Omni
New Member
With so many posts centered on Back to the Future I have always felt right at home in this forum as it is my all time favorite movie. A Plutonium Case build thread really got me into the idea of building a Plutonium case and stocking it full of cores. I found a used transit case to act as a donor and started work. Then I learned that Christopher Lloyd was going to be in town and I frantically tried to figure out how to finish the case quickly so that I could get it autographed. Alas it was not to be, I just didn't have enough time to get it done (if only I had more time.. ). Then the answer became clear, build something smaller.
A core was the next logical choice because I needed to figure out how to build them anyway and it would be much easier to carry into a Con.
I started with Sketchup to figure out all the dimensions and pieces needed and created the cut away image below to show the assembly. I would settle with being as screen accurate as possible but not to the extent where the prop didn't actually work. I got the over all dimensions from posts on this forum as well as a Screen Used page then bought a bunch of common sized tubing to figure out the rest.
The two things I wanted my core to do was hold water and hold and release the inner red core. To hold water it would need to be water tight but also have some way of filling and draining the water. To hold and release the inner red core the bottom will need to rotate to allow the inner core to drop out through a hole in the bottom. From the CAD image you can see there are two bottoms to the core, the most outer one will rotate which means I will need to create a pivot point for it to rotate about. Can anyone think of another way of doing this? I have seen photos of a version with the hole in the bottom but it appears really big, so big that there wouldn't be any material in the center to put a pivot (See picture below from http://www.bttfmuseum.com) Also note in the CAD file how the inner core can not come out the top. The inner core 'sleeve' does not go through the top but it does go through the bottom. This will stop the inner core from falling out the top as the inner core spacers won't fit through.
So my bottom hole is smaller and the inner tube hugs the outside wall in order to have the room for the pivot.
Parts ready to go.
Then sanding, sanding and more sanding.
Then more sanding.
Then a lot of polishing, lots and lots. I forgot to take a picture though, because polishing. (On the next one I will)
Finally the test fit and I am ready to go!
More to follow.
A core was the next logical choice because I needed to figure out how to build them anyway and it would be much easier to carry into a Con.
I started with Sketchup to figure out all the dimensions and pieces needed and created the cut away image below to show the assembly. I would settle with being as screen accurate as possible but not to the extent where the prop didn't actually work. I got the over all dimensions from posts on this forum as well as a Screen Used page then bought a bunch of common sized tubing to figure out the rest.
The two things I wanted my core to do was hold water and hold and release the inner red core. To hold water it would need to be water tight but also have some way of filling and draining the water. To hold and release the inner red core the bottom will need to rotate to allow the inner core to drop out through a hole in the bottom. From the CAD image you can see there are two bottoms to the core, the most outer one will rotate which means I will need to create a pivot point for it to rotate about. Can anyone think of another way of doing this? I have seen photos of a version with the hole in the bottom but it appears really big, so big that there wouldn't be any material in the center to put a pivot (See picture below from http://www.bttfmuseum.com) Also note in the CAD file how the inner core can not come out the top. The inner core 'sleeve' does not go through the top but it does go through the bottom. This will stop the inner core from falling out the top as the inner core spacers won't fit through.
So my bottom hole is smaller and the inner tube hugs the outside wall in order to have the room for the pivot.
Parts ready to go.
Then sanding, sanding and more sanding.
Then more sanding.
Then a lot of polishing, lots and lots. I forgot to take a picture though, because polishing. (On the next one I will)
Finally the test fit and I am ready to go!
More to follow.