Foam Sculpting My First Bio - Beyond The Final Rung

I finally have all the filling done on mine Steve and have a coat of primer inside and out, and on all the interior bits.  The leather is cut, the electronics are sorted out, and paint is arriving today.  Again, I have to say remarkable job putting this all together.  I think I have a plan for the display, but I'm keeping it a secret for now...  :p

Brian
 
Great looking as always.  I am pretty excited to hear you will be doing a backpack.  Considering how in depth your bio is, I can only imagine the pack.  
 
wonko said:
I finally have all the filling done on mine Steve and have a coat of primer inside and out, and on all the interior bits.  The leather is cut, the electronics are sorted out, and paint is arriving today.  Again, I have to say remarkable job putting this all together.  I think I have a plan for the display, but I'm keeping it a secret for now...  :p

Brian
Cool! I am really looking forward to seeing what you do with it. What paint are you going to be using? Thank you for your comment about the kit. I am trying to make them as top quality as I can and you are killing me with the display secret...feel guilty yet?

hannay07 said:
Great looking as always.  I am pretty excited to hear you will be doing a backpack.  Considering how in depth your bio is, I can only imagine the pack.  
Hey hannay07, the bio's are starting to flow a little more smoothly so if I can get caught up on my commitments I will be tinkering on some dreads which I have already started while I continue thinking about how I would do a backpack. It is stil a ways off and I need to put a lot of thinking into the how and what I would make so I have to start now. The bio was my first project, the dreads are my second and the BP would be the third. Lord willing. I have already put a lot of thinking into the dreads and have the materials I need for them so time to give it a try. I hope to be updating my "White Carrot" thread soon. We shall see...I may be successful with them or I could fall flat on my face... :)

Steve
 
I ended up ordering House of Kolor Shimrin Orion Silver metallic paint.  I've never used the HOK paint before, but have heard great things about it so thought I would give it a try.  I'm heading to the shop right now to put the first coat on it, so I'll let you know how it goes.  As far as the display base, it's certainly nothing fancy.  I don't have the final design set in stone yet, but will post pics of it once I get the bio painted up and ready to go.  As far as feeling guilty, sorry bud, no guilt here  :p.  I'll post up some pics soon.

Brian

P.S.  Good luck with your carrots!
 
OK, I give. I have looked at HOK's website but can't seem to find out what kind of paint they are. Do you know? Are they Epoxies?

Steve
 
Looks amazing! I read through this whole topic last night and I am very impressed by the quality of the build and by your embodiment and practice of the beliefs of ******. To Him be the glory.
 
ASonOfZebedee said:
Looks amazing! I read through this whole topic last night and I am very impressed by the quality of the build and by your embodiment and practice of the beliefs of ******. To Him be the glory.
Are we in church ??
 
ASonOfZebedee said:
Looks amazing! I read through this whole topic last night and I am very impressed by the quality of the build and by your embodiment and practice of the beliefs of ******. To Him be the glory.
Thank you.


Bronson said:
Are we in church ??
Hey Bronson, no we are not in church but I do appreciate the above comment and I am glad that my faith shows because it is a significant part of who I am.

Steve.
 
I think you will have nothing but success with your dreads Steve.  This is definitely a trial and error hobby.
 
hannay07 said:
I think you will have nothing but success with your dreads Steve.  This is definitely a trial and error hobby.
Boy that is the truth!  If at first you don't succeed...

Steve
 
BonzRus said:
OK, I give. I have looked at HOK's website but can't seem to find out what kind of paint they are. Do you know? Are they Epoxies?

Steve
Not epoxy paint Steve (it comes in 1 part ready to spray), and to be honest I'm not 100% sure, as it doesn't say on the can I got.  I do know that it's considered a "universal base" in that it can be used with and is compatible with either lacquers, or enamels (urethane or acrylic).  I did some research before I bought it and discovered some pretty cool things that they do with their paint systems.  For example, I wasn't thrilled with how bright and shiny the first coat came out, so I was able to lay a base coat of gloss black enamel over the first coat, and misted the silver on top of it while it was still wet.  The result is a super "shiny" almost gunmetal finish, that's pretty dark, but retains it's bright silver metallic shine.  I'm super happy with it at this point, and will clear coat it tomorrow.  As I think I mentioned before, this one is gonna be a clean, "never been in battle" finish, because I can't bring myself to cover up the fine details you put into this bio.  I hope to have some finished pics by the weekend, but I want to do a 2000 grit wet sand and get some wax on it before doing so.  I'm in awe of this bio Steve, it will be the centerpiece of my growing bio collection!

Brian  
 
Thanks Brian for the information. The paint definitely looks very impressive but I had never heard of it before. Very interesting....hmmm.

Steve
 
I have made an improvement concerning the switch to turn on the LED/Lasers. The original used a simple momentary on, lever action microswitch. I have searched high and low to find a switch that would latch on when pressed and turn off when pressed again and this is what I came up with but it is a totally different form factor than the original switch so....I had to come up with a way to mount it. My solution was to design a bracket that the switch could simply snap into. To do this I used 0.060" thick styrene plastic and created a model of what I wanted it to be like which I then made a silicone mold of and cast the piece in resin. It worked great and any future Level 2 bio's would be get this mod as part of the electronics options. Anyway, here are the pics of what I did.

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Also, here are a few bonus pics of the paint job on a bio I am working on at the moment.

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Steve
 
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Thanks Jason. These things are fun to paint as I am sure you  are aware. The new switch actually solves two problems I had with the original design. One that the pin could slip past the lever arm on the microswitch and two, that you weren't able to turn on the lasers and have them stay on without having to press and hold the lever piece in the helmet. Jeff, if you read this and want a retrofit kit let me know and I will send one to you. There is one other change I may make to the new switch bracket to make it easier to install but it shouldn't take long to do. Just part of working the kinks out.

Steve
 
REYALS said:
Too insane brother. Awe inspiring and nothing short of miraculous.
Thanks Ricky! I learn something new everytime I put one of these together. Eventually maybe I will get to make one for myself.... :)

Steve
 
Thanks guys...it is turning out well so far and I am having a blast making it. I have purposefully not been trying to push these things until I can get a little more caught up which is helping to give me some much needed breathing room. The pressure pot works great for making bubble free silicone molds as well and it is helping me immensely to cast the detail pieces. Brian, I love what you did with yours. The clean look, black leather and stand all turned out great. The hoses also really helped to set it off.

Steve
 
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