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T- 800 Terminator

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  • Member since
    September 2009
Posted by Cobra 427 on Monday, March 22, 2010 9:32 PM

The skin, and blood didn't look gory enough, so I had to do over again. It was so dark by the time it dried that he looked necrotic (dead) He looks a little orange right now, but I'm going to wait until it cures for a few days. The colour in the photos is always a shade brighter for some reason, but this is only when I use the flash.


I hope you'll like this too.

  

I like wooden handles. Unfortuntely, this wouldn't be accurate if I used it. This is 0.20" of an inch thick.


 

 

I was trying to decide if I should go with the original handle, which was smooth, or the pistol grip. I personally wanted to use the wood with the pistol grip, bit I couldn't make it look good on any scale!


 

 

Making grenade heads. I turned these on the cordless drill while shaping them with a file. I left the tool marks on them for a more realistic look. Those are buttermilk biscuits in the clear container that I baked the day before yesterday.


 
The infancy of a rocket launcher, or laser gun  is what this looks like, but right now I'm just test fitting the handle. I didn't take a picture of this yet, but the handle is curved to match the body of the grenade tube. This isn't made up with woodfiller, or superglue. I dragged a small drill bit across the top of this to make a tiny trench. Then I used bigger, and bigger drill bits to widen it until I had about the correct size. Then, I wrapped 220 grit sandpaper around the tube,and drew it across the top of the handle to make the final semi curcular shape. This makes it fit perfectly. I drilled a hole in it for a 1/8" in diameter aluminum tube. It fit so tight that glue was uneccessary, or possible to get into the hole with the tube in it.  You can see the hole in the picture above.

 
 

 


A close up of the handle. This is after I reworked it so that all the finger slots would match.  This pistol grip handle is what you see on the real thing. I was going to leave this smooth until I realised that is wasn't. This handle is a two part assembly with the base glued, and the seam between the two filled with Elmers' wood filler. I still have to finish smoothing this out.
 


This shot was taken to show that there is a stable mounting for this handle. This fit inside so tight, that it went into the hole just like the handle, nice and tight. I'll glue this to the tube anyway,so that it will be permanent. I'll make the rest of the cylinders, and the grenades this afternoon. Arnie has to dry anyway, so there's no hurry to get him glued together yet. I'll have to drill a hole in his right hand for the shotgun. This gun will be finished this afternoon. I'll paint it tomorrow,as there are a lot of tight spaces,and a couple of modifications that need to be addressed before this can happen.


Maybe a picture of a squirrel playing a harmonica will make you feel better?

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2009
Posted by Cobra 427 on Monday, March 22, 2010 9:27 PM

                            KABOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

      WHAT THE F*!@ WAS  THAT?!?!?!?!  Take a look, and see.

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I had to repaint the entire figure today,except the jacket. This is all latex based paint, and it all turned darker as it dried. It was too dark, and made everything look drab. As it dried more,and more - it looked far too dark,and it made Arnie look necrotic (dead). There was no way in hell I could just leave it looking so amaturish, especially since I'm a professional modeler! I was trying to give him a slight suntan, but this dried in a gray shade. It looked correct in the daylight,but once this dried it was easy to see that it was all wrong! This acrylic/latex is good,but it changes colour once it dries. The longer the cure - the darker the colour until after the first 24 hours. After that you can see what hue it will be permanently. You can see in the previous photos that Arnie has a pistol type grip in his right hand. Why this didn't come with a gun is a mystery.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 
For some damn reason my camera makes the colours look a shade,or two brighter than what they really are in person! (insert pissed off face here) The skin,blood,hair,and shirt are all darker than this in person. My camera makes things in incandescent light turn an eerie yellow, and anything with a flash look a little too bright. I've adjusted this until I'm blue in the face,but it doesn't help - the lighting has to be perfect,and bright enough to see the subject by. I worked four hours repainting this,and making sure that the colours were perfect with bright natural, and artificial light to ensure a perfect match. The blood on this is darker where it's supposed to be dry, and lighter where it's still wet. I know - I've seen a lot of horrible accidents in my time! I applied clear gloss to the wounds,and to his left eye to make them have the wet gooey look. Every colour of this figure is more pronounced with the flash than it is in all actuality! The silver parts are all that need attention now to be accurate.


 

 

 

The beginning of a grenade launcher.

Maybe a picture of a squirrel playing a harmonica will make you feel better?

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2009
Posted by Cobra 427 on Monday, March 22, 2010 9:25 PM

This is the gun that Arnold had at the end of T2 when he was in the steel mill. I think I'll make a grenade launcher for this too. I have a lot of aluminum,and brass tubing that needs to be used for something. 

 


 

 


This is the handgrip with the original plastic version that I was going to use. I figured that I've gone this far to ensure a perfectly satisfactory build, that I might was well go all the way.

This is the handgrip after being sprayed with five coats of lacquer. Before that was applied, I rubbed it with Minwax old honey maple stain. After applying the stain,which is polyurethane based, I let it dry. This seals up the wood, and keeps any further finish from penetrating the woodgrain.

  After the fifth layer of lacquer, I rubbed this with rubbing compound to smooth it a little. Then after washing the residue off, I sprayed it with one last coat to restore the shine this should have.  This has a beautiful finish despite the poor quality of the photos. This is why I wanted to use real wood instead of plastic, as only it has the irredescence that reflects in light. You can't get that from paint!

I see that this looks like there's finish missing on the bottom right corner of this, but that's just light glare. This finish is solid all the way around. I didn't sand on this with anything other than 600 grit wet-or-dry paper. This didn't sand through, as the finish was to rubbery, and soft for a paper this soft to burn through. I did polish this with my bare fingers rubbing the lacquer until it was dull, but soft. This gave it a smooth finish. I wanted to give it a brighter shine, so I sprayed it with one more coat. This made it perfect. I waited five minutes before spraying again so this made it so it wouldn't run. I'm pleased with this, but it looks off now with the rest of the parts being black.

 

Maybe a picture of a squirrel playing a harmonica will make you feel better?

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2009
Posted by Cobra 427 on Monday, March 22, 2010 9:23 PM

Here are some better pictures of Arnie. I'm sorry that I didn't get around to posting these, but the shotgun took all afternoon. I had a lot of work to do, and redo. Shopping took up most of the morning, so this shot down the rest of the day - pun intended.

 


You can just barely see a shotgun handle in Arnies' hand.

 

I figured that this should have a real wooden handgrip. This is cherry.  This was cut from a triangular scrap left over from when we used to make guitars in my friends' garage.

 

This is to see what it'll look like. I was going to use alder,but it's grain is too subdued. This is what guitar makers use for opaque finishes.  Cherry was much better suited for this project, as it looks more in scale, and it has better grain.

 

I figured that if I'm going to use real wood that I might as well use real metal for the breach. The plastic just looked terrible after looking at it for about two minutes. I didn't realise that this was in the wrong position 'til after I had glued it. I guess that was a "happy Bob Ross accident". It led to me carving out the inside, and redoing it until it looked right.

 


The beginnings of a shotgun.  This is still wrong.  I'm making this because the kit had some pieces missing from it, this was one of them.

 


This is the start of getting it right. The pin sticking out of the "body" is a pin that I drilled a hole for, so that this will be reinforced.


 

This is right before I realised that the barrel is too long. I of course, had to cut it, and the handgrip down to look like a sawed off shotgun.


This is the handgrip after I applied Minwax brand old honey maple stain to it. This is only one coat. This was more than plenty for the correct hue. I've since lacquered this with five separate coats, and hand polished it. I then sprayed it one more time to give it that classic shotgun look. I'll post photos of this when I can, as I still need to go to the store, and buy some gloss black paint for the rest of the gun.

Maybe a picture of a squirrel playing a harmonica will make you feel better?

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2009
Posted by Cobra 427 on Monday, March 22, 2010 9:21 PM

OK,here's the latest that I've done so far. 

I worked on this all afternoon,and I'm about done. This didn't take as long as I thought it would,which is a good thing because, I need to finish another project that has been on the backburner for some time now,and I NEED to get this back to its' owner. All the other projects will be easy compared to it. I still need to add some gooey yumminess to the chest,and face in the deep flesh areas to give it the wet look that blood has to it before it dries. I'll have to fabricate a shotgun,and the belt ends for this, as these didn't come in the box,so I'll make them for Roy (Coffee Addict) at no extra charge. Otherwise,this is mostly done. I'm not going to leave any descriptions,just photos for tonight. Enjoy!


Maybe a picture of a squirrel playing a harmonica will make you feel better?

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2009
T- 800 Terminator
Posted by Cobra 427 on Monday, March 22, 2010 9:19 PM

This is a commision that I'm doing for a member of another forum. This has taken me away from my X-wing build, but this is what I do to pay the bills now. I copied, and pasted this from www.studioscalemodelers.com


This is a project that I'm doing for Coffee Addict. This is the T-800 Terminator build that I was consigned to do. Right now this is only in primer,and the special paint to emulate leather. THIS IS NOT REGULAR PAINT!   This is specially formulated to look like leather,but it's very difficult to achieve, as this requires a lot of finesse to make it look realistic. I had to buy special rubbing compound to use on this before the paint cured so that it doesn't polish it to a gloss finish. This is a very special finish that required a thicker paint to make this effect,and make it look convincing. This is supposed to wrinkle,but it only does this in thick layers. I wanted it to have the uneven,but supple appearance of leather,and not shiny gloss, or flat black as many models like this I've seen so far have been painted in the pictures on their boxes.

 


This is,and the next two photos are of this in the primer stage. This has been masked in preparation for paint.


 


 


This is after being freshly sprayed with the leather paint. It stays tacky for two hours after being applied,and this finish stays bright, and glossy like this when dry. I still had to dull this down at this time.


 

 

 

 

This is after the first treatment of rubbing compound to give it this look.


 


Forgive the blurriness, I was trying to show that this is more leather-like after the second treatment. If you rub too hard it starts to polish the paint instead of dulling it.


The sunlight makes this look shinier than it really is in person.


 


Being all black prevents me from actully taking good photos of the details this has.


 

What I used to create this effect. It's formulated to wrinkle with successive coats,but I'm using it for another purpose. I'll get shots of this will the wrinkle effect when I get more photos of this figure.  I just needed a paint that was thick enough for me to spray in a thin layer,and still be durable enough to rub on without going through to the plastic under the primer. This was very difficult to do. It's thick binder is what allowed me to do this finish.


 

 

Arnold with primer and lightly weathered jacket. I like this look,as this is what classic biker jackets looked like back in the 50s'  - smooth feel without a lot of vein lines all over it. The gray isn't nearly as intense in person as it is in the photos. I have a friend that used to ride all the time,and this is what his jacket looked like after riding for a week,or two.

 
 


The pants look a little too shiny in person,so I'll have to dull them down a little more around the thighs. I want the true leather look,and not vinyl.

 
 

 

The back of the legs look really shiny,but in artificial,and natural light, they look correct,and not bright and glaring.

 


One more shot from the front. The gray powdery substance is only rubbing compound that I didn't wash completely off. It's very difficult to remove this without polishing the surrounding paint. Remember people, he was riding around the desert of California, and the sewer drainage ditches,as well as the steel mill before buying it in the smelter. Steel mills are very dirty places with the slag,and metal contaminants flying through the air all the time.  I might remove a little more of this,then take a picture to see how the two differences compare. Whichever one looks more realistic is the one I'll go with.  I feel that this weathering gives it a more realistic, and used look,especially since the Terminator robots don't do laundry,or dry cleaning.

Thanks for looking!

We now return you to our regular program. ~ Cobra Chris/forums/t/119039.aspx

Maybe a picture of a squirrel playing a harmonica will make you feel better?

 

 

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