Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build: Completed!
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LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
Well I think I got the scribing done as well as I can. I took one of my old x=acto blades and ground it into a shape that seems too work pretty well.
Then, using some electrical tape I taped off the area and very slowly and gently began to scribe. The hard part was getting the curves on the corners, its not perfect but I think it looks alot better. I also added the bits that were missing in the center half moon and the piece on the top.
I also got the epoxy putty into the leg joints and they look pretty good. I let them dry and then painted them. They are a far cry from that original cross that was there and look a whole lot better then before!
More to come tomorrow.
Well I think I got the scribing done as well as I can. I took one of my old x=acto blades and ground it into a shape that seems too work pretty well.
Then, using some electrical tape I taped off the area and very slowly and gently began to scribe. The hard part was getting the curves on the corners, its not perfect but I think it looks alot better. I also added the bits that were missing in the center half moon and the piece on the top.
I also got the epoxy putty into the leg joints and they look pretty good. I let them dry and then painted them. They are a far cry from that original cross that was there and look a whole lot better then before!
More to come tomorrow.
LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
I think I got my inspiration from that scriber, but it seems to work pretty well... it's actually a #12 blade (the one with the hook look). Didn't come out too badly... I just used my dremal cutting disk to grind it into shape.
Grendels said:
I think I got my inspiration from that scriber, but it seems to work pretty well... it's actually a #12 blade (the one with the hook look). Didn't come out too badly... I just used my dremal cutting disk to grind it into shape.
LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
Well today I've decided that I'm gonna finish at least one leg. Working on the middle leg I added the two strips to the front and back that aren't there. I also put the two canisters on either side after trimming and carving them down on the back sides.
The middle leg finished but now I have a problem. It won't retract up into the body with the two canisters on either side (good thing I used the spare kit retainer sub-assembly).
I believe that if I modify the assembly a bit by widening the central guide box, it will be able to fully retract into the body to be displayed either 2 or 3 legged (which will be a cool feature). I would hate to have to glue the leg into one position. I'm thinking if I open the gap a bit more and add a couple of pieces of styrene to guide it, it should allow the leg to retract fully into the body without causing any problems. Will work on that.
I also finished the right leg (sans foot).
I added some greebles to the angles just under the shoulder on the sides have this little piece of detail that alot of people don't even see (and its even harder to see in some of the pics) but its on both sides. The model has a very poorly detailed little section on one side. Well using my sculpting putty, I fashioned some greebles on both sides. Came out looking pretty good. I also added the little blue box above the weird angled piece at the bottom of the ankle. I also carved out the little rectangluar section just below it that should be there. All the painting is done on that leg.
I haven't put the foot shell together yet because I want to put the anchor for the base in both the rear legs so that it will not move. I think I may have a solution. I'm only going to use half of each roller and then using my sculpting putty, put a nut just above them to allow the screws to go into it. However, I'm not sure yet if I should do it in the center of the foot and have just one, or drill a hole in one of the rollers to go thru the roller so that you don't see the screw holding it down. In any case, I want to have the cowling off the ground, and not sitting on the cowl. Any thoughts or suggestions on this would be great.
More when I get some time.
Well today I've decided that I'm gonna finish at least one leg. Working on the middle leg I added the two strips to the front and back that aren't there. I also put the two canisters on either side after trimming and carving them down on the back sides.
The middle leg finished but now I have a problem. It won't retract up into the body with the two canisters on either side (good thing I used the spare kit retainer sub-assembly).
I believe that if I modify the assembly a bit by widening the central guide box, it will be able to fully retract into the body to be displayed either 2 or 3 legged (which will be a cool feature). I would hate to have to glue the leg into one position. I'm thinking if I open the gap a bit more and add a couple of pieces of styrene to guide it, it should allow the leg to retract fully into the body without causing any problems. Will work on that.
I also finished the right leg (sans foot).
I added some greebles to the angles just under the shoulder on the sides have this little piece of detail that alot of people don't even see (and its even harder to see in some of the pics) but its on both sides. The model has a very poorly detailed little section on one side. Well using my sculpting putty, I fashioned some greebles on both sides. Came out looking pretty good. I also added the little blue box above the weird angled piece at the bottom of the ankle. I also carved out the little rectangluar section just below it that should be there. All the painting is done on that leg.
I haven't put the foot shell together yet because I want to put the anchor for the base in both the rear legs so that it will not move. I think I may have a solution. I'm only going to use half of each roller and then using my sculpting putty, put a nut just above them to allow the screws to go into it. However, I'm not sure yet if I should do it in the center of the foot and have just one, or drill a hole in one of the rollers to go thru the roller so that you don't see the screw holding it down. In any case, I want to have the cowling off the ground, and not sitting on the cowl. Any thoughts or suggestions on this would be great.
More when I get some time.
LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
Seems to be taking forever. Still trying to figure out how I'm gonna rig the wiring up inside the body. I've got a voice module that runs off batties that I'm gonna fit in there as well. Just gonna rig a switch to it and make it accessable thru the back panel to allow changing of those little button batteries. Has a good size speaker that will fit perfectly inside(was made for a plush R2 doll). Last night I fixed the warped body. Using boiling water I dipped it in for about 15 seconds then squeezed it and dipped it in cold water to set. Took a few times but it seemed to work pretty well. Only got the water about 150 degrees, anymore then that and the plastic would have probably melted.
Seems to be taking forever. Still trying to figure out how I'm gonna rig the wiring up inside the body. I've got a voice module that runs off batties that I'm gonna fit in there as well. Just gonna rig a switch to it and make it accessable thru the back panel to allow changing of those little button batteries. Has a good size speaker that will fit perfectly inside(was made for a plush R2 doll). Last night I fixed the warped body. Using boiling water I dipped it in for about 15 seconds then squeezed it and dipped it in cold water to set. Took a few times but it seemed to work pretty well. Only got the water about 150 degrees, anymore then that and the plastic would have probably melted.
LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
Today was spent cutting and shaping the holes on the sides of the body. Now that I got the body dewarped, it took me awhile. I had to cut two square holes on each side of the body (total of 4 holes) 2 for the side vents and 2 for the lower body indentation.
Using my dremal and a cutting disc, I cut the holes out smaller then what I needed to have. The two main vents are a specific size and I had to make sure that the vent pieces that I had made earllier would be able to fit perfectly. After cutting out the holes i began using a nail file to shape the holes and get them perfectly shaped for the vent piece.
I got the two holes cut out but a slight problem... as I was sanding I pressed too hard on the cross brace for the lower vent on the rear and it snapped. That's just one of the little snafus that happen when dealing with this type of situation. You have to watch the pressure you put on a piece or little parts will snap and break.
No big deal thou, I got it fixed back into position and you wouldn't even know it was damaged. I glued the lower vent into place and it looks as good as new. Next I'll be moving on to putting hte pieces into the body. Question for everyone that I really haven't found an answer to or a good picture of. The area that holds R2's arm, is it filled with visable wires/hoses/pipes etc or is it completely white or a darker color? If you have photos of that area (that come from the real R2 not a R2 Reproduction (there's tons of them out there) let me know and post a photo here.
Today was spent cutting and shaping the holes on the sides of the body. Now that I got the body dewarped, it took me awhile. I had to cut two square holes on each side of the body (total of 4 holes) 2 for the side vents and 2 for the lower body indentation.
Using my dremal and a cutting disc, I cut the holes out smaller then what I needed to have. The two main vents are a specific size and I had to make sure that the vent pieces that I had made earllier would be able to fit perfectly. After cutting out the holes i began using a nail file to shape the holes and get them perfectly shaped for the vent piece.
I got the two holes cut out but a slight problem... as I was sanding I pressed too hard on the cross brace for the lower vent on the rear and it snapped. That's just one of the little snafus that happen when dealing with this type of situation. You have to watch the pressure you put on a piece or little parts will snap and break.
No big deal thou, I got it fixed back into position and you wouldn't even know it was damaged. I glued the lower vent into place and it looks as good as new. Next I'll be moving on to putting hte pieces into the body. Question for everyone that I really haven't found an answer to or a good picture of. The area that holds R2's arm, is it filled with visable wires/hoses/pipes etc or is it completely white or a darker color? If you have photos of that area (that come from the real R2 not a R2 Reproduction (there's tons of them out there) let me know and post a photo here.
LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
Today I finished putting all the body greebles where they belong (except the sides and the arm compartment).
I also fixed he middle leg support structure and teh middle leg itself. I began by taking apart the support structure and sanding down the sides that had the guide pins. I positioned each of those side walls back onto the front and back wall supports about 5mm out further from the original guide holes and glued them.
Now while I let the support dry, I began working on the middle leg. Cutting a thick peice of styrene to about the size I needed, I then used my dremal to cut the existing support pins off and cut a groove the same size thru the upper leg. Then I attached the styrene strip and glued it in place.
Viola... or so I thought. I test fitted the new support pin in the base and the styrene strip was the right length, but the original design took into account the width of the leg support and used it to help guide the leg without any side to side wobble.
So I added a couple of pieces of styrene on the front side of the leg to give it the width of the support structure hole and to help give more support and it worked...
That's when I discovered, low and behold, I glued the entire support structure together wrong. I had to pull it all apart and reglue it back into place. Its not easy since there isn't much difference to go by and if you're not paying attention you end up having to pull it apart and gluing it back together again. Well now that it's all back together, the middle leg glides back up into the body completely with the side canisters on the leg with no problems.
Finally, my buddy Bryan found some good screen caps of R2's inner arm compartment from Jedi. They are dark and look like they've got some wires and stuff in there. I don't know how much little greebles I'll be able to put in there with the grabber arm and still be able to close it, but I was looking at the chromed "greeble" section that comes with the kit.
Since I'm not going to use this piece I figured I would cut off a few pieces from it (since the greebles look pretty cool on it anyway) and put a few of them into the arm compartment. One of the "oxygen tanks" looks like it would be a good fit. Maybe the snaking wire/pipe looking part. Not alot of room to work with. but I cut off one of the tanks and it seems to fit rather nicely. Will look even better after I paint it.
That's all for now. Lemme know what you all think... am still trying to get this light circuit working thou... that'll probably be the last step I take.
Today I finished putting all the body greebles where they belong (except the sides and the arm compartment).
I also fixed he middle leg support structure and teh middle leg itself. I began by taking apart the support structure and sanding down the sides that had the guide pins. I positioned each of those side walls back onto the front and back wall supports about 5mm out further from the original guide holes and glued them.
Now while I let the support dry, I began working on the middle leg. Cutting a thick peice of styrene to about the size I needed, I then used my dremal to cut the existing support pins off and cut a groove the same size thru the upper leg. Then I attached the styrene strip and glued it in place.
Viola... or so I thought. I test fitted the new support pin in the base and the styrene strip was the right length, but the original design took into account the width of the leg support and used it to help guide the leg without any side to side wobble.
So I added a couple of pieces of styrene on the front side of the leg to give it the width of the support structure hole and to help give more support and it worked...
That's when I discovered, low and behold, I glued the entire support structure together wrong. I had to pull it all apart and reglue it back into place. Its not easy since there isn't much difference to go by and if you're not paying attention you end up having to pull it apart and gluing it back together again. Well now that it's all back together, the middle leg glides back up into the body completely with the side canisters on the leg with no problems.
Finally, my buddy Bryan found some good screen caps of R2's inner arm compartment from Jedi. They are dark and look like they've got some wires and stuff in there. I don't know how much little greebles I'll be able to put in there with the grabber arm and still be able to close it, but I was looking at the chromed "greeble" section that comes with the kit.
Since I'm not going to use this piece I figured I would cut off a few pieces from it (since the greebles look pretty cool on it anyway) and put a few of them into the arm compartment. One of the "oxygen tanks" looks like it would be a good fit. Maybe the snaking wire/pipe looking part. Not alot of room to work with. but I cut off one of the tanks and it seems to fit rather nicely. Will look even better after I paint it.
That's all for now. Lemme know what you all think... am still trying to get this light circuit working thou... that'll probably be the last step I take.
LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
I agree... most MPC/AMT kits were terribly detailed (Falcon), bad fitting (Slave 1), and a pain to build... but, the R2 kit was probably their most detailed kit they made. Sure there's alot of little things that can be tweaked here and there (like the leg joints and the middle leg stuff) but all in all, it wasn't too bad. 3PO on the other hand was a pain in the but!
Thanks for the love! This is getting down to the wire here. As soon as I can figure out the lighting circuit I'm sure everything will go smoothly and quickly.
Ozzman78 said:
I agree... most MPC/AMT kits were terribly detailed (Falcon), bad fitting (Slave 1), and a pain to build... but, the R2 kit was probably their most detailed kit they made. Sure there's alot of little things that can be tweaked here and there (like the leg joints and the middle leg stuff) but all in all, it wasn't too bad. 3PO on the other hand was a pain in the but!
Thanks for the love! This is getting down to the wire here. As soon as I can figure out the lighting circuit I'm sure everything will go smoothly and quickly.
Jamaicanmodels69
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
WOW beautiful!!!!!!!!
WOW beautiful!!!!!!!!
LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
Well for the last couple of days I've been messing around trying to get my circuit to work... I stripped it down to its bare components and am just trying to get 3 LEDs to flash/pulse properly. I almost got them working. I can get the first blue and the white to pulse but the last blue remains on constant. Still can't get it quite right, but I feel as if I'm almost onto something here. Here's a vid of what it looks like right now.
R2-D2 LED Circuit Test #3
Not sure what I'm doing wrong but I feel as if I'm on the right path... I know it has something to do with the resister values... but since these LEDs are scrap leds that i scrounged, I have no idea what their values are to come up with an accurate value for putting the resisters on them. Is there any way to test the resistance value of an LED to find out what the voltage drop of it is easily?
Well for the last couple of days I've been messing around trying to get my circuit to work... I stripped it down to its bare components and am just trying to get 3 LEDs to flash/pulse properly. I almost got them working. I can get the first blue and the white to pulse but the last blue remains on constant. Still can't get it quite right, but I feel as if I'm almost onto something here. Here's a vid of what it looks like right now.
R2-D2 LED Circuit Test #3
Not sure what I'm doing wrong but I feel as if I'm on the right path... I know it has something to do with the resister values... but since these LEDs are scrap leds that i scrounged, I have no idea what their values are to come up with an accurate value for putting the resisters on them. Is there any way to test the resistance value of an LED to find out what the voltage drop of it is easily?
ModelMan
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
There are resistor calculators online that will let you enter the colors and get the value. I've got one on my phone.
There are also charts. A 'resistor value chart' search should get you something. Generally, the LEDs themselves will all be in the 2-3v range using 20-25mA each. Red is usually in the 2.2v range and cool white is in the 3.2v range with other colors mixed amongst those two relative extremes. The resistor value comes into play when you have the circuit's voltage, in this case, 6v. The resistor values will be relative to that, but wouldn't work on a 9v or 12v system.
There are resistor calculators online that will let you enter the colors and get the value. I've got one on my phone.
There are also charts. A 'resistor value chart' search should get you something. Generally, the LEDs themselves will all be in the 2-3v range using 20-25mA each. Red is usually in the 2.2v range and cool white is in the 3.2v range with other colors mixed amongst those two relative extremes. The resistor value comes into play when you have the circuit's voltage, in this case, 6v. The resistor values will be relative to that, but wouldn't work on a 9v or 12v system.
LrdSatyr8
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Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
Thanks Tom... If I knew the values of these LEDs I am using I might have better luck with a more accurate resistance calculation. Is there a way to use a multimeter to test an LED's resistance/voltage drop?
ModelMan said:
Thanks Tom... If I knew the values of these LEDs I am using I might have better luck with a more accurate resistance calculation. Is there a way to use a multimeter to test an LED's resistance/voltage drop?
