GB update

Ok, now I SHOULD be sleeping now, but I just downloaded these pictures from my camera to my computer, and it has been a while with no updates. So, here goes.
I grabbed some pictures from GBFans.com, namely Namebrand's pictures, in order to figure out what cables I need for the GB1 ribbon cable.

As well as the current, corrected measurements of the cable clamp.

I am working on electric repairs on an old school, and as we were dismantling the old installations, I scored some old wires, that are VERY close..

But, as with everything, I am doing multiple projects at once, so bear with me. I found some pneumatic connectors for the traps and pedals very cheaply (the store owner gave me over 60% discount when I explained what I was doing.. Great customer service, if you ask me..). I then went to get some cables for the couplings..

And here is my GB1 'hero' trap, dangling on the cable. The coupling and the cable fitted together so snugly, that no other attachment methods are needed to hold the trap.

I just HAD to swing the trap around couple of times. I guess you need to know why..

I then coupled the trap and the pedal together, to see how they look.

I then went on to making me some pneumatic elbows. I could not find these locally, but I found some pneumatic components from which to make them. I stamped the parts to ease the drilling.

I then drilled a hole on each of them, and attached a nut with a pop rivet in each of them. Note that I did not squeeze the rivets so hard as to snap the end of the rivet of.

For a reason. I then pushed a bit of cut out electrical insulation from old cable, and pushed it over the rivet.

And, then I pushed a pneumatic elbow over it.

I then did the others.

To the same point.

I then worked on the Ion Knobs, I had glued them together, and sprayed them black. They are just washers, and there are not accurate number of them, but, the dimensions are correct, and no one can tell the difference. I scratched the paint of to a certain degree, I need to let them be until I can see them on the packs.

I then sprayed grey primer on Veka's pack.

Filled the pneumatic elbows (they were hollow), after having painted them black along with the 'vector' plate for my trap pedal.

I primered my own pack too.

As with Nixu's too..

Here are the clippards, courtesy of Nick A Tron and BobaMatt.

As for the ribbon cable, there were no white cables, so I painted some.

I then went on to work on the trap pedal. Most of the parts are genuine, movie deal. I was able to find the hammond boxes, relay socket and the Sub-D housing on the shelf of local electronics stores! I just needed to cut the base, and then fabricate a plate that can hold it's own when stamped on. The answer was a bit of electrical conduit cover, from work..

I got the other connector for the ribbon cable from Nick A Tron, and I just screwed it on..

And then tested the looks with my Omron relay. It is not the accurate one, but will do for now. It can be easily swapped if I get my hands on the real deal.

I then noticed that the ribbon cable I was about to use on the pedal was too wide for Nick's connector. Now what to do..?

Of course, dremel, a little time and I had narrower cable. The cut out ends of the black connector will be hidden in the trap connector, so no worries.

I then set out to work on the other side of teh cable. I needed to take the aluminum box of in order to get the Sub-D housing open..

As I had attached the Sub-D with two bolts, It will be REALLY secure, and easy to attach the cable..

A little washer helped a bit here.

Looks nice, don't you think? I just need to fins some hinges and a spring, and it's all done.

I tested it in the trap, and it looks good. Again, the ribbon cable is REALLY secure, I could dangle the pedal on the trap without fear..

Here the pedal is again, with some connector to raise the pedal plate up a bit.

Nixu had some time on his hands, and came to work on his pack. It has been a while now, when he was last working on the pack, but that is understandable with one year old in the house..

Did I mention that I work on many things at the same time? Here is my Iona, well, roughly at least.. I found some document on the domensions of this thing, and made a model of it from plaster, and then made a quick FG mold, and this is the result of two pulls..

Which, with primer, show their ugly work that is needed..

Whell, when the primer was drying, I went to work on the pedal again. I thought of using the spring from an olf mouse trap for the plate, and it fits nicely, although it it not accurate by any means.. Works for now, and can be replaced when time comes.

I also just pop riveted the hinge to the plate, instead of using screws. It looks good any way..

As you can see..

I cut the trap in half, and then screwed it on the base.

It pushes the plate up quite nicely..

And adds some mechanical reality to the pedal. This will be covered with black paint, of course..

Which kind of hides everything quite nicely..

The Iona's after some sanding, and another coat of primer..

And here is my RGB trap, in full use.. This baby has come in hand very often, and I am REALLY glad that I made this. thirteen meters of cable, and four electrical sockets makes this 'trap' really usefull when working on the other props..

Hero Clix Galactus

Hmm, this is something done way some years ago..
It all began with the introduction of Hero Clix system by Wizzkids. It soon found parodies in John Kovalic's Dork Tower, with the notable one being when the characters played Marvel Hero Clix. One of them was playing Galactus, the devourer of worlds. As it were, there was no figure for the character, let alone rules. This did not prevent John from making a joke with the character. Check it if you do not know about it. At the same time, a discussion was made of how absurd the introduction of such a character into a Clix games was. It was older character than the universe... It would need a Clix disk the size of a cd.. It was like; my turn I eat your planet. The end... Still, this did stir something in me, and I set out to make it happen. I would make a Galactus figure to the Hero Clix world. Little did I know that a little over a year later Wizzkids would indeed release the devourer of the world as a convention special... My building enthusiasm somewhat ended there. Luckily I got this far..


As said, I began my work a year before the release of the official figure. I did a LOT of research for this character, both Stan Lee & Jack Kirby's original first appearance, as from The Official Handbook of Marvel Universe entry for the character and just about every comic book released on the character. I did not know how many of them there were, until this time. Galactus has even faced Wolverine one on one... The handbook stated the average size of the character, and this, when compared with other characters was the measurement I set out to. I searched for a some doll on which to build the character onto. A proper doll was an Action man I cannot recall what one it was. I glued all joints except the neck into a fixed, somewhat neutral position, just as he was when he first came to earth. I did toy with the idea that I would make the arms move, but soon abandoned this. The only movable joint would be the neck. I began to pour milliput onto the action man, trying to honor both John Byrne's version as well as Jack Kirby's, gradually building the character.. It took some time, but I got to the phase where I could start the painting.
It was at this time that the official version was released, making this work somewhat redundant. I did not want to simply let it go, and resolved to paint this thing, at the very least. It now is at the state that it will probably be from now on, until I get the inspiration to finish it. Still, this is in playable condition. It has a cd for the star dial on the base, and the stats are those on the official version. I did have to make one of the phases on the other side of the cd and the other two on the other. This Galactus stands a head shorter from the official version, but if you remember, Galactus changes his size depending on his hunger. At one point, when Reed Richards saved him, he would be less than half of this. Well, long story short, here he is, with some other characters next to him. He has as of yet not seen any action, but I do intend to hold a Secret Wars Clix game for my fellow gamers at some time. Then he will be in use, if not much, but a pivotal character still.
Although I am a bit sad that Wizzkids released their official version of the character, I still am glad that I did this.

Major GB update...

Ok, time for a major update.. I noticed that I've forgotten to update some works that I've done in the past month..


I got an aluminum plate, that was just enough to fit all metal plates on the traps, and drew the parts on them and cut them out.


Then I began to see it they fit, and sand file the edges smooth. The front plates on the trap cartridges needed A LOT of filing to fit in..

Whereas the side plates went on rather smoothly.

And before long, I had all of the bits laid out, ready for nuts and bolts.

Which were a chore in itself. I had no access to proper sized bolts, and ell seem to be one size larger. Still, this is not apparent without another properly bolted trap, so I'm content on these.

As i got the plates done, I laid them next to the traps to see how they look. Judge them by yourself.. I like them.

I then went on to work on the boyz packs..

This is mine, though. I checked it, anf the cyclotron needed some smoothing..

Which was applied and sanded..

Again and again..

I then got the urge to jump on the traps again. I bolted the plates to the trap cartridges.

And cut out the battery compartment. The opening will be covered with aluminum plates later on.

I scored proper sized aluminum tube from a hardware store, and used pop rivets to attach it to the side plates. My dremel was very hot after this work..

I then noticed that something was absent on my cartridges. the top openings beneath the doors..
Well, of to work again..

After cutting and glue, filler took it's proper place..

I then went to work on the vector plates. The base is aluminum, but the bits are styrene. I could not find proper aluminum bits, so I decided to paint it later on..

The grooves where the bolts go were from a hollow square tubing, so I needed to cut them open.

I then started to attach the dials on the plates. They are Nick-a-tron's work again, thanks Nick!

I also glued the gold resistor on the painted vector plates.

And after sanding the cartridges I painted them black.

I tehn pulled out an old acrylic/silicon tube, and used it to glue the side plates on. They are also connected with bolts, so this was secondary attachment method, just to be sure.

Then off to the grips again. I drilled pilot holes for the screws in them, and then some larger ones to sing the screws in.

I then screwed the handles on the guns. Now they are REALLY looking business!!

Hmm, now what is this? I found a heat sink that is close to the original, from my trusty electronics store.

It has one finn too many.. And is slightly lower than the original. Still this will do..

I then screwed these on. They are not glued, as I still need to get inside the gunbox. I need to open most of the screws, if not all, in order to do this..

I filled the screw holes on the trigger boxes and sanded them smooth..

And then attached the heat sinks to a vice, and began cutting the fins lower.

And after a while, and much noise, I had three lowered and shortened heat sinks, just waiting for a file..

After filing the sinks and sanding them smooth, I checked them on the gun sides.. Looks good.

They were then screwed on..

And primered... They look good do they not?

The traps, on the other hand, look like they are almost finished after the side plates are attached.

As you can see..

This is the cabinet I am using to store the packs and traps. One self fits one pack and a trap..

And packs in store, I then went on to work on the traps again. I taped the doors and marked and cut out the yellow stripes.

I then glued on the side plates. This is RGB styled trap, and the side plates are custom made..

I found out that there are no single set of plans for these, so I stuck on somewhere on the middle.

The trap doors painted yellow.

And the same tape/marking was done on the movie trap doors as well.

And here they are,juuust before painting..

This is how nice the RGB trap door look like..

While the doors were drying, I went on to work on the bumpers..
.
An at this point, Veka is working on his own pack. It looks great.

And here Veka is, enjoying work..

Trap doors again, this time they are all dry enough to get the tape off. I was a bit hasty in painting the doors with the yellow. The first coat had not dried well enough before the second, and there were slight warpage on the dry paint. Still, it is hardly noticeable.

The pens were glued on..

I also laid out the trap pedal, to see if I could get some work done on it too. But, alas I did not..

Here is Veka's cyclotron, it needed more filler to smooth out.

But it came out well. Now some VERY light sanding, and this is done.

Here Veka is working on the upper parts of the pack.


The RGB trap with doors..

And it the inside, there is a surprise. This trap is a fully functional extension cord. There are four grounded electric sockets inside, and a switch to cut the power on/off. I still need to make stickers to this baby. There is a little more than ten feet of cord on this trap, thirteen meters to be exact! Although I know that it is four times more than normal, this trap was meant to be functional, and in use on other projects. Therefore I opted for enough cord.

Here are all three traps, just waiting for stickers, and coupling on the movie traps, as well as some weathering.. Nice work, even if I say so myself..