T- 800 Terminator

Modeling Subjects Figures and Misc.
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This is a commision that I’m doing for a member of another forum. This has taken me away from my X-wing build, but this is what I do to pay the bills now. I copied, and pasted this from www.studioscalemodelers.com

This is a project that I’m doing for Coffee Addict. This is the T-800 Terminator build that I was consigned to do. Right now this is only in primer,and the special paint to emulate leather. THIS IS NOT REGULAR PAINT! This is specially formulated to look like leather,but it’s very difficult to achieve, as this requires a lot of finesse to make it look realistic. I had to buy special rubbing compound to use on this before the paint cured so that it doesn’t polish it to a gloss finish. This is a very special finish that required a thicker paint to make this effect,and make it look convincing. This is supposed to wrinkle,but it only does this in thick layers. I wanted it to have the uneven,but supple appearance of leather,and not shiny gloss, or flat black as many models like this I’ve seen so far have been painted in the pictures on their boxes.

This is,and the next two photos are of this in the primer stage. This has been masked in preparation for paint.

This is after being freshly sprayed with the leather paint. It stays tacky for two hours after being applied,and this finish stays bright, and glossy like this when dry. I still had to dull this down at this time.

This is after the first treatment of rubbing compound to give it this look.

Forgive the blurriness, I was trying to show that this is more leather-like after the second treatment. If you rub too hard it starts to polish the paint instead of dulling it.

The sunlight makes this look shinier than it really is in person.

Being all black prevents me from actully taking good photos of the details this has.

What I used to create this effect. It’s formulated to wrinkle with successive coats,but I’m using it for another purpose. I’ll get shots of this will the wrinkle effect when I get more photos of this figure. I just needed a paint that was thick enough for me to spray in a thin layer,and still be durable enough to rub on without going through to the plastic under the primer. This was very difficult to do. It’s thick binder is what allowed me to do this finish.

Arnold with primer and lightly weathered jacket. I like this look,as this is what classic biker jackets looked like back in the 50s’ - smooth feel without a lot of vein lines all over it. The gray isn’t nearly as intense in person as it is in the photos. I have a friend that used to ride all the time,and this is what his jacket looked like after riding for a week,or two.

The pants look a little too shiny in person,so I’ll have to dull them down a little more around the thighs. I want the true leather look,and not vinyl.

The back of the legs look really shiny,but in artificial,and natural light, they look correct,and not bright and glaring.

One more shot from the front. The gray powdery substance is only rubbing compound that I didn’t wash completely off. It’s very difficult to remove this without polishing the surrounding paint. Remember people, he was riding around the desert of California, and the sewer drainage ditches,as well as the steel mill before buying it in the smelter. Steel mills are very dirty places with the slag,and metal contaminants flying through the air all the time. I might remove a little more of this,then take a picture to see how the two differences compare. Whichever one looks more realistic is the one I’ll go with. I feel that this weathering gives it a more realistic, and used look,especially since the Terminator robots don’t do laundry,or dry cleaning.

Thanks for looking!

We now return you to our regular program. ~ Cobra Chris/forums/t/119039.aspx

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OK,here’s the latest that I’ve done so far.

I worked on this all afternoon,and I’m about done. This didn’t take as long as I thought it would,which is a good thing because, I need to finish another project that has been on the backburner for some time now,and I NEED to get this back to its’ owner. All the other projects will be easy compared to it. I still need to add some gooey yumminess to the chest,and face in the deep flesh areas to give it the wet look that blood has to it before it dries. I’ll have to fabricate a shotgun,and the belt ends for this, as these didn’t come in the box,so I’ll make them for Roy (Coffee Addict) at no extra charge. Otherwise,this is mostly done. I’m not going to leave any descriptions,just photos for tonight. Enjoy!

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Here are some better pictures of Arnie. I’m sorry that I didn’t get around to posting these, but the shotgun took all afternoon. I had a lot of work to do, and redo. Shopping took up most of the morning, so this shot down the rest of the day - pun intended.

You can just barely see a shotgun handle in Arnies’ hand.

I figured that this should have a real wooden handgrip. This is cherry. This was cut from a triangular scrap left over from when we used to make guitars in my friends’ garage.

This is to see what it’ll look like. I was going to use alder,but it’s grain is too subdued. This is what guitar makers use for opaque finishes. Cherry was much better suited for this project, as it looks more in scale, and it has better grain.

I figured that if I’m going to use real wood that I might as well use real metal for the breach. The plastic just looked terrible after looking at it for about two minutes. I didn’t realise that this was in the wrong position 'til after I had glued it. I guess that was a “happy Bob Ross accident”. It led to me carving out the inside, and redoing it until it looked right.

The beginnings of a shotgun. This is still wrong. I’m making this because the kit had some pieces missing from it, this was one of them.

This is the start of getting it right. The pin sticking out of the “body” is a pin that I drilled a hole for, so that this will be reinforced.

This is right before I realised that the barrel is too long. I of course, had to cut it, and the handgrip down to look like a sawed off shotgun.

This is the handgrip after I applied Minwax brand old honey maple stain to it. This is only one coat. This was more than plenty for the correct hue. I’ve since lacquered this with five separate coats, and hand polished it. I then sprayed it one more time to give it that classic shotgun look. I’ll post photos of this when I can, as I still need to go to the store, and buy some gloss black paint for the rest of the gun.

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This is the gun that Arnold had at the end of T2 when he was in the steel mill. I think I’ll make a grenade launcher for this too. I have a lot of aluminum,and brass tubing that needs to be used for something.

This is the handgrip with the original plastic version that I was going to use. I figured that I’ve gone this far to ensure a perfectly satisfactory build, that I might was well go all the way.

This is the handgrip after being sprayed with five coats of lacquer. Before that was applied, I rubbed it with Minwax old honey maple stain. After applying the stain,which is polyurethane based, I let it dry. This seals up the wood, and keeps any further finish from penetrating the woodgrain.

After the fifth layer of lacquer, I rubbed this with rubbing compound to smooth it a little. Then after washing the residue off, I sprayed it with one last coat to restore the shine this should have. This has a beautiful finish despite the poor quality of the photos. This is why I wanted to use real wood instead of plastic, as only it has the irredescence that reflects in light. You can’t get that from paint!

I see that this looks like there’s finish missing on the bottom right corner of this, but that’s just light glare. This finish is solid all the way around. I didn’t sand on this with anything other than 600 grit wet-or-dry paper. This didn’t sand through, as the finish was to rubbery, and soft for a paper this soft to burn through. I did polish this with my bare fingers rubbing the lacquer until it was dull, but soft. This gave it a smooth finish. I wanted to give it a brighter shine, so I sprayed it with one more coat. This made it perfect. I waited five minutes before spraying again so this made it so it wouldn’t run. I’m pleased with this, but it looks off now with the rest of the parts being black.

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KABOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!## WHAT THE F*!@ WAS THAT!!! Take a look, and see.

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I had to repaint the entire figure today,except the jacket. This is all latex based paint, and it all turned darker as it dried. It was too dark, and made everything look drab. As it dried more,and more - it looked far too dark,and it made Arnie look necrotic (dead). There was no way in hell I could just leave it looking so amaturish, especially since I’m a professional modeler! I was trying to give him a slight suntan, but this dried in a gray shade. It looked correct in the daylight,but once this dried it was easy to see that it was all wrong! This acrylic/latex is good,but it changes colour once it dries. The longer the cure - the darker the colour until after the first 24 hours. After that you can see what hue it will be permanently. You can see in the previous photos that Arnie has a pistol type grip in his right hand. Why this didn’t come with a gun is a mystery.

For some damn reason my camera makes the colours look a shade,or two brighter than what they really are in person! (insert pissed off face here) The skin,blood,hair,and shirt are all darker than this in person. My camera makes things in incandescent light turn an eerie yellow, and anything with a flash look a little too bright. I’ve adjusted this until I’m blue in the face,but it doesn’t help - the lighting has to be perfect,and bright enough to see the subject by. I worked four hours repainting this,and making sure that the colours were perfect with bright natural, and artificial light to ensure a perfect match. The blood on this is darker where it’s supposed to be dry, and lighter where it’s still wet. I know - I’ve seen a lot of horrible accidents in my time! I applied clear gloss to the wounds,and to his left eye to make them have the wet gooey look. Every colour of this figure is more pronounced with the flash than it is in all actuality! The silver parts are all that need attention now to be accurate.

The beginning of a grenade launcher.

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The skin, and blood didn’t look gory enough, so I had to do over again. It was so dark by the time it dried that he looked necrotic (dead) He looks a little orange right now, but I’m going to wait until it cures for a few days. The colour in the photos is always a shade brighter for some reason, but this is only when I use the flash.

I hope you’ll like this too.

I like wooden handles. Unfortuntely, this wouldn’t be accurate if I used it. This is 0.20" of an inch thick.

I was trying to decide if I should go with the original handle, which was smooth, or the pistol grip. I personally wanted to use the wood with the pistol grip, bit I couldn’t make it look good on any scale!

Making grenade heads. I turned these on the cordless drill while shaping them with a file. I left the tool marks on them for a more realistic look. Those are buttermilk biscuits in the clear container that I baked the day before yesterday.

The infancy of a rocket launcher, or laser gun is what this looks like, but right now I’m just test fitting the handle. I didn’t take a picture of this yet, but the handle is curved to match the body of the grenade tube. This isn’t made up with woodfiller, or superglue. I dragged a small drill bit across the top of this to make a tiny trench. Then I used bigger, and bigger drill bits to widen it until I had about the correct size. Then, I wrapped 220 grit sandpaper around the tube,and drew it across the top of the handle to make the final semi curcular shape. This makes it fit perfectly. I drilled a hole in it for a 1/8" in diameter aluminum tube. It fit so tight that glue was uneccessary, or possible to get into the hole with the tube in it. You can see the hole in the picture above.

A close up of the handle. This is after I reworked it so that all the finger slots would match. This pistol grip handle is what you see on the real thing. I was going to leave this smooth until I realised that is wasn’t. This handle is a two part assembly with the base glued, and the seam between the two filled with Elmers’ wood filler. I still have to finish smoothing this out.

This shot was taken to show that there is a stable mounting for this handle. This fit inside so tight, that it went into the hole just like the handle, nice and tight. I’ll glue this to the tube anyway,so that it will be permanent. I’ll make the rest of the cylinders, and the grenades this afternoon. Arnie has to dry anyway, so there’s no hurry to get him glued together yet. I’ll have to drill a hole in his right hand for the shotgun. This gun will be finished this afternoon. I’ll paint it tomorrow,as there are a lot of tight spaces,and a couple of modifications that need to be addressed before this can happen.

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I superglued this so that I can mate the two halves together smootly. I still have to sand the rest of this smooth since I added a little more after I took this picture.

The raw frame.

The begining of the grenades. This entire unit will be painted first, then I’ll paint the heads of the grenades, and glue them on afterwards. This will make it easier for me. This way, it won’t make a mess painting the two colours on two different surfaces.

FLOWER POWER

This is a sample grenade. This is so that you can see how long these usually are. The emery board got wet, and the stain from it got onto a couple of the grenade canisters. I’ll have to sand that out. I think I’ll even make a few shotgun shells to lay around Arnies’ feet for a more realistic effect.

The prototype fitting of the parts.

A better look at the final fitting of the pylon,trigger, and handle. This just needs the trigger guard, end caps, and grenade heads attached before I can call it finished. I’ll paint this without the grenade heads, as they’re the only thing that will be differently coloured from everything else, and will be glued on last.

The trigger guard,and handle beside the sample grenade.

The belt ends.

I didn’t find these in the bottom of the box - I made them from styrene that I cut into strips,and bent the hell out of. Then I drilled three 0.15" of an inch holes into one, and made a buckle for the other side. I scraped the edges so that they’ll match the original belt on the jacket. I’ll rub the paint on these to match the jacket surface once it dries. Then I’ll paint the buckle so this will look realistic.

The buckle looks like there’s something hanging on the left side, but this a spot of wet paint that was on the tape when I took this picture.

This is made of two pieces. One that I bent a 0.20" styrene rod into a square joined in the center on one side, and the other part is made from a 0.15" styrene rod. I bent it over, then I glued it to the square in two places, so that this will look like a real belt buckle. This is all superglued together. I can’t wait to get this glued to Arnies’ jacket, but this will have to wait, as this is the same paint I used on the jacket, and it’ll take a couple of days to dry enough to be handled.

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This is what I do, and it’s what I love. As you can see, there isn’t anything that can’t be scratch made. Painting is a little bit harder, as I can’t control much more than its’ application. Here’re a few sneak peek photos. Today is the unveil of the final product in its’ finished form. Enjoy!

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“IT’S NOT A TUMOR”!

This isn’t officially done yet - it still needs some touch up on the silver parts, and in between the body and legs. There’s a small gap where the two meet from where the owner separated them after he glued them together. This was done for shipping reasons. This is only superglued from the very front edge. I wasted all that time, and superglue filling damage, and sanding it ultra-smooth so that the top, and bottom would fit perfectly. The problem is that there’s no edge on the back of the jacket to glue to! I’ll probably add some white Elmers’ glue to this to strengthen the bond. These shots are only a tease for right now to show that it’s done,but I need to take some actual beauty shots of this, so that I can edit out the background for a portfolio.

This picture is just to give you all a loose interpretation without any closeup detail. This is just to inspire confidence in my abilities, and to show that this is finally finished, and ready to be wrapped for shipping. That will be just as difficult to do as painting this was. I’ll have to package this so that it will arrive in perfect condition without paint rubs, or parts broken off. I’ll post beauty shots when I take them. I took these photos ten minutes before I posted them on the other site I copied these from. This was before dawn. It started raining right about the time the sun came up, so I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

This is not my photo,but I swiped it from ebay. I’m only using this as a reference for the shot gun. This is what Arnie used in the beginning of T2, but the one I made is what comes with the kit when new. This is correct for what he used at the end of the movie. I originally thought that this was a recast because it had some parts missing, but this is made from polystyrene. This is HARD plastic compared to the urethane stuff everyone is using. The owner said this is an older version. The ones I’ve seen on ebay now are all light gray vinyl.

Either way, this is very cool kit,and I never thought of buying one, even after I saw these in the stores. The box is horrible! They should take pictures of " Coffee Addicts’ " and put them on the box - I know that sounds egotistical,but this one really looks a lot better in my personal opinion. It at least looks more realistic. This is much better looking in person than any picture I can take with my camera.

There’s no detail that I’ve left unattended. From the paint to the parts - I made sure that I earned my pay for this build. It needs to look REAL- not real fake!

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Incredible build log - thanks for sharing!

Cheers, Rick

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Thank you, Rick. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed looking at this. This was a learning curve, not for me in building, or painting,but in patience. I had to wait for a lot of the paint to dry, but mixing it was the worst. I got into a hurry in some places, and had to start over to make this the best representation of the real thing as much as I could. I didn’t have doubts about my abilities as I did in making this accurate.

I had the video of the movie,but someone whom I live with gave it to the neighbors as a gift. Now I have only memory to guide me. This is why I had to repaint. The skin looked right in sunlight, but it was too dark in artificial light. As it dried it became darker, and darker until it no longer looked like it originally did when I first painted it. I also noticed the pictures are a little wider than this actually is in person. Why is a mystery to me, as it also makes the colour a little off, especially when I don’t use the flash in artificial light.

Either way, this was a true labour of love, as I want to be happy with the end result. I know that if I like it, the owner will like it too! I also know that once I’m satisfied this will be one of the most enjoyable models it’s owner will have in his collection. I want this to be as perfect as it can be.

Thank you again for looking. and for your comment. Now I don’t feel like I’m talking to myself.

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Nice work especially the weapons! Amazing… thanks for taking your time to post your work. I am sure that guys enjoy looking at your work but they don’t have anything to say.

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Wow! Despite your questions about the skin tone it looks like the spitting image of Arnie to me. And the special paint on the leather looks great!

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Thank you! This was a neccessity. If you could see how the two colours compare, you’d see that this was needed desparately to make his skin look like he was actually alive. The camera changes the colour considerably in some photos, especially ones with the flash turned on. It also makes Arnie look wider than he is in person. When you see him on the table, he looks very thin, but on my 19" inch monitor he also looks a little wider.

The paint I used for the leather is supposed to be sprayed thick, as this causes it to wrinkle. I used it to make this easy to replicate the look of leather because it has a thick body that causes it to be more resistant to drying, so I can rub this lightly while still wet with a paint poslishing compound that will actually dull its’ appearance, and give it the dull gray look that real leather has to it, but isn’t noticable, except from closeup. This was sprayed very thin, and fast to keep the paint from actually wrinkling the way it was formulated to. You can do this, but only once, and in thinly sprayed layers, as this paint wrinkles once repainted over.

Thank you guys for your comments, and your compliments. I appreciate your insight! All others are welcomed. Questions, comments, compliments are always welcomed, as this makes me feel that I’m not wasting my time.

This picture is out of order, but I wanted to show the leather like grain this has. This was painted from a spraypaint can very carefully. This is formulated to make much bigger wrinkles than this. I had to do this lightly to keep these lines in scale with this figure.

In the home stretch. This is almost done, but the trigger guard still needs to be attached to the grenade launcher tube.

The tab at the bottom of the barrel is a strap mount. There’s another one at the other end. There are small grooves in each one that I drilled with a 0.15" Thousanths of an inch drill bit in a straight line until I could cut through each hole to the one next to it. These are intentional. They keep the strap taut.

This is the curvature of the handle that I sanded into it. I wanted to show this before I permanently glued it to the rest of the grenade launcher.

Another shot. This is a closeup, and it’s the best I can get with my camera at the moment.

The light is weak with this one. This looks brighter in person that it does on film.

I know that these look the same, but they’re the finally finished form with no further touchups neccessary. I applied clear gloss coat to the areas that are supposed to be red, and wet, and this is dry in the areas where it’s supposed to dark, and dried blood from being so thin. The shirt has a wet look around the open wound as a real shirt would. I did this by rubbing my hands over it with a little gloss coat to make it look damp without looking glossy. All the open wounds, and even Arnies’ left eye have gloss coat to make it look evermore realistic. I just need to add a little black washcoat to resemble eyelashes. I glued the gap between the jacket,and the pants in the back to add structural integrity. This is by the beltline where no one will ever see,and by the pockets. This can’t be seen from the top,or the sides.

[align=center][size=xx-large]THE JEWEL OF MY EYE[/size][/align]

I wanted something that would look like a true Terminator eye,but I didn’t want to route a wiring channel with an aircraft drill bit through one of his legs. I thought that this needed something that would be durable, and not have to be serviced like a fibreoptic, or need batteries, or possibly burn out like an LED.

This is a rhinestone that I superglued to a styrene rod, then shaved down with an emeryboard while turning it on a drill. This ensures perfect symmetry. I was lementing how I could’ve used these at the time I was at the local sewing store, but I was there to buy materials for another project that is on the backburner for now. When Roy consigned me to do this, I remembered these, and went back to the sewing store, and bought a box of over 100 rhinestones. These came in multiple colours, red,blue,light blue, green, gold, yellow, purple, white, and pink. OOOOOOHHHHH pretty!!!

I wet sanded this with 320, and 600 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. Then I buffed it with Brasso, and plastic polish to make this shiny. I originally thought of making an eye of each of these colours, but it’s very difficult to insert this eye as it is to remove it. I permanently glued this in so that it won’t fall inside his head when handled. Arnies’ head is hollow inside,but this doesn’t make it easy to retrieve, or insert without a lot of difficulty. This works perfectly in bright light, as this is made from chrome backed solid red acrylic.

I waited to show this last, as it was to be a surprise. This is the first thing I did when I got this figure,even though I’m showing it last. This was the only modification to this figure, but a highly neccessary one! This wasn’t polished yet, as I was only testing the fit before deciding whether this needed more work, or not.

This a chip out of the back of the jacket from the fill plug. Someone tried to fill this with woodfiller before I got it, but an edge like this isn’t a place where this stuff will be durable. I replaced it with superglue, and baking soda. This makes a rock hard mixture.

I sanded this smooth after giving the entire figure a hot soapy bath in antibacterial dishsoap to remove finger oil, and mould release agents. I sanded this down with 320, and 600 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. I then took my Exacto blade, and shaved the edge of it, then I made a couple of small creases to match the rest of the jacket for a seamless repair.

This is what I used to recreate the yummy gooeyness that covers the red bloody areas.

This is a lot harder to see the detail on now. This is only the initial coat of primer. I sprayed this to see any tiny imperfections that I need to remove before I can call it done. But, it doesn’t matter, as this is the wrong damn grenade launcher. I’ll have to make a new one, unless you want this one anyway, Roy. At this point in time I still have yet to glue the grenade heads onto the canisters, and attach the strap.


This is the correct one. Forgive the poor quality of this picture - I stole it off ebay too! Now that I don’t the video, I have to resort to all kinds of ridiculous means to exemplify my intentions. Look closely, and you’ll see that this is what was actually used in the movie. My version is based off a military grenade launcher - the kind that shoots explosive grenades.

[align=center][/align]

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In the meantime, I’ll entertain your thoughts as to whether grenade launchers really exist, or not. This is the real thing - in the steel.

This is an M-79. This is what our boys used in Vietnam against the northern VCs’.

Here’s the toy that I wish I could copy, but I’ll just have to measure the real thing to see what proportions the parts are from each other.

This is the hot toys version of the M-79 that Arnie actually had in the movie. His shot gas grenades.

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I’ve been working very carefully on this, as there are parts that are easily broken.

The following photos are only an example of what this is intended to look like. This shows that this barrel was intentionally chosen for its’ diameter, so that I can insert the rifling as this will be in scale with the rest of the figure.

This isn’t going to stay inside the barrel, this is only to show that the grenades are in the correct scale.

The grenade heads after being freshly painted. These dried smoother than they look in this photo.

The beginnings of shotgun shellls.

This what is called a reference shot, or continuity shot in the industry. These are taken to ensure that all the parts, or elements are in the same place from frame to frame while filming. This helps ensure continuity of the film. I took this to show what this would look like with these with in front of Arnie, even though these aren’t painted yet.

Painted, and ready for a closeup shot.

All the good photos of this that came out clearly are what I posted here. I had to delete the others, as they came out fuzzy. I’ll more photos today when the light is better.

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Here’re the rest of the pictures that I promised earlier today.

I know that everyone’s probably sick of seeing the same photos of Arnie, but I’m used to seeing him on top of my worktable. This is the only figure I’ve ever painted on it, so this makes it historically important to me. I’m going to miss Arnie staring at me every day as I post these photos after taking them.

It’s going to be very difficult for me to package this up, and send it to you, Roy. He’s become my constant companion watching, and waiting as I build all these weapons, and other things that I’ve been working on for the last three weeks. I’ve even caught myself talking to him, asking his opinion on the things I’m making for him, other things that I look at on the internet.

I forgot the one thing that truly brings life to him - eyelashes. I painted these delicately, but you can’t see them very well, but not having them only washed his features out in the flash. This makes him look more real, that and I forgot to paint the inner features flat black around the laser eye.

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This is the stock in it’s almost finished form. I’ve already shaped it, and stained it with a water based acrylic that I mixed to this colour. I applied a thin Minwax stain, the same stuff I used for the shotgun over this. I’ll have to wait till the stain sets before I can clearcoat this with polyurethane.

I took a few comparison shots with, and without the flash. I didn’t want the grain to wash out completely once I finish this. Now if I just get rid of that damn yellow tint without photoshop!

I still need to make the shock pad, and glue it to the stock. This will happen after I fit the parts to this. I still have to drill the hole for the lock, and shave the inside for the trigger guard. After I get all that done, I’ll finish the barrel, and make the strap, and strap buttons.

Please feel free to compare the two finishes for colour match.

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I hope that you’ll like this one too. I hate it, but that’s only because I’m the one making this one piece at a time! It’s tedious, but there is some of what I’m doing that’s fun - just not all the sanding I’ve had to do to get the stock to where it is now.

The white bar next to it is the rail that I’m going to use for the hangrip under the barrel. This is two pieces.

The flash in this photo was a lame attempt to show the true colour of the stock. The darkness makes it look real dark, but in good light - this is actually the same colour as the stock in the sample photo of the real thing. This is absolutely gorgeous in person with a nice satin finish, and that low gloss shine that makes this look very real! I was right to use cherry, as it’s grain is just right to give this the correct sense of scale, and it’s beauty is stunning for such a small piece. I’m not used to woodworking in this scale, as everything I make is much bigger.

Believe it, or not - this stock is comprised of 15 individual pieces of wood, and styrene. The hammer, and surrounding plate are two pieces, and the breach pin that holds the barrel down while firing is made of six pieces of styrene. The hammer surround is 0.40" thick, so I had to recess this for it, and the trigger while this was already finished in the medium cherry coloured lacquer finish. I don’t know why I even mentioned polyurethane in my last post, I never use it for anything but furniture. Where polyurethane came from is a mystery to me, as it’s too soft, and doesn’t give the convincing old time finish that real nitrocellulose lacquer does! This is what every manufacturer of guitars, cars, and furniture used before the advent of polyurethane in the seventies. The only exception to this was enamel on certain cookware, and polyester on Fender guitars in the late sixties.

The shock pad is supposed to be rubber, but I need something I can cut up that won’t be missed, but I can’t find anything here for it. This is made from three sheets of styrene. I still don’t like the way it looks. I think I’ll cut some rubber tubing I’ve had laying around for a while. As long as there’s no nylon reinforcement in it, I won’t have to sacrifice one of the bicycle tires in the shed that I got from a neighbor who threw a 15 speed away.

Fitting the rod that will hold these two halves together. This is designed to open like the hot toys version. This how the real thing opens. I realise that I could’ve just bought one of the rubber pieces of s*%t you usually see on ebay for a couple of bucks, but I want a quality grenade launcher that will match the quality of the figure it was made for. I want this build to be of premium quality, and not trash.

This is two pieces joined with a piece of styrene rod 0.10" around. I can’t glue this even though I’d be able to, but in case this should break - I want to be able to replace it. I had to separate these again. I was just fitting these together before I finish the cherry half.

The trigger guard. This is ready to be painted, and put into place.

20

I think I’m in love[:$]…terminator and weaponry(probably has something to do with me being a die-hard fan). Seriously though Arnie looks fantastic, gotta love his exoskeletion and leather jacket. As for his weponry you have some serious scratching skills, 427 Cobra! I just love the detail your adding to both grenade launchers(beautiful stock and assembly on that 'Blooper" M79.)

All in all I gotta give you serious kudos for you attention to detail…can’t wait to see it all finished up!![:D[