I have been sitting on this project for awhile now and decided it was time to start it up. The thermal detonator has always been one of my favorite props from Star Wars and i hope that i can do it justice.
The first challenge is coming to terms with the scale, this thing is small, and realizing how small all of the components are is difficult, especially the LED bezels. The second challenge is reference material. Although the TD has been on public display quite often it seems difficult to come up with decent images of it. The easily found reference images are almost always taken from above and from far behind glass.
As a starting point i found a thread here on the rpf which mentions that the Master Replicas version is 60mm in diameter with 3mm of thickness.
Since I do not want to 3d print this, we have all seen some pretty poor results, the first step was to find clear hemispheres. I searched through the Plastruct catalog and found some clear acrylic hemispheres that would work. Im sure these were what was used on the original prop as well. There were two possibilities that would get me in the same range as the MR version, VHH-225 (57.2mm diameter) and VHH-250(63.5mm diameter), i went with the smaller 57.2mm diameter hemisphere which has a wall thickness of 3.2mm, very close to that of the MR. I also bought VHH-200 which nests perfectly inside the outer hemispheres to serve as the inner surface. As a side note, the VHH-600 at the bottom of the page is what the prop makers used for the training remote.
Because I am planning on building the training remote at some point I picked up the Fuman 1/48 Panther G model kit which has parts for the training remote as well as the correct tank tracks for the TD activation switch. I found out the hard way, the Tamyia 1/48 panther does not have the correct rubber tank treads. here is an image of the model kit, the hemispheres, and track i will be using for this build. Ill elaborate more later but the larger clear hemisphere with the 90 degree cutout will serve a jig for scoring in the lines to the main TD body. One last item i picked up is some tiny aluminum tubing that i will use for the LED bezels, in this case i am using k&s 8103 (3.97mm in diameter).
I am working on the 3d model now in order to come up with the correct pattern for the lines as well as sizing for the activation switch and red button. The only part that i anticipate 3d printing is the activation switch. Eventually ill also add lights and sound which will be brand new elements for me to work with. At first i thought this build would be a breeze but im very quickly realizing that this could be a rather complicated build. More to come later.
The first challenge is coming to terms with the scale, this thing is small, and realizing how small all of the components are is difficult, especially the LED bezels. The second challenge is reference material. Although the TD has been on public display quite often it seems difficult to come up with decent images of it. The easily found reference images are almost always taken from above and from far behind glass.
As a starting point i found a thread here on the rpf which mentions that the Master Replicas version is 60mm in diameter with 3mm of thickness.
Since I do not want to 3d print this, we have all seen some pretty poor results, the first step was to find clear hemispheres. I searched through the Plastruct catalog and found some clear acrylic hemispheres that would work. Im sure these were what was used on the original prop as well. There were two possibilities that would get me in the same range as the MR version, VHH-225 (57.2mm diameter) and VHH-250(63.5mm diameter), i went with the smaller 57.2mm diameter hemisphere which has a wall thickness of 3.2mm, very close to that of the MR. I also bought VHH-200 which nests perfectly inside the outer hemispheres to serve as the inner surface. As a side note, the VHH-600 at the bottom of the page is what the prop makers used for the training remote.
Because I am planning on building the training remote at some point I picked up the Fuman 1/48 Panther G model kit which has parts for the training remote as well as the correct tank tracks for the TD activation switch. I found out the hard way, the Tamyia 1/48 panther does not have the correct rubber tank treads. here is an image of the model kit, the hemispheres, and track i will be using for this build. Ill elaborate more later but the larger clear hemisphere with the 90 degree cutout will serve a jig for scoring in the lines to the main TD body. One last item i picked up is some tiny aluminum tubing that i will use for the LED bezels, in this case i am using k&s 8103 (3.97mm in diameter).
I am working on the 3d model now in order to come up with the correct pattern for the lines as well as sizing for the activation switch and red button. The only part that i anticipate 3d printing is the activation switch. Eventually ill also add lights and sound which will be brand new elements for me to work with. At first i thought this build would be a breeze but im very quickly realizing that this could be a rather complicated build. More to come later.