IG-88 IG88

[mekroid]

Greetings!


Well , a year and a half on I finally get round to doing this thread !


As the 'other bounty hunters' section seemed to have disappeared when I came to post I first did this mammoth build thread on my usual hangout GALACTICKNIGHTS.CO.UK ...now its time to post it where I always wanted to ....here goes...


As some of you may know ,IG was born on the dark and stormy night of 27th feb 2011,..
.ok it wasnt that stormy ...just dark ...


It was a late finish as Crewe militaire was on the next day and this was his first gig in deployable form.

It was something like 1am when I finished the weathering the night before the show


...So ,I'll attempt to explain how I had another large droid shaped 'accident'...may take a while .....here goes...are you sitting comfortably?

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this is pretty much all the printed reference for the Igster ...basically there aint much about less than 5 usable shots in total .
As some will know , there are no shots of his back and the only shots of the droid as we know him are on the stardestroyer set .

The appearance of the white IG in the scrap room on Bespin had bothered me so I dug out my copy of 'the making of the E.S.B.'
Its a few years since I read up on it but I think it stated the Bespin scene was shot at the start of April and the stardestroyer scene shot in the 20's of the month . Also the IG in Bespin is NOT complete , non of the familiar greeblies are on the head .
Also the entire thing is sprayed white ...even the bandolier .Could this be related to Fetts white incarnation?
This also proved that the IG we know and love is painted and not a bare metal finish , also when I did get to play with a real DERWENT combustion chamber it was a very dull ,flat ,oxidized grey .
For those that dont know , a few years back IG's head part was identified as a combustion chamber /can annular burn chamber from the engine of a glouscester meteor , a british jet from the 40's/50's...not to ramble on into to much aviation history detail here .
I first found out about it when , during a troop at MAGNA science centre years ago a trooper I knew showed me what him and the group had noticed that day ,a derwent engine on display there as a cutaway !...I said 'so'...then he said 'turn your head sideways '.....I dropped my lunch! ..it was full of IG heads! , 9 to be exact .
Deciding that they were to well fixed to pinch one of , I left the project for a while .
Thing was though , NOW we have the size !

Next , a trip to pester me old mate Arnie , blackmailed him into scanning a large ,front on image of IG from the back of an ESB poster mag.
This is then printed in colour on A3 and tiled and printed in black and white on a small pile of A4 paper ,the size having been determined by knowing the height of the derwent (IG head).
Stick these together and we have a **** good idea what everything else measures

While I was researching IG ,I went to see a contact at an aircraft salvage company and asked if they could identify any of IG's bits ....
The only real thing they said was that his 'limbs looked like aircraft jacks'
They did however rattle off LOADS of stuff they'd seen in places like the Falcon internal sets ...I wish I'd taped it !

2 conclusions I came to about the IG prop at this time ...1 ,it was made from predominantly available aircraft scrap/salvage parts and weighed a load ...and 2nd ...I believe it had been dismantled /disposed of after filming .
There has been no sign of anything IG related in any archive pictures I have seen so this is probably the case .
Basically Star Wars is the ultimate recycling film (whole original trilogy), things were rented for filming and returned to prop stores after , this is true for most of the weapons .

I needed a cheap, lightweight droid which like Roger would dismantle for storage and transport to gigs in a car so using original parts got kinda ruled out .
The only piece I would have had trouble building from scratch was the derwent and once I'd acquired a fibreglass cast from an actual one I was rolling on the project!

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At the same time I started fiddling with the head I started at the other end as well with the feet .
As with Roger this was to be a free standing prop ,also I was short of room to build so being able to build him as he stood was appealing , ...so I needed feet .

These I make as heavy as possible , the shell is MDF ...

Then I started the 'justified ' joint for the ankle ..A compromise that looked like what is familiar but looked as though it would actually ,mechanically work .This was partly because I'm picky but also because I have an idea ...more later on that..

BTW the size for the foot was determined from the new hasbro IG88,..as you may know , like 2IB ,IG88 has no actual feet , the feet we know are devised by the toy co.
I measured them and multiplied by 6 (1/6th figure)

Like I say ,to lower the centre of gravity and keep the figure stable I keep all the weight I can in the feet and from the knees up strip out as much weight as possible .So the feet get the side cavitys filled with plaster of paris mixed with a bit of external grade PVA glue ... goes hard as a bullet .

these were filled in stages to aid drying and avoid expansion damage....
these then got left till later on in the build when I finalised the design of the full fake ankle joint . With this done the feet needed modification ..

this made it look like a viable joint again .
Then ,topped up with plaster , it was time to contour the inside of the foot ..

 

[mekroid]

the basic shape was formed with a thin sheet of styrene wedged in there with an offcut of pipe that was the right , near enough , diameter ,held in place till the car body filler and resin mix(RONDO ,PLOD whatever you call it ) was set then peeled back .Any glitches were made good after , this was far easier than trying to get a good finish without moulding against something ,for a start its really awkward to get your hand in to sand this area!

In these you can see the finished surface in the foot and the fake ,sculpted gaiter

The feet were then sanded inside and tidied up , milliput was used for the compressed areas between gaiter ridges.

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I needed something to mount the head on... IG's neck is the bottom portion of the Derwent , its sliced off and then shaved down a few millimeters or so to allow the upper bit to sit down over the lower .I wanted to get the chest underway to see how the neck interacted with it .This was real knockabout construction , I wasnt happy with this but I knew it would be strong and do the job when painted with wood hardener or resin..

the chest frame is held up here against the full size IG print ..when bits of this big print are fuzzy or difficult to interperet ,refer to the A3 colour image of the same picture , ...its like having a 'key' to the map which is the big print .I call these pictures the 'GOD image 'since all sizing comes from this.
heres the body template , this took a lot of brain work , straight at the back , angled at the front , if you want to copy this template details please feel free too..

This is a weird one ...
yes its my toilet!
you are seeing IG's body , upside down and from behind now the sections (gut and crotch) have been made from the template and placed together..

...and a quick play with the head...

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heres the gut and crotch blocks....

underside of the gut block...

topside of the gut , notice the edges come up higher...

the square hole is in the back face ,this will later become a magnetically docking inspection panel to get at his lights ,batteries , my sandwiches ,etc
...The chest section gets skinned...

This was with mounting card as I was going to resin it afterwards ...ended up being wood hardener though ....does the job
(staple/nail gun from Aldi invaluable here)

Then this got worked up with filler where needed..

the sandy coloured stuff is CELLULOSE BASED PLASTIC WOOD FILLER ..I like this as it dries hard and provides a good key for car filler etc and its light weight.

body filler...

 

[mekroid]

While some of the bigger bits were going on , some needing playing with outdoors ,I started some of the detail pieces indoors ...
Dunno why , this was always one of my fave bits...

its the detail from the left leg. the actual piece is some kind of manifold , Ive seen similar on a car exhaust at a scrap yard,a mate pointed out some welding equipment may have a similar structure as well.

Mine is made from dowel offcuts and filler for the 'Y'shape and cat balls(toy kind NOT the cats own!)couple of old control knobs ,cotton reels and old soldering iron tips (which would go in the holes in the cotton reels )
heres the right leg thingy...

this was scrap tube ,foamex and a top I found in the street!
Also around this time I started the tubes /cylinders around the waist
Hip cylinders...

this is a shot from later when some detail had been added to the cleaned up finalised body, the crotch and gut now glued into one piece but the chest stays removable.
Then theres the familiar pairs of rams at the front , these were measured off the GOD image and produced from the nearest size pipe , which was pretty much on the nail.
the top and base piece is just a band of the same pipe ,slit and made up with filler , the end caps are styrene circles cut using an olfa circle cutter BACKWARDS so it cuts like a lathe tool...loads of small passes quarter at a time , much neater and faster than trying to cut them freehand .

next , here is the first version of the little ribbed piped that hold the rams together...and what I replaced them with , rigid conduit ...again , found some of this .. in a skip I think...this was really rigid stuff , later I bought some of the other type with a slit up it that was really flexible for the small finishing pipes...

The grey plastic pipes ,also sticking out of the rams at the side are styrene and are scrounged till roll centres from small supermarkets and shops , I had a load once having been given a box of till rolls ...get scrounging at yer local shops!..these are around the sisze of the average gun barrel (2/3different sizes),glue easily and are extremely useful ...and my favorite price! ...tight git that I am

looks like its too thick here but there was a load of shadow I had to factor in...
at first I did make em to skinny using the next size down of plumbing pipe (ABS)but these pipes (in next pic)were to come in useful ...
lot of this game is luck and happy accidents!

both sets of rams being deglitched..

and before the deglitching , a trial fit on the body which had also been worked up...

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Right then ,...I found a temptation when building to fix things that shouldnt be fixed ...example : the rams on IG's front ...they dont attatch to anything and are extended to different amounts , basically its like hes got 4 syringes strapped to his gut!
I naturally prefered them symetrical ...but they arent ...
These cant possibly be any form of actuator for IG's movement ...personally I see them as an after market add on the way the IG86 is simpler and cleaner lined ,IG is an old droid ,knackered and with additions , the same way Syd Mead when designing the spinners and ground cars for Bladerunner came up with a look that was originally slick but then had been retro fitted with air conditioner systems to deal with smog(see Deckards ground car) but the smaller problem with the rams placement actually was a bigger convincer they would only be for a purpose other than powering IG's movement.
One sits higher than the other on the body ...I had to force myself to make them slightly asymetrical .
Its amazing the number of artists that incorporate the rams into the body mechanics ...and my personal pet hate ... flexing metal at the hip to allow movement in a way it could not possibly move!!
(personally I never liked any of the E.U. IG backstory ..the official site gives his height as 6 ft 6"!!!...not physically possible!... he is around 7 ft 6")

This kind of thing is what I mean when I say I wanted to have 'justifiable joints 'that at least LOOK plausible ...with that in mind I sweated for a time on the hip design .
A few artists had used the bellows gaiter idea and that solved the prob for me so instead of welding the hip to the crotch I opted to lose a small amount of hip armour and replace it with a fake bellows gaiter type thang .
Basically this is a 3 step stack of lozenge shaped foamex pieces...
Here you can see then 'F' pin...the big pin goes down into the thigh and the 2 grey ones go into the hip joint, the 'F' pin is then dressed with the fake gaiter .

Note .. the red cylinder is a fast and furious car case from a car boot , I realised later it was the wrong size (too big)

A later shot of thecompleted F pin and fake gaiter joint , this remains removable from the leg ...not telling why yet
here is the first test fitting of the new thigh/hip armour , notice the red line where the old part was ...

 

[mekroid]

IG build
chapter 2!
monsters from the IG!
...whistle yer own music here
LEGS !... yes, someone yelling that wakes me up as well!...unfortunately droid legs
Then onto thighs...and lower legs ..

this is the top of the calf straight under the knee block , its the same pipe slit and layered to bring the diameter up then filled but kept with air spaces as from here up Im trying to shave off every bit of weight going.

looking up the thigh 'bone tube'
then the calf bone

...held against the God image , guesstimation came in to get a proportionately decent leg with a foot as IG originally had a flat board and no feet .

The hip area/thighshroud was a seperate piece from the thigh till after the thighs were finished and dusted with gunmetal paint where the shroud would cover..

the thigh bone tube is the same as the lower leg but with spacers and a piece of light weight plastic pipe round it allowing an amount of the bone to poke up into the hip unit so it would be a strong joint.
Looking up the complete thigh ...

Then the complete ,test fitted thigh seen with finished hip unit pushed on ...

quick peek down in the thigh..

and a close up of the thigh greeblies ,

made from car filler cast into a sweet top I found ...all together now ....
......'IN THE STREET!'
(**** trainee tramp!)

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And like the Duracell bunny ...this build went on ...and on...and on
Ahh boy!...
Here is a breakdown of the complete upper leg..

on the left is something that will roll into this thread in a bit , the knee block ...So eventually the hip bone gets bonded to the... thigh bone ...the thigh bone's connected to the knee bone ...STOP singing ! ..get carried away sometimes..
While the hip and thigh will be one piece finally ,the hip joint (the F pin with the fake gaiter from earlier ,and the knee block both push into place and remain removable...there is a reason...trust me.

thighs in first primer/deglitching stage, the rod things up the sides are aluminium tube from a battlestar class B&Q...(the big one!)the yellow ends (before primer )are some very hard foamex ..apparently the stuff shrinks slightly and goes hard with UV light and temerature changes , this was an old shop sign .I think the detail in the middle of each rod was till roll centres (plastic) with packing.

this next one shows how the curved top (to help with the illusion of movement capability)of the hip armour was done ,layers of foamex and filler.

Now the knees!

basically a piece of pipe the height of the knee unit with a longer piece of the same pipe slit along its length and forced up through it creating a pin that will fit in to the thigh or calf ...I actually ended up cutting out a strip and making it a dead fit as this reduced wobble when fully assembled .The brown is some drainage pipe I found ,foamex discs act as spacers .
Heres the start of the fake gaiter for the knee joint.. and for once it does kinda look like IG has these ,I needed them more obvious though..

this is a 'pushmould'in car filler of the black gaiter part in shot being held contracted ..
..2 am driving round a roundabout ...yup!...you guessed it ... found it in the street!
on the left ,cast parts , on the right the mould , hair gel as release , bit fiddly but it meant I didnt have to wory about getting parts greasy .All parts were pulled when the filler was 'green '(set but not cured so it was rubbery )

...and a test fit on the block , here you can see just how manky it was before clean up and deglitching

...and the finished knee was in a shot earlier...

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...YEEEHAH!...now on to IG's important little places ...

the gut flange ,when you look at what it is ,two halves of a unit that meet at that point , like a gear box ,it seems logical to assume it would be on the backside as well , KOTOBUKIYA agreed so I did the same .Figuring out the variations in height from the surface for every piece of detail was a pain... but it seemed to add up in the end and I constructed front and back raised detail for the crotch out of foamex and styrene.

Under the big hip canisters is a stud detail that fastens them on ,I used aerosol nozzles cut down ,wouldnt normally as they dont like being painted but where they were there would be no wear and tear..

Here you can also see the holes with tubes in place for the hip joint , the 2 prongs of the F pin go into these (I got 2 near telescoping diameters of pipe from a mate )

during final assembly after some basic painting , these canisters are bonded on to the stud pin thing , notice the dowels just poking out of the vertical face , these will be pushed through and glued last thing to lock the canisters on .

The detail in blue (2mm styrene sheet )may have a hole in the middle on actual IG ...bit unclear and easier for me not to.

Fake clasp detail on straps made from foamex and sanded, BTW the big white tube is plastic and light weight and is the central roll in some kind of posh solar control film for windows , expensive stuff , chat up your local vinyl graphics people...also used as the outer thigh .

Now we're getting somewhere ...

same thing , couple o different lighting set ups , makes it easier to see .The white areas are where the fake hip gaiters will cover the F pins.

Upper body assembly test ...

,The chest has been worked up , the ladder looking bit up the middle of it front and back has been done here , also , and he does have these ,...IG's armpits ...these have a round detail deep in them which is very speaker like ...Hmmmm
Yup I stuck an MP3 speaker in , wanted him booming the Imp march and the asteroid field !hehe ..another thing that hasnt come off yet due to my lack of electrical knowledge ...getting it sorted though.
Also there is the shoulder piece that goes out to meet up with the shoulder block ,this was a plastic lampshade , I really had to ration when this was used as it was perfect sized but there wasnt much of it and it was a toss up between that and thigh shrouds , eventually I got different thigh shroud stuff and freed up the shades.

 

[mekroid]

...do your own jokes for that one ! :rolleyes

and the other end looking more scrubbed!
close up of IG's butt wet with primer ,all surfaces blended together now with filler .

I injected IG's butt with expanding foam to support the thin sheet styrene that made the curve under the crotch .... either that or hes just had a really embarrassing accident on my lawn


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Stop yer grinnin and drawp yer linen!....


....(I still dont get that aliens quote ... makes me larf though ...and its cleaner than the predator quotes I know ..)
..Yup I'm back with another installment of IG construction ... bit of a marathon post this one methinks
Well done if you stayed awake this far ....
..This build thread will jump around a bit in picture chronology as ,to bring things to a managable length Ive tried to go through sections of the droid ,legs, body etc as individual units when in reality a lot was on the go at the same time .

...How long did he take ?.
..Well the first bits and last bits were around 5 ish years apart ... but the build was on hold for a while as sourcing a derwent cast was a problem.Also life /reasearch and designing the structure took time .In all I didnt time it but quote it as taking about 2 /2.5 years of heavy tinkering ...what takes the time is being an icebreaker on a project ...if any one wants to use my IG info / measurements etc please feel free to do so , thats why the few templates I used got photographed with measurements on them .
Overall it takes a LOT of time reasearching ,designing and finalising what the build is going to be like , I really did get headaches spending hours with w magnifying glass comparing angle shots to guage heights of details from the surface ,and particularly in IG's case ,as there are so few shots , whether some details existed at all.
Some modification was made to IG as we know him as Ive already stated ,I wanted a figure that LOOKED mobile and also would have display versatility ..to this end I added the fake gaiters at the hip and ankle and extended the ones round the knee making them more obvious .
Why?
Well , if you read this far , youll know about the 'F PIN' in the hip with the fake gaiter attached .
This is the basic standing hip joint , IG ver.1.1......IG ver.1.2 has some additions,there will be a second 'F PIN ' for each hip .If you imagine a capital 'F' thats the first pin , now imagine an 'F' in italic style. This will be the second pin when the final angles are sorted and when I get around to building them , it will have a slightly expanded fake gaiter on it .
Now imagine a slightly bent joint for the knee block and ankle in the same way and hopefully , halfway through a gig , IG will suddenly be reposed !
Why not joint him?
Joints are difficult , on this scale we are fighting gravity and leverage principles , and I dont have a machine shop ,only a drill ,scalpel ,beltsander staple gun etc .Also the sheer weight of IG means I want to be in no doubt he's stable at gigs .Relatively he's not that heavy ,but for the potential strain on lower leg joints ....
Also ,when wrestling with this problem with the battledroid I realised ..."how much was he actually going to get reposed ?"...at the time of Roger ,I was just building for myself and wanted a cool ,unique floor ornament (instead I got Roger )so came up with a neutral ,stormtrooper ish leg pose (before TPM was out).Now ,IG stands around like a hat stand ...and I would like to push things and get a bit more 'life 'out of him .Its during the build that I really noticed Roger is interesting from all angles whereas IG is basically roadkill from the side ,... he needs all the help he can get!...
...hence the changes ....

..youve been good if youve stayed awake this far ....:cheers
Time for more piccies!!!!...YEEEEHAH!

Arms next !

This is an overview of the arm construction, here you can see the bicep ,forearm ,elbow joint and claws..

First the bicep was constructed...

...and the detail on the back of it...

this is a pink plastic egg pod thing ... and yes I think I found that 'in the street'...
(I think I'll get 'I found it in the street as a T shirt! )
I cast a hollow egg shape inside it in car filler as shown (times 2)...
Heres the finished arm thruster greebly thing..

it was built from a small section of pipe and circles of styrene cut with the BACKWARDS circle cutting method from earlier, the tube section was bonded to the egg with a piece of dowel so its nice and knock resistant .

This next one is the start of the shoulder joint , its the part that will go into the body...

...and more ..

Then we have the part that will attach to that ,its the top of the upper arm..

Notice the bonded in strip of aluminium , its there to strengthen where the bolt will pass through to pivot the arm.This unit becomes the top portion of the upper arm swivel.

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Here is the upper arm assembled and in pieces

you can see the upper arm swivel here before insertion .

this is the top and bottom rings for the fake upper arm gaiter...

foamex disc ,tube and filler...then foamex rings...

The fake gaiter comes halfway over the swivel , 2 rings above and below, the swivel is axled with a bolt and NYLOCK nut .
After the upper arm swivel is assembled ,access to the nut is cut off by assembly of the shoulder joint...

the red discs are washers made from drinking choc powder tops ...I found them in my kitchen ...not the street for once!
The bolt is over long to act as an axle for the shoulder cylinder unit.

These bolt heads were added to plastic sprue pins on the bicep

... and so far...

The shoulder cylinder was a piece of the lampshade tube I had , this was not big enough in diameter so I heated foamex,bent it and glued it round...

You can see the till rolls mounted in foamex blocks glued and glassed (they fell off at first with just glass fibre!)to attach the shoulder cylinder onto the long shoulder bolt and pivot freely .

notice in this shot above , IG's arm is test fitted to the body , you can see there isnt much clearance between the shoulder cylinder and the cylinder that is on the body , this limits IG's shoulder movement as they do slightly overlap.

The elbows ... here I decided to give him a good range of motion ,you can see the construction of the joint ,aluminium strip I had hanging around ,bolts and wing nuts so I can just push the finished gaiter up and tighten the joint at a gig

the grey unit on the right is the forearm , similar to the upper bicep swivel it has a swivel comprising 2 wood discs ,one bonded in the forearm with a bolt anchored in it .Basically the wrist swivel , which I decided it needed , is right up just south if the elbow .The elbow itself is 2 stage like DRAGON or SIDESHOW figures so the lower arm will come right back on the upper.
Here's the complete but undetailed forearm about to be test fitted to the detailed upper arm (the ridge has been added front and back , also, between the large diameter and the smaller ,lower part there is a trench detail , I sweated over this for ages , eventually glued a sheet of styrene on the lower cylinder of the upper arm leaving a small gap of the grey cylinder visible to create the trench .Stud detail would also be added on the end of the ridges with small sections of till roll and dowel.

The white part ,(reduced diameter 'bone'tube fits up into the 'bone 'tube of the upper arm and eventually got bonded in .IG's arm now has shoulder movement in 2 planes , an upper bicep swivel , 2 stage elbow and wrist equivalent

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Onward!..
CLAWS !
Now this is a bit Ive seen being got wrong ..
"Youre getting IG wrong !...".. to paraphrase Partridge!
The mistake I see a lot is that both claws are done the same , they aren't .
Again KOTOBUKIYA is the best commercial IG Ive seen , the new SIDESHOW one is dissapointing , not only is the knee armour on the upper leg on it but they missed out an entire section of his head!!!
Nil Pointe!
Anyhow back to the claws.. there are 4 types of claw ..in this build I refer to them according to their shapes ,as the 'C' claw, this is the left one ,.. the '8' claw, the right and then there is the 'dew'claws (like a cat or dog) those are the weird bigger ones that run inline with the forearms .
What are they?
...I remembered seeing claw grabbers used in old shops to get things from top shelves and I do remember a figure 8 type one .. I believe this type of thing is an original part for IG .. and when it came to the 'C 'claw I found this..

... A skinnier ,cheaper , modern version of another type I remembered . This I got just after guesstimating the size , heres the guesstimated pattern done BEFORE the claw was bought . Allowing for the skinnying down of the new cheapened claw I was quite pleased with this as a pattern ,they were going to be made from foamex and filler and I wanted them to be robust .Also I directly copied the mechanism from the bought claw so they have spring action , sticks a bit but it means they are geared together.

Heres the templates and some shots of the claws in build.

...And with a bit of body work done....these are the 'dew'claws

the finished claw units just slot tightly into the forearms...the DEW'claws are mounted ,the right on the forearm underside ,it became a naturally strong mounting point to graft it into the block there (took a fair bit of examination to justify the existance of the under forearm blocks and ridge , once established I did the same on the left forearm having come to the conclusion that there is a block type detail visible on top of the left arm and I am convinced IG's forearm has been swiveled over so we are looking at its underside in the film stills .This explains the claw being on top and the block detail (which I found the arm looked blank without )
The mounting of the left 'dew' claw was a pain!
I could not justify a logical movement for it as a mechanical piece , again I'd put it down in IG land to an after market add on to stabilize some weapon and it would be put in place from its stowed position by IG or his owner .Eventually I made a mount that looked the part and put it on with a bolt so it is actually repositionable .It mounts directly on the claw ,visual reference is sketchy for this as with a lot of IG when you really get in to it.
This kinda thing is the tough ,positively painful at times bit of these builds that people dont see and one good reason to take plenty of shots (I learned this)and do a build diary /report like this .

 

[mekroid]

OK ...wots up next ?...
covered the basic body , legs ,feet ,arms ,claws ...must be the head!...then some mopping up on detail


Overview of basic head assembly at an early stage ...

Here you can see the derwent ,lower section cut from the upper and bonded to the chest unit as seen earlier , makes it a more comfortable fit to the head if you shave down the neck by a few millimeters ..5 ish?....
the internal unit as intended , and as I write this , STILL causing me grief 10 months on!!(dont ask !)is here , it is basically one of those cheap , fake security cameras , when the sensor is triggered it moves around 6 times from side to side . If you havent seen these before and have anything with a head or similar you want to move and cant do electrics like me these are cool .

heres the first take involving a PARASOL LIGHT , this turned out to be a dead end ...

...Saying that it DID generate a very interesting side effect ..same principal as a pinhole camera (air lens)...want to use it on a dirty little secret project !

yup that is a shower head joint in the background ... getting to that ..

Around it is the start of a foamex unit for mounting the lights ,which at first are xmas lights on 2 AA batteries ...was going to be 2 sets but Im not happy so looking into other options now as I aim for the head to look'lit up' in normal indoor enviroments .
The internals for the head eventually became a clear disc with a camera shaped socket in the middle and the foamex you see mounted on the socket , this would then be maneuvered into the head like one of those dismantling a nuke bomb sequences in a flim, past some small blocks and then the base,clear disc is held in the head by 3 small screws in to the blocks in the head .
As promised the shower joint...

...Went to a bathroom shop years before and asked if they had any junk bits ... few quid for a load of bits like this
This is mounted into the body via a big bolt and a stack of wood discs that were waste product from using the hole saw drill so its just about level with the top of the neck.So now IG can do that head loll thing like in the film , also can stand straight and has a good bit of posability there now
This is where it gets complex to come up with and visualise , the posable ball and socket tilt joint is at the top of the neck/base of the head ,I took the stand off the camera and replaced it with pipe and a reduced diameter bit of the same pipe was bonded to the top of the ball joint as a head mounting pin.Further up in the head , just under the orange eyes is where the swivel acts ,just under the camera(the ball joint obviously swivels as well )
When IG is dismantled the ball joint stays with the body and the rest is high up in the head and inbetween is a good firm attachment method...fair bit of sweat went into getting this right

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And a few more brain shots

heres a shot of the first run of lights being hot glued to the standoffs.

Like I say I want to replace these now with something better , have a guy working on it but its taking a long time

Heres an interesting little addition ...

Those big holes had always bugged me ... and ,it seems, everyone else that does IG , hasbro or whoever !
I found a black and white ,on set shot of Vader , Kershner, Green Bucket Boy himself and the IGster in the pic references on THEDENTEDHELMET.COM ...expect everyone knows wot that place is ..(one of my hangouts for quite a few years now )
You can see right into his head ... not Kershners ..IG'S!...there be nuttin there!
...looks kinda dumb when you can examine it closely like at a gig so ...I wanted them closed off but in keeping with the junky IG feel .
The weapon of choice here is PLASTIC CHAMPAGNE GLASS FEET .. from a pound shop...dont remember how much they were though ..Hmmm ...(running joke round here )
It looks better than just blocking it off or doing the usual dome thing in there as the toy companies do , looks like an emmitter / reciever type thang too! ..
Also , and this is where it got harder , it COULDNT be attached to the head directly as this would foul the neck ball joint movement ...also it would prevent the brain being taken out for adjustment ...tricky one ..

Small bucket of sweat later and we have....

and this is how they fit.....

...the triangular base is just to keep them stable , they push into polycaps (type of thing in japanese robot kits if you dont know ...Gundams and the like)I use large HAMA beads for these , big ones seem more difficult to find these days , I used to get them at TOYS 'R' MINE...(as I renamed it )... try online ?.. one pack will last years !(be aware tightness varies with color pigment it seems ?!?!? )

I like the loose nature of these and the fact there is a slight gap between the heads hull and the emitter thing , it seems to go with the rattly ,junkyness of IG and most of the old trilogy which I love

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So ...onto the junk outside the head ..

heres my guesstimated measurements from the full size GOD image for IG'S binos ...

notice the 'L' shaped unit .. I have seen this left out before ..

I modeled up the front portion (the cubes) as this was more of a known quantity and I needed them and a foam mack up of the back L section to see how the eye binos really interacted with the head ..

...Then , when I'd figured how they fitted and attached I started the styrene one..

To reduce weight I filled them with small blocks of foam ..

Then skinned it with filler ...

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FILLER!

Here Ive added what looks to me to be electrical connectors in a port , mine is only 2 millimeters deep (one layer of plastic )the original would be deeper ..

...I know people say this is a section of a gunsight but all my examinations told me it was straight tube and not worth cutting a sight up for ...a small poly plastic foggy/clear capsule dome thingy ... 'found in the street!' ...(I have found money there too!) is trimmed to fit and pushed into the tube offcut. The tube I had lying around and it was pretty much a perfect fit in the right hole !This got glassed in from the inside .(glass fibre paste)

Next , go chat up your local opticians!

What we have here is DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENS containers , I'd seen these before and logged them in memory for just such a job .There was a particularly gorgeous girl in the opticians ... she was very helpful ... and amused at this weird guy on the scrounge ... I lost my short term memory in there and decided I needed multiple visits ! (still dont know what to do with a bin liner full of about 5000 lens containers ...JOKE!)

They get trimmed to fit , heres a bad fit

'bout perfect size !
I aimed to paint the inside of the head white to reflect light around , forgot and only did the upper interior after glueing in the lenses and orange lighting gel .This was AFTER main painting and weathering of the head.
Turns out the gel wasnt enough so one of the last things I did was 2 coats of TAMIYA CLEAR ORANGE over the outside of the lenses .. still could use more light AND diffusion of same in the head...working on it .
You can see from the state of the foot in the background the head was one of the first things worked on ..fact I think it was first after the feet!...the brain was being revised for a while though... an still aint finished.
So , AUDIO PLUGS .. I managed to obtain 6 actual metal ones!...some from an old electrical shop and some from a car boot sale .

This shot was early days when the parasol light was still being considered..
And the audio plugs are pretty much a dead fit in the holes , they got glassed in .The main big eye got a trimmed down clear , very tech/lens looking FLASH top jammed in it..

Yup that is a part of my kit collection ..and yup I live in a junk pile!
....
(Found most of it in the street!!HA!)

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I spent some time arranging the shots in photobucket and turning them right way round etc , even turned they still come up here on the side ?!?!?
...Ah well , you lot will just get a pain in the neck listening to me as well as looking at the shots now

Notice the 'noses'..or IG's nipples if you prefer!, this is a test fit of them and the trim strip.
Heres how theyre done ....
A basic form was carved/sanded in foam then moulded , as there are no undercuts , in one lump of plaster ,the mould is sealed with external pva glue and water then ,when dry , release is applied to the mould ,rubbed a paintbrush on a bar of soap and painted it in , may have rubbed in some cheap hair gel too . when this was dry ish , I cast 4 in 'rondo'(car filler with a bit of resin mixed in as the stuff has the same catalyst )
It seems to be taken as IG has these front and back ... no info on the back is extractable from shots but it adds detail logically .
Also this is yet another thing Ive seen being 'wrongly 'corrected ' on IG . The tendency is to mirror these details so there is a definite left and right one .. my reasearch told me they are NOT handed and are the same ... again these were difficult to extrapolate the true shape of...

Also in that shot is the left leg manifold and the thigh greeblies cast from.... you know the rest!
Notice the threaded bar epoxied in to the peices , this gave a secure mounting for the noses as well as leg detail.

And one against the GOD image...

Detail...

And the shoulder trim strip ,thin foamex with double thickness ends (2 thin layers together to overlap the join)

This was trial fitted as youve seen

 

[mekroid]

...Hang in there .. bit more yet

Here you can see the noses and the trim strip have been fastened in place , and there is outer shoulder armour ..

This took a while to figure out , both how to make it with available facilities and how to attach it to the shoulder ...

Eventually I found a plastic salad bowl on a foray to TESCO that had the right contour , in this game you spend a lot of time looking like a loon in normal shops while you aggressively stare at everyday objects trying to see how they can be warped for your own perverted little purposes

.. I built the recessed centre piece and drew with a marker in the salad bowl where it needed to be ,then some glass fibre paste held it inplace while I spread more paste over the area required on the inside of the bowl then a bit of RONDO and pop the part while its not quite cured and atill flexes a bit ...
3 blocks got glassed in , these would match up with 3 in the shoulder cylinder and a screw through each from the inside would eventually hold it all...

Aswith a lot of this type of thing , one came out perfect , one a little manky ..didnt worry though as the effect on the surface looked like IG wear n tear

...heres a lucky accident of a part ..on the upper front gut block there is a short cylinder detail with a big spike ... as this was a spike it would be vulnerable to breakage and dicey in an accident , I found this bit of hardened sealant in a nozzle...perfect and black...result!

Later , to the right of this spike (IG's right)there was another roundish piece of detail ...things like this were only found thanks to an official IG and 4LOM desktop image , then with my total lack of photoshop knowledge I figured out how to alter the contrast ..TONS of detail came belting out of the shadows!...including that round thing..
luckily I had a piece for that ....
...Guess where i got it?

clue :...the phrase involves the word 'street'

you know I once brushed a balled up five pound note with my trainer in the street , ...knew it was money from the sound !!!

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...Oh Gawd! hes back again!

Getting IGed off yet ?


...Bandolier time !

This was a carrying strop /strap? I found in .... A SKIP!... just for a change
..the width matched the image so I unpicked a bit and ironed it , and it was grey to start with ...

The black boxes are small project boxes from MAPLINS ,they matched perfectly the extrapolated dimensions , I reckon the original things are something similar .
The tool loops were short sections of strap glued and clamped round the tools , tools are still loose but tight , may pot rivet them to the strap in case of brats !

The tools were measured from the GOD image ... more of a pain than it sounds , very blurry ...heres what I came up with...

Whole thang was given a wash of muck colour when IG was weathered

The buckle is a little small , got it from a neighbours old horse blanket , which incidentally is what IG gets wrapped up in during transit until I pull my finger out and build the Roger type boxes for him ...

......this is also why IG smells like HORSE!


Now a quick skip back to a detail on the forearms ...

I was knackered by now so decided to use a flexible pipe with stuff in the ends to make the top of forearm bent pipe detail ...dont get excited coz theres a gun in shot I havent forgotten!... get to them in a bit ,
It was during the development of the claw /forearm that I found IG would have trouble holding his guns , the spring claw mech was just too weak and then the handle would just slip out of the claw anyhow , the 'dew' claws didnt do anything to help so ...I came up with a cunning plan.....

Figuring this works in IG world as well as real world for practicality I reasoned that IG , being a droid would 'jack' into a gun , since he has no way of pulling the trigger anyhow (more in the gun bit later)so came up with a big audio pin socket in the back of the gun handle and one in the tube (another till roll centre)on the forearm.To bridge the gap I stuck the male audio pins at each end of a short length of aluminium pipe ...

...this seems to work great ,he can hold the E11 type in one claw at any angle ,the rifle in one claw asks a bit much so he has both claws on that .
Also I was going to put a pin socket or something in the side of the rifle so he could pose like the actual prop but cancelled this idea.(I believe the actual IG had it wired to him)He can still stand holding both guns with the rifle butt on the floor .

..Quick return to the knee area now..

heres the new extended plastic knee armour glued around the original piece of metal angle iron ('L' section stuff)...cant remember if I did it too small or if it was always going to be a strong base for the finished piece.
You can see clearly the way the fake knee gaiter looks in place here , the yellow giant rivet detail is a smiley fridge magnet from B&M...extortionate at 49p for a set .. 6 I think! just sand off the painted face , saw off the magnet and glue ... I f I'd have twigged to these earlier I'd have saved myself buying magnets for the mag panel in the back from maplin!...DOH!
Notice also the washing machine hose , this would be heated and have rod inside it to help it bend in places...figuring out where it fixed was awkward , eventually came to the conclusion part fitted up into the thigh shroud , you can see I had to make a join in it for easy dismantling of the legs , I didn't want anything sticking out below the rest of the leg as this could lead to damage , also may cause problems when box constructing.

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And so on to test assembly...

this was probably pre shoulder dishes ,though they were on and off a fair amount.

It was around this time I noticed the chest detail just didnt look right , the bit either side.
After much consideration I figured out the chest detail is probably mirrored and a hole has been cut in one side for some reason making the speaker type detail we know ... as soon as I had this theory everything fell into place , had to make the hole slightly eliptical to make the proportions work ...

heres the modified ,finalised chest ..

same detail both sides just with a hole cut in one ...sounds obvious to me now with hindsight ..took a long time to visually work out what was actually going on in that area.


Shoulder/neck padding ...probably the part I'm least happy with ..

...front ...

...and back...

Template tried on IG and I tried to make it out of some weird material a mate gave me , not quite synthetic leather , some upholstery kinda stuff?
Whats known about this part?... not much , not much to know though , personal theory ... it seems likely its either a piece of sound insulation from something , seen similar in car bonnets , remember IG is predominantly aircraft scrap (kinda fits in with the old VICKERS connection with R2 dont it)could be something similar in a landing gear bay?..
However , and I now think this is more likely , something like an inflatable travel pillow......heres the thing , if you put the image in the visual dictionary under a magnifying glass you see small bright blue 'cracks 'in the thing suggesting it was some material that didnt like paint and flexed slightly ,also it seems to have a slight grain to it .. all of which remind me of my water wings when I go swimming ....er.. WENT swimming ... as a kid ....small kid .....

... they dont fit me now anyhow ...stop larfing !

So I set out to approximate that , used foam blocks on 2 layers of the material , this gave it a thick edge like the original , then tried to stretch another piece over the thing while it sat on a large section of pipe and stick them together with contact adhesive .(I used THIXOFIX contact adhesive as I had this in for sticking down rubber sheet ...quite good stuff)
Try as I might I couldnt quite get it looking right , eventually glued a layer of sweatshirt material over this , looked better , and when dry PVA'd it to harden the material for painting. The texture of this wasnt bad and at last I thought the part was passable ,gave it a bluey tint with an overall grey base using acrylics and a brush

....And in the interest of full disclosure ..

... there was another prototype IG brain design I considered ...

kept making very un IG like noises though !

 

[mekroid]

GUNS!....
this first year ,after people get over seeing a 7ft6" hatstand , the guns are what I get the most questions about ....

The E11/sterling type stormtroopery one ..
this is down as some neuraliser thing ... more likely it would just be Imp surplus ..
seriously though , looking at it ,it would seem to have NO trigger guard , various areas that are hollow , like the back and front sight ,are solid ,(already established now is the solid aluminium back end on the BAPTY film props for stormies)...but the paintjob seems evenly weathered , even over the rubber T track...like it was all one material .
I came to the conclusion this gun is probably a foam or rubber one piece stunt cast pressed into service as IG's, hence blocked areas ,no trigger guard /trigger and paintjob .
One main problem ... IG has no hope of holding either gun without some help... the 'dew' claws dont touch on normal gun measurements so are no help ..(weird thing ... there is a cable running between all 3 of the IG props right claw/fingers in a loop!...)
Also in IG world , a custom droid gun could be jacked into and would be no use if grabbed by an adversary so ,to me , this justifies its lack of trigger/guard.
The jack in point is , as mentioned earlier , a big audio jack ,socket in the back of the gun handle , socket in the tube on top of IG's wrist and a custom connector between the 2 consisting of a very technical arrangement( )involving jamming the male connectors in a section of aluminium tube with a load of epoxy glue ...
This connector works for the rifle too but IG needs 2 claws for that.

So on to the build shots !
Nothing really ground breaking to report on the E11 build , I got all the info / templates I'd downloaded from the various build yer own stormie gun sites and followed that basic idea...

Cutting the holes in the barrel is really the biggest pain of the job , you need a pillar drill and machine vice .. and need to really concerntrate as even with a new drill bit I had so many holes that snatched during drilling .
Few repairs with filler needed and a bit of filing and clean up ,removal of swarf from holes etc.
As you can see the handle is FOAMEX .. I wanted these guns to be super light weight , the pipe took a while to find but was really cheap for a stack .(I got IG's E11 /rifle and 3 more E11s out of it and there is enough for around 5 more E11s!)
There isnt much written on the pipe , its dark grey as you see ...I took a barrel template into the supply place , told them not to larf , and tried it round a couple of likely candidates ... this was a perfect fit !... probably ABS , it glues with PLASTIC WELD and CYANOACRYLATE (super glue)

The muzzle pieces you can see are stacked styrene disks cut with the CIRCLE CUTTER tool mentioned earlier , (OLFA CIRCLE CUTTER or similar , meant for paper and card ,buy from art shops or cheaper from tool stalls )
...This is used BACKWARDS on styrene so it cuts like a lathe tool, handful of passes on a section then move round , keep going till you see white marks on the reverse side of the material ... keep it to 1/2 ish MM styrene or similar and it works great , also cant go to small either .I got my mate to put this on the DALEK forums for cutting eye stalk discs out of push lights , seems to be a standard technique now

The small section of tube helps it locate .
Since IG's gun was going to be for close inspection I did the stuff that is supposed to be hollow ,..hollow. The barrel , even though I'd decided that , as a stunt cast , could get away with solid material (foamex) for the T track ,according to stormie versions , has a line of bare holes on the left side of the barrel and I wanted to be able to see in , plus it adds to the rattly tinny-ness of IG that I like .
A foamex disk was cut , the right size to go in the outer barrel ,this was fitted on a section of aluminium tube from B&Q (the actual barrel)and holds the tube central in the blaster , then the muzzle , mostly completed was put on the tube and the whole thing slid into place in the outer ABS barrel .
(Not many shots here as I didnt want to reinvent the wheel )

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So ....
the other parts were patterned from available templates ,a few differences out there in sterlings ...just got to check the small details when looking at reference .
Here the new bits have been cut from styrene sheet ..

...Just quickly , I often see threads on sites asking 'what kind of styrene ' or material or suchlike ....

Quick , easy answer .....BATH PANELS!... 2 of my neighbours have remodeled their bathrooms over the past few years ... I grabbed the old ,vac formed bath panels , some have straight pieces some are bowed .. all come in usable ...and each one we cut up DOESNT go into the enviroment !!

I even got a tip off from a mate about one flytipped under a bridge !...we scragged it !

...Deprived a tramp of a roof !...biggest 'found it in the street yet!'

So here's the pic

..in this case , the front of the stock and the flat panels (beige)on the handle are pure bath panel!...rest is scrap plastic I keep a large bag of.

Would be good to say a bit about the E11 sight about now ....weird technique there ... no pics though ...

OK ... how to make the tapering section of the E11 gunsight ...

Basically I made a frame of plastic ,simply put , a flat piece with a round hole in it held up on legs (actually a former for something completely different ,..just came in handy for this !
Hole diameter not critical .. 4/5 ish cm ...into this I placed a cone made from the backing paper from some vinyl shiny side INWARDS(type of stuff you peel and chuck away from a sticker).
Take a bit of time with this bit as its your mould for the tapered parts with NO lathe in sight ,you may want to SCOTCH TAPE the end of the backing paper so it lays neatly around the inside of the cone and doesnt create a facet .
The cone is created to fit a flat ,cut out of the tapering section of the sight in card , this should fit inside with no gaps and no strain on the cone when sitting in the frame (the frame maintains the roundness)
When happy with your cone decide where the front end finishes , I did this by getting a disk of plastic and cutting a hole in it , this would become the rear of the FRONT tube of the sight where the cone docks ... then I fitted it over the paper tube ,made a pen mark , added a couple of millimeteres then did the same with the rear tube of the sight by placing it in the back of the paper tube , marking and add a bit.

With it so far?

Next put the cone in the frame , mix some runny ish RONDO / PLOD whatever you want to call it (body filler thinned with resin )and chuck it in !
Good if it is just about moving on its own in consistancy ,.. and watch out for thin spots , these can always be fixed by putting it back in the cone and adding more , dead easy!

Let it go off , when it feels firm and hot (exothermic reaction ) unroll the cone former.Trim and sand to fit , fix to either end of the scope with cyanoacrylate , re-inforce with glass fibre paste inside (just a touch)and de-seam the outside ...job done !


Hope it helps .

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Well , like I said , there aint a load of shots of the guns ... was a bit bored and knackered with the project by this time ...kinda like running a marathon!
Actually , when Im not 'finding it in the street' I do think of these builds as mountains I'm climbing ... the first few gigs being the sledge ride down the other side when you see people freak !

Here is the IG jack in operation..

Green tube being scavenged TILL ROLL CENTRE from a shop (styrene)...also used as the barrel tip on my DC15 LONG ...(the pig sticker Jo always runs off with ... and that I had to grab out of her car twice!! )

And a long shot ....

This shows the jack docking point on BOTH forearms ... it was a forensic exercise establishing from the few IG shots exactly what was going on with the LEFT forearm ,... the eventual conclusion was that both arms would have the same basic structure and that if you just take the left forearm as being twisted over then everything , including that **** dew claw that irratated me for ages suddenly made sense.
The block structures seem to be on both arms so it followed the rest would be there .
A special mounting point was made out of styrene ,and should the need arise , though as Ive said it is usless for gun holding , then the dew claw can be removed and pointed forward as it just bolts on to the left claw.(the right dew claw fastens on the right wrist ,in a block for stability )

The strip of plastic that sits on the forearm was glued and pot riveted in place as glue would not be strong enough with the lack of contact area.
(pot rivet gun from ALDI ...good cheap tools ... got a nail/staple gun there and a belt sander .. few years back now ..couldnt have done the TARDIS with out them ! )

The scope rail on the gun is styrene (bathpanel )for the flat strips and foamex for the vertical in fill, this was to give me something thick enough to drill through down into the handle block so the scope , which is on FOAMEX blocks , could be securely mounted with a metal rod into the body of the gun.

Like I mentioned , I believe IG's actual gun to be a foam or rubber stunt prop , there is no gap round the stock/ barrel ,the sights are solid and other little holes are plugged on the original , this would just not look right for close ,prop display type examination so it was a no brainer to go with the realistic look.

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And now to the bit I get most asked about ... this gun seems popular !

Basically foamex where I would use wood for a hand held prop (you want a bit of weight presence though I would prob go with this foamex method in future ..back end of both DC's is MDF clad in styrene ... probably could lighten those a fair bit now ...just didnt trust foamex to be hardy enough at the time )the rest is the same kinda construction as the E11 , same barrel pipe with aluminium tube down the centre , the business end (muzzle )was several disks of styrene (circle cutter job)and a till roll centre that was a dead fit over the aluminium pipe end with a bit of coaxing , the domed end was a section of an old plastic egg cup ,took a while to cut it right as it was fragile as a seperate part

Its the dome with the red overspray on in the pic...

As you can see , the scource material is the STAR WARS VISUAL DICTIONARY ..I knew this gun had a single point scope and using the diameter of that got a mate to do the print out.

With the guns unlike IG , I get about 3 print outs done , black and white , 1 gets joined up into a full size image , the rest get hacked up and stuck on cereal box card then cut out for templates.
All the handle chassis is foamex , the side detail (beige bits )are styrene .. you know where from the round woody looking bit is ... round wood , this detail eluded me for a while then I got a strip of 1/4 round wood trim from B&Q, stuck 2 bits together and..
The small diameter top tube seemed to be something that didnt glue that well so I keyed the surfaces , tons of cyanoacrylate ,then a couple of rods into the gun to make sure.

Notice the aluminium barrel tube going a fair way into the gun handle and foamex disks to locate the outer barrel .The greyish stripe behind this (in the pinkish bit...tech term)is actually the rest of the aluminium pipe going into the handle surrounded and anchored with glass fibre paste (the pinky stuff)then sandwiched either side with what was to hand plastic wise , in this case clear sheet .
So , big slot in foamex , stick panel over one side , test fit everything , fill with glass fibre paste and barrel , stick other panel down , keep it straight , cross fingers ,job done.
Again I reckon this was a stunt cast hence the trigger .The one in the book is damaged on the butt..IG's seems like the same model of gun as the pic and was prob used on Hoth .
The bits in the pic of the butt are dirty great bits of sandwiched scraps of foamex smoothed at the edges with filler, eventually fixed on with dowel pins , the wheel on the butt is known to be a flywheel from a REVELL VISIBLE V8 ENGINE KIT...not buying one or wrecking one for just that part!
Rings cut with the cutter ,scrap plastic and filler , built on the butt part (both sides).
(in the shot Id just stuck the rings down)
The grip is thin sheet foamex scored then carefully run over with the corner of a triangular needle file .
(Forgot to mention , the E11 has no grip texture , this is correct as some were done for stormies with solid aluminium handles/back ends ... check BAPTY stormtrooper blaster stuff on the web .. tons of pics ,.. makes life a load easier! )
The sight is a core of a bit of round dowel that had a finish on so no grain, this was dressed with plumbing pipe and foamex , the ball is cast in filler (pulled from mould when still flexible..'green') might have been from a plaster mould from a ping pong ball and fitted round the dowel, do remember it was a pain to clean up!
So the whole block thing on the sight is foamex , gaps later filled with filler to the dowel core , the dark tube front is more barrel pipe with slot detail cut in , the white front end is a plumbing fitting bought specially that did perfectly!...then a couple of cut up old pen barrels are the spike out front.
Again the sight is mounted on a couple of metal rods down into the gun body.

The barrel is the real pain on this gun ,drilling those holes took ages , done over several sessions at work I got between 2 and loads done before getting chucked out!Pain in the butt!
Mates got a small drill press now ...after the fact!

Heres the big secret about the holes for this gun...
if you look at 4 holes in a diamond shape on the E11 then move the arrangment through 90 degrees you have the same arrangement on the rifle .

Did get a mate to take the templates for the E11 and turn them , adjust slightly then output them as 2 A4 templates for the rifle (he did it in COREL DRAW... beyond me )
these fitted and the holes matched up though after drilling there was a fractionally larger gap between strips of holes on one side ,think it became the underside .

And finally , a shot of the front of the gun chassis detailed up..

blue /beige /clear is styrene , on foamex (lettering of original sign visible)bit of tube at front , cast made by filling one of them things you get over new car battery terminals with filler on the front .
What I havent got W.I.P. shots of was the rest like the detail on the butt , same bits as Fetts gun stock .
The SIDESHOW Endor trooper was a great help with this , his gun is basically the same gun chassis so I could clarify some details and which panels were more prominent than others .
Will admit I gave up on doing the cocking slot , (the thing you pull back like on the E11. Its long but skinny , I couldnt thing of a way of easily doing it and was knackered ... also I had a debate with myself as to whether the shot in the book was flipped or not so I figured you dont get a hot shell casing ejecting on the left side near you and put the ejection port flap on the right ...(also had this with the cocking lever before leaving it out)only to be proved wrong by later reference .. ah well ... no ones complained yet ... those who do ... IG will meet you in the car park for a fight after school as I cant be bothered

Next episode ... Painting!

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And so to paint jobs !!!

due to lack of room and me wanting to see bits in colour sections of IG got base painted before some bits were finalised... sections like the thigh shrouds / top of the thigh units ,had to be painted before final assembly as it would be next to impossible to get a sprsy of paint up there .

And what specialist expert custom mix of paint is IG ?...

... THE CHEAPEST '5 WHEEL STEEL' TYPE STUFF I COULD FIND!!!

(told you I was tight !... this rounds on me !.. tap waters all round !... and bring yer own glass!..

Halfords used to be the paint of choice , particularly the primer ,.. they have priced themselves out of the market now for me . I go to markets and get HOLTS /SIMONIZ/DUPLICOLOR stuff that is usually old stock and cheap ...

One type of paint I DO NOT recommend is PLASTIKOTE .. ....there is the occasional aerosol that is of use , for instance I have sprayed Dalek slats and domes with a Plastikote Gold Tile paint .... I took a chance with it as it was in the pound shop (dont ask how much?..)and it stank but worked ... after multiple coats and primer it says it didnt need!
The normal Plastikote stuff sets(if you can call it that)like a mudslide that stays tacky for days ,skids ,runs .....compare that with Halfords , Simoniz ,Holts .... they dry and are handleable within around an hour .. 20 mins for primer .

The official IG paint was 3/5 ish cans from a little back street car shop where the 5 wheel stuff in gunmetal was around £3.75 a BIG can (500ml simoniz)... and a silver and black ones as well .

Now , when people see IG the dominating colour is gunmetal ...the other 2 main contributing colurs are silver and rust brown.
Looking at reference I saw the twin pairs of rams on the gut were actually a silver compared to the rest of the body, the exposed aluminium tubes were masked off with tape and the rams were primed and sprayed with silver then dusted from a distance vaguely with gunmetal .
Weird thing is when you actually look at IG its a subtle effect you dont really notice yet are aware of .. though in all the photos I took the contrast is far more obvious!
I think I found the gunmetal sprayed better than the silver so it was the gunmetal I used to 'dust' on..(hold the can an arms length from the target and spray lightly in a vague circular motion)...the reverse would have been to 'dust' highlight the rams with silver afterwards but I went with the most controllable can (you do need brands with GOOD nozzles which these have)to finish up the piece .

Pretty much most of IG was sprayed gunmetal ...

...ok ,I'll admit .. I couldnt wait for the head to dry and did run round the house with it while wearing my half complete Fett lid which DOES fit on my over large alien head saying 'he's no good to me dead!'....and I'd better be getting paid for this!'..(teras kasi game ).....
...Non of which intimidated the cat.....

..At least there was no repeat of the incident with my first knockabout Fett lid where I wouldnt take it off for 2 days except to fix a visor in then lay on the bed watching TV ,the helmet ,with the visor now in, pushed down onto my chest by the pillow my head was on resulting in me nearly passing out from CO2!......

I'd had this vision all along of spraying IG in one piece ..but every base part and unit was seperately sprayed .. the body mainly as with all the cylinders on would have been impossible to land paint on .
Areas behind things like waist cylinders were dusted with black and softened with a dust of gunmetal before final assembly .
As it was already obvious IG as we know him was fully painted and weathered I decided there was no need to spray one colour metal then liquid mask then spray a second finish ... that and I couldnt be bothered by then !
Any pitting in units like ,for instance , the shoulder saucers (the outermost dish things on IG's shoulders)was picked out with a quick application of a polished steel HUMBROL METAL COTE....old tin , had it for years , good stuff .
If your building knackered looking stuff and youre not familiar with this stuff you want some !
You paint or spray it (its in those typical little humbrol tins )and when dry , how I whacked it on about half an hour ,you polish it with a soft rag ...looks like cast metal !....wouldnt recommend it on areas like corners of guns that are handled a lot as enamel isnt as tough as car paint (acrylic spray)...at least base those areas in a acrylic aerosol like silver or black first .
This worked well and shiny bits of dark metal are mixed with dull ,dark grey in the recesses .
Being Feb 2011 when I painted him I didnt want to go outside (cold)so , nearly gassing myself with white spirit fumes I put a sheet of hardboard down in the bathroom and took each gunmetal section and the rams in to dirty them up one at a time .

The rust.....it aint rust ....its the colour you expect of rust yet there are no rust streaks or rust damage ... I took it to be DUST ...and general grim from dirty enviroments that was reddish (mars like ?)..
I mixed up humbrol enamels , load of matt black .. remains of some gloss orange (which I figure would give it some wearability )some red/brown leathery color , bit of grey , bit of what ever was still liquid in some old tins ...all into a load of white spirit in the base of a plastic milk carton , got a nice rusty type colour that fitted the colour in the pics that I was happy with ...thin but so when you paint a trial bit on newspaper it leaves colour ... basically played till I was happy.
I started with the feet ,... heavily ...then each leg was plugged into the foot and washed with the muck wash as well ....when the foot was dry back over the foot again .
A suit/ droid whatever is muckiest at its contact with where the muck is ... mainly feet so think heavy crud there and fade it off a bit as it goes up the leg .

- - - Updated - - -

Things like the manifold on the leg were also 'dusted' during the initial spray painting to make them lighter than the leg base colour .. things like this help sell the idea that ,altough metal , its different kinds and ages of metal ,...

...... which is pretty funny anyhow as Im simulating aircraft scrap which is painted to seem like metal and in fact the only metal parts are some small lengths of aluminium tube and a load of bolts !

Heres one in bright sunlight ...

the extent of the weathering isnt as obvious as it is in reality here , you can see the patina I built up on the head through a couple of washes .

As each section was washed down with dirt colour (there was a few shades of 'dirt' colour )I found the best and easiest technique was to have a rag in my other hand from the 2inch house painting brush I was applying the wash with , and to 'flick' the washed area with the rag as iff swatting insects away .. do this VERTICALLY and you get the effect you see on the head in this last shot .. other areas were dabbed and /or flicked , flailed when starting to drip or run .... just make it up as you go !... have fun!..I did
Heavy crud colour , and darker was built up in the recesses, the main body and legs /arms and head were given a darker look overall right from the gunmetal spray stage.

All told I did get an idea how long it took to do the wash ... I couldnt believe it!!!

AROUND 7 HRS approx!!!...

Fun though .. it was like seeing IG come alive !....

When building these kinda things you get a kick when you first put primer over a piece made from multiple materials and suddenly see it as one whole thing instead of a conglomeration of greeblies and tube pinched from your mates sign business...

AND BITS YOU FIND IN THE STREET!!!

(had to get it in somewhere !)

...but you get the big kick when you paint/weather something that you KNOW is plastic pipe and bathpanel and old shop sign ... and even you think it looks like metal /armour/Dalekanium /a large blue coffin for Stoney etc.

Hi Stoney!

Heres an indoor shot with IG playing with himself ....................
...just dont go there!

the contrast between the body and the rams is more obvious here as is the head weathering...

again heres a full frontal ... oooer!.. outside ... looks very grey here .. think its down to Phils camera ...

...what you dont get from this is the final dusting of weathering mix , thickend by now with some gloss clear cote (again I bunged in anything I fancied or needed to use up ...all by feel)and matted back with the addition of TALCUM POWDER .. cheapest stuff I could find , ...thanks to the local military modellers who tipped me off to that one .
This was airbrushed on here and there ... the particular 'there' being the shoulder saucers as this matched the visual dictionary shot .

this next ones inside again at Crewe.. here the body colour contrasts are slightly exaggerated...camera and lighting I guess

Notice in the first shot of this post you can see into IG's armpit !..
most manufacturers leave out his pits .. I put MP3 speakers in them ... unpowered as they were to hand , sometime with an amp and a following wind and someone who knows what the heck they are doing fixing it for me we'll get IG belting out The Imperial March etc .

 

[mekroid]

Again this is a good one for the muckwash ...

Everything was covered in it .. IG wise ... ME wise .... and CAT wise ....(probably some paw prints somewhere on him!)

This next one makes a couple of points ...

the arm gaiters ..
those rubber bits at the elbows .... I went up and down the country for those **** things !... found there was a trailer hitch one with 4 ridges /differing size holes at each end .. perfect!...told it was in stock miles away , drove there only to get told I'd talked to a mad woman on the phone who wasnt around to explain why she had told me there was one in her hand and in fact no such item existed there ?!?!?


Looked into sticking 2 expensive motoring ones ... (steering rack gaiters from something)together .. this needed 4 and would cost 26 quid!!!!....

Now as Ive already established .. I'm tight !

went to another shop that had different stuff and found ..

RACK GAITER VAUXHALL ASTRA ,CAVALIER SRG 878

nice and soft , way more flexible than any I'd seen and around £4 a set of 2.....
YEEEEHAH!

When on IG I weathered them just by washing them over with the enamel muck wash ..now we all know enamel isnt going to stick to rubber ...I washed it on and wiped it off straight away and it worked perfectly !!... the gaiters look old and weather beaten like IG does.

The second point the next shot makes is what happened to a mate of mine who was the biggest IG nut I ever met .......and finally I out IG'd him!

Look at the muck on those gaiters!!

Other final additions during final assembly , after gunmetal , before muckwash , was thins like the flexi ribbed pipe ..
A small portion of this was ..

...found in the ..............ROAD!... (just to be different )
..and was picked up by me hanging out of the drivers door while going round a roundabout at 2mph at around 3am one morning!!!... so was the piece I used to make the mould of the fake knee joints come to think of it!

The road sourced stuff was thick walled , unslit and very inflexible ... so I went to a place that had auto conduit and found some of the slit stuff that is very flexible .. had avoided this as I thought the slit would show ...
...worked perfectly though!...took aerosol and weathering wash ok too ...but the best thing ... I always forget to unplug it from IG's crotch at a gig ... if it didnt detatch on its own this would be disasterous as the leg could get pulled over and fall!...
Brilliant stuff!

- - - Updated - - -

Even though the gaiters dont have the traditional 4 ridges ... they do have the added advantage of not bankrupting me or producing a heart attack!

- - - Updated - - -

And here is THE shot I wanted ..plus a few others!

some guy wandered into shot and I didnt have the heart to move him on!...

Fett is Phil Stutt of the MINT IMPERIALS , a local small group to me .

...and Reece as a jawa!!!

....AND I got some guy from the show to sign inside IGs back panel!!!!......looked familiar?!?!?...

YEEEEEEEHAH!


...and there folks ,is how I ended up with a really cool hatrack !:facepalmlol:

 

[chibi fett]

Sweet Mother of G! That looks incredible!!!!

 

[ThePhantom]

That is TOTALLY AWESOME

Love 'Roger' the droid too....excellent stuff mate!!!

 

[Werstrooper]

holy Mary mother of GOD!!

that is outstanding bro!! Just an outstanding build!

 

[Matty Matt]

I am at a loss for words. That is simply amazing. It's unbelievable really. Wow. :cheers

 

[Fett 4 Real]

That is amazing work...I love it

 

[Darth Voorhees]

Absolutely incredible build bro! Well done!

 

[runJEDIrun]

BRAVO!!!!! My god that's awesome!


Sent from my iPhone

 

[Got2bfett]

Wow what a build, informative and entertaining at the same time! Absolutely INCREDIBLE work ,you sir are a master!

 

[RafalFett]

One of the best and funny-informative build threads I ever seen so far! Killer build for a killer droid!

 

[locitus]

Wow!

Amazing

 

[mekroid]

Well 24 hrs after that epic post(it took most of the day to rearrange and post !)...I dont think I could wish for better comments !...cheers guys!

These kinda builds are a mountain climbing exercise and I had learnt from the DALEK build (that is still ongoing with a friend) and Project Dalek Forum about how a well documented build diary or having the stages of work you'd gone through to get where you were in the build photographed was a positive thing in those times of 'wading through ever deepening mud' (as I think of it) . Looking through the file of pics made me repeatedly realize how far Id come on the project and really help to keep the ball rolling !
Also ,I thought if I leave the build diary until completion then it wouldnt be left as an unfinished thread like when those annoying things like ...life... get in the way

Hopefully theres some weird ideas ...(I specialize in 'em!)..that are of use to others ....

Still considering a ...'I found it in the street '...T shirt!

Off to deprive another tramp of a roof now !