Jack Sparrow Compass Toy Conversion

[NakedMoleRat]

I never even thought about one of these, until now. Sheeesh, thanx guys. :lol

 

[sportzjunky]

<div class='quotetop'>(Ramiel @ Jul 27 2006, 03:52 PM) [snapback]1289103[/snapback]</div>

How did you do the little dome over the box?
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missed this before.......

casted from an existing ball mold, then shaved it to spec(more pitch then round ball). cored underbody. recasted 2 part mold. hard rubber(90A) parts. a little bit of cleanup but it looks legit. The wood box is beveled to accept the beveled dome... in the end, its handcrafted so its not as simple as its written.

 

[lilpropdude]

sportzjunky, where did you get the center dial or is that a custom piece?



<div class='quotetop'>(sportzjunky @ Jul 27 2006, 10:37 PM) [snapback]1289094[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>(lilpropdude @ Jul 27 2006, 03:14 PM) [snapback]1289080[/snapback]

Roboprop beat me to it, we are using the pull rings on ours, we also thought about the spinning dial and are testing using earth magnets with the polar sides opisite each other so that they repel and spin the dial away from North.
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Here's a shot of the ring hub and the dial underbelly(box pin in place)[attachmentid=9270]..


all the little brass parts are tough.

go get 'em....
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[PHArchivist]

Here's some progress shots of mine.

The white band (inlay) on the bottom is too wide. Also, though mathematically, the top and bottom sections of the compass are of correct porportion to each other compared to the real deal, it still looks too tall (probably due to overall skewed porportions).

So I'm going to correct both issues by shortening the bottom piece by another millimeter...

Note the white Apoxie inside. Remember -- that bottom piece is rock solid.

 

[sportzjunky]

<div class='quotetop'>(PHArchivist @ Jul 27 2006, 08:19 PM) [snapback]1289302[/snapback]</div>

Here's some progress shots of mine.

The white band (inlay) on the bottom is too wide. Also, though mathematically, the top and bottom sections of the compass are of correct porportion to each other compared to the real deal, it still looks too tall (probably due to overall skewed porportions).

So I'm going to correct both issues by shortening the bottom piece by another millimeter...

Note the white Apoxie inside. Remember -- that bottom piece is rock solid.
[/b]

Killer job. How sturdy is the back of the compass where the hinge should fit down? Can you dremel cut vertically against the insde of the back wall? Slot it for your hinge? more 5 minute epoxy to set it... :thumbsup

 

[PHArchivist]

<div class='quotetop'>(sportzjunky @ Jul 28 2006, 03:25 AM) [snapback]1289305[/snapback]</div>

Killer job. How sturdy is the back of the compass where the hinge should fit down? Can you dremel cut vertically against the insde of the back wall? Slot it for your hinge? more 5 minute epoxy to set it... :thumbsup
[/b]

Thanks man.

Every bit of space between the outside perimeter octagon and the inner circle is as solid as resin, possibly even harder than resin.

Though rather than cutting with a dremel, I'm thinking of simply laminating additional styrene around the hinge so that it becomes one flush surface. The thinkness of the hinge and companion styrene will not be enough to thrown off the overall porportions or look of the prop.

 

[lilpropdude]

I'm a little stumped on replacing the hinge so I haven't removed the toy hinge just yet.

 

[PHArchivist]

<div class='quotetop'>(lilpropdude @ Jul 28 2006, 01:16 PM) [snapback]1289369[/snapback]</div>

I'm a little stumped on replacing the hinge so I haven't removed the toy hinge just yet.
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I went through this too, but just went for it.

 

[PHArchivist]

Added the vertical strips/inlay on the bottom pice. Need to sand the filer filling all the seams...

 

[Ramiel]

Impressive work, on that compass.

 

[Kylash]

well, got the same hinge as PHArchivist, just need to install it. And I got a keyring holder that is KINDA close to the ring assembly on the back...but a bit too long...so I dunno...

 

[Ramiel]

Can you cut out the excess?
Oh, do you have any pics, or the camera is dead?

 

[Kylash]

well its like thick brass...so i dunno...i gotta cut down the hinge a bit too, the parts where you screw it in... i can get some pics later

 

[PHArchivist]

Ky, for my hinge, I'm going to surround it with styrene so the brass is flush with the styrene, then use filler to smooth everything out. Should only seave the round part of the hing exposed, all else blending in without any cutting...


Finding some weird porportional dynamics at hand...

I did some calcuations to try to derive the bottom-to-lid height ratio, converting from numbers taken off reference pics. But either I was off in my numbers, or there other things going on. It seems like you need to make the toy parts even thinner than a direct conversion ratio would dictate, probably due to the overall smaller size and slightly different porportions.

So what you see in the pics above is being changed further.

I'm taking about 2mm off the bottom pice, and about 1mm off the lid. Problem with the lid is to get it thin enough (low enough height) to look right, you start losing depth on the inside...

 

[Kylash]

well my hinge is taller in general than my entire compass...i must have cut my bottom half a bit more than you =\

 

[DrMcoy]

Yeah, I hear what you're saying - it seems like the moment you change one thing to make it more accurate, a hundred other things pop up you never expected.

I almost have mine done -- it is close to the original, but I decided not to aim for 100%. With al the time and effort and extra $$ I'm putting into this, I think that spending $170 on the MR replica may be well worth it.

Anyways -- thanks again for everyone's tips. I'll post photos of mine probably in a day or two and offer an explanation of how I got the dang thing together.

By the way -- to get the brass hinges to work, I beveled the plastic on the toy -- tricky to do with a dremel because to get it carved in enough to accomodate the thickness of the hinge, you come VERY close to cutting through the plastic wall, which I actually did in a few places. I then used milliput over the flat part of the hinge to smooth it in with the rest of the exterior casing -- but using thin sheet plastic may work, too. But it's tricky getting top and bottom to line up with new hinge -- go slowly on this. Mine is a little bit off, but it would take WAAAY too much work to re-do it. It was at this point I decided that spending another 20 hours on this conversion just wasn't worth it to me...but for you prefectionists, do go slowly when mounting the hinges onto the back. I glued mine on with JB Weld and then used the provided screws, but the plastic was so thin, the screws don't really hold it much, which is why I brought out the JB Weld.

Okay -- this is going on too much....I'll post more when I post pics.

 

[PHArchivist]

More progress...

The one shot is a cheat -- the hinge is not attached yet. They're just set upon each other.

Also note in the closed shot how it is now a bit shorter overall than it was in the pic in my previous post...

 

[Kylash]

got the hinge fit in, havent glued it yet though. Also here you can see what ive got for the ring so far, not accurate, but closest ive found yet. Just has a keychain rign on it for now.

 

[PHArchivist]

I like the way you did that with the hinge on the inside.

Got mine primered today...

Will have to refill small gaps tomorrow, re-sand, re-primer, and so on, and so on...

 

[nickytea]

Thats exactly how I did my hinge as well, worked out swimmingly.
Been on a break from this one, I'm sculpting up a Tia Dalma/Davy Jones necklace/locket thing, its turning out better than I had expected. Ill be sure to post pics when its all done.