[PssdffJay]

A bit of putty on the inside would be fine. Just so no errant light comes out from the lights.

[bishopdonmiguel]

A bit of putty on the inside would be fine. Just so no errant light comes out from the lights.

Now that's a side effect I hadn't considered. You're brilliant. Thanks for the insight.

I'm still not decided on what texture to use. Probably use a combination of both. I think the heavier one would work very well around the Power-Cell/Gearbox/Gun Mount areas while the more delicate one might be best for the Cyclotron.

It's been very muggy here in KC this week. I can paint small items in the basement but the shell needs to get painted outdoors. I need to wait for the humidity to drop. That gives me some time before I need to make a final decision.

In the meantime, I gave Crix's resin parts a silver undercoat with Krylon Fusion. I'm hoping the magic plastic bonding formula isn't just marketing hype... but I'm not terribly confident in it. A very light coat with a dry time of 12 hours, followed by feather buffing with 000 steel wool. Rinse and repeat (3) times. Coming up next, (2) coats of Rustoleum flat black enamel.

[bishopdonmiguel]

I experimented with two silver undercoatings, both made by Krylon. The first is from the Fusion brand. It is silver-like but doesn't look much like metal. The second is a paint/primer combo and looks very close to polished aluminum. The first took the flat black topcoat very well while the second had a waxy texture and i'm a little worried about the topcoat. Time will tell.

My weathering will likely be mild and understated, hope a little bit of steel wool will get the silver to peek through.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Crix's resin parts are real beauties in my opinion. Here they are all painted flat black... except the Ion Arm which I am still working on to get that weld done. Can't wait to see these on the shell.

[bishopdonmiguel]

I wanted to add a bit of character to the PPD, using the Ramis hero as a guide.

For the bottom, I drilled a hole in the center and then engraved a circular groove to simulate the look of an aluminum tube with a filler.




I also applied some heavy sandpaper to the top and scratched to create some horizontal lines. The paint ended up covering most of this detail. Lesson learned here, don't be shy.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Here is nick-a-tron's Booster Frame and Bumper. These are also terrific parts.




As with the PPD, I wanted to add a bit of character to the Bumper. After filling some of the pinholes and sanding, the mold line faded so I added a few of my own plus a scratch and a bump here and there.

[bishopdonmiguel]

The Gun Mount from FreekyGeeky is a very well done piece. I painted the back mount flat black and will weather it up just a touch after it's mounted on the pack.

[bishopdonmiguel]

The GBFans Ion Arm End Cap is another great item. It gets a clean coat of flat black while the brass rods get a less glamorous smearing.

Now I just need to get the shell painted.

[PssdffJay]

Crix's resin parts are real beauties in my opinion. Here they are all painted flat black... except the Ion Arm which I am still working on to get that weld done. Can't wait to see these on the shell.

These are looking great! Is this the flat black on top of the silver undercoat?

I wish I could see our packs side by side to see the difference between yours with the flat and mine with the satin black. I debated on this a lot!

I also need to add some black to my brass rods on the end cap! Thanks for the reminder. You said smearing. Did you spray some on your finger and wipe it on?

The circle on the PPD was so good, I didn't realize you added that! I thought it was aluminum with a resin core!

[bishopdonmiguel]

These are looking great! Is this the flat black on top of the silver undercoat?

I wish I could see our packs side by side to see the difference between yours with the flat and mine with the satin black. I debated on this a lot!

I also need to add some black to my brass rods on the end cap! Thanks for the reminder. You said smearing. Did you spray some on your finger and wipe it on?

The circle on the PPD was so good, I didn't realize you added that! I thought it was aluminum with a resin core!

Thank you for the kind feedback Jay.

Flat black over the silver undercoat, correct. Not sure it will be worth the effort but wanted to give it a shot. I considered satin as well but flat won me over. I hope my pack ends up looking a nice as yours.

When spraying, I wear nitrile gloves. For the brass rods, I sprayed a coat directly on the rods, set the can down and then smeared it away from the threaded portion with my finger several times until it started getting sticky. I wanted to keep the part of the rod near the aluminum heavy black but have the brass show through everywhere else. At least that's the effect I could see on the reference photos.

Took me forever to decide how to engrave that groove on the bottom of the PPD. I ended up using a washer centered on the PPD with a bold and then scratched an outline with a straight test probe. I followed that up with the end of a nail to get a wider cut .

I am anxious to get the shell going, but the humidity here really needs to break before I attempt any painting on that. I feel the tock clicking away towards my arbitrary Halloween deadline.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Back from a week away, only a small update or two to share.

Now that I'm getting ready for final assembly of the pack, thought I'd make an effort to age some of the parts. I wanted to take the edge off the shiny brass valves. I didn't want to use chemicals as these tend to turn the brass green and I prefer the brownish hue.

To age without using chemicals, place the brass items on a sheet of aluminum foil and insert into a 450-degree preheated oven for 15 minutes. "Cooking" too long will result in a copper/purple hue. Smaller parts heat more quickly so consider separate batches based on size/weight if this is a concern.

In the photo below, the parts on the left are aged using this cooking method.

[GohstTarp]

Those painted parts are looking great. Welcome back, Bishop!

[bishopdonmiguel]

Those painted parts are looking great. Welcome back, Bishop!

Thank you my friend. Really hoping to get the shell and mobo painted this weekend. Hope I don't screw it up!

Before painting, I need to get all those mobo holes drilled. The first two are for the control plate. I temporarily mounted nstevic01's nifty XLR "Spengler" plate using 1/8-inch bolts & nuts. After painting, I plan to attach permanently using rivets.

I understand the 4-pin SwitchCraft XLR connector is the screen accurate choice but I wanted more flexibility here so I opted for a 7-pin aviation XLR plug. The plug & port come in a set for about $15. I will also be utilizing (3) DPDT switches to control the electronics (charge, run, master, etc.) so the DC port is out as well.

[jabberbox]

Excellent work!

[bishopdonmiguel]

Excellent work!

Thank you, kind sir.

I've been avoiding the Ion Arm / Booster Tube weld. Today was the day I could avoid no longer. I started with a 1/4-20 bolt and ground the threads off one side. I left the threads on the other to provide additional surface area for the Milliput to bond to. I epoxied the bold to the Ion Arm and Booster tube after mounting each securely to the shell. I didn't expect the epoxy to stick well to the aluminum tube... and it didn't... but this step was primarily for positioning since I still need to paint the Booster Tube.




Before removing the parts for painting, I added a Milliput weld. The end result was better than I expected but not as good as I had hoped for. Will definitely need to practice further before adding welds to my Throwing Chicken build.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Every so often, I see a group of car enthusiasts in the local Culver's parking lot showing off their vintage road machines. The hoods are up and the engines are full of shiny chrome parts. So that gave me an idea for utilizing the remainder of aluminum spray paint.

Yep, I'm chroming the inside of this bitch like those silver Cylons from the original series Battlestar Galactica. Another "all-fired plain-vanilla" feature.

By your command...

[bishopdonmiguel]

Have I mentioned previously that I tend to overdo things? Case in point.

I have two speakers to mount and will be placing both in the Cyclotron. I really don't want a speaker right behind my head (I've already blasted my ears when Sony released their first Walkman) and I also prefer the extra weight placed low (old man topples easy).

I've seen many great examples here of speaker grille drill patterns. I wanted to create something similar but with a unique personal touch. I started out with a simple pattern but within a short time I had a monstrosity to deal with. Good grief!

I printed two templates, selected a location and spray mounted to the motherboard. Using a pin punch and a hammer, I marked each hole and spent more than hour drilling holes of 3 different sizes. When complete, I used a countersink bit to clean up the holes and then sanded and buffed the finished grille. Then I let out a sigh upon the realization that I was only half done.

Another "all-fired plain-vanilla" feature.

[thebigone2087]

That pattern is INSANE!!!

[Parflagush]

Wow! That's trippin'! Don't stare at it too long or you get that bug-eyes thing going on.

[bishopdonmiguel]

That pattern is INSANE!!!

A depiction of its maker's mental state.

Wow! That's trippin'! Don't stare at it too long or you get that bug-eyes thing going on.

That explains a lot. I thought I was turning into a boring beetle bug after drilling all those holes.

[robpenfold]

Wow! That is all.

[Venkman's Swagger]

You never fail to amaze.

[bishopdonmiguel]

For those interested, I checked the shape count in VBA and there are 295 holes in each grille plus 4 speaker mount holes. 299 x 2 = a lot of holes!

[bishopdonmiguel]

I getting ready to epoxy the PH-25 resistor to the Ion Arm. What is the consensus on orientation? Should the fins be horizontal, vertical, random? Which way should the silkscreen writing face?

[PssdffJay]

I did horizontal with silk screen down.

Don't know if it's right, but my ion arm is aluminum and I can change it.

[Mat]

I went horizontal as well; as mine is a resin version, I can't help with the silk screen orientation!

You can see the resistor is horizontal in this reference pic!

[bishopdonmiguel]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Horizontal with silkscreen down it is.

[bishopdonmiguel]

An interlude...

Someone posted a greeting in the Introductions forum this morning and it triggered some memories of the fun I had working at theatres in another era. I was reminded of a poster tube that I have stashed away which includes some mementos of those times. I haven't opened this in over 20 years and as I pulled these gems from the stack, i was awash in a brief fit of nostalgia.

Sorry for the bad photo.

[Kingpin]

Quite possibly the most beautifully-rendered speaker holes you'll ever find on a Pack.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Quite possibly the most beautifully-rendered speaker holes you'll ever find on a Pack.

Wow, now I'm blushing. Very kind of you to say such a nice thing.