Thursday, January 15, 2015

Day 109 - Some finishing touches

I spent some time adding felt to the gunbox holes to prepare them for installation of the exterminator gun and plunger arm.  I masked off the portions of the hole that were not chamfered, and sprayed a layer of carpet adhesive on the bevel.  To achieve uniformity on the adhesive, I took a sponge brush and spread it a little more evenly along the beveled edge.  Then I took one of the globes, wrapped an 8x10" rectangle of black felt around it, and pressed it firmly against the edge.  I let that set while I went to work on the dome light cages.

The only place where I saw to position the light cages I inferred from the NSD plans .pdf file.  It looked like the holes for the bulbs were smack in the middle of the 12cm distance between the top "D" groove on the dome and the dome chamfer line.  So going off that assumption, I measured the distance between those two places on my dome (which wound up being 11.5cm).  I also took a look at some reference photos from the episode "Dalek" which is what Rainier is mostly based on.  The scene with Rose's handprint on the Dalek dome shows how the cages are attached, with the two bolts running parallel to the chamfer line.  Based on these measurements and observations, I pencilled in a line.

I had practiced drilling holes into the edges of off-cut sheets of acrylic to make sure I wasn't going to shatter anything, and then marked the areas on the underside of the light cages where the bolt holes aligned with the Moflash lenses' bolt holes.  Then, very gently, I drilled in two 1/8" holes into both of the cages with the drill press.  I didn't shatter a thing, and they were perfectly lined up with the lenses!  Whew.

I marked corresponding holes into the lines I drew on the dome, and before long the cages were attached.

By this time, I figured that the felt on the gunboxes had set nicely.  And, while it had set, it wasn't a good bond, so I wound up ripping it off quite easily.  It was also pretty raggedly cut (I need new scissors).  I'll try another method later, but this time using felt strips and contact cement.

Felt or no felt, I turned my attention back to the interior appendage retention plates.  After a bit of sanding to remove the dried up bits of newspaper and PVA wash build-up, I test-fit everything.  I found that I needed to bore out the bolt holes on the back-most plate; otherwise, the fit was too tight and the plate would get stuck when trying to adjust it using the wingnuts.

First, I used some 3/4" drywall screws (to mitigate the MDF splitting) and attached the middle plate directly to the back of the gunboxes, remembering to pre-position the alignment bolts first so that they stuck out the back.  I had made pretty deep countersinks in these plates so that the screws would bite a nice distance into the gunboxes without going all the way through the MDF and poking out of the exterior (which would be bad).  I only managed to reach seven of the eight holes, but that's okay.  It's a nice fit.

Next, I positioned the plunger arm and gun (I had to do a bit of mental gymnastics to remember which hole got which appendage, since I was working on this with the shoulder section upside-down).  I added springs to the alignment bolts and slid the rear plates onto them.  Adding washers and wingnuts to the back of the bolts, I tightened the plate until it was snug around the globes.  I'll add the felt later to prevent scuffing, but in the meantime, everything is nice, snug, and now positionable!

I re-assembled the stack, and now I am just getting the shivers.  Rainier's personality is finally starting to shine through!

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