaz.com

 

[BuildsByBaz]

All the running gear is in for the turbines port and starboard. Here's a test startup, sound and motion.

Here's what it looks like on the inside. The tink tink you hear is the tied ends of the temporary rope belts hitting the shroud on the lamp. Took me a few minutes to work out what it was. There were lots of creaks and squeaks initially, but I went over the lot with a can of WD40 and now it runs totally silent until I put the sound on the speakers.

Finally, here's a bit of a look at what's coming in the Viper build.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Thanks guys. Your encouragement is always appreciated.

Right now I am building a work scaffold over the starboard engine nacelle, so that I can install the turbine and drive shaft into the top nacelle.

Cheers, Baz.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

One of the things I learned whilst building the Iron Man suit, was not only the extra attention to detail, but the LAYERING of details. Covering up the top details of the landing gear with bay doors adds that extra dimension, when someone stoops low to inspect what is obscured by the doors, thus seeing all the cool stuff underneath.

I also added top nacelle engine details using an old bucket, scrap sheetmetal welded together and some copper pipe.

As usual, the full story is logged on my website, www.buildsbybaz.com . My main mission is go encourage others to have a go at big projects, or even little ones, as a way to focus energy, motivate and give one a reason to get out of bed in the morning, or to look forward to going home after work, etc.

Baz.

 

[Tyvern]

This full sized viper build just keeps getting cooler and cooler man, absolutely amazing!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

This full sized viper build just keeps getting cooler and cooler man, absolutely amazing!

Thanks mate!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Update:

Top engine nacelle engine details complete and nacelle re-mounted.

New intake details created and installed in top nacelle. There are no details inside this area in BSG lore, so I've been given a go ahead by the BSG crew to write my own. So let it be written, so let it be done.

Foot pedals fabricated, spring loaded and a stainless steel safety mesh welded in so kids can't get their foot stuck in it.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Finished the aft landing gear doors and welded them on.

Made cardboard windscreen panels, bought a sheet or 4.5mm thick perspex, (plexiglass), flattened templates, traced and cut with a fine jigsaw.

After semi success forming it with every heater, heat gun and butane torch I could find, today I borrowed a LPG weed burner to spread the flame evenly over the material. I got a beautiful even bend out of it.

All fitted up now, running in tracks beautifully and the tracks are now secured to the formers via steel brackets.

Runs like a dream.

Moving on to the wings now.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Canberra just went into COVID lockdown today, so I guess I'll have some time to work on the wings.

Good thing I measured the shed out right. I've got some vehicle dollys coming. If I push the Viper to one side and mount a wing, I have a foot of clearance to get around it and fit it before removing it to do the opposite side. As long as my fat covid lockdown guts doesn't expand, I'll be fine to squeeze past.

Right now I am just using cardboard to work it all out. The cannons are not terribly heavy, but they are mounted on the wing tips, causing a bit of a cantilever effect. I will be using a steel strut welded to two mounting points in the side of the nacelle, that will support the longitudinal length of the wing, plus the cannon. In the series set prop, there was a sneaky little strut poking out of the cockpit fuselage, attached to the side of the gun, giving it one more support point forward of the wing roots.

Once that's all measured and cut, I will then build the wings out of polystyrene, with two steel poles inside, radiating from the wing roots to the outer edge. Shape, sand and fibreglass with the rest of the hull.

The rounds are 30mm, similar to the A10 Warthog's gun. These are turned out of wood, painted and I made the link a couple of years ago out of sheetmetal. I have a plan later to have a transparent or cutaway section on one wing so you can see the load-out of the link to the side of the cannon. More on that down the track.

full story on www.buildsbybaz.com, or look for Builds by Baz groups on Facebook and Youtube.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Always amazed and excited by this protect, Baz. Great work, man. Thank you for building this, and keep up the good work.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Always amazed and excited by this protect, Baz. Great work, man. Thank you for building this, and keep up the good work.

My pleasure Sean.

Baz.

 

[MrJamin]

I've been watching this thread for a while and continued to be amazed by it! At some time in the future I'd love to be able to come see this in person

 

[TurboCharizard]

Stay safe out there Sandbagger and good luck with getting the most out of your extra time in the hangar bay.

 

[Tyvern]

The more you work on this thing and get the detailing done, the more it looks flyable. Hope you're doing well during this whole global covid debacle.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

The more you work on this thing and get the detailing done, the more it looks flyable. Hope you're doing well during this whole global covid debacle.

Thanks mate. We've just started week 2 of a three week lockdown here in Canberra. The numbers of positive cases went up from day one, but for the last two days they have dropped.

Getting lots of knives done in the shed, but because I can't go anywhere and a lot of businesses have been ordered to close, I can't get and materials to work on the Viper.

It's a strange world right now.

Baz.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

It's been a big weekend. Both wing frames welded up. One wing and 30mm mass accelerator cannon mounted. Once it's all finished, I'll take it off, stack it against the back wall and push the Viper over to the other side of the shed to mount the other wing and gun.

The end is so close I can taste it!