DOME WORK

I started work on my dome tonight. Pulling the dome back out of the box, here's the starting point.



Here's the inner and outer dome sitting side by side.


An hour or so later and I have an outer dome that's starting to look REALLY familiar!




The two domes nested together:



R2 begins to take shape:



So many parts to put in place:



So, I can't do any more work for the next week and a half. Leaving for vacation tomorrow and won't be home until the 11th of July. That's when I'll start cleaning up the dome and priming the dome panels for paint.

RESIN AS ALUMINUM

Okay, so the above photo shows you the blue panel on the front skins painted up and secured to the panel. I LIKE IT!

Below, you'll see all the body and dome details that I'm painting with Aluminum Matte (Krylon). Not bad!



Still have some more Blue Trim work to do on these parts, but I want to give them some time to dry first.

FRONT SKIN VENT SURROUND

No picture because it's too dark in the garage tonight, but I just painted this portion of the front skin and clamped it back onto the main skin with JB Weld. This was photoshopped so you'll know what I'm talking about.

COULDN'T RESIST THIS PHOTO

Just had to get a look at this! :)

KRIDER BLUE

Well, it wasn't as hard as I anticipated, but it IS pretty tough making resin look like metal and not show any flaws. But, I'm happy with the results so far. These are the photos of my resin parts that have been painted Krider Blue so far. The only thing missing in the photos, which I'm working on in the garage tonight, is layering the clear coat on every 15 minutes (x2).



More work through the weekend! :)

SKINS PAINTED

Got the aluminum skins painted yesterday. They came out pretty good for spray cans. A few small flaws but I don't think they'll be noticeable because of where they are.



I received all the resin dome details in the mail from Az today! Woo Hoo! It's my day off and I've got R2 work to do!!!!! :)

I need to run out and get some rubbing alcohol to clean up the parts and get 'em washed and ready for the Krider Blue paint method.

Lots of work to do! Stay Tooned!

SKINS PAINTED WITH PRIMER

Woo hoo! Tonight, I was able to get both the front and rear skins primered with Self Etching Primer Spray Paint. They came out pretty good! I'm happy! The only problem I had was when my dogs came running by after taking a dip in the pool and shook all the water off themselves just as I finished puting a coat of paint on! ARGGGGHH!!!! Looks like it's okay though. Tomorrow, I'll paint all the missing door panels. Then, it's on to the white paint.


Still waiting on my resin dome parts from Az, which I ordered back in April, along with the center ankle from JAG. I'd really like to get the dome parts so I can start painting all the body and dome details the same blue.

VISITS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Every now and then, I look at my stat counter statistics to see who is looking at my page and from what areas. Wow! People from all over the globe are visiting and I welcome you all!

All over the U.S.
Canada
New Zealand
Chile
Argentina
Russia
Brasil
United Kingdom
Norway
Denmark
Germany
Japan
China

Welcome to all!

JB WELD ON FRONT SKINS

The Rear Skins set up real nice from yesterday so I took all the clamps off 'em and JB Welded the Front Skins tonight.


Primer and Paint next!

ALUMINUM SKINS WELDING TOGETHER

I forgot that I couldn't do any primer of the skins until they were JB Welded together...so, I got the rear skins clamped up and sitting to cure. Only have enough clamps for one side at a time, so I'll do the front skins tomorrow.

In the meantime, I did some more work on the blaster tonight. Hit it with the Hammered Metal finish (Black) and was REALLY disappointed in what it came out looking like.


It ended up giving it a silver tone in the sunlight. So, after that coat became tacky, I hit it with black satin and am much happier with the results. Still too shiny, but it's a start.



Now I need to start weathering the weapon. WISH ME LUCK!

CLONETROOPER HELMET WORK

Had a chance to do some (GULP!) potentially destructive work to the clone helmet tonight. In order to actually wear this helmet, you have to either:
1. Remove the neck line and underside of the helmet completely
2. Trim it out quite a bit
3. Create a removeable half ring by cutting out half of the neck

I chose option number three, as I learned it from watching my buddy Darren and his Clone6 work.

First, you have to make some strategic and clean cuts down the side of the neck and around the front, following the "chin". You can do this with a box knife and score the lines over and over again until they cut through. OR.....you can CAREFULLY use a medium speed on a Dremel tool and use a cut-off wheel. That's what I ended up doing. I started out using the sharp box knife and quickly realized it was going to take a LONG time to cut through the resin. So, I pulled out the ol' Dremel Tool and went to work. Much quicker and easier if you have a steady hand and are patient. DO NOT MOVE FAST OR YOU COULD CAUSE SOME MAJOR DAMAGE TO THE RESIN CAST!!!!





Fifteen minutes later and you have completely removed the front half of the neck ring.





Some people may prefer to remove the back half of the neck ring instead. I thought of it and mentioned it to Darren. It's always an option, but Darren pointed out that when you are all suited up in the Clone Armor, you typically can't raise your arms above your head or reach your hands around to the back of your helmet. So, once you've placed the helmet on, if you cut out the rear half of the neck ring, someone else will have to help you get suited up. Sheesh!!! This is starting to sound as complicated as a Vader suit!!!

Anyway, I chose to cut out the front half of the neck so I can put the helmet on and take it off without assistance. Experience wearing the Vader suit has taught me the frustrations of not being able to get suited up alone. I'll make this suit as self sufficient as possible!

Now, I need to get some "Magic Sculpt" and start building up some areas inside the neck and helmet to reinforce the resin and hold some strong magnets.

You'll notice a few reddish spots here and there in the photos...yup....Bondo. Fixin' a few rough spots from the mold.

BLASTER TOUCH-UP

Since it's such great practice for me to be priming and painting the blaster, prior to R2, I spent another hour last night working the Hasbro Blaster. I'm really pleased so far with how the primer is coming out. Looks like I'll be filling in all the screw holes with bondo and getting everything ready for final assembly this weekend.

I also put another primer coat on the resin details last night. Looking good. Nothing truly new to see as far as photos go.

I'm actually planning (again) to shoot the Aluminum R2 Skins this weekend. Need to get 'em done!!!! But I also don't want to rush it.

MULTIPLE PROJECTS

Well, it's been too hot here lately to do any painting on the skins if I'm to follow the directions on the paints. Sooooooo...I decided to start working on some other projects to keep me in the creative mode. First up, I've been wanting to tackle a Stormtrooper Blaster (aka., Blastech E-11). This was made famous by the Stormtroopers in the original 1977 Star Wars (Episode IV, A New Hope).


Instead of spending a small fortune on a replica from Master Replicas, or ordering a Hyperfirm, I decided to go with a modified Hasbro and a resin modification kit from Doopy Doos. Jibberish? Well, let me show ya what I'm talking about.


Here's the box from the Hasbro Blaster which can currently be found on the shelves of most department store Toy Sections. I got this one from Walmart for $17.00.

As you can see, the white blaster has no realism to it at all...hey, it's a kids toy. But, it's pretty darn close in size to the real prop, so it's a great foundation to start from.

Next up, I took it all apart, ground off all the manufacturing marks (Copyrights, CE notices, logos, etc, and removed all the electronics. Taking the electronics out is an individual choice. I needed to for reasons which will become aparent in just a moment.

After taking it all apart, I then hit it with gray primer along with all the resin details. (This is all still a work in progress)

Here's all the pieces simply placed onto the weapon to give some idea of what it's looking like.

I also cut out the ejection port.


I also trimmed out a bunch of the interior structural support that was used to hold the electronics, speaker, etc., in place.

This allowed me to cut a piece of aluminum tubing to fit inside and create my own "Bolt".


Finally, to really begin setting this plastic piece apart from the Hasbro look, I cut out the scope rail and the recoil spring slot which runs the length of the tail of the rifle.


Plenty more sanding and priming work to be done, but at least the blaster is well on it's way.


Next up, I started work on my Clone Trooper bucket.
This is a Clone6 bucket (#24).


First up was trimming out the visor area:

That was accomplished by scoring it with a good sharp box knife until it practically popped out...not as hard as I thought it was going to be.
Next, I drilled the holes out of the mouth or teeth and filed them pretty smooth.


Lastly, I began sanding and filing all the rough edges and resin seam lines from the mold. Bondo work will be the next step.



WHEW!!! I do believe that's about enough for one night! Check back soon!