December 21, 2007 - Getting Close on the Legs

After getting to work on the last few leg details, I've made some good progress. I got the shoulders all sanded, primed, and painted. I went with a gloss black, to offset the almond background and red booster covers. Here are the shoulders with the buttons and hydraulics glued in, before, during, and after they were attached to the legs.

This frenzy of activity was not without its mishaps. The clamps that held the shoulders to the legs managed to "spread" the clear coat that covered up the paint... even though the clear coat had had a couple of days to dry and set up. You can see the clamp imprints in the image below, inside the red circles.

A little sanding and buffing took care of these mistakes, and the shoulders were glued on in no time. It was then time to start thinking about the other things that go on the legs. Because I built my own legs, they don't have all the pre-drilled holes for attaching the booster covers, ankle details, etc. So, I had to improvise. I drilled the backs of the booster covers in a four places, and then inserted a cut-down screw into each hole. The screws were set into the holes with 5-minute epoxy.

Then, I took each booster cover and held it in place over the leg. With a couple of raps from a hammer, the screws left their imprint on the leg. I then drilled the legs in the appropriate places, leaving a little extra to make sure everything lined up right.

The technique will be the same for the ankle details and other things. More on that in my next update...

Bob
December 21, 2007