Han Solo in Carbonite: A novice build

[crnaherd]

QCwolf, I'm having trouble figuring out how to make the support for the han panel. Looking at yours I can't figure it out. I want to be able to lay Han on it and it be flush with the border. I just cant figure out how to do that and be able to put down the plywood support for it to lay on.

Also any instructions on how to do the weathering of han to give him a pewter look? I saw the clip but don't know what you used and types of paint. Thanks

 

[QCWolf]

QCwolf, I'm having trouble figuring out how to make the support for the han panel. Looking at yours I can't figure it out. I want to be able to lay Han on it and it be flush with the border. I just cant figure out how to do that and be able to put down the plywood support for it to lay on.

Also any instructions on how to do the weathering of han to give him a pewter look? I saw the clip but don't know what you used and types of paint. Thanks

Thanks for asking! I'll start with the easy one first. The weathering mix is just one part cheap, black acrylic paint to 5 parts water. I brushed it on, waited a few minutes then wiped it off. I repeated that process until I was happy with the overall look. You can add as much as you want but if you don't like it, it's pretty easy to take off again.

As for the back side support, I screwed a thin strip (about 2.5 inches wide) to the back of the frame and then attached three main cross support panels and topped each of them with the same thickness of wood that I used for the support strip. This allowed me to place the main panel on top of the supports rather than screw it in from behind. If you get the right thickness of plywood, you shouldn't have as much of gap to fill with glue or Bondo or whatever you choose to use as the texture. In hindsight, I wish I would have used a half inch panel rather than quarter inch. I hope that makes sense. If not, feel free to ask any questions you have. Here are a few pictures:



Here's the really ugly way I chose to create a mounting bracket, but you can kind of see how the panel support strip is attached:



TV mounting brackets:

 

[Bigturc]

Eric, I got inspired by QCWolf's way too and you can see the same solution but heavier in my build thread AGAIN, like Wolf said, even I didn't use a thick enough plywood on the top to remove depth for the cast. So I ended up with a small diff also even though I had planned this. I thought my rubber cast was thicker (1/4") whereas it ended up closer to 1/8". In the end, no one will notice .. except all of you guys! Unless I don't post pictures of it .. mmmm

I'm so jealous of your plugs Wolf ...

 

[QCWolf]

I'm so jealous of your plugs Wolf ...

LOL thanks. I played the waiting game with MonCal just like you. That was the one thing I was waiting on forever. If I ever do it again (I might) I'd go with the non-pocketed version with the vents and thruster things. I think those look cool.

 

[Bigturc]

You know what's worse .. it's the fact that against the wall, we'll neither see the top nor the bottom of the darn thing!!! So What am I waiting for really ...

 

[QCWolf]

You know what's worse .. it's the fact that against the wall, we'll neither see the top nor the bottom of the darn thing!!! So What am I waiting for really ...

It's true. I thought the pockets would be such a cool, screen accurate feature but now that it's hanging, you can't even see them. They look amazing when the whole thing is on it's back, but hanging vertically, nada.

Maybe if I re-orient it so it's hanging horizontally...

Maybe not.

Either way, it was a learning experience but if you decide to go with the pockets, be prepared because they don't fit neatly into the Zenix holes. You'll need to enlarge them in order for the pockets to fit. I even went so far as to rout out the edges with a rabbeting bit so that the pocket flanges would sit flush. What a pain!

 

[Bigturc]

Wait .. they don't fit?! I thought both were made from the same official HIC blueprint? That complicates things .. can you tell me exactly what are the dimensions that don't fit? Is it the height of the width?

If these don't fit well, I will start thinking about doing my own plugs and offering them too. That way, I'll save plenty of hassle to everyone who wants them and they would be a perfect fit for the Zenix's box. I need to sync with a buddy of mine who has access to a vac former now ... mm

 

[QCWolf]

Wait .. they don't fit?! I thought both were made from the same official HIC blueprint? That complicates things .. can you tell me exactly what are the dimensions that don't fit? Is it the height of the width?

If these don't fit well, I will start thinking about doing my own plugs and offering them too. That way, I'll save plenty of hassle to everyone who wants them and they would be a perfect fit for the Zenix's box. I need to sync with a buddy of mine who has access to a vac former now ... mm

No, they don't fit. The pockets are too wide in circumference and when slipped down into the holes, they sit up about a half inch. I had to increase the width of the holes until they fit and once they did, the thickness of the plastic causes a lip around the pockets that would have needed a full bondo coat across the entire outside edge. Hence me rabbeting a channel around the outside edge. You can see what I mean in the photo in the earlier post.

 

[Bigturc]

OK thanks for the info Wolf .. I asked Jeff when I ordered and he said he had no idea .. maybe he did, maybe he didn't!

In any case, I have a router that I was planning to use to deepen that edge .. I'll see about making them larger when I get them if I haven't already done my own that is!

 

[NeoRutty]

I figured it would be unlikely they would simply drop in. I'm okay with that...

Good look Bigturc on those pockets... send another e-mail... squeaky wheel and all.

ALSO, hopefully I would be ordering panels from you soon.

 

[Westies14]

I have the Moncal pockets and assumed I'd need to rout a lip for them to sit on, but did not expect I'd need to widen the hole. Which dimensions are correct? Or are they both correct, and it's just the thickness of the pockets isn't accounted for in the Zenix box hole?

FYI: Moncal estimated 2.5 months (due to other work in the shop) when I placed the order, and the pockets came right on time. That's not to discount anyone else's experience with them - I know there's a lot of waiting going on - but I thought I'd share a positive experience as well, let people know it's possible for them to deliver as scheduled...

 

[QCWolf]

I have the Moncal pockets and assumed I'd need to rout a lip for them to sit on, but did not expect I'd need to widen the hole. Which dimensions are correct? Or are they both correct, and it's just the thickness of the pockets isn't accounted for in the Zenix box hole?

FYI: Moncal estimated 2.5 months (due to other work in the shop) when I placed the order, and the pockets came right on time. That's not to discount anyone else's experience with them - I know there's a lot of waiting going on - but I thought I'd share a positive experience as well, let people know it's possible for them to deliver as scheduled...

My overall experience was good as well. I don't remember how long I ended up waiting but it was several months and I just checked in with them about once every 4 weeks. I wasn't in a hurry at the time so it wasn't a big deal to me.

As for the dimensions that don't fit, I didn't take any measurements during the build. I probably should have, but I think I ended up making the holes about a half inch wider all around.

 

[crnaherd]

I have the full front panel which includes the texture so won't need texturing. I just need to figure out the depth to make it flush with the complete front panel.

I see some extra little pieces of wood below what looks to be under each panel inside the box. Not sure what those are. Thanks for the input.

 

[QCWolf]

I have the full front panel which includes the texture so won't need texturing. I just need to figure out the depth to make it flush with the complete front panel.

I see some extra little pieces of wood below what looks to be under each panel inside the box. Not sure what those are. Thanks for the input.

The wood you see acts as a sort of "shelf" allowing the main front panel to sit on top of the shelf rather than getting attached from behind. I did it this way so that I could regulate the depth to which I added the wood glue/ Bondo texturing. By using a piece of half inch plywood as my backing, it would (in theory) make the front panel flush with the frame edge. In your case, you could probably do something similar and affix your main panel to a piece of plywood so that it would sit flush to the frame edge. There is no one correct or best way to do it, this is just what I did and it seemed to work out OK. If I did it again, there are things I would definitely do differently.

 

[Bigturc]

I have the full front panel which includes the texture so won't need texturing. I just need to figure out the depth to make it flush with the complete front panel.

I see some extra little pieces of wood below what looks to be under each panel inside the box. Not sure what those are. Thanks for the input.

Eric .. one advice .. wait till you get your full front panel to decide what is the exact padding you'll need to come in flush with the edge. That's one thing I would do differently, then again, I had a 3 part casts before and switched to a full front afterwards. I thought glue would compensate for it, but I was wrong as it doesn't add thickness.

 

[crnaherd]

Turc I have the full front panel and I guess I'm just not savy as to the depth I need to make the panel the full Han will sit on. Maybe I'm making it too difficult and once I place a panel from under flush to the front frame it will leave enough room to make it flush once I put Han down. I'm off next week so I may tackle the beginning portion of this. I think once I get the box together and the plywood panel on that things will start to come together.

 

[Bigturc]

Post pictures when you get to it and we'll help you figure it out!

 

[QCWolf]

Bump for updated photos. Photobucket hosed me so I'm replacing the photos in all of my threads.

 

[crnaherd]

I've got my box together and I'm ready to prep it for painting. Still need to fill screw holes and such and sand before I paint it. But when I put Han on the zenix box seems a little too big. Han has several inches at the bottom that I will need to fill in with texture. Would like to post pics but not sure how. I was thinking the box was accurate to the real size of my han cast. But it's a tad bigger leaving me room to fill it in. Any suggestions? Also instead of using the inset pieces on the bottom and top I've decided to use aluminum flashing to give it that metal like look. Hasn't seen anyone do this and thought that since it is upright it won't matter much anyway.

Also curious about paint selections to go with and the weathering process. My goal is to make it look sort of like pewter.

Should I use Bondo for this and the holes and all that? I'm guessing wood putty wouldn't work against the rubber? I just don't want it to be obvious that I had to fill it in.

 

[QCWolf]

I've got my box together and I'm ready to prep it for painting. Still need to fill screw holes and such and sand before I paint it. But when I put Han on the zenix box seems a little too big. Han has several inches at the bottom that I will need to fill in with texture. Would like to post pics but not sure how. I was thinking the box was accurate to the real size of my han cast. But it's a tad bigger leaving me room to fill it in. Any suggestions? Also instead of using the inset pieces on the bottom and top I've decided to use aluminum flashing to give it that metal like look. Hasn't seen anyone do this and thought that since it is upright it won't matter much anyway.
Also curious about paint selections to go with and the weathering process. My goal is to make it look sort of like pewter.
Should I use Bondo for this and the holes and all that? I'm guessing wood putty wouldn't work against the rubber? I just don't want it to be obvious that I had to fill it in.

Are you using a rubber one piece Han cast? I don't have any experience with that one since I used the KingJawa cast. I used Bondo for filling screw holes and the overall texture, but I understand that Evercoat might be easier to work with. As for the end pockets, you are correct that you can't really see them when it's hung on the wall. It just depends on the level of accuracy you want to achieve.

I hope this helps.