Building a ESB/Hoth binoc from Odiwans kit

[Lichtbringer]

What kit? This kit: the RPF



Due to the first shown and extremly nice build binocs from that kit on the RPF, i felt the urge to work on mine, too. And i decided to machine some upgrade parts first.

I made some of the masters to cast parts, one of them was the inner parts for the eye-pieces. Markus included the upper part of them within the printed rings before making his mold - that looks nice, but now i had to modify mine to install alu parts. When working them thinner they loose stability, so i needed a kind of support device to clamp them securely for machining.

I decided to use some Delrin to make that device - drilling 8 holes on a rotary-table, then turning it out, matching the outline of the upper eye-pieces.

Now the part can be pushed in:

That way it´s able to chuck them up without deforming the parts. It enables me to lathe the inner details out.

Both done:

Additional i decided to make me some little brass parts - turning 6mm stock down to 5mm on one end and 3mm on the other end, then threading the smaller side:

The new eye-pieces - outer rings in their new shape, new alu parts, and the inner alu tube that will hold the lenses.

This is the part that´s needed for the small on/of switch

Here you see what the earlier mentioned small brass parts are for - as i found no useable brass bolts with that special shape, to mount the shield, i made some. Man, these were a lot of work for so few and small parts :wacko.

And the clamps for the upper side, the small turret still needs to be drilled out.

All the parts together:

On the binoc body:

- - - Updated - - -

Maybe you want a explanation why i changed the design of the alu parts for the eye-pieces, away from the parts i originally made.

It´s easy, they were designed and made at that time to fit the lasercut lenses, provided with the kit.

For my upgrade parts i wanted more versatility now, to enable them fitting with cut thin film/plastic discs, thin lenses, thick lenses, ..... you get what i´want. I don´t know how thick the lenses will be that i plan to find and use ...

Due to the inner tube with 22mm dia, and the visible opening of 18mm, you can use any found lens from 18,5 up to 22mm

Pushing the inner tube higher will hold any lense as thin as decided to use

If a thicker lens is used ..... the tube just will not be pushed that high.

With inserted lenses

And this are 2 lenses from my greeblie box. I will not use them as they are to different from each other, not only their thickness but also their curve ....... i just used them to show how extremely different parts could be used .....

 

[Lichtbringer]

I found some time to work on this project again.

In the lower left corner i found a little detail on the cast (and on the real ones) that i didn´t found on the pics of the screenused. On the pics there seem to be a flat spot only.

But as it looks nice, i left the detail instead of erasing it and filling it up to a flat surface - and just milled a notch for the camshaft part (a dremel could do the same job):

And a test fit:

Drilling and tapping the main body:

Followed by some minor work on the backplate:

Rounding 2 bolts with a file on the lathe - this can be done with a drilling machine, too. It just might be a little bit less comfortable and more time consuming - but it´s also much less dangerous.

Then i cemented the on/off switch in (another part of the camshaft) - i used "goo" for that, a selfmade paste from small polystyrene chips and liquid modelglue. When it´s hardened again it´s just as stable as every polystyrene

Followed by some drilling and tapping to assemble the modified cover with the made brassbolts. Also filled the hole of the threading on the right corner with goo:

 

[Lichtbringer]

Talking about modifying the hood ......

Mainly i shortened the lower ends of the "legs", around 4-5mm, and rounded the remains again. Then i sanded the upper edges to bigger radius (sanded through the corners and filled them up for that), followed by cutting off the thin part on the back (as it was in conflict with the on/off switch).

On the next step i milled/hollowed the inner part of the hoods frame, shaped a new piece (working with the installed on/off) for the one i cut off.
As i was to lazy to go to the garage and get my heatgun, i used a lighter to heat up the PS strip.

At the same step i hollowed the ends, to insert round plastic strips as on the real one:

Added the round piece to the camshaft:

And testfitted the parts:

- - - Updated - - -

And some closeups, for comparision to the pics of the real one.

The right side, major parts i wanted to be seen were the rounded ends, and the brass bolts threading:

The left side - again the rounded corner, the brass bolt. And overall, the more fragile looking hollowed underside, when you look inside. If that sentence makes any sense.....

The area of the on/off switch - matching to the original not that bad, i think.

And some general shots from the provisoric assembled binoc:

Off course that´s only the rough build - there will be a lot of work with additional filling, sanding, fitting. :rolleyes

But before the final assembling i need to find a real tubesocket, as i can´t change it after the parts were glued on their places and the seams are filled and sanded. For the feel of real parts, AND because i was to dumb to count to three - i cut the wrong rods for the fit under the hood. :facepalm

 

[Lichtbringer]

I´m not insane ...... well, maybe a little bit nuts. :wacko

After a small talk with Markus, where he teased me with the fact that my hood has still not the right shape :cry - i got back to work on it.

First i had it in really hot water (not boiling, but as hot as the tap delivered), to soften the resin, then i bend it while it´s hot (and according to my hurt fingers it was still really hot ) - first the bump in the middle, to get it on the same height as the binoc itself. And after that it got the dent on the outer left edge. After each step i cooled the hot resin part under cold water, to have it keep the new shape.

I did this several times, until i was satisfied. Then the 2 big corners at the top got some more sanding.

Pics are not the correct angle (and the white hood is bad for making pics of it), but i think they are OK for comparision ......?

 

[Lichtbringer]

Next step - the tube socket.


First i cut the rods from the cast, and cut some lengths of brass tube

Then small holes were drilled as a guide for the bigger drill

And after drilling the bigger holes the brass tube pieces were ca-glued into them - you need to be fast while adjusting them. :rolleyes

Btw. "**** happens" - you never see the bad moments of my builds on the pics. Between the last batch of posts and the todays i glued something on the back of the body cap with CA - not noticing that one of the threaded holes was in the same place. The CA glue runs through the hole, to the not adjusted alu-eye piece with the resin outer rings. It was only luck that i still was on the right side of the knifes edge, so i was able to seperate the messed parts before they got stuck together. They needed some cleaning, but it was no total fiasco.

And when i started today to drill the holes in the socket, i didn´t thought about it´s direction when assembled, which tubes were deleted. So i had to fill 2 holes again, after i was just ready with drilling.

But finally:

Thanks for looking - and please, don´t hesitate to mention whatever you think i can improve.
As i want to make this build shine, at least as much as i am able to - to honor Markus great effort for bringing us these kits.

 

[RafalFett]

I'm no expert in this, but judging by your great work, it looks impressive and close (so far) to the real one! Just keep up the excellent work!

 

[Lichtbringer]

Thanks - that (get looking it as close as possible to the real deal) is what i try to achieve.