The outer piece is metal>? What about the other parts? I may have to buy one of these now.. I was under the impression it was all plastic minus the base.
The outer piece is metal>? What about the other parts? I may have to buy one of these now.. I was under the impression it was all plastic minus the base.
The cover is metal and I thing the bottom part that contains the led and batteries is metal as well. It's mainly the poor paint job that can lead you to think that it's all plastic.
Well I'm sold. This unit has allot of potential.
Cool...I think a naked metal look,looks a lot better as my painjob.But the triangle parts in the inside must be painted,because its plastic.I think I will do the same with mine...must only find the right chemical to remove the paint.But before I remove the paint I will look at your finished arc in the end of the month.JKKS said:
It's probably aluminium or an aluminium based alloy since it's non magnetic.
But i'll probably put a layer of clear coat on it just for safety.
Last edited by Kroenen77; May 15, 2012 at 4:51 PM.
just use some #0 steel wool till the paint is gone then move through the wools still you hit #0000. It will look great when ur done.
Thanks for the tip,but I will wait to see the raw metal look,before I destroy my paintjob.It is easy to rip the color off,if I like the effekt more.But there are so many parts on the reactor and the stand...hope all are made out of the same metal source...its a color match thing.For my IM helmet new lower jaw I needed to find the exact color brass like the face.But I think on the arc it will look very fine without the paint and polished.The best effect you can get,if you blast cleaning all parts very fine.Bowelrock said:
Well, this thread inspired me to just order one. Seeing that a lot of the outer parts are metal/alloy, I believe it has potential.
For less than $50, it was too good to pass up the chance to modify it into something respectable.
Yeah, those were the only official photos I could find of the actual props that are not fan-made.Kroenen77 said:
This reminds me of a gripe I had with the Art of... books that Marvel came out with. When they came out with The Art of Iron Man and The Art of Iron Man 2, they were filled with awesome artwork and photos of the actors, the sets, the visual effects concepts and filming, and everything. The only thing that was glaringly missing were the various Arc Reactors. Sure they had digital concepts and artwork that eventually didn't get used in the movie, but I was also expecting nice detailed photos of the screen-used props and even cool blue-prints and stuff.....
I guess you don't always get what you wish for....
Yep that's one of the problems if you decide to go with raw metal look. I don't intend to display mine with the stand but in order to get an homogeneous look you'll have to take the entire stand apart, and that's a lot of work.Kroenen77 said:
On a side note the aluminium actually does oxidize (it gets a little darker in some spots). I cleaned my cover this morning and then applied two layers of clear coat to protect the surface. I hope it will do the trick and prevent the cover from deteriorating.
I got a few supplies this afteroon to work on the "triangle" part. Still have to figure out how I can make the cover screws work though. I got a new glass cover cut today as well to replace the cloudy plastic stock one.
Ah yes,,,thats what I was talking about.Patina and rust are the problem...and a layer of paint or clearcoat is never 100% hermetically sealed over the whole piece.The problem is on raw metal no paint is really stable without a special metal primer..and the primer is not clear.
Thats why I painted mine.What a glass did you used to cut the new curved glass?
As for the new lens it's gonna be made out of a 2 or 3 mm thick clear glass. The size depends on wether or not the craftsman that will do it for me can drill the holes without cracking the lens. I should get it next wednesday since the guy is doing some other glass work for me. I'll post some pics as soon as I'll get it.
As for the cover it's doing quite well for the moment. Actually the darker layer (alumina) that is the result of the aluminium's oxidation appears quite quickly. I've sprayed the cover 12 hours ago using clear coat and as for now there's no sign of oxidation at all. Either way alumina is protecting the metal from further oxidation and is quite stable. The bigger risk is that the cover will end up being a little darker than expected.
PS: And if I'm not happy with the end result, I'll prime it and paint it using the Tamiya paint I've ordered to paint the inner pieces.
Last edited by JKKS; May 16, 2012 at 9:11 PM.
There's a lot of reasons- some of them are simply manufacturing cost. Eliminating that chamfer probably saved them tens of thousands of dollars in manufacturing costs that would have been passed on to the consumer.hikarub said:
But seriously... What I don't understand is why they don't bother to come out with authentic replicas of these movie props? The so-called official stuff released by these licensed companies can't even hold a candle to some the mods and kits created by the talented guys and girls in the RPF.
Why is that?
Then they make decisions like keeping the chamfer so it looks accurate, but now they can't afford to make the faceplate in metal so they end up being injection molded plastic because they want to keep their retail price point.
There's a fine line between authenticity/accuracy and making them availiable at a realistic price collectors will pay. It's like a minefield.
And before you say that RPF members can do better and sell for the same prices or lower, RPF members typically are not giving Disney/WB/Sony/Marvel their piece of the pie (which is a HUGE piece), or the distributors, the shippers, overseas manufacturing, etc etc.
Until I get mine in, this is just guesswork for me, but it would probably be easiest to us a small grinding wheel on a dremel and remove the threaded shaft on the screws, leaving only the head. They could then be epoxied on.JKKS said:
The screws you use will probably be mild steel with a coat of paint. It won't polish the same as aluminum and will certainly need a coat of clear to keep from oxidizing over time, but given their size, the color difference might not really be noticeable.
Thanks for putting that into perspective. Everything you said makes sense of course....but man, I wish I was stinking rich and could somehow get an actual replica prop......Stormleader said:
There's a lot of reasons- some of them are simply manufacturing cost. Eliminating that chamfer probably saved them tens of thousands of dollars in manufacturing costs that would have been passed on to the consumer.
Then they make decisions like keeping the chamfer so it looks accurate, but now they can't afford to make the faceplate in metal so they end up being injection molded plastic because they want to keep their retail price point.
There's a fine line between authenticity/accuracy and making them availiable at a realistic price collectors will pay. It's like a minefield.
And before you say that RPF members can do better and sell for the same prices or lower, RPF members typically are not giving Disney/WB/Sony/Marvel their piece of the pie (which is a HUGE piece), or the distributors, the shippers, overseas manufacturing, etc etc.
Oh well, I guess that's what auctions are for...
Man, that's all types of pants-tightening awesome.nexnox said:
That Is the same 'green' I was talking about. I think you are correct going for the blue though. To the naked eye is real ones do light up greenish. But on camera they are blue. This is because the white balance is adjusting for the tungsten based lighting. Btw I think the green is a tamiya paint.
Your mod is looking good!
Here is a little treat for you guys. Something I was working on yesterday. Real deal.
That's pretty much what I was thinking about. I'm afraid drilling a hole will be to complicated especially because I don't have the material to do it safely.Luke0312 said:
I still have to find the screws though. I went to hardware store yesterday to pick up some supplies and I couldn't find what I was looking for.
As for the color difference, it's not a big deal IMO since they seem darker on the actual prop.
You must go to a clockmaker...he has the machines and the little screws for you.
Or you buy glockmaker drill bits and the little screws on ebay.
Like someone else mentioned, look on old cell phones. I just pulled the battery out of an old one and there were some very small screws there holding the case together. Only problem is there was only 4 and would need 6. Would also be tough to get them sanded down, but it would just take time. I've got some other old phones laying around somewhere, will have to round them up and see if I can find 6 matching screws.
Haha...great idea,but a lot of work.You need the right very fine drill bits,too.
on the screen used arc the screws look like flat head screws but in mobile phones they are normally torx screws but not a bad idea. depends on how accurate you want your arc
I would drill the top plate, but instead cut the heads off the screws and use them. Which brings up something else, given the small size, you better have a good way to catch them when they come off. Otherwise, if you need 6 of them, you better start with about 600, cause finding them under the work bench won't be easy, haha.Kroenen77 said:
That's true. Strange that they used a flat head screw. It appears the top plate on the arc was machined. Coming from working in machine shops several years back, we used hex heads on everything, but that's the real world, not the movie world.Chris27989 said:
Thats true, in the movie world with a extreme budget its easy
Break out the sanding and polishing supplies, and get that paint off there.Kroenen77 said:
Mine came in today, I had intended to wait until Monday to start on it, but couldn't resist. First thing was the switch the order of the lenses, to lose the taplight look.
Then tonight, I decided to go ahead and start stripping the paint. All the parts are aluminum, so good to go there. Was going to do the stand first, did one part, was excited about the finish and skipped back to the reactor. I'll finish the stand in a couple of days.
I'm actually very happy with this purchase. The paint is what really kills it, just a terrible color, so fake looking. Makes it look like a cheap toy. The bones of it are good though, just going to take a little work to really let it's true colors shine through. It actually still looks better in person than the pictures below show.
Comparison of a slightly polished part with the painted base:
Top of the arc:
Top of the arc again in more light:
Side of the arc (a bit blurry from my hand shaking from sanding, haha):
Like I said, I'll strip the entire stand and give it a slight polishing. Not going for a chrome like finish, more of a brushed look. Going to paint the screw heads black. As for the plastic inside the arc, I'll lightly sand the casting marks off, use a more realistic metal paint, then just repaint the triangle black.
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