At this point, I believe I have everything ready to start the actual assembly. Here's a summary of how I got here:
These little buggers have been causing me the greatest amount of headache but I believe I'm finally to a point of satisfaction w/ them (or perhaps I'm just surrendering; I don't know).
Although there were resin versions included w/ the kit (as pictured above), I really wanted to more naturally replicate the on-screen look (black paint peeling/flaking off of a plastic white body - without having to worry about sanding through a layer of white paint). As a result, I turned to my 3D printer for assistance. While looking for Unimax greeblie replacements (more on that below) I lucked upon
RafalFett's astounding resource of 3D printable goodies and remembered seeing files he'd created for the LMK AM plugs too. I then quickly located/extracted those files and began printing.
RafalFett: In case you see this, there's no way I'd have started any/all of this without first seeing/admiring your tenacious work on all things Boba-related (especially the helmet; I hope to have that build documented next). You, sir, are truly an inspiration for me, personally, and a HUGE asset to this community. Thank you, thank you & thank you for all you've done & do.
Once printed, I went to work on painting them up - but no matter what I did I just couldn't get past the feeling that something didn't look just right. It wasn't until I had them lying on a table beside of my resin versions that I realized some differences between the two.
In short, my printed versions of the RF files were both thinner & longer than my resin ones and this was most noticeable (to me at least) w/ the protrusions circled below.
As a result, I decided to reinvent my own wheel.
Since I do not own a resin printer (yet), I chose to actually print each plug in white ABS plastic - sliced into four separate pieces. Once printed, I acetone-welded them together, cleaned them up and got to work painting/distressing. Although I may end up re-doing these all in the future (if I ever get my hands on a set of actual LMK AM plugs or something), I am considering the versions below as complete.
As alluded to above, I also decided to replace the resin versions of the Unimax switch housings (Center stock greeblies) w/ 3D printed versions (Thanks again
RafalFett!). As you can see below, the 3D printed versions (left) were absolutely leaps and bounds above the resin ones (right) which were included w/ the kit. Note: I followed a similar process on these as I did on the LMK AM plugs above - where these were printed in red ABS and welded together during post-processing.
Next on the chopping block was the Molex connectors; the resin versions originally included w/ the kit had the back portions completely filled in.
Since these plugs would've been very difficult to replicate via FDM 3D printing, I chose to take a different route. After locating
these plugs from Mouser, I ordered about a dozen of them, drilled the necessary two middle holes & dyed them black using
Rit DyeMore in Graphite.
PSA: If intending to follow the Rit DyeMore directions (as I did), be sure to appropriately adjust the amount of dish detergent if working in smaller batches than that which is outlined in the directions (as I did not). I was about 2 seconds away from the bubbly black froth spilling out over the rim of the pot - and presumably dying every tile surface along its path.
Although I did not replace the scope clamps, I did replace the cast bolts with real ones. Here's the rear clamp for reference. I fashioned the bolt from one I had on hand in an effort to mimic the original - and then blued it for a more appropriate look. Note that I cut it off to proper length after the picture was taken.
Then last, but not least, are the mystery discs. After seeing so much discussion on them, I decided to take a stab at it myself. After a bit of imprecise alignment in Fusion 360, I began seeing ridges and such take shape so then relied upon some creative guesswork to mock up and print my own interpretive version. An unfinished version is pictured below.
Disclaimer: I make absolutely no claims of this being even remotely close to the actual part's design. I'm guessing that I am like many of you who have studied these pictures for a long enough time to have about forty-dozen different profiles emerge. The style I selected is simply the one I had in mind just before beginning the design, and have since had several ideas arise which are very different than those included in this piece.
That about wraps it up for now. I have also painted up my flash and made a leather strap but will just include those in the next post. Hopefully that one will consist of the assembled (perhaps completed?) reveal...
