I thought to myself this morning that's it's been a long time since I gave an update to our project here on the RPF. What I didn't realize is that it's been over a year since the last?! Time does fly but luckily I am back with an update.
First, I want to get this out of the way since it was primarily the main focus around the time of the last update. Luckily we found several of the 3/4" red control knobs that we were desperately in search of. Also, here's a pretty shot of it with the other knobs.
Along with finding the knobs, we also found most of the other parts that we were missing. In the last update, we stated that we correctly identified the handle for the unit. Some time went by and we were able to source one for our project. It's our belief that the handle by itself came coated with plastisol and the same version with the jack dish did not. We had no luck in sourcing the version with the jack dish so we had to go with what we could find. The plastisol was fairly easy to remove. With a heat gun, an exacto blade, some patience and some light sanding, we got the handle to look the way it should.
We are still in search of the jack dish that goes along with the handle. It is proving very difficult to locate one with the precise measurements that we need. We have a backup dish with dimensions that are close but it's a little too small for the handle. Luckily we are working with some talented people who are working on a custom one for us.
Most of the outside of the unit is completed so we've been busy focusing on the door and its inner workings. First, we constructed a mock up of the door with mdf so we could plot out and play with some measurements. Our plan is to have the door constructed out of aluminum so that the prop holds up with repeated use. During this time we only had the heat sinks and the knowledge that the square aluminum that holds the ball latch bearings was 1" to base scale on. We also built a quick mock up hero trap to use alongside with a Matty trap to aid us in determining the size. We think we did a pretty bang up job.
Next, we found out what the metal rods are called that hold open the door. Once we had them in hand we had to figure out where they needed to be positioned so that the door would sit as well as close properly.
Now that we had things figured out, it was time to have the door constructed out of aluminum. Once it arrived it was time to work out the measurements of the trap housing all over again. Before having the door fabricated, we had to take into consideration that there is a spring loaded ball latch which keeps the door closed. We had to make sure we had the dimensions right. We were all very nervous we would receive a door where nothing would fit.
Here is a closer look at the inside of the frame where the ball latch meets the door frame. The latch is mounted on the inside of the square aluminum and the spring loaded ball protrudes slightly outward. You can see how close we were able to get it to the frame where it will latch into place to keep the door closed.
Here is a quick video demonstration of the door opening.
We haven't got to the part yet where we assemble the housing just yet. We have to figure out all of the greeblies that get mounted on the outside of the trap housing before we can do that. Starting with the easy stuff first, we bought ourselves some insulation foam and made a mock up to see if we could fit all of the rows in the space we allowed ourselves. Success!
Next, we slipped up and made a huge boo-boo by misidentifying a greeblie early on. What we thought we needed were vacuum relays but ended up being a similar but different part all together. I feel completely awful about it too because they aren't cheap and some others over on gbfans bought them for their builds. Some time machine owners will know what these ones are. Also, we weren't that far off when comparing them to the relays.
The relay is on the left and the correct part is on the right:
The last of the greeblies is a piece in which we have to clue as to what it is. Whenever that happens in propmaking you improvise and make your best guess as to how big and what material to go with. My own personal hunch is that I think this piece is some sort of mounting bracket for some type of electrical equipment. It also appears that the original may have been made out of brass. Well, we messed around with some measurements and made a paper mock-up to see if it would fit. Then we shot these over to a friend that is helping us and he came up with an aluminum buck. From there it was cast so that resin copies could be made. They turned out great!
That just about gets the rpf caught up on our progress. We are still doing regular updates on our build thread over on gbfans.com. All the latest gets posted there first. Plus if you decide to visit, you can read about other discoveries, blunders, headaches, achievements, etc. that I didn't mention here. You can also see how we plan on presenting the unit when we take it places.
http://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=36847
