Re: Classic MPC C-3PO and R2-D2 uber detail build
Well... it's been a hectic few days lately. But I've been taking pics as I go so this will be a good update. I believe I've solved the problem with the Bare Metal Foil and the edges. By using the tackum glue that came with the gold leafing kit, I was able to get those edges down with no problem and I gotta say, this looks perfect for this scale.
As you can see, I also got the lower ring done the same way. Took forever to get it to look right, but I think it came out pretty good. After getting it all tacked down I sealed the entire dome in Future Floor Wax and it should last a good long time!
Next I dove into some of the electronics. First things first thou... I needed a set of Helping Hands. Since I don't have the money to shell out for an actual Helping Hands set I decided to make my own. Here's what I did. I took an old desktop vise I had gotten a long time ago from Testors I think. Then I took a old wire coat hanger and cut off a straight piece. On the ends of the hanger wire, I soldered two alligator clips and then clamped the wire in the middle of the vise. And whaddya know... a pair of helping hands for basically nothing.
When you stop and think about how much alot of these tools cost, I just saved about $50 on something I made myself that works the exact same way. Yeah I know... my desk is a mess, but you know what they say. A messy desk is the sign of a busy mind... I'm sure others would just say I'm a hoarder. Me, I just seem to know where everything is!
Anyway, now that I have my "Helping Hands" I can start doing some soldering without having to worry about having a third hand. Lemme start with I found this cool little plush toy R2-D2. What really made it neat was the fact that if you bumped it, it would make the distinctive R2 beeping sounds (I think there are about 4-6 different sounds on a loop).
But seeing as it only cost $3, I tore into it and ripped out the little sound circuit. The nice thing about this circuit was the fact that it has an actual speaker and it was the perfect size for fitting inside this kit.
Most of these little things have that little piezo disc thing that don't sound good at all. But this really has a speaker and what I needed to do was hook up a wire to the activation switch.
It's basically this little cylinder with a spring inside that when it's bumped or moved will make a temporary contact to turn on the circuit. Seeing as I don't think it would be a good idea that the only way to activate this thing would be to bump the whole thing I took two wires and soldering them to the spot where the cylinder is on the circuit board. Those wires will lead out to a button on the base that can be pressed to make him talk.
Once I had the wires on the board, I needed to affix the board to the back of the middle leg support so that you can open the back door panel and change the batteries out if needed. So taking some of my Magic Sculpt again (have I mentioned how much I love this stuff), I mixed up a bit and fashioned a nice little base on the back panel of the support. It was the perfect fit and I think it will work out wonderfully. I think I decided to leave the "bump" switch on the board for the time being. I can always remove it later, you can see it best in the photo.
Now my friend Bryan is completely new to model building but is completely fascinated with this build, so this next part I did for his benefit but if anyone else gets any info out of it to, I hope it helps. He's getting his first kit in the mail soon and wanted to know what the "Dirty Thinner" technique is. So I put together a little video to show him. And for those of you who don't know already, it's a wash. A way of bringing out fine details already present in the surface of a model. There are many ways of doing it. Some people swear by using black pastel chalks scraped into a little bit of water and using that. I personnally find this method the fastest and easiest to do. Why? Because #1) You don't have to have anything extra that you don't already have available... #2) You don't have to prepare anything extra, because you've got the solution right in front of you during your painting, and #3) I discovered it on my own and seem to be a creature of habit. Here is a quick video to describe the technique I'm talking about.
The Dirty Thinner Technique
So... that will do for now. I'm waiting for some chips to arrive so I can start getting this light circuit to work. I swear it's gonna work before I finish it or I'll go insane! LOL Will post more later.
