cooldevo's ROTJ WIP

[Sascha_Wilsing]

Looking good.

[cooldevo]

Part 2 of the Force Pike.

Used the shrink tubing. As you can see, I tried to find the thickest I could so it would be more resistant to scratches or being torn. This is designed to be buried with spliced wires, so I figured it'd be tougher than the thinner tubing. 3/4" thickness was tough to find, so I was limited to pre-cut 6" pieces.



I dry-fit them to try and line up the spacing.



After using a heat gun it came out like this.




And the compiled piece. All that's left is to get the aluminum paint on the pommel, attach the rubber stopper, and attach it to the pike. Overall it's pretty good, I should have raised up the top handle a slight bit so it's have been more flush with the attachment, but I'm sure it's only because I know what to look for.

[Sascha_Wilsing]

That is a nice pike.
Great job.

[cooldevo]

Did some work on the pommel. Not 100% happy with the paint job, as I tried to put a matte coat on it to protect the paint. But that didn't pan out very well, due to my never having used it before. So I sanded it down as best I could, which didn't come off as well as I'd have hoped. I'm reasonably happy with it, but I'll pick up another PVC Check Valve once I get the rest of the stuff done and second time should be much smoother.

I made a switch, and decided to use the Oatey Fix It putty to provide the support and filler for the top of the pommel. Once it set, I sanded and painted the top.





Then put the rubber stopper into the bottom of the check valve.



And here is a full standing shot of everything put together.

[Sascha_Wilsing]

You may now want to make the grip parts a little bit more massive.
They look very small with the new pommel.

[cooldevo]

Yeah, I agree the handles are a little small at 6", I had hoped to get 8" tubing. Unfortunately nowhere in reasonable driving distance had anything longer. I could have bought longer online, but most of it was in bulk and I didn't really want more than 20 feet. The hard part is that the shrink tubing had to fit over 3/4" inch ski pole, which limited what I could use.

There are two problems with the shrink tubing. 1) It isn't easy to add more/extend them without leaving a big ugly seam; and 2) shrink tubing has adhesive so it's glued into place as it shrinks under heat. Which is why I made each piece detachable; then I can swap out any piece that gets broken/damaged/upgraded to something better. I've been debating getting another PVC check valve and sanding it down to more appropriate proportions for the pommel. Would the setup as per the pictures be acceptable, while I pursue a more appropriately proportioned pommel?

[Sascha_Wilsing]

Since the pike is optional and not a vital part for approvement and the pommel is mostly covered by your hand i would say it is no problem to use it.

[cooldevo]

The helmet has finally been dropped off for painting. It'll be tied up for a bit, got some savings by not having it as a priority order, so it'll be done mid to end-April.

All that's left now is to receive the boots and the speaker and sound amplifiers (so I can hear what's going on around me and actually talk to people), get some tubing for the cooling fans I have, and wait for the helmet and robes/sash/gloves to be finished. Once I get the helmet back, I'll mount the visor, probably with Chicago screws.

[silverBoyd]

great progress. The Force Pike is looking good too. Keep it up. I'm hoping to get my helmet painted within the week.

[cooldevo]

I ended up taking mine into a paint shop, as I wasn't comfortable doing gloss coating. It can be pretty particular about temperature and humidity for it to turn out properly, so I figured I'd pay someone else to worry about all of that. It was also my first time working with seam filling and the plastic surgery that I used. The painter said I did a good job as a start, but he'll spend some time to fix it up and make it amazing. It's cost more than I had hoped it would, but thanks to my large head I wasn't able to get it into any of the already made ones I tried.

I'm at the worst possible spot now. 99% of what's left is in the hands of the painter and seamstress. Still pending of three items: 1) boots; 2) picking up tubing and getting my cooling system sorted out; and 3) my sound amplifier setup.

Boots will need simple alteration to cut them down from above-the-knee to mid-calf.

I bought a sound amplifier system that I'll have to figure out where to install for best effect. That will allow sound from outside the helmet to be heard by me inside the helmet. It was a recommendation by a local garrison member, and makes a lot of sense. I'm also on the prowl for a voice amplifier so I'll be able to talk to people outside the helmet, another recommendation.

For the cooling, I got a great idea from a garrison member. I ordered a couple of the Handy Cooler's off Amazon, and I'm going to strap one to each upper calf/shin and run tubing up into the helmet. It makes sense for a few reasons: 1) air along the floor is where the coolest air will be; 2) their intakes won't be covered by velvet; and 3) won't be trying to suck air in from a sweaty body, it'll have better access to fresh air; and 4) it'll also make it far easier to re-moisten the sponges inside the units as I won't have to disrobe to access them.

I'm hoping to start on the coolers this weekend, so I'll post pictures and a final result of the dry runs as I don't have my robes back from the seamstress.