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[Boddaker]

Bodcast: Weekend Edition!

Trying to finish up the fairings this weekend, and I think I got pretty far today.  I started with getting the U shaped piece integrated into the rear fairings. 

Now that the fairings are securely bolted in place, I can mark where the U shape will go and notch out the fairings.


Cut away some material so the U shape fits in there.  Here I've marked where the fairings meet up so I can cut away the extra thats hanging down below.  I taped a 1/8" drill bit to the top of the center rib to get the correct spacing between it and the U shape.


Since the mark was above the fairings, I cut about 1/4" below that to allow for the thickness of the fairings.


After cutting, I roughed up the U shape and glued it in place, positioning it with some cardboard spacers.


Once that was glued, I had to turn the entire thing upside down so I could apply more plasti-paste to the underside of the fairings to join them together and strengthen areas like the U shape.  I notched a piece of scrap wood to help keep everything aligned correctly.


I taped the seams at the top to give the paste some backing while it sets up.


Here's the seam from the underside.


A shot after applying more goop.


And the same underside shot of the seam with the goop.


I joined the fairings together at the bottom as well (The bike is still upside down).


Once everything set up, I could remove it from the bike as one piece.


Ta-daah!


The piece is really starting to take on some weight now, and it's pretty solid.


Looking back, I probably could have molded the rear fairing as one piece, and just cut the center slot and add the U shape, which would have made it more uniform.  But I didn't really know the exact width when I started, and it was easier to add the mounting rails this way.  I think it came out pretty well.  I probably have one more bondo/sanding session before I can throw some primer at it.  Hopefully I can take care of that today.

[wonko]

Outstanding!  I can't wait to see this one finished.

Brian

[Boddaker]

Thanks wonko!

Well, I had hoped to have more to show this weekend, but my modding plans were thwarted by other things.   I do, however, have pics of the fairings primed.  They look ok-ish, but still need some minor touch-ups before I can lay down the gloss black paint.  Once the piece is one solid color, the imperfections really stand out.  And black paint is the most unforgiving of colors so I have to work the fairings a bit more.






I also got started on prepping the tubes for paint.  The ends will be lit via led strips mounted around their centers.  So all surfaces will be covered with the exceptions of the ends.  First task was scuffing them up inside and out.  Got one tube done...


And both scuffed, with the ends taped off.


Painting the inside with white primer.  A makeshift sling was created to suspend the tube.


For the outside, more thought was put in to the masking, since some of the ribs will eventually be permanently glued to the tubes.  I first had to mark the areas to be masked, so I devised a way to mark the tube by rolling it around while keeping it square to a 90 degree surface (Charles Richter would be proud lol).


Once marked, I could take 1/4" strips of tape and mask those areas.


That's all I got so far.  I don't have the led strips yet, so I can't finish the masking.  I'm waiting for one more package from Moddersmart that will have the led's, fans, fittings, sleeving, and custom rad (wait til you see this thing!).  Thanks for reading!

[Boddaker]

Due to the weather, I haven't been able to continue painting the tubes (damn rain!)  So in the mean time, I thought I'd show you what I have planned for the SSD's.  They will be mounted on the opposite side of the motherboard tray, disguised as the lightcycle engine.

I'll be making a loose interpretation of the real engine, which looks like this:


A view of the engine through the window:


I don't have much space between the motherboard tray and the window, so the mounting will be relatively flat, but with a hint of depth.  I marked out the window placement, and arranged the drives in that area.


Here are the pieces designed and cut.


And glued together with mounting holes drilled.


Here are the pieces for the tailshaft portion of the engine.  I cut a piece of 4" tube for the curved part.


Clamped and glued.


Done.


Both pieces together.


Both pieces in place on the tray with drives mounted.


Now I can make some paper templates for the three pieces that will connect the two.  That will be tonight's task. 

[Boddaker]

Ok, I got the connector piece done last night. 

First I started making paper templates to get the complex shapes in between the two pieces, but doing individual pieces didn't work out too well.  I just couldn't get the angles right.


So I tried making one solid piece.  This seemed to work better.


Having transferred the shape to the acrylic sheet, I started cutting it out.


Then I added the bends.


After some trimming  and rebending, I think I got it to the shape I wanted.


It fits pretty well in between the two pieces.


Some mockup shots of all three engine pieces in place, with drives mounted and the covers on.






As you can pretty well guess, this will all be lit up in the typical TRON fashion.  Next I'll be adding some detail pieces and doing some masking to the covers to get them ready for paint.

[I LOVE ED]

I noticed you are using a cutting wheel on the acrylic sheets.  Can I ask what kind of wheel is that?  Does it burn the plastic?

[Boddaker]

I noticed you are using a cutting wheel on the acrylic sheets.  Can I ask what kind of wheel is that?  Does it burn the plastic?

It's actually a metal saw blade I got in a dremal kit a while back.  Cuts through the acrylic like butter!

[Boddaker]

Moe work done on the SSD Engine...

Cut some detail pieces out of scrap acrylic.


Filed & sanded.


Gluing them onto the base pieces.


Almost done...


Here I made the masking templates for the drive covers using Adobe Illustrator.  I downloaded the TRON font for the text.


I taped off the covers, cut out the templates and used spray adhesive to stick them onto the tape.


Then came the arduous task of cutting the masked areas and text.


The drive covers are now ready for paint.  I mocked them up again so you can see how the paint graphics line up with the detail pieces on the other parts.


The finished engine will actually be a reverse of what you see here, with the engine being a metallic dark gray and the masked areas glowing blue.


And work continues... 

[Boddaker]

So I think I got the SSD Engine just about finished up this weekend.  Got the parts masked off and painted today once the sun finally came out.

I went with a dark gray hammered finish for the main parts of the engine, to add more of a texture to it and set it apart from the blue fins.


A closeup shot of the textured finish.

Demaskifying the drive covers to reveal the diffused blue acrylic.  I primed the underside as well so you wouldn't be able to see through them. 


All the pieces back together for a final mockup, and...........


.........the money shot!


I actually managed to get some paint on the tubes as well, so maybe I can finally get the basic frame assembled this week.  Then it will all start coming together quickly after that.

Cheers, and happy Easter! 

[Boddaker]

More goodies!  I couldn't resist getting Razer's TRON themed keyboard and mouse with mouse pad to go with the build.  I usually mod the peripherals to fit the given theme of my projects anyway, so this was a bonus  And I have to say that Razer did a great job with the TRON design.  I doubt I could have done as good a job, or even come close to the level of awesomeness! 
Let me just show you with pics:


Even the packaging is cool!  Opening the box revealed a thick smoked acrylic cover over the keyboard, with subtle TRON and Razer logos on it.


The keyboard is well-built with TRON style lettering that lights up, and a separate number keypad that can be mounted on either side of the keyboard with the provided connector piece.


Here it is lit up. There are audio connections on the keyboard as well, so I can plug my headphones in right there.


The mouse/pad kit came in the same killer box with protective smoked acrylic cover.


Pure TRON pr0n lol.


And the best part, the mouse pad has an electro-luminescent coating on it that reacts to a special led under the mouse, so it leaves a light trail as it moves across the pad, just like the lightcycle!