So...
I lied. I finally figured out how to get my pictures from my phone to my computer(HELLO EFFICIENCY), so that got me pumped, and I made just enough progress on the POWERCELL to do a write up. Also, I'm including the CRANKGEN, and getting you started on the PPDBOX2 and ION ARM (these two, mostly because I didnt touch on them and want everyone to see all of the parts being put together so you're not completely on your own with anything.)
You're going to get sick of reading this:
Perforating, BEFORE you add tape is ESSENTIAL because it helps you refold the piece after tape is applied.
Patience. Patience.PATIENCE. PATIENCE.
So for today's RIDICULOUSLY HUGE update: I'll be working on the
POWERCELL NO RIBS,
CRANK GEN NO RIBS, and get you started on the
IONARM and
PPDBOX2. So go ahead and OPEN THEM UP, and print them all out.
One thing I've neglected to tell you,
is leaving the files open while you're working will aid you in putting these together. I caught myself making a huge mistake if I applied superglue, I was going to attach a piece backwards.
THAT IS A
NO NO. Mistakes waste time that you can use doing it properly.
Shut up Adam! WHAT TOOLS DO I NEED TODAY? Scissors
Utility Knife
Ruler
My Trusty Dead Pen
Aluminum Air Conditioning Duct Tape - further known as AACDTape because
I'm sick of writing "Aluminum Air Conditioning Duct Tape" Pushpin - because inevitably, your superglue will cake at the top and make your life difficult so you need to poke a hole in that reservoir and show it who's boss. I am the boss, YA GEDDIT SUPERGLUE?
Just a note, that neat plastic container behind the tools of the day was from a recent dumpster dive romp, and it's where I've been storing pieces after I'm finished putting them together, and another Pep project I'm
supposed to be working on (
IM SO SORRY ZACH I SWEAR IM DOING IT.). Dont run out and get one, but you know, it's helpful. Keep your eye out for one.
FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD MAN, WILL YOU GET STARTED ALREADY?! Now pop open
POWERCELL NO RIBS (Listen, modeling it with ribs easier than Pep'ing the model with ribs.) You will be adding the ribs
MUCH LATER NOT RIGHT NOW. The lighting in this pic was atrocious. but if you can tell, that's what it looks like printed out.
I'm going to warn you ahead of time, this particular couple days of assembly gave me all kinds of headaches. Some stupid mistakes on my part in assembly.
Ok, mostly stupid mistakes on my part during assembly. Here it is cut from the paper, waiting for all it's folds to be perforated. The front of the powercell, where the lense goes was kind of a butt clencher, but I made it through ok. You'll be fine, just take a breath and watch where you cut with your xacto or utility knife.
This is what me dropping the ball looks like. The whole point of this particular picture was to show the process of perforating your piece, and then flipping it over with the tabs folded under and applying the AACDTape. but we dont get that, I DID however do it for the CRANK GEN NO RIBS, which the same concept for all the pieces. For this picture, this piece says "Hey Adam, take your time and mind your folds, because I know you're going to fold me backwards and wonder what went wrong."
and I did exactly the opposite of what it asked of me to do.
This is what it looks like when you dont pay attention. I had to flip everything back around, and glue it again. Not all of the glue would remove, and it had some of that rubber membrane I mentioned in the post above this one, so now this POWERCELL NO RIBS has a stupid looking bubble on it.
THIS ONE'S GOIN TO MY GIRLFRIEND'S PACK! WINNING Can you feel how unhappy I am with this piece? It's even frowning.
On the inside it looks pretty, the bottom part, you can KIND OF see where you will later be filling with alot of resin goo or RONDO. Yep kids, We're going to play with RONDO. I'm just as excited as you are. I'm not happy that the Magic Skewer was taking a break, and refused to point at that section for us. Skewers are unionizing now. Look out Shishkabobs!
Here we are after I attached the "wall" where the powercell lense goes. Can you tell what I did wrong? I made the part too large. So, to rectify this, assemble it, and cut it down from the back to about an inch. That way it still keeps that shape strong, and you can get behind it and resin.
Also, You will be dremelling alot of this off after sanding. I marked it on the back before I applied, but then 1/8" was covered by the tabs. since the tabs are 1/8" just cut to the tabs when it comes time to that. BUT THATS NOT HAPPENING YET.
"PC why doesn't my POWERCELL sit right?" That skewer is pointing at the reason why. There IS an angle there on the screen used packs. I bothered everyone I know that would know for what seemed like days to get that measurement. Suck it up, I think that's why that bottom looks like poop on that one, but it'll get covered up by a rib anyway when we put them on later.
MUCH LATER DONT GET AHEAD OF ME PLEASE. Stick a fork in it.
On to the CRANK GEN NO RIBS. "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to take a photo of what it looks like printed out."
This is an example how tedious this component is. There are ALOT of tiny tabs, and ALOT of curves. Curves my friend, are a bitch. Tiny tabs, are also, a bitch. Here and ONLY here, is where I'll say, It's perfectly fine for you to cut a few tabs. I just made some snips at this corner and folded them.
I
KNEW that skewer was going to come in handy when I didnt need it to point at something! it's the perfect circumference for these tediously anal curves on this component. Seriously, right here it's also perfectly fine for you not to perforate, but please, this is prefolding and you should already be doing it for me.
Here I actually did perforate, because the lines were spaced enough to do that. I think I rolled it over the Dead pen, but it's ok if you dont.
In this one, you see how these tabs can get really small, i just made them all into one big tab. Honestly, I dont even think I glued them when the time came. MOSTLY because an important tab there, wasnt there in the unfold. I'll clean that mess up in a bit.
All of those little jerks became one tab. WINNING. The piece to the next of it, didnt have a much needed tab. LOSING.
So I fumbled. This is from the POWERCELL NO RIBS, but, it helps this next picture pick up the ball, and make a kick off. What you see here, is a piece with its tabs folded onto the face and turned so the white part (or inside) of the piece is facing up, and the face(outside) and tabs are folded and facing down
Here we're looking at what was the last photo, but with tape and for the actual component we're working on. Be careful and take your time when you pull it up. If you dont...
THIS HAPPENS. Now, you can do one of a few things.
1. Freak out. - Which is what I initially did. I think I also spit on the carpet and kicked the sofa. I dont remember because I
1.5 Blacked out.
2. AACDTape the inside of it, superglue over the face, and hope for the best. - eh. it might mess up the fitting of the rest of the component.
3. Print it out and do it again. - What I did.
This is where we left off.
I like writing myself little notes. It helps me remember things. If you're making the same mistakes I'm making, take heed to that. I swear, this is where I make alot of my mistakes. I NEED to sit back some times and screw around. Mistakes waste alot of time, and alot of material, and I hate them.
Now we're on to the sides of the CRANK GEN NO RIBS.
Now, I
could have folded the tabs under and taped the inside white side like usual, but for some reason I didnt.
Dont do it this way, get into the habit of doing it properly. I found myself lining up the tape sides to the perforations, and I did more work on it this way than I should have. Another mistake, another waste of time.
ANYWAY the best part of this picture is, next to the skewer is a 90 degree piece that isnt a tab. I
t's actually a piece that you need to attach tape on the inside to later to connect another piece to, because either the unfolded tab was too small, or it did a cut there instead. < you know...remember that.
Here we are, finally I'm doing something right.
Here I thought it would be a good idea to attach these parts laying down. It helped me match up the numbers, see where everything fit and then glue. It was a good idea.
I hate tabs like this. see how it gets REALLY thin where the skewer's pointing? There's nothing to grab. So glue what you can, and tape on the inside.
Remember earlier when I said :
t's actually a piece that you need to attach tape on the inside to later to connect another piece to, because either the unfolded tab was too small, or it did a cut there instead. < you know...remember that.
This area is a whole nasty Fiasco of fun and games.
WHERE THE HELL ARE MY TABS!? More couch kicking. More spitting on the carpet.
oh. Scotch Tape. So, what I did, was I taped where they would connect if there was a tab with scotch tape. Then I went on the inside...
like this. You can see where the AACDTape is curved round, and meets every where that there's that dickhole small curve and places with out a stupid tab. I'm not angry.
After I AACDTaped the inside. I went back to the face, removed the scotch tape, and superglued where they're supposed to meet. I had to finagle it a little to meet because I pushed too hard, but everything turned out ok
This complicated curve had a tab. Thank you complicated curve!
STICKA FORK INNIT.extra creditIONARM. This guy is easier to do in two pieces, one, being that if you see most kits, they're done this way. folded over and glued then given the fake weld. It's a no brainer after you get it cut out, perforated, folded and glued.
You'll see I made some notes, I wrote them during the first 2 tries to this project. You dont necessarily need a skeleton for the IONARM. It didnt help the way I was doing it and those pieces are in the landfill.
PPDBOX2 assembled the same way as the IONARM.
Next week, I'll assemble them with more pictures, and do the GUNMOUNTBOX (more curves and missing tabs!). HOPEFULLY, I'll get around to the COSMETIC PLATING. So, hopefully looking at these, the process of DOING them, you can see it's alot of work and can understand that me working through them for you, saves you all kinds of questions when making your own.