Excellent - I'd love to see it!

Currently in the hell that is filler > sanding > filler > sanding > filler > etc, but getting there. Hopefully, I'll be able to give the head its first coat of primer over the weekend, then I'll start on the lid... I'm going to attempt to make that using water-soaked balsa, bent into shape by wrapping it over the head with elastic bands! It may all go terribly wrong, but there's no harm in trying!

Elastic bands may not be strong enough to hold the balsa in shape. If it's not possible to actually screw the balsa in place as it will be when the head is completed, then you may want to consider something like masking tape. I know it won't stick to the wet wood, but once you get a few wraps around the head in the key points (like wrapping a tourniquet around something), the tape will stick to itself and hold the tension on the wood until it dries and can hold its own shape.

Just a thought.

Dino.

Thanks Dino - it's only 3mm thick, do you think it still may be worth using masking tape? I'm open to suggestions, having never worked with balsa - however, I've bought a few sheets, so plenty of room for inevitable trial and error!

Nose gun taking shape - cut from acrylic tubes, coat of primer first... I wasn't 100% happy with this one, so I'm in the process of making another!

Quote from: lofiscifi on Jul 30, 2016, 09:21 am
Thanks Dino - it's only 3mm thick, do you think it still may be worth using masking tape? I'm open to suggestions, having never worked with balsa...

Balsa is much like any wood - soft or hard: its desire is to return to its natural shape. so it will try to spring back until it's dried. Elastic bands will have stretch to them, so unless you use a lot of them (or surgical tubing, like they tie around your biceps when trying to tap a vein for drawing blood), then the natural "spring back" of the wood is going to stretch the elastic bands and while the balsa may retain most of its newly-formed shape, it will still need some "coaxing" when final assembly comes around. Using masking tape rather than the bands would be better because the tape won't have any "give" and will hold the balsa tight until it dries. There may still be some "rebound" when things are dried and the tape is removed, but it will be minimal compared to using stretchable bands.

Quote from: lofiscifi on Jul 31, 2016, 09:31 pm
Nose gun taking shape - cut from acrylic tubes, coat of primer first... I wasn't 100% happy with this one, so I'm in the process of making another!

If that extreme close-up of the silver-grey K-9 head showing the nose laser a few posts up is of the actual K-9 prop, then it looks like you don't need to recess the tip of the emitter as far as you have in your first attempt. It looks like the prop's laser's emitter is barely recessed; it just has a slightly larger "gap" between that outer band and the inner barrel:

Yellow arrows show some "shadow" that might be a slight recess (or a larger gap at the very end); red arrows show not much shadow, which could be from the light shining on the slight recess, or into the gap. Note: the upper red arrow shows some "shadow" whereas the lower red arrow doesn't; also notice where the light source is hitting the prop from; this is what makes me think there is a very slight recess - maybe no more than a millimeter. So you shouldn't have to recess your "Rev. 2" emitter as much as you have with your "Rev. 1".

I hope this helps, on both the head-shaping and the nose laser emitter.

Dino.

Update on K9's eye sucker - after countless hours of sanding the 3D-printed item, it now has its first coat of high-build primer. It's nice to see it all smoothed off and the form it will eventually take.

Next plan is to make a 2-part silicone mold of this, then produce casts from (red) pigmented resin which will, hopefully, give me a nice eyepiece and a few spares!

Few coats of auto primer - looking nice and shiny, ready for silicone molding later in the week.

Starting work on K9's computer panel - as with the 'sucker', side panel and ear bases, this was 3D-printed, so will need sanding to minimise the stepping lines, coating with XTC‑3D, sanding again with high grit sandpaper, plenty of high build primer, and couple of coats of acrylic spray varnish, before creating a silicone mold.

The button lenses will be the AO1 Series from CPC (red, blue, amber, green, etc)... I've ensured the button sockets on the panel will allow these lenses to be 'clicked' into place with no need for glue, which is a bonus!

Superb build loving the details.

Wow - love the detail you're putting in, specifically with regard to your 3D printed parts. 

I'm working on my own K9 at the moment, rebuilding a rather rubbish shell I bought from eBay.  I've promised my other half that K9 can be ring bearer at our wedding next June, so I need to get really focussed now, LOL

The back lighting panel is one of the parts I am going to have to create totally from scratch and I was wondering if you could help me take a shortcut by sharing the 3D model for it?

Cheers,

Adi

WOW! Been following this from the start but missed a lot of these updates, thanks for bringing it back up!
The detail on this really is extraordinary, as is the build quality. Keep it up! I wish I had that skill and patience

I'm loving how this is shaping up (especially the 3D printed parts.) Keep up the good work!!

Kind regards, The14thDr

Thanks for the comments, everyone - it's encouraging!

I'm at the stage now where I'm about to start making the 'lid' for the head - I could have gone down the easy route and added the cone-shaped nose straight to the head to make one piece, but where's the fun in an easy life, eh? 

Once the head and lid are sorted, I can set about making a mold - and then a few casts. The body will have to wait until the new year.

More updates coming soon!

Wow, it has been a while since you've updated this one, lofiscifi. I had to look back through it again to refresh my memory, and it still looks just as great. So what if you've got a different way of making the head cover and "nose bump"? It's your build so do whatever works for you.

(I have a feeling that adipoos is going to be following this with great interest. )

Dino.

I am indeed following with great interest!

Kudos for the tip on the neck ducting BTW.  I'd bought something similar a while back but had always thought it a tad too shiny as well as little too narrow, so I went ahead and ordered from the guys you mentioned earlier in the thread.  It arrived today and is far better than the other stuff.