Expanse Space Ship Door

Gallery
#1

NERD ALERT. As one my crazier projects, I set out to reproduce a door (and a few other things) from the Expanse Rocinante military spaceship.

Door.PNG
Door.PNG1920Ă—1080 151 KB

Once I made a model in CAD, I split the design into pieces that could fit on a 24" x 31" panel without putting seams at awkward places. This ended up being a 7 piece machining job on 1/4" MDF. I glued up 3 of the panels to build the lower portion of the door before hanging it.

PXL_20210302_012028236
PXL_20210302_0120282364032Ă—2268 2.35 MB

Then I placed the top and the two side filler pieces, and started filling the seams. As posted earlier I had an issue with the bit walking down during this job, so some of the panels were severely scarred. I filled with bondo and epoxy (depending on the area) to recover it.

PXL_20210302_202910526
PXL_20210302_2029105262268Ă—4032 2.31 MB

Primer helped to highlight remaining “problem” areas, which got more touchup before final paint.

PXL_20210303_182409298
PXL_20210303_1824092982268Ă—4032 2.29 MB

Then it was off to decal land, jointly designed in CAD and Photoshop. I used removeable vinyl (as opposed to permanent) so I could reposition without tearing my paint if I got the placement wrong.

PXL_20210303_212441604
PXL_20210303_2124416044032Ă—2268 2.33 MB

Final build is 36" wide by 80" tall. Two coats of paint and a bunch of decals later and it’s finished! Pretty proud of it.

PXL_20210303_231839102
PXL_20210303_2318391022268Ă—3902 1.26 MB
PXL_20210303_231854577
PXL_20210303_2318545772268Ă—4032 2.22 MB

If you’re an Expanse fan, drop me a line and I’ll share the rest of the project with you!

27 Likes
#2

Can you explain how primer helps identify problem areas? Just looking to learn

#3

Catches the light more than the very matte MDF, allowing me to see ridges and edges.

1 Like
#4

I don’t know anything about the show you’re talking about, but the door looks awesome!

1 Like
#5

Oh man, if you like space shows with realistic physics and a long, in depth storyline, The Expanse is awesome!

8 Likes
#6

Is this the inside of the door to your man cave, and does the other side look all plain and normal/boring ? :laughing:
Great idea!

2 Likes
#7

It was a six panel door going into my workshop. Spaceship on the inside so it looks normal unless you’re inside the workshop. Before pic - in the process of converting and finishing the entire room so it’s pretty messy right now. This is the room that also has the Shapeoko.

PXL_20210228_020921925
PXL_20210228_0209219252268Ă—4032 2.57 MB

3 Likes
#8

So do you call your Shapeoko the “Rocinante” or “Naomi Nagata”? Great looking project, big fan of the series, it’s really well done.

2 Likes
#9

Well, the WorkShope, of course! There are some Roci and Tachi remnants around though.

PXL_20210225_035601719
PXL_20210225_0356017194032Ă—2268 3.54 MB

8 Likes
#10

Great theme for a workshop. Now I’ll be honest this is what I’d picture if you said something like, “had some friends over to run a few projects on the Shapeoko last night!”

8 Likes
#11

Your “space shop” door looks awesome!
Would love to see more of this project, keep them posting!

FYI: If anyone uses a 3DConnexion mouse for 3D modeling, you can use it to control an MCRN spaceship apparently.

image
image1400Ă—933 318 KB

3 Likes
#12

I have two Spacepilot Pro and they are great efficiency tools, but I admit that they are also awesome with the Descent series of games.

2 Likes
#13

My son got one for Christmas the other year to use w/ Solidworks, and I’ve rather envied that, and really wish that such devices were straight-forward to set up w/ the opensource programs.

2 Likes
#14

Alright, here’s another project for this overall theme - my Shapeoko computer station used to be these black metal shelves with some clean routing on the back. I wanted to bring this in-universe as well, modeled after the Donnager class Bellepheron ship and the Rocinante (both Mars military vessels).

PXL_20201229_214532530
PXL_20201229_2145325302268Ă—4032 2.76 MB

In the new design the keyboard shelf needed to be shallow, so I turned it into a full extension drawer with my SONOS speaker hidden inside. Construction is a bunch of laminated ribs as shown, with some (imperfect) finishing. Got some bondo this week so may be able to touch it up more.

Desk Comp 1
Desk Comp 11920Ă—1080 640 KB

Area still in progress, but here’s the installed station. The wall is now built out 1.5" with a cable raceway inside. The access panel maintains code for the electrical outlet.

PXL_20210302_061935543 (1)
PXL_20210302_061935543 (1)2268Ă—4032 2.49 MB
PXL_20210223_202847235 (1)
PXL_20210223_202847235 (1)2268Ă—4032 2.19 MB

@Hagop92 bonus points if you can guess what the big frame is beside the computer station.

8 Likes
#15

Your project is nerdier than I thought! that looks like great fun to work on… and in soon.

Had to look for that one but @Caffein8ted 's post above helped. The handle looks like the show’s even.

image
image1750Ă—936 248 KB

You may already have some resources, but this one might come in handy w/ a 360° view: 360º Rocinante Tour

1 Like
#16

That’s a good eye on the hatch door (which is indeed custom machines to match the set)! There’s actually something even bigger lurking under the plastic though.

It’s almost embarrassingly nerdy :slight_smile: but going to be really cool. I’m converting this part of the workshop into the Roci galley complete with a functioning rotating garden. That’s a big enough project that I’ll post a new thread once I get it up and running. Basically a full hydroponics setup that spins. Shapeoko is making most of it.

Roci Garden Concept
Roci Garden Concept1040Ă—1015 266 KB

4 Likes
#17

Oh man that’s so cool! I saw the green leaves on the shapeoko, almost joked that you’re making that. You actually are! Excited to see the thread! Have fun and have a good weekend! Definitely do before and after shots! Those are always neat to see

1 Like
#18

Yeah, the conxion software setup to drive the keyboard shortcuts is a pig to set up. It really sucks a part of the donkey :wink:

1 Like