Darktrooper Progress Thread 8MAR2011: Getting back to it

Hey man. Have you tried the Testors decal making kit you can get at the model section at Wally World or hobby stores. I've used it for all of my decals and I've been very pleased with the results. You should be able to just buy the decal paper and the spray you coat it with, after printing, separately. All you would need to do is make the decals to scale on your computer and print them on the waterslide paper.

-Troy

Weathered Decals sm.JPG
 
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Hey man. Have you tried the Testors decal making kit you can get at the model section at Wally World or hobby stores. I've used it for all of my decals and I've been very pleased with the results. You should be able to just buy the decal paper and the spray you coat it with, after printing, separately. All you would need to do is make the decals to scale on your computer and print them on the waterslide paper.

-Troy


Hey, T-bone, I was thinking about doing that at first, but I actually started last night on this, and it looks prett sharp so far. I painted the grey on the boxes and the tear drops. Im using the left over pinstriping from my last project for this. Its 1/8 inch wide black auto-motive stripping, and Im cutting each section in half. Since Im not using the FX decals, Im making it I guess more accurate to the ANH Tk helmets. I finished the first tear drop, and I think it came out pretty well. I will post pics later tonight once I finish the other boxes and tear drop.

Also, my helmet completion date has been moved to May 1st. I know its like 14 days from now, but im sure as heck gonna try for it. The reason is that the Spec Ops. COG is going to show some pis of it at C4 during the 501st panel presentations. I want to have something more than and face plate taped to a mold. May 1st is the deadline for giving him pics.

I just ordered the ceramic posts, but I will not be able to order HIPS until thursday. I can at least finish and test the oven. Its gonna be a close one if it makes it here before May 1st. Wish me luck!

-tubachris
 
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Okay, well I wasnt able to finish all of it yet, but not that much left. I figured I should start showin instead of talking, so here it is. I was using a ref pic of an actual tk helmet from the movie for the lines to make it a bit more accurate then the standard FX decals

teardropdetail.jpg


domedetail.jpg


On the dome, I left the bottom line the regular width because Im afraid that It would be too thin when I put the face and back pieces together, and possibly exposing grey underneath the line.

-tubachris
 
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Well, the oven is starting to take more shape then it has been. Not 100% perfect but it will do. Excuse the unusual shape of the brackets, cutting the sheet metal was more of a pain in the a$$. I have a knack for buying things I think I will need, or work at the time, but it dosnt, but somehow later on down the road, it helps me finish or do something I need to. The mistake im talking about this time is the jigg saw blades pack, I got and it didnt work for me at the time, but now it does cause it has a metal cutting blade. However, accuratly cutting the metal is harder then one thinkc. Looks dosnt always matter, its how it works, and it works fine so far. The ceramic posts should be in sometime next week Im assuming, and hoping. Also, I need to re-sketch the oven coil guidlines, they are too close to the oven walls as you can propbably see.

ovenwalls.jpg


-tubachris
 
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Good news, the ceramic insulator posts came in today! So this really will help speed up the progress. Im hoping to have a fully operational oven ny Monday. Im going to try to do most of it today, re-sketch the guildlines, drill the holes, put together the post w/ bolts and in place, construct the terminal posts, wire the electronics and start the nichrome wire coiling...hmmm, I may even be able to finish it tonight even. Regardless, it will be done by monday.

-tubachris
 
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Sorry, I was working on the oven since 9 pm on Friday and went to bed at 530 this morning only having to get up for sea cadet drill at 630. Im very tired. Ive realized now that I blew a breaker after turning it on and letting it run. I then realized that I forgot a second segment of the ground wire that needs to lead to a metal piece. Today, I re-set the breaker, added the secod segment of the ground wire and stuck it temporarily between the metal bracket of the oven walls. I turned it on, only this time, the coils from E to D were orange hot. I couldnt tell is the other coils were getting hot or not. I didnt run it long, but I turned it on and off several times. From what Im seeing, it appears that all the 120 v is going through only to those coils. Another factor is probaly how I wired or wrapped the nichrom wire. It was never 100% clear to me how to properly do this, if anyone can tell me the exact method they used, it might shed some more light on how to solve this issue. I will say that it was VERY hard for me to wire tie the 4 black cables. I will get a short video to show what is happening. Thanks guys, im goin to sleep now.
-tubachris
 
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Hey everyone.

Ive been doing alot of work on this oven, and its been very frustrating. I fixed the isue of blowing the breaker by adding a second switch and plug so now I can keep it on for as long as I need it to. I am still having an the issue of only the center coils heating up, and I mean it glows and is very hot. I cant seem to figure out why the other wires wont either. I am thinking that maybe the nichrome wire somewhere is just not connceting or something. I still have to run some tests to see whats wrong.

Im really hoping to figure this out soon and get it working 100%, but the dealine of May 1st is just next week!

-tubachris
(I can at least make some smores off of it right now)
 
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Dude could it be the resistance of each? Maybe current does flow through each part but if it's longer it may have more of a resistance so may not appear to glow so much?
Even single element heaters look brighter one side than the other. Anode usually.

Just a wild, crazy, probably way off guess.
 
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Dude could it be the resistance of each? Maybe current does flow through each part but if it's longer it may have more of a resistance so may not appear to glow so much?
Even single element heaters look brighter one side than the other. Anode usually.

Just a wild, crazy, probably way off guess.


That could be a possibility as well. Another thing that I may have done was not evenly distribute the nichrome wire. As you said, the resistance might be preventing the wires from heating, but I have yet to see or feel anything coming from those wires. Im gonna do some more tests on it. If worst case scenario, is that I would have to get new nichrome wire and re-wire it better then it was.

-tubachris
 
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Well the latest test really screwed things up. I feel like an idiot and jerk in many ways because the wire was pretty much ruined. It put too much power and it, and the wire in different areas just snapped apart from it. Now i need to get more wire. I feel like a jerk cause the wire was generously given to me and I feel like it was just a waste now because I couldnt figure out what was wrong before it was destroyed. I need to figure this out so dont keep going in a loop with this.

Some good news though, I was able to order a 4 x 8 0.80 thick sheet of HIPS today. Also, at my sea cadet unit, our navy league sponsor, who owns his own marine deisal engine/ mechanical shop company down the street from our drilling facility told me that he would let me come down and they would teach me how to weld and will let me make my own metal tubing holding frames for the vac-former. Its going to work out, just frustrating. Thanks guys.

-tubachris
 
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Okay, well some good news today. That dealine of May 1st? No more dealine for completing the helmet for that CIV presentation. Also, I ordered 10 feet of the 22 guage nichrome wire. That should be here probably around friday. So thats whats going on. In the mean time, Im gonna do some voltage readings so see where all this power is going to!

-tubachris
 
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I decided to go through trying to finish most of the helmet, and I think it came out pretty well. I put the red LED's into the areators and they are pretty bright. Its kind of good now that I didnt get the actual FX areators, or else I wouldnt have been able to do this. I also attached the bubble lenses and put in a metal wire grill into the grin. Take a gander and LMK what you think of the "face" of the Darktrooper.


helmetlights1.jpg


helmetgrill.jpg


helmetfaceplate.jpg


helmetlightwires.jpg


-tubachris
 
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Its been awhile since I said anything on this thread, but Ive been busy working on this. I can say I confidently figured out the problem with the oven (for sure, unlike the last 25654651 times...) Im sure its the math of it all. Its the watts and the power. In a house, there are two kinds of breakers, 15 and 20 amp breakers. Outlets in homes have a voltage of 120, sometimes 110, but usually between that. My home is consistantly 120 volts. 120 volts x 15 Amps = 1800 watts. For the this oven, will need over 2000 Watts, so I want to go for 2200 watts, thats about 18.33
amps. So I just need to find an outlet on one of the 20 amp breakers, so that I can produce the 2200 watts I need. Because of this, it affects the length of nichrome wire needed. In this case, it requires about 32.2 inches total, with 8.8 inches per segment. I didnt do this math in the begining, cause I just never realized. But I can honestly say that this is the problem and this is the solution. It will be done and I will get this working. I expect to finish the helmet sometime before or after I graduate on the 29th.

-tubachris
 
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Hey everyone,

Ive been out for awhile, but the project is soon going to be taking off. Im graduating soon, so I'll have the whole summer for more progress. Its not over just yet!

-tubachris
 
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