This is the base model in 3D. I’ve been using Solidworks to make the CAD data that will eventually be used for machining and for build reference.

Aside from a few unobtainable kit parts, this is as much detail as I’ll be putting into the surface model. All the armor plating and greeblies and other details will be done by hand – probably over the course of many years. Oh my!

I’ll show in a future post how this model has be “parted-out” for machining. It’ll be a mosaic of smaller chunks of ABS plastic.

Initially, I had looked at making all out of one large piece of ABS, but it would have cost a mortgage payment just to make the saucers – way out of my budget. Smaller pieces means I can be more efficient in cutting a dome out of a source material that starts off essentially square.