FIGURE
CHANGES
almost done (need decals, hoses)
Raw Figure
The raw Captain Cardboard figure is very impressive, but I still went wild with changes: neck ring/helmet, hoses, belts, glove rings, boot rings.
NECK RING / HELMET
The cast ring is oval with soft detail. A definite candidate for replacement. I Dremelled it off. My new one is a bit chunky, but I think it has a better “feel”.
I had hoped to make a new ring using the Dremel as a lathe, but without a tool rest the Dremel isn’t really a lathe. After three tries I ended up doing most of the work by hand: marked a circle with a compass, rough cut, then cleaned with a file, THEN put in the Dremel.
I drilled a hole in the center of the solid stock and used a cut-off wheel chuck to hold the piece. A file against the edge as it rotated on the slowest setting cleaned the part. I cut a groove with a file and then angled the edge.
I made the flats by filling in parts of the groove with scultping epoxy: Tamiya 2 part epoxy putty. Brilliant stuff. (see review29. Regular putty would probably try to squeeze out the sides and pollute too much of the groove.
New neck ring
I have cleaned and thinned the interior helmet chin, and have built a new hose nipple (not shown). I toyed with replacing the soft-detailed memory modules on the back, but they are black and shouldn’t show much anyway.
Finished ring clamps
HOSES
Capt Cardboard redesigned the original hoses early on because they were weak. I never received any hoses, original or improved. But I always had plans to replace them anyway - with electric guitar wire. A trick I picked up from my mate Paul, who used them very effectively on his Star Wars Speeder Bike. (see starshipmodeller/gallery).
I bought one large wire (US$15+/-), about 2.5 - 3mm dia. x 1 meter, and used it for both the main hoses. I unwound the outer wrapping and used the smaller core as the helmet hose.
Guitar wire hoses
The backpack had to be thickened to accomodate a new hose attachment point. The cast figure has the hose attaching to the wrong place (on the side of the thrusters).
BELTS (“WEBBING”) and BUCKLES
The moulded belts and buckles are not bad, other than an extra (inaccurate) buckle on the shoulder, but I wanted a bit more realism. I Dremelled 'em all off! My wife, Julie, also a modeller, found plastic ribbon exactly the same width. It looks like mini seat belt material, woven from plastic fibers. (Also used as a built-in bookmark in appointment diaries.
Plastic woven webbing
I drew up buckles and had them laser-cut in stryene. I will be sewing the belts onto the buckles, but they are only fake and will not bear a load. I’m attaching them behind the pack with sewing pins (drilling holes and using the pins like small nails).
GLOVE / HAND RINGS
The figure has the suit cuffs ending in steps, rather than connecting rings. My wife, Julie, suggested using the rings from pens. I scoffed, insisting I’d have to machine rings or something. Perhaps to stop me from buying a lathe, she actually found two pen rings that were within .001" of the cuff size!
I chopped off the hands, separated the fingers (scribe and saw), and then added the rings. I used epoxy sculpting putty to re-work the cuffs and attach the rings, then dowelled the hands back, used more epoxy to match the gloves, and touched up with regular putty.
I heated and reshaped one hand to fit the Brainroom key. The key is a separate mini project!
Thanks to Dennis Gilliam (the amazing fellow behind www.2001spacesuit.com), I’ve now learned that the gloves were green and not gray (makes sense, they match the helmet). Thanks to his research I also now know that the carpet really was velco (alternating strips), and handholds U shaped and not tubes. I can do the gloves, and change the carpet, but I’ not sure I can change the handholds without major destruction. The air vents (which I’m not happy with anyway) were actually recessed, but I’m not sure how to alter these.
BOOT RINGS
These were the same as the wrists. I made new rings by making a sandwich of three solid pieces, each a different diameter. The rings are too deep and chunky, but again, I think a better look and feel than the original.
UPGRADED THRUSTER HANDLE
I changed the thruster handle to add some detail. The screenshots show it sometimes angled forward, sometimes the “D” ring holding it is uneven, sometimes even. I just wanted more detail. Plus I broke my original(!)
