Ok, well I have always been impressed with the whole TK storm trooper armor thing, it always looks impressive
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
HIPS TK Stormtrooper - Glue showdown
The following is based on my experiences building a locally (Australian) made TK storm trooper kit moulded using HIPS high impact polystyrene and products that are easily sourced in most Melbourne hobby shops.
One of the problems I realized I would have when I started to assemble my kit was that some of the pieces did not line up perfectly with their counterpart and that any adhesive would need to be pretty good and flexible to deal with the stress when the parts are stretched onto place. Also hips seems to be a bit more brittle than ABS be it lighter and nicer looking in finish. This in my limited experience had both advantages and disadvantages.
When I asked my supplier of the kit (mouldman) what glue I should use with this I was a little supprised when he responded with "selleys superglue" as my experiences with superglue was that it is brittle and hopeless with plastic, but alas it does work, mostly because it's acetone based. But still needing more convincing I purchased every product I could find in both a hardware store and a hobby shop that looked like it could work including superglue.
In no particular order:
A) Plastruck plastic weld
B) Selleys shock proof super glue
C) Selleys super glue in a bottle
D) Revell plastic model cement
E) loctite "all plastic" super glue
I then proceeded to test the product on some of the offcuts from trimming the kit.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
One of the problems I realized I would have when I started to assemble my kit was that some of the pieces did not line up perfectly with their counterpart and that any adhesive would need to be pretty good and flexible to deal with the stress when the parts are stretched onto place. Also hips seems to be a bit more brittle than ABS be it lighter and nicer looking in finish. This in my limited experience had both advantages and disadvantages.
When I asked my supplier of the kit (mouldman) what glue I should use with this I was a little supprised when he responded with "selleys superglue" as my experiences with superglue was that it is brittle and hopeless with plastic, but alas it does work, mostly because it's acetone based. But still needing more convincing I purchased every product I could find in both a hardware store and a hobby shop that looked like it could work including superglue.
In no particular order:
A) Plastruck plastic weld
B) Selleys shock proof super glue
C) Selleys super glue in a bottle
D) Revell plastic model cement
E) loctite "all plastic" super glue
I then proceeded to test the product on some of the offcuts from trimming the kit.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Armageddon Melbourne 2009
Well this weekend was the first time I have ever been to a comic con kinda convention and it was totally awesome.
I have a few favourite memories from the weekend but on all it was the passion and outright talent exhibited by all the costumers that showed, and I was really only there for 4 to 5 hours on Saturday, so I'm sure there where plenty more that I didn't see.
Unfortunately I never got around to finishing (there is one in the works) a new costume for the event and showed up in my by now trusty Alema Rar, twi'lek Jedi which has served me well for a number of troops at science works. I shouldn't be disappointed as I still really love this costume and have worked out pretty much all of the kinks.
I think the think that I have most noticed with costuming is that not only is it very addictive, but the urge to try bigger, better, more elaborate costumes is very strong.
I will post a link to some pics just as soon as I figure out how from an iPhone.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I have a few favourite memories from the weekend but on all it was the passion and outright talent exhibited by all the costumers that showed, and I was really only there for 4 to 5 hours on Saturday, so I'm sure there where plenty more that I didn't see.
Unfortunately I never got around to finishing (there is one in the works) a new costume for the event and showed up in my by now trusty Alema Rar, twi'lek Jedi which has served me well for a number of troops at science works. I shouldn't be disappointed as I still really love this costume and have worked out pretty much all of the kinks.
I think the think that I have most noticed with costuming is that not only is it very addictive, but the urge to try bigger, better, more elaborate costumes is very strong.
I will post a link to some pics just as soon as I figure out how from an iPhone.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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