MC landspeeder build

[MonCal ()]

For those just starting to read this thread, here is a photo from way back deep in the article


We debuted the new backdrop at the FoCo Comic and Gaming Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado on April 19th, 2014.





I "began" this project by trading for and picking up a Landspeeder body kit. The gentleman who created his master did an amazing job of capturing the correct size, scale, and proportions of the original.


A friend and fellow droid builder in Texas finished the first one of these and took it to Celebration V in 2010. We met up with him at his house and caravanned to Florida. That was quite a trip. His landspeeder batteries flipped over during transport and we had to stop at a truck stop, unload his speeder, take off the body, fix the batteries, and clean up all the acid in the trailer.... in 100 + degree weather in high humidity... while there was a tobacco field on fire nearby. My wife and I sweated from places we didn't know we could sweat. Fun times Anyway, after helping Wayne with his speeder I was hooked and had to build one.


This is the body as it was when I started. It needed a lot of clean up and a lot of parts needed to be fabricated.










It's tough to tell but these rear "brake vents" or whatever you want to call them were installed a little too far forward so I cut them out, cleaned them up and moved them back about 1/2"






Here they are cut out:




And now re-installed and fiber-glassed in place from the back side:




The first coat of bondo to fill the seams:




I had enough (jokingly) of people asking if the speeder was remote control since someone couldn't fit in the cockpit so I figured it was time to cut out the leg holes :




The holes are still really narrow. I am not sure I'll be able to fit in it. I need to recruit a accurately sized Luke and Obi-wan to drive it.




Here is one of the engine pods:




This is what was left of the 3 wheel golf cart after it had been stripped and the frame extension had been started:




We decided the chassis wasn't really in the best of shape so we started building a new frame by getting parts from another (4 wheel) golf cart and also doing some scratch building:










Until next time
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[MonCal ()]

This is definitely the tedious, not-so-fun part of the project I am anxious to get past the bondo and sanding phase.
.. but for fun and perhaps for the sake of someone learning something I am posting some of the "boring" steps.

When the gentleman created the master he had cut the body / panel lines into his "sculpt" but for the molding and casting process to work these body lines had to be filled in with clay so the casting wouldn't lock in the mold.

The panel lines were still evident which was good so it made it easier to locate and router them back out.

For the panel line on the "hood" I had to first start by filling a part of the seam between the two halves of the speeder:




This is a laminate router, for trimming counter top laminate. It's nice for stuff like this cause it's small:




Here you can see the body panel line that was filled in, which I now need to cut out:




This is after cutting the panel line:






I routered the panel lines on the back of the speeder as well:




Next I am preparing to bondo all the screw holes that were left from screwing the plywood guide to the speeder:




When patching something like this, whether it's a hole in fiberglass, drywall etc, you want to make it so your filler tapers and doesn't create a hard edge. I started by hitting all the screw holes with a counter sink bit:






Next I hit the edges with a piece of sandpaper so the filler can taper out and not leave a hard edge:




Next I "v'd out" the seam lines between the halves of the body. I used a razor knife to cut a taper edge into the joint:




Then I hit the joints with sandpaper to help create the taper:




Then I vacuumed, dusted and cleaned all the areas to be bondo'd with acetone:




Next I put my first coat of bondo on. You really want to work and press the bondo down into your joints and screwholes and then taper it out. I will sand this and then see if I need another thin layer of bondo prior to finish sanding and paint prep.




The recess areas of the body had some overhang. While I had the router out I used a flush bit and cut the lips off of these recesses:








I sanded the first coat of bondo that was applied to the rear air scoop thingies. They will need another pass or two of bondo.




It doesn't look like much progress but it's tedious. The first layer of bondo is on all the joints and holes:




I can't wait to get to the detailing. Bondo and sanding is for younger folk
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[FallenJedi ()]

Wow! Can't wait to read these updates!
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[MonCal ()]

Thanks Don!

I wish I could just work on it every day... I'm lucky to get a Saturday here and there.
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[MonCal ()]

More progress

sanding, bondo, sanding, more sanding... ugh..


More bondo application:








First I hit it with some 80 grit...




It was nice out so I rigged up a dolly system so I could roll it in and out of the workshop:




Then I hit the whole thing with 220 grit sandpaper.




The 220 grit still leave some real fine swirls in the surface but since this thing gets layers of paint and a ton of weathering it should be just fine




I definitely had to sand the entire body because it had this weird film on it. In some areas it was exactly like dead skin after a sunburn. You can see it flaking off in this picture:




And in this picture you can see it flaking off around the edges of where I started sanding:




Another thing that kinda baffles me is the clay in various locations. Now, I get what the purpose of the clay was for, to fill in areas of the fiberglass mold where it either had bubbles or locking issues but why use clay every time you cast a body? Why not bondo the fiberglass mold and be done? .. oh well

You can see the clay on the left side of the center console / dash area:







I'm close to being finished with the bondo and the sanding on the body. I have a dozen small bondo spots left to sand. I also still have the engine pods to patch up. Next I will tackle the dent on the front of the speeder and the scrapes on the right side. Then onto scaling up all the paint chips
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[MonCal ()]

I'm bummed as I won't be able to make any progress this weekend with the holiday. The good news though, I should be able to talk with my Father in Law about the progress on the Chassis
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[MonCal ()]

Since this past weekend was a holiday weekend I didn't get to make any actual progress but I at least got to check out my father in law's progress on the chassis and make some more plans ... so I guess we kinda made some progress.

Here are some pics of the chassis so far (still under construction):









It kinda looks like a crazy little rat rod

It's pretty awesome. It has come a long way from the two different golf carts that we started with. We still need to do the following to the chassis:

* Finish welding the steering mechanism.
* Cut and weld the deck that will hold / protect the driver and passenger's legs and support the cockpit portion of the body.
* Weld the body mounts in place.
* Cut and install the battery shelves in the very back.
* Create an accurate looking yolk / steering wheel and steering column extension.
* Finish the wiring
* Paint.

It's getting there

This Saturday I hope to make some progress on the dent and gouges in the body.
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[MonCal ()]

I made some more progress this weekend. More tedious, "slow" stuff

So I decided to tackle the dent on the front of the speeder.

I printed up a bunch of photo reference. I purposely took photos of all angles of the dent including straight on photos so I could scale it.






Maybe it's cause the original speeder is nearly 40 years old or maybe this happened a long time ago but there is a crack all the way around the dent, showing where they cut out the hole. I will point at it with a pencil:




This allowed me to cut out the hole pretty much exactly the same as the original:




Here I am finding the proper placement:




Ready to start cutting:






Next I trimmed the "plug" to fit better in there backward and also about 1" back on the bottom and I glassed it in place:






Next I hit it with some mold release:




I decided it would be easier to sculpt the damage, make a mold, and cast a fiberglass "plug" to put back in the hole.

Here I am starting to put clay in the hole:




Once I got the clay close to the right shape I started to cut in the rough shape of the details before using the printout to figure out the proper placement of the details:




This is where it sits now:





It's close. It's not quite there. This is actually the best technique for this sort of thing, from what I've found. If you take photos and literally convert it to a 2D, flat image it helps to see the details. From these photos I can see I still have some shaping to do.

After a little more shaping I'll slap some rubber and a mother mold on top of this so I can cast up a fiberglass piece to put back in there. I will be able to add some more "intense" roughness and gouging into the fiberglass piece.

til then...
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[Master Vos (Tim)]

Really like your craftsmanship regarding this build, your attention to detail is mind blowing looking forward to see more photos of your progress
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[MonCal ()]

Tim,
Thank you very much!


I made some more progress today.

I wasn't quite happy with the shape of the dent on the front so I decided to dremel some of the body down a bit.

I covered the clay with plastic wrap:




Then took some of the fiberglass down a bit:




Re-sculpted:




Next I needed to figure out where the scrape on the right front should be so I put masking tape 2" apart along the side of the speeder and tried to get a photo similar to an angle I got of the original speeder. I couldn't get high enough (my head was against the ceiling) but I think I got the side to side location pretty close.

I lucked out and two of the pieces of tape ended up being right at the ends of where I wanted to cut the hole:



I'll use the same process later for scaling up the paint chips and striping etc.


Next I cut out the hole:






Now, I am doing a slightly different process for this hole, from what I did for the hole on the front of the speeder. I wish I would have thought this through before doing the front hole. This will work a lot better.

I just tacked the piece in the back with a few spots of C/A glue (super glue) and accelerator.



This way after I've finished sculpting and molding the "plug" I will be able to remove this backer piece and more easily and more effectively fiberglass the plug in place from the back side.


Next I packed some clay in there:




I scaled up the photo of the scrape on the original speeder and poked holes through the picture to get my lines on the clay:




I taped a piece of cardboard underneath to simulate the grill slat:








I will have to do the same process for the scrape on the back of the speeder but I won't have to cut the entire scrape out. I'll have to cut the body at the ends of that scrape and do this same process.
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[MonCal ()]

I figured I should start hunting for all the greeblies.

I have identified some of them.

I have already designed some of them (from my mouse kit)

Some of them I can probably scratch build.

But I figured maybe someone would be able to help me identify some of the other greeblies


Here are some pics of the original parts. I have put arrows next to the items I would like to find specifically.

This is on the back of the speeder:



To be honest I only recognize the IC chips and I only have modern ones.. which will be fine. I also don't know if I can find blue resistors.


























I am sure this is just a bolt and a washer.. but is it a allen or a hex head and can I find the same part?:..












These aren't a big deal. I can scratch build these but what the heck:



This is an old photo of the dash part, before several greeblies disappeared... notice the parts that are no longer present on the speeder today, including the original shifter knob:

















Part #s:
#1: Looks like a Pin header connector but I am not convinced
#2: Male power connection like a 4 prong trailer plug?
#3: Part from WWII transreceiver
#4:
#5: Thermostat bellows?
#6:
#7: Pushrod from Tomtit bi-plane model kit
#8: ANH Vader tusk?
#9: From Tomtit bi-plane model kit
#10: Allen head socket cap screw and a washer?
#11:
#12: Part from WWII transreceiver
#13: Restraining bolt / camera lens
#14: Center piece might be a wheel from a model truck? Heat shrink around a spring?
#15: LED cap diffusers maybe?
#16: Socket for Hengstler Counter
#17: Shifter knob obviously... from a Reliant?
#18: One of 3po's pistons
#19: Another part for 3po
#20: Another part for 3po and a washer
#21: (the piece on top of part #16 / hengstler socket):
#22: Crystal bank from WWII transreceiver
#23:

.
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[MonCal ()]

Now I can finally see the counter socket.

I had to dig out the counter that I had here, which isn't the exact model in the speeder, and figure out how the socket sits on the dash.




I think I am still going to acquire the accurate model of counter and gold socket. I might end up chopping up the counter after all. Since I have to use the socket, the counter wouldn't be complete enough to use for an E-11 or other display purpose anyway.
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[MonCal ()]

I added more parts to the list above. Now I'm up to 23 mysterious parts

I guess parts #7 and #9 have been discovered and will be available, cast from original injection molds, on the rpf after the new year. I guess they are parts on a lot of ANH blasters.
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[MonCal ()]

This is crazy.

A few of these parts were just discovered and confirmed on Wednesday 12/12/12:











Yup.. the part in the middle is used for com links, greedo's blaster, Leia's blaster, etc...

They're still being made from the original molds by the son of the guy who originally created the kit. Because of the discovery on the RPF the manufacturer was buried with orders and had to shut down his website. From what I read I think he is an older gentleman. He just broke his leg, his father just passed this past week, and the injection mold for the cylinder is in rough shape so he might make a new mold and hopefully take orders after the new year.

I hope he can manage a way to keep up with the orders on these parts..

Awesome
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[Master Vos (Tim)]

Wow the detail of this build is so acute I don't think I knew how much detail there was, thanks for sharing this project with all of us
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