Cylon armor

Red

Red

Active Member
May 1, 2007
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usa
Hi all, it has been a long time since I posted anything haven’t had a lot of free time.
Our good friend and designer Bazookajo had asked if I could take some time and try some new parts he has made.
So here we go first up the battery belt or a part of it.
It is A little different than the metal one that I made from Scratch to feed a belt though.
It takes shape quick and easy and seems to be designed to go on top of another part most likely to come later.
20140828_191334.jpg 20140829_202750.jpg 20140829_203735.jpg 20140829_210011.jpg 20140829_210648.jpg 20140829_210756.jpg 20140829_210831.jpg :Bravo:
 
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WOW, Welcome back!!!
I am glad that you could join us once again. It is always good to see old members rejoining once again!!!

It looks like you are off to a good start. I will be keeping my eye on this thread to see how it will turn out.

Once again, welcome back!!!
 
Great build pics there Red

Thanks again for doing the Beta's - I fully appreciate free time is a precious commodity.

And you are right, the Cylon buckles were designed to fit over a battery belt :-
http://www.byyourcommand.net/cylong...005/Cylon_Centurion_G___M_Battery_Belt_04.jpg

At some point I will try recreate the 'batteries' so at least there is something for them to sit on and stick to a belt :)

Shouldn't be too difficult (should be my mantra).

Very best regards

Paul.
 
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YAY!!!! The BEST update of today!!! The shape of the belt buckle looks top-notch. byyourcommand.net has become my primary source of information when it comes to prop making. Recently they have put up some hi-res screengrabs which help me update my previous prop replica kits. :)
 
You made that piece out of tin?!? My hats off to your sir. You are a Tinsmith and we don't get many of them around here. I am a machinists of many decades, tool and dye maker, and programmer of CNC machines. The work that went into that piece boggles the mind. Great stuff!! :)
 
Back in 2004 through 2008 i was working in a aluminum weld shop and had access to the tools and was able to make the head, chess plat, back pack and battery belt all out off 1/16" aluminum.
Then the shop laid off Dec 2008 management changed and no more home projects.
but the Cylon head is a nice souvenir.
(I had not thought of using tin.)thumbsup
 
Looking good Red! I realise time is precious, so once you are happy that the kit makes sense I will build the piece in mirror card anyways as I will need to take pictures for my site.

The belt buckle is already printed and ready for a build this weekend, and now the left gauntlet is to follow.....

Red said:
View attachment 136286 View attachment 136287 View attachment 136288
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lower forearm looks realy good and builds well.
I will have to do this in the silver card stock later.
Click to expand...
 
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Well, that was a great job, and now that I know it was aluminum, I'm even more impressed. Have you ever considered just using a sheet of unidirectional fiberglass over the paper models, the paper works great as forms, and a layer of clothes pert near nothing. I use to make R/C sailboats like that, and they had an elastomeric quality, which a wooden frame took care off, but they were light and sailed good, and fast, on a reach..
 
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Agree with Zathros - the rounding on that buckle has hard-graft written all over it.

I have to say that I have wanted to do strengthened product for a while, but Epoxy and Epoxy+Baby powder is as dangerous and smelly as I want to get :D In fact my first project was to be a Starwars ANH stunt Stormtrooper helmet, but the poor accuracy of the kit I downloaded made me put it on hold :(

Perhaps a BazookaJo version is on the to-do list :D

That said - the reason for doing the Cylon armor in mirror card is the simple fact that getting a highly reflective finish on plastic/fibre/bondo etc. is significantly more expensive and/or time consuming by comparison.
 
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This looks like a really great project. You guys have a winner on your hands...or is it gauntlets?:droid: BY YOUR COMMAND!
 
Very nicely done! Also - how the heck do you work with superglue?! I need at least 30 seconds fiddling time before I get the tabs in the right position.....

You can see what I mean about mirror card - even compared to aluminium it's reflective quality rock...

Have you ever thought about having your aluminium suit chromed Red?

Red said:
ok quick post with a picture paper silver card and aluminum
View attachment 136361
Click to expand...
 
well I wont be able to complete the aluminum suit. :(
I did ask and was told no.
every now and then I take a little mag wheel polish to the old cylon head and shine it up for Halloween and it shines like the mirror card.
so no chroming it.:(
Every now and then I do Glue my fingers together or to the parts.:)
 
You'll have to take a few pics the next time you polish it up - shame about work, can't think there will be many other Cylon suits out there made of aluminium...
 
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I don't know if it's still available but I used to use a product called "Simi-Chrome" to polish my motorcycle cases after I had glass bead blasted them. They shone nearly as good a as chrome, but everyone knows that ultra polished aluminum look, which personally I like. Only problem is if something is thin, this stuff does take aluminum off, as most compound polishing agents do. :)
 
I know when I looked into chroming some plastic some time ago everything hinged on the reflective quality of the surface e.g. in the case of plastic/bondo and similar, various coats of a gloss paint needed to be applied and polished till the surface looked like glass. This required a number of specialist sandpapers which went down to a fine grit akin to tooth polish. Rubbing compounds were a no-no as they would simply dissolve the primer.

With the finish done you then had a number of options ranging from the relatively inexpensive ALCLAD2 to spays costing over $100 an ounce...

Again - hence the mirror card :D



zathros said:
I don't know if it's still available but I used to use a product called "Simi-Chrome" to polish my motorcycle cases after I had glass bead blasted them. They shone nearly as good a as chrome, but everyone knows that ultra polished aluminum look, which personally I like. Only problem is if something is thin, this stuff does take aluminum off, as most compound polishing agents do. :)
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, you have to be careful what you use. The first Mercedes Benz I ever restored had some surface rust, so I eagerly proceeded to sand it down, right through the fender. Haven't done that in a while, and it means the Fender was shot in actuality. Waxing will prevent wailing. :)
 
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