IG88 BOUNTY HUNTER DROID...build and showoff

[mekroid]

FILLER!

Here Ive added what looks to me to be electrical connectors in a port , mine is only 2 millimeters deep (one layer of plastic )the original would be deeper ..

...I know people say this is a section of a gunsight but all my examinations told me it was straight tube and not worth cutting a sight up for ...a small poly plastic foggy/clear capsule dome thingy ... 'found in the street!' ...(I have found money there too!) is trimmed to fit and pushed into the tube offcut. The tube I had lying around and it was pretty much a perfect fit in the right hole !This got glassed in from the inside .(glass fibre paste)

Next , go chat up your local opticians!

What we have here is DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENS containers , I'd seen these before and logged them in memory for just such a job .There was a particularly gorgeous girl in the opticians ... she was very helpful ... and amused at this weird guy on the scrounge ... I lost my short term memory in there and decided I needed multiple visits ! (still dont know what to do with a bin liner full of about 5000 lens containers ...JOKE!)

They get trimmed to fit , heres a bad fit

'bout perfect size !
I aimed to paint the inside of the head white to reflect light around , forgot and only did the upper interior after glueing in the lenses and orange lighting gel .This was AFTER main painting and weathering of the head.
Turns out the gel wasnt enough so one of the last things I did was 2 coats of TAMIYA CLEAR ORANGE over the outside of the lenses .. still could use more light AND diffusion of same in the head...working on it .
You can see from the state of the foot in the background the head was one of the first things worked on ..fact I think it was first after the feet!...the brain was being revised for a while though... an still aint finished.
So , AUDIO PLUGS .. I managed to obtain 6 actual metal ones!...some from an old electrical shop and some from a car boot sale .

This shot was early days when the parasol light was still being considered..
And the audio plugs are pretty much a dead fit in the holes , they got glassed in .The main big eye got a trimmed down clear , very tech/lens looking FLASH top jammed in it..

Yup that is a part of my kit collection ..and yup I live in a junk pile!
....
(Found most of it in the street!!HA!)

 

[mekroid]

I spent some time arranging the shots in photobucket and turning them right way round etc , even turned they still come up here on the side ?!?!?
...Ah well , you lot will just get a pain in the neck listening to me as well as looking at the shots now

Notice the 'noses'..or IG's nipples if you prefer!, this is a test fit of them and the trim strip.
Heres how theyre done ....
A basic form was carved/sanded in foam then moulded , as there are no undercuts , in one lump of plaster ,the mould is sealed with external pva glue and water then ,when dry , release is applied to the mould ,rubbed a paintbrush on a bar of soap and painted it in , may have rubbed in some cheap hair gel too . when this was dry ish , I cast 4 in 'rondo'(car filler with a bit of resin mixed in as the stuff has the same catalyst )
It seems to be taken as IG has these front and back ... no info on the back is extractable from shots but it adds detail logically .
Also this is yet another thing Ive seen being 'wrongly 'corrected ' on IG . The tendency is to mirror these details so there is a definite left and right one .. my reasearch told me they are NOT handed and are the same ... again these were difficult to extrapolate the true shape of...

Also in that shot is the left leg manifold and the thigh greeblies cast from.... you know the rest!
Notice the threaded bar epoxied in to the peices , this gave a secure mounting for the noses as well as leg detail.

And one against the GOD image...

Detail...

And the shoulder trim strip ,thin foamex with double thickness ends (2 thin layers together to overlap the join)

This was trial fitted as youve seen

 

[mekroid]

...Hang in there .. bit more yet

Here you can see the noses and the trim strip have been fastened in place , and there is outer shoulder armour ..

This took a while to figure out , both how to make it with available facilities and how to attach it to the shoulder ...

Eventually I found a plastic salad bowl on a foray to TESCO that had the right contour , in this game you spend a lot of time looking like a loon in normal shops while you aggressively stare at everyday objects trying to see how they can be warped for your own perverted little purposes

.. I built the recessed centre piece and drew with a marker in the salad bowl where it needed to be ,then some glass fibre paste held it inplace while I spread more paste over the area required on the inside of the bowl then a bit of RONDO and pop the part while its not quite cured and atill flexes a bit ...
3 blocks got glassed in , these would match up with 3 in the shoulder cylinder and a screw through each from the inside would eventually hold it all...

Aswith a lot of this type of thing , one came out perfect , one a little manky ..didnt worry though as the effect on the surface looked like IG wear n tear

...heres a lucky accident of a part ..on the upper front gut block there is a short cylinder detail with a big spike ... as this was a spike it would be vulnerable to breakage and dicey in an accident , I found this bit of hardened sealant in a nozzle...perfect and black...result!

Later , to the right of this spike (IG's right)there was another roundish piece of detail ...things like this were only found thanks to an official IG and 4LOM desktop image , then with my total lack of photoshop knowledge I figured out how to alter the contrast ..TONS of detail came belting out of the shadows!...including that round thing..
luckily I had a piece for that ....
...Guess where i got it?

clue :...the phrase involves the word 'street' :lol

you know I once brushed a balled up five pound note with my trainer in the street ,:love ...knew it was money from the sound !!! :lol

 

[mekroid]

...Oh Gawd! hes back again!

Getting IGed off yet ?


...Bandolier time !

This was a carrying strop /strap? I found in .... A SKIP!... just for a change
..the width matched the image so I unpicked a bit and ironed it , and it was grey to start with ...

The black boxes are small project boxes from MAPLINS ,they matched perfectly the extrapolated dimensions , I reckon the original things are something similar .
The tool loops were short sections of strap glued and clamped round the tools , tools are still loose but tight , may pot rivet them to the strap in case of brats !

The tools were measured from the GOD image ... more of a pain than it sounds , very blurry ...heres what I came up with...

Whole thang was given a wash of muck colour when IG was weathered

The buckle is a little small , got it from a neighbours old horse blanket , which incidentally is what IG gets wrapped up in during transit until I pull my finger out and build the Roger type boxes for him ...

......this is also why IG smells like HORSE! :confused :confused :sick :lol


Now a quick skip back to a detail on the forearms ...

I was knackered by now so decided to use a flexible pipe with stuff in the ends to make the top of forearm bent pipe detail ...dont get excited coz theres a gun in shot I havent forgotten!... get to them in a bit ,
It was during the development of the claw /forearm that I found IG would have trouble holding his guns , the spring claw mech was just too weak and then the handle would just slip out of the claw anyhow , the 'dew' claws didnt do anything to help so ...I came up with a cunning plan.....

Figuring this works in IG world as well as real world for practicality I reasoned that IG , being a droid would 'jack' into a gun , since he has no way of pulling the trigger anyhow (more in the gun bit later)so came up with a big audio pin socket in the back of the gun handle and one in the tube (another till roll centre)on the forearm.To bridge the gap I stuck the male audio pins at each end of a short length of aluminium pipe ...

...this seems to work great ,he can hold the E11 type in one claw at any angle ,the rifle in one claw asks a bit much so he has both claws on that .
Also I was going to put a pin socket or something in the side of the rifle so he could pose like the actual prop but cancelled this idea.(I believe the actual IG had it wired to him)He can still stand holding both guns with the rifle butt on the floor .

..Quick return to the knee area now..

heres the new extended plastic knee armour glued around the original piece of metal angle iron ('L' section stuff)...cant remember if I did it too small or if it was always going to be a strong base for the finished piece.
You can see clearly the way the fake knee gaiter looks in place here , the yellow giant rivet detail is a smiley fridge magnet from B&M...extortionate at 49p for a set .. 6 I think! just sand off the painted face , saw off the magnet and glue ... I f I'd have twigged to these earlier I'd have saved myself buying magnets for the mag panel in the back from maplin!...DOH!
Notice also the washing machine hose , this would be heated and have rod inside it to help it bend in places...figuring out where it fixed was awkward , eventually came to the conclusion part fitted up into the thigh shroud , you can see I had to make a join in it for easy dismantling of the legs , I didn't want anything sticking out below the rest of the leg as this could lead to damage , also may cause problems when transport box constructing.

 

[mekroid]

And so on to test assembly...

this was probably pre shoulder dishes ,though they were on and off a fair amount.

It was around this time I noticed the chest detail just didnt look right , the bit either side.
After much consideration I figured out the chest detail is probably mirrored and a hole has been cut in one side for some reason making the speaker type detail we know ... as soon as I had this theory everything fell into place , had to make the hole slightly eliptical to make the proportions work ...

heres the modified ,finalised chest ..

same detail both sides just with a hole cut in one ...sounds obvious to me now with hindsight ..took a long time to visually work out what was actually going on in that area.


Shoulder/neck padding ...probably the part I'm least happy with ..

...front ...

...and back...

Template tried on IG and I tried to make it out of some weird material a mate gave me , not quite synthetic leather , some upholstery kinda stuff?
Whats known about this part?... not much , not much to know though , personal theory ... it seems likely its either a piece of sound insulation from something , seen similar in car bonnets , remember IG is predominantly aircraft scrap (kinda fits in with the old VICKERS connection with R2 dont it)could be something similar in a landing gear bay?..
However , and I now think this is more likely , something like an inflatable travel pillow......heres the thing , if you put the image in the visual dictionary under a magnifying glass you see small bright blue 'cracks 'in the thing suggesting it was some material that didnt like paint and flexed slightly ,also it seems to have a slight grain to it .. all of which remind me of my water wings when I go swimming ....er.. WENT swimming ..... as a kid ....small kid .....

... they dont fit me now anyhow ...stop larfing !:lol

So I set out to approximate that , used foam blocks on 2 layers of the material , this gave it a thick edge like the original , then tried to stretch another piece over the thing while it sat on a large section of pipe and stick them together with contact adhesive .(I used THIXOFIX contact adhesive as I had this in for sticking down rubber sheet ...quite good stuff)
Try as I might I couldnt quite get it looking right , eventually glued a layer of sweatshirt material over this , looked better , and when dry PVA'd it to harden the material for painting. The texture of this wasnt bad and at last I thought the part was passable ,gave it a bluey tint with an overall grey base using acrylics and a brush .

 

[lolow]

wow great work

 

[mekroid]

....And in the interest of full disclosure ..:confused

... there was another prototype IG brain design I considered ... :confused

kept making very un IG like noises though !
:lol

 

[mekroid]

GUNS!....
this first year ,after people get over seeing a 7ft6" hatstand , the guns are what I get the most questions about ....

The E11/sterling type stormtroopery one ..
this is down as some neuraliser thing ... more likely it would just be Imp surplus ..
seriously though , looking at it ,it would seem to have NO trigger guard , various areas that are hollow , like the back and front sight ,are solid ,(already established now is the solid aluminium back end on the BAPTY film props for stormies)...but the paintjob seems evenly weathered , even over the rubber T track...like it was all one material .
I came to the conclusion this gun is probably a foam or rubber one piece stunt cast pressed into service as IG's, hence blocked areas ,no trigger guard /trigger and paintjob .
One main problem ... IG has no hope of holding either gun without some help... the 'dew' claws dont touch on normal gun measurements so are no help ..(weird thing ... there is a cable running between all 3 of the IG props right claw/fingers in a loop!...)
Also in IG world , a custom droid gun could be jacked into and would be no use if grabbed by an adversary so ,to me , this justifies its lack of trigger/guard.
The jack in point is , as mentioned earlier , a big audio jack ,socket in the back of the gun handle , socket in the tube on top of IG's wrist and a custom connector between the 2 consisting of a very technical arrangement( )involving jamming the male connectors in a section of aluminium tube with a load of epoxy glue ...
This connector works for the rifle too but IG needs 2 claws for that.

So on to the build shots !
Nothing really ground breaking to report on the E11 build , I got all the info / templates I'd downloaded from the various build yer own stormie gun sites and followed that basic idea...

Cutting the holes in the barrel is really the biggest pain of the job , you need a pillar drill and machine vice .. and need to really concerntrate as even with a new drill bit I had so many holes that snatched during drilling .
Few repairs with filler needed and a bit of filing and clean up ,removal of swarf from holes etc.
As you can see the handle is FOAMEX .. I wanted these guns to be super light weight , the pipe took a while to find but was really cheap for a stack .(I got IG's E11 /rifle and 3 more E11s out of it and there is enough for around 5 more E11s!)
There isnt much written on the pipe , its dark grey as you see ...I took a barrel template into the supply place , told them not to larf , and tried it round a couple of likely candidates ... this was a perfect fit !... probably ABS , it glues with PLASTIC WELD and CYANOACRYLATE (super glue)

The muzzle pieces you can see are stacked styrene disks cut with the CIRCLE CUTTER tool mentioned earlier , (OLFA CIRCLE CUTTER or similar , meant for paper and card ,buy from art shops or cheaper from tool stalls )
...This is used BACKWARDS on styrene so it cuts like a lathe tool, handful of passes on a section then move round , keep going till you see white marks on the reverse side of the material ... keep it to 1/2 ish MM styrene or similar and it works great , also cant go to small either .I got my mate to put this on the DALEK forums for cutting eye stalk discs out of push lights , seems to be a standard technique now

The small section of tube helps it locate .
Since IG's gun was going to be for close inspection I did the stuff that is supposed to be hollow ,..hollow. The barrel , even though I'd decided that , as a stunt cast , could get away with solid material (foamex) for the T track ,according to stormie versions , has a line of bare holes on the left side of the barrel and I wanted to be able to see in , plus it adds to the rattly tinny-ness of IG that I like .
A foamex disk was cut , the right size to go in the outer barrel ,this was fitted on a section of aluminium tube from B&Q (the actual barrel)and holds the tube central in the blaster , then the muzzle , mostly completed was put on the tube and the whole thing slid into place in the outer ABS barrel .
(Not many shots here as I didnt want to reinvent the wheel )

 

[mekroid]

So ....
the other parts were patterned from available templates ,a few differences out there in sterlings ...just got to check the small details when looking at reference .
Here the new bits have been cut from styrene sheet ..

...Just quickly , I often see threads on sites asking 'what kind of styrene ' or material or suchlike ....

Quick , easy answer .....BATH PANELS!... 2 of my neighbours have remodeled their bathrooms over the past few years ... I grabbed the old ,vac formed bath panels , some have straight pieces some are bowed .. all come in usable ...and each one we cut up DOESNT go into the enviroment !!

I even got a tip off from a mate about one flytipped under a bridge !...we scragged it !

...Deprived a tramp of a roof !...biggest 'found it in the street yet!' :lol

So here's the pic

..in this case , the front of the stock and the flat panels (beige)on the handle are pure bath panel!...rest is scrap plastic I keep a large bag of.

Would be good to say a bit about the E11 sight about now ....weird technique there ... no pics though ...

OK ... how to make the tapering section of the E11 gunsight ...

Basically I made a frame of plastic ,simply put , a flat piece with a round hole in it held up on legs (actually a former for something completely different ,..just came in handy for this !
Hole diameter not critical .. 4/5 ish cm ...into this I placed a cone made from the backing paper from some vinyl shiny side INWARDS(type of stuff you peel and chuck away from a sticker).
Take a bit of time with this bit as its your mould for the tapered parts with NO lathe in sight ,you may want to SCOTCH TAPE the end of the backing paper so it lays neatly around the inside of the cone and doesnt create a facet .
The cone is created to fit a flat ,cut out of the tapering section of the sight in card , this should fit inside with no gaps and no strain on the cone when sitting in the frame (the frame maintains the roundness)
When happy with your cone decide where the front end finishes , I did this by getting a disk of plastic and cutting a hole in it , this would become the rear of the FRONT tube of the sight where the cone docks ... then I fitted it over the paper tube ,made a pen mark , added a couple of millimeteres then did the same with the rear tube of the sight by placing it in the back of the paper tube , marking and add a bit.

With it so far?:rolleyes

Next put the cone in the frame , mix some runny ish RONDO / PLOD whatever you want to call it (body filler thinned with resin )and chuck it in !
Good if it is just about moving on its own in consistancy ,.. and watch out for thin spots , these can always be fixed by putting it back in the cone and adding more , dead easy!

Let it go off , when it feels firm and hot (exothermic reaction ) unroll the cone former.Trim and sand to fit , fix to either end of the scope with cyanoacrylate , re-inforce with glass fibre paste inside (just a touch)and de-seam the outside ...job done !


Hope it helps .

 

[mekroid]

Well , like I said , there aint a load of shots of the guns ... was a bit bored and knackered with the project by this time ...kinda like running a marathon!
Actually , when Im not 'finding it in the street' I do think of these builds as mountains I'm climbing ... the first few gigs being the sledge ride down the other side when you see people freak !

Here is the IG jack in operation..

Green tube being scavenged TILL ROLL CENTRE from a shop (styrene)...also used as the barrel tip on my DC15 LONG ...(the pig sticker Jo always runs off with ... and that I had to grab out of her car twice!! )

And a long shot ....

This shows the jack docking point on BOTH forearms ... it was a forensic exercise establishing from the few IG shots exactly what was going on with the LEFT forearm ,... the eventual conclusion was that both arms would have the same basic structure and that if you just take the left forearm as being twisted over then everything , including that damn dew claw that irratated me for ages suddenly made sense.
The block structures seem to be on both arms so it followed the rest would be there .
A special mounting point was made out of styrene ,and should the need arise , though as Ive said it is usless for gun holding , then the dew claw can be removed and pointed forward as it just bolts on to the left claw.(the right dew claw fastens on the right wrist ,in a block for stability )

The strip of plastic that sits on the forearm was glued and pot riveted in place as glue would not be strong enough with the lack of contact area.
(pot rivet gun from ALDI ...good cheap tools ... got a nail/staple gun there and a belt sander .. few years back now ..couldnt have done the TARDIS with out them ! )

The scope rail on the gun is styrene (bathpanel )for the flat strips and foamex for the vertical in fill, this was to give me something thick enough to drill through down into the handle block so the scope , which is on FOAMEX blocks , could be securely mounted with a metal rod into the body of the gun.

Like I mentioned , I believe IG's actual gun to be a foam or rubber stunt prop , there is no gap round the stock/ barrel ,the sights are solid and other little holes are plugged on the original , this would just not look right for close ,prop display type examination so it was a no brainer to go with the realistic look.

 

[mekroid]

And now to the bit I get most asked about ... this gun seems popular !

Basically foamex where I would use wood for a hand held prop (you want a bit of weight presence though I would prob go with this foamex method in future ..back end of both DC's is MDF clad in styrene ... probably could lighten those a fair bit now ...just didnt trust foamex to be hardy enough at the time )the rest is the same kinda construction as the E11 , same barrel pipe with aluminium tube down the centre , the business end (muzzle )was several disks of styrene (circle cutter job)and a till roll centre that was a dead fit over the aluminium pipe end with a bit of coaxing , the domed end was a section of an old plastic egg cup ,took a while to cut it right as it was fragile as a seperate part

Its the dome with the red overspray on in the pic...

As you can see , the scource material is the STAR WARS VISUAL DICTIONARY ..I knew this gun had a single point scope and using the diameter of that got a mate to do the print out.

With the guns unlike IG , I get about 3 print outs done , black and white , 1 gets joined up into a full size image , the rest get hacked up and stuck on cereal box card then cut out for templates.
All the handle chassis is foamex , the side detail (beige bits )are styrene .. you know where from the round woody looking bit is ... round wood , this detail eluded me for a while then I got a strip of 1/4 round wood trim from B&Q, stuck 2 bits together and..
The small diameter top tube seemed to be something that didnt glue that well so I keyed the surfaces , tons of cyanoacrylate ,then a couple of rods into the gun to make sure.

Notice the aluminium barrel tube going a fair way into the gun handle and foamex disks to locate the outer barrel .The greyish stripe behind this (in the pinkish bit...tech term)is actually the rest of the aluminium pipe going into the handle surrounded and anchored with glass fibre paste (the pinky stuff)then sandwiched either side with what was to hand plastic wise , in this case clear sheet .
So , big slot in foamex , stick panel over one side , test fit everything , fill with glass fibre paste and barrel , stick other panel down , keep it straight , cross fingers ,job done.
Again I reckon this was a stunt cast hence the trigger .The one in the book is damaged on the butt..IG's seems like the same model of gun as the pic and was prob used on Hoth .
The bits in the pic of the butt are dirty great bits of sandwiched scraps of foamex smoothed at the edges with filler, eventually fixed on with dowel pins , the wheel on the butt is known to be a flywheel from a REVELL VISIBLE V8 ENGINE KIT...not buying one or wrecking one for just that part!
Rings cut with the cutter ,scrap plastic and filler , built on the butt part (both sides).
(in the shot Id just stuck the rings down)
The grip is thin sheet foamex scored then carefully run over with the corner of a triangular needle file .
(Forgot to mention , the E11 has no grip texture , this is correct as some were done for stormies with solid aluminium handles/back ends ... check BAPTY stormtrooper blaster stuff on the web .. tons of pics ,.. makes life a load easier! )
The sight is a core of a bit of round dowel that had a finish on so no grain, this was dressed with plumbing pipe and foamex , the ball is cast in filler (pulled from mould when still flexible..'green') might have been from a plaster mould from a ping pong ball and fitted round the dowel, do remember it was a pain to clean up!
So the whole block thing on the sight is foamex , gaps later filled with filler to the dowel core , the dark tube front is more barrel pipe with slot detail cut in , the white front end is a plumbing fitting bought specially that did perfectly!...then a couple of cut up old pen barrels are the spike out front.
Again the sight is mounted on a couple of metal rods down into the gun body.

The barrel is the real pain on this gun ,drilling those holes took ages , done over several sessions at work I got between 2 and loads done before getting chucked out!Pain in the butt!
Mates got a small drill press now ...after the fact!

Heres the big secret about the holes for this gun...
if you look at 4 holes in a diamond shape on the E11 then move the arrangment through 90 degrees you have the same arrangement on the rifle .

Did get a mate to take the templates for the E11 and turn them , adjust slightly then output them as 2 A4 templates for the rifle (he did it in COREL DRAW... beyond me )
these fitted and the holes matched up though after drilling there was a fractionally larger gap between strips of holes on one side ,think it became the underside .

And finally , a shot of the front of the gun chassis detailed up..

blue /beige /clear is styrene , on foamex (lettering of original sign visible)bit of tube at front , cast made by filling one of them things you get over new car battery terminals with filler on the front .
What I havent got W.I.P. shots of was the rest like the detail on the butt , same bits as Fetts gun stock .
The SIDESHOW Endor trooper was a great help with this , his gun is basically the same gun chassis so I could clarify some details and which panels were more prominent than others .
Will admit I gave up on doing the cocking slot , (the thing you pull back like on the E11. Its long but skinny , I couldnt thing of a way of easily doing it and was knackered ... also I had a debate with myself as to whether the shot in the book was flipped or not so I figured you dont get a hot shell casing ejecting on the left side near you and put the ejection port flap on the right ...(also had this with the cocking lever before leaving it out)only to be proved wrong by later reference .. ah well ... no ones complained yet ... those who do ... IG will meet you in the car park for a fight after school as I cant be bothered :lol

Next episode ... Painting!

 

[mekroid]

And so to paint jobs !!!

due to lack of room and me wanting to see bits in colour sections of IG got base painted before some bits were finalised... sections like the thigh shrouds / top of the thigh units ,had to be painted before final assembly as it would be next to impossible to get a sprsy of paint up there .

And what specialist expert custom mix of paint is IG ?...

... THE CHEAPEST '5 WHEEL STEEL' TYPE STUFF I COULD FIND!!!

(told you I was tight !... this rounds on me !.. tap waters all round !... and bring yer own glass!..:lol )

Halfords used to be the paint of choice , particularly the primer ,.. they have priced themselves out of the market now for me . I go to markets and get HOLTS /SIMONIZ/DUPLICOLOR stuff that is usually old stock and cheap ...

One type of paint I DO NOT recommend is PLASTIKOTE .. ....there is the occasional aerosol that is of use , for instance I have sprayed Dalek slats and domes with a Plastikote Gold Tile paint .... I took a chance with it as it was in the pound shop (dont ask how much?..)and it stank but worked ... after multiple coats and primer it says it didnt need!
The normal Plastikote stuff sets(if you can call it that)like a mudslide that stays tacky for days ,skids ,runs .....compare that with Halfords , Simoniz ,Holts .... they dry and are handleable within around an hour .. 20 mins for primer .

The official IG paint was 3/5 ish cans from a little back street car shop where the 5 wheel stuff in gunmetal was around £3.75 a BIG can (500ml simoniz)... and a silver and black ones as well .

Now , when people see IG the dominating colour is gunmetal ...the other 2 main contributing colurs are silver and rust brown.
Looking at reference I saw the twin pairs of rams on the gut were actually a silver compared to the rest of the body, the exposed aluminium tubes were masked off with tape and the rams were primed and sprayed with silver then dusted from a distance vaguely with gunmetal .
Weird thing is when you actually look at IG its a subtle effect you dont really notice yet are aware of .. though in all the photos I took the contrast is far more obvious!
I think I found the gunmetal sprayed better than the silver so it was the gunmetal I used to 'dust' on..(hold the can an arms length from the target and spray lightly in a vague circular motion)...the reverse would have been to 'dust' highlight the rams with silver afterwards but I went with the most controllable can (you do need brands with GOOD nozzles which these have)to finish up the piece .

Pretty much most of IG was sprayed gunmetal ...

...ok ,I'll admit .. I couldnt wait for the head to dry and did run round the house with it while wearing my half complete Fett lid which DOES fit on my over large alien head saying 'he's no good to me dead!'....and I'd better be getting paid for this!'..(teras kasi game ).....
...Non of which intimidated the cat..... :confused

..At least there was no repeat of the incident with my first knockabout Fett lid where I wouldnt take it off for 2 days except to fix a visor in then lay on the bed watching TV ,the helmet ,with the visor now in, pushed down onto my chest by the pillow my head was on resulting in me nearly passing out from CO2!...... :wacko:lol

I'd had this vision all along of spraying IG in one piece ..but every base part and unit was seperately sprayed .. the body mainly as with all the cylinders on would have been impossible to land paint on .
Areas behind things like waist cylinders were dusted with black and softened with a dust of gunmetal before final assembly .
As it was already obvious IG as we know him was fully painted and weathered I decided there was no need to spray one colour metal then liquid mask then spray a second finish ... that and I couldnt be bothered by then !
Any pitting in units like ,for instance , the shoulder saucers (the outermost dish things on IG's shoulders)was picked out with a quick application of a polished steel HUMBROL METAL COTE....old tin , had it for years , good stuff .
If your building knackered looking stuff and youre not familiar with this stuff you want some !
You paint or spray it (its in those typical little humbrol tins )and when dry , how I whacked it on about half an hour ,you polish it with a soft rag ...looks like cast metal !....wouldnt recommend it on areas like corners of guns that are handled a lot as enamel isnt as tough as car paint (acrylic spray)...at least base those areas in a acrylic aerosol like silver or black first .
This worked well and shiny bits of dark metal are mixed with dull ,dark grey in the recesses .
Being Feb 2011 when I painted him I didnt want to go outside (cold)so , nearly gassing myself with white spirit fumes I put a sheet of hardboard down in the bathroom and took each gunmetal section and the rams in to dirty them up one at a time .

The rust.....it aint rust ....its the colour you expect of rust yet there are no rust streaks or rust damage ... I took it to be DUST ...and general grim from dirty enviroments that was reddish (mars like ?)..
I mixed up humbrol enamels , load of matt black .. remains of some gloss orange (which I figure would give it some wearability )some red/brown leathery color , bit of grey , bit of what ever was still liquid in some old tins ...all into a load of white spirit in the base of a plastic milk carton , got a nice rusty type colour that fitted the colour in the pics that I was happy with ...thin but so when you paint a trial bit on newspaper it leaves colour ... basically played till I was happy.
I started with the feet ,... heavily ...then each leg was plugged into the foot and washed with the muck wash as well ....when the foot was dry back over the foot again .
A suit/ droid whatever is muckiest at its contact with where the muck is ... mainly feet so think heavy crud there and fade it off a bit as it goes up the leg .

 

[mekroid]

Things like the manifold on the leg were also 'dusted' during the initial spray painting to make them lighter than the leg base colour .. things like this help sell the idea that ,altough metal , its different kinds and ages of metal ,...

...... which is pretty funny anyhow as Im simulating aircraft scrap which is painted to seem like metal and in fact the only metal parts are some small lengths of aluminium tube and a load of bolts !

Heres one in bright sunlight ...

the extent of the weathering isnt as obvious as it is in reality here , you can see the patina I built up on the head through a couple of washes .

As each section was washed down with dirt colour (there was a few shades of 'dirt' colour )I found the best and easiest technique was to have a rag in my other hand from the 2inch house painting brush I was applying the wash with , and to 'flick' the washed area with the rag as iff swatting insects away .. do this VERTICALLY and you get the effect you see on the head in this last shot .. other areas were dabbed and /or flicked , flailed when starting to drip or run .... just make it up as you go !... have fun!..I did
Heavy crud colour , and darker was built up in the recesses, the main body and legs /arms and head were given a darker look overall right from the gunmetal spray stage.

All told I did get an idea how long it took to do the wash ... I couldnt believe it!!!

AROUND 7 HRS approx!!!...

Fun though .. it was like seeing IG come alive !....

When building these kinda things you get a kick when you first put primer over a piece made from multiple materials and suddenly see it as one whole thing instead of a conglomeration of greeblies and tube pinched from your mates sign business...

AND BITS YOU FIND IN THE STREET!!!

(had to get it in somewhere !)

...but you get the big kick when you paint/weather something that you KNOW is plastic pipe and bathpanel and old shop sign ... and even you think it looks like metal /armour/Dalekanium /a large blue coffin for Stoney etc.

Hi Stoney!

Heres an indoor shot with IG playing with himself ....................
...just dont go there!

the contrast between the body and the rams is more obvious here as is the head weathering...

again heres a full frontal ... oooer!.. outside ... looks very grey here .. think its down to Phils camera ...

...what you dont get from this is the final dusting of weathering mix , thickend by now with some gloss clear cote (again I bunged in anything I fancied or needed to use up ...all by feel)and matted back with the addition of TALCUM POWDER .. cheapest stuff I could find , ...thanks to the local military modellers who tipped me off to that one .

(also it masks the horse smell!!.. well for a while ...!:rolleyes )

This was airbrushed on here and there ... the particular 'there' being the shoulder saucers as this matched the visual dictionary shot .

this next ones inside again at Crewe.. here the body colour contrasts are slightly exaggerated...camera and lighting I guess

Notice in the first shot of this post you can see into IG's armpit !..
most toy and figure manufacturers leave out his pits .. I put MP3 speakers in them ... unpowered as they were to hand , sometime with an amp and a following wind and someone who knows what the heck they are doing fixing it for me we'll get IG belting out The Imperial March etc .

 

[mekroid]

Again this is a good one for the muckwash ...

Everything was covered in it .. IG wise ... ME wise .... and CAT wise ....(probably some paw prints somewhere on him!)

This next one makes a couple of points ...

the arm gaiters ..
those rubber bits at the elbows .... I went up and down the country for those damn things !... found there was a trailer hitch one with 4 ridges /differing size holes at each end .. perfect!...told it was in stock miles away , drove there only to get told I'd talked to a mad woman on the phone who wasnt around to explain why she had told me there was one in her hand and in fact no such item existed there ?!?!?


Looked into sticking 2 expensive motoring ones ... (steering rack gaiters from something)together .. this needed 4 and would cost 26 quid!!!!....

Now as Ive already established .. I'm tight !

went to another shop that had different stuff and found ..

RACK GAITER VAUXHALL ASTRA ,CAVALIER SRG 878

nice and soft , way more flexible than any I'd seen and around £4 a set of 2.....
YEEEEHAH!

When on IG I weathered them just by washing them over with the enamel muck wash ..now we all know enamel isnt going to stick to rubber ...I washed it on and wiped it off straight away and it worked perfectly !!... the gaiters look old and weather beaten like IG does.

The second point the next shot makes is what happened to a mate of mine who was the biggest IG nut I ever met .......and finally I out IG'd him! :lol

Look at the muck on those gaiters!!

Other final additions during final assembly , after gunmetal , before muckwash , was thins like the flexi ribbed pipe ..
A small portion of this was ..

...found in the ..............ROAD!... (just to be different )
..and was picked up by me hanging out of the drivers door while going round a roundabout at 2mph at around 3am one morning!!!... so was the piece I used to make the mould of the fake knee joints come to think of it!

The road sourced stuff was thick walled , unslit and very inflexible ... so I went to a place that had auto conduit and found some of the slit stuff that is very flexible .. had avoided this as I thought the slit would show ...
...worked perfectly though!...took aerosol and weathering wash ok too ...but the best thing ... I always forget to unplug it from IG's crotch at a gig ... if it didnt detatch on its own this would be disasterous as the leg could get pulled over and fall!...
Brilliant stuff!

 

[mekroid]

Even though the gaiters dont have the traditional 4 ridges ... they do have the added advantage of not bankrupting me or producing a heart attack! :lol

:cool

 

[mekroid]

And here is THE shot I wanted ..plus a few others!

some guy wandered into shot and I didnt have the heart to move him on!...

Fett is Phil Stutt of the MINT IMPERIALS , a local small group to me .

...and Reece as a jawa!!!

....AND I got some guy from the show to sign inside IGs back panel!!!!......looked familiar?!?!?...

YEEEEEEEHAH!

hope youve found this as entertaining to read etc as I have found it knackering :lol
Im here all week , try the fish , ... thank you and goodnight!lollol

 

[Lichtbringer]

Oh! My! God! :eek

I´m speachless, your dedication is ........ more than "most impressive". thumbsup:thumbsup

 

[sdmicp]

I cant stop looking at all the build photos! :eek IG-88 has always been one of my favorite Star Wars Characters and seeing this has absolutely made my day! The large blaster is awesome! I want to hang one on my wall in my office! A thread on how you put that blaster together would be very cool. Nice work! IMHO, this is one of the best builds I've seen in my short time on the RPF. thumbsup:thumbsup

 

[Reel Fakes]

Gorgeous build, and a fun read as well - Thanks for sharing!

 

[CaptainMorgan]

You sir are a madman. Just incredible work there. I'd love to have an IG in the corner of my room, but I've already got way too many projects. I'm definitely subscribing to this just in case some day I get around to it.