Cobra 427

Just hang on - IT WILL BE DONE! In the meantime I'll have to go to Lowes to see if they have anything that I can cut into spherical shapes for the R2-D2, and hyperdrive actuator. The shapes that I WAS going to use I just found out last week are too big, and now I need to make a smaller version to fit properly to scale.  I don't want to clutter this thread with a bunch of picutures of half finished junk only to make you wait a long time looking at it wondering if there will ever be a light at the end of the tunnel! Stay tuned - I hate having to leave post after post with nothing to show, but know that this is going on behind the scenes although I haven't posted pictures yet. There WILL be a light at the end of the tunnel! Thank you for reading.

Hey bro... give me the dimensions you need and I'll make ya a 3D print of R2 for ya so he'd be perfect!

I'd LOVE that!!! If you would do this for me it would be wonderful, and I'd be more than happy to return the favour. Um... The width of this is 3" 11/16, but the actual R2s' were a bit wider than the hyperdrive actuator strip on the original models. However, this one(R2 unit) is the same width as the strip itself . 3"11/16 from one side to the other which according to the correct measurements (of the original model) would normally be right. I looked, but nothing comes close to this size. I'd have to cut, and turn this from wood to get it right, but I no longer have access to a lathe to do this with, and nothing to turn anyway!

I started making an R2-D2 model kit years ago, but it's just a little too big (3" inches around -body and head) for this kit with the legs attached - it's the correct size for the scale, but on the four foot prototype the R2 unit on it is slightly undersized to fit in the cutout for the hyperdrive strip. The arms on the one I have would stick out of the sides as per the originals, but some of the detail of this particular kit are different since they couldn't find models of the kind in this scale. Meaning that they made R2s arms fit inside the entire strip surface instead of sticking out on the sides ever so slightly.

 

I can make resin copies of parts, only when I can FIND something to make them from! I hoped to offer a full scale version, and a half version of R2 for display purposes. I'll offer this in a landed form since I've made landing gear for this, but I forgot to take any pictures of them so far. Either way, Iif you need my personal information just send me a P.M. and we can figure out the rest. Here're a couple photos so that you can  see what I'm talking about. Click on each photo to see them bigger. Click on again once more to supersize them for a better view.

 

Here you can see that R2s legs stick out a little farther than on the four footer. <- look a hypertext link!!! How stupid.

~ Cobra Chris

No problem... sent ya a couple of PMs but no response... anyway... I could make a full size droid or just the upper torso and to any scale you want.  If you want just the upper torso for mounting in the back, just lemme know the size of the opening and how much of the torso you want... I'm thinking just below the upper leg joint hole would be a a good cutoff point.  So basically here's where I'm at... I could cut him in half, just below the upper leg joint and make it 3.6875 inches (3" 11/16) wide from the side of the leg to the side of the leg... that would mean you'd have to make the hole a bit wider... or... I could drop the width down to 3.5 inches so you don't have to worry about changing the width of the hole, and that would give you .09375 inches to play with on either side and around him.  A tight fit, but worth it.  Now... if you want the full droid, you gotta remember that the feet are bigger then the arms, and would probably have to mount him from up underneath and push him thru the hole.  Either way, just let me know and I'll get to work on him ASAP!

God bless you, Sir! I'm sorry I didn't reply - I was editing this for clarity. What I need is a droid 3" 11/16 wide the same as the width of the strip. I can cut him in half as I want to offer both versions - a whole R2, and half for landed, and in flight versions. I just can't find anything that will allow me to make even a rough draft of the body shape, and the closest I could find were two globe halves from Joann fabrics in 3" inch diameter which would fit this perfectly were it not for the fact that the legs would be too wide, and I want this to look exactly like the four foot version. I'll offer an alternate hyperdrive actuator/motivator strip that will look exactly like the original ILM models for the purists that want the look. This way they won't have to fabricate it themselves. Back to our original topic: I just need a basic form that will fit into the parameters decided by the original modelers. The forum keeps cutting off the ends of my sentences when I post, and I'll send them an email about it later. In the meantime, if you could print this out for me, and all I would have to do is mould, then cast a resin copy of it I would be very grateful for it! Maybe we can work something out if need be?

~ Cobra Chris

Alright... when scaled to where the shoulders are exactly 3" 11/16 wide the feet are 4.183 inches from outer foot side to outer foot side and the whole droid ends up being about 6.199" inches tall total.  That sound about right?

You'd be correct, Sir! The R2 unit I started to make as a model was just a tiny bit taller than this. It's actual scale is 1/6th, and just fractionally bigger! But this will be close enough without having to be too fussy over few fractions of an inch. If those guys (Ira Keeler, and Mike Fulmer) had just done it the way it was on the smaller X-wings then it wouldn't be so hard to get the exact specs.

 

Maaannn........I'm just salivating over those R2 renderings!!! I can't stop looking at it, and everytime I do it makes me smile! I could do the same thing with real world materials, but it would take me quite a LONG time. There are just so many details to make, and glue together that I'd have to make resin copies to add to the backside as well as the front. I'm really LOVING that see-through look! I wish I could do what you do with this stuff!

How does this work for you?  I hallowed out the inside so you can fit fibers or LEDs as well!

I sent ya the link in a PM!  Lemme know if that works for ya!

I haven't had the chance yet. I'm reworking the fuselage bottom around the cockpit area since I made it a little too thick. That's OK because I can always remove wood, but putting it back is a different story! I just hope that I have enough damned wood to finish this thing! This stuff is EXPENSIVE now! I remember when a 6"x1/16"x36" board used to cost a little over a dollar. Now it's over three and a half- and THAT was with TAX! I had to figure both the surface area, and measurements of the forms to make this complete, but with the correct shape. This will be almost finished today. The top half of the fuselage will hopefully be at least started if not finished today as well. Then I'll take photos, and post them. The internal forms will need to be done first, so slow and steady wins the race! So far nothing uneventful to worry about.

 

~ Cobra Chris

UGH!!! Minor setback after another!! Right now the fuselage exists, but only the bottom half is glued together. It was piece together from 3/32" - 1/16", and 1/32" inch thick balsa sheet. The guy who bought these for me at the time bought so many different sizes although I only need one, but bless his heart he bought them because my local hobby shop didn't have any in the size I needed at the time. He paid for it, including shipping! The bottom looks like someone shot a boat full of holes - it's patched all over in places from where I've had to remove inside supports, and misaligned sides. I've had to glue panels inside to reinforce the bottom which is only 1/32" of an inch thick. I need to reinforce this with another 1/32" thick piece all over. I have most of the forms done, and soon the top half will take place in one piece. I have to readjust the canopy shape, and resize it correctly to the size of this fuselage plans. I had to measure twice to ensure that the fuselage in the back is correct according to the original plans. Just give me another couple days to finish up.

I've had another addition to the family - four more kittens in addition the the two that I saved last year when their mother abandoned them. We had the male kitty neutered, but TOO LATE - he got his sister pregnant, but we didn't know at the time. She delivered the first one around 6:36 yesterday - the second, and third ones were about half an hour later and the fourth one came along about ten minutes later. Unfortunately we lost two of them as they were still born. These two were the last ones to be born, but one at 12:36 when we thought that she was done delivering. One more came along about 1:30 and it was dead too. They were one black and one grey tiger striped. The surviving ones are yellow tiger striped, grey tiger striped, calico, and one yellow tiger striped just like his daddy. He is the third generation tiger striped kitty like his daddy.

The mommy kitty keeps getting up everytime I get up as if she needs my help. If she can't see me sitting in my chair - she comes looking for me since I made a box for to lay in. This is beside a cat tower that she originally had them in. It was small, but TOO small for her to lay on her side, and feed them let alone sleep in with them. It sits in the corner of the living room just behind the old ladys' chair. I took a big box that Kansas City steaks came in, and laid it on its' side then taped the flaps so that it won't fall in on itself as she lays down in it. Then I put a blanket in it so that they could have a warm soft spot to lay down with her, and an old towel beside it so that if they should fall out, or wander away that they don't lay on the cold hard floor! VERY CUTE nonetheless!

I'm just not looking forward to having to look down before I step, and having tiny little claws dig into my flesh crawling their way up my pants, shirt, etc. to get my attention. Not to mention all the other things that kittens do. Plus having to look for the things that they find fascinating to play with, and never finding them until I move the refrigerator, or stove, or other things that they bat stuff under. More drama to add to the drama that I'm already facing! Well, I'll keep you all up on what's going on as it develops. Pictures will be forth coming as soon as I have an actual fuselage in a recognisable form. Stay tuned - this will be an achievement like no other that I've done before.

~ Cobra Chris

UGHHH!! Again! I think I'll have to remeasure my measurements! My fuselage might be off by a little bit because the model parts don't fit into the hyperdrive motivator strip as I originally thought. This means a rework of the inner forms to the correct shape. More of the same - go forwards to go backwards. Now I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing!  I've done this for years, but by the way the bottom half of the fuselage form looks you wouldn't know it!  As soon as I get this worked out, and the parts cut, and glued then - THEN I'll post pictures of the basic form. I might not have enough polystyrene to cover both the inside, and out so I'll have to go as far as I can until I can get another sheet of it. Stay tuned - this is about to get messy!

~ Cobra Chris

ACK, I know what you mean. I don't care how hard or tedoius something is, it doesn't bother me. But re-doing something over, for some reason it really burns me out. I hate pulling things apart and re-doing them.

Well it's beem three weeks, and running without realising that I'm wasting my time with balsa - I had a few pieces CRUSH right in my hand while I was cutting, sanding, and shaping it!! GRRR.......!!!!  This is why I haven't gotten anywhere, and why I've been dragging my feet with this project even after working on it for six years since it first started. MANY things have come, and gone including a loved one dying, and a pet dying in the same year (last year) a few life style changes that made it worse, and now I have more on my plate as my grandmother is in the hospital, and we don't know if she'll live.

I STILL have another project after this that needs to be finished, and other projects for friends that haven't been finished as they were started, but money, and tooling have made it hard to get any of these things finished completely. One huge problem is NOWHERE TO WORK ....and MONEY!! It's going to take at least ONE GALLON to make the top half of each fuselage in resin! That means two gallons for a full fuselage, and at least one for the wings, and thirty two ounces for the vault, and hyperdrive and laser canon bodies which will be hollow along with the tiny parts that will have to be cast separately as well as the nosecone, after burners, and engine housings. Landing gear won't take much, but everything else will take so very much resin. I won't worry so much about the silicone rubber it will take to mould since I can control its' application, and ecapsulation of the parts with reduction shapes so that it won't take more than truly necessary. I figure with at least the sale of ONE of these I can break even - almost. It will take two of these to make any money back. I'm not worried so much about that because I'm only selling these to fill a hole that no one else will! Plus I need money for a new computer so this will help a lot! Moreso I'm doing this to fill a need for the demand for this kit which no one has come forth with yet. But it's funny how I mentioned it, and no everyone either starts building one, and doesn't finish, or they say that they want one!

Any way, I'm figuring out where I went wrong which is only incrimental, but crucial to getting this right. The rear end where the FlakPanzer Gepard Tamiya kit that they used is what I'm using, but the measurement for the hyperdrive edge is where the straps are, and mine went to the outside of the fenders which is NOW too wide! This means I'll have to redo the R2 figure to a slightly smaller size. Along with using balsa mastering this kit has been a nightmare to do, and now I have had to take all the time I was hoping to use to build up the top half of the fuselage has gone towards fixing my mistakes! I filled the holes in the fuselage last night where I put patches inside last week. The outside bottom of the fuselage is where these holes are, and I filled them with woodfiller so that I could glue sheet balsa over them to thicken it. This will make a full skin so that glue will have something to adhere to.

I have to measure out the bottom of the fuselage, and where the top half will join, and figure out where the reinforcement bars will go, and cut my forms very carefully so that I don't have to keep cutting, and recutting as I have been using scrap to do. I went through the entire bottom half yesterday, and cut all the reinforcement bars so that this will withstand the weight of the silicone rubber without deforming, or having high, and low spots. The bottom of the fuselage is like a boat - it has a slightly convex shape that I have to sand into the formers so that it will align correctly once moulded, and cast. This is why I haven't shown anything since there is so very little to show that I feel comfortable with. I'll take pictures as this progresses, then post them (all at the same time) so that others will learn from my mistakes as how to avoid them! Please be patient as I also have to figure out the correct shapes of the inner mounts for each fuselage form along its length. This will be necessary to ensure the correct shape once fitted together with the bottom half. This IS happening albeit behing closed doors for the moment. I hate having to keep posting without photos, but I promise that what I'll have to offer later will be worth the wait, and it make the fuselage look easy! Please stay tuned for more updates - hopefully with pictures.

 

~ Cobra Chris

OK. Here's  the main problem I'm having at the moment - it's where the tank body meets the top of the fuselage, and hyperdrive motivator/actuator on this edge. Where the green arrows are shows what I mean. The red arrows show where the sides, or rather the edges of the tank fenders are. These are highlighted by blue lines. I made the measurements from the edge of the tank bodys' fenders instead of the engine riser edges which is where this is cut off. This isn't the entire body shell. It's about 3/4" of an inch shorter than the Gepard is straight out of the box. This was done to replicate the look of the smaller '75 models for the original Star Wars movie. I'll have to make up for this difference between the two surfaces to make the fuselage plans come out to the correct specifications.

~ Cobra Chris

Hey bro.... I hate to ask but why are you using balsa wood when plastic styrene sheets are so much easier to work with?  I mean you can go and get a few FOR SALE signs for under $5 and use them for the bulk of the work instead of balsa wood.  Just my observation.

As LrdSatyr said why not build the whole thing out of plastic? 

If you want to use wood you might be better off using something like basswood or pine. The only real reason I know of to use balsa is if you're aiming for the lightest possible weight. 

Honestly? I thought that it would be a little bit more durable than thin sheets of polystyrene which you can get a six foot by almost four foot wide sheet from us plastic. I also thought that it would be cheaper, but I WAS WRONG!! It's $7.12 for a sheet. Plus wood is more absorbant and it can be glued more permanently than polystyrene which breaks apart with brittle superglue if you bump it a little too hard. I'm in it for the long haul now - I can't get out of this, so I'll have to do the best that I can with what I've got. I'll seal this in polystyrene sheet inside when I finish skinning it on the outside. It'll be durable by the time I have to do this it's just not very strong at the moment since it's so thin in places.

I need 3/32" thick balsa, and I have very little of that so I'll have to double up what I have made so far with 1/32" pieces so that this will come out the way I want it to be, and have a uniform thickness. I'm used to balsa when it comes to big models since the original Millenium Falcon was made from soft white pine, and drilled with holes to save weight, then covered with acrylic sheet. I just figured that it would've been easier to build which it would have if all the wood pieces were the same thickness. I'll need to change to a sharp blade now since the one I've been using is now tearing the wood instead of cutting it. : (  Next: making the armature. As I said before - STAY TUNED, this is messy, and it shows no signs of being anything other for the moment. I'll get it - it's just going to take a little longer than I originally thought!

 

~ Cobra Chris

Whoops hope I didn't come off the wrong way there. I wouldn't presume to tell you how to build your own model, if I did my apologies. 

Good luck! 

Although I will say with all the issues you're going though you might want to grab a cheap simple kit to build just to decompress! 

Cobra 427

Honestly? I thought that it would be a little bit more durable than thin sheets of polystyrene which you can get a six foot by almost four foot wide sheet from us plastic. I also thought that it would be cheaper, but I WAS WRONG!! It's $7.12 for a sheet. Plus wood is more absorbant and it can be glued more permanently than polystyrene which breaks apart with brittle superglue if you bump it a little too hard. I'm in it for the long haul now - I can't get out of this, so I'll have to do the best that I can with what I've got. I'll seal this in polystyrene sheet inside when I finish skinning it on the outside. It'll be durable by the time I have to do this it's just not very strong at the moment since it's so thin in places.

Yeah... I used to do alot of wood work myself, and even thou it's easier to work with sometimes, it's also alot more expensive... because you gotta think about the work you have to put into to to get it to look like plastic... you're talking about sealer, then filler, then sanding and filling and sanding and filling.  One sheet of styrene would have eliminated about 10 steps and not as much filler or sanding to get to look right! :)  Just my observation bro!  I'll be watching your progress my friend! :)

Well, gentlemen I thought that this was a good idea as I've used balsa for over thirty - fourty years. Mind you that when I started this project that this was six years ago, and the only thing that I could think of was balsa since it was in such plentiflul supply locally. I can get plastic in sheets about 0.20" thick all the way to 0.125" thick, but I was thinking that it's harder to cut plastic into long pieces without a little bit of warping, and having to glue reinforcements into first before I could do any assembly. IF I had put more thought into the whole thing I would've bought much thicker plastic, but what I got was 0.40", and 0.20" inch thick sheets as I needed them for detail panels. It would be easier to make it from something that I don't have to worry about this with. However you look at it I got the bottom half done, but now I have to concentrate on the top half.

I did some measurements today, and the hyperdrive strip is 3/4" of an inch too wide, so now I'll have to redo the rest of my original plans, and resize this. It's a good thing that I didn't make all those parts yet - they all would've been too big to use! I found out that this is NOT 3 11/16" wide, but rather it's 2 5/8" from side to side making all the parts that I would have to make a lot smaller which is good to save materials, but it's going to make my R2 design smaller now as well - 1 7/8" diameter body. This means that I can't use the shapeways design you made for me Lord, so I'll have to see if I can make it from another source, or have you rework this piece to the new dimensions which I'd hate to. Just give me a couple days to research this in everyday items for sale to the public. Here we go again - hang on, it's going be a bumpy, and messy ride!

 

~ Cobra Chris

Hey Cobra, good to see you..ive looked at this a few times in the last couple days..I still find it hard to comment...no words for your dedication and planning! Wow!!is all I can come up with..just incrediblr!!! Keep it up !

No problem with the resizing... just gimme the dimensions you need the whole thing to be wide (with the top of the legs) and I can scale it to whatever size you need my friend!  No big deal!

Stern0

Hey Cobra, good to see you..ive looked at this a few times in the last couple days..I still find it hard to comment...no words for your dedication and planning! Wow!!is all I can come up with..just incrediblr!!! Keep it up !

 

Thank you, Sir. Coming from that means a lot! After seeing your builds I'm embarrased to even post anything here without pictures of something awesome! I've seen the things you guys have made, and I hope that I can get back to this since my Grandma died last thursday. The funeral is tomorrow. Wednesday I'll get back on this full speed ahead. I hoped to have this done by now, but life, and other things getting in the way have slowed it to a stop. It's been back and forward with breaking things off, and putting thing in the wrong place, or the wrong shape or thickness, etc. Having to go back over and use new materials when it's not necessary, but out of mis-measuring, or lack of anything to trace from to get the overall dimensions except for model kit parts makes for a much more tedious job than is truly necessary! Cutting, and recutting balsa only to glue it back together, or use a new piece is getting old!I think I have the final dimensions down for the main fuselage form in the back as this will determine the rest of it will be once assembled with the other parts that have the basic shape of the X-wing. Everything else will be scaled to that.

This HAS TO BE PERFECT! I will expect nothing less! This will be a one shot deal - once done, then done forever. There will be no re-dos' or secondary versions. This is why I'm taking my time with it instead of posting a bunch of pictures of something that will be either scrapped, or modified later. I can skip all that with as few photos in between which aren't necessary to get the idea of how to do this for the other members watching this thread. I'd rather be meticulous about what I'm doing now than build it wrong and regret it later! Thank you all for watching patiently, and sharing your thoughts Gamera, and everyone else. Id rather you did this than remain silent making me feel as though I'm talking to myself. It helps to gain insight into what other options I have. Just give me a couple more days to recover from my loss as much as I can. I need a distraction from, but I need time to mourn first. Afterwards I'll submerse myself in my work. Thank you all again for your participation, and for your patience.

 

~ Cobra Chris

Sorry to hear about your grandma chris, mine more or less raised me and I lost her 2 years ago. Fortunately she lived to 105! I feel your loss , but I know you will bounce back soon...you must..you have one hell of a project in the works! Again, keep on doing what you do...its crazy , off the rails awesome!

Sorry to hear about your grandmom here too. Honestly I think one of the worst things about getting old is losing all those people you think will be around forever when you're a kid...

Thank you, Gentlemen. It means a lot to me to hear some words of comfort although few, and sweet.  You never think about the things that you did, and the way you felt being around the ones you love until they're gone. Memories flooding in of what we shared while we could, and the things that are now no longer, and will never be again. With the sad state of the union that it is now, and nothing seeming to get any better she was a beacon of light that my own mother couldn't be. Out of the few grandchildren she had (four) I was the closest to her. She'll always be close to my heart. The pain still burns as I now know that I cannot share with her any more time, or things that we loved, or liked together. Now if only the cat will stop bringing me her tiny babies from the box I made for her.....

 

~ Cobra Chris

Sorry to hear about your Grandma bro... I know its rough!

Cobra - 

ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL SIR! Outstanding scratch building skills and just one amazing build. Bravo Sir, Bravo 

Thank you, Sir. Work resuming today. Next week is going to busy, and hectic. I probably won't be on then, so I'm going to tell you all that I'll be on hiatus until further notice. I just don't want this thread to be buried again. Just know that all is going on behind the scenes although I have not posted pictures in over a month. This IS happening! It'll just be a while before I have anything worthwhile to show. Stay tuned.

 

~ Cobra Chris

Finally just skimmed through this build Chris.  Pictures are worth a thousand words and only needed to read some of the posts around the photos to get the ghist of what you were doing.

I might suggest that if you build with clear acrylic sheet, that you try to obtain some WeldOn3.  It is a solvent made especially for welding clear acrylic without crazing the surface or joint.  The joints end up quite strong in fact.  I would suggest doing a lot of test fitting before gluing though.

WeldOn3 is mostly like Tenax7 and dries quite fast.  I buy a 16oz pint can from a plastics distributor for $12 and with care it has lasted for about 4 or 5 years and included some large plastic assemblies as well as smaller stuff.  It also welds ABS and styrene.  I have been using it on the ABS parts of my Falcon build and have had no problems with parts falling off.  I have found though that while it bonds Styrene to ABS fairly well, I have been able to remove said styrene parts with a sharp knife without too much difficulty.  I doubt that those parts would have ever fallen off though.

Keep up the good work!