Polar Lights - Robby the Robot Move Poster Edition

[hendie]

If you want all the fishing line loops to be the same size.... put a wire rod or styrene rod under them as you glue them in. Press them all down until they touch the rod then hit them with glue. Once all done, withdraw the rod, and they'll all be pretty much the same size.

Your pen ear looks good - it's really not that difficult to cast once you have one made. It took me less than 5 minutes to mix the stuff up, pour and 20 minutes later you have an exact duplicate.

Altaira is looking good!

[BrianI]

Well, I've tried filling the kit ears - they are going to need a heck of a lot more filler till they look half decent. And then there is the issue of filling the gaps between the flat "ear panels" and the rest of Robby's head.

So I've just pulled the trigger on a Sylmasta Casting Kit 01 http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Sylmasta-Casting-Kit-01---FREE-25ml-Clear-Epoxy-906.html#SID=6, £35 plus nearly £8 postage and packaging. Expensive stuff this model making, but I got a fair bit of overtime pay last week! :-)

However I'm sure I'll find many uses for the casting kit!

[BrianI]

Excellent! Sylmasta casting kit arrived in the post today! I'm going to try casting one of my "pen ears" and see how they come out! I also wasn't too happy with the " fishing line loop panel" i had made, it is too flat against the head profile, so I've removed it, and filled it with plasticard along with the space where the new ears will be going. A fair bit of filling to do now!

What i will do though, is do some careful measuring up so I can draw a drilling template on the computer, which I'll print out and glue to Robbys head. That way once his head is filled and primed, I can tape this template, letting me accurately place his ears & fishing line loops. No photos at the moment, but this cunning plan appears to make sense in my head!

[BrianI]

Well, that's my "pen ear" sitting in an empty cocktail stick tub full of sylmasta moulding rubber:

Also a pic of the plasticard filling of Robbys head:

Now, regarding the loops on the side of Robby's head, I'm not sure if these should be flush mounted directly to the side of his head, or onto a small panel, which is attached to the side of his head - all the images I've looked at on google don't clearly show this. Hmmm.

Will ponder this, meanwhile, time for bed, heck of a busy day at work.....

Edited August 21, 2014 by BrianI

[hendie]

all the photo's I found clearly showed a separate panel - a very thin panel, but a panel nonetheless.... http://digital.hammacher.com/Items/10921/10921B_1000x1000.jpg

Filling the sides of the head was a real pain, but you'll feel better for it in the end.

looking forward to seeing how your ears turn out

Edited August 22, 2014 by hendie

[BrianI]

Cheers for that link hendie - I'll probably do a thin panel out of plasticard, that'll be easier than trying to drill straight onto the side of Robby's head! Not sure if the fishing line I'm planning on using is going to be a little thin, judging by the reference image you have linked to.

Anyway, it looks like the mould has came out ok:

I'll try casting his ear out of resin later on today, but first a post work bath!

[BrianI]

Oooh, success it would appear:

First ear cast:

Made up a bit too much resin, hence the large disc at the base as I used the mould in the cocktail stick tub. I ended up having to break the cocktail stick tub to get the cast item out! Luckily the cast ear came away from the rubber mould easily. Looking at the resulting cast ear, it looks like there may have been a couple of small air bubbles in the resin, resulting in a couple of tiny sink holes. These should be not visible once primed, and I add the extra items on his ear.

For my second attempt I mixed up a lot less resin, and poured it directly into the mould:

[hendie]

see! told you it was easy! I'll bet you're pleased and now think it was money well spent.

that is already looking way better than the kit part. Just for reference, I left the ears long on my build as it was easier to fix them inside the head and then fill around, rather than trying to fit them directly to the outside of the head

[BrianI]

Cheers hendie, I did find it really easy to use the casting kit! I am planning on leaving the ears long, as that way I can use the extra length to get a secure fit inside Robby's head :-)

[BrianI]

A bit of an update.

I filled the gaps in Robby's head using plasticard as a backing, then filled with Milliput superfine white. Here you can see that I've got the filling done, and marked up for drilling Robby's ear holes:

Not having a big enough drill bit, i drilled around the edge of the marked circle and filed the hole out. Eventually after a bit of sanding / filing I get a reasonably fit for my cast resin ears, although I'm not sure if the holes may need tweaked to adjust the angle / position of the ears:

Unfortunately, however, the Milliput superfine white did not like getting drilled out and filed, as it has came away drastically from the plasticard backing I had glued in!

So looks like back to the drawing board, as it is looks like the Milliput hasn't bonded, as I can pick it off in chunks using my finger nails! A shame, as the milliput was easy to use and gave a smooth easy to sand finish! Luckily I have more plasticard, so I may try filling in the gaps in Robby's head with a couple more layers of plasticard, which should mean less filler (of a non milliput type!) next time!

meanwhile, time for bed!

[whitestar12chris]

Hi, nice job, if your looking for reference material look no further than the Fordbidden Planet 50th anniversary edition on dvd, loads of documentaries even one dedicated to Robby and the guy who rescued him and now makes a living producing full size reproductions.

All the best Chris

[hendie]

I had the same issue though I wasn't using milliput filler. I think I ended up using Tamiya plastic filler as it seemed to bond better though I still had to do a couple of touch ups after drilling operations etc.

Don't worry - you'll get there and you're doing a great job.

[BrianI]

Chris, I have that on bluray, so I may give it a watch tomorrow!

Hendie I have removed the filler and the plasticard backing which I had used, so I have a fresh start on filling Robby's head. I think I'll try a bit more careful use of plastic card to fill the gaps, perhaps trying to bend some in hot water, so that I should need a minimal amount of filler.

I have to wait in tomorrow for a new vacuum cleaner getting delivered, so I may as well make the most of the time and get cracking with this build!

[BrianI]

OK, a bit of a set back with regards to filling Robby's head and getting his new ears fitted.

To minimise the amount of filler needed, this time I carefully put a bend into plasticard using hot water and a small glass bottle as a form. Once the plasticard soften I wrapped it around the glass bottle form, secured it with lots of elastic bands, and then plopped the lot into a jar of cold water till it cooled.

This gave me a nice bit of gently curved plasticard, which I could cut peices from to fill the gaps in Robby's head:

Looks like with a little sanding to shape, and some light filling using humbrol filler, I should have a good profile ready to drill and fit Robby's ears - hopefully less problems with filler cracking and coming away!

[BrianI]

A bit more shaping and fitting of plasticard:

Just to put some 2 part epoxy glue behind the plasticard panels for some extra strength, then I'll get on with light filling, and sanding into shape! Then to drill the ear holes!

[hendie]

it's hard work but it is worth it in the end.

It is definitely starting to take shape now

[BrianI]

Filling done! 2 stage process - first a fill using Humbrol filler thinned with revel contacta liquid:


Still a bit rough in places, so I slapped on a coat of cheap superglue mixed with pastel chalk dust:



Left this gunk a little to long (~ 10 minutes, rather than 5), so I had to use a file to remove the excess before sanding with 800grit wet and dry followed by nail buffer, polished up well though, had to touch up a few bits using correction pen:


Final buff and Robby looks ready for his otoplasty surgery!





I'm not sure whether these filled areas are perfect as when I rub them with my fingers I can feel a little "flat" compared to the round shape of the rest of Robby's head.

However it's not visually noticeable, and once I have his new ears fitted, it should look fine! :-)

Hopefully I'll have less issues with drilling the holes for his new ears as I have used less filler this time around.

[hendie]

nice work - it's always a bit frightening when you cut a kit to pieces and then start slapping on all that gunk.

btw - I used sandpaper formed around the inside of some plastic cap to keep the concave shape as I sanded ( http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234955954-robby-the-robot-gunter-robot-b9-double-bill-surprise-maybe/?p=1594961 ) - I'd definitely recommend getting some primer on it before you fit the ears. After the ears are in place it will be almost impossible to re-fill/re-shape

[BrianI]

Cheers hendie. I'll add a splodge more of the glue/chalk mix, and I'll see if I can find a plastic cap to cut down and add sandpaper to help sand into shape! I'm all out of 800 grit sandpaper though, so I may have to pop out to local car spares shop to get some more! Might try some 400 grit or lower.

-- edit --

More wet n dry sand paper, medium & coarse sanding sponges and cloths bought from car spares shop. Not sure whether the sanding sponges / cloths will be suitable for model sanding, but they weren't too expensive, and if not suitable can be used for home DIY (I have radiators needing a coat of gloss....)

Edited September 3, 2014 by BrianI

[BrianI]

Hmm, well, how odd. I added another load of superglue / pastel chalk dust, only for the previous layer start to go soft! So I've scraped it all off, back down to the bare plasticard.

Not sure if it was the fact that I had used the superglue / pastel chalk dust gunk on top of humbrol filler?

Anyway, no more fettling tonight as I'm feeling a tad frustrated at the moment! Who;d have thought filling would be so tricky!

[hendie]

I feel your pain - been there - done that!

[BrianI]

Well, I tried milliput again, and found I got myself and Robby's head into a sticky gunky mess.

So I washed it all off before it started to set.

Now my cunning plan is to build up the profile of Robby's head using plasticard, which once glued in place using plastic weld, I'll be able to carve / sand into shape.

By using plenty of layers of plasticard I should end up with enough spare material to get his round profile back. Probably a long way round for a short cut, but at least this should mean little if any filler, and will be easy to drill out the holes for Robby's ears. I'd take a photo, but at the moment nothing to see as the layers of plasticard have been glued on, and are being held in place with umpteen layers of tamiya tape!

[BrianI]

Cunning plan of sticking plasticard to Robby's noggin, then sanding it into shape seems to be working:

Roughly sanded into shape using 240grit wet'n'dry sand paper double sided taped to the inside of an aerosol lid

It looks like I might need to use a tiny touch of filler in places though.

But not as nearly as much as my previous attempts!

[hendie]

looking good. It's amazing how much help the aerosol lid is in helping to keep the rounded profile.

[BrianI]

Robby's head surgery has been successful! Looks like my cunning stunt of filling his head using layers of plasticard was a good idea! The holes for my resin ears were easy to drill out!

So here are Robby's ears, dry fitted:

Still to give his head a clean up before giving it a primer coat to check on my filling job. Then I'll get his ears drilled for mounting his thingies, then I'll get his ears fitted for good! I may have to the gap between the head and ears, however it doesn't look l it will be too big a gap, so correction fluid should work for this!

Glad to be finally making progress!