My waste of time projects

Heavy Gear Blitz!

2011-06-08T10:28:00.001-07:00

Well, I've been meaning to do some photo shooting from my collection of Heavy Gear figures for the new Blitz! line.

These first photos are from a Norhern Bobcat Heavy Gear, modelled on it's peculiar SMS (Secondary Movement System). Typically the Heavy Gear figures have either wheels or tracks at the soles of their feet, and use those like skater would do in real life. Bobcat is a peculiar in that it has a different system of SMS, and it kneels down for the SMS mode. This allow it to have a larger set of wheels and lowers the overal profile of the gear. Thing is, that this particular SMS mode is not modelled on the figure line, and as I had one Minimaniak resin model, I thought that it would be easier to cut than the current metal ones. (There is, by the way, very little if any at all difference on the Minimaniak model and the current DP9 model).

I followed Mason's work on the matter, and tried to copy his ideas as good as I could. Sorry for the pictures being a bit blurry, my former camera was broken and I could not get better pics.

As you can see, the legs need to be cut into VERY tiny bits... This was very tedious job...

I'll need to take new photos from the finished figure, so this will be a teaser...

A little more today

2010-05-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I cut down the lume tubes between the gun and the pack, and screwed them in place with two self drilling screws. The tubes can be removed and reattached with ease, therefore enabling us to repair the tubing, if they are broken..

I then took out the plans, and went on to work on the power cell lens. I had purchased some blue container, which was sanded...

Marked...
Cut..

And after smoothing the edges, I placed some tabs on the packs, to prevent the blue acrylic lenses from dropping inside the packs..

The lens is attached, and holds on, by sheer friction. This is convinient, as the lens needs to be un-attached for the lighting later on.

The PKE meter needed some support. I needed to drill holes for few screws.

To keep the plywood pieces in place. They are cut to match the curvature od the PKE shell insides, but the epoxy does not stick as it should. With these screws on, the plywood is going nowhere..

I filed the screws down a bit, so that they would not cut the wiring.

The lower shell needed some ribs..

And the sides needed holes for the wings. I might need to enlarge them, but I'll know this when the wings are complete..

A lil' more...

2010-05-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided that this project WILL be finished by this summer...

Nixu's pack is looking good, but there are some areas that need more detail work..

The throwers need the green tubing, and therefore I got a few pop rivets and inserted them to the places where the pneumatic pieced would be. I did not thigthen the rivet so that it would snap the shaft off, but enough that it stays put.

I then cut out a piece of leftover red tubing to act as medium around the pop rivet shaft and the inside of the green tube.

I soon realized that I needed to bend the rivet a bit to allow the tubing to curve correctly..

That done, I allied some glue, and the tubing, and et presto, here they are.. I did insert the gold painted nuts around the pop rivet shafts before the tubing, mind you..

I then took out the various knobs that are present on the gun. Colin (Irriccanian) provided each resin knob with the corresponding attachment bits, and I then drilled a proper sized hole, and lightly hammered the bits in..

And after a while, all adjustment knobs are in place..

After that, I decided to place the rest of the labels on the gun and pack. Namely the Namebrand rub-on transfers..

They are SUPERB! I bothced up on some of them, but they are still good. I can always hide the mistake by applying some weathering..

I decided to place the 1-2-3 decals so that each gun shows different numbers. Mine is set to one, Veka's on two and Nixu's on three... And no, the knob will not turn. It is epoxied in place..

The packs also received the missing markings... I had a little trouble on deciding which of the red decals were on the gun, and which on the pack, as they both are identical, only that the other is slightly smaller than the other.. After thinking, I decided that the smaller is for the gun, and the larger for the N-Filter..

A lil' GB work

2010-05-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

Another small update..

I buffed the throwers with 0000 grade steel wool. They look really nice now..

I then attached the Clippards on the throwers..

And painted the assorted knobs on the thrower. The knobs themselves came from the only source, Irraccanian..

Then the time was to attach the loom tube on the guns. As I had used self screwing screws to attach the handles, they would work to attach the tube too..

So, I un-screwed the handles..

And reattached them with the tube inside..

The hold is strong enough for the gun be held aloft by the lume tube itself..

And all throwers came to life..

I put out Nixu's pack, and played with it for a while. It loooooks GOOOD!!!!!!!

Bustin again..

2010-05-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, another small update.

After the top coat on the back of the motherboard had dried, I gave it a little buffing with steel wool. This dulled the shine nicely.. You can see the dust from the buffing, I did not wipe the whole board clean. I then glued the spacers on the motherboard, to help screwing the ALICE frame on..

That said, I attached the frames back on, but there seems to be something missing... Can you guess what?

The large warning label is on the back of the pack. I did some researching, and found that the HD screengrabs provided by Ghostguy on the GBFans.com included the information I needed. It is just behind the top bar of the ALICE frame, where the insulation padding is to be..

So, I promptly glued the labels on. It might seem that the label is higher on this photo, but it is, in reality, in the correct place..

As I lied the packs down, there were another label that was absent... Can you guess?

Here it is, attached in place...

The small, white warning label on the N-Filter wins you the cookies.. There is a red diagram beneath this, I know. I have Namebrand's rub on transfers for this, and Will be adding them soon enough..

Ghostbusting again..

2010-05-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Yep, this project moves like a ton of bricks. Slowly, VERY slowly...

The blue tubes were attached to each pack.

It really brings more color and vibrance to the pack.

The Injector Tubes had their tubings too.. As for the loom tubing on these, I could not locate the correct diameter tubing, so I had to take larger one, and cut it to size! I then used black yarn to thinghten the loom tube around the tubing... Very tedious job..

Still, the work was done on each pack..

Looks like business to me..

As for the traps, their bolts are still shining metal.. So, with a bit of plasticine and paint, of to work..

Sorry for the blurry picture. In order to attach the bolts back to their place, I stuck them into plasticine in the order they are on the trap. I then hit them with black paint.

I then went on to work on the Cyclotron lenses. I could not purchase flat sheet of transparent acrylic due to the fact that I was at the shop near closing time.. So, I bought a transparent plastic container for it. I frosted the sides with some sand paper, so that the led lenses would not show through. When lit, the light will still shine through. I then drew the lenses on the sanded surface.

And proceeded to cut them with dremel.

After some filing and sanding, I got few ready to attach lenses..

So, I took out Veka's pack, and un attached the ALICE pack from it.

Without much trouble, the lenses fit in snuggly.. I just love when a plan comes together..

I meant to glue the lenses with epoxy, but I could not spread the glue in due to the fact that the Cyclotron is already attached to the spacer. So, I took out my hotglue gun, and went to work with it. I gather that when the led lights are attached, they can be epoxied on, further strenghtening the join.

But, I need to get these ready for wear, I'll tackle the lighting later on.. As you can see, the lenses look absolutely gorgeous!! The sanding on the other side and the clear side outwards was the ticket!!!

This REALLY looks like a proton pack!!

Yes, I really am pleased with my work on the lenses.

At this time, the paint on the trap bolts were dry enough to screw bark on, so I bolted them back. It really brings the trap a bit more alive.

I then took the packs out again, and painted one final top coat on the back of the packs.

On all three packs. After this, I'll glue the warning label on the top of the backside, and then reattach the ALICE frames, for the final time... I still need to cut the access hatch covers on the packs, but that can wait a bit.. As the access hatch is just behind the kidney strap on the ALICE frame, the packs can be worn even if the openings are not covered. I can attach them later on. And I still need to locate my self drilling screws. I should have some, about 50-100 so I won't buy any more until these are found.

Particle thrower works..

2010-04-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

It is raining, mostly today, but I spotted a small window of opportunity when the rain slightly stopped, and promptly went on to work on the proton guns.

I sprayed them with black satin, and made the mistake of painting them thoroughly. I meant to paint the upper surface, and then the under, but as I sprayed the guns all over, I needed to suspend them on to coat holder...

Immediately after I sprayed the third gun, I noticed that on my own gun, this paint would have been the choice for us. It dries smoooooooth and nice, and covers well. Still, the packs are painted, and dulled with steel wool, it does not matter anymore. It would have saved us from the steel wool phase, but I still doubt it..

Bumpers and stickers..

2010-04-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

This project seems to be moving forward ever so slowly... Ergo, some work needs to be done..

I attached the bumpers finally. They were painted last saturday with black top coat. It had not fully dried yet, but it does not matter, I smoothed and dulled the shine with some fine steel woll, and screwed them in..

It really brings the pack alive a little more..

On all three packs..

I used and old corona board chip as a spacer between the bumper and the cyclotron. The Ion knob was bolted on with washer and a nut on the inside.

The Booster frame cried to be attached..

It still needs some brass washers. I did score a few, but I could not locate them at the moment. So, I took some steel ones, and painted one set with black paint followed with gold, and the other straight to gold. I need to see how the paint reacts on the black & gold ones, as the paints are not the same brand. It might not dry properly... After these dry, I'll attach the frames..

And what would a bumper be without a bumper sticker..?

It really is looking good...

Computer table.. part two

2010-04-11T09:52:00.001-07:00

I got the table finished.. Well to some point at the least. I still need to rewire the electrics and usb hubs to the table, but it is, at least now placed..

I stained the top surface on the printer table

As well as the top of the work table.

And after they had dried, I wiped them clean, and proceeded to stain the lower parts..

As you can imagine it, the keyboard shelf was a bit tricky to stain...

I then took out the former computer shelfs. Sorry for the blurry image, my pocket camera's viev screen is at sometimes blank, so I cannot verify the photographs before I download them to the computer..

As I ripped the previous shelves out, the paint chipped of somewhat... This will not be any problem, as the tear is hidden behind the new table..

As you can see, the new table is looking VERY good..

I took the moment to attach the other hard drives to my computer that were not in place. There is now well over one terabyte of disk space..

With the printer in place, the table looks splendid. I still need to clear the cables on the floor, but this is where I am with this at the moment

Computer table..

2010-04-08T06:55:00.001-07:00

Leaving the Ghostbusters project aside for a moment, I did some work on my computer station..

This is how it is currently. All cluttered up, and messy... I intend to make this the most efficient piece of my living room..

Now, I had this plywood box saved from the garbage, as I knew that a box this clean has some uses. Even if in pieces..

The lid was about half an inch thich, and wide enough, so I took it off, and...

Measured it's width, and drew a square on it.

The square was then divided into a triangle, and at this point, I took my keyboard and mouse mat to the equation.

I drew curved recess on the board, with just enough room for the mouse mat. The mat needs to be trimmed to fit. With my previous experiences on these tables, the more room you have, the more junk you have, so this is going to be as spartan as possible.

I cut out the table.
And after a quick sanding, it looks nice.

I then took the lid up again, and measured another triangle for my laser printer. It will reside beneath my computer desk..

I planned to leave some space under the printer table for paper tray, and a standard A4 rice fits in nicely.

I tested the keyboard under the table, and it looks good.

I then took out another piece of plywood, 4mm this time and cut out a piece for the keyboard tray.

Another plywood trip was used to make the back end of the tray.

With two other pieces will be the side walls. The walls are one centimeter higher than the back wall, just in case I need to use a corded keyboard at some point..

The keyboard fits in nicely. I DID my research, and checked if the other keyboards would fit inside this tray, and I found out that my current keyboard is wider than most average keyboards out there, so I will have no trouble if this is broken..

I then checked how it looks under the top table.. Looks good..

The tray was then attached to the table, as were the side supports that will be bolted to the walls.

This was done on the printer table as well. I left the paper tray out of the equation for the moment, it is easy to add later on.

I now need to get some wood stain to stain these pieces darker... So, it is off to the shops for me...

Small things, part deux..

2010-04-01T15:24:00.001-07:00

Well, it is Easter... I made a promise to myself that these would be done by Easter this year, with or without the help of the boyz..

Still, that is not impossible, but requires much work, and the main constraint is the time the paint and glues take drying..

The injector tubes were sanded and painted. At this point, I suspected some foul play on the loom tubes..

Their outer diameter is the same as the pneumatic tube that is supposed to go inside!!! I'll have to get a bigger tube, and then drill out the smaller ones.. Shucks!

Still, The time I had was not for waste, as I had some other knobs to put in. Crank Knobs, to be exact..

As well as the remaining pneumatic elbows..

And the resistors on the Ion Arms. The boyz did a small boo boo on their packs... They included an extra weld on their Ion Arms, and this poses some problems...

I had to snap the attachment point of on one of them to fit it in. Still, with glue and sqrews, they'll hold..

One can just enjoy the work on these, this is the time that it really is beginning to pay up..

I connected the cable clamps back on, as there is very little painting on these any more..

The Ion Arm blocks were panted the previous night..

I drilled holes for the bolts, and attached them to our packs. I also drilled out the holes needed for the brass tubings..

Nice look in is not??

On the south end of the block, where the longer brass rod is to be attached, the space for the hole is interrupted by the attaching bolt. It only goes about half of an inch inside, whereas I had hoped for a total penetration... Well, this will have to hold.. I meant to attach the brass rods on, but could not locate my tube cutter... So it'll be a job for another day..

Small things part two

2010-03-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

There was some work to be done on our packs that was undone last saturday. The injectors are unfilled, and the small loom tube is absent. Ergo, I set out to work..

At first, I cut out six pieces of the said tube..

And crammed some pieces of plastic bag inside the tubes..

And followed that with some aluminum foil. This plugged the tubes so that the entire lenght would not bee needed to be filled.

I then poured plaster in the injectors, and stuck the tubes in the plaster. This way the tube is stuck in the plaster without the need of glue.

I did, of course plug the end of the tubes that was to be inserted into the plaster, otherwise they would be filled with plaster, and this is not intended..

And without long last, I had two packs with tubes filled..

And before long, all three packs were drying. It really helped that the packs can stand upright on their own... After the plaster is fully dry, i can fill the ends completely and sand them smooth. And after that, paint the tubes black..

It's the small things that you do...

2010-03-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

For a change, both Nixu and Veka managed to find some time to come working on their packs. This was a pleasant thing, and I am happy at what we managed to do today..

We gave all our packs a thorough sanding with 0000 grade steel wool. It removed most of the imperfections that came up when I painted the packs, ( I DO SO HATE THAT PAINT!!!) and gave the pack a nice dull finish. The imperfections that appeared on the packs can, and will be used when we are making the wear and tear... Hopefully in the near future..

As I had to repair my pack from the damage that Nixu's pack did (bad, bad pack...) I went on to make the weld lines on my Ion arm.

The boyz are busy doing the same..

While the boys worked on their welds, I cut out the first warning labels, and promptly glued it on. Nixu protested the idea, as the welds needed to be painted, but I decided to push forward on this..

Veka is taking his time doing the welds..

He did the same that Nixu did, and added some weld lines that were not on the original packs. This is not any problem for us...

I borrowed a laptop computer for the label work. It is very difficult to tell where every piece is going, as some pieces on the HPProps' sheets are for the gun, and some for the pack...

Still after a while I got the hang of it...

Beer, as witnessed on the two Olvi bottles, has been a driving force on these... All in all, we were drunk when the idea of building these packs was conceived by Nixu...

And as the welds were drying, the boyz started to cut out their labels..

And yes, it is very tedious job... It would have been so much more easier to buy BobaMatt's stickers, but this was the way to go for us..

Here Veka is placing one of the top stickers on.

I had done this already, and the boyz took note on my pack on the placement..

My Ion Arm, welded, but not painted..

Nixu too the opportunity to try his pack on..

Looks good, although the gun is not painted..

There is so much work on these, I can tell you, but in the end the results are speaking..

After the labels, I went on attaching the pneumatic couplings. I used a pop rivet, but did not thighten it so much as to snap the shaft off. This gave me a strong pin onto what the couplings were glued by two part epoxy..

For a while the coupler on the Cyclotron needed a support, and as the one for the Ion arm could not be used before the Iona Arm was painted, I used it to support the other one..

I took the pneumatic elbows out for a quick spray with gold paint, and presto, they were looking very brassy.. Note that the two brass legris straights ARE brass..

I then glued the other coupler on to the HGA.

It really looks nice in there..

I also attached the coupler on the Ion Arm, but did not glue it on yet. That will be done after the paint on the weld lines is dry..

The tubing are giving the pack a real nice look...

Although I ordered enough tubing for four packs, there were enough of the small loom tube for three packs... Well, that is not such a big problem...

Here is my pack, after the paint job, and with the clippard attached. It really, REALLY looks good!

Veka's pack followed en suite...

As well as Nixu's.. Nixu felt bad as he looked upon his pack, for he had wished to do all the work himself.. Well, he has a family, and that comes first. This is a hobby after all..

Some work on GB stuff..

2010-03-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow the boyz are coming to work on their packs, and I am just making some final pieces for them.

I had cut the parts for the Booster Plugs, and now it was time to get working on them. I took our a cup of coffee, Stephan's plans, and did some measuring..

And after a happy while, I had these. They fit into our packs, and need to be sanded and painted..

I did then spray the Hose Connectors with gray top coat, but the spray paint died on me, and the paint was fractured.. Sucks, I'll need to sand them again..

Here are the Booster Plugs with filler and gray primer.

And here after sanding and another gray primer. They are looking to fit the bill, and I'll be painting them black tonight.

After a light sanding, (I did use my lathe on this...) the connectors were in need of another coat of paint. I think I will be sticking to the gray primer on these, and then some clear coat of varnish on them.

I then went on to work on my own pack, repairing the damage on my Ion arm. I cut out the base on my pack, as well as the connecting part on the Ion Arm open,
And stuck a piece of wood in the Ion Arm. It is now drying, and after that, I'll glue it to the pack it self. I should have done this in the beginning, but then, the impact would have done some more serious damage, rather than just snapping the Ion Arm off. I could have just glued it back on and be done with it, but as I got the opportunity to add more strenght to the join, why not do it..

Leg Hose Connector works

2010-03-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

As the tenants meeting was concluded, I could resume working on the Ghostbusters project again. Some time ago, I cut out some discs from MDF for the connectors. I took my lathe, a vacuum machine as well as an old cardboard box, and made a lathing station for me.

I soon found out that the machine is stable enough that is does not need to be viced to the table.

With some time, dust and work, I had this on my lathe. I did use a breathing mask when working on this..

The connectors seem fine for me..

... So I made three of them. They are not exactly identical, but when attached to the uniforms, this cannot be told. I still need to drill the holes for the hose, and the threads on the base. I was thinking the velcro that was on the nomexes on these, and if it is not enough to hold these on, then the thread is used.

I promptly then primered the connectors, and after they have dried, It's time for the top coat..

Oh CRAP!!!!

2010-03-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

Due to the looming tenant's meeting, I had to clean up my mess in our common room. (The place where I do my dirty work). I was transporting our protonpacks to my home, and...

...The shoulder strap on Nixu's pack came loose, and the pack was sent flying towads my own pack!!! I snapped the Ion Arm right of, and shattered the Booster Tube... This stinks!!

I managed to find most of the shards, and super glued them back. I now need to get the milliput rolling, as I will not replace this part. Well, some putty, filing and paint, and the damage should be repairable. Lucky for me that none of the resin greeblies that were attached to the Ion Arm were damaged. As for the damages on Nixu's pack, they were nil.. Only the paint was scratched...

...Well...

I did spot that my Ion Arm was not painted fully, after it had come lose. And, I might a well strenghten the join between the Ion Arm and the rest of the pack. As for the seam... I need not sand it smooth again, there WERE weld lines there, after all...

All in all, I find that this is most instructive. We need to sew the shoulder straps securely on the place where they are connected to the ALICE frame. This will not impede their usage, but will prevent this from happening in the future..

PKE Meter work, part 1

2010-03-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

More work today..

This is the very first GB prop I started to work on, waayy back.. The PKE meter. There were very little plans for these, although it was known that the original prop was made from an Iona shoe polisher. I managed to find a blueprint with some plans, and made a plaster buck for one side of the shell. I then made a plaster mold of that, and then made two copies with fiberglass. Unfortunately the plaster buck and the plaster mold did not survive more than two pulls, so I got only one PKE meter. Still, it is sufficient for me. I digged out the buck from the previous work, and started to do some damage..

I dremelled the shell in half, and then sanded the surfaces so they matched evenly together.

I then took some leftover plywood, spruce, in this case, and dremelled out three parts fitting inside one of the shells.

I then drilled holes and countersunk some screw holes on to the other half. The spruce plywood is there to act as the medium for the screws to dig in, so the halves will be held together tight.

I then epoxied the plywood in place and set them out to dry. I primed them with gray primer, as it was warm outside too, but took no pictures of it. More to come, tomorrow...

2010-03-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

Some work done again...

I finished the trap holders for our belts. I used an old army (Finish army) equipment securing belt strap, as it is VERY sturdy. I figured that this would be the best, as my traps have some weight on them, especially the RGB trap, with 13+ meters of extension cord on it...

I also added the L brackets on the injector tubes on all three traps..

There was a little bit missing from our guns, so, a bit of plywood...

..And dremell, and the front locking blocks were done.

I drilled some holes to the bottom of the gun to gain access to the inside, for the electronics. I should have thought this when I constructed the gunbox, as the six hex-bolts would've been an easier solution by far...

Still, now this is the best I can do with. The holes will be covered by the gun track

I then glued the front mounting blocks on, and drilled a hole for the little hex bolt on the front handle. The blocks were then plastered and are waiting to dry.

The belt gizmoes needed some work too.

Even though I did cut the 'nixies' to the same lenght, they still did not set out even. So, I took some electric tape, and used it to form a straight line.

And after little work on the dremell, all three were much more nicer to the eye..

Also, I cut holes for the cable on my own belt gizmo, and fed the wires through. The wire is fixed in place by one little zip-tie. It is quite strong fix..

The Gizmo really looks like business..

And the holders needed work too. I decided to attach the gizmoes permanently on to the holders vie a single pop rivet.

Though the leather, with a small washer, and through the aluminum base on my gizmoes..

The result is, one guaranteed not to drop belt gizmo on an holder.

Mine on my equipment belt.

My equipment belt in all, with the trap and trap pedal attached.

I used snaps in the gizmo holder to gain access to the gizmo underneath.. Why hide it, after all...

Yet another MASSIVE GB update..

2010-02-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

Well, time has flied again, but the work continues...

I took a piece of kneanadite, two part epoxy putty also known as 'green stuff'. Mixed equal portions together to get that 'green stuff' and rolled a piece of it..

I then laid out one of our packs, well, mine in fact..

And went working on the weld lines on the N-Filter

Ribbed, for her pleasure..

As well as the HGA..

And the Booster Tube..

After having done this to all three packs, I decided that It is time to glue the boyz packs together. I had originally thought that I would do this only after the packs had beed painted black, but I abandoned this idea.

As there are parts that needed to be flush with each other, I needed massive amounts of filler to get this done, so I might as well Glue them together and be done with it..

The packs need some V-clips, and I had some spare aluminum sheet lying around.. Ergo, I marked out the parts.

And have seem to lost some pictures.. Well, I also bought a hole drill bit, and drilled enough MDF and plywood to get disks for the Hose Connector, and Booster Tube Plug for our packs.

I glued them together, and folded the female V-Clip parts over.

I then went to spray the packs with black top coat.

Here is Veka's..

Here Is Nixus..

And mine. The ugly color on the N-Filter is just a lens glare..

I then took the female V-Clip parts and pop riveted them to the male parts..

Ant the pressed them on my trusty vice..

And after the intial folding had been hammered on the vice, I bent the rest on the table..

But only to the half way, at the moment..

I then filed of much of the aluminum to get a smoother fit.

I then attached the female part on my own pack.

I then decided to finish one of my problems. My lathe. It had been attached to my work bench for some time, but as I needed to give access to the club room to other occupants, this would not work. I will not attach it to the table for few hours and then remove it...

So, I had this spare 'lundia' shelf lying around..

I fitted the lathe on it, and it is perfect..

I then drilled three holes and attached the lathe on teh board, and added four rubber pieces to even teh board out..

After this, I went on to work on the V-Clips. I placed the female parts in, and marked out what to cut out on the other parts.

And after a hour od dremelling, I had these..

Then, on to work on the belt gizmoes.. Well, on the belt holder, that is.. I traced out a template from the GBFans site.. And compared it to the belt gizmo.

...Seems to fit perfectly, so off to work..

I had this piece of leather, taken out from an old office stool. I only had three sections that could be of any use, but three is enough..

I cut the parts roughly in shape, and applied some glue between the parts, and then pressed them together to get a bit stiffer leather.

I also took out another piece of leather, and old leather purse, and took the guts out, and glued the leather together.

I then cut out the bases for the holders, looks fine to me.

Don't you think?

There were some ugly gaps on out Proton Guns...

So I took out the kneanadite again..

And ribbed some putty rolls..

I then took out my counter sinking tools, and began to drill the screw holes in so that the screws would sink in..

And attached them to our packs. Here is mine with the proton gun. Looks good!!!

Then, the rest..

Veka's..

And Nixu's..

...And mine again..

I then went through my screw box and found some philips head screws that we need on our packs..

As well as the hex bolt on the bottom.. For some curious reason, the flash gave the impression that the pack has not been painted black yet..

Well, it has not been, from the bottom at least. I attached the pop rivets on the back of the pack, and set out to spray it black..

But before that, I found out a pleasant thing. I had been drilling the oles for the Crank Knob and the resistors and what not, and the drill bit that I used was exatly the size for the pop rivet shafts. I mean the parts that you snap out when thightening the rivets.. They can be used in the knobs!!

So, I spared them from the garbage future, and attached my Krank Knob..

And the resistors..

On both sides..

I then sprayed the back of my pack with black paint. It was not a completely smooth finnish, but I need to paint it again for a few times..

Uniform works..

2010-01-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

I finally received our custom name tags as well as the no-ghost logo patches from Katarra8. They were spot on, thank you for the great work Kathy!

We all decided to get custom name tags, as none of us looked like the original guys, and we would be kind of new generation of Ghostbusters...

Three sets, for three busters... After checking the setup from GBFans.com, I set out to sew them on. We already had got our flight suits, so there was no delay anymore, and I decided to put up the work immediately.

I noticed that the velcro patches on the flight suits were in the correct place, simplifying the process greatly.

Even so, I checked that the name tags fitted.. Mine does overlap the left breast pocket zipper, as did Zeddemore on the moves..

I then drew two lines on the outer lines of the velcro to mark the place for the nametag.

It helps to locate the place after you have ripped out the velcro.. The velcroes might come in handy for the hose connector, I think..

Without much time and effort, all three nametags were in place. I used a sewing machine for this, if you wonder..

I then set out to sew the No-Ghost logo on the arms. This is a bit trickier than on the square nametags. Fortunately, I had the correct shade of red to sew all three on. After sewing the red parts on, I sewed the black lines on the fingers and the head of the ghost. A VERY tedious job...

But, after some time, all three flightsuits have both patches in place... Just waiting for the elbow pads and leg hose...

One HEEAVY GB update..

2010-01-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

Oh well... There are some pictures of my recent, and not so recent work to update here... I pulled my digi camera photo file open, and found that there were several photos that I have not loaded here, so here goes...

My RGB trap, which includes 13 meters of electrical cord, as well as four grounded electrical sockets. This trap really has served me well, in GB construction as well as other stuff..

For my GB 1 and GB 2 traps, I intended to use pop rivets as front hinges on the trap doors.

I squeezed the rivets just so that they grip the cassette body, but not enough to snap the rivette, leaving a pin for the doors. I clipped it a bit shortened from the original lenght after this..

My GB2 trap needed some plaster, as the traps are somewhat different in the movies.

The trap doors fit in nicely, as you can see..

I then sprayed the traps with black coat.

I then added the 15th plate on the packs. This little detail is seldom seen on anyone's pack, but the folks in the GBFans have noticed that there are, indeed, fifteen plates on the pack, one is only hidden under the ribbon cable..

The injector tubes needed some bracing, so they will hold on. Luckily I managed to find some broom handles that were of the correct diameter to fit in, so a little length of these, and I was on the way..

I then took twelve bits of hardboard, and screwed them in to a block of wood, and attached them to my lathe, and before long, I had three sets of Stephan' scale discs..

I then glued the injector tubes on to a piece of hard board, with the broom handle bits inside..

And then glued them in place in..

My trap and pedal, I cannot recall why I took this picture... It really would be wiser to start building one item, and after finishing that, another.. I took out the other way..

This, is my drill bit... A kind of phallic symbol if you ask me... It is a 32mm drill, which lenght is about 50cm... Yes, it IS as big one...

While the 32mm is a bit too large for the cyclotron lights, it serves with our packs without problems..

As you can see, the discs are quite nicely done..

I then laid the discs to see if there were any imperfections, but there were very little, so I was content on these.

And therefore I tested them on the cyclotron. Nice fit..

Even nicer with the bumper on..

I then traced the outer lines of the discs, as well as the inner diameter. I noticed that a standard 40mm GW base would fit within the disc's outer diameter, and therefore I used one to mark the holes..

And with my trusty dremel, I cut the holes on each pack.

My pack with the holes cut, and the discs in place.

All of our packs, with the discs glued to place..

I then filled the screw holes on the discs, and sanded them.

Afterwards I painted mine,

Nixu's..

And Veka's pacs..

And the result speaks for itself..

I needed very limited touch up after this, the discs seemed to fit superbly..

So, I went on to work with the ion knobs.. Even though there are accurate knobs laser cut from aluminum, they were beyond our price range, so the washer method was the course to go by.. I might upgrade my own pack with accurate one someday, but this will do for now..

I managed to find several near perfect washers..

Which I piled together to see how they looked..

I then glued them together, looks nice..

As you can see, the knobs are accurate to stephan's plans, only that there is one layer absent.. This does not bother me...

As you can see on the bumper, it looks good..

And none worse when on top of the pack..

I then replaced the gearbox tubing on our packs, I noticed that while the previous tube had the perfect outer diameter, it did not have the desired inner diameter. After I found the proper tube, I decided to replace all of them.

I then glued these together on the boyz pacs..

The paint bottles were there to keep the pieced in place while the glue dried. The injector tubed would've tipped the balance..

I then filled some imperfections on Veka's pack.

As well as Nixu's..

Then I went to work on my trap pedal.. I managed to find accurate parts for it, on the shelves here in Finland, And as they would be load bearing, i went overboard with attachments..

I then screwed the box in to the pedal base.

And then tested the pedal plate.

It looks good, even though it is not the real deal..

A frontal shot of the pedal.. Hope you can see some details here..

The pedal plate, painted with several coats of black. I come from old electrical conduit cover I managed to salvage from somewhere.. While not the mosta accurate one, it serves well...

A quick black spray on the ion knobs..

I then installed the hex bolts on the boyz packs,

As well as mine..
I decided to give the trap pedal's plate another coat of paint, finishing layer this time, instead of black base coat.. Just to be sure..

Here is one of our packs, with alice frame attached, and gun tube in place..

The N-Filter needed the holes, so I made this template for it..

I then attached four hex bolts on my goggles..

And got back to the N-filters.. I firstly drilled pilot holes on to the cans..

And then messed up with a larger drill.. The drill teared up most of the holes...

To the extent that I snapped the filter of on my own pack.. Still,this was not a setback, the filter on my pack was not set straight, and I would have to set it straight anyway..

On my own pack I needed to fill in the blanks.. I originally intended to use some old speakers on my own pack, but soon after drilling the holes, I abandoned the idea.. The large hole was just on the spot where the alice frame would be connected into, so I needed to brace it with a piece of plywood..

I also threaded some lengths of yarn for the internal wiring and sort..

And added some other brackets on the pack.

I then glued the covers to the holes in place.

An plastered them...

I then plastered the N-filters that I messed with drilling..

With a heavy dose of plaster, as you can see..

On each pack..

And then, after drying up, I sanded them.

As well as my own pack.

My own N-filter needed some work, to set it straight.

I also filled the filler tubes on each pack.

A rather messy job on the N-filters, I should have made this previously..

I then went on to work on my movie traps. I found a portable MP3 speaker set that seemed to fit inside the trap cassette..

Opened, this seemed very close..

As you can see..

I then cut out the rear end of the cassette, to see if the speakers really fit in..

They did, splendidly, as you can see..

After this, I plastered the cutout,

And drilled a hole for the speaker cables..

..Right out from the bottom of the trap..

THEN, I decided to cut the mainteinance hatches using a piece of a post card.

It seems that I got the opening in the right place..

Even with the ALICE frame it is accessible..

As I cut my own pack, I accidentally ripped the filled covers open, so I needed to fill them again..

I also sprayed the trap black.

I then went on to work on the belt gizmoes.. I traced the pattern of the nixie holder on a paper, and traced it into a piece of aluminum that I had laying around.

And this is the result..

And with no time at all...

I then glued the printed images with spray paint, to a plastic board.. Only to find out that the spray glue warped the plastic, and therefore i switched the medium.. From plastic to aluminum..
Luckily, I did not read the instructions on the spray glue, they read, 'for a permanent attachment, spray both surfaces and let set for 10-60 min, and press together. For removable attachment, just spray and attach' It came out perfectly, so I needed not to print out new images..

Here are the images glued in the aluminum. With the nixie holders in pace, just for show...

I then cut them out, and..

Filed them to correct shape..

As you can see, I also drilled the holes for the wires and capacitators and such..

The capacitators were made from a wire, twisted around a pen..

And then filled with milliput. I could have bought the real capacitators from shop, but I would have to buy 100 capacitators in one deal, so I decided to make them myself..

After attaching them, and other bits, the boards looked really nice..

You can see the threading on this side of the boards..

Here is one of the boards. Yes, the top sanyos are the wrong way up.. I noticed this only after the epoxy glue had set... Well, they are only wrong to the right people..

As for the nixie tubes, a clear acrylic tube fitted the bill..

I used a piece of cardboard to set the little acrylic tubes in place as the glue set..

And they seem to be in nice order..

Overall, the boards look quite nice...

...For some one I love..

2010-01-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, after several YEARS, I finally got into finishing my clay dragon. I went on to work on this, a VERY long time ago, and got it into the painting stage, and then I hit the 'writers' block on this.. I did not want to make it red, as it was the penultimate color for dragons, but could not think of any other colors, so there I was...

Then, I met a girl, Katja, to whom I fell deeply in love, only to find that she seems to only play with people.. Still, she liked the dragon, and as I had no special feelings for it any more, I decided to give it to her. She liked red dragons, so I was on the starting point...

The colors came out nicely, infact, more nicer than I had hoped for... I bought a round wooden slab for a base, and stained it to mahogany finish, and the epoxied the dragon with it's base to the slab. I did include a very close and personal message in there somewhere too...

After painting it, it seems that the red really was the right choice after all..

Don't you think? This really should be a present for someone that can really appreciate your thoughts and feelings, but I made a promise, after all, did I not..?

GB update...

2010-01-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

It has been some while since the last update. Things have been slow for us, but I have a good premise about things to come.. Colin, from MultiMediaMayhem sent me some tubes, gun knobs and gloves, enough for four 'Busters, even though I paid for three... Some Christmas present!!! Thanks Colin!!!

That being said, I'll update these as I get through the pictures. Here is my PKE meter shell, totally scratch built from a plaster buck, then molded for fiberglass shell.. This actually is THE first GB item I started working on, and it still is unfinished...

I taped the two halves together and sanded them, and filled them agoian, then sanded...

And after some while, it seems that I have a half decent shell to work on, considering that this is, really, totally scratch built so far... By this time, some members have offered shells for this for decent price, but I'll finish this by my own , and then see if we need any more..

I also painted the boyz packs to black primer, giving them the look they need...

It really brings these packs to life, don't you think?

After learning from my own pack, it is best to paint the parts separately, before glueing them together.. Much, MUCH more easier to get the paint to everywhere..

Veka's pack needed some work on the powershell lighting, so in went the filler...

Other bits looked good, so paint was enough..

The booster frames for the boyz were then finished, and painted to match the other bits...

GB update

2009-07-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

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..

Proton gun job. Day three, part two.

2009-04-22T12:14:00.001-07:00

Ok, here is the works for to day.

As you can see, I sanded the grips a bit more, and they are looking like they should. I still need to sand them a LOT, but that is work for tomorrow..

After this coat of gray dries, I can see a lot more work to be done.. Still, they do look nice..

I also sprayed the guns with their new parts on with the same gray.. Mine's is in the center, Veka's on the left, and Nixu's on the right. I need to make some tags on them to distinguish them from each other from now on...

Proton gun job. Day three, part one.

2009-04-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again... This day was a bit of a disappointment, as I woke up late, MUCH too late for any serious work to be done. And most of the afternoon went without further planning, causing me to rush to places, where I could have gone with leisure, if I had planned more thoroughly my ventures... Still, I got a 25x25mm aluminum pipe for the guns, making the boxes nearly redundant..

Still, they did provide me with some use, as I needed some wood to fill the ends.

I cut and sanded three pieces like the one here..

Inserted them (I actually had to use a hammer here) to the aluminum pipes I already had cut out I also have cut the opening on this part..

And before long, I had three identical pieces. The wooden blocks were so snug and thight, that no glue was needed to hold them in place.

I then marked the side boxes to be drilled open, so as to get the screw through. I'll need to fill this afterwards..

I then screwed the parts together, at the correct angle, with woodglue. The opening is for the electronics..

And as usual, with no time, I had three parts ready..

And I began to attach them to the gun bodies. As usual, the self drilling screws were handy here..

And the guns really are looking like business...

Proton gun work, day two.

2009-04-21T12:10:00.001-07:00

Well, on retrospect, yesterday's rant was a bit unwarranted.. Still, this project has taken up more money, time and everything else than I anticipated. Still, I am going to get it through, even if not the guys wont pull through.. Today's work concentrated on the grips, and some other little boxes on the gun.

I cut out parts for the grips, they are going to be constructed from several pieces, but the overall result will be sturdy, as the major parts that are exposed to wear are birch plywood.

I made these slots for each handle, six in total. These will be in contact with the handle bars. At this point, they are still glued.

As they dried, I went to work on the trigger boxes (or what they are called) luckily I had only to make two of these, as I had made mine months ago.. The box is layered from three layers of MDF, with the middle one being hollowed to allow for the switches and wiring to be added.

When the boxes were drying, I went to work on the top parts of the handles. They are 9mm plywood, with 4mm strips on the top. Here they are, too drying..

And I worked on the rear boxes, but as I went on with these, I remembered seeing a 25x25 square aluminum tube, I will make these out of it, rather than from the MDF here. the aluminum allows for a better grip for the components, and allow additional room for batteries and wiring..

After the tops of the grips were dry, I cut them apart, and glued them to the bottoms..

Which, after drying, looked a bit like this..

The sides were roughly trimmed, and then I proceeded to mark the areas needed to sand out...

Yes, sand.. I went forward on this part of the project with my trusty Dremell, and his sanding drum...

And after a lot of sanding, I had them all roughly cut to this shape..

And with even more sanding, and after I was covered from head to toe in dust (luckily I was wearing a breath mask) I had the grips on somewhat recognizable shape..

I pulled aluminum foil on the handles, to protect them from the next part of the job..

I smeared a healthy dose of wood filler in the bottom of the grips, where they meet the handlebars.. After A while I could remove them, leaving the foil still in there, just to secure any un dried filler.

I then went and sprayed the grips with gray primer, just to see how much work still needs to be done.. Not much, and VERY much, I'd wager... Still, that is a job for tomorrow..

Proton gun job.

2009-04-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, we have been building our GB gear for two years or more now, and I got fed up on the total lack of progress. I know that real life must prevail, and the guys wanted to build their packs, but come on.. One building day every two to three months!! I can't wait to get this project over. It has, since the beginning, taken up my storage facilities, and free time, even without any progress. I have not been able to get any real work done on my own gear, because I needed to do the work on the same time as the guys, so they would know what to do. Well no more..

This was the start of today's work. Even though I detest the idea of doing all the work, something must be done.. The black tubes are from a lamp someone donated to the trash, which happen to be just the diameter for the handles, they are metal, and there are three of them in perfect lenght..

I had done this four way diagram for the Proton gun, just to see it from every angle in building process. It really, REALLY helped when I had no really good pictures from this piece.

I started to make the Gun Tracks for our guns, I just had the proper thickness plywood, enough fot three tracks, although two needed to be made in parts.. Still, when painted, it will not be noticeable.. For the record, the time that went into doing these was about thirty minutes, drawing and cutting them..

I then traced the openings on the gun body roughly in to the other guns.

Both front and rear..

And then proceeded to dremel the openings to proper size, I was a bit dusty after this...

I inserted a wooden peg into the body for the rear handle, it will help to keep the handle in place, and gives it much needed structural strenght. This was then replicated on the other boxes as well.

The rear handle in place. At this moment, it is still unattached. I am checking the allignment..

The peg is screwed in the gun body, I will hit it with some woodglue as well.

The handles will be attached with self drilling screws, which can be screwed directly through metal. Two screws should be enough.

I then drilled two holes on each rear handle for the wiring. I dremelled the two holes into oval shape, filed and sanded the edged smooth.

Then I screwed them on the gun bodies. The Screw will be hidden by the knob on the top.

Hmm.. There will be very limited space for electronics and tip activation... Still, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it..

I screwed the front handle on, and at this poitn the gun really took shape.

And with no time at all, all three were in the same shape.

The screws do bulk out somewhat on the bottom, but this will be covered by guntracks later on.

At this point, I just had to play wit the gun a while... I could not help myself..

I then reluctantly went to work again. I marked out the paces where I needed to cut grooves for the screws. And then dremelled the guntracks to fit the body.

I then glued the tracks together. I have allready given them a base coat, filler and sanding.

While the tracks were drying, I tested the Clippards. They are nick-a-tron's resin ones, if you wonder.

The tracks dry, were then smeared with more filler, and left to dry.

I then bolted the Clippards on the guns, just to see how they fit.. Looks good.

I then removed the clippards, and took the whole bunch outside with a can of gray spraypaint. Here are the results..

After this dries, I can be sure my guntracks and the gun bodies are ready for black paint..

My own gunbody, although really needs filler, as I had not had sprayed it as of yet... Well, tomorrow, or even tonight.. All in all, nice work, if I might brag, for one evening.... More than in the last two months..

My toilet door sign..

2009-04-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Me and my ideas... As an avid fan of penguins (who will conquer the earth, just wait and see), I got an idea of personalized door sign..

For starters, I bought inexpensive sign, and the proceeded to decapitate the poor boy.. I then glued the rest of the sign to a plastic card.

Onto which I smeared plastic padding (a two component all purpose cement) in to a rough shape of what it will become.
After it had hardened, I cut out the rough shape of a penguin peeing. I then used normal wall filler to fill the gaps, and started sanding the shape out.

And then I gave it a healthy coat of grey base coat, just to see if there are any imperfections..

Which there were none, and thus I proceeded to give it a silver coat, followed by a coat of matte varnish. The finished piece now adorns my toilet door, much to everyone's enjoyment..

Snack break, part 2

2008-12-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I did get a 'few' additions... Aile Strike Gundam, Freedom Gundam, and two smaller packs without clear names.. One of these is going to a friend, though, as a christmas present.

This kit was a 'skill level 2'. I wonder what this means, I built a 'skill level 3' kit by the time I got these done. The instructions on the previous model were definately better, with each sprue coded with letters A-D, and parts with numbers. On this kit, however, the parts were only numbered.

That means, that I had to rummage through every sprue until I found my parts. It was only after 45 minutes that I got the hands and legs done..

Still, from there it were faster, as the little parts were, on the most part, gone... Only the major body had some little parts, but these were fast to attach.

And so, after little over an hour, this was the result. It goes without saying that good instructions are the major part of the job... The stickers were left out on this one as well, I'll paint and weather it later.

Here are the brothers in arms.. The new mecha really cries for a decent paint job, without it, it seems it is unfinished... Still, these make great wargame figures, cheap (well, relatively, these were 13 and 11 euros), require no glue and can do without any paintjob. I'll have to stick a metal L screw on the body of these, to provide attachment point for the flight stands. Still, that is a work for tomorrow, or some other day..

Snack break

2008-12-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

Taking a little break from Ghostbusters, and especially from my studies, I pulled a Gundam Wing 1/144 scale mecha kit that I purchased a while ago. These kits are great, with moving parts, and require little or no glue or paint..

I must admit, that I purchased this 'Serpent Custom' kit without any knowledge on the Gundam Wing series. I am planning to use this mecha on a Lightning Strike (DP9) / Canvas Eagles spacebattles games, and I do not need to know particular attributes that this unit has on Gundam. In fact, I do not even care.

The kit is nicely packaged, and the instructions are both Japanese and English, to mention but a few.. Still, the instructions are simple enough, this is a grade/level three kit, but I guess that with over 25 years of building experience on my but, this is a breeze...

Legs and arms completed in fifteen minutes, this really is fast building.. The parts have no visible flash on them, so they are fast to complete.

And here she is, fully completed. In all, this took about a half an hour, or very little over that. The stickers are not attached, as I plan to paint and weather this on some point. As the kit required no glue whatsoever to complete, it can be pulled apart to ease the painting.. The kit came with different hands, to hold the weapons or do fists.. Cool figure, easy build, and about the size of a coke can.. I think I will get another one of these at some point..

Today's works

2008-11-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

We got some work done today on our packs. It seems that we are finally getting somewhere with these...

Nixu managed to find the time to work on his pack today. His days are filled with family and work, with few opportunities for hobbies. Last friday we borrowed Nixu's sister's car and got the plywood for the boyz motherboards.

After they were cut, we proceeded to mark each component on it, so that they could be screwed with ease.

And after markings were done, the individual parts were screwed on. This helps us to move them away from the common areas on my apartment for storage.

Here is Nixu with his pack, quite proud of his work, I would wager..

Here is the happy family, from left to right; My pack, Veka's pack, and Nixu's pack. Looking like proton packs, are they not?

Nixu's pack a little closer..

With Veka's alongside.

My own pack is further than the boyz, but that is because I can work on mine pretty much anytime, as we are working on my home.. Still, my pack has been at this state for some time now. The only additions I made today were the two cylinders protruding just above the Spacer..

Cyclotron work..

2008-11-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

Here is Veka working on his Cyclotron. He is laying fiberglass on the plaster mold that I made from my own teflon pan. This is SMELLY work, and the fumes are toxic. DO use proper breathing gear, and ventilation. Veka's Cyclotron needs filler, sanding and work before it is done.

After Veka did the fiberglassing, we left the Cylcotron curying, and went to sauna. Afterwards, we pulled the fiberglass out from the mold, so that it would not stick in there permanently. After all, Nixu still needs to pull his own Cyclotron from the mold.

The mold was partially damaged during the pulling, I guess that the soap we used as a release agent was not the best one. My previous pullings were not this hard to pull out.

I frosted the Veka's Cyclotron, so that he can sand it the next weekend. I still think that this needs more filler, but that is for tomorrow.

I also filled the mold, which will then need some sanding. After this the mold is unnecessary, and it does not matter if it gets broken during pulling.

N-Filter, take two..

2008-11-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

As I said, the N-Filter that I'll use on our packs is a pea soup tin can.. Here is the can, with the contents in my tummy..

I used coarse sandpaper to roughen up the can, so that the filler would stick a bit better. I would not want to have some parts drop off after so much work...

Then, I pasted the filler on the can, left it drying, then sanded it and primered it. On surfaces like this, the primer really comes to life, as you can really see the imperfections on the can..

That being said, more filler, sanding...

And primer again.. I do hope, that I do not need to add much filler on this anymore. Still, there are cavities that needs filling. I'll do them individually, then prime it again... Much work..

I fixed the boo-boo on Veka's pack also. The only thing left on the outer side is the cut that I made. The piece fits nicely..

So, what do you do to fill a gap? Use filler, of course... Here are the happy three, just waiting for attention..

Well, that being said, I sanded the can with 400 grit paper, and after that, I rubbed it with a towel, it seemed quite nice. Still, I'll fill some cavities, and then sand and prime it again. After this, though, any holes or cavities will be treated as 'weathering'...

Today's hard work.

2008-11-19T08:31:00.001-08:00

Ok, today I did some work on my own pack, as well as to the other packs. I recently had a vague feeling, that a regular can of peas could work as a strurdy N-Filter. Therefore, I went and bought one, and when measured, the can is 4mm wider than the N-Filter on Stephan's plans. So sue me, I thought, it is close enough. I have been trying to locate proper size tube (no, pringles tube is not on my list) with no avail.. The can is 120mm tall though, so I need to sink it in the Syncronous Generator. So, I cut a hole in it. I also widened the hole on the center, so I have more opening, when putting in the lighting on the Cyclotron.

Test fitting the can on place, it fits snugly, so it will be durable. Well, I hope so..

And here it is with the Cyclotron.

The whole pack. It needs some cleaning, and another coat of gray, then I will be hitting it with black undercoats with steel wool sanding in the between. After that, weathering and dull coat, and voila!

I did some work for the boyz too, I cut openings on their components, so we can put the electronics inside. The boyz will have to dig out some urethane, which we used to fill their parts. Mine is urethane free..

Here are the packs, Though on closer inspection, each pack has some differences, on the whole, they look good if you don't mind me bragging. On my pack, I'll need to eat the peas, smoothen the can and then attach it to the Syncronous Generator and Cyclotron. Then a happy gray and of to work on another point..

In my rush to get the noisy work done as fast as possible, I did make a boo-boo on Veka's pack. I cut the opening for the electronics on the wrong side of the Gearbox, even after I marked every piece!! Darn, always check twice, and cut once...

As you can see, the hole is quite visible Under the HGA.

Even when the HGA is in place, it shows through.. I cannot leave this behind, as this was my mistake, not Veka's. If this was on my own pack I would be tempted to put a fluoroscent green mouse with glowing red eyes in there, and leave the hole in place. Is someone were to notice it, I'd push a button and light the mouse, giving the guy a fright of his life.. Still, as this is not mine, no can do...

That being said, I rummaged through my bits box, and found a proper sized bit of MDF.

And the put some PVA glue on it, and glued it in place. This repair work does not weaken the Gearbox, as it is in the middle of other parts. I just feel that this needs to be done... Few hours, and I will go and put filler in there, and tomorrow give it a light sanding. I was lucky to make this mistake on the easiest surface to repair on this part...

Yup, Again..

2008-11-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

Here is today's work. I sanded these, but the filler in the gaps were still not fully dry, and it will need another coat of filler, and sanding. Still, this does not prevent us from assembling these, and painting them later on..

This is Nixu's pack, Veka's is in the same state. I am quite fond of this photo. I like it.

I pulled the plaster bandage mold from the Cyclotron. It pulled of really easy, I guess that was because the pan I used on my Cyclotron was a teflon coated cooking pan...

After I ripped the foil maskin away from the plaster, I was greeted with this sight. About the sight I expected. This needs filler, and sanding, before the fiberglass is put on. And after wards, the fiberglass pullings will need the same...

Still, that is the work for someone else than me... I just make the mold for my friends, here is the mold drying after the paste. I have to sand it thoroughly though, before they can use it.

I added the little slanted box on the lower left on the Syncronous Generator. Veka had done the other box on the bottom way before..

Nixu, on the other hand, was on the other side of the problem, he had neither. So, ergo, here they are...

After very little work today, the boy'z packs are steadily progressing and looking good...

Yup, still workin on these..

2008-11-12T13:47:00.001-08:00

Yup, I'm really keen on getting this project flying. At this speed, we have possibilities on making this project done by the time the GB video game is released. Still, I have my doubts..

Damn, foiled again... I foiled the cyclotron on my part, to prepare it for a plaster coat, which will be used to make this part from fiberglass.

And here is the cake, just waiting for the icing on the top..

Also, I cut small triangles that were absent when the guys drew their parts from mine. We resolved to make these at a later time, and it is now.. These still require some smoothing, but that is for tomorrow.

I also glued and pastered these to Nixu's and Veka's packs, and then sanded them a little. The gaps were so large, that a lot of filler was needed, and it will require more time to dry. Well, more work tomorrow..

I also filled the gaps on these little parts that are needed on the lower parts of the pack. Tomorrow they will be smoothed and glued on place.

I also glued and smoothed these on, I know that there are weld lines on the Ion arm, but that will be taken care with epoxy putty later on.

Still working..

2008-11-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

Still working on Veka's and Nixu's packs.. There was a time that I ended up doing all the work on my gaming group, including arranging the time, inviting people to come, place, work on the games, and the cleaning up afterwards, and as one can guess, I got fed up with it. I pledged not to do all the work by myself alone from then on, and not surprisingly, no games have been played after that..

Still, if I do not help in any way, this project will not go anywhere. And with the looming possibility of me losing the sole use of a common room in my apartment, this really needs to be done with.. Thus, today I cut these parts from 8mm MDF, glued them together making a 24mm thick part for the packs. If I recall, the original measurement is 25mm, but no one is going to notice the difference here. The parts are glued together, and the parts showing are pasted with filler. Tomorrow I'll sand them..

As you can see, the individual packs are a bit different. I measured this part from my pack, and it does not fit flush on the other packs. Still, this can be corrected with some sawing and filler. So not to worry, these will do just fine..

I also cut the block still needed n Nixu's pack, pasted it and glued it on.. It still needs filler, sanding and paint before completion.. Still, Nixu's pack is coming together nicely..

Veka's And Nixu's packs

2008-11-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Ok, Updating again.. We've been building GB gear for two years now, and are getting nearly nowhere due the thing called 'real life'. I have suffered from burnout, near nervous breakdown and depression, while Nixu has had a bit happier life. He got married, bought a house with his lovely wife, Satu, and recently had a beautiful baby girl. So, needles to say, the progress has been a tad slow on these. My pack is a bit further than these, but these are coming along nicely..

Veka has been working on his pack couple of times in the recent months, and the progress shows..

His parts, which looked a bit crude when he cut them, are showing huge improvement after a gallon of filler and paint. Note that Veka has had very limited, if none at all, experience on the tools that are needed to make a protonpack, and Stephan's plans were difficult for us all..

All in all, Veka will get very pretty pack, and I do not need to lie... See for your self. I did help him a bit, with filler, paint and some sanding, but the majority of the work on this, is his...

Nixu, on the otherhand, being an engineer (let's not hold that against him), had a bit better knowledge on the plans and tools. Still, as his preoccupation with family matters has prevented him to work on his pack, I decided to step in and help. These pictures are new to Nixu, and that was the main reason of posting them on here. Some filler needs to be smoothed, (work for tomorrow) and then painted.

I have sanded the pack, painted it and it too, is lookin good.

Some parts need some sanding, and there are some parts that are absent all together. Still, this is a good view on how the pack looks now..

Overall, Nixu's pack is progressing along just fine. Still more work to do, but this really shows some improvement.. Hope Nixu is happy for my help...

My Holochess table 2

2008-11-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

Ok, I got impatient. I have a date with a girl tomorrow, and cannot make any progress on this tomorrow. And as the paint needs to cure at least a week before use, I went and took a risk on this table. The silver is not fully cured, so it might peel off as I pull the masking tape off..

Still, I taped the mask on the table, using scotch tape.

And then carefully, very carefully cut out the middle ring squares. Note that I cut out the areas that are going to remain silver, and at this stage, left the black ones on. For reasons that follow..

Then, using the cut outs, I covered the silver areas, put more tape on, and hoped...

After that, I took a sharp knife, and cut out the black squares, leaving the tape, and the papers to cover the silver areas. At this point I was a bit relieved, as the first pulls from the silver did not peel off, even when I pulled the tape from it. This seemed hopeful..

So I progressed to paint the board black. I tried not to paint the edges, as I want them to remain silver/gray. It seemed that I succeeded... After spraying the board black, I immediately proceeded to remove any and all tapes, ant masking papers from the board, as risque it might be..

And the result was better than I anticipated. The paint did not peel, and on some locations, it stuck with the paper mask. There are some tape marks on the silver, as well a little botchup on one black square. Still, it was good. Some rub and buff with 0000 grade steel wool after this has been fully cured, and it might look ok. And after a hell of laquer on top of this to prevent wear and tear, I feel that this will look good in the end. Still, if time allows, I will not try this again, I got lucky on this one... DO LET the paint dry before you try this...

My Holochess table

2008-11-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, Updates as I get something done.. This is a standard serving table with turntable on the bottom, available from Ikea. I'll use this in my bodycast, to serve as a base with a turntable, and as a holochess table (the reverse side). At this moment I have no intention to make the Dejaric holochess creatures, but will use this table with Star Wars Bobblehead figures. I guess that makes this the Star Wars HoloBobbleHead Tic Tac Toe, of sorts..

The tray is base coated in gray on both sides, and then the edges are traced on a piece of paper.

To form a circle, around which I drew a square. As those adept with geometrics can tell, the square helps to determine the center of the circle.

And from the established center point, I traced the inner and outer rims

I used the same center point to divide the circle into the ceckered pattern, and cut the circle out.

Then I started to trace the 'squares' and cut them out. Well, most of them. The rest are cut after the mask is taped on the tray.

The tray itself is sprayed with several coats of silver paint, I still do not know if there is enough to provide metallistic finish, but the black squares will provide a nice contrast. At this point, Unfortunately I need to give the silver paint time to dry and cure sufficiently to accept masking tape. More updates as I get something done..

Ghost Traps 4

2008-10-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here are the handle and the side greeblies for the RGB trap.

The trap prepared for another coat of paint..

And then with black undercoat.

The electric sockets are not painted yet, I did not want to mess the grounding copper wires on there, and could not take them of for painting. I need to paint them by brush.
If you wonder, the metal ruler in the pic is 25mm wide. To give some scale.

And here are the happy three, all painted black, waiting for some tender loving care. Hope I can get on these soon.

Ghost Traps 3

2008-10-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a closeup on the third trap. This will be made into a RGP stylish, I haven't found many photo's that would give definitive description of this trap. The toy, plans, and the cartoon versions differ from each other. So, I am making somewhat mixed version.

This is my spray booth, or rather WAS. It used to be a grill shelter, on top of which some kids pulled green tarps over. It was dismantled few weeks ago, making my spray painting a tad difficult..

But, I still got to paint something before the shelter was destroyed. Here are all three traps, primered on black and grey.

Here is the newest addition to my trap family, the RGB trap The handle and the door are still unpainted in this photo.

And here are the trap doors open. As I said about my studies, I planned to make this third trap into a extension cord with four electrical outlets under the doors. The electricity can be cut of from a switch under the handle (the black thing) . There is over thirteen meters of cable on this thing, more than was on the movie traps, but I thought that in use, this is an advantage. Still, we are dealing with heavy voltages, I would not suggest this for anyone who does not know what they are doing. This trap is safe. Well, as safe as any grounded extension cords can be..

Ghost Traps 2

2008-10-29T10:29:00.001-07:00

Ok. As Lörö got me doing these updates, let's get on with them. Here are my two hero type traps. One will be GB 1 style, while the other will be GB 2.

All primered in gray..

And then sanded, waiting for another coat of paint. On the left (err... RIGHT...) there is a third trap I am making. As I am studying to be a electrician, I thought of making a third trap..

But, here is one of the movie traps.
And here both of them. They are turning out to be quite nice. Still LOT to do...

Full Body cast.

2008-10-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hmm, yet again, no updates for a while. This time, thanks for these go to Lörö.. I have, as you can see, nearly finished my body cast. I still have some work to do, fixing a lock-up mechanism to the head so that it won't fall of every now and then. And the hands need to be done as well.
This cast will be of great help to me in the process of building and displaying my costumes.

As you can see, the cast is painted blue, then laquered with resin to seal the surface. The reason for the blue skin is threefold. First, the blue can be, if neccessary, removed via photoshop if necessary, two, I like Smurfs, and three, I am planning a Rogue Trooper costume as well.

As you can see, I made the head removable, inorder to take it of for work on face masks. I still need to fix tha locking mechanism on the neck, so that the head stays put when in place. The cast is made from fiberglass, so it is strurdy, yet not heavy. I have a rotating service tablet from Ikea which will be used as turnable base for this mannequin. The base is not yet painted, so it is not in use. I guess I'll have busy weekend coming...

Ghost Traps

2008-09-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so long time, no posts. Not that I Haven't gotten anything done, just posting my progress is major pain.. Nevertheless, I have began building Ghost Traps using Stephan's plans over the GBFans.com. I must have taken more photos as I've worked, but this is all I could find. It is just prior to first base coat.

They are made from 6mm plywood, ensuring hard and durable finish. Both have detachable cassettes, which do not, alas, mix (I cut the pieces, glued them, and then tried them on... I had to sand much, VERY much out in order to make them fit). I have skateboard bearings fitted on aluminium pipe for the wheels, and something 'extra' planned for the traps. I found out that the one pint beer can fits quite nicely inside the cassette, so these do have some use outside the ghost trapping field.. I'll try to locate my other photos, and post them too, or take more as the paint dries.

Oh my God! I made Kenny!

2008-08-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

Well, whenI bought my webcam, I immediately saw was what it would be as I took it out from the box. I cannot, for life, recall which webcam it is, maybe someone could help me here? The original stand was intended for the older type monitors, not for the flat screen types that are the norm now. That meant that the original stand would not hold atop my computer monitor, so something was needed to be done.

I cut the body from some scrap MDF board, which was then laminated together, this picture is from where I've already done some sanding with dremel, and the feet are glued to the body.

Here is the 'head' ie the webcam itself. I test painted it to see how it related to it's unfortunate counterpart. The similarities are astonishing.

Here my Kenny has met with mister Hankey.. The wood filler I had at hand when I started smoothing the seams was brown, hence the color.. I am testing the head with the body together for a millionth time in this photo..

I screwed part of the original stand inside of the new body, to allow the head to be attached like it normally is, and to allow some movement for the head. The white gooey thing in there is PVA glue, if you wondered..

Here is a mugshot of my new Kenny. This was taken before the mister hankey part, but I thought it shows how alike this webcam is to Kenny McCormic..

And finally, here is the finished product, all in it's orange gory.. I still need to make a stand for it so it will stand still, but otherwise this is done. A quite a while ago, I must admit, four months ago... I guess I should update this blog more often, don't you think..

My Log bed

2008-08-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hmm, several weeks without blogs. I guess I'm not a blogger type. There has been some drastic instances on this summer, which have put my priorities in question. Still, I got some work done, finished my bed, which has been in the thought-part for few years.

I decided, after several versions, to follow the traditional Finnish log housing techniques, and bought several feet of 4x4" and 5x5" logs, which I cut, smoothed and stained to dark oak finish. I must say that I admire the work done by carpenters more after doing this... Hard job, I can tell you, ESPECIALLY if you are using wrong type of tools, as I did, on purpose... Here are the lower frame, without the end pieces.

The end pieces are fitted in place, and they fit as they should. I had some difficulty in putting this together, as I did not mark the pieces when I dis assembled it in my work place. After I got the pieces to home, I had to figure out which part was supposed to go where. That should not be difficult, even when I did make every hole in identical spots, but as I did cut and drill everything by freehand, each cut and hole was quite unique...

Still, in the end, the results are quite self-explanatory. As the saying goes, I can now sleep like a log. Curiously, that saying has an exact translation to Finnish saying 'nukkua kuin tukki' I can only wonder that lumberjacks everywhere think alike.. And snore alike...

Full Body Cast 1

2008-03-17T13:20:00.001-07:00

This is something I should have done ages ago, before beginning on my Fett project. It should ease things from the moment I get this done, which is I hope, very soon. I could not have done this alone, so a great thanks for help goes to Janne. He pasted the plaster bandages on me tirelessly..

The arms were made with a slight hollow on the insides, so I could get my arm out before the plaster got hard.

Then the hollow on the arms were plastered over, and left to dry overnight.

The next day I used a cutting disc on my dremel and cut the arms open. I marked the arms with the little 'w' which I thought I needed to align them again.

I then used filler to fill the seams on the hollows of the arms, as well as smoothening any hollows on the parts.

In each part that is. They were then again left to dry.

I used hand soap, the gel type, to act as a release agent on the plaster moulds. I did not take any pictures on the soaping phase, but I should point out that you need to be thorough in it, or else the fiberglass will bond to the plaster.

Here are the results. The soap worked, and the fiberglass pulled out nicely.

Here I have already soaped the other pieces, fiberglassed them and taken them out of the molds. I guess I did not use enough soap, or I left it too long in the molds. The fiberglass on the last parts stuck quite agressively on the plaster bandages, and most of them were destroyed as I pulled the fiberglass out. Oh well, I was going to throw the molds away anyway..

Hmm.. I did not know my insides looked like this..

I taped the pieces together to keep them in place when I fiberglassed the seams over.

Now this was both pleasant and disturbing piece. I can clearly see myself in this. The face cast also survived the pulling, which is good, As I need it for a plaster cast of my face.

The arms were too taped, then affixed together with more fiberglass.

The face aligned so nicely on the backside that no tape was needed. I just used two pieces of fiberglass on each side, and after they had hardened, I did the whole seam completely.

As well as the torso, belly first, and when it was hard enough, I turned the model, and fiberglassed the back too. It needs some work on the waist though, not that I don't agree that I have gained some weight, but not that way shown here. I guess the deformation on the waist area was due the fact that we did not do the whole body on one go, but on separate pieces.

The arms were too fiberglassed over the seams, now all the pieces are drying. Then I need to make the shoulder joints and the neck parts. I intend to make the neck so that the head could be taken off for sculpting. The arms will have round sockets, so that they can be moved slightly.
But more of that later..

Full Metal Fett 6

2008-03-17T12:55:00.001-07:00

Well, ok, this work was done last saturday. I've been working with my foll body cast, and forgot to update this blog on this project.

The chest pieces are bent thus far. Still have not decided if they need to be bent more.

The hardboard inside the piece helps a lot when bending the edges.

As well as the rubber hammer. Thanks Skjoldhammar. I hammered these pieces on the floor against a piece of wood. I hit the piece from the inside, so to keep any dents on the hardboard.

This is the side view. I still think that these need more curving. But that is for another day.

Full Metal Fett 5

2008-03-11T08:42:00.001-07:00

Well, I did not get any work done on my prop projects today, aside of gathering supplies. This work was done yesterday, but for some reason I could not post the pictures here. Aside these, I cleaned the workspace a little, a chore that I should have done ages ago..
I re-did some work on my cod piece, as the connection method between the butt piece and this I decided upon required it. Boy, would it have been easier if I was to think this before.. I don't have picks for it, but I cut similar piece of hardboard that is in the butt piece inside the cod piece too, to facilitate even folding easier. This of course meant, that I had to unfold the edges that I had folded before....

Hindsight is twenty-twenty, I cut pieces of hardboard inside the chest pieced as well...

And then folded the edges in, the chest pieces did not deform too much in the process, I can correct the deformations after the pieces are bent and the hardboard is taken out.

Here is the pieces again, with the right side upside down. I am pondering on the decision to place some padding in here, but that would increase the weight, and cause some heat problems. Not that metal armor would not provide them enough on it's own..

Ecto Goggles 5

2008-03-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

I haven't actually made any progress on my props today aside of getting a rubber hammer for metal working. I have Math and Electrics tests next monday and tuesday, and I've been cramming my head with electric physics. I tell you that bending metal is way easier.

This is how my goggles look as of yesterday. There are SEVERAL coats of paint on these, gray primer, too light catachan green, then Tamiya Olive green, and finally Tamiya Olive Drab (XF-62). I thought that the goggles looked too dark in real life, but this photo taken in daylight actually looks bang on. I'll sand this, then coat it with OD again, then do this again and again until I get even coat and smooth finish. But, that will have to wait, now, of to bed..

Full Metal Fett 4

2008-03-05T10:05:00.001-08:00

Got some thing done today. The main thing that I got done today was plaster casts of my body, with a help of a friend. As you can guess, it would be quite impossible to make one by one's self. We have begun the bodycast sometime ago, but got the final parts done today. I can to the fiberglassing myself now, and when I get it done, this project will get wings under it. Today's work was on the butt plate.

I've bent it thus far, and I am a bit hesitant to continue until I get the fiberglass bodycast done. Then I can get another person's view better.

I cut similar piece of hardboard inside the buttplate, so that the edges would be easier to bend equally. I intend to get the hardboard out when the piece is in it's final form. If you wonder about the three metal slaps on the inside, those will have their purposes, which I will keep to my self for the moment..

This is how it is when connected with the cod piece. There are many centimeters excess material on both of them, which I left for trimming.

Full Metal Fett 3

2008-03-04T09:14:00.001-08:00

Here are the pieces I traced in the metal, cut them and folded most of the edges. The parts still need much work, but I had to stop for this day, as I am doing most of my work done in a common area in my apartment house.

Here is the cod piece again, I got an idea for the piece, which I will not disclose as of yet. But be forewarned, I think you will like it. I know that I will... But, that idea needs the MIG welder more than before. Still, that and the fact that I decided to make this piece from more than one piece, will enhance the outlook. Well I hope so anyway...

This is the back side of the left breast plate at the moment. Every side will be folded when I get time for it. Still, I think that this project has some prospect.. More to follow...