Taking Apart the Existing Communication Towers Without Damaging the Base

 
I also had to take apart the communication towers on the towers very carefully, to avoid damage to the lower parts which were more solid.

 I was also trying to work out a way to run a threaded shaft through the dead centre.

This involved very careful drilling.

I started by trying to break a glued square connection at the base of the tower by tapping a thin screwdriver into the glued joint to try and crack it.

The removed central shaft looked like it was worth keeping.

Having released the upper section, I tried to drill down into the central nerf gun multi shot clip disc base,

This has a revolving pivot inside I wanted to keep but also had to drill through.

I did not have a pillar drill so had to do this very carefully and slowly to avoid breaking the parts using a step drill bit to do one diametre at a time more gently.

I tried to use a step drill but the problem was there was a rivet and a spring in the centre which I had to drill through and push out. This left an interlocking set of shafts.

Once there was a hole running though 9mm I used a 10mm tapping kit to make a sewed threaded shaft.

Later I used a dowel making hollow drill bit to remove the centre having managed to extract the central screw instead with more success.

Bobs Bits Prop House Visit and Parts to Upgrade Prop

During the course after the Prop Making module, we were taken to Bob’s Bits prop house which is based around medical, military, scientific, engineering and science fiction set decoration and props.

Among their customers are Lucasfilm and Disney and parts have been supplied to build some of the lightsabres used in their shows and films.

During the visit in the office, I saw unusual sci-fi like objects that would be ideal to make the communication towers out of.

I contacted Bobs Bits they said I could come down and allowed me to go though trays of components. The components it turns out come from things like medical equipment that did not meet manufacture standards, torches, blow torches, pipe connectors and other equipment.

They offered to let me have parts for free. It took at least an hour and a half to go through the draws trying to find parts that fitted together.

A Special Thanks to Bob Thorne of Bob's Bits and recomend the place for your

Sci Fi Set Decoration and Prop Bits.

Local Kit Bashing as Well

In addition to the parts gifted by Bob’s Bits I also found:

• Hose parts
• A pair of brushes
• A pair of multi-use screw drivers which looked promising to use.

I though I could use an opening steamer as a satellite dish but was completely the wrong size.

Machining the First Thread Bar

To try and work out a rough length the thread bars needed to be, I tried various combinations of components alongside the 12mm thread bar.

Some components could slide along the thread bars as were loose with a wide enough inner diameter, others would need drilling and tapping with a tread carving tools I tried first using my mitre saw which was very louds before trying the Finn Multi Master Multi tool with metal cutting blades.

The latter took much longer but did a far neater cut. This required less grinding to clean the ends up.

As the griding heated up the thread bar I wet them down with water to cool.

Drilling Through Components

I broke off the brush handles, tried my best to drill through to 10mm then use the tapping tool for a 12mm inner thread.

Stepper drill bits were used to do this gently as the components were fragile.

Sprayed some of the components as well as drilling and tapping before trying various component combinations to see what worked. The brush looked promising.

Hexaonal Shaped Ring

One of the components was a vertical griped ring from a multi screwdriver.

These was originally a rubbery material which wrapped around one of the metal components which had a hexagonal end.

Being flexible, this fitted well over the irregular shaped component.

Unfortunately, what was found that when painted the paint does not bond but flakes off easy as the paint is not flexible.

The first solution was to make a silicon mould of one of these rings and resin cast copies which then could be painted more effectively with paint that sticks to the solid material.

The problem being that as the original material was flexible it stretched to shape and size. Hard cast resin does not. it stays round and small so does not fit.

I tried using a powerfile on the metal component but it was too tough.

A simple solution, that did require new moulds, was to take out the cast or the ring early, before it sets hard when a flexible cheesy soft material consistency that could stetch and flax to shaper, them bull it to the part which then adapts to the shape of the component then sets hard into a hexagonal shape. This worked.

Adding Graphite Powder

It was around here I started to add graphite powder both to the resin and the mould.

This made the cast components dark grey throughout and shiner so less paint would be needed and damage did not show up as white patches.

Component Combination

With the components prepped I tried a variety of component combinations, to see what could work best for the transmitting communication towers. This included designs with support cables coming up from the bases which looked more solid and stable. This could include elements like electroluminescent string for a more sci-fi look.
 
I was also trying to work out the best length for the towers that looked cool and was practical.

Painting

The components were given the basic painting of primer, black, then washes of aged cold, copper metallic paint and Dirty Down Rust, Dirty Down Khaki and Dirty Down Black.

Continuing Component Combination

With the components painted I then carried on trying combinations to refine the order and see how they looked when more metallic. The brush looked particularly good and technical with what looked like many aerials

Taking Apart Tower 2

Having worked out a much more refined down component combination for the communication towers I then started to take part the second tower in a safer and more efficient ay having learned from the first attempt.

This started with the use of a dowel drilling bit I thought could cut and drill around the internal screw that have been in a central Nerf gun component, rather than through it.

Instead, drilling through this pulled off the orange end with the screw, then tried to unscrew it having now gained access to it, that had not been available before.

I used a stepper drill to drill through delicate cog like toothed parts I had duplicated of towards the base.

Any shiny and smooth surfaces were also sanded to roughen up the aid glueing.

I used a stepper drill to drill through delicate cog like toothed parts I had duplicated of towards the base.

My Finn Multimaster with a mini plunge saw attachment, was used to clean the glue from the inside of the square base.

This was in the Nerf circular round clip that was above the Dyson Cyclone generators, forming the transmitter towers base.

Shortening the Tower

Much as it looked good to have really tall transmitters with all the components, especially the brushes, they also have to be solid and strong, not just when upright but when the unit was folded open. The length give too much leverage to beat the prop.

The prop also needed to be able to be handled easily and be placed in the likes of cars and boxes so decisioned had to be made to shorten the length and that included losing the brushed being one of the longest parts.

Strengthening the Tower Base

The base for the towers needed strengthening to create a strong foundation and two methods were used here

1. To increase the length of the thread bar so it went all the way into the box end of the wings past the Dyson motors to attached the tows to the prop structure.
2. To create a firmer hold by studding the empty box and hollow Dyson motors with solid material to prevent sheer force twisting and wobbling.



To get longer thread bar I had to purchase and cut the bars then round off the ends and paint them. Pretty simple increasing the length by 15 cm or so.

This coincided with dripping deeper and tapping as far as a could into the structure and Dyson motors

I then filled the box end on the wings and Dyson motors with expanding insulating foam before re drilling

Additional Kit Bashing

Additional kit bashing was added to the towers to enhance the look adding war hammer like tanks to the hexagonal tower tops sections and adding Warhammer guns or cannons to the Nerf Multi shop bases all pointing up like they could send out converging energy pulses like the Death Star planet killing cannon.

Adding the Support Cables

At first cutting and adding these spring cables made from drain clearing tools looked like it would be easy but turned out these were a total pain as due to their springing, flexible tendency to vibrate nature they were all but impossible to cut.

Tools that failed included my:

• Mitre Saw
• Wire Cutters
• Nibler Tool
• Jig Saw
• Various attachments on my Finn Multi tool

The only thing that worked was my angle grinder when the cable was held in the workbench and then right up against the vice in the table top.

I then levels ed and rounded them off with my powerful which worked better than the disc belt sander.
 
These were then painted as usual with the dirty down and metallic spray paints.

The original plan had been to permanently attach the cables to act as working supports but if I did that, I would not be able the unscrew the towers for safety in transport and storage.

The base ends fitted nicely into the Nerf multi shot disc above the Dyson cyclone motors in the holes. 
These where then glued into place with I think superglue and activator.

The other end just clipped securely into the doles on the tower component I think originated from a blow torch majorly enhancing he look

Rivet and Resin Reinforcement



One problem that came up rapidly is all these kits bashed, up pointing gun like attachments to the transmitter tower,s were not well bonded and break off with the slighted knock. A system needed to be incorporated to structurally attach these parts not just glue them.

As they and more importantly the Nerf gun part disk they were to attach too were fragile I was reluctant to use screws, plus it would be difficult to get the right size. Also, screws would look awful

Pop rivets seem to be the solution with small holes drilled through then the rivet inserted (4mm x25 for a grip distance or around 16mm) and pulled tight, this seems to work and look good too when the rivets were pre painted.

This gives a mechanical joint not just stick on.

Rivet Gun Problems

On youtube videos rivet guns seems easy to use, I had an old Wilco Discount shop hand rivet gun so I thought I would get some 4mm x 20 mm pop rivet which I had spray painted but could mot get my rivet gun working. I could not pull or pop my rivets so thought I would get a better one so tried the likes of:

• Screwfix Direct
• Tool Station
• B& Q
• Local Hardware stores
• Tradepoint

Without luck.

Got the best one I could find locally, a Stanley 6-R77 heavy duty with swivel head model which seemed more solidly  from Machine Mart whihc seemed to sell more professional kit, built but still no luck.

Rivet Gun Solutions & Resin Fill Plug

Went on various forums before learning that the issue may be me using Stainless Steel Rivets so I tried 4mm x 25mm aluminium rivet, they seemed to work.

However nervous that the upward pointing kit bash gun parts were only held by 1mm or ABS from a nerf gun Cartridge I came up with the idea of filling the compartment where the rivet had cne through with resin I did also look at use of Epoxy. That way the part the rivet as watched had the head immersed in hard resin and not just thin plastic.

I tested the theroy first with an orange prototype to see if it would work.