Zaku: Monoeye lens

Time is running out. I needed to make a decision on the mono-eye fabrication. Many options had gone through but none would look good or had too many safety compromises.

This one is the least that looked the best. Still kind of dangerous though. O well, I'll have to keep an eye on her then. (uh.. sorry)

Lexan plastic. Heating it up in my toaster oven. When it starts to droop in the window, I pull it out right away.

The best form I had around the house was this paint can. Whatever works!

Perfect diameter

To shape it further, I just took it to my belt sander. 

For the tint, I used some leftover auto tint.

Made a small accent ring out of craft foam. Hotglued it on. And voila!

Now, all i have left to do is:
- screens in the side windows
- hot glue the lens in
- custom cut some foam to fit my daughter's head
- maybe another final coat of top coat to seal things off a bit more for durability

Horns

The paint is pretty brittle at this stage. I have a super sharp knife and I still can tell. I'll have to top coat it with a sealer very soon. 

Test fitted. Looking good. I like the placement and all. Time for primer and paint!

Just noticed from looking at this pic, I totally forgot to make the vents!

Final Details

Here are some close-up shots of the helmet. Showing ALL the embarrassing blemishes that any supermodel would simply freak if it was ever shown on a magazine cover. I wasn't worried about them cause, frankly, no one's gonna see them... except you, here, online. When I'm wearing it, walking around... I'll be a blur.

Just for you guys, I've put in a few easter eggs in the decals. Can you spot them all?

Lighting up the Eyes

Was pretty busy with life the past couple weeks. Had very little time to get on this project. But, things are starting to settle again... so, it's back on target:

Lit Eyes:

The wiring for the eye LEDs are in place. All that's left to do here is paint the wires matte black and find a way to shield the bulbs so when they're lit, they won't cause a glare back at my eyes.

Had some leftover "turn signal amber" paint from my car models of the past that was the perfect shade I was looking for. Now, I had both yellow and amber paint. Tried them both, but found out the bluish tint of the LEDs made the yellow shine green. Whereas the amber paint plus the LEDs resulted in the standard Gundam yellow eyes. 

Good, the LEDs lit up the details just as I hoped.

Eye Lens Redux

Eye Lens:

Here we go again! My second (and hopefully FINAL) attempt at making the eye lens for the build. 

To recap my requirements on this sub-project:

- Must not limit my vision, much

- Should have detail

- Tinted yellow

- Must be lit up.

- Lights must not be seen from the outside

- Lights must not be glaring back at MY eyes.

Had put a lot of thought back into this one. Going to start off with a piece of clear lexan plastic. I think this is good approach.

Since I already have the shape of the eye lens from the previous build attempt. I'm going to use it as a template for the curvature. Here I'm laying it down on a piece of 2x4 wood. I needed a shape to put the melting plastic onto. And the wood can handle the heat.

Cutting the shape out with a jigsaw.

I stole this toaster oven from my wife years ago. Started out when I was secretly baking my sculptures in it before. Got caught by the wife.. and said something, something.. and she just gave me the oven! Woohoo!! Score! Anyways, inside the oven is a couple strips of lexan plastic. Warming it up for 5-10 minutes. The moment I can see them droop, I pull them out and put it on my wooden form....

Almost lost this piece. You can see some bubbling at the corners! Luckily, the bubbles are outside and would be cut off.

Cutting them out with my dremel.

Quick test fit. PERFECT!

Now, for the details. I'm thinking of frosting them in. To achieve that, I just mask out a simple design. With my dremel again, I used a steel brush attachment, and just went over the exposed areas.

I could use some fancy window etching solution to frost the details. But, that would mean money. And I rather not spend money if I didn't have to. The return wasn't worth it. Simple economics. hehe

TEST: Can I see out of the new lens? 

Yes! Yes, I can. Even in the frosted areas, I can see vague shapes. So, this is successful.

TEST: Does the detail light up? 

Yes, perfectly!! Success, again!

TEST: Are the lights visible from the outside? 

Nope. Since the lights would be mounted just out of sight. It's perfect again. Another Score!

TEST: Would the lights be glaring back into my eyes/face?

Nope, eventually, I will be mounting the LEDs with hot glue. Then I'll be painting the globs with dark matte paint. The light would only be directed at the lens itself.

PERFECT SCORE!!

Hot Glue Sucks

Hot glue:

Never said it before, so I'll say it here. I really dislike hot glue. Not a whole lot of positives, but I can name quite a few negatives....

- takes time for the glue gun to warm up

- glue gun is awkward to use in tight spaces

- glue sticks always run out. all the time.

- MESSY!

- those spiderweb-like strands with each use. And it's endless!! You just keep pulling and pulling

- not really a strong bond.

- dries cloudy

Obstacle: Here, I robbed some hot glue in the area where I was to place the fan. But, it rolled over into the fan blades!!!! UGH!!! Glued them down. I had to go back in, cutting and re-melting the hot glue to rip the  fan unit out. Some more cutting and sanding got the blades free. Hot glue sucks.

Finally got the fan to work again! Wired up all the LEDs for the eyes too. Here, I'm testing out the switch for it too.

Mascara

Face Detail:

Sitting there, looking at the face... I felt it needed a bit of make-up. A little something something to make her prettier for a fun night out. Bit more detail work.

 Some paneling

 Some Eyeliner

Obstacle/Challenge: What do I do for the eyes? I want something yellow, like the show. Preferably, something that can glow/light up. Has mechanical detail, like the mohawk lens. And, most importantly, it MUST minimize my obstructed view! Solution: Yet to be figured out.

Now That's Prime

Let's get some colour onto these pieces! Well.. for starters, we need to prime anything that will be painted.

This looks good in matte grey. Hmmm.. not a bad colour choice!