Adam Savage Demonstrates Miniature Spaceship Paneling!

I love this! I've been building as far back as I can remember.
I have limited space, so now I build with card stock and paper. I use all the same methods. I wish I'd been able to make a living at it...

😮😮😊😊

The Master makes it look so easy. 😅
Great tutorial Adam.
Thank you.

I was about 10 years old when Empire Strikes Back came out. By that time, I had seen enough articles in Bantha Tracks and other magazines to grasp model making and wanted to get into the career field so badly. Of course, I had no idea how to do it, so I built spaceships and buildings using index cards with tape and glue. I loved it, but could never figure out the real secrets, so always felt a little disappointed. I'm in my 50s and just sat here mesmerized, wishing I had Adam as a teacher. His enthusiasm and encouraging instruction makes me feel 10 again. Oh, to be young enough to be able to dream of this career again...

Hey Adam, I'm almost retired (I'm 63). I can build really detailed models and want to make them but how can I offer them for commercial use. Is it feasible to think I can sell my models? Not to make a living but for extra money on the side? Any suggestions? On a second note, can you make a video about lighting a model using Arduinos? I hope you'll make some good vids about my requests.Thanks.

I'd like to do this to make a few space ships for tabletop games.

Very nice episode. I love how Mr. Savage explains these modeling techniques in a natural and non condescending tone and sharing with everyone the joy of model building

Just watched this again for inspiration. I am building a Polar Lights 1/72 C 57D only instead of the smooth surface detail. I'm going to use the kit as an armature and apply panel detailing to it using the techniques in your video. My goal would be see what the design would look like as if the film were produced today.

Buenos notches!

Definitely came together with the primer coat. Hard to see any details before that with white-on-white styrene from a distance. Some great tips and techniques! Thanks!

Surely CGI models are more efficient now?

Serious Bobb Ross vibes in this. I thought it was funny when you mentioned him

What's the glue he's using there? Very interested in that. Also is it safe to use indoors?

I much prefer the ships in film and the ones you've done to show us how.
What, I don't understand about all these ships everyone's building is how busy they are. I am a less is more type, and I've watch quite a few "from scratch"
built SciFi space ships and they all add lots of "big" parts that stick out all over. Most ships I've seen are fairly symmetrical nothing huge, and fairly clean lines.
So why do these model makers seem to throw everything but the kitchen sink, in these models?
I've seen things used as greeblies glued all over, this guy was gluing beads all over the place. To me the ships from Star Trek, Space 1999, Star Wars, even a little one I believe was Battle Beyond The Stars . That ship looked like the torso of a female and Stared Richard Thomas of "The Walton's" fame.
I cannot recall one TV or movie spaceship that looked like a magnet for junk.
So what gjves?

If there was ever a chance to bring back mythbusters it would be so awsome

Adam, is there a glue i can get from Amazon? i am working on a very cool parts counter for work. i want to ver. 2.0 with a savage feel

Building a borg cube must have been nuts. All those pipes on the surface would take forever to place.

Anyone sure of the exact thickness he’s working with? Finding a scale online is a bit foggy.

Art.

These videos have been a priceless resource of information since I decided to start scratch building again this winter. It's the little things that make a huge difference on a model.

I use this stuff a lot to build vehicles/structures for the 40k universe mainly the building Orks

How in the F? This is a black magician at work

Great work. I was intrigued with the notching part. Do you own a nibbler?

Tesla Cybertruck: "hmm. I was built by aliens."

Great stuff! Sorry, though, that this video came through in soft focus. Hard to make out exactly what I was looking at, especially white on white. I want to see it all! I got a little nervous watching you cut while holding your straight edge. I cut a chunk off the tip of my finger that way once when my finger slipped into the path of the blade. Now I clamp my straight edge with squeeze clamps and keep my non-cutting hand out of the way.

Does anyone know what liquid he used to weld the sheets together or what it is called?

Adam Savage, the Bob Ross of model making.

Sooo, let's say I have some quarter inch foam core in the garage just waiting to become panels. I know that CA will dissolve the foam, so, what do you recommend? Aslo, with the polystyrene you're using, if one were to run some copper lines from one juncture box to another, which glue would work in that instance?

For anyone, starting out, wanting to see how much fun this is without spending any money. Boxes from, crackers, cereal, tea etc.. are free.

I LOVE that when a ship made like this gets famous, it can become a huge challenge for decades to all kinds of people. Just think of them happily greebling the Millennium Falcon in the 70s blissfully unaware some Disney Imagineer will have to recreate it in full scale in two different theme parks.

kinda unfocus unfortunetly. that said this is amazing ! thank you so much adam !

Needs a Part II, III, etc. going through all the layers of detail.

Feel like this is a class worth a LOT of money. Think about the decades of knowledge distilled into this. Not just knowledge... highly paid for knowledge. Priceless.

Amazing!!! My favorite video of yours. Now I really want to give it a go. Looks like a lot of fun. I used to make worlds and maps with the Unreal engine. Reminds me of the material creating part (my favorite).

Reminds me of making stained glass windows

love this very interesting inspired

In the near future, we will see a significant increase in the activity of combat activities within and in the Russian Federation, the fighting forces of the anti-Putinist collective. It will be disproportionately more effective than the previous successes of pro-Western combat forces. Further withdrawal of the Russians from the areas of operations is expected, and also withdrawal from the Russian territories to a position at a greater distance from the Ukrainian border (leaving the Russian territories without the support of the Russian forces, to be defended by the civil-territorial defense forces), which will cause further problems in the Kremlin, such as and a further decline in the morale of the Russian troops. A given stage will end in the spring in the form of opening a new stage of activities.

That was just pure gold, I mean 3d modelling on comps is awesome but it will never have the soul that this kind of physical modelling has. That 3rd stage of adding pre-made parts from model kits is so exciting, when the model truly becomes something 'real'. Thank you Adam for this great vid along with the really interesting snippets about your time as a model builder. I could watch this all day!

Excellent tuition and instruction. Amazing to see something so detailed come to life. I think I'm going to have to give this a go. More please.

30 minutes of making "nothing" that somehow looks like "something." That kept my attention every second. Adam, you are amazing. Thanx.

cool!!!

When you are scoring the Styrene--- turn your xacto blade UPSIDE DOWN (blade up) -- it removes the plastic... if you use the blade side down-- it "pushes the plastic " and you get a "lip" on the cut..... yes... BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!! (that should go without saying when doing any of this type of work.

I had no idea Weldbond worked in that way on plastics. I have always just used it as a really good glue. Fascinating.

And yes, using your fingers and a pencil does suffice to work as a hermaphrodite caliper quite nicely.

so that leads to the question as to whether you find the monolithic carbon fiber wings of modern fighter jets ... frustrating?

Also, have you ever used chemical etching on the polystyrene sheet to give it either a dye or an easier to work surface? I've done the surface effect, cannot remember the chemical, but it carved like cold peanut butter.

This was amazing. I really wish I could have learned about this kind of model making skill a long time ago. I'm eager to see more model building techniques.

If your weld bond is Methyl Ethyl Ketone, acetone or another strong solvent, you really should have good ventilation and definitely NOT get it on your hands. Repeated exposure to solvents can cause nerve and tissue damage, liver failure and other health issues.

Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK)