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Project Optimus- WORKLOG - part II

W

wasson

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 15, 2002
Messages
125
The first part of this was erased due to me not posting to it for a while. To anyone keeping up, sorry about that. The whole worklog can be read here.

Now for the new part.

Here's the sculpting complete, with a temporary cardboard antenna for reference of what he'll look like complete.

aPDRM0734.jpg


After the styrofoam sculpture was complete, I tore it apart into more mold-friendly pieces. 6 of them, to be exact. Then I constructed the best damn molding surface you'll ever see, made of more styrofoam, cardboard, and duct tape. It's not pretty, but it got the job done.

aPDRM0790.jpg


Time to pour the plaster in, making the negative. Slow and steady.

aPDRM0792.jpg


More plaster. I poured as slowly as I could to avoid any unsightly air bubbles, which would come through as even more unsightly bulges when it comes time to pour the positives.

aPDRM0793.jpg


And finally, the first 2 plaster negatives. The styrofoam was a bit too porous to come out cleanly, so all my hard work sculpting the styrofoam was destroyed when removing it from the plaster. Such is life. I shouldn't need the styrofoam anymore anyway.

aPDRM0797.jpg
 
looks nice. my friend likes transformers (collects some toys too... wierdo;)) i'll have to show him this.
 
More updates.... It seems this project should be subtitled "destroy the last part of the project before moving on to the next". I had to destroy the styrofoam to remove it from the negative, and now I destroyed the negative to remove the positive. But on to the pictures....

First was the prep work to the negative. I sanded them down lightly, filled in some holes and cracks with clay, and coated the whole inside with Vasoline.

optimus15.jpg


Next, of course, is filling in the positive.

optimus14.jpg


Now I used my trusty hammer to remove the plaster negative, since being gentle wasn't working out so well. Notice that poor Optimus lost his upper triangle on one side in the removal/bashing process. Nothin' a little glue can't fix, and I was actually surprise the damage wasn't more substantial after hitting these things with a hammer.

optimus13.jpg


And finally, here's the plaster positive of Optimus' face. He's still covered in Vasoline and plaster chunks, and he's in serious need of a cleaning and sanding. It sort of looks like he was just born.

3 more plaster positives to go and it's time for vacuum forming and building the base for the system. Progress rolls on.

optimus11.jpg
 
Kudos keeping it original and homemade. More power to you and good luck.
 
my favorite part of modding -> hitting things with a hammer. lots of fun:D.
 
optimus17.JPG


Here's all the plaster casts, finished, sanded, and ready to vacuum form.

optimus18.JPG


Here's my bloody finger. I was carving out a section of the plaster and the knife slipped, carving off a chunk of my finger. It ain't moddin' if you're not risking your life, I say.

optimus19.JPG


Part of the bill of Optimus broke in the removal process, so I'm rebuilding it with clay. Here it is, ready for a bit of filling and sanding before vacuum forming.

More pictures on my site at http://www.junkmachine.com/optimus/.
 
:eek: :confused: :eek:

wow, that's a nice battle wound. :) lol, anyways this is going to be interesting when it's done. :)
 
Awsome, I'm such a huge Transformers freak you have no idea!!! I love seeing stuff like this around here once in awhile.

Keep it up, I'll be checkin' every couple hours for updates. ;)
 
Here's a couple of updates. I've mostly been working on the vacuum form table when weather cooperates with me. Provided I can finish the table tonight and find a local place that will sell me polystyrene sheets, the plastic forming should be done tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to loading the electronics in this thing. It seems like a lot of steps to not even be in the computer stage yet, but ah well. Onto the pictures.

vacuum1.jpg


First up, a gratuitous shot of my new table saw and, of course, my domain. The garage.

vacuum6.jpg


Here's the base complete as well as the 2 frames used for holding the plastic in place. I hinged them at the back for easy removal and easier lining. The underside has been coated with vinyl weather stripping to insure an airtight seal when the vacuum is turned on.

vacuum8.jpg


And there she is in all her glory. The long boards on top will support the heating element as well as the frame with the plastic while it's being heated. As per usual, more pictures and explanation available on my site.
 
Just a quick pictureless update to make sure this thread isn't purged before the project is complete.

My first experiment in vacuum forming was a complete and total disaster. The electric skillet didn't heat the plastic hot enough, and the heat gun didn't heat it evenly enough. Still, I gave it a shot, and ended up with an unusable piece of garbage for the side of Optimus' head.

This weekend I plan to build an oven of sorts to heat the plastic. Anyone have any ideas other than the electric skillet to heat the plastic up to around 350?
 
just buy an old oven second hand, i say. You can get them pretty cheaply... well, you can here ;)
 
Originally posted by wasson
Just a quick pictureless update to make sure this thread isn't purged before the project is complete.

My first experiment in vacuum forming was a complete and total disaster. The electric skillet didn't heat the plastic hot enough, and the heat gun didn't heat it evenly enough. Still, I gave it a shot, and ended up with an unusable piece of garbage for the side of Optimus' head.

This weekend I plan to build an oven of sorts to heat the plastic. Anyone have any ideas other than the electric skillet to heat the plastic up to around 350?
Click to expand...

Well at least you gave it a shot.....and that it was at least a decent learning experience. Hope to see more "pictured" updates soon though, this Transformer fan can't go much longer without pictures you know. ;) :D
 
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