Lifesize ED-209 Build. NOW WITH EVEN MORE ED on p.23!!!

[thorssoli]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

What process did you use to cut those grooves into the skin of the side toe? Looks nice and clean!

I sat a bored teenager in the corner with the Dremel and a triangle file and told him to make grooves:

The results are passable, but it took forever. I'm pretty sure that most of a gallon of Bondo went into the dozens of iterations of carving out the seam, filling it in, carving it out again, filling it in again, etc... In the end, it looks pretty good.

Woodchuck here. Thanks for all the info. Old dog
here, learning new tricks, not so much, but I will give it some thought.
Thanks again for the links, I really appreciate them.

No problem, sir. Moldmaking isn't nearly as difficult as you might think. The materials can be costly, but that's why you start by making a few small molds so your learning experiences have smaller price tags.

UPDATE:
Toe prototypes are done:


Shoulder flap too:


The waist section is made up:


The smoothing is about halfway done:


My friend Matt has been shaping up the main body a bit more:




So now Ed has a mouth:

Yay!

Meanwhile, I polished up the toes and shoulder flap and applied mold release and gelcoat:


Here's a couple of the molds from yesterday once they were glassed up:


Here's the crew in the workshop last night around 9pm:


More progress to come today.

Stay tuned...

 

[nick-a-tron]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

At this rate you'll have him finished with time to spare!

 

[prev]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Great progress Shawn!!! Can't wait to see ED in his completed glory...

Totally unrelated to ED, please tell me that is a Starship Troopers MI helmet in the last pic (being worn by the dude on the left), or is it just a grey Imperial Guard helmet?
If it is, Prev want. Please?

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

...please tell me that is a Starship Troopers MI helmet in the last pic (being worn by the dude on the left), or is it just a grey Imperial Guard helmet?
If I is, Prev want. Please?

It is a Starship Troopers helmet. I picked it up in the Junkyard forever ago (or maybe it was a trade) but I can't remember who I got it from. Sorry.

In other news, I'm still really slow at 3D modelling. Here's my Sketchup model of ED's armpit gimbal:

It really doesn't look like three hours' work...

Next I'll be feeding it to Lopez the Robot Whittler to see if he can make me some quick vacforming bucks. Stay tuned...

 

[FLM Concepts]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

I've been following this thread since the beginning. Absolutely stunning!

You have Lopez, I have Sable. Lopez looks like he has better software...mind if I ask?

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

You have Lopez, I have Sable. Lopez looks like he has better software...mind if I ask?

Lopez the Robot Whittler is a Craftsman Carvewright CNC machine. The machine comes with proprietary design software that's intended for designing woodworking projects. It has an optional software plugin (which costs an additional $200 last time I checked) that allows you to import STL files and slice them into pieces that can the machine can carve.

For the STL files, I end up using whatever free software I can get my hands on. The model above was done in Google Sketchup. I also tend to get a bit of use out of Blender. I'm still not especially skilled with any of it. I usually tend to outsource the digital modelling.

 

[Mike J.]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Is Lopez named after Lopez from Red vs. Blue?

 

[FLM Concepts]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Lopez the Robot Whittler is a Craftsman Carvewright CNC machine. The machine comes with proprietary design software that's intended for designing woodworking projects. It has an optional software plugin (which costs an additional $200 last time I checked) that allows you to import STL files and slice them into pieces that can the machine can carve.

For the STL files, I end up using whatever free software I can get my hands on. The model above was done in Google Sketchup. I also tend to get a bit of use out of Blender. I'm still not especially skilled with any of it. I usually tend to outsource the digital modelling.

Ah, okay.

I do need to upgrade my software, though. The higher-end version of the software I'm using seems more like what you're using.

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Is Lopez named after Lopez from Red vs. Blue?

Yes. One day I will upgrade to Lopez Dos Point Oh.

UPDATE:
Lopez carved out the first bits of the armpit:


It doesn't look like much, but it's a beginning:


The next few slices should be finishing up here shortly.

In other news, I've made a bit more progress on the molds for the toes and the shoulder flap:



I'll finish glassing them up today and, if all goes well, I may even have the first copy out of the molds.

Finally, I filled in the area under the chin with expanding foam:




Today I'll be shaving it down to something a bit more like the correct shape.

 

[IceTea1983]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

How many cans of foam were used there?

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

How many cans of foam were used there?

I'm using a 2-part urethane foam product like THIS ONE. I think I made three batches of 8-12 fl.oz. each.

 

[panterateama]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

I like the idea of using the foam to fill in the odd shape... Will you be making the body into a mold to do a vac formed body or will this be the final body and you are going to glass over the foam you put on?

sent from my Galaxy S3 using tapatalk

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

I like the idea of using the foam to fill in the odd shape... Will you be making the body into a mold to do a vac formed body or will this be the final body and you are going to glass over the foam you put on?

The prototype is heavy and fragile. I'll be smoothing it out and then making a multi-part fiberglass mold so I can make a strong, lightweight fiberglass copy.

 

[Sam Lowry]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

This thread gets better every time I check!
Is that the Hot Toys or Neca Ed you're using for reference?

 

[Mike J.]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Ha ha – awesome. I only knew of one other robot named Lopez, so I figured it had to be him

I love watching this grow.

 

[hdtheater]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Loving watching this build! Thanks for the links to the molding process. I bookmarked for future reference.

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Is that the Hot Toys or Neca Ed you're using for reference?

NECA. I spent a lot of time looking over the both of them. There were a lot of idiosyncrasies to the Hot Toys version that looked inaccurate to me.

Today I gave ED a shave:


After rough shaping with a hand saw, I did some fine-tuning with an auto body rasp:


Then it was time to thoroughly inspect the curves for symmetry with the Mk1 Mod0 Micrometer eyeball:


Once I was happy with the rough shaping, I laid on a skin of Bondo:


After three iterations of filling and sanding, the surface was pretty close to fair:


While I was waiting for layers of Bondo to cure, I got a start on the box that sits under the back end:


At the end of the day, I shot it with a bit of high-build primer:


The end result is not too bad compared to the reference:


While all of that was going on, Lopez carved out the next piece of the armpit gimbal:


So that's shaping up:


More to come. Stay tuned...

 

[joberg]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Yes Sir, that is kicking ass (love that Micrometer Eyeball)

 

[Paulreeddrz]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

Looking great!!! What kind of material you got in mind for the dome?

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...

What kind of material you got in mind for the dome?

Fiberglass.