Re: Thorssoli's Episode VII Builds (TIE Pilot Nearing Completion of Page 14)
Mmmm... Buttplate...
All joking aside, I love your dedication and constant improvement to things!
I find it absolutely imperative to make sure the butt is the best butt it can possibly be. Some people can be satisfied with a substandard butt. Most folks might say it doesn't matter because the cape will hide it. I still think a shapely butt is important no matter what goes over it. Maybe that's just me.
In any case, I forgot to update this thread when I finished smoothing out the new, improved butt prototype. Here it is after much sanding, filling, and so on:
Then the final coat of primer:
Then my habitual glossy prototype color:
(because the butt might as well be pink)
Then I added some margins around the perimeter and layered on some orange tooling gelcoat:
The black bit at the top is some leftover gelcoat that I'd mixed from some other thing I was laying up. I had to put it somewhere.
Once I'd glassed over the mold, everything was left to cure overnight before I went ahead and popped out the prototype:
After removing all of the hairy bits from the butt mold and giving it a good washdown, the whole thing was wet-sanded, polished, and coated with PVA mold release.
Now it's sitting in my shop waiting for me to lay up the first new butt tomorrow:
This is a good thing.
Once I have that piece done, I'll have to re-sort a few things in the shop and spend some quality time prepping parts for primer and paint. Then I'll lapse into my usual pattern of hating everything shiny for a little while.
There will be grumbling.
Stay tuned...