Playing Ketchup Episode III: Paint the Town White

During all the work I was doing on finalizing the skins for paint, I was actually painting the legs and feet. Once I had the skins ready to go I taped off the Inner Skins and painted them as well. It was a time consuming experience, and my perfectionist ideals didn't help. But I tried to chalk any chips or dings up to natural weathering.

One of the first roadblocks I came to during assembly was screwing the Center Ankle Cylinders to the Center Ankle. I apparently never tried to dry fit these before paint or I would have seen the issue. Its such a tight fit inside the ankle that its pretty much impossible to use a normal screw. After a few different attempts from advise on the forums, I came up with what worked best for me and my fingers. I used set screws placed into the cylinders first, and then screwed a nut onto the backside with a ratcheting wrench. It still wasn't easy, but I got there in the end.

Some of the easier portions of building came after. I sanded and cleaned up my foot strips and the feet area they cover before using a strong epoxy to adhere them in place.

I also painted my homemade Utility Arm bay back cover and screwed it on along with the Utility Arms and Large Data Port.

My R2 isn't based on any one particular movie, but the bits and pieces I like from each. One of those bits is the silver strip on the legs that matches the indent in the Rocket Booster Covers. My JAG version of the legs don't have this stripe CNC'd out like some other versions. I knew masking it off during painting was an option, but I was afraid that any chipping later would annoy the hell out of me. I happened to find some silver pinstripe tape in the auto department at Walmart. It's close enough to the exact size I needed that I went ahead and gave it a try. I placed the covers on the legs, marked them with a pencil and made a line all the way around with a ruler to help guide for a straight wrap around the legs. I overlapped the tape at a point where it would be underneath the covers. I'm really pleased with the result. You have to get very close to tell its pinstripe tape, and later weathering will help camouflage it even more.

I used VHB tale to adhere the skins together. It worked fairly well, but I did use some super glue in a few areas that the tape just didn't seem to work. It helped to close the gaps. I'm not sure if its because my VHB tape was a couple years old, but it did have several places that didn't adhere very well.

I'd recommend a whole lot of clamps for this too. I didn't manage to take any pics of my skins during the process, but its almost comical how many binder clips and various sized clamps I used. 

Next came getting all the various detail pieces attached to the skins. I ran into some issues with the Pocket Vents. Mine have wing tabs that are meant to help you attach them to the skins with tension alone. Problem was that they needed some heavy bending and filing to get them to fit into place. Because of my homemade Kick Panels I ended up using a dremel to put a pretty good curve into the on of the top tabs on each Pocket Vent. Just another unforeseen step in the assembly process.

I got far enough along in the assembly process to put the magnets on the back door. Clamping the door in place, I marked the inside and then used epoxy to adhere the magnets in place. Those things aren't called "Strong Earth Magnets" for nothing. It really sucks the door into place when you get it barely in position. Problem is the magnets are stronger than the epoxy and I've already had to re-adhere a few into place after they stayed on the frame magnets. I will probably have to end up using my stronger 3500 psi Gorilla Epoxy in the end.

Playing Ketchup Episode II: Like a Rolling Stone

I broke all the various body pieces apart in late November. I sanded the steel feet back down since the primer was heavily marred and had sharpie marks all over them. Then I bought a few packs of drop cloths that I was able to fashion a paint booth from by hanging them up in the garage. It did a pretty good job of keeping overspray off everything, and there was a lot.

I was able to get most everything primed before going on a week long cruise at the beginning of December. Then I commenced painting over a couple weeks after I returned. I had a lofty goal of getting everything painted and assembled before the end of the year. I didn't make it, but was not far off.

I still had to do a few things to the skins though. In between coats of paint on the legs and feet I fabricated a backer to the Utility Arm bay and some Kicker Panels for the bottom of the sides where the skins meet. These were both pretty easy to make with some aluminum sheeting and various things found at Lowe's. 

I initially tried to drill and tap the frame to attach the Utility Arm bay cover. After breaking one tap and a second drill bit that failed miserably, I decided on another route and epoxied some gutter flashing to a piece of aluminum that I cut and rolled to the correct size. The sheeting wraps around the frame and uses pre-drilled holes. Viola.

The Kicker Panels were made of the same aluminum sheeting cut to size and bent at a 90 degree angle in case anyone wants to get down and look up into the space they cap off. I found some steel panels and L-brackets at Lowe's. I combined them with some captive studs, epoxied it all together and came up with some very solid kick panels. They screw into the four holes that were already on each side of the Com-8 B frame. They don't budge at all and cost probably less than $10 a piece.

Next I needed to do a little work on the skins before painting them. For some reason the John Sherrell skins had never been updated. Can't imagine why /sarcasm. So you have to cut out the square that the Power Couplers go behind. A little measuring, marking and elbow grease with a dremel and file made fairly short work of the issue.

I needed to do the same thing for the back door panel, but was finally faced with the problem I made for myself awhile back. I had used shears to cut the back door out of the inner skins. The Inner Skin portion of the back door got pretty bent up in the process. Hindsight is always 20/20. I had bent it all back into place, but was never truly satisfied with how things came out. I even bought a second pair of skins just to fix the problem. But, I kept thinking about it, not wanting to use the extra skins unless it was a last resort.

Then I had what I think is a pretty good idea, including something that could be implemented into future skins. Lowe's sells a sheet of aluminum that is only a 1/4 inch wider than the back door. I picked one up and spent some time rolling it by hand, fitting it to the frame and rolling some more till I felt it was sufficiently matching the shape of R2's frame. Then I trimmed off the extra 1/4 inch and had a perfectly sized and rolled solid back door. After placing the outer skin portion over the new inner skin I marked the areas that needed to be cut out for the back Power Coupler and Coin Returns. Here's where I did something a little different. Instead of cutting out the entire rectangle of the coin returns, I only cut the area that protrudes into the skin. This way I'll have a much larger area to adhere the returns to the back door panel. I'm really satisfied with my solution to my own problem. It had upset me for some time, but in the end its a nice clean door, maybe even better than the original.

Finally I decided to use captive studs on the Power Couplers and Octagon Ports. So I drilled the appropriate holes in the Inner Skins for each piece. Having done this, I'm not sure I would do it again, especially on the Octagon Ports. They are engineered so that its extremely hard to get a wrench around the nut that holds them in place, and I even abandoned it on the bottom two screws. This also causes a big problem if you can't get them to suck into the skins. When you go to adhere the Outer and Inner skins together the studs will create gaps in the skins where you can't get them counter sunk. I will say I didn't have near as big an issue with the Power couplers. Things to remember for next time.

Move Along

Decided to try the captive studs on the body hinges today. I marked the holes on the outside of the Inner Skins first just to make sure they would be under the Outer Skins once they were glued together. Everything looked ok, so I drilled and bolted the hinge for one panel then placed the Outer skins back on and clamped them down. You can see below that there is a pretty good gap. So I'm nixing using the studs on the hinges altogether and will just glue them to the inside instead. Some may be able to live with that gap, but not me. I think its just because the studs are so close to the edge, in fact, they may have even stuck out a tiny amount once glued together. So lesson learned, at least I only tried it on one hinge.

Also yesterday I went to the parents house and used the drill press again. This time on the other foot drive to foot shell holes. I still had a similar problem as with the first one and had to use a larger hole and even ended up filing a little on a couple holes to get everything to line up right. I started wondering was why Jerry doesn't go ahead and have the holes drilled in the feet when they are made. Seems like a machine would be able to be exact and alleviate a problem on the builder end. The only thing I could think of was that other drive systems may not use the same holes, and you'd end up with unnecessary holes in your feet. Something I may ask one day if I ever meet him in person. I also decided not to countersink the holes. The steel is just too thin. Looks like maybe 1/8th inch think at most. I'll still use the low profile flat head screws though. I think they look a lot better than the rounded fatties and will hopefully blend in a little more when everything is painted.

Captive Audience

Finally got the captive studs from McMaster that I'd been putting off purchasing for awhile. So I bit the bullet and decided to try them on the skins first. Nobody on the forums had replied that they tried them on the skins. They were mainly used for the dome. But I figured its the same 2 layer principle with the skins, so why shouldn't they work? I'll use them on the JAG hinges for the front doors, the coin slots and of course later on the various dome pieces.

I used the coin slots as the guinea pig. After marking the holes with pencil first, I attempted drilling the first hole solely off the mark. I'm not sure if its the drill, the bits or me that suck, but every time I try to drill something, it glides off center even when I center punch a guide. I had barely started the first hole when I thought of a better idea. I clamped the coin slots in place very gently and protected the outside with a rag since they are already painted. Then I proceded to drill the holes out with a 7/64th bit using the slots themselves as a guide. I removed the slots, bore the holes out a tiny amount so the 4-40 captive studs went through the holes easily, and then sanded the slag off with some 120 grit sandpaper.

Next, I proceded to see how flush the captive studs would be. Loose they still stick out a bit. But once they are tightened from behind with a nut they pull into the aluminum a good bit, not entirely but pretty good. I countersunk the next three holes very lightly to see if it improved the flushness at all. It didn't seem to make much of a difference. These photos make it seem much worse than reality, they only stick out maybe a millimeter. I guess a good macro lens will do that.

So after all four were in, I put the outer skins on loosely with binder clamps. I think with a good clamping during the gluing phase, you won't even be able to tell that the studs are under there. Again the photos make the gap look worse than real life. There is no visible bulge in the outer skins, and the coin slots will cover these seams anyway. So, I think I'll use the captive studs on all the other necessary spots. Thanks to Pangborncc & CuriosMarc for the captive stud tip. Now I just wish I hadn't already spent some money on regular 4-40 screws. Oh well.

I'll take door #4 Monty

Been working on the front doors. Used the tried and true Office Depot binder clips for clamping the pieces together while they bond. I used the same Loctite 5 minute epoxy that I used on the Center Vents. Had some seepage in a few areas, but its cleaning up easily with an exacto knife and light sanding.

The heat wave here is crazy. Its been above 110 everyday the last week or more. So it looks like painting will be out of the picture until late September/October. That gives me a good amount of time to get all the prep done.

Also, the Ankle Details just came in today. These may be the first parts that are actually larger than I had foreseen.

Pop & Lock

Started removing the panels on the skins. Using the chisel and hammer method and its working fairly well. Its hard in the small areas like the coin slot strips. Put a couple small dents in a few places, but they'll bend easily back into place.

Also decided to go the AHB tape route on adhering the skins to each other. Ordered from RH Hughes and paid an exorbitant amount for shipping: $14.41 for UPS ground. After posting on the forums, I found out it would have been about half that from if I'd ordered from Amazon. Also, the UPS man "couldn't locate my house".  The street sign in my neighborhood blew down awhile back, but I've never had any delivery issues until now. Must have been a new guy. So looks like I'll be calling the builder and/or the city to remedy the situation.

Skin Job

Skins arrived today! Now I really feel like I'm building an R2.