Sherman Archibald
New Member
Note: I'm trying to take pics of the finished thing, but I suck at taking good pictures, so it's taking me a while. In the meantime, here's a quick video. 
It's not /quite/ finished in this video. The power cable still looks like it's from Earth, and the weathering isn't finished. I'll post more pics when I figure out how to take photos.
The Introduction:
Hey all, I'm coming at you with my first community contribution. Fan designed, not technically a prop. I've been with the RPF for a little while now, and some of you know me well, but I lay pretty low. I buy awesome stuff from the junkyard, and support cool project runs. I follow along, and love the work you all do. Honestly, I just keep buying zorg 's stuff, and beg him to do the paint and weathering work, despite his lack of interest on that side. It's time I share something, rather than just buying up all his fantastic work. Hoping that anyone thinks this is cool, and also thinking it would be cool if people outright copy my work, and make it their own. There's nothing here I claim as my own. I re-used a couple of 3d models on thingiverse, (credits clearly called out below) and made some /really simple/ models of my own in sketchup to finish it out. I used the same glass dome as zapwizard's base. I'll post the .stl's for the model bits that I made, but they're /super/ simple.
The Background:
I was planning to build a training remote myself, and I had been gathering the parts when Trooper Trent came along and offered to not only make the remote, but he'd make it float. So I gave up my work, stuffed all the parts I'd accumulated in a box, and put my name down for one of Trent's floating remotes. (I'm #072) I now have bags of parts I was going to use to build my own training remote, but that's fine, I've got one made by an expert.
But now that I've got it, how do I want to display it? I kind of hate the idea of just putting it on a shelf. That's not very "Star Wars". Not very "used". I'm very much a fan of trying to make props feel "at home" when on display. In my mind, everything is just waiting to get used again. It's sitting in its holding place, just waiting to get picked up and used. Does Han Solo keep his blaster in a case, on some pretty stand when he's not out gallivanting about the universe? No! His blaster would be in its belt, hanging by the door, ready to get picked up, strapped on, and taken to the next adventure. How do you compromise, and display for effect, but also authenticity?
The Plan:
My first thought was to incorporate it in to a clock case I'm going to convert into an old looking saber hilt display case. But, while the clock case is pretty big, it starts getting small real quick when stuffed with hilts and training remotes. I was thinking I'd replace the front glass with a new glass front that I'd make, using copper tape and solder to hold the parts together like a stained glass window. I would have a round, domed bit kind of in the middle, where the remote would poke out a bit, and spin. Like those windows they have for your pet, so they can poke their nose through the wall/fence. But it just wasn't happening. Mocked things up in sketchup, tried a lot of options, but finally determined it was just a bad idea.
My second thought was to find something "floaty" in the SW universe, to match the "floaty" theme of the remote itself. I kept coming back to Bespin themes, but just couldn't make it work for this use. The sizes and shapes kind of agreed with each other, but they couldn't be scaled in to anything rational for me. And just doing a "mini Bespin"? Eww. And the Bespin style might work, but there's no greeblies or parts that would've been laying around in the 70's to make this with. So I kept looking for "raw" parts that looked like they'd support a training remote.
Then I found a recent pile of parts I had created. I'd just printed an IG-88 head, and I had extra printed parts laying around. And that IG-88 "cap" looked like a really good size…
If there's anything a SW prop fan knows, it's that there were Rolls-Royce Derwent jet engines just strewn about the English countryside in 1975. As fields of lavender, so grew Rolls Royce Jet engines in the UK. And from them was made all the best stuff for SW. So I will go ahead and leverage that insanity.
The Build Notes:
Lights held in with /liberal/ use of hot glue.
I had much grander plans for the design and weathering, but then "just get it done" became a thing. So I simplified. I would go back and fix/change a lot, or do it completely differently next time, but I'm glad to have it done.
Will update the thread if I think of any additional notes I forgot to add. (and some final pictures, of course)
s
The Pillars:
The Parts Used:
Back quarter beauty shot:
It's not /quite/ finished in this video. The power cable still looks like it's from Earth, and the weathering isn't finished. I'll post more pics when I figure out how to take photos.
The Introduction:
Hey all, I'm coming at you with my first community contribution. Fan designed, not technically a prop.
I've been with the RPF for a little while now, and some of you know me well, but I lay pretty low. I buy awesome stuff from the junkyard, and support cool project runs. I follow along, and love the work you all do. Honestly, I just keep buying zorg 's stuff, and beg him to do the paint and weathering work, despite his lack of interest on that side. It's time I share something, rather than just buying up all his fantastic work. Hoping that anyone thinks this is cool, and also thinking it would be cool if people outright copy my work, and make it their own. There's nothing here I claim as my own. I re-used a couple of 3d models on thingiverse, (credits clearly called out below) and made some /really simple/ models of my own in sketchup to finish it out. I used the same glass dome as zapwizard's base. I'll post the .stl's for the model bits that I made, but they're /super/ simple.The Background:
I was planning to build a training remote myself, and I had been gathering the parts when Trooper Trent came along and offered to not only make the remote, but he'd make it float. So I gave up my work, stuffed all the parts I'd accumulated in a box, and put my name down for one of Trent's floating remotes. (I'm #072) I now have bags of parts I was going to use to build my own training remote, but that's fine, I've got one made by an expert.
But now that I've got it, how do I want to display it? I kind of hate the idea of just putting it on a shelf. That's not very "Star Wars". Not very "used". I'm very much a fan of trying to make props feel "at home" when on display. In my mind, everything is just waiting to get used again. It's sitting in its holding place, just waiting to get picked up and used. Does Han Solo keep his blaster in a case, on some pretty stand when he's not out gallivanting about the universe? No! His blaster would be in its belt, hanging by the door, ready to get picked up, strapped on, and taken to the next adventure. How do you compromise, and display for effect, but also authenticity?
The Plan:
My first thought was to incorporate it in to a clock case I'm going to convert into an old looking saber hilt display case. But, while the clock case is pretty big, it starts getting small real quick when stuffed with hilts and training remotes.
I was thinking I'd replace the front glass with a new glass front that I'd make, using copper tape and solder to hold the parts together like a stained glass window. I would have a round, domed bit kind of in the middle, where the remote would poke out a bit, and spin. Like those windows they have for your pet, so they can poke their nose through the wall/fence. But it just wasn't happening. Mocked things up in sketchup, tried a lot of options, but finally determined it was just a bad idea. My second thought was to find something "floaty" in the SW universe, to match the "floaty" theme of the remote itself. I kept coming back to Bespin themes, but just couldn't make it work for this use. The sizes and shapes kind of agreed with each other, but they couldn't be scaled in to anything rational for me. And just doing a "mini Bespin"? Eww. And the Bespin style might work, but there's no greeblies or parts that would've been laying around in the 70's to make this with. So I kept looking for "raw" parts that looked like they'd support a training remote.
Then I found a recent pile of parts I had created. I'd just printed an IG-88 head, and I had extra printed parts laying around. And that IG-88 "cap" looked like a really good size…
If there's anything a SW prop fan knows, it's that there were Rolls-Royce Derwent jet engines just strewn about the English countryside in 1975. As fields of lavender, so grew Rolls Royce Jet engines in the UK. And from them was made all the best stuff for SW. So I will go ahead and leverage that insanity.
The Build Notes:
- Design
- I originally was going to use 3P0's larger arm actuators, but they got voted out for being a bit too big, and taking focus away from the remote itself. Was going to have a gap between the top and bottom sections of the base, with three arm actuators connecting the two.
- Had plans for where I wanted to use more red in the paint job. Really still like my ideas on paint scheme, but I felt like it would bring too much focus to the base. And might look like "new Star Wars", where everything has to have some red bit. Ended up just doing some red highlights on the little 3P0 bits. Also tried to make the 12V plug look like the knurled ring was red a long time ago.
- Pretty much /all/ the greeblies are attached with hot glue. I wanted to make sure it was no big deal if something broke off and needed to get glued back on. I'd also have the option to change my mind if I add some bit I end up not liking.
- Always back up your work:
-
- Something for the glass to sit on
- Made the main outer "ring" first, as something needed to hold up the glass. First just made a test circle that was the same size as the Derwent tube on the inside, and fit the glass perfectly, then chopped the edges off in sketchup and printed the hexagonal version.
- Print the same half model twice, and epoxy together for the cleanest printing and best strength.
- Done!
- Some way to stick to the wall
- Took me a while to find anything I wanted to try working with. Wanted cheap, simple, "anybody can pick one up online", and almost invisible mount.
- This square one with the pre-drilled hole seemed like it would let me build something that would be solid, and not just flip over if it wasn't bolted to the mount. (round would not do.)
- I initially planned to put a hole through the printed base to allow a bolt to hold the base securely to the mount, but it ended up fitting so snugly that the bolt wasn't necessary. I can take it off the wall and put it back without having to fiddle with anything, and it's perfectly solid.
- (image from Amazon)
- Something solid for the remote base to sit on
- It should be basically sitting on the mount, to keep everything solid and supported. Then it'll need a cross piece so it's stable in both directions. The battery backup will fit in its own pocket.
- Again, went with an early prototype. Had bigger plans for this to be more refined, better ventilation, and for the remote base to screw down to it, but it's so solid, and everything fit so well that it just didn't seem necessary. And I haven't had any issues with anything feeling warm. I keep it on 24/7.
- Printed in three pieces just to make it print fastest and cleanest.
- Epoxied this in to one piece, then to the inside of IG-88's head, then used a rotary tool to cut the opening on the back side.
- Be careful if you do this yourself, as this needs to be glued as level as you can get both parts.
- Leveling:
- Pfffff
- It'll just attach to the wall perfectly level, right?
- If I were to redesign, I'd add some kind of built-in leveling. It did work out fine for me, and was pretty easy to level using just the wall mount, but it would be cool if there was a built in feature for easy/precise leveling.
- Details and Greeblies
- I wanted to use a few original parts, and the curved tank treads worked great on top. The bits of tread used for the remote itself use the flat parts, so these could've still been sitting in the box.
- Weathering
- I like things to look like they were found in the back corner of a sandcrawler, under a leaky Gonk droid. And that sandcrawler was itself found in the back of the sandcrawler graveyard.
- Very simple base white, then black and rusty washes
- Some kind of coolant leak from the past runs down the back. I wanted to add some blue or green to this, to look more sci-fi, but didn't get to it.
- A couple "metal" bits, done with spray can metal finish
- Tried to weather the text only where it would have been touched a lot. Bugs me when paint jobs weather too globally, even in areas that would be protected in real use.
- Made an ammonia box to try to get the brake line tubing to oxidize as extremely as possible. The tube is made to go under a car and not rust, so it's not easy. Process works best with copper and brass, but I thought I'd try, and see what it did. Results look grungier, which works for me. I then painted black wash on the tubing.
- Lighting
- Lighted it like IG-88 at first (central light bulb, with red light 'gel' plastic film taped to the inside), then saw a project my uncle was doing with addressable LED's, and couldn't resist converting this.
- Decided there needed to be less symmetry in the whole thing, so I added switches on the left for the lights, that are just soldiered directly to the buttons on the lighting controller. One for lighting power, one for mode switching.
- Added the tiny lights in the base at a dumb angle. Was easiest to perfectly center the lights over the holes when done vertically, but the wiring sticks out at an inconvenient angle. Should've just gone horizontal.
- Originally didn't paint over the light holes, but the lights were way too bright, even when at their lowest brightness, so I filled the holes with epoxy and painted over them so they'd be invisible unless the lights were on, and when the lights are on it's more subtle.
Lights held in with /liberal/ use of hot glue.
- Wiring
- I needed to get wires from the ports on the battery backup to the insides of the base, and I didn't really plan ahead well for that. But then, one of my pillars is that it needs to look good from all angles, so I'm not just going to drill some holes in the back and hide some wire pass-throughs as a hack. So I added the metal brake hoses to carry the wires. Originally had two, then wanted it to look like one had been removed at some point, and bypassed. Ultimately, you can't tell there was a second tube, which bums me out, because I wanted you to be able to see the history, and ex-parts. The wrapped wire is the "bypass" second connection from the UPS to the insides. One carries 5v, one 12v.
- The little circuit board inside doesn't do anything other than connect things together. 12v stuff at one end, 5v stuff in the middle, switches at the other end.
- I couldn't have a regular Earth power cord coming up to this thing, so I used the wire coil that's made to go around the brake line tubing around the power cord.
- I needed to get wires from the ports on the battery backup to the insides of the base, and I didn't really plan ahead well for that. But then, one of my pillars is that it needs to look good from all angles, so I'm not just going to drill some holes in the back and hide some wire pass-throughs as a hack. So I added the metal brake hoses to carry the wires. Originally had two, then wanted it to look like one had been removed at some point, and bypassed. Ultimately, you can't tell there was a second tube, which bums me out, because I wanted you to be able to see the history, and ex-parts.
- Afterthoughts
- I test printed the main body using fast test printing, then got too committed with one test print I'd built too much on. Had to reinforce the print with epoxy before painting, since it was starting to pull apart. Everything worked out, but it gets scary when a single thread (of plastic) starts to pull everything apart.
- Structurally, it's not well engineered. I'd do that different next time. The core that holds the battery and attaches to the wall is /entirely/ attached to the rest of the base with epoxy. Then the glass sits on that. <ick> I would built it next time to have mechanical support, held in place with epoxy. It'll be fine, I epoxied it plenty, I just don't like it. The base itself is directly supported, but the glass, if my epoxy were to fail, would come down on it.
- I love having the battery backup built-in and invisible. I always worried about leaving this plugged in 24/7. Never again!
- Sooo many greeblies I had at hand that I really wanted to include. Visible V-8, Tomtit, lots of camera flash parts, leftovers from macrobinocular source cameras, etc, etc. But I really didn't want it to feel too busy and I kept adding stuff that would distract the eye from the floating remote. Desperately wanted to get a coiled wire in there, and ended up having to be happy with the source power line.
- I test printed the main body using fast test printing, then got too committed with one test print I'd built too much on.
I had much grander plans for the design and weathering, but then "just get it done" became a thing. So I simplified. I would go back and fix/change a lot, or do it completely differently next time, but I'm glad to have it done.
Will update the thread if I think of any additional notes I forgot to add. (and some final pictures, of course)
s
The Pillars:
- Follow the general design style of the training remote, so they look like they belong together.
- The remote is the thing on display. Don't take over, just compliment/support it.
- Use as many greeblies as you can that were available during pre-production in 1975. Try to use leftover parts from other props. Try to use what was laying around.
- Hide the UPS (battery backup)
- No shelf
- Embrace the power cord. (if it's not on a shelf, you can't avoid it, so integrate it, and make it real.)
- Do something to disguise the familiar round floaty base unit.
- Grungy like it was installed after 20 years in a storage compartment, and had 20 years of hard use before that.
- No "bad sides". Even if you almost never see some of it. Reward those who are interested enough to examine the hidden bits.
The Parts Used:
- 3D Models:
- Derwent flame tube (by stormtrooperguy)
- C3po arm greeblies (by Jesse_M)
- My parts:
- My collection of greeblies for a Training Remote (original, cast, and printed)
- Wall mount shaft/UPS "pocket" model (included here. modeled for faster/cleaner printing)
- Hexagon top ring "base cover" model (included here)
- All the little tabs here are probably unnecessary. I thought they would shield light, but I ended up just using tape and paint, so you probably don't need them at all
- I also included an .stl for an early version of a top ring that's made to have a LED strip taped to the inside. I didn't use it in the end, but you can do something with it if you like.
- Other stuff:
- Note: I have no connection to Amazon, and you should purchase parts from your merchant of choice. Or better yet, dig around at thrift stores for stuff, and support their causes. I'm just posting the Amazon links so you can have a good idea of the parts I used.
- Power - Common 12v adapter
- Battery backup (UPS)
- Wall mount
- Mini LED's ("fairy lights")
- Medium LED's (used for upper "main" unit. Probably not necessary. The tiny ones work great.)
- LED Controller
- Right angle plug jack for base
- Lighted switches
- 8" x 8" Glass dome
- Nylon hex spacers (between the brake line tubing and the main body)
- Brake line tubing
- Brake line "gravel guard" coil
- Silver paint pen for outlining
- Print your own decals
Back quarter beauty shot:
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