Some Cow Fonque?

Time to start the shoulder horseshoes. This part is a detail piece for R2's legs. There are two of them, and they are essentially the same, except that they are mirror images of each other. No problems there. Right now, we're cutting out the general shapes, and we'll worry about cutting the compartments for additional greeblies later.



Last time, I had made two templates out of MDF for the two different layers that are on the horseshoe. It's an off set of about 1/16 of an inch. I traced out the templates on styrene sheets, and then started cutting them out with my Dremel with the plunge router attachment. To save plastic, butted them as close as possible together, filling every vacant area possible. I also labeled them "I" and "O" so that I could quickly identify the inset panels.



A rough cut horseshoe with my MDF pattern.



Attach some double stick tape,...



And then carefully place the pattern on top of the styrene so that you can see white plastic poking out from behind the pattern.



Line up the bit's pilot with the pattern, and the blade with the plastic. Power on, and zip it down!



The corners will need to be filed sharp, but that's easy.



Tape, attach pattern, cut, remove, repeat. Both sets the Inset and the Original are completed in record time.

Now its time to put it all together...



I set up a piece of MDF and some 1-2-3 Blocks as a gluing jig. I used ALL Purpose ABS cement to glue them together. It takes a couple hours, as you glue two layers together, alternating between the regular size and the inset sized pieces. Spread the glue out thinly with a thick 1-inch swab applicator, and then press the pieces together. Keep some heavy weights on it for about an hour, and then glue another layer down. Takes time, but it works great. The layers will be aligned with the sides and the bottom - more or less.



Not bad!



Some dings and chips, and some minor misalignments, but very good so far. I still have one more layer to make... another horseshoe pattern that goes on the back of this part. Basically its another inset, except this one the inside pattern and outside are inset by 1/16". I will make that separately in the weeks to come. After I get both of these completed, I am going to hold off on any pattern finishing details until I get the upper part of the legs completed. I want to make sure that they look good and are somewhat symmetrical. If there are an glaring flaws, I will fix them and then proceed with cutting out the holes for the shoulder greeblies.

Speaking of the legs, my test cuts with my variable speed jig saw and carbide blades didn't go as well as planned. I am completing the CAD files so that I can have them machined on a CNC mill. At least they will be somewhat perfect.

I had finished the pattern for the cap for the hydraulic cylinders last time.



Mold. Cast. Done.



Quick cut down, and then get them all fitted, squared, and glued in. They'll soon be ready for finishing and priming.

So what's coming up? Work reaches fever level as I start getting the ankles assembled and start finsihing. Two more sets of greeblies will need to be made still. Looking over the pictures I found a detail I missed before. I hate when that happens. Research, and scratch building the parts. What else, what else... oh! Yeah! I have to figure out how I will be running the power cables through the leg to the motors in the feet. More planning, and more cutting in my future.

Anything else?

The Biker Scout Project is also making some progress... the last part of the holster buck nears getting a coat of urethane epoxy. And still, the vacuforming table's oven needs to be tested and temperature measured. Lots more to do! Hopefully I can squeeze it all in next week.

So until then, More tea, Viccar?

Short, short update. I am grateful that work have been overflowing, but it slows all the fun projects down. Meh.

So what up?

Weathering has started up on the DC-15L Clone Trooper Rifle. The whole weapon was painted black, and then sat for the better part of a month. I started dry brushing some silver to look like usage wear and tear. After this is applied, another dry brushing of walnut brown will be applied over that to simulate dirt and dirt and grim. I still have some small details still to attach. So that will be a part of the process in the coming weeks.



Not too bad. I think after the"dirt" is applied, it will look much better.

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On to the R2-D2 build!

I lathed two more hydraulic cylinders for the outer legs.



So that part is finished. There is some minor tweaking to do to get them attached to the bottom leg sections, but that's a separate topic for another time.



There is still some more details I have to cut for the outer leg (pictured on the right). Time to go back to the reference images and figure that one out.

I also machined out the end cap for the cylinders as well. I will again make a small cup mold to make the copies of the master pattern.



Time for a test fit:




Good fit... I will need to trim it down to size to get the exact fit. The depth of each cylinder end turned out different. The meter on the lathe I believe might need to be re-calibrated. I will mill down each end cap to the right height so that it sits at the correct detail level. A little extra work, but it's okay. Casting eight parts will take a couple of days. So it will have to wait a little longer.

UPDATE ON THE OTHER PIECES:

I was working on the horseshoes for the shoulder areas on the legs, and I wrecked a few of my plastic layers. I have to go get another full sheet and recut. Slight delay.

Also, I am still working out how to safely cut, and then trim the ABS sheets for the main part of the R2 legs. I think a carbide blade on a jig saw will work... chipping the ABS rather than cutting and causing it to gum up. I may try cutting a section very soon.

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As for the Biker Scout Armor, still holding for now. I am expecting some quality time with the parts again real soon. The holster bucks will be complete, and then I can move toward reshaping the shoulder bells, and the chest armor. Almost there. The good news is that I am trying to shoot for the armor to be completed next year before the Fourth of July. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

More to come in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

Heavy week, and some heavy building to do along with it! The quest and construction of the R2 Astrodroid marches onward.

The center ankle is pretty much completed. All that's left now is to start the assembly, and get the finer details worked on and dremeled in.

I did start a little bit of finishing on the hydraulic cylinders that I turned a few weeks ago. Right now, a coat of primer to see where the flaws are.



The only flaws I've discovered are my initial caliper scribe lines. A very easy fix with some glazing putty. For the next entry, I will have a short pattern finishing clinic.

I put the finishing touches on the ankle wedges! But instead of trying to scratch build more of them, I decided to make my life easier, and make a silicone mold.



A simple cup mold... the pattern is "stuck to the wood with a bit of wax, and then...



The cloning operations begin. I did have some trouble getting the master out of the mold, but that's okay. The patterns a slightly over sized for resin shrinkage, and so that I can shape them to fit properly. The sides of the wedges are tapered. I can cut them either with a band saw, or use a disc sander to get them to the proper angle. The curve fits very well over the cylinders.

To keep on the easy path, I also made a mold of the curved part of the ankle with the machined one I have.



Curiously enough... I found that the side legs are slightly wider that the center one. These copies I made for the side legs will need some altering in the form of styrene platforms. Easily done.

Since the center ankle is nearly completed, I decided to move onto the side ankles. The measurements are thicker than the center ankle, but the concept and design are very similar. I started the same as I did with the center ankle. I cut my ABS sheets to a good size to work with, and then cemented them together. After the cementing process was complete, they went into the scientific oven to be annealed so that the glue is complete cured, and that the plastic is stable for machining. After that was completed, it was time to machine each piece to the proper size.



Yeah... BIG stringie mess... but that's just from cutting from the side with the mill.  I did the same for the other sections. A little bit of table saw action and sanding took care of shaping the ankle pivot part. Then it was back to the mill...



Drilled and milled, the ankle is ready to accept a bronze insert for the foot.



Lastly, It was time to cement the two sections together The ankle pivot, and the chunky "stabilizer."



Using 1-2-3 Block to make perfect squares, I used them to help align while the glue set. Great results were achieved!



Here's the final part. The ankle pivot along with it's chunky "stabilizer" section. Into the oven they go for another annealing.

There are still some more work to do with the ankles, but first, I have to figure out how I am going to cut out the legs out of the remaining ABS pieces. Then I will have to get some holes drilled for locator pins so that the ankle and the leg can be joined together. Also, I have to take into account where the wiring harness will feed through the leg, and how it will pass into the foot units. The wiring has to go somewhere to get power to the motors. These are really tough design issues that I need to address now before I make a tragic mistake.

Another problem that I will have to tackle is all the additional greeblies that go on the ankle still. I have the curved-angle pieces, and the wedges. Because the side ankles are wider, I have to lathe two more ankle cylinders. Not a problem, as I have the two from the center ankle to help me work from. But there are other parts I have to build, and possible mold. It's getting interesting, and maybe a little frustrating when something gets cut wrong, but I'm moving forward so far. We'll see what the next two weeks will bring.

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I was asked about the Biker Scout project, and if I was still working on it. And the answer is definitely YES!



I just put a coat of bondo on the holster section. It will be ready for sanding in a day. Again, MORE detail work too. And then its off to improve the vacu-forming machine. I made new walls, and I am still working on a new plastic holding frame.

For me, its back to the workbench, and the shop, and McMaster-Carr, Loews....

Moving forward. Let's take a look at our CAD draft:



The next steps - The hydraulic cylinders and those weird curvy things right above them.

The cylinders are easy to tackle. Although, I should have been paying more attention to the details. The plans I have been working from are good, but I should have paid more attention to how the parts go together, rather than blindly following the given measurements. A few, easily correctable set backs, but after they are pattern finished and painted, you'll never know what is exactly wrong.



The cylinder base is urethane, poured into a PVC pipe, and set to cure. It sat for about two weeks on my desk before I could use it. This is helpful, as the material will reach is maximum hardness and will be completely cured for machining on the lathe. The diameter I needed isn't a standardized size, so I had got the closest sized pipe so that I could turn down the urethane to the right diameter. I planned to cut both cylinders at once from the one piece.



High speed, and slowly cut it down to size. The process took about an hour: turning the pipe down, and then measuring the diameter along the pipe making sure it was consistent.



I initially cut the wrong length, so I added some styrene to the backs to correct it. I also cut in the rib details on the lathe with the help of a dremel cut-off wheel. They will have to have the edges crisped, and cleaned, but at least they're in place. The next step, I got them in the mill, and cut out the slots so they will fit on the main body of the center ankle.

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The curved sides of the center ankle were a challenge to hand make. The angle that had to be cut was proving difficult to solve, let alone cut. ABS is fickle. It needs a slow speed so that it will cut nice. A table saw, or a band saw operates too fast, and the plastic gums up and gets in the way. There's only one way to solve it.









Machine it. Simple as that. I may need two more of these for the side ankles of the legs. I probably should take one of these, completely finish it, and then make a mold. It would save a ton of time, and the parts would already be the correct size.

What does it look like all together:



The sides on, and the cylinders in place. I drilled out the ends of the hydraulics so that I can place the caps in. I will probably CAD the part and then make castings. I'll need at least eight for the entire droid.





In this picture, right above the cylinder, is the ankle wedge. This is an odd shape, and I still need to look at more pictures before I can get a handle on it. Again, this part will be molded so that I can easily make copies.



The wedge is a slightly over sided, but that's good. Easier to remove material than try to add it back on. I'll tackle that... tomorrow. I also drilled out the hole for the bronze insert that will help the ankle rotate. That large McMaster-Carr order is coming quickly on the horizon!

So much still to do! The next steps: Getting the center ankle cemented together, pattern finished, and primed. After that, I need to get the CAD going for the endcaps of the cylinders, then either scratch build it if I have the time, or have it printed, finished, and then molded.

At this stage, I will leave it in a primered stage, and paint it later... perhaps over a few days when the rest of the droid parts are finished.

For next time, I'll be moving back toward the side legs and ankles, and some of the details. There's so much planning still to do!

It never fails that as soon as I become interested in a new project, or at least gain a moment of insight, and try to implement a new construction strategy, work goes crazy-go-nuts. I though maybe the holiday would have tempered that, but no. Short week means more overtime, and looks like the next week will be more of the same. Most of what I want to get done requires a little more finesse than normally called for. Work has those special tools I need for scratch building the parts. The harvest of time to get these smaller tasks done is proving difficult, and so I am stuck in neutral.

It has been a strategic comedy of errors, as I started fumbling forward in this project. It happens with just about every project. Paintings are like too. Begin a painting in one area too soon, and it throws everything else off. With a painting, I can compensate for some mistakes. I have made blunders that have made me scrape the current board, and start over.

Where do I start? About exactly a year ago, I had stumbled across the plans for a variety of AstroMech designs and plans available all over the internet. I built all the pieces in CAD, and started to get familiar with the pieces and how they interconnect. Then it was time to get the raw materials together and get a strategy down. I decided to start with the legs. There's so much detail work and pieces to build, and it would take the most time. Because of my good fortune with getting a large quantity of scrap ABS to do with as I pleased, it would the cheapest parts to build. The biggest investment would be the actual labor time. I am quickly learning patience... with which, is an eternal battle in frustration.



I have a habit of working on several parts in conjunction with one another to keep a project advancing. This one is no different. Generally, its a way to keep busy until I hit a bad road block. Here we have the center ankle of R2-D2. Nice piece full of complex shapes all cobbled together. Because the ABS sheets I have are 1/2-inch in thickness, I have to cement them together to achieve the proper thicknesses. The center of the ankle (with the triangle shape), is one-inch thick, followed by the curved ended pieces on either side are addition 3/4-inch each, and the outer curved portions of the ankle is one and 1/4-inch in thickness. Combined, that is a whopping 5 inches in thickness.

I cut the ABS to the proper length and width.



I drilled out some quarter inch holes for guide pins to keep it square through the construction process. I used IPS Medium-bodied ABS Cement.



Clamped. Set to cure. Lights out in the shop. Then the morning comes.

Next step cut this piece to the characteristic triangle tipped design and clean the edges of any squished out cement. Easy sanding. Now onward to the next layer... and that is the curved ended pieces that sit beside the center piece. I foresee more cementing in the future...



Two pieces. Cut to size. I used a band saw to cut the curve, sanded it smooth... and then cement two pieces of 1/4-inch ABS to the 1/2-inch ABS. Let that set over night and waited for the morning to come.



After the cement cured, it was time to attach them to the triangle part. I created a jig out of some 1-2-3 blocks to keep everything square while the glue set, and was clamped. Each side took one full day. Two days later, the above picture was the end result. Of course, after sanding down some of the excess cement. I'm not too worried about the gouges. Those will be filled with bondo and then primed before it is eventually painted. That's another problem to solve later.

I did take a quick measurement to make sure that the ankle was still within spec. I discovered the I am short a whole 1/8-inch off! I had to cement a couple of 1/16-inch styrene to both sides of the ankle.

It's about this far into the project I realized that I might have a problem later on. It was for the holes that will attach this ankle to the frame. Four holes in the top.



So I hit my first wall... I cannot glue the sides on until these holes on the top are drilled. I will be using 1/4-20 brass expandable brass inserts to attach the ankle to the center ankle plate. The good news is that the piece I have constructed, I can still fit it to a right angle bracket for the mill or a drill press and get these properly placed and centered. About the same time I will drill these holes, I will drill out the "hinge" hole that is on the end of the ankle That hole will need to be about 3/4-inch in diameter and I will have to press fit a bronze insert. This will allow the ankle to rotate and rest properly. The steel rod that fits into the bronze insert will need to be custom made, and tapped so the foot plate can be attached. I'm getting a little bit ahead, but its good to look down the road and see what problems lurk ahead.

I had started on the small wedge that sits on top of the horizontal "hydraulics" cylinders when I encountered another problem. Since the wedges sit on top of the cylinders, I would need to match the diameter of the cylinder. Which means I need to make the cylinder FIRST, before making the wedges.



This was made from a piece of ABS, and carefully cut with a band saw, and sanded down. It still needs more work. I think I will be make a cup mold to make urethane castings to save me touble of having to scratch cut four of these suckers. It'll save time and my head from another brain ache. The diameter at the bottom of the part need to match that of the cylinder. I have to work on the lathe to get that done. So this get put on the shelf, until I can get lathe time.

Time to get distracted with another area for construction.



The next piece is a detail piece that fits onto the side leg, in the shoulder section. Astrodroid builders call this piece, the "Horse Shoe." It is made up of layered plates that are about 1/8-inch thick. These one wrinkle to the plan... there are two different plates. One plate's interior shape is offset at about 3/16-inch smaller. These plates alternate all the way to the base leg. The horse shoe is made of eleven plates. That totals 22 pieces for both that need to be cut, cemented  and then finished. There are also compartments that need to be cut for more little details that each one has.



(Mock up of final look)

I already milled my greeblie buttons -



I decided to use straight polystyrene for the layers. I cut two mater patterns that I will use to help cut the pieces perfectly every time.



I labeled both so that I don't mess up. I used these to trace out the shape of the horse shoe onto the styrene sheets. Now... I have to cut them out. I could use a utility knife but that is very inconsistent and the amount of scoring I would have to do is just off the wall. The curves along would take forever. I needed a better solution.



The next step - Dremel with the plunge router attachment.



It worked! But it does have its drawbacks. The dremel does shift in its seat, and the curves are difficult to cut out. But, it does allow me to cut as close as possible to the outline.



Double sided taped down to a scrap board...



The MDF patterns will be used with a full sized router with a flush cut bit with a pilot. Carpenters use similar bits to trim off laminates from wood surfaces. I will be doing the same with this. After each horseshoe is cut close to shape, they will be double stick taped to the master pattern, and the pattern will be run through a table router. It should cut the styrene. I may have to be careful so that the plastic doesn't melt to the bit. Otherwise I will have to stop and clean the bit before proceeding to the next horse shoe, or having to clean the bit during a trim. Eitehr way, it will be tedious, but if it works, it will be worth it.

The next stage will be cutting out the holes for the greeblies, and then cementing all these pieces together. I foresee a jig in the future.

Looks like my work is really is "cut" out for me.

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The biker scout armor will be making a return to front and center very soon. I am finishing up the second piece of the boot holster. But before I can bring those parts to life, I have to finish my repair work on the vacu-forming table. I am making the oven deeper, and I might be making more improvements, such as lining the oven with flashing to reflect and concentrate the heat generated by the coils. This should allow me to pull thick pieces of plastic. Also, I am working on improvements to the plastic holder frame. I have a new design in mind and I hope it will work out. I just need a little more time top think it through and gather the supplies.

I am still looking for a good solution to my dilemma with cutting the ABS piece for the side legs of the Astrodroid. That is something that is on my mind constantly. Perhaps by next posting I will have a solution.

There's a lot to do...and a lot more adventures to be had. More to come, as always!

Such a busy month, and not on projects! Just a little smidge of work to report this time around.

I have continued working on the buck for the Biker Scout holster. I completed the last few cuts and started the glue up. It didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would. I used too much wood glue. One of the slices slipped during clamping and I couldn't fix it. I will sand the offending slice down and patch any gaps. Then we'll take another look, and take the next step at refining, and adding details.







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My thoughts returned to the Astrodroid. I am starting work on the legs. There are so many options, but I think I will be sticking to building them out of the scarp ABS that I had received from a vendor. After looking over the screen caps, the legs are not a simple, straight forward design. Nor it shouldn't be. Otherwise, there would be no challenge. I had to divide the legs into section that will be built in separate stages, and them assembled together as the finale. The first part will be the shoulder and the midsection, followed by the lower ankle.

The scrap ABS I received is 1/-2-inch in thickness. The upper part of the leg measures about 1.75 inches in thickness. What I need to do is cut each plate and then cement them together to the proper thickness. On of the pieces will have to be milled down to 1/4-inchbut I'll deal with that later on the mill. First, I need a proper template.



I dug through my wood pile and found a piece of 1/4" MDF board, and traced out the outline of the top part of the leg. I am planning to use this as a master guide for routing down the ABS pieces. I will still have to cut the major outline of the form from the ABS sheets first, and then use the router to clean it up ad make it sharp. I am worried that the MDF may start to splinter or bend with each piece I cut. The next step on finishing this master is to protect the edges. I will laminate a thin strip of styrene to the edge of the MDF. Styrene is very strong and durable, and will made a great surface for the pilot on the bit to ride against while I make the cuts.

There will definitely some post-routing work to be done. Mostly cleaning up edges, and crisping up the inset corners.

I am concerned that the router speed may be too fast to cut ABS. What can happen is that the plastic will not chip away, but rather superheat and gum up the router bit. The router I have doesn't have a speed control on it. I'll have to run some tests before I make a final decision.

More to come... as always.

When we left our story last time, the main part of the boot holster forming buck had been completed. Looks good, and fits nicely!



The next step was to make "stencils," outlining the space that the buck for the second portion of the holster was supposed to look. The simpler the better. The details will emerge later.



After getting the placementof the stencil cards taped into position, time for a test fit to see if the pistol will fit in the bounding area.







It's kind of funny how we only need this very small area. I transfer the stencil pattern to an MDF board and cut it out.



And then repeat...



I original was going to use RenFoam as I did with the base of the boot holster... but the foam I had was needed for another project. MDF will do nicely. The next part is finishing the cuts, and then start the glue up. This is very similar to the knee armor vac-buck I did almost a year ago. A similar method will be used here. Instead of using bondo or drywall compound to seal the edges after all the cutting and sanding, I will be using a sprayable urethane epoxy, followed by a high heat paint treatment.

Good to be back... and I will post more as it comes available.

This is how you construct a device that will incur a serious compound injury. I had to set up the 90-degree plate on the drill press table so that I could drill out the hole for the coupling nut. The table had to be swung out of position, the bracket mounted to the table and the stock clamped and centered under the quill. Thankfully, I made a target to center the quill and bit with.



And luckily, everything went okay.



The I pressed in the 1/2' x 13 coupling nut.



It was a tight fit. By tomorrow, the plastic will have relaxed, and I'll check for any bulging areas.



I did more sanding, too. Still a few craters here and there, but it is progressing smoothly.




The threaded rod in the midsection is miscued. So I made an attempt to fix it. Grades are in.



Lets put it this way... I know people who would have quit the project if this had happened to them.

It's my own fault. I wasn't thinking and look what happened. Here's the deal. I cut the mating end, and the end that fit into the PVC pipe, separately. Then, I glue the two faces pieces together. That last part, gluing to faces straight together, is a structural no-no. Too much shearing, and then *CRACK*. I know what I did wrong, so let's correct it.

It was an absolute clean break. The ABS detail cracked sort of along the same venue. That will be repaired in its own time.

Here's the mating face:



The hard part was getting this section OUT of the PVC pipe without damaging the pipe. I had used GOOP to lock this in place. I figured making a trough where I could seep some Acrylic Lacquer thinner into the seam edges, and then yank it out in one piece. I've used this method before. That's what the drywall screw is for. Lock the barrel in a vise, and get a piece of wood for a brace and use a crowbar to pry the section out. As you're pulling, use more thinner to continue loosening the glue. GOOP is almost solvent proof. It didn't work. Not even the slightest budge. It was worth a shot.

Since that didn't work, I got out a Forsner bit, and locked it in place on the drill press. It was pretty much the same set up when I drilled the hole in the stock grip part. Managed to get the entire piece out with no trouble.



You can see the 1/2" acrylic rod I used for the greeblie. It went fairly well, and didn't scuff up the PVC too badly. The remaining bits of the cylinder came out with little trouble. I think the new piece will be fused in place with Liquid Nails.

Now onto the repair and redesign.

The very back pieces is still good and reusable.



The lathe chuck was large enough to fit this piece in along with the attached greeblies. I used a boring bar and hollowed out the interior to the INTERIOR diameter of the PVC pipe. More on that in a minute.



The nut will fit in flush with the backside and the front of the stock-grip.



And the remaining part of the nut will be in a cylinder that will fit in the hollowed section.



Which brings us here... The black urethane cylinder fits into the hollowed section on the mating end, and the remainder fits into the PVC tube. Now we have much more SOLID structure to work with. Both of these sections are urethane, and the great stuff about this one that I use, is that it has a unique property. When the same resin is poured on resin that has already cured, it will bond to itself. These sections will be bonded together in this manner. Which brings us to the coupling nut,...



I altered the one that will be used in this section. There are gaps where the the nut does not grip into the hole in the cylinder. That area need to be filled. I will be using the urethane resin to encase the nut once it is properly positioned. The hexagon shape keeps the nut from counter-rotating. The ribs that I cut in are to prevent the nut from being pulled out from shearing forces.

And there you have it. This should be much stronger that the last one. Now to get everything lined up, and then patched.



Full assembly. Repairs complete. 90% of all details are present. Hopefully, I will start painting soon.

I checked over pictures from AOTC and ROTS. Yes, my gun is WAAAAAYYYYY oversized. But it fits me perfectly.

Since I'm still finishing up the other sections, I started painting the smaller pieces that would be quick to paint and get out of the way.




The only problem was that the cans of paint I bought were mislabeled. It wasn't FLAT black. I'll have to apply a Flat clear coat after the paint sets. Oh, well. Looking pretty good so far. A little more work to do tomorrow, and all three sections should be painted black.

I'll wait a few days, and then apply the flat clear coat, and then weather it.

After much deliberating, I will be permanently attaching the muzzle to the front barrel. That way, it won't get lost.

It's starting to pull together nicely. More to follow!

I can't seem to quit! Build one, you gotta build the other one. It's a hard temptation to resistbut when a couple of other projects are stuck due to some technical merit, its best to keep busy with something else.

Later this year, I will be selling my Kashyyyk Clone Trooper armor. I'm kinda saddened by this, as I had hope to be in the first few 501st members to have this rather unique precursor of the Imperial Army's Scout Trooper. The armor was just too small for my size. I could spend time to modify it to fit me, but I have other suits that are on the verge of completion. I'd rather finish those first before venturing back in this direction. It is my hope, I can find a new armor set that will fit my height and frame.

Anyways, I got off track again. So here we are, the counterpart to the DC-15S Carbine. The approach is exactly the same that I did with the carbine. The main materials will be PVC pipes, scrap ABS plastic, styrene plastic and urethane. The whole thing comes together with threaded rods and ABS glue.

Due to the sizes of this rifle, I want to make this as portable as possible. The gun measures over 56-inches! So that brings us to the first design options:


I divided the prop into three sections: Section 1 - Stock and Grip, Section 2 - Main body and scope, Section 3 - End Barrel. The forth section is the muzzle. Each of these section will be locked in place by threaded rods, with the mating sided having press fit coupling nuts to hold them in place. The muzzle piece has been made separate in order to hide the threaded rod that will be used to hold sections 2 and 3 together.

So now we gather the raw materials! I used the scale on the plans to set the weapon in the right proportion in a graphics program, and went to work. I used PVC pipes for the barrel sections and pieced together section of the grip and stock from scrap pieces of ABS. I glued them together using ABS glue and let them sit overnight.



Time to start work on the first section: The end barrel!



The hardest part about this piece was attaching the ribs to the barrel. The main body is a 1-1/2" PVC pipe that is cut long ways on two sides. This wasn't easy. I first cut the pipe to the size I needed, and them made it true on the lathe. Next, stood the pipe upright on a piece of plexiglass, and sealed the edge around it with some wax. I mixed up some old urethane I had laying around the shop into the pipe, and let it cure. Basically, I made the hollow pipe temporarily solid. I made a jig for the table saw so that the pipe would be held stable as the pipe was cut length-wise. I could have used a bandsaw, but I wanted the cut to be as straight and as clean as possible.

I would have to make another cut like this, but there's an extra step. The good news was that the urethane was able to stabilize the pipe for cutting on the table saw. However, urethanes do not bond to PVC. That is a problem. So it was necessary to attach the flat detail on the first cut side. I used some flat PVC sheet cut to size and bonded that to the pipe sections. Since the PVC glue doesn't bond urethanes, this was a easy application. I let it sit over night, and then cut the other side the next morning, and bonded the other flat detail.

For the remaining ribs, Cutting the pipe was much easier. Now that I had to perfectly flat sides to the round barrel, I could use the table saw's guide instead of my skid jig. The saw blade would be set very low, and as long as I was mindful of where the blade was in relation to my hand, cutting would be very easy. After the table saw cuts were made, I bonded strips of PVC to round out the details. All too easy.




All the ribs in place, and add another detail to the barrel. I think it was supposed to be part of the bipod that the rifle was built with. After all, this rifle's design was based on the MG-34s that were used in the original three Star Wars films.

After the glue set for a few days, I pounded out the remainder of the urethane cylinder. PVC glue does nothing to urethane, so it was fairly easy. The problems comes in when the urethane tri9es to move against the hills and valleys of the interior of the PVC pipe. These types of piping are made through an extrusion/rotocasting process, which the exterior of the pipe is smooth, but the interior is bumpy. Luckily, the cylinder came out with no damage to the glue joints. This cylinder will be cut into two small pieces and used to enclose the ends of the pipe.



So here you have it - a top side view of the cuts I made to the pipe, as well as how the ribs were situated. The "cap" for the back end was cut and bonded in place using construction strength liquid nails. That stuff bonds anything, to anything else. For the muzzle end, I hollowed out a section to fit the muzzle of the gun. Also, I drilled out a hole for the threaded rod to pass through and link to the next section.  Since i had plenty of urethane left over from the cylinder, I turned the muzzle from the leftover urethane cylinder. There's more work for this piece later on.

Moving into the middle section, Section2. Again, we'll start with a PVC pipe, scrap ABS and some urethane.






The left over urethane was extremely useful! Here, I've turned what will be the end piece of section 2 that wil attache to the stock and grip. I turned this piece of the lathe. A slight mistake took place, and I patched it with some bondo. Sanding it out and paint will hide it existence.

I started work on the scope of the gun. This was made from turned urethane and PVC pipe. I probably should have made the scope more "hollow" for weight consideration. I think I am liking the heavy feel... makes the movie-reality gap a bit thinner.



Turned the center rings from urethane, and cut the clip from ABS, and bonded them in place with Liquid Nails.



Also turned the lens housing from urethane too, and attached it to the scope with a 1/4x20 threaded rod.





I inset the other side, and will be cutting a piece of black plexiglass to cover this side.

The next step, is attaching the scope to the main body of the mid-section. The scope will be attached by a custom screw made of a threaded rod, some bolts and JB Weld.



But first, I need to get everything centered correctly and then drill the hole connecting everything together. I first placed the scope on the detail strip, and marked where the center was for the scope's clip on the mid-section. Then I hand drilled the hole and double checked to make sure that it was in the right spot, and then continued to drill through to the scope. This will act as a pilot hole to drill through the remainder of the mid section. That's a task for a little later.

I attached the detail piece to the PVC pipe for the main body. With that in place, I continued the pilot hole straight through the hollow pipe. This will help guide the bit through the upper detail later on.



Coming together quite nicely.

I decided to get the scope finished as quickly as possible. I had to add remaining details, and patch any seams and gaps. I'm not finishing it too perfectly as I want some of these imperfections to show up as wear and tear.





We'll coat that with primer, check it over and then paint it satin black.

The assembly of the remaining details for the midsection took about a week, and was fairly quick! More ABS, PVC pipe, more glue...





With all the great progress I had to do a mock assembly and comparison with the carbine.



A coat of primer....



...and back to work...



It's been very quick. There's minor stuff here and there that I will be adding in the coming weeks.



Even though it's advanced quickly, there have been mistakes. For example, the detail on the magazine clip. I took the wrong measurements when I cut the plastic for this. It's actually too thick. A minor set back. I'll just use a sanding block to trim a little from each side until its the right width.

The stock assembled very quickly as well. Scrap ABS strips glued together with ABS cement, and then cut down to size on the table saw. The grip was also from a piece of ABS cut with a band saw, and sanded into shape using an oscillating drum sander. Attaching the two was a little more advanced. Both sections are bolted together as well as glued together with ABS glue. These sections shouldn't fall apart at all.



Added some details....



The stock was fairly easy. Transferred the pattern, and cut and shaped.



And then bring it all together!



... and more details added. Now the hard part... Getting the stock to the correct thickness.

The stock curves up from a one inch thickness at the edges to almost two inches in the middle. The first step is to establish the maximum thickness at the center, and then bring it back down to the edges. To be honest, I have no rules for this. I didn't really think about, I just winged it. So I cut plastic into  shapes that resembled the curves of the outline of the stock at three different heights on the stock, with the last one practically was a straight rectangle. I cut two of each shape for each side of the rifle stock. I used styrene, which bonds with ABS when you use ABS Glue.



Then apply the bondo, en masse.



Don't forget yer butte!





A little more here and there, and then let it set for a whole 24 hours. It's not necessary to leave it THAT long, but I had a busy couple of days a head of me, and I knew I wouldn't be able to work on it. Next step is mechanical sander. I used a orbital sander with 120 grit paper to take off most of the hill tops and then used a smaller mouse sander with 120 and 220 grit papers for finer sanding and shaping.





Getting there! There's still some craters left over from the application process. We'll patch those up and sand it again. We've got more shaping to do, and smoothing. This is now at the stage where you want to hand sand rather than use a sander. More control and you can get into tighter areas. The tools now are sanding paper, sanding pads, a chisel, and of course, patience.







The coming weeks will have more sanding and getting more details done. I'm getting close to the stage where everything is getting primed and ready for a coat of paint! After that, it'll be time for assembly, and applying some weathering. This project is moving along very nicely!

Stay tuned...

The winter months have really dug in! With my armor project on hold until closer to spring time, I'm killing time with another project. I've decided to dive into the realm of paperweights! The theme is Star Wars, and the prop is the Sith Holocron!

For those of you not familiar with Star Wars lore, a Holocron was a device that could record and store a person's knowledge. Only persons with the ability to use the Force could create, and use on of these devices because they were so intricate and complex. It was a personal repository of someone's knowledge and exploits, with a bit of their personality captured for conversational interaction. When accessing it, you could "talk" to the person to gain their knowledge and teachings.

We're not even close to that level of technology... so it's going to be a glorified paperweight!




Ripped from the pages of the Star Wars Visual Dictionary for Attack of the Clones, here's what we're going to make. This is a Sith Holocron. The prop was built for use in the Star Wars films, but never saw screen time. Steve Sansweet I believe has custody of the prop and it is on display in his Star Wars Museum. My friends who have seen and also built this prop said it was about 8 inches tall.

I did more research, and found the Holocron popping up in other media... especailly the Legacy series:



I thought 8 inches was too big. From the Star Wars universe stand point, Sith were consumed with their power, and storing and keeping it safe from others, I figured that they would be much more compact. That way they would be easier to hide. I think this page from Legacy has the right idea: small, roughly palm sized. The question remained, what size is the right size?

I started constructing tetrahedrons out of card board from four inches to six inches in height to get a feel for comparison. I also had to worry about details getting lost in the design process.



The five inch height seemed to be the best fit. It was off to CAD to get started.



Funny thing with CAD... triangles aren't a supported polygon. The sides are equilateral triangles with five inches legs. The inscription is the Star Wars Aurebesh font. The font wouldn't import into CAD, so I had to hand construct each letter. Took a few days, but I finally got it!

I did want to tackle some more of the design issues before jumping in and getting the panels printed.



I got the whole thing constructed digitally. The next part of the plan was to have omniously pulsing red LEDs illuminating from the inside of the holocron. I need a compartment to house all of the electronics. My solution is fairly simple:



The "black crystal" section would act as my electronics case, and the exterior holocron design would fit over it. The crystal and holocron frame would be cemented together as one piece.



The crystal part would be fitted with screw bosses to secure the bottom panel. The crystal will be cast clear polyurethane with translucent black and red tint added. Right now, I am planning to have brass threaded inserts cast into the part so that the bosses will not suffer from material fatigue from opening and closing the compartment to remove batteries.The bottom panel will hold the batteries and the electronics.



I will have to add bosses for the batteries, and a platform for the circuit board, and a hole for the on/off switch.



I did some test casts of the clear urethanes with various tints in them. I am liking the first two colors. I hope the pulsing LEDs will be visible.

I got the CAD files converted to STL, and had the panel printed.



The details came out out nicely, so I printed two more.



Now is the time to start construction!



Test fit...



Looks good! With construction underway, I've shifted a bit towards the design pattern that is on the panels. Check out the first picture in this post and you'll see what I'm talking about. I am getting a little concerned about how to approach the design, and applying it to the prop. Making a mask and painting it would be too difficult. I could machine the pattern on each side, but I am concerned about the design being properly centered in the window. I could try shims to fix it, but that could be more trouble than it's worth. The last option is to have a decal made. This would give me the best opportunity to get the best of both worlds... but I am not sure if such fine line work can be replicated in a transfer decal. I started on the vector graphics and will be doing some mock ups to see what will work the best.



In our next posting... final pattern finishing of the the outer frame, and construction of the crystal. If we're lucky, maybe some mold making in the near future?

Quick side note:

A new Star Wars Game is coming out this year, and wouldnt you know it, another Sith Holocron device has appeared! It's simplier, and pyramid shaped. Depending on how well I can execute this first one... I may add this second one to my collection. I started some CAD work on it. There's still more to go, but it looks promising!





Stay tuned...!