Ghent
New Hunter
Hi all!
I completed my Han in Carbonite build. I acquired the parts over late last year and early this year, and then worked on-and-off on weekends over the summer. All told, it took about 4 months from start to finish, with a decent gap as a friend custom built the “2nd hero panel” electronics. I wasn’t really planning on a step-by-step as I made it, so I only have a few in-progress pics, the text write-up, and the finished product. I had some hiccups all through, but what project doesn’t… Also, please know that prior to embarking on this project, I’ve never done any woodworking or attempted anything with these skills. So it was a learning experience, and I’m sure others with more practice will have tips to do it better. Hopefully others find it useful! I’m absolutely thrilled with how it came out.
Reference:
I completed my Han in Carbonite build. I acquired the parts over late last year and early this year, and then worked on-and-off on weekends over the summer. All told, it took about 4 months from start to finish, with a decent gap as a friend custom built the “2nd hero panel” electronics. I wasn’t really planning on a step-by-step as I made it, so I only have a few in-progress pics, the text write-up, and the finished product. I had some hiccups all through, but what project doesn’t… Also, please know that prior to embarking on this project, I’ve never done any woodworking or attempted anything with these skills. So it was a learning experience, and I’m sure others with more practice will have tips to do it better. Hopefully others find it useful! I’m absolutely thrilled with how it came out.
Reference:
- I decided to go with an ESB HiC, based largely on in-movie appearance.
- I liked that the ESB edition has the angled frame, the hero panels on both sides, and appeared to have higher contrast between Han, the frame, and the panels.
- Stormrider’s HiC full front cast. This unfortunately arrived with some cracks and very thin spots.
- Stormrider’s HiC panels. These unfortunately arrived mostly damaged, both in shipping and with thin spots or holes in the molds, and the intended replacements also had mold issues.
- Stormrider was great to work with, and he did a wonderful job making sure everything worked out fairly with replacements and partial refunds. I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase from him again, as clearly he makes excellent products and I just had some bad luck with quality issues.
- Zenix’s 3D greeblies, with an extra Hero Panel set.
- Fettronic’s Hero Panel light set x 2
- Custom “2nd Hero Panel” light set via a personal friend, including 8 Digi-Key 1080-1103-ND yellow LEDs.
- Trooperbay panel decals
- Two 4’x8'x3/4” pine boards
- One 4’x8’x1/2” pine board
- Several 2’x2’x8’ pine boards
- Expanding foam
- 1/2” MDF
- 1/8” MDF
- 3.25 in. x 14 in. x 5 ft. Half Section Rectangular Stack Duct
- Tin snips
- 3"X2" ABS flush bushing x 4
- 1-1/4"X1/2" PVC bushing x 4
- Corrugated cardboard sign
- All-purpose spackle
- Staples vellum paper
- Staples binder with frosted plastic cover
- Staples envelope mail labels
- Boxcutter
- Gorilla glue, original
- Gorilla superglue
- Loctite superglue gel
- Loctite Power Grab all-purpose clear construction adhesive
- Wood screws of various lengths
- Wall Dog mounting screws
- Various clamps
- Rust-Oleum Flat Gray Filler Primer
- Rust-Oleum Metallic Matte Nickel
- Rust-Oleum Metallic Dark Steel
- Rust-Oleum Charcoal Gray
- Rust-Oleum Metallic Aluminum
- Rust-Oleum Metallic Chrome
- Rust-Oleum Metallic Silver
- Rust-Oleum Graphite Textured Metallic
- Ceramcoat Charcoal
- Folk Art Metallic Gold
- Folk Art Ink Spot blue
- Rub ’N Buff Silver Leaf
- (Plus like 10 other metallic grays I didn’t use…)
- Table saw
- Chop saw
- Jigsaw
- Router with roundover bit set
- Drill with multiple bits
- 5 piece carbon-teeth hole saw set
- I started with building out the frame. I cut the 4x8s down to size based on the blueprints posted here. The frame for Han had the top and sides cut at 4.5˚ angled in towards the board with the table saw. The top had all sides but the bottom cut at 4.5˚. The side panels had the portion joining the top panel and the Han frame cut at 4.5˚ angles, while the side joining the bottom panel and resting on the ground were cut at midline.
- Then I used the jigsaw to cut out the various holes in the top, bottom, and side panels and the large trapezoid in the frame for Han.
- To get the numerous rounded edges, I used the appropriate hole saw based on the needed radius of the various edges.
- I used the chop saw on the 2”x2"s to make 8” blocks, with a 4.5˚ angle past midline. I then used those as “feet” for the main frame that goes around Han. These were then Gorilla Glued and wood screwed into the side panels, spaced between the holes for the panels and at the top and bottom.
- I then cut off more of the 2”x2"s to make braces running between each of the “feet”. These were Gorilla Glued and wood screwed into place.
- The frame for Han was then laid flat on top of the “feet”. This worked out so the top and side panels came together at that 85.5˚ angle, while the bottom was 90˚.
- Then it was time for more Gorilla Glue between the various panels. I countersunk some wood screws through the frame for Han at the same time, and attached the Han frame. Each panel was clamped overnight.
- After everything was dry and secure, all of the borders of the frame were routered with a 1/2” roundover bit to give it a nice smooth edge. This was then sanded to be very smooth.
- The whole frame was sanded by hand until smooth and even throughout.
- Once the overall frame was done, I measured the Han rubber to the 1/2” pine board, and cut it to size. This worked out so the pine board plus the rubber was flush with the 3/4” frame at the highest points of the rubber.
- Some parts of the rubber were very thin, so there were large areas quite a bit below the wooden frame. I wasn’t sure how I was going to deal with that yet.
- I next marked where the very large open areas in the rubber (head, chest, hips, and thighs) were, and used the jigsaw to cut smaller areas into the 1/2” board.
- The Han rubber was mounted to the board with Gorilla Glue, and left clamped overnight.
- Next, I filled all those large areas with expanding foam. I made sure to only fill it about 50% and left it with the details facing down, suspended in air on two chairs.
- The foam expands A LOT, so this is key. But in the end, I had a nice, solid fill. I didn’t need to use screws to keep the rubber to the backing board.
- Despite trying to use gravity on my side (the foam expanded almost completely up towards the holes I cut out in the wood), the thin and cracked areas in the Han rubber let the foam through, including at Han’s right eye. I had to carve it down with the boxcutter to match the rubber.
- At this point, I laid the Han rubber under the wood frame that would border it. There were areas of the rubber past the frame’s edge, so that was all trimmed off with a boxcutter.
- Once cut to fit, I took spare 3/4” board and cut it to attach the Han rubber + backing 1/2” board to the 3/4” frame. More Gorilla Glue and wood screws to secure.
- There was a small gap at points between the rubber and backing wood and the wooden frame. I used the expanding foam to fill in the gaps.
- With the top built, I next moved on to the backing for all the panels.
- I traced each panel hole onto the 1/2” MDF, and then cut it out with the jigsaw.
- I next sanded down the tops of each MDF cut, so that I could place it inside the 3/4” pine frame in a way that would be 90˚ from the top. These were Loctite Power Grabbed into place.
- The 3 panels that were going to have electronics had a large hole saw cut placed in the middle of the MDF to allow passage of cables.
- The cuts in the top and bottom for the detailing was also put in place in a similar manner.
- I built the piping with the 2 sets of bushing, one glued inside the other.
- I built the vents by cutting down the corrugated signs into strips and Loctite Power Grabbing them into place.
and for reference: 
- It was time to tackle the uneven border between the rubber and the wooden frame.
- At first, I thought of trying the Elmer’s glue method that others had tried to build up layers of “carbonite" when using the rubber pieces instead of the full panel. This didn’t work, as gravity was just pulling the glue away from the border. Building up more and more glue over a few days led to areas that wouldn’t dry. It had the added effect of causing a weird reaction with the expanding foam along the border, which led to both further expansion and the foam absorbing the glue and melting.
- Next, I decided to use general spackle to essentially sculpt a new border. The idea was to make an additional area that was level with the wood all the way around, and then have a gradual slope in to the rubber in the areas where it was lower. I would then “push back” the painted border to beyond the wooden frame, so that there would be a level border between the two colors all the way around.
- I ended up also using the spackle to patch up the weird tears and bubbling in the rubber.
- With the main build prepped, time to starting tackling the final paints…
- This was a trial-and-error of primering a spare piece of pine and then spraying down every color I could find. I ended up with a lot of extra paint.
- To prep the area, I taped up plastic sheet to make walls and a floor for an 8’x8’ workspace in my garage that would capture any stray spray paint dust. I also used the respirator to minimize paint fume inhalation.
- Time to primer! The gray filler primer worked great to cover up the wood grain and even out all the various surfaces and textures with few full coats.
- I decided the outside of the frame should be the metallic dark steel. It was the only color I could find that would match the ESB criteria of nearly matching the carbonite color at some angles and light and in others being a dark reflective color.
and for reference: 
- The carbonite was painted matte nickel.
- I went back with a 10:1 water:charcoal acrylic mix, with a little dish soap mixed in to prevent beading, to give a wash. I used a very broad-based brush to cover the whole carbonite area.
- I then went back and used the Rub ’N Buff silver to highlight.
- The majority of the 3D-printed pieces were painted chrome.
- Prior to painting them chrome, the larger knob for each top hero panel was drilled hollow to fit the actual switch.
- The nipples were painted charcoal gray.
- The U-clips were painted graphite, with aluminum painted onto the screws.
- The frame for the “2nd hero panel” cutout on the right was painted aluminum, as were some of the pieces for the top hero panels on each side.
- The two buttons on the 2nd hero panel had their small central buttons painted gold, along with the one of the ring pieces for this panel.
- At this point, it was time to start on the panels themselves.
- Unfortunately, with the panel arriving in such a broken condition, it took quite a bit of time to clean out all the panels.
- It also required a lot of superglue to get them back whole.
- And then it took a lot of spackle sculpting to fill in all the thin areas and holes in the plastic.
- Once ready, the panels were all primered the same filler flat gray as the rest.
- The top hero panels on each side were painted silver.
- The rest of the panels were painted charcoal gray.
- Using thick work gloves and the tin snips, I cut apart the duct to make the metal backing for all the various panels.
- I then sanded the edges of all the metal pieces, and used superglue and clamps to secure the metal to the plastic panels.
- For the hero panels, I drilled holes for all the LED lights and the switches in the metal.
- The smaller of the two knobs on each hero panel had a central white sticker made from a piece of envelope label paper I printed the circle on and then cut out.
- The plastic with the Fettronics LEDs were sanded down to fit the panels, and then taken apart so it was only the plastic. I then painted them blue, let them dry, and put them back together.
- The electronics were installed in the top hero panels with superglue.
- I made sure there was enough space with the holes drilled for the switch mechanisms to secure the nut and washer properly.
- The switches glued inside the knobs still worked to change the light sequences.
- I used took apart the Staples binder, to cut out frosted plastic squares. I then printed the pale gray/yellow grid onto vellum paper, and secured that behind the plastic.
- I had to use trial-and-error to figure out where to best secure the green LED to light this panel well.
- I did try the “plastic bubble filled with hot glue” method I’ve seen done by others to diffuse the green LED light. In the end, I liked the look without the light being diffused more.
- I built the rest of the panels based on reference pictures from ESB and the traveling Smithsonian show. I used the Loctite superglue gel, as it could secure the small plastic pieces easier.
Left (top to bottom):
Right (top to bottom):
- I had a friend make the 2nd hero panel electronics for me, with the yellow LEDs set to alternate.
- I printed the dot pattern on a piece of transparency paper
- I printed the dot pattern on a piece of transparency paper
- The panels were then installed on the MDF with Loctite Power Grab.
- The main build is done!
and for reference:
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