Pain in the neck-ring

after studying the collar/neck ring, i tried to think of a way to construct it. it looked simple enough, just a few rings stacked on top of each other.Having looked at more detailed photos, however, i noticed the complexity. i started by sculpting one half, thinking i could mold the other half. realizing this wasn't going to work, i decided i would try to sculpt the entire neck ring out of super sculpey. ahem..after several days and trials, i ended up with one that i was okay with.I hardend it in the oven and primered and started sanding. it still seemed off to me.



I then decided to see if i could solicit the talents of a machinist. A CNC machinist, to be exact. I posted several ads, with no response. I did a detailed sketch,and had a builder ( Jerry Greene) render it into detailed plans.After emailing it to a local shop, they agreed to do it, but the cost was way more than my budget would allow. "Will this never end?" A friend and fellow builder Chris Bartlett mentioned posting the request on the R2D2 builders board. (shhhh, don't tell 3po that he needed R2's help for this one). I got a response from "commando eight/James" and zipped the plans off to him. Well, i wish i would have sought him out sooner. The collars turned out ExCELLENT! I couldn't have been more satisfied.

torso mods

The shoulder rings were built with strip styrene fused to a thin piece of abs. This was then mounted to the shoulder using a tab method. Hmmm i guess the education i got was worth it. anyway, the rings are in two parts, mounted front and back with a seam at the top and bottom. The top seam will be covered by the shoulder bell mount. the bottom seam won't be visable, at least i hope not.

mounted greeblies and pistons

Here are the elbow greeblies and pistons mounted on the new arms. The pistons were out sourced from another builder. They do actually function quite well.After researching the costume photos, I noticed the elbow greeblies are mounted opposite of each other on opposing arms. A small detail, but i wanted to get it right the first time.

scratch built greeblies

These greeblies i scratch built from different parts. i think they more closely resemble the actual ones. Some of the items used are a bottle top from a dropper bottle, small plastic washers and a thumb wheel from a lip balm tube.
I molded them and cast them in resin, and will post the mounted pictures in the next blog.

new-er arms

I decided to make the arms a little tighter fit, and thus more accurate and proportionate to the rest of the suit. The overall dimensions of the bicep is 13.5" outer diameter. The forearm also tapers more to the wrist, with a 3" opening at the hand.The elbows were trimmed in too, so there wasn't too much of a flange.

another try-on

Here are some other shots with the legs. After working on the legs a bit, i realized they were not going to work they way i wanted them too. I abandoned them, and instead outsourced them from another builder.The new legs are made of fibre glass, and fit much better.