Alone3 and SumPod Painting Part 2

Regardless of this success, I have yet to published any pictures from my SumPod painting sessions.  This post remedies this situation and I say sessions, because of the interruptions, some of which you can hopefully avoid with advice from my previous post:  Paint, Paint, Glorious Paint!

My primer of choice for intricate parts is Plasti-kote Primer Super, it's a solvent based primer that sticks to pretty much everything; multiple coats (including sanding) are possible in a matter of hours, with a touch dry time of twenty to thirty minutes.  Product details are available here.

It was not made clear in my previous post, that a solvent based primer should be used to minimise swelling of the MDF.  My thanks to Freyr for highlighting this important point in the comments.  The Safety Data Sheet for the Plastikote Super Primer is here.

Having read the comments on my previous post and the deterioration of weather here in the UK, I am revising my advice to use spray paint, unless you are lucky enough to live in a warmer and drier climate or have the facility to use spray paint indoors, then use a paint brush to apply primer.  Speaking to Richard (Mr SumPod), all of his demonstration units were painted using a paintbrush.

The following pictures were taken of prep during the last day or so of nice weather, that was the last of the British summer.

SumPod and newspaper ground protection bask in the British Sun

First picture of the 'exploded' SumPod as clouds gather

Main body, inside of left hand panel (upside down)

Main body, top of base

Main body, inside of back panel (upside down)

Main body, inside of right panel, with PCB cutting bed above

Main body top

Main body inside of front

 The LCD mounting space is clearly visible in the middle of the screen.

I will amend this post later with additional images from my other camera.

I started with the main body because this will have the most exposure to grubby fingers and 'stuff'.  After the first coat coverage is like this:

I'm paid a visit by Folly the thirteen year old fox terrier bitch, wondering what the hell I'm doing and not paying her attention.  Dogs can be sooo helpful.

Ideally the undercoat should consist of several thin layers of primer to provide the best base for the top coat.  Here yo can see the coverage of two (or three I can't remember) coats of spray primer.

Because the main body is held together by interference joints, moving it has caused this corner joint to loosen. Try to avoid getting and paint into these joints because it will make the joint even tighter and may create an unsightly gap.

A corner on the main body starts to separate

Z axis linear bearing mounts

It is clear how the routed surface of the MDF has soaked up the paint, compared to it 'normal' surface.  Speaking to Richard the soaking in is less of a problem with thicker brush applied primer.

My intention was to slowly build up the number of coats of primer.  Each subsequent layer is absorbed less and less buffered by the previous coat.  Following are pictures of later coats as painting and sanding progress:

Like it or not, the dual feeder backplate is not reversible

The first coat of gloss goes on as the night draws in.

The second and final coat of gloss will be applied tomorrow by brush as the weather here is currently less than conducive to painting outdoors.  Of the different finish options I've selected the slightly more difficult to apply liquid gloss - the finish should be fantastic!

Until then SumPod Guinea Pig signing off 

Alone3 and SumPod Painting Part 1

I've split this post into two parts and they each deserve the space.

The build up of work to last weekend was well worth it.  Alone3, the third in a series of 24 hour time-in scifi LARP events was an unqualified success.  Although hard work for the crew, particularly the Monsters, whose roles varied from playing terrorists to aliens, it was a lot of fun to run and the player feedback has been positive.  The Monster crew have my thanks and appreciation for their efforts, and also to those who turned up to bolster the Monster Team for the event's finale, in the early hours of Sunday morning.  Wookie's costuming and prosthetics were up to his usual high standard and everything went without a hitch, at least as far as the players were concerned. :)

For anyone interested I will post links when pictures of the event are available online.  The first.

Here are a couple of initial shots (all rights of the relevant owner are reserved).  The first few shots were taken through the tinted masks worn by the players.

The Base Manager has an unconventional  management style

I need sleep

A squad of marines

An alien snacks on a careless marine

Three aliens wait in ambush

The players made good headway against the 'local inhabitants' while investigating the silence of the previous marine base garrison.  

A lovely shot of the Queen.  She is a magnificent 15 feet tall when rearing up...

With a dozen robots making a appearances early on and joining the final gunfight, (due to players choices) only a few lucky players managed to escape.  At least they had a chance to escape - the base manager had no such luck having been recently executed as a traitor.  Cleaning the fake blood from the ceiling was fun...

One of a dozen robots.
The led chaser eye significantly hampered visibility, but looked great from the outside!

That's enough Alone3 goodness for now.  Alone4 to 8 are already in the planning.  <evil snigger>

Fixer