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. 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:
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.
