TMP Refit Sets: Bridge

[Sibyl]

I've been wracking my brain on how I might construct a pie wedge of the Refit bridge in reality at full-scale. Not the consoles, this time, but the wall.

I think I have an idea now (finally!), but I would love to hear how others would do/have done it.

Assuming the final construction would be fiberglass, how would you create the form/mold/buck?

I'm not looking for reference material, but ideas for construction methods.

Sorry if this does not belong in Fan Productions and if it needs to go to Fan Art, I totally understand.

 

[Maurice]

I have noooo clue on how you'd fabricate the forms.

 

[Sibyl]

I *think* I know how I'll attempt it, and the method comes from boat and home-built airplane building. Stringers.

If I can get them thin enough and close enough, along with several support ribs, I should be able to sand the rest of the way for perfect curvature. The issue will be in getting the stringers to bend and twist to remain horizontal to the floor/ground. After that, I'll apply a layer of PVA to the smoothed master, layer on a TON of tooling gel, add some braces to keep everything rigid, and then I should have a buck to create the final product in fiberglass.

That's my intended plan, anyway. I was wondering if anyone else had come up with those walls at any point and if someone had a better idea of how to create them.

 

[Admiral Archer]

This is a fascinating idea! I've always wondered myself how one might go about recreating the TMP Enterprise Bridge in full scale. Out of curiousity, if you were going to do a console from the bridge eventually, which would it be? (I know you said you weren't going to, but I'm just curious)

 

[Sibyl]

This is a fascinating idea! I've always wondered myself how one might go about recreating the TMP Enterprise Bridge in full scale. Out of curiousity, if you were going to do a console from the bridge eventually, which would it be? (I know you said you weren't going to, but I'm just curious)

Oh, I didn't say I wasn't going to make a console. I just didn't need to know how to make one.

No, I believe I'd either make the science station or the engineering station, or, perhaps, and as silly as it sounds, a turbolift alcove.

 

[YJAGG]

I guess you would build one section out of wood, then make a mold, flexible mold, and then a rigid support for the flexible part...

 

[Sibyl]

Well, for this one, if my plans goes as--we--planned, there will be no flexible mold on this one. I'll be creating the master from wood ribs and stringers and creating the mold from tooling gel coat and fiberglass. From that, I'll make the final wall(s). Those will be cut into to add the consoles and/or doors.

 

[YJAGG]

To follow up once you build the pieces try smooth on for some help

and I found this the other day https://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-methods-for-molding-fiberglass-and-carbon-f/

 

[Sibyl]

I think I've seen those images in your bottom post at some point. Maybe I've even been on that page.

Using Bondo on the finished wood piece is a good idea for a smoother surface. I hadn't thought of that.

The reason I'll be making a rigid fiberglass mold is both for cost and for consistency if I would like to create more than one. Rubber molds, even those with a rigid backing, tend to create inconsistencies and imperfections, especially at that scale. At least, from what I've experienced.

A blast of compressed air should be enough to separate the final pieces from the mold once everything is cured.