R2 out on the town.

Getting Ready for Halloween!

Got some fancy  booster covers in from Mcwhlr. These things are nice.. SUPER light. Only thing to do was some serious sanding and polishing. Took quite awhile but got it pretty shiny.

all masked off and ready to paint.

And all nice and blue!

Also got a dome bump controler kit :))) Cut the hole and checked the fit. 

Front all finished using temp resin utility arms.

Paint Time

Well even though I loved how the dykem turned out on the ankle cylinders my tests confirmed what everyone had been saying... Dykem fades... even with the nice 2 part uv clear coat.

Ive seen others curiousmarc, strongbow, and now edwardo try the duplicolor metalcast anodized purple instead of the dykem. My tests showed also that its very close.  Here was the process...

First i wet sanded all my parts to 2000 grit.. Then i used micromesh and wet sanded to 12000.. Followed by mothers aluminum polish.
'

Bare

Metal cast purple anodized

And the blue anodized.

And hers after using Spraymax 2k two part UV clear coat. THIS STUFF IS GREAT.

Here is an example of putting it on too thick. I think i put it on a little too thick on most of my panels. I did this test on my two radar eyes. One on the left i put on too thick. The one on the right is just right. 

Some feet work

Lots of loose parts.

Cut some strips from some 1/8" by 1" alum. I marked the holes up against the feet then drilled a pilot hole followed by step drilling it to fit the khf's

Assembled the painted feed and installed the hose fittings as well as a tube to protect the npc wires.

Center Leg all finished minus strips.

First Blue Parts (Dykem)

Well i really love how dykem looks. Im pretty much following the great examples of those before me such as curiousmarc.

However im using spray max 2k, 2 part clear coat. These are special paints that when when activated mix internally and the cans only last 48 hours. My first try with it and it rules. SUPER clear nice thick clear coat!

Im using an iwata single action airbrush to apply the dykem. Then using the duplicolor metalcast anodized blue to knock down the purple some in the dykem followed by the uv clear coat.

Here's my first few pieces. I need to polish the rest of the parts more before i spay them.

Couple odds and ends

Final painting on the feet parts started

Some paint on the shoes

a little more welding on the battery box's (still learning)

First Steps

Well R2 took his first steps!



They were a little sketchy which is why i decided to move the center caster in the last post.