Keelan562
Well-Known Member
UPDATE #13: COMMS DEVICE (90% COMPLETE)
Very appropriate that the most special update of this build happens to be my favorite number.
Anyway, this one is about the comms device, obviously. The pieces of the 3D prints from [the other] Keelan over in Australia came in, but they needed to be put together and cleaned up a bit. Anyone who has worked with 3D printed pieces before knows the pain in the ass the sanding process is, so I was glad after a few days to have gotten that task to a point where I felt pleased with moving on.
Here's an in-progress pic of the two halves of the body. You can see on the "cover" that I started to primer it, but wasn't too pleased with some of the sanding and decided to strip some off and go at it again. I started (at this point) to use the dremel with the cotton polishing wheel attached; this helped me to warm up the surface of the plastic a bit quicker so that the sanding had a better affect. There's some black gaffer tape on the bottom of the body section, and the purpose for that will be explained in a moment, but first...
This is the look of the updated antenna. I added another dowel piece to be an "arm" between the antenna and the unit body. Attached to the "fin" at the bottom is a piece of scrap wire from an old headphone jack, which the other end will be attached to the unit body as well. Added to the center area I have a couple of bits of foil tape to give it a nice metal look.
These are the paints used. The self etching primer was chosen because it would sort of fill in the little imperfections on the surface in the sanding process, but without worrying it would fill in any of the small details that I WANTED to be seen. The paint+primer is used for the obvious reasons, so nothing special there. The PlastiDip is the reason why I used the tape on the bottom of the unit body: I wanted to have a portion of it look like it was rubber, to help break up the surface textures a bit among a couple of other aesthetic reasons. A good number of coats of this were used before it stopped looking so much like PlastiDip covered plastic, but I eventually got it to look decent and was able to remove the tape.
This here is a mid-progress pic. You can see (the blue area) where the tape was removed after an acceptable affect was accomplished with the PlastiDip. We also have the fully primered cover placed on top, just to give a bit of a visual reference what things are shaping up to look like.
Now comes the exciting stuff:
Things are finally given a few coats of paint and pieced together! The bolt/nut that holds the cover to the body is put in place, and the caps for the ends are glued in place as well. The side panels to the unit body are glued and screwed (totally did NOT mean for that to rhyme!), and the other little bits are put in place on the bottom of the unit. To help break up the look of the side of the unit without the antenna, I added a small piece of foil tape over the "buttons."
This was the solution on the back of the unit to how it would secure on the costume, wherever it would be chosen to be mounted. I know, I know, I'm gonna get crap from some people for my choosing to not fully sand and smooth the back of the unit. Deal with it!
Here's the [nearly] finished unit! The inside of the ring was painted with a light coat of metallic silver paint, which was then gone over with a coat of acrylic clear orange (I'm hoping this bit of reflective surface will assist with the glow of the EL wire). Obviously, I need to make a few small adjustments before affixing the antenna, and I need to get the EL wire set up. So pretty much, I should have one functional unit for use when it comes to filming the pilot of the webseries.
Very appropriate that the most special update of this build happens to be my favorite number.
Anyway, this one is about the comms device, obviously. The pieces of the 3D prints from [the other] Keelan over in Australia came in, but they needed to be put together and cleaned up a bit. Anyone who has worked with 3D printed pieces before knows the pain in the ass the sanding process is, so I was glad after a few days to have gotten that task to a point where I felt pleased with moving on.
Here's an in-progress pic of the two halves of the body. You can see on the "cover" that I started to primer it, but wasn't too pleased with some of the sanding and decided to strip some off and go at it again. I started (at this point) to use the dremel with the cotton polishing wheel attached; this helped me to warm up the surface of the plastic a bit quicker so that the sanding had a better affect. There's some black gaffer tape on the bottom of the body section, and the purpose for that will be explained in a moment, but first...
This is the look of the updated antenna. I added another dowel piece to be an "arm" between the antenna and the unit body. Attached to the "fin" at the bottom is a piece of scrap wire from an old headphone jack, which the other end will be attached to the unit body as well. Added to the center area I have a couple of bits of foil tape to give it a nice metal look.
These are the paints used. The self etching primer was chosen because it would sort of fill in the little imperfections on the surface in the sanding process, but without worrying it would fill in any of the small details that I WANTED to be seen. The paint+primer is used for the obvious reasons, so nothing special there. The PlastiDip is the reason why I used the tape on the bottom of the unit body: I wanted to have a portion of it look like it was rubber, to help break up the surface textures a bit among a couple of other aesthetic reasons. A good number of coats of this were used before it stopped looking so much like PlastiDip covered plastic, but I eventually got it to look decent and was able to remove the tape.
This here is a mid-progress pic. You can see (the blue area) where the tape was removed after an acceptable affect was accomplished with the PlastiDip. We also have the fully primered cover placed on top, just to give a bit of a visual reference what things are shaping up to look like.
Now comes the exciting stuff:
Things are finally given a few coats of paint and pieced together! The bolt/nut that holds the cover to the body is put in place, and the caps for the ends are glued in place as well. The side panels to the unit body are glued and screwed (totally did NOT mean for that to rhyme!), and the other little bits are put in place on the bottom of the unit. To help break up the look of the side of the unit without the antenna, I added a small piece of foil tape over the "buttons."
This was the solution on the back of the unit to how it would secure on the costume, wherever it would be chosen to be mounted. I know, I know, I'm gonna get crap from some people for my choosing to not fully sand and smooth the back of the unit. Deal with it!
Here's the [nearly] finished unit! The inside of the ring was painted with a light coat of metallic silver paint, which was then gone over with a coat of acrylic clear orange (I'm hoping this bit of reflective surface will assist with the glow of the EL wire). Obviously, I need to make a few small adjustments before affixing the antenna, and I need to get the EL wire set up. So pretty much, I should have one functional unit for use when it comes to filming the pilot of the webseries.
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