While down in Lake Forest today on an errand, I stopped by my old pals at the Plastics place and got some plexiglass cut. They are super helpful and quick there, with the total trip lasting under 15 minutes.
If you'll recall earlier progress pics of my Han in Carbo, the side panels are missing and even worse, there are big open gaps there. This plex was cut to fit behind the side walls, and to cover up those holes.
Here you can see the plex I got today, along with one of my replica control panels.
Luckily, Vince Sanchez did a really great job of mastering the original fan made control panels I owned previously, and they were dimensionally very similar to the accurate Volvo panel. I will only have to modify the openings in the side walls slightly in order to fit the accurate panels. To be precise, I need to widen the small gaps where the lower tabs of the control panel goes. Each one gets and extra half inch of inward clearance. I will accomplish that with my dremel and files. Other than those two tabs, the panels fit quite nicely.
Next step will be to finish filing out the openings so that the accurate control panels fit, gluing in the new plex panels, then attaching the control panels to them. Probably only a day of work, but the trick will be finding the time to do it.
I recently sold my house in Irvine and moved to downtown Los Angeles, where I now have a crazy apartment with an amazing view. The moving company did some damage to my Han Solo in Carbonite, so I decided this would be a good opportunity not only to repair the damage, but also make some changes to the thing, and get it finished once and for all.
These first two pictures show how the project stands as of earlier today. You'll notice that the side panels are of course missing, and the edges are square, not rounded
Here's a couple examples of the type of damage that the moving company did. My guess is they just handled it pretty roughly, and probably dropped it. The seams around the edges popped out in a few places. Not unexpected, just a bummer.
Worst of all, a couple of his fingers were snapped off. Thank goodness the moving company was wise enough to save the fingers.
I started off with my trusty router, which I originally purchased with this project in mind. It has since proven super valuable in the Tardis build, and even on the MattMobile.
I ran around the upper edges a couple of times, and things were going really well.
Sadly, somewhere along the way, the router bit depth dropped a bit, and the cuts became too deep. Now I will need to go back along every inch of the thing and sand down the lip. No big deal, just more work than anticipated.
Here's a pic of neighboring FIDM, and a fountain.
And my view from the balcony.
I then routered the vertical corners. Due to some warping on the box, it didn't come out super even, but that's nothing a sanding block can't fix.
A couple of the nails that held the fiberglass casting of Han to the box I built had popped out. I hammered them back in, but they still need to be puttied again, and then painted.
Last item for the day was gluing the fingers back in place. I found out upon attempting this that a big chunk of the ring finger is missing, which will need to be reconstructed using putty. No big deal really.
That's it for today. My goal is to get all of the body work done by tomorrow, and then I can start reshaping the openings on the side to fit my screen-accurate control panels.
I have for sale a set of eight Han in Carbonite side panels. These are NOT cast from the Volvo dash, but instead precede that find by a year or two. These were mastered by a friend named Vince, Aka "Corellian Exports" and they turned out really nicely.
I only took pictures of one because I didn't want to have to unpack all eight of them.
I realized today that documenting a project via episodic youtube is a VERY time consuming effort. I am many months into this build, and I have to believe that one of the reasons it is taking so long is because of the overhead involved in filming and editing the vids. Still, they are their own reward, so I'm not complaining. The purpose of the build isn't really to get a grapple gun, but is instead to make a set of videos that will forever more be used as reference for my fellow prop builders.
I have finished cleaning up the new batarang master, and I am quite happy with it:
Please recall that this began life as a casting taken from an ICONS Ice-Rang from the movie Batman & Robin. It didn't really take all that much work, but the work took place among numerous other in-flight projects. I would like to get this under rubber tomorrow.
Mermaid tail master pattern continues. I'm roughly half way done gluing down all of the styrene. It's just very meticulous and boring work. I try to do the scales in sets of ten strips. That's about all my patience can handle before I have to switch gears and do something else.
Zero progress on Han in Carbo.
I've started a new project too. Vic Mignogna / JediVic has asked me to build a Star Trek Tri-Viewer, as seen in the conference room of the original NCC-1701 Enterprise. This will be used in his upcoming series "Star Trek Continues." I'm very excited to be able to contribute something to this production, which promises to be the finest fan made Trek show to date. I've done some initial research, some preliminary drawings, and have kicked around a few details with some fellow trek enthusiasts on the RPF. I have some dimensions that feel good. I think the next step is to build a mock up.
I'm also making a series of props for a project that I don't think I'm allowed to talk about at this time. So far, it's been a really fun process. I designed a few props using adobe illustrator, while going back and forth with the producer using iphone photos over txt message. It's really amazing how technology allows people to collaborate in ways that would simply not have been possible a few years ago. As it stands, I will be delivering about a dozen or so props to this production, though a few will be duplicates.
So as you can see, there's a lot going on right now.
I'll end with a quick story. The other day, I was having lunch at Dreamworks with a friend. (does that count as a name drop?? If you name a studio? is that a name drop????) He was giving me the tour, and he spotted a co-worker/friend of his a cube or two away. He said he wanted me to meet him, as he was cool. My friend introduced me as "Matt" and the guys response was "Oh! Rise of the MattMobile! I love your blog!!!!"
Mind. Blown.
I tell ya man, it's a funny old world when little ol' Matt Munson is being recognized by people who work at a major Hollywood studio! It was a pretty major day for me, as I assumed the PREVIOUS time someone recognized me from my videos/blog was bound to be the last.
In closing, I really do want to give my honest and sincere thanks to all of the folks who read my blog, watch my videos, give feedback, and tell me that they either enjoy the blog or are learning something from it. It's really VERY gratifying to know that my hard work is appreciated, especially when it is appreciated by people who I respect and admire. So thank you!
Much progress has been made on the side panels, though little has been documented. I will try to catch up here.
Here is where things start. With a coat of primer.
Once the primer is dry, I cover the face with a coat of light metallic grey. This will be the parts that are covered by the masking tape, then revealed later on in the process.
Once all of the masking tape is applied, I spray a couple of light coats of a much darker metallic grey to the panels. This might be a little too dark, but I can always lighten it up a little bit later with some weathering.
Based on a recommendation from a guy in the R2 Builders Club, I'm giving this tape a try for this project.
And here is where things stand right now. I have a few panels that are unmasked, a couple that only have bright silver, and a couple that are masked and painted with the dark grey.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the frog tape. It's a little easier to manage than the normal blue tape, but honestly, doesn't provide significantly better results. I got some bleed through, but I cannot say for sure if it was more or less than with blue tape. I think it largely boils down to how well you prep the pieces, not so much what tape you use.
For all of these panels, I was drying them under a space heater in the garage. Though it's not "Ohio Cold" out here right now, it's cold enough that automotive paint won't dry properly under ambient temperatures. Without a space heater, it takes on a foggy finish, which is no good.
Another lesson I relearned on this project is regarding patience. When you spray on the second color, it needs a couple of days to fully dry. If you try to remove the masking tape before it has fully dried, you risk the paint peeling up along with the tape. So be patient. Let your paint fully dry.
Another project that is in my top four "To Do" list is the Han Solo in Carbonite. He's actually almost finished, I just need to do the side panels.
I had a set of side panels that were scratch built by the very talented Vince Sanchez, but upon discovery of the Volvo dashboard panel that was used to make the screen used ones, I decided to do a course correction.
For reference, it was our man Philip Wise of RebelScum fame who identified the part, with the help of some fellow enthusiasts. HIC builders owe a huge debt of gratitude to Philip for bringing this to the hobby.
Here is the volvo panel, with the openings sealed up with styrene. I decided to do it this way in order to make the build go faster, and the molding easier. This way, I only need to do a one part dump mold. The finished pieces can then be slush cast, and will be ready to paint right out of the mold.
Speaking of molds, here's the mold curing in the custom box I built out of MDF.
For the record, I am not going to be going for complete screen accuracy on these side panels. I just want to get it done. Based on my research, one could easily spend eight hundred to a thousand dollars getting accurate pieces to finish out the panels. I am just going to cobble them together using things I have on hand. I MAY do a hero light up panel that includes all the bells and whistles, but honestly, I doubt it. I have many other projects that require my attention.
