Logic Surrounds Arrive

Well, I have very little to show for myself lately. However, on a positive note, David Shaw's most recent work of art, the front and rear logic surrounds, arrived today.



I have been ridiculously busy with work and business travel recently (to my blog reader in Beaverton, OR, I drove through your scenic town on the highway) and have had very little time to work on droid #2. Things should start to ease up, so I hope to get some work in shortly.

One minor setback: The Proctor Glove casters that I'm using on the center foot for droid #1 will not fit into the center foot shell for droid #2. The center foot shell on droid #1 is cut about 1/4" longer than spec front-to-back, whereas the A&A footshells seem to be spot-on. I will either need to replace the 3"-diameter wheels with smaller ones, or try to find casters that fit.

Center Foot Shell Wrap-Up

Time to wrap up the prep work on the center foot shell.

First, yesterday's Evercoat work needed to be sanded smooth. I had also scraped a little Testors glue from the window strip area.



Done.



One last shot of primer to check the results.



Looks good! It's ready for painting, but I'm going to wait on that until I've built the center foot (from wood).

Next up, the outer foot shells. Those will probably take somewhat longer...

Primer and Evercoat Touch-Up for Center Foot Shell

Finally, time to spray some primer on the center foot shell and review my handiwork.



I was pleasantly surprised that it came out really well.



There was one corner that needed a little more Evercoat, but other than that, no gaps or voids needed to be filled.



I sanded that spot clean in preparation for applying Evercoat to the area.



One last round of Evercoat for the center foot shell, and this should wrap it up.



I also found a small blob of hardened Testors glue that needed to be scraped with a razor blade. This area doesn't really show when the door is on, but the bump could prevent the door from sitting flush against the door frame.



A little bit of scraping, and that's the end of that.



I'll sand down the Evercoat and apply another coat of primer on the center foot shell tomorrow, and hopefully it will be all done except for final painting.

Finished Pre-Primer Evercoat Work on Center Foot Shell

I think I've just about wrapped up the Evercoat work on the center foot shell.

All that remained was to sand down last night's work.



All done.



I'll spray a little primer over the surface to see how it looks. I'm hopeful that primer will fill most of the remaining flaws. There will be a few sessions of primer and sanding, but it should go more quickly.

Wrapping Up Evercoat for Center Foot Shell

I'm getting closer to wrapping up the Evercoat work on the center foot shell.

First, I sanded the work I did last night with 400 grit sand paper.



Then I hunted for any remaining flaws. They are subtle enough that I need to go by touch as well as sight. (I haven't resorted to taste yet.) As I found the few small remaining areas that could use a little work, I marked them with a pen so that I wouldn't miss them when it came time to fill the areas in.



Then, I applied one last (I hope) dab of Evercoat on the areas I marked.



Once I've sanded these areas down, I should be ready to give the foot shell a mist coat of primer to see how it looks.

More Evercoat Work for Center Foot Shell

Time to sand down last night's round of Evercoat and see how things look.



I started with 220 grit, and finished with 400 grit sand paper to get a smoother finish, as I'm hopeful that I'm close to being done.



Somehow I still managed to miss some obvious voids last night.



So, once again I hit the spots with another pass of Evercoat.



I guarantee you this will get tedious, if it hasn't already.

More Evercoat for Center Foot Shell

Tonight I made a second pass over the center foot shell with Evercoat.

There were some voids and such that needed to be filled in, after the initial sanding.



Hopefully I filled them all, and hopefully I can sand this down smooth soon to find out.

Evercoat for Center Foot Shell

Time to do a first pass of Evercoat for the center foot shell.

Pretty much where every edge meets, there is filling to be done.



Evercoat cures very quickly, which means I glob it on quickly, which means I don't do a very neat and tidy job.



After the Evercoat had completely dried, I went over it with 150 grit sand paper.



Next, I repeated the process with 220 grit sand paper. This did a good job of removing the excess Evercoat, and leaving only what was necessary. It also showed me where I need to make a second pass to fill in some remaining small gaps and pinholes.



Unfortunately, I've had very little time to work on droid #2 recently, and it looks like that will continue to be the situation for most of the month.

Finished Cutting and Gluing Foot Shell Reinforcements

Today I finally got around to cutting and gluing in place the last of the foot shell reinforcement strips.

I grabbed some scrap PVC and cut three 1/4" wide strips from the 1/8" thick sheet.



Then I trimmed the strips to size and glued them in place.



All done.



I need to do a lot of finishing work on the outside of the foot shells now. As I said earlier, this is going to take a while.