Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Day 26 - Finishing shoulder skin layer one

(Originally posted on August 19th, 2013)

Tonight, I took off the clamps and screwed in the front shoulder panel.  For the overlapping sides, I bought a wood-cutting blade for my Dremel and it worked very nicely.

Because I didn't want any glue to dry on the side strut while the front was overlapping it, I waited until this point to secure it with the Liquid Nails.  I pried the sides open as best I could, managed to get beads of glue along each side, and countersunk screwed everything into place.

Then, I took my jigsaw to the excess HDF on the top and bottom, and trimmed that as close to the plywood as I dared.  After this, I took the belt sander to it and flattened the panels flush with the plywood.  Finally, I took a trip round the whole thing with the orbital sander, getting rid of any additional fuzziness on the edges and from the countersunk screw holes.

While it's not complete (still have yet to fiberglass and Bondo it), it feels good to know that portion of the build is out of the way!  Making the outer bands shouldn't be too much trouble, since those are more slender and less bulky, likely easier to bend into shape.

For some reason, I can't for the life of me get things to be level.  My measurements are sickeningly accurate, and I measure a good three times before I cut.  However, when I placed the MDF neck rings on top of the shoulders for a stack shot, there's a noticeable gap on one side.  I'll fill it up somehow—otherwise I'll have a Leaning Tower of Dalek.  *sigh*

I was pleased to discover, however, that the width and depth of the shoulders doesn't exceed the skirt top!  I was a bit worried about that.  Overlapping the skirt is meant for the next couple of skin layers!

Anyway, now for the latest stack!  (Mind the gap.)


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