Newbie Building A Proton

Z

Zathros

That is some fine cutting if I say so myself, (cutting being my nightmare). Excellent craftsmanship! :)
 

Bane

New Member
My cutting with a blade does seem to be rapidly improving.

It's funny though. The more complex the cut, the easier I seem to find it. Give me a simple long straight line though and it has the potential to have more curves in it than a Playboy model.

Of course, a big ol' magnifying glass helps.:thumb:

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Bane

New Member
My light/magnifying glass does get the job done so far.

Like everything I've done that requires some light on the subject, however, I can never seem to get rid of that one little shadow that is in the most inconvenient spot for whatever I'm doing.

Of course,.........I do have that LED light on a headband.......... and if I could attach it to the side of the lapboard so it shines straight across the surface of the board..........hmmmmmm...
 
Z

Zathros

You must have a good back and neck. I could never work off of my lap like that! Thanks for that picture. It's nice to see shots like that, it really makes this all much more real! :)
 

Bane

New Member
I actually find it quite comfortable and I have found several advantages.

1. The chair is comfy. Important for long cutting sessions.

2. I can rest my arms on or brace them aginst the armrests in a variety of ways to both stabalize and keep them from tensing up.

3. I don't usually move my head or back. By shifting my legs slightly,I can tilt the board left or right. By resting my feet on the edge of the stool and drawing my knees up, I can tilt the board toward me by as much as 50 or 60 degrees so that its like working at a drafting table and at that point if I do want to look straight down at the work, all I have to do is lean forward slightly. I have definatly found the ability to shift my work surface useful.​

4. There is a TV in the room. Some might find this a distraction, but I find if I start to tire or get impatient with wanting to finish the bit I'm working on and thus in danger of making mistakes, it's easy to stop
and watch a bit of TV and rest instead of going into tunnel vision on
what I'm working on.

For the present, however....

AN EXPERIMENT WITH HOSE CLAMPS

For any that have looked at the beginning of this thread, you saw me use hose clamps to aid me in making tubes.

Why did I use clamps?

Well, they were what I had around the house and I have always been one to make "Masterful Improvisations With The Materials At Hand". Others tend to call it jury rigging. By the way the item I was wrapping the tube around was the handle from a floor jack.

I could have used rubber bands, but I am a great believer in the god of mishief, Murphy. However unlikly, I could see ways rubber bands could mess with me.

There were some problems, however.

1. All that manipulation put subtle creases in the tube, they may not show up on camera, but I certainly see them.
Solution: Handle the paper less.

2.The object I used to wrap the tube around was slightly smaller than the tube. This caused extra curvature where it was clamped down and made it slightly lopsided at that point. I figure it would be an extremly rare event to find a dowel or whatever that would be the perfect diameter.
Solution: Do away with the object your wrapping around.

Tube Making Contraption Mark II

Hose claps and somethin thin, flexible and plastic
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Cut down so that it is slightly less wide than your future tube
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Tighten clamps until....
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Edges meet. Any gaps are solely do to my inability to cut a straight linewall1
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If the edges had joined better, I would have been tempted to try putting glue on the edges, then tighteng till they met. As it is I went with the joining strip.

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Perfect Tube
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This is the start of the Proton 2nd stage
 
Z

Zathros

That was a nice bit of technique sharing you just gave. I thank you. it is the best that this forum has, and it came from you great job! :)
 

Bane

New Member
I thank you for your kind words.

I now have a new problem.
According to the instructions, I am now supposed to take this thin strip of paper and glue it exactly 31mm down this tube to act as a lip for this ring to rest on.

094.jpg095.jpg

What??!?:eek:

The depth is fairly critical. Too deep and the tank top that is going on the ring will just look wrong. Too shallow and it will interfere with Stage 3. This is not a real problem. Marking where it needs to go is fairly easy. The problem is how do get this thin, wiggly strip into place, nice and even, before the glue starts to grab it hard and leaving me with an unholy mess.

I could glue the strip around the edge of the ring so it would go in as a single unit, but that would make the diameter too large and even if it went in it would probably make an unsightly bulge.

I know that this isn't a new problem and that the Master Craftsmen of this forum probably have a variety of solutions for it.

I don't know what they are.

Time for some hasty improvisation......I mean....um....A Well Thought Out Plan.

Take my Tube Making Contraptoin, now know as my Multitasking Frabjous Thingie (MFT) and insert the remainder of the sign I used to create the MFT, rolled up, to act as a base for the ring to rest on. much as it is supposed to rest on the paper strip.

Insert the ring and tighten MFT to act as a form.

Insert strip and glue to disk.

A word of caution, I would usually have placed a bit of wax paper between the MFT and what I was glueing. In my haste, I did not in this case and worried constantly about a bit of glue causing some thing unfortunate to happen.

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The strip and ring are now a single unit, with the strip in position to act as a base.

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Glue is placed in tube and the unit is easily pushed into place.

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By the way, a set of rubber washers that you can nest together mak an excellent pusher of any required diameter. The black stuff is a roll of velcro I used as a stop during the push.

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Onward.....er......Continuing with 2nd Stage
 

arkon

Member
bane...i got to say for a "newbie" you got some great "tool making skills" that are quite impressive and a really great lookin rocket so far!:thumb:
 

Bane

New Member
Thanks arkon.

Since I never seem to have gotten around to it. Here are the parts for Steps 5&6.

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And here's the finish of the 2nd Stage.


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Onward to 3rd Stage
 

Bane

New Member
3rd Stage
Step 1

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Best seam I've done yet. If I'd managed to cut off more of the black lines, it would be dang near invisible.

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Bane

New Member
Thanks Zathros.

Maybe you can talk the Minbari controlling the Great Machine into sending me some help with whats in the last picture in this post.

3rd Stage
Steps 2-5

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005.jpg

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Cones?? 1, at best, 2mm wide cones??
Itsy bitsy strips of paper to be rolled up into platforms for the cones to sit on??

Oh my aching head. Maybe I can hook a magnifying glass to my magnifying glass.

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Onward to Steps 6-8
 
Z

Zathros

I would do those last cones in really thin paper! Stiffen them up with Gap filling Crazy glue! It does look good though! :)
 

sjsquirrel

Member
Thanks Zathros.


Cones?? 1, at best, 2mm wide cones??
Itsy bitsy strips of paper to be rolled up into platforms for the cones to sit on??

Oh my aching head. Maybe I can hook a magnifying glass to my magnifying glass.

View attachment 106889

Onward to Steps 6-8

I know the feeling. Below is a picture I did for my MO-65 ship build. The tiny cone for the end of the gun barrel was about the same size you're dealing with. I had printed it on 100 lb card. To make the cone I rubbed the back of the paper with my fingernail to delaminate the paper and thin it out. Then I used two pins the work it into shape. There's another picture in the original post.

Make sure you have some spare copies printed. If you drop one they're almost impossible to find (trust me, I Know!).

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Bane

New Member
Thanks for the advice guys.

At the moment I'm taking a short break from the build because.....

I Am Irritated.

For the most part I am pleased with the build. Sure, I didn't expect it to be perfect. I knew there would be plenty of room for improvement. I am a newbie after all, says so right there in the title. I have actually managed to improve in some areas during the course of the build and contribute some new, I hope, technique. So the things I see wrong with the model really don't bother me.

Except for one thing.

Conduits. I can't remember how well the conduits or pipeing that run along the outside of the model show up in the pictures, but believe me, to my eyes they just purely suck.

Time to build a new widget.

I've already tested one prototype, but it had two primary failings.

1. It was overly complicated.
2. It completely failed to do the job I set it. (dirty, ungrateful pile of BLEEEEP)

Now I'm working on a new idea.

I'll keep you updated.
 
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