So here is my build of Moebius models 1/144 Discovery XD-1 kit.As Nemesis has already posted it is a really nice kit.The kit does not come with any lighting or interior detail so I will be using some details and lighting sets as well as adding some 3d printed parts for the interior.

I started with the reactor module.There is a steel pin that goes from the command sphere to the rear of the reactor module.Since I am lighting the engines I cut the pin to allow me to wire up the middle engine (the pin extends into this part in the stock build).I 3d printed a block to anchor the pin into.

I am putting a 9V battery in the reactor module so I modified the reactor module so I could open it after the model was finished to replace the battery.

The majority of the parts in the kit are for the spine and the modules that attach to the spine.The model is 41 inches long and so there are lots of modules to build.There are 5 basic modules and these attach to the spine in a specific order.The central part of the spine has the radar antenna on it.Assembly of these parts was easy but time consuming.

I made the parts for the spine and then attached them between the reactor module and the central antenna.

If this was an out of the box build you would be almost done.The command sphere is made up of 2 parts and the collar and the shoulder parts.

I decided to add a cockpit and pod bay interior.There are several aftermarket parts you can buy.Paragrafix makes a really nice photoetched set that has the walls and floor and ceiling of the pod bay.It also has parts for the Hal platform in the center of the pod bay.They also sell a cockpit kit which has a pretty decent representation of the cockpit and the corridor behind the cockpit that leads to HAls room.

HDAmodelworks makes decal sets for the pod bay and cockpit and I got some 3d printed pods from Shapeways.

The parts look good but seemed a bit flat to me so I designed some parts to 3d print to add to the paragrafix parts for the pod bay and cockpit.

I also designed some parts for the Athena room.This is a room off to the side of the pod bay that features prominently in the movie. Finally I made some pod platforms.I want to have a couple of the pod bay doors open and display one pod outside of the pod bay to recreate the scene in the movie where the astronauts venture outside of the Discovery.

It looks amazing.
...and I thought 1/8 scale cars were big!

I saw that but the castings look pretty bad to me so I will pass on it.

Carl

Thanks everyone for your comments

OK moving on to the pod bay.The paragrafix photoetched set provides the floor ceiling and walls for the pod bay.It is really nice, but a bit flat so I made some parts to make the pod bay have a 3d feel.The HDA modelworks decals are great for the magnetic pads on the floor of the pod bay ans also have details for the oxygen tanks.I cut out the etched tanks and made some boxes to put the 3d printed tanks in. There are 3 platforms on the floor and a central console with a HAL9000 on it. The paragrafix set has a console that you can make by folding the etch into a box.It is such a prominent feature of the pod bay so I made a 3d part out of clear resin so I could put a LED into the part to light it up.I also made a hole for Hals eyes that would have a fiber optic cable in it and a blue smd was used for the screen next to HAL.

There are three pod platforms.I decided to have 1 pod in the bay and one outside and I left the third platform empty so you could see the pod bay through the open pod bay door.the platforms have holes in them to feed fiber optics through the light the pods.I used 2.4 mm square brass tube for the platform supports.Theses were big enough to thread fiber optics through for the pod outside of the bay.

I also bought some figures from shapeways and used them for the spacesuit and helmet.

The ceiling was made from the paragrafix parts and some 3d printed parts.I used PICO SMDs for the lights

test fitting the primed 3d parts

With the 3d parts glued in place I painted the pod bay parts and then started applying the HDAmodelworks decals.

I put the central console in place and used a 0.5mm LED for HAls red eye, a blue smd for the monitor next to HAL and a 3mm white LED in the base of the console.The wires and fibers were fed through a hole in the pod bay floor behind the console.

Taking shape quite quickly. Looking good.

Mark

The final part of building the pod bay was to attach the ceiling, place a pod inside the bay and work on the pod extended outside of the pod bay.

I used SMD and lightboxes for the ceiling lights and painted one the falconware shapeways pods and put it on the far left platform. I didnt light this pod because the pods didnt light up in the movie until they were in the launch position.

The pods are hollow so it was easy to put a pico smd in the pod itself.I drilled out the front window and used a piece of red filter to diffuse the light from the smd.For the 4 headlights I used 0.5mm fiber optic cables that were fed through the bottom of the pod ,through the hole in the platform and down through the brass tubes.Once the pod and platform were installed I glued a white led to the back wall of the pod bay wall and used that to light the fiber optics.There is a also a red HAL eye on the front of the pod so I used a 0.25 mm fiber optic and threaded it the same as the others and attached it to a red LED behind the pod bay wall.

The pod was installed into the bay and everything was wired up and tested.It took a bit of gymnastics to get it into the lower hull.I will paint the lower hull first and then install the interior during final assembly because it would be a nightmare to mask off the pod.