ESB: Luke's electrobinocs

[superjedi]

Echo 3 to Echo 7!
This is my in-progress thread for Odiwan72's excellent Hoth electrobinocular kit. Markus did an excellent job in designing
and casting the parts. It's a pretty straightforward build, and it's going pretty quickly.
For now, here are a couple of shots showing the layout of the parts. Some of them have already been assembled. I also
added small domed faux screws to the visor piece.

I've already put together the 2 main parts of the Simrad. I used 4 screws to hold everything together. Some other
small pieces have already been grouped into subassemblies.

The main body is hollow cast. If it weren't it would probably weigh 10 pounds! All of the voids are perfectly sized to house
the insert parts: the "vacuum tube" part, and the lenses.

I've drilled holes in appropriate locations to secure some of the detail parts using screws. A couple of the pieces, like
the lenses, will be glued in place after painting. More to come!

 

[shabad]

Very nice. Looks like a great kit, it's a fantastic prop.

 

[superjedi]

Hey Luke, yeah the kit is really nice.
I have them about 95% done now.
All that remains is a final airbrushed misting/spattering of a dark grayish tone, which
I may or may not do, and the addition of a leather strap. . . whenever I can find one!

Here are some pics. First, the faceplate end. The only thing I still have to do on this
end is to add a dummy Phillips head screw in the hole between the lenses.

An overall shot.

The opposite angle. There are reference pictures of 2 different versions of these binocs: a relatively
clean set (which I built), and a really chipped, weathered, banged up to hell version. The ridged
lens cap over the single lens only appears on the dirty version, but I like the way it looks, so I added
it to my set.

The kit came with some nice acrylic discs for the lenses. Clear for the faceplate end, and a nice
dark smoked acrylic for the single lens end. They were already cut to size, and all I had to do was
tack them in place with some Testors clear parts cement.

I'm going to search for a leather strap to finish these puppies up, then look for a display case, as I have
a feeling the white will be a dust magnet! I'm thinking maybe an acrylic football display case will be a
pretty good fit for these. They have them at Michael's Arts and Crafts for about $20. Might pick one
up this weekend.
I'm going to check out a meteor that hit near here. . . won't be long.

 

[Misfit2]

Very cool SJ

 

[Wolfsburg]

That looks awesome!