New Treadwell Build

[deathproof]

Well, I tried some spray-on primer which helped to negate some of the wood grain in the head. Then Did a couple of coats of blue. Pretty satisfied with the results.







As I said, I liked Paul's idea of putting "eyes" inside the head of Treadwell. I had a couple of old flashlights so I took the bulbs out and mounted them inside with a couple of layers of balsa wood and glue.










I made a boo boo, though. I attached the eye covers without painting the interior of the head or the balsa wood black.

I really don't feel like taking these damn eyes off after putting them on but perhaps in the future I'll fix it. For now, I'm satisfied with the look for the most part.

[deathproof]

After experimenting with some different materials, I settled on some thick cardboard for the eye covers.






The clear plastic was from an old picture frame.











Also I screwed up a little on the outer eye covers. They were supposed to cover the sides of the eye covers underneath them.

Obviously need to touch up the paint on the edges where the glue is, but since I will need to rip the eye covers off eventually to paint the interior, I'm going to hold off for now. I'm just glad to have met this personal milestone.


I have acquired pieces for the neck (or body, if you prefer) and I am having a metal bracket made to attach the head to. Then I'll need to manufacture the piece that connects the head to the neck. That will be one of the last things I do in this build.


The next step is putting the base together. I have already acquired 1/2" foamcore plus a sheet of 3/8". I suspect I'll need another sheet of 3/8" but I'm not going to worry about that right now. I also need to get a little scrap wood to serve as a skeleton for support plus something to support the floor flange.

Hopefully get on that tomorrow night. Printed out the plans and saved a few pictures of other Treadwell builds.


Slowly but surely. Still making some mistakes, but that's sort of the point of building Treadwell. Trying to hone my skills before taking on my R5-D4 project.


Using some quick Photoshoppery, I modified this picture to show what the outer eyes should look like:





I'll fix it some other time. I need to get to work on the base.

[kresty]

Progress is good!

[Murasaki]

very interesting ....

[deathproof]

Started on the base tonight. I'm using 1/2" foam core for the bottom and side panels. I'll use 3/8" to cover the base.

I need to bring some scrap wood from my shop to strengthen the interior, mainly the part where the "neck" attaches to the base.

[deathproof]

Realized I could simply turn the eyes upside down and you wouldn't be able to see the wood supports for the eyes. Just need to touch up the paint a little and cut away some excess glue.

A benefit of having a metal shop around the corner from my computer store - had them manufacture the bracket that holds the eyes to the neck and they were nice enough not to charge me since we've done a few jobs for them in the past.


Started cutting the foam core for the body. Since the base and side pieces have to be in two sections, I decided to use 1 x 2 strips of wood to strengthen and hold together the foam core, along with an assload of hot glue and some nuts, bolts and wide washers. Hoping to get on this tonight.


The 1 x 2's should also provide a way to ensure the wheels have something firm to attach to, as opposed to just gluing them to the foam core. The only part I'm unsure of is the center where the neck/body meets the base. I have pretty much the exact same floor flange that was originally used to build WED in the OT but I need wood to attach it to. Might just build some sort of "box" out of scrap wood and secure that in there. Have to wait and see how the rest of the base turns out.



In retrospect, I think I went a little too dark on the blue but I just want to try to get this done before Halloween so I can always go back and repaint later. I would like to actually automate WED as well, so maybe in the new year I will give his design a tune-up and add motorization and remote control.


Getting way ahead of myself. Gotta finish him first. And then start on R5-D4. Although I do like having multiple projects running at the same time. Keeps me busy and if one thing is drying/hardening/etc. I always have something else to mess with.


I've been thinking about a KPR security droid, which is fairly small. At least I can get some details off the action figure.



Need to find some proper measurements, as I don't believe its head is the same size dome as a standard R2 unit.


I've wasted too much time on video games and related horseshit. Although droid and replica building can be an expensive hobby, it's a good way to fill the time and you feel like you've actually accomplished something when a project is done.

[kresty]

Hmm, keep that up and you'll have as many as Savage!

[deathproof]

I ended up spending most of my time last night on the proton pack but I had purchased a sheet of polystyrene for assorted parts and such (plus to start learning to work with it for my R5-D4 project) and decided to try something with WED's eyes.


As I said in another post, all I had to do was turn them upside down to hide the chunk of wood I used to mount the internal eye pieces. But I noticed the back of the eye lens showed the clear plastic piece behind the blue "eye ball" frame. So I cut a couple of small pieces of poly to cover that.







The polystyrene was very easy to work with - sorry I didn't get some sooner! I'd have made the whole head out of the stuff and it would have been cheaper than the balsa wood. I figured what the hell - I'll try making a new eye cover with the proper interior dimensions. And it came out pretty damn good.






Just need to slap a little black primer on there and then a couple of coats of blue.


Of course, I need to do the other eye tonight as well but these couple of slight improvements make it look so much better. Also, in the photos of the OT WED-17 you can see these two little black tabs under its eyes. (maybe it plays football on the side) I remembered I have a heat gun in my shop we use for removing certain types of LCD panels and such that are glued to glass or plastic panels. I should be able to use the heat gun to soften the polystyrene so I can bend it. Just have to remember to take it home with me tonight. Also have to grab the hacksaw to start cutting the PVC for the neck/body.


I had two big components I wanted to finish on the proton pack last night. One needs a few adjustments but once they're done it's nearly ready to bring in for painting. I think it just needs a couple more small boxes. And I really want to get WED's base assembled tonight.

[kresty]

Looking good.

[savagecreature]

Yep! Styrene's good stuff! Just be careful not to burn yourself when you're heat bending it. You can get really nasty burns from heat guns.