Star Wars The Force Unleashed II - General Rahm Kota WIP

[Koda Vonnor]

This sculpt gave me a lot of trouble finding the correct thickness, edge cuts and symmetry. Every couple days for the past two weeks I worked on it but was never happy with the results. Finally in a moment of sanity today (or more accurately, functional insanity), I called it done. Any further adjustments I'll have to make on the rigid model.

Here it is ready for the mold. I will make that tomorrow.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

What this photo tells you: I made a mold of the right vambrace wrist clip using Smooth-On Rebound-40 and a plaster shell. While the vambrace assembly was wedged onto the armature, the elbow guard came apart. Originally I had used Loctite PL 8X construction adhesive to glue a galvanized steel strip to the fiberglass plate but for some reason the bond didn't hold. The glue did not stick to the galvanized steel. Likely there was some oil or other contaminant on the metal. I understand JB Weld is pretty good for metal to fiberglass so I used some for the repair (after cleaning the steel with acetone). Hopefully it holds.

What this photo doesn't tell you: The plaster mold shell broke in two places and had to be repaired with Elmers glue. I should have used Hydrocal but used White Art Plaster 'cause it was easier to get to in my storage closet (I have 5-Gal buckets of each). Also, the sides should have been thicker, and I should have softly pried up all round the edges instead of torquing the **** out of it on the breakout. Built-up clay mold walls would have helped as well. Live and learn.

I will lay fiberglass in the green rubber mold this weekend. Should be perfect weather for it.

~ vonnor

 

[Canobi]

Awesome work vonnor, great seeing it coming together :thumbsup

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Thanks Canobi. Glad you're still hanging 'round.

 

[Koda Vonnor]

I stuffed the mold with rondo (60/40 Bondo/resin) and 6 layers of flberglass cloth/resin, topped off with another rondo gel coat. It was extremely difficult and frustrating stuffing the thin strips into the mold on the sides and the back-of-hand area with the semi-circular cutout. I should have built up mold walls in those areas so the return edge would be thinner. You can see I will need to thin out the edges quite a bit.

Here is the rough break-out with a little bit of sanding and edge trimming.Comparing the two hard-masters side by side shows some variance from mirror images of each other, but all in all it's not too bad. The right wrist-clip has a bit more twist to it, but as the sculpt aligned properly with the main assembly so should the rigid model.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Side by side with the left vambrace shows pretty good symmetry. I should have tapered the sculpt more at the wrist, but there's not enough thickness to sand it down at this point. I'll try filling the insides a bit thicker on the palm/cutout side and tapering it on the production casting. It really needs to fade in about 3/16" (5mm) on the side with the rectangular cutout.

I hope to put in the epoxy putty back-fill and alignment tracks tomorrow.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

I decided it would be better to correct the taper on the wrist-clip hard master rather than on the production casting, so today I added a few more layers of fiberglass cloth and Bondo just to the palm side on the inside of the unit, then power-sanded the new exterior surface taper. Notice it is much thinner at the wrist and mostly follows the contour line of the main assembly all the way to the wrist opening. This is much more accurate to the references and mirrors the left vambrace dimensions. I also filled in some gaps, bubbles and Dremel slippages with PC-11 epoxy putty.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

This shows how I built the guide tracks for the vambrace mounting. The wrist clip has to squeeze the padded glove strap snug enough to keep the whole assembly from slipping down and encroaching on the hand guard while worn. It also has to withstand the normal torque from rotation/pronation of my wrist, and facilitate the rotation of the rest of the vambrace. In the CG model that is being replicated, there is only a small point of contact between the wrist clip and the main vambrace assembly. That small point will be subjected to a lot of torque in normal wear. These tracks will transfer to the production casting and lock everything in place. There will also be a 6-32 hex screw and an aluminum backing plate at the join point that will clamp the pieces tightly together. This will be one of only two screen inaccuracies on the costume that are necessary in order for it to be worn by a real person.

I tested this solution at CVII for a few hours with the left vambrace and it worked like a charm.

I first sprayed mold release on the contact area of the main assembly. I mixed up some epoxy putty and pressed it onto the inside of the wrist clip along the lines where it will mate with the edge trim of the main assembly, then just pressed it into place and clamped it for a few minutes. The mold release kept it from sticking to the main assembly and left nice neat tracks in the wrist clip.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

I got the wrist clip back-filled with clay and clear-coated, but had a couple problems with taking a block mould. I did not give enough thought to the dividing line between mould halves, which left me with two pencil eraser sized air bubbles which will put a couple bulbs on the inside where the rectangle cut-out meets the wrist. It should be OK though and relatively easy to dremel them down.

I also made the mould box too big by just a couple ounces, didn't have quite enough Oomo 25 and had to sort of "mound up" the 2nd half of the rubber pour. The liner is very thin (3mm) at two points. I was very careful separating the mould halves and removing the hard master, and the thin sections snapped back down onto the plaster shell pretty cleanly, so I will attempt to pour the production casting. If it fails I will need to re-seat the master and pour another mould half.

I'll post pictures later.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Sorry there's no photos of the mold making progress, but here is the production casting I poured last evening. One thing I did differently from the left wrist clip casting is I powdered the mold lightly with talc. This totally eliminated the surface bubble problem I had before. There was a little bit of bubbling up to the top, but it shouldn't affect the finish or the structural closure.

This casting used Smooth-On Task® 9 super-hard urethane resin with a splash of white coloring. The fit is tight and the alignment is decent. I'll clean up the flashing and surfaces and paint it later today.

The most technically difficult and tedious elements of this costume (the vambraces) are almost completed.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Shiny!

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Many thanks to all of you for 36K views. I hope this thread is proving informative and helpful to other scratch-builders.

Stay tuned for more updates!

~ Bill C.

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Today I received some aluminum strips that I had cut to size. The references suggest two clips that attach the lightsaber holster to the bandoleer. I'm experimenting with how to form and attach them.

Details, details...

Painted and weathered vambraces coming this weekend.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

More shiny stuff!

Gotta wait a few days for the paint to dry completely before sand-weathering to match the left assembly.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

I just received some satin finish paints for the scapula plate and the back plate's center panel. These will be dirtied up and scratched down to a TK-white like the references.

From Art Primo. Highly recommended for color matching.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Twins!

That's it for the arms. Now it gets real. I will be working on some of the soft parts, not the least of which is the flubber on my body. Finish the shirt and make a 2nd one, build the lightsaber holster, weather the boots.

Torso cast comes as soon as 20lbs goes.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Vambraces test. A little teaser.

~ vonnor

 

[JustFLyCasual]

Just found this and had a blast looking through to see how you did some of the casting and molding. Seemed very tricky but I love how you didnt take any shortcuts. Thats why this looks so damn boss! Looking forward to seeing the build being completed!

 

[Koda Vonnor]

What's THAT thing??

Practice. It's the whole clay-sculpt / plaster-backed-rubber-mold / rigid-casting process applied to build a mandrel for making the "leather" liner for the lightsaber holster. The Hydrocal mandrel will be shaped a bit then sealed and waxed. Three layers of fiberglass cloth will be laminated over the mandrel using a blend of rigid and flexible polyester resins. Since I need to make the abdomen plate out of "flexible fiberglass" this will be a test to see how the recommended 75/25 (rigid/flex) resin blend works, and if I need to adjust the mix one way or the other for the ab plate. The production holster liner will be painted by the real artist in the house (my GF) to simulate leather, then cut off at the black line and fixed down inside the holster frame. The lacing will be a heavier fiberglass strand from package sealing tape, which I stumbled upon by fluke.

Stay tuned.

~ vonnor

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Here is the fiberglass casting that will be the lightsaber holster liner. It is made from three layers of glass cloth and a mix of 75/25 rigid/flexible polyester resin. Note the cloth is cut on the bias (45 degree angle) in order to follow the contour of the mandrel. When this sets up I will prime and sand it inside and out, then paint a base of satin brown on which Jedi Leda will paint the leather pattern in acrylics.

~ vonnor