What SF Topics CAN’T be Modeled?

Well, the original Star Trek had some things that might be difficult...

The "Lights of Zetar", a Medusan alien outside of its travelling case, what would be presumably the natural form of the Metrons ( the image on the screen ) in "Arena"...

A TARDIS in it's natural state would be impossible since it is never shown.

In some Star Trek episodes cosmic phenomenons play a role, like getting stuck in some sort of nebula. And Deep Space Nine revolves around the wormhole.
I think that you can not model these non-tangible things. That is, I do not have a clue how to model a nebula or a wormhole... it is all lights and mist.

I'm pretty sure the wormholes work of the theories of black holes and it isn't lights and mist, if thats the case, its the remnants of anything near it, planets, stars, asteroids, and the like.

But uh... You would be best suited if you wanted to, to use paper machet to sculpt a free standing sculpture of a wormhole in three dimensions for the size you want, then use a vacuform machine to re-create it in clear plastic. 

You build the dio in a shadow box and give the whole clear wormhole a smoke or clear black coat.  From there you just use your imagination to detail it, leave open areas of black as well

Here’s one I should’ve included in the pot: Any WWII (NOT Cold War) Soviet war machine (whether it rolls, flies, or crawls) with 100% accurate Protective Green 4BO color with iron-clad proof of authentication. It’s Science Friction! Like trying painting a Cheshire cat! Fantasy! Madness!

Borg R3-MC0

In some Star Trek episodes cosmic phenomenons play a role, like getting stuck in some sort of nebula. And Deep Space Nine revolves around the wormhole.
I think that you can not model these non-tangible things. That is, I do not have a clue how to model a nebula or a wormhole... it is all lights and mist.

I just had an idea with this one.

For some reason, I just thought of something that was in toy stores about 15 years ago.  It had Star Wars ships and small neon-colored plastic pins that you would put in a container that looked like a fish tank about 6 inches high, 10 inches wide, and 2 inches "deep" with a starfield printed on cardboard for a background.

The way you got the ships and pins ( which were to be the "lasers" ) to stay in place was to take the mix that was included to make a clear gel, use tweezers to place the objects in the stuff, and remove any bubbles with a pipette.

As far as making a nebula or the accretion disk for a black hole ( what would the "swirly" be called for DS9's wormhole, since it's not the same thing? ), it would be expensive and heavy to make anything of any significant size, but maybe someone could take clear resin to do something similar?  Mix the stuff, put it in a mold, and use pins and pipettes to place paint or some kind of color in the mix, stir and move it in the resin before it cures with rods or whatever to make the "clouds", then let cure and polish the sides to have a full, 3D nebula "model" that could be seen from any angle.

It might not be able to get the precision results needed to "model" a particular real nebula from Hubble's pictures, but it's an idea.

Wow, I never thougt of those ideas how to model such cosmic phenomena. If I look at a hubble picture I never think "yeah, I could model that!" (instead of "ahhh, pretty!"

A realistic Death Star would be difficult in any scale.

The Death Star would be a model of a model.

I have a Death Star, about 2" in diameter, no big deal. It just is a [dingywongo] Christmas ornament! Now if you want the impossible, try Death Star II (AKA “The Tarkin”). How would you how to keep the unfinished elements “floating”?

i guess the hardest would be the cloaked bird of prey. (at least something that's not a display stand with NOTHING on it)

TD4438

A realistic Death Star would be difficult in any scale.

wasnt' the movie DS a model?

Yes it was a practical model in the good ole pre CGI days. A physical models from a more civilized time, not as clumsy or random as CGI.

OctaneOrange

i guess the hardest would be the cloaked bird of prey. (at least something that's not a display stand with NOTHING on it)

 

 

TD4438:

 

A realistic Death Star would be difficult in any scale.

 

 

wasnt' the movie DS a model?

The prohibition against invisibility was stated in the original post. (Sort of like the "wizard's duel" from "The Sword in the Stone".)

I'd take a 1/350 scale of the Enterprise E.

Actually I had a thought about invisibility and discussed it on here a while ago.  I had been planning, but scrapped, a fallout 3 diorama consisting of one of those Chinese stealth suits in the game. Basically anything in SF that wants to keep in realism that does cloak that actually is invisible to the naked eye bends the light somehow, and leaves a trace, a blurred edges kind of look, so here is what I proposed.  Simply enough, for figures you get the figure, or hack it, or what not, for vehicles you build the vehicle up in modular parts.  You get a vacuform machine and you re-cast the figure or vehicle in CLEAR PLASTIC.  That way it is technically invisible while still being seen if you... well look for it.

Here’s a typical scene of an invisible spaceship:

David Grinnell

    The moment that Zachary Halleck’s eye were caught by the strange light, he remembered all that he had forgotten.  He knew that the spaceship had arrived, that he was being picked up for his mission. He felt no astonishment as his feet left the ground, felt only that it was fortunate the arrival was timed so well.

    As it drew him up into the night sky, he strained his eyes to see the shape of the vessel; but he saw nothing.  There was a rim of light, the open door of what was obviously some sort of shaft or chute; but beyond it, the stars were not obscured and there was no trace of any hull.  Then he reached it, was sucked inside, and a door closed behind him.

— Across Time (AKA The Ultimate Spaceship)

(An old, old friend of mine, the Master Cruiser 12-12-12, power rating One, of the Fifth Galactic Federation, the LAST spaceship built by the Human Race.  Across Time is a roaring space opera, written by David Grinnell (a pseudonym of the prolific Donald A. Wollheim), 1957.

Now… as we have wandered into this channel… has anyone got any ideas as to model an invisible (no, smeagol, not clear, invisible) spaceship?

TomZ2

Now… as we have wandered into this channel… has anyone got any ideas as to model an invisible (no, smeagol, not clear, invisible) spaceship?

Again, maybe clear resin?

Have the subject done in another material, and use the resin to make a negative mold around it, but in sections so that the subject can be removed before closing up the resin.  

Ship-shaped bubble of air suspended in clear resin.   Technically "invisible", right?

Well if you want to model INVISIBLE things I can help you there.  my house is FULL of them.  I have full scale models of all the space ships from starwars and stargate in 1/1 scale modeled in my yard, but there all invisible

Kugai

TomZ2:

Now… as we have wandered into this channel… has anyone got any ideas as to model an invisible (no, smeagol, not clear, invisible) spaceship?

Again, maybe clear resin?

Have the subject done in another material, and use the resin to make a negative mold around it, but in sections so that the subject can be removed before closing up the resin.  

Ship-shaped bubble of air suspended in clear resin.   Technically "invisible", right?

No, as I told smeagol, not clear, invisible!  Something BETTER than this:

If I wanted a simple, clear vehicle, I could manage something akin to this:

(BTW, Wonder Woman’s Robot Plane wasn’t originally invisible but transparent.)  But as I quoted, “There was a rim of light, the open door of what was obviously some sort of shaft or chute; but beyond it, the stars were not obscured and there was no trace of any hull.”  Now, how to build it?

I thought that the ship-shaped pocket of air being invisible would count for something.  It would be the display holding it that's "clear."

Oh well.  I tried.

TomZ2

 

Kugai:

 

TomZ2:

Now… as we have wandered into this channel… has anyone got any ideas as to model an invisible (no, smeagol, not clear, invisible) spaceship?

Again, maybe clear resin?

Have the subject done in another material, and use the resin to make a negative mold around it, but in sections so that the subject can be removed before closing up the resin.  

Ship-shaped bubble of air suspended in clear resin.   Technically "invisible", right?

 

 

No, as I told smeagol, not clear, invisible!  Something BETTER than this:

If I wanted a simple, clear vehicle, I could manage something akin to this:

(BTW, Wonder Woman’s Robot Plane wasn’t originally invisible but transparent.)  But as I quoted, “There was a rim of light, the open door of what was obviously some sort of shaft or chute; but beyond it, the stars were not obscured and there was no trace of any hull.”  Now, how to build it?

I repeat

"

Well if you want to model INVISIBLE things I can help you there.  my house is FULL of them.  I have full scale models of all the space ships from starwars and stargate in 1/1 scale modeled in my yard, but there all invisible

"

smeagol the vile

Well if you want to model INVISIBLE things I can help you there.  my house is FULL of them.  I have full scale models of all the space ships from starwars and stargate in 1/1 scale modeled in my yard, but there all invisible

Yes, and you still haven’t shared your secrets of building invisible things!

YOU CANT

If its invisible its invisible.  Unless your attaching something to it, like a laser hitting it, or something interacting with it, there is no point putting it in the diorama or even considering it as a subject.