Theb

Gunning to have the seat section in the mold on Saturday (break day). Figured that if I set a target I can cut off from tweaking and scratching both it and my head. Still looking to pull out as much detail as I can from it. Sunday could possibly be cast day and if good will mean the end of the Jockey... I am sad! Oh yeah. I can work the hole and then. Astronauts... Yay!

Thinking of a side project. U.S.S. Giger NCC 1978

First one out of the mold to clean the mold out. Got a good mold Yay! The best part is that it all interlocks well with the cannon and the back plate bit and the seat/nose section. Still need to tweak the 'spindle' bit between the two front struts as this was a finicky thing from the outset. Will get there. Now soley working the main part... the seat section so a bit of clean up and some etching and a teeny bit more sculpting and should be winging its way to the mold stage soooooooon. Yay!

Guessing that if I ever want to do a Jean Luc Picard minature! Not quite Kane... yet!

Will do. cheers. Brian

Just noticed that I’m 250 posts in and I still don’t have an avatar... will sort that sometime!

Cheers James. I’ll have a look back over my posts as someone said about the thinner they use as everytime I go into hobby craft I look for thinners but only ever see stuff that looks like it could be but isn’t called a thinner... most of it seems to be Humbrol and many here don’t seem to like that brand. Is Tamiya any good as a brand or should I be looking at Mr Hobby thingy?

Decided come what may that the strut section goes to mold in the morning as I’m now really itching to get serious on the astronauts. And then learn how to use an airbrush🥴

Finally got a decent cannon cast! Strut will be in the mold tomorrow.

Back plate on the strut section done and will be a seperate piece so all good. Having some grief with the cannon part as I keep getting different results. The mold is good but the casting techniques are eluding... Will get there but resigning myself to the fact that I will be doing some touch up on all produced... Not a bad thing as it was always my intention to have these things completely assembled by myself anyways. I am happy with the detail I can get out of these though. Want to have the strut section in the mold within the next couple of days and then hit the little bits on the main seat section and hopefully at the weekend have this in a mold too. Can really feel the end on the Jockey fast approaching (that can read funny if read in a funny way but was not intended in anyway other than the way it was intended but when you look at what we are dealing with here!) B

Going to go with something along these lines for the back plate on the strut section. I can't sculpt it yet as I need the cannon part which is still waiting to be demolded. I'm thinking that I'll get this area done first and then take a mold of it so that I can then remove it from the strut section so as to enable me to cut the silicone mold along the top and the back plate area for the strut section casts.

Thank you Mr Gunpowder17. Feeling pretty good about this whole thing at the moment because I actually think that within the next month I'll be moving this whole project into the 'Ready for Inspection' section (Astronauts aside! as there are 3 of em and I'm still figuring out the 1). Or if I use Pete's calculator for finished projects... Christmas 2026! Love ya Pete! Honestly. My project management is a little off and I always over project, or is that under project... Truth is I was fundamentally changed by the smallest of things some 30 odd years ago, not an epiphany nor a divination or a fortune cookie but a T-shirt worn by an unsavoury type that I used to work with who had some deep angst about everyone and everything but when he wore this particular T-shirt I just smiled and thumbed up in appreciation which kinda stumped him... Longer story to be had on this little episode but the short of it was that the T-shirt had the words 'Time is meaningless in the face of creativity' and I now use that daily as an excuse to do what is necessary and not necessary and all the bits in between... Works pretty well but I think the partner is catching on to the over abuse of it... especially around laundry and washing up times! Mike. I'll send a copy of the complete Jockey as soon as I've got something I'm happy with so you can review it first hand... along with the stand I've been promising which is still on my desk. I am a man of my word... promise!

So I've just chucked about a kilo of Silicone at the cannon part as it is a bit of a booger to mold. Hopefully it will not be in vain. In the meantime I re-affirmed my belief that adding Thrixopic thickner to the mix is the way to go for the strut and seat sections as this will save a ton of Silicone and it's just easier to paste onto the master and work it in to every nookncranny. Should be able to do a bit more on this little fella later. Fimo is scary good but I need smaller/finer tools.

Waiting for bits with milliput again so the only option at the moment is to see what comes out for this piece. RMS Giger!

So I've got the basic'ish shape for the dome part and I've vac formed the clear plastic over it and left the whole thing in place. This I'll work the top part of the helmet into then cut them apart to mold... good plan right 👍 🫣

Getting mixed results with the way I molded the front struts. A bit hit and miss and having to inject resin into the mold. May change the method

Another day of not really much happening even though I've been all day on it. Started the back plate of the strut section but it's difficult to see what exactly is happening in this area from the pics available so I'm going to wing it and make it my own. Having a look at working the shape of the helmet. This I'm pretty sure will be a two piece so as to be able to work the visor so the split will be at the angled horizontal. I need to shape the visor and have it the size that will include the thickness of the visor before I can build the shell... working that out! On a plus. Tweaked the vac former and did it a little less impatiently and got this... Rough cut for testing visibility as this was another sheet type that was found. Will be using the UltraPro comic sleeves for the real thing but didn't want to waste what little I have of those. Winding down for the day. Did want to have something else go into mold tomorrow... Looking at the cannon part as this would be the closest to complete as anything else at the moment. May have a quick go at one of the face's as I'm itching to give Kane a go!

Prep for mold on the two front struts Red wires are air release vents and the white for pouring the resin. Making this a completely sealed mold that I will then cut using the red wires as guide points. This is a lot easier than me trying to make a two piece and yields a pretty decent result... or at least it has up till now!

Plastic sheet sorted. Forgot I had a bunch of these. Ultrapro mylar comic sleeves! The only problem at the moment is trying to find more of them... Sure they'll turn up. May have to go to Forbidden Planet as the one's I'm seeing online don't look like the ones I have. I've tried a very rushed go at the vac form thingy and now know that I need to make a proper frame with metal bulldog clips and put what ever I'm forming onto a small plinth type thingy so it can pull around the shape better. May also need to drill smaller holes! The clarity on these comic sleeves is fantastic. Sorry for the really naff 1st attempt.

Teeny bit more on the Astronaut as I'm tinkering with other bits at the moment. Also going to have a go at the dome visor thingy this way! Very crude in construct but sucks on paper nicely. Now just having trouble trying to find some old packaging or a plastic bottle to see if I can get something out of it. Spindle on the front struts is ok'ish to go. And the little bit of the Astronaut I have managed to do. Thinking for x3 Astronauts it'll take somewhere between epic and eternity!

on another note. Spending too much time at the moment with the astronaut that I started and getting a little bit twitchy to get the jockey molded so I'm trying to put myself into a frame of mind where I can say, enough... get molding. Hopefully in the next couple of days something will be in the silicone.

So my 10 year old goes off to a gaming convention yesterday with his uber nerd Uncle and then stays at Uncle's for 4 hours painting the figures he purchased at the event. 10 year old is now officially a gaming nerd and painter of figures so I gave him my new and spare magnifier headset which I bought from Hobbycraft. I had this idea that I'd upgrade them at somepoint anyways. Almost bought the upgraded Lightcraft model with the swing down bit for extra small work stuff but then checked out amazon instead and bought a pair of esynic's instead and in the process, saved myself £38 on the Hobbycraft's. These things are brilliant and have larger lenses than the Lightcraft and fit on your head like the colander Rick Moranis wore in Ghostbuster so I won't be wearing them out and about for fear of scaring people. Thank you Uncle Jon for bringing my boy into my world and for the indirect purchase of my new headset! 🤘

Strut section is now sitting where I can best fit it. Would've prefered a little lower but the original Halcyon didn't really allow for it. Hind sight, could've extended a bit here and shortened a bit there but maybe one day in the future I'll come back to it and tweak it... or not. Looking to get the seat section molded and cast as soon as because I'm now getting a little worried about dropping the thing through all the handling (which has happened a couple of times but fortunately no damage done), so focusing on this part now. Will need to sculpt the bit on the back plate of the strut section where it meets the 'Hillside Rice Paddy Field' bit (that's what this area reminds me of) just under the cannon's gear wheel bit then add a little bit of milliput here and there and then do some clean up.

Bit more detailing on the second layer of the suit. Working the helmet on a cast that I made but during the mold process the neck ring on the astronaut came off but fortunately the cast is good enough for me to remove the ring and use it for guidance of the parts surrounding it. Working a little eratically at the moment because anything I'm doing with the Jockey involves all parts together so when I use milliput on the part it puts it out of action for 6 hours. Did manage to mold the bar that goes between the two front struts and tried molding a slightly different way to good effect. I also seem to be spending an awful lot of time staring out of the window brainstorming the various ways of trying to achieve all this and drinking a ton of coffee too! Thinking I will need to fix the ribbing on the stomach area too as it niggles! And I managed to catch the Jockey in a decent light... in a state of drying the milliput. still a fair bit of twiddling and sculpting a few areas and also to see what I can pull out of the engineer too and some clean up but hopeful and again I say... Maybe in a mold for next week... Some parts at least!