Radica Binoc Build up: Semi-custom

I have had this in my closet since I was young. Perfect condition, even the original batteries still work!

I know it is a pretty common thing for alot of members here to use them and mod them into Binocs from ANH or what have you. I don't necessarily want to sell my personal radica because I still enjoy it every now and then and I sold my Sub Assault already.

I got to thinking about molding it, since it'd be small and inexpensive to do. Would anyone be interested in castings? I was thinking that I could do both solid and hollow (slush cast) pieces. I'd fill the sides with clay where the plastic shells meet to reduce clean-up





lmk what ya'll think, otherwise, Im gonna leave it alone

-TC

take it as a no?

Wrong forum for starters.

tubachris85x said:

---

take it as a no?

Pretty common. I've got one I was about to sell.

Was it ever confirmed as used on SE pick-up shots?

That's what I've heard.

D'oh!

Well, I would have been had I not purchased one just prior to CV last year!

I wish someone would cast the proper piece! I hadn;t heard that these may have been used. That's cool, if true!

Vaderman said:

---

D'oh!
I wish someone would cast the proper piece!

Keep the faith.

I believe the problem you will encounter is that you can pick them up for about $10 or less regularly on the 2nd hand market, so it's simply not worth the effort to mold and cast as is... Now if you modded it up and did a poor mans ANH binoculars casting you might get more interest, but sill probably not in high demand...

kurtyboy said:

---

Wrong forum for starters.

How so?

exoray said:

---

I believe the problem you will encounter is that you can pick them up for about $10 or less regularly on the 2nd hand market, so it's simply not worth the effort to mold and cast as is... Now if you modded it up and did a poor mans ANH binoculars casting you might get more interest, but sill probably not in high demand...

Yea thats what I was figuring, if I sold it completed like the binocs. I understand that these weren't used, they didn't exist at the time! I know I've seen alot of people use these.

Some ones online, the cheapest I saw was like $20 though

id have a hollow one if the price was right

Maybe interest is extremly low cause you can grab one up for cheap, and combine it with doopydoos conversion-set, cheap too.

STORMTROOPER SUB ASSAULT ELECTROBINOCULAR CONVERSION KIT

tubachris85x said:

---

Some ones online, the cheapest I saw was like $20 though

There are a couple on Ebay right now for $10 + shipping... Yeah there are others that seem to think they are plated in gold and want a bunch more but they rarely sell at those higher prices especially now since they were re-issued a few year back...

Most people get them locally from garage sales or thrift stores for much less...

True.

I guess if I go through with it, I'd build up everything entirely as one casting. IDK, I'll think about it. I'd just need some decent reference

I find a couple of these each summer at yard sales.

micdavis said:

---

Pretty common. I've got one I was about to sell.

Was it ever confirmed as used on SE pick-up shots?

That's what I've heard.

No, it wasn't. SE used ESB binocs.

But it was used in Life Aquatic.

...still makes an awesome custom piece. I did one for my stormtrooper long ago, and after I sold my armor, I painted it Brown Bess and used it with my USCM armor a few times.

You know what's funny? I've had this really Bada$$ Snowtrooper painting as my Itouch wallpaper. I recently just found a very large resolution version and just now decided to see what kind of binocs the snowy captain is holding.

We can guess where the artist got his reference from!

original:



Close up!



LOLz

Been thinking about this ALOT, so much so that I am thinking about doing this. I am thinking about molding/casting this sucker, scratch building the add ons and molding the entire thing as one piece. I want to be able to keep the toy in it's original condition.

Lichtbringer said:

---

Keep the faith.

I´m still working on the SIMRAD run gentlemen...

Markus

OdiWan72 said:

---

I´m still working on the SIMRAD run gentlemen...

Markus

Go for it. Just did a little research, I may be able to get at least one of the original parts for this...

I'm doing this primarily for my snowy. The artwork above was actually used for Star Wars Galaxies

Yea, Im gonna do this more as a variation/custom, more based off the painting's version with "inspriation" from the original

Well, who does Doopy-Doos?
Is it someone here?
Maybe with permission you can add their stuff and cast t like that?
Is that what you meant anyway?

Is SIMRAD the real thing?

Link fixed. What I'm going to do is after I complete the flange, I'm going to mold it seperatly so that I can properly file and sand off the lettering on the front rim as well as have a solid piece to continue cleanup.

Some more work tonight. Got some random parts and I'm playing around to see what looks the best. So far I'm liking this, but I may change it

Got alot more work done today with this. Dosn't look like a whole lot, but I'm really close to molding this thing and getting a cast or two made. My buddy helped out a bit with this. Most time consuming thing is getting the super sculpty to comply with you and get it to look decent.

I took off the flang and took a belt sander to the lettering then smooth it with high grit sand paper



Since Im more-so basing off of the one in the painting above, I rotated the flange to match the angle (placement of the line details).



Still a work in progress to get the edges looking good, but it's getting there (did more work after these pics were taken)

Other than that, filled all of the screw holes. There is writing on the bottom which we covered with clay (was inset in the plastic) but I need to go over it and try and make it more level.



On top of that, the one detail piece I made, I am not so sure if I'm going to use it or not, so I just molded it and made it more of an add-on. Came out well!




All thats left is aquiring the appropriate model V8 engine parts. The local hobby store is selling the model kit, but I'm not ready to drop $60 just for two parts.

I'm still deciding if I want to make a seperate detail "panel" to go on the inside of the viewer, by making it closely match the screen used binocs, but we'll see...

-TC