"Looks good to me Bakster, you're a braver man than I for tackling all that clear canopy. I hate clear parts"

Yeah Gam. I am not a fan either. It is danger at every turn.

"It was pretty entertaining and I hope they did more with Smith and West working together. It was fun watching them bicker and snipe at each other while trying to work as a team."

You are enticing me to watch the show, Gam. Oh the pain.

"Then tonight in 'The Golden Man' episode Judy gets trapped in a mine field with exploding beach balls as mines. "

That is some stellar writing there, Gam. Exploding beachballs... that is amazing stuff. 

"Well, if nothing else, it looks good right now."

I should stop while I am ahead! Lol.

"The hard part gets to be whether you hit that wall, of "It could look better, I ought to rip it out" versus, "I'm tired, and it's good enough."

So true! Lol. I am not quite there yet but getting close. Robot is screaming, Danger! Danger!

"On the clear parts issue, I hear Gam's "pain."

Ditto.

"That they moulded this that well at all is flat-out amazing."

Also, so true. And will it survive the yet, long build journey, is the question. Tons of masking to do on this thing. And that does not include fitting the curtains and some floodlight wiring. Ah...but its the journey!!!

"Were this "to scale" quarter-inch tempered glass would be 0.007" (around 0.18mm) thick, so, the only real option if the casting wer flawed would be to try and vac-form some 0.005 clear sheet--which would be a different nite-mare.  (If one all too close to hacking the 'glass' bits out leaving only the frame, and using super-fine clear sheet to infill the remaining frames--taking a boat up the Congo to drag old Col Kurtz out by his ear sounds far more sensible.)"

I'd guess vac-form might offer the best option, if so inclined.  I imagine the frame option a true horror show.

"The horror the horror"

Apocalypse Now...

Bakster

Not having done this before I am not sure if all this effort is worth it.

Well, if nothing else, it looks good right now.

The hard part gets to be whether you hit that wall, of "It could look better, I ought to rip it out" versus, "I'm tired, and it's good enough."

You simply cannot model things and not wind up between that rock and hard place.  (This can apply to non-modeling life, too, sad to say.)

On the clear parts issue, I hear Gam's "pain."

That they moulded this that well at all is flat-out amazing.

Were this "to scale" quarter-inch tempered glass would be 0.007" (around 0.18mm) thick, so, the only real option if the casting wer flawed would be to try and vac-form some 0.005 clear sheet--which would be a different nite-mare.  (If one all too close to hacking the 'glass' bits out leaving only the frame, and using super-fine clear sheet to infill the remaining frames--taking a boat up the Congo to drag old Col Kurtz out by his ear sounds far more sensible.)

The horror the horror.

Looks good to me Bakster, you're a braver man than I for tackling all that clear canopy. I hate clear parts, guess that's why I've been stuck on armour the last few years. 

Looking forward to seeing how you work out the curtains. 

Watched the episode last night where an alien mad scientist drains the Robinson's emotions out into his super android. He pronounces Dr. Smith to be too crafty and sneaky and Major West too aggressive and violent to want their emotions so he leaves them be. So Smith and West must work together to get the Robinsons back as people instead of emotionless zombies. It was pretty entertaining and I hope they did more with Smith and West working together. It was fun watching them bicker and snipe at each other while trying to work as a team. 

Then tonight in 'The Golden Man' episode Judy gets trapped in a mine field with exploding beach balls as mines. 

Exploding Beach Balls... 

WTH!?!?!?!? 

Not having done this before I am not sure if all this effort is worth it. I could have glued curtains to the canopy and called it a day. In the end, I hope it is. I will soon find out.

For the most part, constructing the frames is done. From here I will check final fit. Adjust here, and adjust there... then off to paint. After paint, it is making and installing the curtains. 

Speaking of curtains. I did preliminary testing using Bare Metal Foil. Trying my idea to layer sheets back to back looked, I think, so so. Too crinkly, I think.

Something tells me the frames portion in all this was the easy part. Getting the look I am after may require some magic mixed with a good portion of luck. That will be the deal killer in all this, where the rubber meets the road as they say.

That is all for now.

Gamera

Lol, not sure I'd call myself a 'fan' yet but it's fun! 

 

The last one I saw Smith was torturing an alien he thought was Satan. 

 

I mean, where else can you see something like that!?!??!! 

 

Wow.... 

 

Lol...

Smith torturing Satan, that's a good one.

Lol, not sure I'd call myself a 'fan' yet but it's fun! 

The last one I saw Smith was torturing an alien he thought was Satan. 

I mean, where else can you see something like that!?!??!! 

Wow.... 

Gamera

It looks perfect to me Bakster! 

 

Glad to hear it. Can't disappoint a LIS fan!

CapnMac82

Overcoming adversity is part of the drudgery of life.

When it works, though, the success is well worth it.

 

And there is wisdom.  

It looks perfect to me Bakster! 

Overcoming adversity is part of the drudgery of life.

When it works, though, the success is well worth it.

Solarez UV Resin was the correct answer.

1. For the curved portion I made sure to prebend the styrene. That takes the tension out of it.

2. I fitted and taped one end down so as to hold it in place. 

3. I lifted the untaped end and applied resin underneath. Carefully, I pressed it down into position. 

4. Any oozing resin can be wiped off with a cotton bud. That is a huge plus. Though, you can wipe it off, I tried to minimize the amount.

5. Making sure the piece is aligned correctly and pressed flat, I flipped the canopy and hit the location with UV light.

6. Then I followed the procedure on the taped end.

Boom! It looks good. It will not have the strongest bond but if I am careful, it should get through the build. If not, I will need to reattach it. I still need to do the other side but it shouldn't be too much trouble. I hope.

The styrene strip should give a pretty good representation. It's not exact but close enough for my taste.

Bakster

This is a slightly better image that shows the problem.

 

 

I found and have some in stock of  .030 Evergreen strip that should be a very close fit. My biggest issue now is... what glue to use and how do I keep from making a mess of the canopy. I am leaning towards UV epoxy. I can shine UV light through the bottom of the canopy. 

If anyone has other thoughts... feel free to comment. 

This is a slightly better image that shows the problem.

I noticed a manufacturing blooper. In the image below, follow the ladder up and over the canopy. There are joins that devide the area into its own section.

Below you can see the instruction sheet has the mentioned joins but, look at the canopy. It is missing that detail.

It is things like this that are a velocity killer. Do I ignore the flaw? Nope. I must deal with that before I progress on the remaining frames.  Blah!

They are a pita...  but the curved pieces are doable. I tried various things. Things like heat combined with wrapping the styrene around a form. In the end, the easiest and most workable method was by using a fine point tweezers and incrementally bend the rod into the radius needed. A master was used to compare against.

Construction being the same as my previous post.

So, the two forward sections are done. More to do, but not today.

I forgot to note in my last post that I used Evergreen Plastic Rod to fabricate the frames. Their smallest size, .5mm/.020 turned out to be fairly close in scale to what I need.

I am working on the curtain frames.

1. My first course of action was to enlarge the canopy illustration. I did this mainly to help my old eyes, and secondly, to create a cartoon showing what areas I need work, and what their proper orientations are. There are a few areas that the illustration cannot adequately show. I will do those on the fly.

2.  Notice the top left frame. I started with bending corners on one end of the frame. The idea here was that by having a continuous connection, at least for one side of the frame, it would provide a stronger frame. Though, I think that might be true, I quickly found out that getting tight consistent bends, bends where the frame is not twisted... it was not an easy thing to do. You can see in the example that the frame does not rest flat. Add to the fact that I don't like how those corners look, I needed to try something else. In the end, I could probably correct the warp issue when it is glued down, but in my mind, it does not look all that good. Add to that, that by starting with a flawed foundation, it most often leads to other problems down the road.

That is a lot of pontificating. Not saying it is right or wrong, just streaming through how I attacked this part of the build.

3. I tested cutting all four sides and then butt joined the pieces. Immediately, the frames look much more consistent and the warp issue went bye bye. The downside...they are very delicate. To counter that, and after setting the pieces in place using liquid cement, I flowed CA onto the joins. Once cured, it gives them much more strength. No matter what... the frames remain delicate, but I have given myself a fighting chance they will hold together until install. Which by the way, won't be until the canopy is ready to go on. All the preliminary painting must be done first. I WILL, though, attach curtains to the frames before install. My goal is to make them plug and play for when the time comes.

From here, I need to start fabricating frames for the curved sections just above the side windows. That is the plan for now. I may find it too difficult and then try plan B, whatever plan B will be. We shall see.

Anyhow, not much to see here, but it is several hours work.

Gamera

 

 

Bakster

 

 

Gamera

Cool, looking forward to more work on the Chariot. 

And yeah, the first season was goofy but they did seem to be trying to be somewhat serious. And now they're moving in the goofy Dr. Smith, robot, and Will Robinson jokes that I'd long thought the show was. 

The other night I watched the episode where aliens put the Robinsons on trial. And Smith tried to rat them out and ended up being found guilty of everything they were charged with. In the end the Robinsons get Smith out on an insanity charge. That did give me a good chuckle. 

 

 

 

 

Hey Gam, your synopsis of the show is what I recall.

Too funny about Smith escaping through insanity. I suppose he was appalled at the thought of being deemed insane. (Indeed...) Or was he lilly-livered and all in with the idea?

It cracks me up Gam that you are watching the show. You are taking one for Team LIS Chariot build. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, after he gets the insanity plead he starts whining and crying about how he'd rather serve the sentence... Gee, you can't please some people!!! 

And the judge assigns the robot as his guardian. Which curse the episodic nature of the series- they could have milked this as a running gag for the rest of the show...

 

Last night a alien fight promoter shows up on the planet and wants to hire Prof. Robinson to box one of his huge gladiators. When he declines Smith offers to get in the ring vs. a midget. And then when the fight starts he finds out the midget can make himself invisible at will and gets his tush kicked. Now that's funny!!! 

And then tonight Ali Baba shows up on the planet (!?!??!) 

I'm watching the series when I eat supper in the evening. Thanks for bringing this up, I'm loving this show, every goofy, silly, insane minuate... 

 

To be a little more serious, the Chopper II looks cool! I don't generally cut enough stuff to need something like that. Though recently I have been cutting out decals strips for a project, the Chopper would probably be great for this. 

 

That is a hoot, Gam. Too funny about the robot and heck yeah. They should have left Robot in charge of Smith going forward. That could have made for some interesting exchanges. lol.

And hey man. I love that your are watching and enjoying the show. I enjoy hearing about what you have watched. Funny stuff.

CapnMac82

 

 

Gamera

Take Smith's advice and start griping about your 'delicate back' when you need a little break...

 

 

Was not horrible at the first project, getting ther eat 0800, was only 92°F, and a light breeze.

Got to the 2nd one at 0940 (Ausitn traffic on I-35 is awful, 18 miles in 44 minutes).  Was warmer, 95°F, but, I was in the shade for most of that.

Really was not that bad on the 3rd one at 1120, even for being 97°F, but, that building was mostly insulated and my tour was largely inside.

Austin traffic (and drivers) were doing their level best to turn me into Dr Smith, though.  The Robot would have been stuck on "Danger! Danger!" near the full time of it.

I clearly needed a flying submarine to escape all the dam durty apes

 

CapnMac82

 

 

Bakster

My life wall has temporarily relented.

 

 

Well, the "extended spring weather" y'all in the Midwest have had is due to come to an end soon, and it's like to leap straight into July sorts of temperatures, whic hwill encourage folk to luck in their basements with the a/c on.

Bingo, Capn. Muggy weather arrived here two days ago. The smoke waned for a day and it looks like it may be returning. 

Basements are nice and cool and that is where my bench is.

Ouch Captain!!! 

I complain when it hits 90F here!!! Thankfully I'm not that far south.

I know what you mean about traffic though, I swear I'm going to die in an accident long before old age......... 

Gamera

Take Smith's advice and start griping about your 'delicate back' when you need a little break...

Was not horrible at the first project, getting ther eat 0800, was only 92°F, and a light breeze.

Got to the 2nd one at 0940 (Ausitn traffic on I-35 is awful, 18 miles in 44 minutes).  Was warmer, 95°F, but, I was in the shade for most of that.

Really was not that bad on the 3rd one at 1120, even for being 97°F, but, that building was mostly insulated and my tour was largely inside.

Austin traffic (and drivers) were doing their level best to turn me into Dr Smith, though.  The Robot would have been stuck on "Danger! Danger!" near the full time of it.

I clearly needed a flying submarine to escape all the dam durty apes

CapnMac82

 

 

Bakster

My life wall has temporarily relented.

 

 

Well, the "extended spring weather" y'all in the Midwest have had is due to come to an end soon, and it's like to leap straight into July sorts of temperatures, whic hwill encourage folk to luck in their basements with the a/c on.

The "heat dome" currently baking Texas is meant to depart this weekend (only like 92°F for the 4th) to end our run of triple-digits.  Mind, I'm leaving this afternoon for Austin so I can get to all three of my currently-building  apartment projects for thier under-construction inspections.  These are ±300 unit projects, so I may be babbling like Dr Smith by noon tomorrow . . .

 

Yeah it's getting summer hot out here too now. Take Smith's advice and start griping about your 'delicate back' when you need a little break... 

Bakster

 

 

Gamera

Cool, looking forward to more work on the Chariot. 

And yeah, the first season was goofy but they did seem to be trying to be somewhat serious. And now they're moving in the goofy Dr. Smith, robot, and Will Robinson jokes that I'd long thought the show was. 

The other night I watched the episode where aliens put the Robinsons on trial. And Smith tried to rat them out and ended up being found guilty of everything they were charged with. In the end the Robinsons get Smith out on an insanity charge. That did give me a good chuckle. 

 

 

 

 

Hey Gam, your synopsis of the show is what I recall.

Too funny about Smith escaping through insanity. I suppose he was appalled at the thought of being deemed insane. (Indeed...) Or was he lilly-livered and all in with the idea?

It cracks me up Gam that you are watching the show. You are taking one for Team LIS Chariot build. 

 

 

Yeah, after he gets the insanity plead he starts whining and crying about how he'd rather serve the sentence... Gee, you can't please some people!!! 

And the judge assigns the robot as his guardian. Which curse the episodic nature of the series- they could have milked this as a running gag for the rest of the show...

Last night a alien fight promoter shows up on the planet and wants to hire Prof. Robinson to box one of his huge gladiators. When he declines Smith offers to get in the ring vs. a midget. And then when the fight starts he finds out the midget can make himself invisible at will and gets his tush kicked. Now that's funny!!! 

And then tonight Ali Baba shows up on the planet (!?!??!) 

I'm watching the series when I eat supper in the evening. Thanks for bringing this up, I'm loving this show, every goofy, silly, insane minuate... 

To be a little more serious, the Chopper II looks cool! I don't generally cut enough stuff to need something like that. Though recently I have been cutting out decals strips for a project, the Chopper would probably be great for this. 

Bakster

My life wall has temporarily relented.

Well, the "extended spring weather" y'all in the Midwest have had is due to come to an end soon, and it's like to leap straight into July sorts of temperatures, whic hwill encourage folk to luck in their basements with the a/c on.

The "heat dome" currently baking Texas is meant to depart this weekend (only like 92°F for the 4th) to end our run of triple-digits.  Mind, I'm leaving this afternoon for Austin so I can get to all three of my currently-building  apartment projects for thier under-construction inspections.  These are ±300 unit projects, so I may be babbling like Dr Smith by noon tomorrow . . .

It is the little things in life...

I upgraded to Chopper II. The old one with a wood base and a wobbly cutting arm finnaly broke on me. It is probably a good thing because getting a straight cut became next to impossible.

Anyway, the new one came today and just in time for my curtain frame chopping. This chopper seems nicely designed. It has a heavy metal base with a cutting arm that seems tight and solid. This was near twice the price of my first, but I think worth it.

Anyhow, like I said, it is the little things in life.

PS: Today, in my neck of the woods, we have the dubious honor of having the worst air quality of anywhere in the world. Probably, not something to hang my hat on. Canadian Wildfire smoke is traveling hundreds of miles to the US Midwest.. You can literally see smoke in the air, like a fog.

And that is that. Hopefully, some build updates over our long holiday weekend.

Gamera

Cool, looking forward to more work on the Chariot. 

And yeah, the first season was goofy but they did seem to be trying to be somewhat serious. And now they're moving in the goofy Dr. Smith, robot, and Will Robinson jokes that I'd long thought the show was. 

The other night I watched the episode where aliens put the Robinsons on trial. And Smith tried to rat them out and ended up being found guilty of everything they were charged with. In the end the Robinsons get Smith out on an insanity charge. That did give me a good chuckle. 

 

Hey Gam, your synopsis of the show is what I recall.

Too funny about Smith escaping through insanity. I suppose he was appalled at the thought of being deemed insane. (Indeed...) Or was he lilly-livered and all in with the idea?

It cracks me up Gam that you are watching the show. You are taking one for Team LIS Chariot build. 

Cool, looking forward to more work on the Chariot. 

And yeah, the first season was goofy but they did seem to be trying to be somewhat serious. And now they're moving in the goofy Dr. Smith, robot, and Will Robinson jokes that I'd long thought the show was. 

The other night I watched the episode where aliens put the Robinsons on trial. And Smith tried to rat them out and ended up being found guilty of everything they were charged with. In the end the Robinsons get Smith out on an insanity charge. That did give me a good chuckle. 

Gamera

I finished up season one this weekend. And on to the next season when they got the Jupiter II back up into space. 

And Smith jumps out the airlock to chase a green space hottie. 

Personally I'd have let him go....... 

 

My life wall has temporarily relented.  So, I started working on this again. My work continues filling and smoothing the plugs I made. With that near done, it is time to start fabricating the curtain and curtain rods. Hopefully, I will get some bench time this week and I can start that.

More to come.