My New Love

(Janice Rand) Captain, look at my legs! (/Janice Rand)

No, this isn't a disease here.  This is Bondo Spot Putty.  Smoother than wood putty, harder than spackle.  Used straight from the tube and sets up in about half an hour.  Sands well.  It could be a little stronger, but it really does fill those smaller dings and gaps.  I expect it will work even better once I start using my new Rustoleum Filler Primer instead of cheap spray-paint.

In comparison, Tamiya Putty has an oddly rubbery quality.  It is a good match for the texture of plastic model kits, meaning you can sand without cutting deeper into base or patch.  But for the materials I'm working with now, it isn't a good match.  It also isn't designed to fill larger holes.

So the CBR still has the lid magnets, data plate, screws, other minor details to finish.  And the Medkit hasn't even been cast yet.

I borrowed a can of hammered-finish silver to paint my arrow.  I had intended to use that as texture and paint an oxidized black over it, but it looked good enough as is and I didn't have time to risk in painting experiments.  It was a quick sculpt anyhow (carved aluminium bar-stock with hand grinder and file, built up the shaft socket with Apoxie Sculpt).

The fletching was similarly expedient.  Wallgreen's kite string wiped with black acrylic, dyed feathers that were left lying around from a previous show.  Done without a jig, just tacking with super-glue and eyeballing them.  It got the job done; about five hours total for the build and the Stage Manager got a kick out of it.  (The only reason for the metal tip is so it would support the arrow when stuck into the gazebo).


Right now I'm in the middle of the ballet, but programming is almost complete on the CBR and I've also done up a new bar knob to be 3d printed:

I'm a little worried as some of the details are right at the margin of printability for even the high-detail plastic -- according to the Design Rules sheet at Shapeways, it can't even be printed in Stainless Steel (which would otherwise be my first choice).

Getting the knob printed pushes back the delivery date by yet another week, but it does really add to the military radio look in a way no other knob would.