Darktrooper Progress Thread 8MAR2011: Getting back to it

[tubachris85x]

4 days till I get down there. Lets have the helmet finished by then. My fav part. Lookin sick dude. I'll tell ya, your the only person who Id put money on that can make a piece of wood and a piece of plastic a masterpiece.

Well, dont put all your money down just yet...

I spent all morning working on the mold, and can say that Im almost done with the helmet mod. Whats left is a little bit of touch ups, the tubular section that meets with the face piece is just a pain in the butt because It needs to match almost perfectly. The good thing about the FX helmet in this case, is the ear pieces covers the edges of each side, so it dosnt have to be perfect on the edges which is good, but I still need to make it fit around the ear piece. After doing that, all I have left is to get some bondo or something of the sort that dosnt stink, and finish forming the tube section. I want that part to merge with the point smoothly, so that it curves in either side into a point. Hard to explain, but you'll know what Im talkin about when its done. After that, I just need to prime it, smooth it out just a bit more, and she's ready to be casted. Please give feedback if you feel something can be improved or done to better shape this piece. I am only using CG reference from the game, and evrything cannot be seen perfecty, so if you notice anything, let me know. Thanks.

-tubachris

 

[ShatirLavan]

In the second pic, if you look at the layers of mdf, the right tube is positioned at least half a layer above the left. I'm not sure if that's an innaccuracy in the FX that you're matching, but it just looks off to me. The only other suggestion I have is to send me some of that chocolate

 

[Darasuum Verd]

They look off to me as well....

 

[tubachris85x]

Yea, I see wht you guys are talking about as well. I actually just checked the alignment with the face plate, and they match up perfectly as far as the tubes and the size. So the alignment of the FX has an aligmment problem. I will say the hardest past of making these molds is trying to make them perfectly symetrical on each side. The alignment offset of the FX is what's making the mod off as well, but I have to do it this way, or else it wont match with the rest of the FX. I have tried to compensate for this as best I could, but it will have to be this way.

Anyways, I managed to get a respirator mask, so I can feel more confident that I'll live till the next day, and I got a new Jigg saw, which saves me like 29370878040834070808702750856804658465 hours of cutting time..Howevr, while driving home, I realized that I forgot the bondo.......Im gonna have to wait until later this week to get that. In the meantime, since I have the jigg, I started making the guantlets, top half. Already have all 6 layers glued and ready to be shaped. Did this in a half hour. I love this jigg saw! I would post pics of the molds, but im sure if I keep posting pics, someone's poor computer is gonna explode or maybe just implode.

-tubachris

 

[ThisIsMyWorld]

Keep em comin chris. Your movin forward dude. Keep movin. I got an idea to make some money. Lemonade stands in the winter. No one ever thinks about doin these things. Its a get rich quick thing man. Think about it!

 

[tubachris85x]

Keep em comin chris. Your movin forward dude. Keep movin. I got an idea to make some money. Lemonade stands in the winter. No one ever thinks about doin these things. Its a get rich quick thing man. Think about it!

I can just imagine you sitting at a table with a bunch of Lemons, and a giant malett smashing them, wondering where all the juice went.....

I finished attaching all the piece to the helmet mod, including the topside extension so that it equals in height to the face piece. I just need that bondo. The gauntlets I already started to shape, and one side is almost done. I am only going to make one mold for both arms since I find it uneccessary to make two individual guant molds. When I refer to gaunt mold(s) pluarl, I mean both halfs of the guants. So thats it for tonight, Im going to try and finish the top half tomorrow and begin the second half as well.

-tubachris

 

[CombatBaby]

who ever said the fx helmet was accurate

 

[tubachris85x]

who ever said the fx helmet was accurate

Well I meant symetrical to each side. The FX is accurate to this project however. Ive yet to see your sculpt though combatbaby

-tubachris

 

[tubachris85x]

Well this is tonights daly grind. I can say that im almost done with the first two molds. I rode my bike to lowes to get that bondo putty, except, I found something that works better and dosnt stink. Its called "Durham's Rock Hard putty." Water based. Im almost done with the first half of the guant, but im having an issue with the appropriate measurements for the boxes. Im sopposed to have 12 all together, but I cant seem to figure it out properly. Plus, I was experimenting trying to cut out the boxes, but my tools are inadequet to cut them out properly. Any suggestions would help imensly. Also, as you can see, the putty already dried, and partially sanded to show you what I was talking about. Also, the tube sections now match almost perfeclty with the face plate. Finnaly learned to use the traceing technique. Note: the section of wood with the boxes drawn are not attached to the guant half yet.

-tubachris

 

[Untried Hunter]

looking good.are you gonna sell casts for mods to the fx helmet?

 

[ShatirLavan]

For cutting the box pieces, I'll describe this in terms of railroad tracks. The boxes are the rail ties, and the sides running along the boxes are the rails themselves. Cut a bunch of boxes first, then lay them out like rail ties. Then cut the rails, and attach them to the sides of the boxes, then you won't have to worry about just cutting out the empty spots.

 

[CombatBaby]

Well this is tonights daly grind. I can say that im almost done with the first two molds. I rode my bike to lowes to get that bondo putty, except, I found something that works better and dosnt stink. Its called "Durham's Rock Hard putty." Water based. Im almost done with the first half of the guant, but im having an issue with the appropriate measurements for the boxes. Im sopposed to have 12 all together, but I cant seem to figure it out properly. Plus, I was experimenting trying to cut out the boxes, but my tools are inadequet to cut them out properly. Any suggestions would help imensly. Also, as you can see, the putty already dried, and partially sanded to show you what I was talking about. Also, the tube sections now match almost perfeclty with the face plate. Finnaly learned to use the traceing technique. Note: the section of wood with the boxes drawn are not attached to the guant half yet.


-tubachris

What you want to do to get clean cuts is going to be time consuming, but I have found this is the best way to do it without layerings or using multiple wood pieces.

For bigger pieces you'd use a router, or even a dremel/rotary tool with router bits....since i assume you don't have one do this.

Use your scrollsaw and a hand drill (cordless)...you could also use a drill press but it might be too powerful.

Make a drill hole for every box. Then depending on your drill bit size you can either file the holes down to make squares -OR- use the scroll saw to cut the boxes out from the inside (you need to remove the blade from the scroll saw, slide it through the hole, and then reattach it to the scrollsaw) Then turn it on and cut out each hole, then repeat.


Hope that made sense.


-=QuinN!

 

[tubachris85x]

Is the scroll saw the same thing as a jigg saw? Because the only tools I have to work with are the circular saw, the jigg, and my dremel which I double for smaller cuts and a drill. I tried the railroad method but runied the first piece so scratched that idea. I dont know whats with this wood, but its really difficult to sand down, and need something stronger.

-tubachris

 

[Jango 5204]

Is the scroll saw the same thing as a jigg saw? Because the only tools I have to work with are the circular saw, the jigg, and my dremel which I double for smaller cuts and a drill. I tried the railroad method but runied the first piece so scratched that idea. I dont know whats with this wood, but its really difficult to sand down, and need something stronger.

-tubachris

Yep. A D.A. sander used in body work with a good 40 grit paper would knock it down good, then you could work your way up on get till you get it smooth. MDF is pretty good for shaping, It's used all the time for a base for custom speaker enclosures.

 

[tbone9600]

Is the scroll saw the same thing as a jigg saw? Because the only tools I have to work with are the circular saw, the jigg, and my dremel which I double for smaller cuts and a drill. I tried the railroad method but runied the first piece so scratched that idea. I dont know whats with this wood, but its really difficult to sand down, and need something stronger.

-tubachris

You could probably do it with a jigsaw but you'd have to take it easy when you got to the corners. If you do use a jigsaw, I think it would be easiest drill a hole near opposite corners then just cut the sides straight to the un-drilled corners and finish the corner that you drilled with a file. I'll post a pic of what I mean when I get home.

Here is the idea.

 

[CombatBaby]

Scroll saws and jigsaws are fairly similar. Most things you get nowadays will be labeled scroll saw instead of jigsaws. The important thing is that the blade is held in place and goes up and down (speed according to RPM and tension). What you don't want to use for this is a BAND saw which is a blade that circulates like a belt over two discs enclosed inside of the machine itself.

Scroll saws are for detail work, generally have a much more delicate and thinner blade, and can negotiate sharper turns and angles where an attempt on a bandsaw of similiar proportions would damage or destroy the blade.


If all else fails you could always go to michaels, ace, or menards and get some precut pieces of wood for the "tracks" and some strips of wood for the "rails"


-=QuinN!

 

[tubachris85x]

Well thats not a problem concerning the type of saw I have, cause I dont have a band saw. Its a good thing too, since I had bought a set of jigg saw attachment blades for the previous jigg saw which broke. I thought at first, I lost $10 because I thought they wouldnt work with any others. Fortunatly, they do work great with the new one I recently recieved. I just looked at the pack, and realized that I do have some really thin blades that I think will work for the cuts here. I cant cut anything yet though, because I cant seem to figure out the right measurements and spacing of the boxes. I suck at using rulers cause fractions are a pain in the a$$ and trying to convert decimals in relation to the ruler is even harder for me. Yes, I suck at math, but Im taking physics anyways.

Also, the first helmet modification mold is done.

-tubachris
(Still waiting to see that sculpt combatbaby)

 

[tubachris85x]

Alright, well here's the 2nd piece to final product. The helmet mold is done! I can start to move onto other pieces. LMK what you guys think.

-tubachris

 

[tbone9600]

That looks awesome!

 

[ThisIsMyWorld]

Right on dude. Its comin out good man!
"Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."