Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke (Finished on page 7)

[NintendoLiam]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

This is a really cool item!
Hope to see this turn out as an equally epic finished project,
You will be safe if any behemoths turn up

 

[rosskow]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

bummer, horrible when something like that happens, putting all the time in and it breaks, dont give up though, just means you should be able to improve and make it better from re-doing/fixing it.
good luck

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

bummer, horrible when something like that happens, putting all the time in and it breaks, dont give up though, just means you should be able to improve and make it better from re-doing/fixing it.
good luck

Yup. I already bought more foam and some balsa. I keep getting farther with every restart so this one should make it all the way. I think the only big changes I am going to make are:

1. Have the balsa extend out of the top of the body. This will give me more room to sand the top and it will be the opening to pour in resin after I make a mold.
2. Reinforce that center section. I might have been lucky that it did not commit suicide earlier in the process. I am going to use fiberglass cloth after I fill in the trough area.
3. Do a better job with the screw holes. The first set of holes were good. When I drilled the holes larger to counter sink the screw heads I had some problems so I went back and enlarged the holes for the screw shafts. After I did that I had to use filler as a glue which needed sanding. I might have gotten away with it if I did not do that last sanding.
4. Make some sort of drilling jig. It's really hard drilling holes into an egg shaped object (see #3 above). So when I get to that stage I am going to get some plaster and mold a jig to hold the body steady and at the right angle.

This week I will mostly be working on the nose cone while I wait for the adhesive and then resin for the new core to cure. I will not being posting many updates on the core. No point in showing photos of me doing basically the same thing over again. I will post the occasional update of that to show changes I make. The first one will probably be around the end of this week or the beginning of next week when I reinforce the center section.

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

So I filled in the trench on the new core and this time I put some fiberglass cloth over it to give it strength in the lathe. You can also see that I have some of the balsa core sticking out above the body. This will eventually be the fill hole for pouring in resin if/when I make mold.

Probably no more updates or pictures until I do something else different from the previous attempt.

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Ok, it's all shiny again. It might need some more sanding though. I just noticed on the second one some rough areas that I did not notice before. I keep forgetting to use a bright light at an angle to show me these things.

Tomorrow I might do some more sanding. I am also going to make some sort of jib to hold it at the right angle for drilling the holes to hold the screws that go around the perimeter.

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Holy Bomb, Batman, an update! So I put a bunch of holes into this thing. But it's ok, I plan to fill them.

First, bore a huge hole in the bottom for later details.

Drill some plain holes.

Then, counter sink those holes (like my catastrophic failure before, you can see how thick the filler is in this area).

Now put in the screws. These are #10 nylon screws. For some bizarre reason Home Depot did not have any in metal. I don't know if their supplier screwed them or they screwed up themselves because they sure thought they had them.

Apply some rivets that Joann Fabrics think are actually for scrap booking. Those silly people.

Now I just have to do something about that huge gaping wound in the bottom, then this will be ready for some primer, paint, and rubber.

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Ugh, three weeks for an update. I finally figured out how I am going to do the bottom "firing pin" detail. If you look at an earlier post you can see this part is slightly dished with a raised center area. A layer of balsa for the face and two layers of plywood for the backing. The solid piece will be used as backing to hold everything together. When I finish this piece it will make more sense.

The two smaller parts will be for the center button.

To do the shaping I needed to make some tools. I put some sand paper on a dowel to shape the face and to finalize the center hole. I put some on a popsicle stick to shape the outer edges and to shape the center button.

I also got a small stack of PVC to make a small portable paint booth. No pictures yet, I need to cut the pipes and glue everything together. I could have just thrown something together but I tried to design it so I can expand it to paint larger items later on.

 

[pwrofbauer]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

I'm glad you kept going with the project even after things fell apart. You've made some great improvements. I'm hoping that this holds together - I would love to see a cast! Do you think you'll offer them in the JY at some point?

 

[NormanF]

I'm glad you kept going with the project even after things fell apart. You've made some great improvements. I'm hoping that this holds together - I would love to see a cast! Do you think you'll offer them in the JY at some point?

I actually do think I will offer some if they come out good. That is the plan anyway.


Sent from my Apple Newton

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

I got a very good start on the firing pin detail this weekend. I decided to make two versions: One with just ply and balsa and one with ply, balsa, and Apoxie Sculpt.

The balsa version has a base of 1/64 inch ply. I then had another layer of the same ply with a layer of 1/32 inch balsa on top of that. This is the "detail" layer. I then shaped the balsa and that was pretty much it.

The Apoxie version was a little bit different. Same base as above. This time I had a layer of the same ply with a small hole and two layers of ply with a large hole. The Apoxie goes in between the large hole and is angled down towards the small hole. I decided to make a rough cross section drawing to explain what I am doing.

The very center with ply and balsa was the same in both designs.

The components for the Apoxie Sculpt version.

Balsa version with slits. This turned out well, but it will need more finishing work on the slits.

Apoxie version with slits. I liked this one a lot more. It's not perfect, but I can always make another one. This is before I attacked the edges with a sanding drum attached to a dremel.

And after two coats of primer.

I think a little bit of sanding and it will be ready for some more primer and paint to really seal it. Then it it will be time for the rubber.

 

[PhoenixVader]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

You have recovered well. I look forward to seeing this finished.

thomas

 

[Engelnicht]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Very cool project, man! I love Fallout Props, and this is a great one! I am subscribing to this thread for sure!

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

I slapped a layer of paint on this to seal it before I mold it and I think it looks pretty good.

Here it is sitting on top of the body that committed suicide in my lathe and tried to shoot screws into my eyes.

Puts me in mind of the death star. Rebel base, in range!

Anyway, it looks good but it's not perfect. The main problem is that some of the grooves are more V shaped and they are not all even. So I am considering this a prototype. I'm going to have another go at it and take more time cutting the grooves. The other problem is that I did not test to make sure it would fit in the opening so it doesn't.

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

I made two more attempts at this. The first one did not come out much better, the grooves were all at a slight angle.

The second one came out ok, but not great. Basically as good as it is going to get for now. This time I put the grooves in while the Apoxie was still fairly fresh.

Some primer and paint and it's time to make a mold.

I was all set to make a mold but my rubber (oomoo 30) is too old. The part A was very thick. I tried it anyway but I think this will be more bubble than mold. We'll see. If I had a vacuum chamber I might have been ok.

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Yup, lots of bubbles, big and small. Now I need to either drive an hour each way to Reynolds (semi-local supplier) to get more or order some shipped to me. Depends on whether shipping is cheaper than my gas costs. Either way I'm stuck until Friday at the earliest. :unsure

I also need to smooth out some rough spots I noticed on the sides of the center spot.

 

[Lunarblue]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

excellent. im getting inspired myself to make more fallout props

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Hurray! I was making plans to leave work early tomorrow to go to Reynolds to pick up some new rubber (I was going to try Mold Star) when I noticed I had another trial size of oomoo 30 sitting in the corner hiding from me. So I opened it up and gave both containers a good shake. I could not feel anything moving so I figured I was still screwed. Opened up part A (I think; the pink half) and it was a lot more fluid that the last batch. So I mixed some up and was very pleasantly surprised to see it mix and pour correctly. So I have a mold curing downstairs. If it looks ok in the morning I will try a quick cast before work.

I had decided to use an earlier piece to mold so the last couple days I cleaned it up, primed, and painted it. Tomorrow before work I'll mix up some more rubber and make a mold for it. Let the better mold win!

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Ok, the mold above turned out ok, all things considered. Those things being that the master was not as smooth as it could have been. So before I went to work today I made a mold of the previous piece that I thought was only so-so. Turns out it was better than I thought. The mold and test piece came out great. I dub thee the current winner.

Ignore the flower look, I used too much hot glue to hold the master down and the rubber flowed under it.

Next steps:
- Plug the hole in the bottom of the main body now that I can set the correct depth.
- Fix some pin holes and some sort of crack.
- Mold that bad boy!
- Nose cone.
- The bottom ring for the fins.

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Congratulations, doctor, the graft seems to be taking.

So I glued some foam into the bottom of the hole. I want to keep that opening fairly shallow for molding purposes so I think I need to make new mold for the insert. I put too much hot glue under it to hold it down so it is thicker than I like. This will also give me a chance to test the clay I have to make sure it will work with my silicone. I got it from the Smooth-On distributor so it should be ok, but better safe than sorry.

Tomorrow I put some body filler on it and fill in some pin holes and a crack that has me a little worried then I think it will be ready for the rubber. I'm planning for a two part mold with the seams running vertically. Unless someone thinks I'm crazy.

 

[NormanF]

Re: Fallout 3: Mini-Nuke WIP

Ok, I filled some small holes, a crack and the large hole in the bottom with filler. Tomorrow or sometime later in the week I'll sand everything down in preparation for the following week when I can FINALLY mold this thing. Which leads me to a question.

I am going to use a two part mold on this. Originally, I planned on making it using option 1 below:

I was going to leave a 1/16 inch hole in the bottom to insert the firing pin detail as part of putting everything together. But, if I go with option 2 I can do that now before I make the mold. My only concern is how hard it will be to remove casts, but I think it will not be as hard as I think.

So the question is: which way is better?