Horizon ED-209 Model (FINISHED! NEW PICS)

Here are some parts of my horizon ED-209 that i've been working on.
I molded and cast the pelvis section in Polyurethane Resin. I wanted this part to be light weight, but very strong.

I also cast the leg rails in resin. I removed one of the vinyl leg rails, plated up the inside with plastic card, but rather than do all that work another three times, i molded it and cast new ones. One set of rails are just restin on the leg section for these pics.



The whole model will fit together with PVC tubing as you can see fitted into the arms in the pics.
The legs are filled with Polyurethane Resin wich has been rotocast inside them, so there is no shrinkage to the resin.



Thanks wackychimp for hosting,

Keith.

hi keith, i had one of these kits years ago and there is a weak point that must be addressed


everything was fine on mine but it started to warp and sag at the arrowed part with time, mine was all put together and too late to fix

i thought you might want to know

cheers

z

Hi Chris,

I have filled the whole leg section on mine with polyurethane resin. I filled them a bit at a time spinning the resin around inside the legs, so there was no shrinkage. I'll post some pics of it soon.

Keith.

Here are some more pics.

This is how the legs join to the pelvis. The PVC tube passes through the pelvis and fits into the grey socket in the leg. The whole leg is now solid resin inside, so the grey socket will never move.
As you can see, there are two locking bolts which fit into the leg and into the pelvis which make it impossible for the legs to move forward or back:


Here is the pelvis section with the PVC tube passing through it. The tube is also filled with resin, so its no solid. I ended up using the original pelvis as you can see:


The toes are solid resin and i have fitted them with metal rods which fit into the feet. I can now paint these separate and it will be easier to fit the wires which go between the toes after the model has been painted:


I cut off the original brakes after i made a mold of them so i could cast them in resin. These new resin brakes can be fitted in any position now:


I wanted to fit the new resin leg rails after the model has been painted, but i didn't just want to glue them onto the leg, so i have done quite a lot of work as you can see, so the leg rails fit into these holes in the leg:


Here you can see the pegs at the end of the leg rails which fit into the holes in the leg. The right leg has yet to be filled with resin. When the leg is filled with resin, the resin flows into the upper leg section also, so the whole leg becomes one piece and is VERY strong:


The left leg with the rails fitted. No glue is needed to fit the rails, they just push into position:



Here are the arm armour with scratch built detail which is not yet finished. Aso, the new scratch built rocket pods are test fitted:


The arms and gun pods fit together with PVC tube. No glue is needed:


Here it is fitted together. Its a very heavy and sturdy model now


Thanks wackychimp for hosting,

Keith.

Oooo! Exceptional.

- k

wow what a job keith!

its sick but in a good way

z

you should be making upgrade kits for this thing

Thanks

As for making upgrade kits for this model, i will trade a set of 4 resin leg brakes for a set of decals

Keith.

Very cool to see how your engineered your kit for increased strength, Keith.

Exceptional work!

Keith,

You can print the decals out yourself:

ED-209 Decals

Created for and used on my ED-209:

On starship modeler's site
From my site

Nice work on the details like the brakes, that's one of the few things I considered but didn't actually do.

Keith, I wish I had this information 20 years ago when I built mine! You're building Ed like I wish I had. I may have to dig around in the garage and see if I can find him. Time for a makeover. Cool job on yours too, Talisen!

Bill

Thanks,

I've just brought the decal thing up with the people at jbot.ca - they've produced and are selling a decal sheet I made for the Millennium Falcon and I've let them know that this is available as well. I'll let you know if they will take it on.

Thanks everyone!
Talisen, yes, please let me know if the decals become available. I don't have a printer or anything, so i can't make print out the decals myself.

Keith.

wow, keith,

Im really impressed with all the work you have done to that, your prep work overall on everything i have seen is top notch.

love to see this one painted

Impressive work. Can't wait to see this finished and all painted up.

hi keith, i remember when i did mine i hollowed out the rear upper leg sections like you have but i added some rods to the inside(i think its the screw it uses to move its leg up and down)

i may have made that bit up but im sure it was on the film one?

i dont have the film to check

z

Yeah, there is a screw down the center. You can see the circular part on the top of the back leg spin as he rises up in the scene in the Tower where he's fighting Robo.

Yes, i have the screws for the inside of the leg rails. The hole is drilled in the top cap of the leg rails, but i've not drilled the holes in the leg section yet.

I've just fixed a mistake i made on the arms. For some reason i glued the pvc tube (tat fits into the head) into the wrong ends of the arm. Good job i noticed that before i painted them, as it was a pain in the ass getting that tube out after i superglued it in.

Keith.

Here are the screws which fit into a hole drilled in the centre of the leg:


The screws then fit into a hole drilled in the top of the leg rails:




Here is how the arms will be fitted now i've fixed the mistake when i had the arms the wrong way around. The head has the same sockets that the legs have glued into it and the arms have the PVC tube which fits into the socket:


The detail is finished in the mouth:


Thanks wackychimp for hosting,

Keith.

man Keith this is amazing.I love what I'm seeing and makes me want to strip mine down and redo it as well!!!

When i was doing mine wayyyy back when I had toyed with the idea of cutting out the 4 knee cylinders and making actual ones out of brass and aluminum and replacing them. Never got to do it though. I think the knee mechanics could be done pretty easily so it don't all look cast into the vinyl.

Whoo,
This is great!! I recently bought this kit of ebay for a normale price.
THEN I found out about the hottoys one
Did not starting building it because of that.
Now I want to start right away.

Great work. Please keep this updated

Is there any way to get some of your resin cast parts?

Greetings from the Netherlands,

BasD

Wow - this is even better than the Horizon one. I always wanted one, but I had to settle for the Kenner one lol - the poor mans ED-209!

I have no plans to offer any of the resin parts i made. Its too much work and wouldnt be worth my while.

I have assembled the head now and its turned out very nice, with no gaps between the back section and front section of the head.
Before i glued the two parts of the head together, i reinforced the front section with resin, then after i glued the back on, i reinforced the back with resin letting the resin run over the join between the two head sections so the whole head became one piece.

You can see the resin inside the head in this picture:


I've just finished the final improvements to the model. I added the two missing rivet/bolt holes to the bottom of the front of the chin, drilled all the holes for the wires, fitted them and then removed them again before i painted the model in primer.
The most noticeable improvement is the centre strut at each side of the mouth. Before the struts run all the way to the front, as you can see in the picture below, but they should end where the red line is:

I have now cut the struts back to where they should end and reshaped them. The next pictures i will post will be the finished model in around two weeks from now.

Keith.

Ed is almost finished now. I've put the model together today for the first time after painting it, as it just clips together without any glueing and it looks awesome

Keith.

Keith, im speechless, that is amazing work and it looks ooo much better, id love to have a go at what you have done, the hottoys is nice, then again, i just dont so things the easy way i guess lol