AlTheRelic wrote:Myers, have a you earned it.
My first Crunch bar! It is an honor, thank you so much Al.
Tom Servo wrote:This is highly radical.
Thanks Tom, I have a robot named after you in my front room.
Here he is last Christmas in my basement with me, or maybe it was one of his duplicates! Gypsy was standing behind me and missed out on the photo-op. I'm not sure where Crow was, but I'm sure he was getting into trouble somewhere.
I really love your RGB PKE Meter (and the rest of your stuff). You can expect an order from me in the near future. Hakeeba!
Today's update isn't related solely to the RGB project as such but it has led to some neat discoveries that I will be showing in the pics below.
After a bit of research/dumb luck I've been able to successfully modify and cast the motherboard that attached to the backs of the Matty GBs packs and recast the pack straps from the prototype in the appropriate colors! Finding a nice balance of strength and give on the straps has been a bit of a pain but I finally figured out the correct ratios of Parts A & B of the Smooth Cast 45D to Color Tint to Thyvex. Thankfully it has worked out three times so far and I couldn't be more excited. I won't bore you all with the nit-picky details, but the straps attach to the motherboard (after painting it, I can't seem to get the black tint not to come out grey) and the packs stay on the figures so for now that's enough. I also tried out the mixture for the RGB straps and belt for the MB I'm creating and not only do the straps work just as well (so far) as the other set, I was even able to cast the RGB Pack belt with both the plugs intact and it actually closes!
First the Matty GB Proton Pack conversion process.
The Matty Pack after it has been removed from the figure:
Remove the remaining bits of the old MB if there is any and sand down the insides deep into the recessed areas as you can. It doesn't need to be perfect, but get all of the original MB pieces out as not doing so will cause the new MB not to sit right.
Taking that into account see if anything from the new MB needs to be sanded from the back side of it (excess residue from the molding process, or the pegs that fit in the holes if the originals are broken inside the pack.
The front of the new MB as it is seen before adding the straps. It looks crooked in the picture but as you'll see it does line up with the inside of the pack.
If you've sanded out the inside of the Matty pack enough it will sit flush like it should. You'll notice the piece near the top that has been cast from the prototype MB to attach the new straps, unfortunately you'll also notice the area where I filled in the hole from where it originally connected to the figure, lol. It can be sanded smooth before attaching the straps, just don't sand off where the straps attach to the MB. =~)
The new MB sanded and painted.
The new straps.
The last pic is blurry, I just couldn't seem to get a good shot of the back for some reason.
The now-removable pack fully assembled.
My Generic Buster modeling the new pack.
Now onto the official RGB part of the update.
The new MB (not finished and yeah, you've seen it before, lol) pack straps, and belt.
The straps are very long, about twice as long as they need to be, but I did that on purpose as I wanted to be able to adjust the size based of the body style of the character before they're glued into place. As kind of a nod to the RGBs movie origins I'll be putting each busters movie style name badge on the backs of the packs to help identify them. A neat little touch I thought.
The Belt
Not the best picture, but even with the Macro setting it still didn't photograph well.
More of the the belt.
The close up shows how rough the belt would look if I left it as is, but I'm making a buckle the will fit on top of or just over the closure so it not only will hide the roughness, but will help with show accuracy as well.
Close Up Shots
The pegs
The Closure
And Yes, Capt Cyan, they close, lol. =~) Not the best picture but I will take more for the next update.
I'm currently working on a hollow version of the RGB pack that I will clean up, then cast again, so that the new mother board will fit inside like the Matty pack does. I'm also considering adding light to the pack if I can figure out how to fit it all inside. I know it can be done. I've seen the parts, lol, but I'm not sure about what all would need to be lit and it would only be an on/off type of light. maybe tiny reed switches that turn the packs on when the thrower is removed? I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I want to put the idea out there and see where it goes or what kind of feedback I get from the idea.
One last thing, what do you all think of the trap size in relation to the pack?
I know I've posted this before, but even though it's perfectly scaled to the figures (I've been using my Custom Bill Murray figure for size reference) but something still seems off. Is it the size? I know it needs to be lowered a bit, but I'm still not sure how to go about attaching it to the pack itself. Do you think it should be cast as one piece with the trap attached to the pack? I'll have separate traps anyway for any scenes or pictures I want to take of the guys trapping a ghost (think one pack trap with pedal and coiled cord attached [like Capt Cyan's] and one standard trap and pedal with cord unfurled [like Movie Style Winston] per figure.) I'm also considering a different means by which the thrower and trap would attach to the pack, maybe a different peg system, one that is smaller in diameter and won't stick out as far away from the pack as the current one does (about the size of the foot pegs on action figure stands.) If I go this route it would certainly make it easier to display the trap and pedal because I could just put them on clear stands plus the thrower peg wouldn't look quite so rough. Your thoughts?
Again, I just want to thank everyone for their continued support of this project, and as always thank you for the feedback!