Treadwell WED-15 droid build : Part 19 - wheels/body/tracks

 

3D printing:

Printed off the other three drive wheels, see last post. These green items are printed in PLA+ filament, l ordered to try, instead of standard PLA , for work.

Next up was to print off the idling wheels (image below). Each one I managed to get down to 11hrs per whole wheel. Allowing the 3D printer to be free for work, these were an overnight/weekend print run.

I had a look for suitable fixings for the idlers, and found some old recycled furniture bolts that where just the right length.

So before printing off the wheels, I made an adjustment to allow the bolt head to be recessed flush with the outside face of the wheel. I also drew up and printed off some bushes for the bolts. The bushes help space the wheel away from the body, as well as threading onto the bolt, helping to keep it located. I repurposed and added a soft washer to help with possible friction.

I then sprayed these up with primer, and eventually with silver paint.

The little Details:

Eye servo lead:

The lead for the servo eye movement, needed a sleeve to cover it up, also adding some strength support to it as well. I had kept some thin walled black tubing that was just wide enough for the lead (minus its plug) to slide through.

I added a cable tie to the inside of the eye opening, pull prevention, and then drilled a hole in the upper neck for it to pass through. I then refitted the plug to connect with the appropriate servo lead.

Eye pivot tube:

To stop ‘wiggle’ from the eye supports arms, I drilled holes through into the pivot tube, and secured. This helps prevent the eyes from independent movement when the servo moves them. It was only slight, but it annoyed me lol.

I recently bought off eBay:

STAR WARS MOVIE FORCE ATTAX SERIES  2 BASE / BASIC CARD no19: Treadwell Droid.

Straight knurls:

On closer inspection of the card, I noticed the straight knurled rings around the mast. Don’t know how I missed this detail?!?!?

So I made a copy of the 3D mast model and modified it to include these details. As I wasn’t going to reprint the whole mast again, I decided to just print off the details as rings, with a thin wall thickness, and these would be glued onto the masts diameters. Better than nothing lol. They don’t look too bad actually. The first ring I glued into place.....then thought.....it would be easier to spray them up first before gluing them in place lol oh well.

Sanded back the paint for a better surface to glue to.

For the others, I just cut them to the correct length [diameter], and primed/sprayed them silver. The mast had to have it's paint removed where these were going to be glued.

Base Antenna:

I had drawn this up a few months back but was waiting on the chance I found any better detailed pictures. No such luck, but the trading card did help, so this was the next piece to be 3D printed. 

The idea is based on a split spherical design, with a ‘bolt’ that holds the two ridged semi-circular hemispheres together with the option to adjust the angle.

Filler primer applied.

The 3D version doesn't do this lol, it just looks like it would, I did add a screw location for detail. Lastly I printed off a backing washer to secure to the inside of the lid panel.

The rear lid panel has now had it's inner panel, cut out and glued/clamped in place. This is to give it strength, but also alignment with the panel supports.

Painting & weathering:

I started to apply the acrylic burnt umber and yellow ochre that I used on R5 all those years ago, starting with the mast.

I drilled holes in the arms and mast to accept the wires and tubes that would 'operate' them.

Tracks:

Searching since last post with no luck..... then I came across YouTube videos of model makers making their own tracks. This gave me the idea to use the 3D model I'd created for the tracks and converted them into a mold. I ordered a small batch of Mouldcraft Black Poly Flex 60 Shore Fast Cure 120g Polyurethane Casting Rubber, as a tester to see if I could mold/make my own.

I designed the mold in two half's, the front (outer tread) and rear (inner) section.

I also 3D printed off a joining mold. This was so that the sections of tread could be joined together...... hopefully.

I tested a small batch of the 60 shore and it was to sticky after it had cured, no way it would of stood up to actual track movement lol.

Test sample, binned along with the mold.

So I ordered some 85 shore, let's hope this is better.

Drive wheels:

As mentioned above, in my design haste, I'd forgotten to add the step detail to the front face. So I updated the 3D stl file and then printed off a set of disc's to fit onto the front of the wheels. These were glued in place and then all had primer and then sprayed in Chrome, which dulled to a nice Aluminium look once clear coat was applied.

With our South West Builders Day event approaching, I needed some axle locations for the drive wheels. These will just be to help hold them in place.

Base:

Another BIG annoyance is that on the original magazine article it clearly shows that as well as the upper front angle, there is also a lower one as well. This can also be seen in the rear image seen in the deleted scenes. This detail is missing from the builders own blueprints unfortunately.

Don't know if I can modify the base to suit..... it could be a lot of work, something to look into though.

Tracks pt2:

This last week has been last minute finishing off details as best I can before Sunday’s event.

I wanted tracks but there wasn’t going to be enough time, so I resorted to rubber mats id rescued in work a few months back. These were cut to width and once the ends were trimmed flush, I superglued them together.

These were joined in a loop with a staggered join.

The finished track loop turned out great.

Once dried, I fitted them onto the wheels.

Really happy with this, even if they are just display tracks..... more updates next month.

Utility arm UPPER socket screen (Part 4)

 Can’t believe it’s been two months since I fitted the upper utility arm socket screen!

In my attempt to finish off unfinished parts, I got on with weathering it. So far I have just added matt black , but like the lower one, I will add burnt umber & ochre yellow to give it that Tatooine sandy feel.

R4-D4 Dome work progress 3.8 - weathering

Monday I took the dome into work and sprayed a coat of clear over it.

On the evening, once home & dried, I made a start on weathering the dome with my usual colour's. I started on the circuit board, with matt black to tone down the silver. This then worked it's way down into the grooves of the panel below. Edges and pitting on the grooves and panel faces, help to create the worn used look, which when I first started using wood, realised who good it did looked when compared to 'real' worn/used metal.

matt black with burnt umber also added to the 'electronic' panel.

Dink's, scratches, surface imperfaction's, all add to the aged character of the dome 😊.

I then made my way gradually around the dome, with just the matt black paint.

Not all sides shown.

Rear, un-recessed pannel

Front

Lid

Next up is to add some burnt umber & yellow ochre paint to help blend the lower section in with the body.

New Centre Leg - 1.6 - White paint & Dirt

So here's the new centre leg all sprayed up in white with clear coat too.
Ankle cylinder unit and holder fitted in place too.

I did have a problem with fitting the cylinder holder, so had to trim some wood of it's inside curve edge. But it's not noticeable.

Next comes the weathering. This is the start so far.

Paint it on, burnt umber, then allow to dry, before wiping off excess.

Weathering 1.4 - more Body/skirt & Centre Leg/foot

Body weathering update pics..... with and without camera flash lol.

Centre Leg, Skirt & Foot Shell....

Weathering 1.3 - Body, Leg, Outer Foot and Battery Box

My attempt at weathing R5's body. Started next to the fitted rear hatch and worked my way round. The Leg got in the way so moved onto this lol. This then led down to the Battery Box. I then turned him round and carried on with the Body, working down to his skirt (no pics yet).

I got round as far as the Centre Vent's but didn't take pictures, will do for next post.

This is by no means perfect, not that it's supposed to be, just my interpretation.

Weathering 1.2 - R5-D4's Head

This morning I started on weathering R5's head, by applying Burnt Umber around the neck, side recess, eyes, top pie panel grooves and around the base of the Antenna. This is just the start. One good thing I've noticed is that the woods imperfections help when wiping off the paint as it sinks into them giving a 'pitted' surface finish.

These pics were taken right after paint was applied, so its still wet. But looked a lot better once dried. Should look even better once rubbed off a bit and ochre applied.

Weathering 1.1 Rear Hatch

After a very long day, I was exhausted, but wanted to try the Yellow Ochre on the rear hatch.
On applying it, very sparingly, it didn't seam to be visible. Blending & mixing in with the Burnt Umber. Still i carried on applying it in the places I wanted it.

Then it started to dry.......and was then a lot more noticeable lol. So using my finger, I gently rubbed it in to the Umber and the grooves and this helped to blend it all in and rub off the excess.

I didn't want to over do the weathering at the moment, but its a start and am happy so far.

R5 gets dirty - weathering 1.0

R5's paint job had included some black paint in the grooves, legs, body and feet areas. This was to give him a dirty/oily appearance. Now its time for him to get his main 'used' colours of sand and dirt.

Two of the colours I've bought, are Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umber (a dark brown). These came Wednesday via eBay.

Had to give it a go, so off came the rear hatch and dabbed on the Burnt Umber to start with.

Start of weathering