matty matt
Sr Member
Too cool. Good luck with your build.
Just post your steps as you go .. the experience builders will probably comments on it and let you know before you might do something that is not recommanded!
:thumbsup
Gunslinger21
New Member
Love me a good HIC build! Awesome so far! Keep the pics coming.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Starting on Panels
So today I started on my panels. As I mentioned in my first post these are 'budget/value" panels I got on ebay from HalloweenKing999 for $150....and the saying is true, you get what you pay for. These are not the cleanest or easiest to work with but should work for me. These are made out of fiberglass resin.
I sanded them down a bit to get the remaining crud off. This took quite a bit of time and was very messy. Got to a point where they were all ready to go.
As far as paint goes I'm going to do something a bit different. I'm going to weather my panels a bit. For this first coat I'm going dark and using the same Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze...that @QCWolf used on his panels. I'll come back in the next day or so with a couple coats of the more standard Rustoleum weathered steel. I'll then plan to use some dry wool or sanding sponge and work through a bunch of areas for the darker color to show through. In my head it will work well...I guess we shall see. Worst case scenario I repaint!
So today I started on my panels. As I mentioned in my first post these are 'budget/value" panels I got on ebay from HalloweenKing999 for $150....and the saying is true, you get what you pay for. These are not the cleanest or easiest to work with but should work for me. These are made out of fiberglass resin.
I sanded them down a bit to get the remaining crud off. This took quite a bit of time and was very messy. Got to a point where they were all ready to go.
As far as paint goes I'm going to do something a bit different. I'm going to weather my panels a bit. For this first coat I'm going dark and using the same Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze...that @QCWolf used on his panels. I'll come back in the next day or so with a couple coats of the more standard Rustoleum weathered steel. I'll then plan to use some dry wool or sanding sponge and work through a bunch of areas for the darker color to show through. In my head it will work well...I guess we shall see. Worst case scenario I repaint!
Was able to get the other coat of paint on the panels tonight. Used Rustoleum flat antique nickel. Looks good. You can def tell a darker layer is underneath but it's pretty subtle at this point. On the fence as to if I am going to take some sandpaper to it to try to let some of the oil rubbed bronze color come through for a more weathered look or not....would be easy to just leave it as is.
King Jawa Han Cast
So as I mentioned in my first post, I did a ton of reading before starting this project. I decided to go with the KingJawa Han cast as it was immediately available and "on sale" when I needed one. Also, I'd read plenty of build threads from people having used this cast with great results and seen numerous pictures of the cast. The only real work involved was going to be trimming down any excess foam on the back and getting the "cuts" between the parts to line up and bonded/glued together. There were also one or two posts where people had done some minor cleaning out between a couple fingers where some left over residue resided, etc. I figured I had this under control. Ordering process was simple and the box came pretty quickly. It was packed pretty well with the foam filling facing the outside of the box and a bunch of newspaper for additional cushion.
I was excited to get him out and check him out. All pieces arrived in good shape. The details in the face and body was excellent.
Upon closer look I had some concerns with the hands. They seemed more like fins than fingers! Kinjawa and I PM'd back and forth on this subject as I wondered if I'd gotten a bad one as I hadn't really seen anything anywhere on the forums that looked like this coming from him. Turns out he recently updated his cast to add more material in the hands for additional strength. He suggested it would be fine to leave as is or I could dremel the fingers out however I wanted.
After several additional PM's I ultimately decided I wasn't comfortable with this as it seemed more like having to sculpt fingers than just clean up in between them as I'd seen others have to do. He did ultimately offer to dremel them out for me if I returned the cast or was willing to let me return it to him although this was not without numerous back and forth. I took him up on the offer to just return it as it seemed like the best choice FOR ME at this point. He refunded everything but my shipping so I was ultimately out about $70 in total on this deal, but better than having a Han with no fingers! I'm sure there are many out there this cast will still work great for and many that have the skills confidence to do the sculpting on the fingers. I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd known what I was getting going in, my position is what I received simply didn't match what's shown in the for sale thread or what I'd seen in any other post.
Would be interested to know what others think?
So as I mentioned in my first post, I did a ton of reading before starting this project. I decided to go with the KingJawa Han cast as it was immediately available and "on sale" when I needed one. Also, I'd read plenty of build threads from people having used this cast with great results and seen numerous pictures of the cast. The only real work involved was going to be trimming down any excess foam on the back and getting the "cuts" between the parts to line up and bonded/glued together. There were also one or two posts where people had done some minor cleaning out between a couple fingers where some left over residue resided, etc. I figured I had this under control. Ordering process was simple and the box came pretty quickly. It was packed pretty well with the foam filling facing the outside of the box and a bunch of newspaper for additional cushion.
I was excited to get him out and check him out. All pieces arrived in good shape. The details in the face and body was excellent.
Upon closer look I had some concerns with the hands. They seemed more like fins than fingers! Kinjawa and I PM'd back and forth on this subject as I wondered if I'd gotten a bad one as I hadn't really seen anything anywhere on the forums that looked like this coming from him. Turns out he recently updated his cast to add more material in the hands for additional strength. He suggested it would be fine to leave as is or I could dremel the fingers out however I wanted.
After several additional PM's I ultimately decided I wasn't comfortable with this as it seemed more like having to sculpt fingers than just clean up in between them as I'd seen others have to do. He did ultimately offer to dremel them out for me if I returned the cast or was willing to let me return it to him although this was not without numerous back and forth. I took him up on the offer to just return it as it seemed like the best choice FOR ME at this point. He refunded everything but my shipping so I was ultimately out about $70 in total on this deal, but better than having a Han with no fingers! I'm sure there are many out there this cast will still work great for and many that have the skills confidence to do the sculpting on the fingers. I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd known what I was getting going in, my position is what I received simply didn't match what's shown in the for sale thread or what I'd seen in any other post.
Would be interested to know what others think?
VanOaksProps
Sr Member
I'm with you. I know the fingers are a weak spot, but that's crazy.
Bigturc
Sr Member
Wow! Sorry .. but to me, this is totally ridiculous and abusive ... I just rechecked kingjawa's sale thread and the pictures he's showing are not even closed to this for the hands. He should make clear that this is what people will receive because it's not fun at all to have more work to do on the cast then on the actual HIC... You did well in sending it back but he SHOULD have refunded you the money and shipping. It's his responsability to send quality casting, when things happen to my casting/package, I always send back at my own fees to make people happy...
I first went with Kingjawa's cast too and even though those fingers were hideous, it was nowhere as bad as what you get now. Here's the pictures of when I got mine, and I did take the dremel to it and completely emptied the in-between fingers. It was a pain but ultimately, it was not that bad .. still, I had other cast problems, thin areas and those feets .. god .. they were awful casting. It's like the mold had had hundreds of cast out of them! I had to remove blobs and whatnot and resculpt them... of all things, these should be the cleanest part! Your feet don't look so good either.
All and all, I installed it, then I ended up selling it anyway event with all the work I had done on it. Someone had a deal considering I cleaned it up for him and it was at kingjawa's original price too.
Then I got a darthchromer full cast and man, did I never regret it! this rubber thing is wonderful and I do recommend it to anybody else.
As for your panel, you're doing a good job on them considering the not so good quality, I would definitely warn people against this. But then again, anything coming out of Ebay is normally a big no no for everyone, budget or not!!
BEFORE
AFTER
I first went with Kingjawa's cast too and even though those fingers were hideous, it was nowhere as bad as what you get now. Here's the pictures of when I got mine, and I did take the dremel to it and completely emptied the in-between fingers. It was a pain but ultimately, it was not that bad .. still, I had other cast problems, thin areas and those feets .. god .. they were awful casting. It's like the mold had had hundreds of cast out of them! I had to remove blobs and whatnot and resculpt them... of all things, these should be the cleanest part! Your feet don't look so good either.
All and all, I installed it, then I ended up selling it anyway event with all the work I had done on it. Someone had a deal considering I cleaned it up for him and it was at kingjawa's original price too.
Then I got a darthchromer full cast and man, did I never regret it! this rubber thing is wonderful and I do recommend it to anybody else.
As for your panel, you're doing a good job on them considering the not so good quality, I would definitely warn people against this. But then again, anything coming out of Ebay is normally a big no no for everyone, budget or not!!
BEFORE
AFTER
Thanks, this^ was what I kept trying to explain to him too. I'm sure some people would be fine doing all that extra work themselves, and if the pictures had reflected the product I wouldn't really have grounds for complaining. I just felt like what I thought I bought and what I received were very different things. I also feel like I shouldn't have been out any $ on this, but it wasn't exactly easy to get him to agree to take it back so I didn't want to push my luck. Hopefully others see this and are able to make an informed decision for themselves before they purchase in the future, as surprises aren't always fun!
I did reach out to both Darthchromer and Stormrider to see if either were able to make/sell me one. Within 10 minutes of me sending payment to Stormrider for a full front rubber cast I did get a message from Darthchromer that he would have been able to do one for me as well. Either would have been great I'm sure. Definitely more expensive than the Kingjawa cast, but I should be able to use it upon arrival!
Bigturc
Sr Member
Well, this is exactly what the feedback system is here for. If you're unhappy with the transaction, you should explain it in there. Let the people read it/use their judgment to know if that applies to them.
Normally, a seller will go into extra trouble to please his customer, even more if you explain to him that you'll leave negative feedback .. If that's done politely with facts, no reason you shouldn't do it.
Perhaps if he knows about you leaving negative feedback, he'll change his mind! I still think you shouldn't lose anything over this.
Normally, a seller will go into extra trouble to please his customer, even more if you explain to him that you'll leave negative feedback .. If that's done politely with facts, no reason you shouldn't do it.
Perhaps if he knows about you leaving negative feedback, he'll change his mind!
I still think you shouldn't lose anything over this.
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Well, this is exactly what the feedback system is here for. If you're unhappy with the transaction, you should explain it in there. Let the people read it/use their judgment to know if that applies to them.
Normally, a seller will go into extra trouble to please his customer, even more if you explain to him that you'll leave negative feedback .. If that's done politely with facts, no reason you shouldn't do it.
Perhaps if he knows about you leaving negative feedback, he'll change his mind!
Fair point. I went ahead and put a link in the FS thread to my review above. Not trying to be negative per se, just want others to be able to make an informed decision!
Generalurko
Well-Known Member
Is there a link to Darthchromer's and Stormrider's sales thread showing photos of their work? Or do they have websites? I'd like to do the HiC build, but I'd like to get a full front (so that the carbonite "pools" are pretty screen accurate and I don't have to try and recreate it). I know this costs more both in product and shipping, but I think the cost will outweigh the time spent having to recreate it.
Anybody have a preference of the two? Pros and cons? PM me if you'd rather not say it "out loud" (i.e., in public). I'd appreciate any insight.
I was close to getting a King Jawa, but it not being a full front was what gave me pause. Now I'm doubly glad I waited. Just too much work for me (I prefer things to be as clean and mod-free as possible).
Thanks for sharing. Insight and reviews are what makes this site so great!
Chris
matty matt
Sr Member
Wow, those hands look bad. I wouldn't have been happy with that either. Stormrider's casts are top notch and he'll stand behind his stuff. I think you made a good move.
Stormrider has a thread over on TDH with a good picture of it and a bunch of other stuff he makes (I'd post the link but not sure if that's frowned upon). I couldn't find any recent DC sale thread, I had just seen his cast in a few build threads and PM'd him. I should have the stormrider one next week and will take a bunch of pics and post them!
Is there a link to Darthchromer's and Stormrider's sales thread showing photos of their work? Or do they have websites?
I was close to getting a King Jawa, but it not being a full front was what gave me pause. Now I'm doubly glad I waited. Just too much work for me (I prefer things to be as clean and mod-free as possible).
Thanks for sharing. Insight and reviews are what makes this site so great!
Chris
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Bigturc
Sr Member
Darthchromer's full cast is second to none in terms of quality .. but so is the stormrider!! You really can't go wrong with one or the other.
As for a full cast or not, I decided that my time wasn't worth trying to "recreate" the carbonite .. I would have ended up with the whole thing in the garbage pissed that I didn't pay a little more for a screen accurate cast!
You can recreate the look with glue, bondo and other material, but you can't make it screen accurate!
As for a full cast or not, I decided that my time wasn't worth trying to "recreate" the carbonite .. I would have ended up with the whole thing in the garbage pissed that I didn't pay a little more for a screen accurate cast!
You can recreate the look with glue, bondo and other material, but you can't make it screen accurate!
Progress has slowed a bit while I wait on my greeblies and new cast from Stormrider to arrive. Had a little work left to do on the box to fill in all the screw holes with bondo and get them sanded smooth. First time I've ever worked with bondo and it was generally easier than I anticipated. One thing I learned is that it hardens pretty quick and is def easier to work with when it is still "fresh". Rather than work fast I started mixing smaller batches as shown below. Basically I used bondo in all the screw holes and joints then came back with my orbital sander with 80 grit sandpaper followed by a 2nd pass with 220 grit. I did this twice on the whole box to get everything well filled in and smooth.
The other item that needed to be finished for the box was finalizing the bracing for the TV mount I plan to use to hang the whole thing. I selected a pretty cheap mount from Amazon rated for 110 pounds. I liked the fact that the back plate had a level built in and the whole thing was only 18 inches wide so will "hide" behind the HIC and not be noticeable from the side. One of the things I liked from Frightmaker's thread was how rather than mount flush he went out of his way to make the HIC mount a couple inches off the wall to give the concept of it floating as well as provide some room for backlighting. I wanted to do the same thing but took a slightly different approach. First I added two 2x4 braces across the back of the box. Being that the sides are angled I actually had to cut these with a slight angle or else when I screwed them in I was worried I'd pull the sides out of alignment. I'm not sure what the actual angle of the box sides are, but setting the saw at 2.5 degrees gave me a good fit on the cross beams.
Then I added two boards running the opposite direction (think North South). These "stick out" from the back of the box and will ultimately have the tv mount brackets installed on them. This will let the whole box sit about 2.5 inches off the wall when hung on the mount. FYI, the tv brackets in the pic below are just there for the sake of the picture. I'm not going to attach them until after I spray the inside/back of the box with a quick coat of flat black spray paint.
The other item that needed to be finished for the box was finalizing the bracing for the TV mount I plan to use to hang the whole thing. I selected a pretty cheap mount from Amazon rated for 110 pounds. I liked the fact that the back plate had a level built in and the whole thing was only 18 inches wide so will "hide" behind the HIC and not be noticeable from the side. One of the things I liked from Frightmaker's thread was how rather than mount flush he went out of his way to make the HIC mount a couple inches off the wall to give the concept of it floating as well as provide some room for backlighting. I wanted to do the same thing but took a slightly different approach. First I added two 2x4 braces across the back of the box. Being that the sides are angled I actually had to cut these with a slight angle or else when I screwed them in I was worried I'd pull the sides out of alignment. I'm not sure what the actual angle of the box sides are, but setting the saw at 2.5 degrees gave me a good fit on the cross beams.
Then I added two boards running the opposite direction (think North South). These "stick out" from the back of the box and will ultimately have the tv mount brackets installed on them. This will let the whole box sit about 2.5 inches off the wall when hung on the mount. FYI, the tv brackets in the pic below are just there for the sake of the picture. I'm not going to attach them until after I spray the inside/back of the box with a quick coat of flat black spray paint.
Bigturc
Sr Member
This is taking shape now! For the Bondo vs MDF .. you will notice that the MDF is very porous on the corners and where you routed it .. personnaly, I ran the bondo across all seems to fill it up ..
And in the end, I used filler primer across the whole box .. a lot of it!! What you want to do is soak in the whole MDF with thick coats of filler primer, let dry, then go over it with your 400 grit sanders. It will get as smooth as butter .. I repeated this step 2-3 times .. and the end result was a very smooth surface to the touch which is what I wanted for the paint application.
And in the end, I used filler primer across the whole box .. a lot of it!! What you want to do is soak in the whole MDF with thick coats of filler primer, let dry, then go over it with your 400 grit sanders. It will get as smooth as butter .. I repeated this step 2-3 times .. and the end result was a very smooth surface to the touch which is what I wanted for the paint application.
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