my HIC build

Same here, I've never done anything at all with any of these materials, and its stressful as hell and I keep thinking I'm going to ruin the damn thing, but its turning out just fine.
 
so i went back to work on it today, the glue was fully dry, and the small section of bondo in the corner, had fully adhered to the glue underneath, i tried pully it off but it wouldnt budge, so that was a good sign. i swing by home depot and picked up a big tub of bondo, and got to work. i managed to use almost the entire tub, but i got it all filled in, and sanded down, and I think it looks great. Then i sanded down some of the high spots with some 80 grit to smooth it all out, and i got the texture i wanted. then i went over some of the low spots with some more glue.

one of the problems ive ran into, is i wasnt thinking when i screwed down the front edge panels, and forgot to glue them. i went over the gap with bondo, but its popped loose. i took a little glue and smeared it in the crack with my finger, but i dunno if its going to be enough to get in there and hold it, since it was a paper thin crack.

i plan on going back in a few days and seeing how it looks, maybe going over it a little more with a glue depending on if it needs it. otherwise ill go over it with some higher grit sandpaper and start on the primer.

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Looks good so far mate.

I don't think it can be stuffed up anyways, as you can always keep sanding and adding (same goes for anyone else stressing). This stage is YOUR chance to add YOUR take on the prop. Get a few photos of the movie prop (not someone else's) and try to mimic it. The big identification I can recall is the 'tick' impression on the left side of Han's face. But take your time in this stage, as the painting exercise is painful, and when you get the colours right, you don't want to hang it up and think that you wish you spent more time on the 'liquid carbonite swirls'. And remember to cover the join marks. Nothing worse than seeing a horizontal line across his neck and belly button.

Never get sick of looking at these. It will be the centre piece of anyones collection.
 
well, i was planning on priming it today, and painting it tomorrow, but thats not gonna happen. i went back to work on it today and noticed the other side of the front top panels was coming off as well, this time it was a thick enough crack that i could get a small brush with some glue on it in between, so i glued it and clamped it down, and glued some 1x1 blocks to the underside to hold it together better in the center, hopefully that takes care of it, but at this point, who knows.

i also added some more bondo swirls and filled in some of the low spots that i missed the other day, and worked more on the front chest seam. i was really having trouble with his left shoulder area, and today i realized while sanding, that it was because of the foam underneath. it was spongy enough to push up just a bit, which kept it from making a good seal with the bondo, so i ripped that little corner piece out and filled it in entirely with bondo, and sanded that back down., i also went over a few spots with some more glue.... HOPEFULLY, tomorrow ill be ready for primer.

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also, while i was waiting for the bondo to dry, it started to rain, and out of NOWHERE came a huge lightning strike out of the corner of my eye through the back garage door. it was the brightest and loudest i'd ever seen. so i got up and went to look, and it hit a HUGE tree less than 50 feet away from where i was sitting. hopefully the thing dosent split and fall anytime soon, because its going to either take out the garage, or a neighbors house when it comes down... once the rain stopped i went to explore, and a poor squirrel must have pissed someone off, because he bit the dust. you can see the line down the tree where the lightning traveled,
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Han is looking good Berger. You are really pulling this off nicely. I hear you about the storm. I'm an insurance adjuster and I've been pretty busy so far this week on home inspections. I went to Terre Haute yesterday because lightning hit a house and it caught fire. Ugh.

Keep up the good work!
 
today i went back, took the clamps off, and they seams i glued looked great! so i start laying down newspaper,... and noticed more gaps. So i glued some blocks in those and clamped em down, and said F it... im primering this damn thing anyway. so far ive used about 5 of the cheapo walmart rattlecans of primer, and this MDF just keeps sucking it up. i did manage to get a decent first coat over everything, with the exceptions of the parts that i had clamped. i dont know if its the dust that had settled over everything, or what, but putting the primer down on the MDF gave me lo9ts of weird cobwebby texture, that when i would brush with my hand, most of the primer came right off. so that had me worried a bit. but i gave it 45 minutes or so to dry, and hit it with some 220 grit sandpaper, and it smoothed right out. and gave it a nice satin polish. i gave the light spots another coat of primer, and sanded some more. i noticed i was ok if i was sanding the bondo, or MDF, but if i hit any of the resin parts, it stripped off right away. i dunno if this is because im still using way to high of a grit of paper, or what.
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after that i got impatient, and threw some of the krylon aluminum paint on Hans face and hand/ torso, to get a look at what its going to look like.... and holy ****, im impressed. i DO have a noticeable seam on one part of his chest, but its not bad at all.

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and one more from my phone without the florescent garage lights on overhead.
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Looking good. I did make some horizontal supports (between the panel holes) that go from both sides and also screwed from the front. This braced it nicely. Are you going to build in the panel holes before painting. Note they require a different angle to the sides, so the panels do not stick out too far.

Ever think of making a 'wonderbat' from your tree. lol.
 
I'm not going for the regular panels, as I can't afford them so I'm covering then with plexiglass and installing some lights inside.
 
Today i swang by lowes and picked up a few more cans of paint, some primer, a 200lb picture hanger, and some acrylic sheet. i went and did some final sanding and primer work, and gave up on a few small mistakes, and painted it. so far ive got 2 coats of krylon aluminum down over the whole thing. i was contemplating painting it 2 different colors, but looking at some pictures, i think its all the same color, with the only difference being weathering.

i THINK, im done with it as far as fiddling around goes. there will ALWAYS be little things here and there that ill notice that no one else will, and if i dont stop, then its going to be a neverending project. im not sure if i am going to sand this paint down, and add another coat, or just start weathering.

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todayt i weathered it up, swung by michaels craft store after work and grabbed some black satin, and espresso acrylic paints, i mixed em together and watered it down, and got to work. then hit it with some silver rub n buff on the highlights.
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heres a pic with the weathering applied, but not wiped off yet.

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and here he is all finished. ive still got to install the plexiglass over the holes, and the LED rope on the inside, but its basically done. i wont have any more updates until i can bring it home and hang it up on the wall.

overall, it was VERY easy, but nerve wracking as hell. i was constantly paranoid i would royally screw it up, but all of that was unfounded. ive never taken on a project this big before, but im VERY happy with the outcome.
 
its up and mounted!

i went over yesterday and attached the plexiglass, and finish it off. instead of buying some "frosted glass" spray to frost them, i decided the save the 5 bucks, and just sand them down, which seemed like a great idea at the time, as ive already spent quite a bit on this thing. unfortunately, i didnt realize the only sandpaper i had left, was some 550, and 1200 grit paper. which took FOREVER to get a nice frosted effect. also, plexiglass clogs up sandpaper like you wouldnt believe, so i was constantly having to get a new sheet.... after a few pieces, i was ready to just say F it, and buy some of the spray, but they wouldnt have been uniform, and i didnt want half of the pieces more frosted than the others, so i just sludged on through and got em all sanded on both sides. then i used some clear silicone to glue them down.

went home and moved the bookcase that was in the spot i was planning on mounting Han, and drilled some holes to try and find the studs..... and had no luck at all. started freaking out. our house was built in the 20's, so its all plaster and slat walls, nowhere near strong enough to hold this thing. so i start researching toggle bolts and anything i can think of to attach this thing. luckily, my buddy came over to help me mount it, and found the studs, no idea how i managed to miss them repeatedly, but that was a huge weight off my shoulders.

i mounted it to the wall using an 18 inch french cleat mount, like many others have. the studs arent perfectly centered with where i wanted to hang it, as its a short section of wall, so there is a few inches of overhand between the section mounted on the wall, and the section mounted on Han, but not enough to worry about.

the lights i installed i got off of ebay, were these. i got 10 meters, which i measured out to be just enough to go around the inside twice, once on top, and once on bottom, of the plexiglass ports. they are multicolor, and can be set to change and do almost anything, the one problem i didnt plan for, was going up and over the 2x4s inside, which took up a few inches here and there, and led me to be a few inches short on each string of lights.... but untimately that didnt matter, as they are bright enough that you dont notice. they also come with a remote, with a little infared reciever on a wire, which i attempted to drill a hole through the plexiglass on the bottom and dangle that out of, but while drilling, i cracked the entire corner of the plexiglass off. which i should have known would happen, but oh well, it was just a small corner, thatt led me with jut enough room to dangle both recievers out of the bottom. they attatched inside with double sided tape, but i can tell, im going to have to take the thing down and use a more permenant method of attatchment, as they wont stay stuck forever.....

ON TO THE PICS!

loading it into the back of my buddys truck.
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all hung up and lighted.
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Hey Berger,

Thanks so much for posting your progress on this. I'm 6yrs late to the party, but I'm at the point where I'd like to build a 1/1 DIY Han in Carbonite, and this was perfect for motivating me.

Your prop looks amazing. Really looking forward to getting started.
 
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