Customisers Log, Supplemental 3

Hi there!
Stardate: unknown. New geometries from old foes have been encountered - the computer says they're polychora or some stuff, made from elements that are far beyond our periodic table or projected to be abundant within the multiverse... it is unclear how electrical interactions occur with this exotic matter...

Above: concept of a scout tesseract - scaled to the MM 'scout' Cube, the vessel is comprised of 7 component ships - a scout cube core and 6 square-based trapezium pyramids. The final vessel will be 140mm^3, and will be able to assemble or disassemble into separate ships. Preliminary test prints suffered warping at 10% fill, though this is the only way (short of slot and tab constructing the things from corflute) to cost effectively and time-effectively print the thing! each pyramid takes ~30mins to print, assuming the print doesn't suffer. Also, each pyramid must be broken up into 3-5 parts, due to the larger area to print for the k8200. The final product though will be hollow and perfect to internally light.

Above: Concept of a 85mm dia sphere. This doesn't feel 'authentic' as it isn't made of 'chocolate orange' style segments - rather, it is made of 1-3mm circular segments, to assist with printing on the repetier. test printing of the 55mm dia sphere was excellent! It is similar to the clix scale one, though nearest to the top, the printer seemed to 'spaz' and consequently, there is significant hollowing near the top - this is perfect for lighting and for battledamage or augmenting. At ~ 1.60 USD per home-made sphere (inclusive of glue), this is much more agreeable than the ~$19USD asking price so often found elsewhere, for a figure that isn't even scaled properly! The eaglemoss sphere is nice, though ultimately I'd like to make a larger one similar to the craft seen briefly in STVOY's endgame finale.
The smaller clix sphere scale could pass as a scout sphere, as it's slightly larger than the tetrahedron or scout.

The obelisk (type 1) is by far my favorite borg vehicle to date - it just looks right, y'know? The recycling of plastic parts has also been fun as part of the build.

Attempts to build non-derelict feds have been difficult with the k8200 or the makerbot;
looking at more experienced professionals, it would be very difficult to achieve the desired result with present in-home printers. Luckily shapeways and a couple Rapid Prototype machines are around... and I''m happy with the borg geometry that you can make in-home.

I'll post pictures of the tesseract as it is completed. I'm thinking of trying different glow for the tesseract rather than the yellowish green. The trick to getting that certain colour is to start with a primer applied in sections, then build on that with a white gloss undercoat (allow all that to dry completely), then apply a mid pantone yellow, and while that yellow is wet, drybrush with a hearty lime green or darkangels pantone green. The gloss white beneath makes that green glow!
depending on how you made your geometry, you then can do highlight drybrushing of certain components with shades of black and grey.

Due to the mismatch of filament (1.75mm in a 3mm hotend) AND the nature of the beast anyway, the print will lead to lines: ordinarily this would mean gaps and non-watertight-ness, though for borg geometry this is EXCELLENT as it's all the nooks and crannies to shove styrene parts and corflute wherever you like so as to make each vehicle independent! 1/48-1/116th scale kit parts work best I've found, especially boat and aircraft parts - you can often find used sheets at model shows for free or cheap. You can also then embellish with pipecleaners and twist-tie parts, assorted plasticard and corflute, tubing and drinking straws.
When you drybrush it all after its been properly undercoated, it has a great feeling of authenticity and texture - thats because you're using similar methods as the pros did when they initially made the actual studio scale models all those years ago! = )
you can even emulate the paint pattern of the MM cubes if you like; it looks nice, as does trying to capture the STO paint feel. Lighting your geometry may pose weight logistical problems, and or fire hazards... thats for you to fathom and risk heh.

The goals after this latest bunch are:
borg assimilator, (from ST:Armada, this thing is huge and nasty). Test desktop prints have suggested slot and tab superstructure may be more the way to go...
borg cylinder command ship, polypipe with detail parts , alt. version caps from aerosols with lollypop stick connectors and printed parts and styrene for gaps... (really borgy feel).
borg tactical cube (3mm thick 3D printed panels that slot n tab together),
borg cube (corflute type), preferably in 1;4848 --- I'm slowly snowballing this together on the backburner as i do the other projects; getting just the right parts together has been fun. Now I just need the right display base for the weight of this thing... I'm thinking POP parts that way this thing can hinge around on 3 socketed arms.
borg interplexing beacon,
borg asteroids and
borg nexus/unimatrix. (since there's a ds9 for STAW, why not borg installations?).


issue 31 of Eaglemoss will be ordered to take care of the romulan shortfall;
I already have 4 garage kit rommies, and 5 hallmark warbirds, so they're set after 3 of the issue 31s turn up. I do have a garage kit of a valdore, and a shapeways printed one: not satisfied with either of those.