The construction of the scale rotor is nearing. I'm waiting on one last order of isosceles triangle rods and the laser-cut components to arrive. I'm going to have to make one substitution in construction. The smallest equilateral triangle rod doesn't seem to exist and will be substituted with 2 mm square rod (applied on the diagonal). That would be very hard to notice. Every other rod is exactly to scale including the outboard tubes. The mirror base is a little thicker than the correct scale, but that's a minor detail.

Well, poo! Ponoko did a fine job of laser cutting, but they made an error and cut a 3 mm sheet instead of a 1.5 mm sheet. Looks like it will be another couple of weeks before I can assemble the wee rotor.

Incidentally, the innermost rods pierce every tier so I opted for holes that are just barely snug. Additionally - and despite a little added cost - the position where the other rods meet the top of each tier is etched. It would be a pain to align everything otherwise.

Wow, I've just realised how big this scale console is going to be

No mere Dapol scale!

It will be a little more than 18" wide with a rotor diameter of 4.5". 1:6 would've been more suitable to certain dolls, but this console is for a video. The larger the better for realism, though I limited the size due to practical materials.

As for Dapol and such, well, I have an idea for constructing a 1:13 with a toy-like approach that requires a few concessions - but not being 5-sided! If the prototype works out, I should start a petition to beg Character Options (or whoever) to manufacture it.

The laser-cut pieces look beautiful!  Looking forward to seeing them assembled.

hang these ones at christmas time!!

I got some plexi cut from ponoko for my column build. I am amazed at the detail they can get away with.

Lasers!!

I really enjoyed watching mooncrest put together their Hartnell console model... I'm eagarly awaiting more construction photos of yours now

The correct pieces arrived today. Here's a quick test of the stack (minus the top tier). They're 50% thicker than what would actually be to scale, but they'd be too thin and simply snap. It was a necessary concession. The rods are going to be a tight fit so I'm going to have to be extra careful not to break anything. In fact, I'll probably bore them a tad looser and warm the pieces in hot water to assemble. The other rods will be held in place by the tiers themselves until I weld them. There should be enough capillary action, and I'm only welding the bottoms.

Really Nice looking can't wait to see the finished prop. 

Fantastic start! Can't wait to see the finished console!

Wow, in that photo, it doesn't look that much smaller even

Spectacular! Other than that, you've got me speechless (and that's saying something!).

Dino.

Thanks, everybody! I'm going to have to order a duplicate set with a slight modification, though. The snugness of the holes is a little too much, which has caused stress lines no matter how forcefully gentle I place the rods in. I'll have to enlarge them the tiniest amount. When acrylic is laser-cut, the lines in the layout generally indicate a little material that gets removed, but it's not quite enough in this case.

Thankfully I won't have to get the mirror redone. It's 3 mm and quite stable with the extant holes. There is a little difference in some of the rods so I'm choosing the slimmer ones to push into the mirror.

Have you tried using needle files? I used them with my console column innards, and it worked well, allowing the acrylic rods to fit comfortably before using the solvent.

I'm filing the ones that didn't fracture and only having the damaged ones redone.