Upgrades from Aug 2024

Repairing and Reinforcing Detached Parts

The other issue is there have been very little surface area on the larger kit bash parts to apply glue, mostly just thin internal structure ribs maybe a 1 mm or less on the inside of panels and mostly space between then and nothing to screw or rivet.
 
This means little hold which in addition to the parts coming from shopped up nerf guns had huge undercut spaces for fingers and other things to get caught on and pull the parts off as can be seen below.
 
I thought that ideally, I need a fastening method such as screws and rivets, but also the screws:

• Need something to screw into which was missing.
• For Aesthetics and Authenticity not to show up obviously on the outside.
• Not to damage internal components and lighting ribbon etc.

One solution was the stuff the parts with foam, expanding and hardening squirt insulating foam and / or pieces of Plastazote (Think Camping Mat) polyurethane foam sheet, or the expanding foam as filler and the Plastazote on the outside for a firmer skin making them more solid with:

• Large surface area to glue.
• Something the screw into.
• Have a more flexible Bond that can stretch a little and absorb shock.

This seems to be the better option.

As can be seen above my solution was to apply a composite material fix.

The expanding foam was a good filler, but weak and powdery so the odds were is I used this to glue to the prop surface it would just tear heaving a patch of glue and foam on the prop.

But adding a layer or stretchy by firm and tough Plastazote foam to the underside to be the glueing surface they forms a stronger bon which has some stretch and give to shock absorb is the parts are hit or caught on something so less likely to snap the glue bond. This causes less tensile stress on the inner foam which I hope will make the bonds stronger and trougher to prevent them coming off.
 
I also where I could stuff the holes in the parts helping the layers stuck and also giving less undercut to get hooked and pull.

The excess expanding foam could them be grinded or sanded off and filler applied to the holes in the foam texture. My multitool could then be used to sand this smooth before repainting.

The part with the sockets or eyes also had another part that needed to be glued on at an angle so the foam gives a more solid angled base to glue onto than before.

A mix of glues was used.

I used display mount as a flexible contact glue for some of the Plastazote foam boding as well as superglue.

To bod the underside to the prop I uses UHS glue for the centre for a strong surface bond and on the outside, I used thin Zap-It superglue, instantly bonding this with activator which also heated up the foam which may help the bond. The superglue with its instant bod could then hold the prop whilst the Uhu glue set.

Stiffening Hinges to Slow Opening

Another issue is that the prop is very vulnerable to damage when opening.



The magnetic clasps are too tight so a lot of force is needed to pull them apart and this means there is a likely hood or sudden violent opening of the wings which then could impact on the table hard risking damage to the kit bashing and inertia damage from the transmitter towers due to torque.

This is a difficult fix due to how populated the preop is in terms of kit bash, electronics and other elements.

Really this should have been one of the first considerations to incorporate a restricted and slowed opening system with air restrictors and slow hinge mechanisms etc and then the rest built around them.

Retrofitting is very had and no room to place these mechanisms.

Lots of research was looked into to solve this issue but most parts available were too big and also pretty expensive

I found some friction hinged which seem to fit and did have a little effect but nowhere need what was needed.

This also focuses the forces, torques, weight on the inner side of the wings which was only 5mm of pine which has resulted in dame to the structure ss the highest stress points and this will need some major work to fix, replace and reinforce.

Fixing Wing Damage

The box we were given had not been made to form mechanical parts under stress due to the wing weight.

With hindsight thicker material and stronger wood such as oak would have been used, along with proper slow down hinges or some sort of pneumatic restrictor to slow opening.

The result was one wing broke. Splitting at the stress point

Unfortunately, there was no room to retrofit thicker materials on the inside of the box, due to all the electrics and controls.

I looked to oak wood panels which are far stronger than pine and some brackets.

Below the damage can be seen and how the damaged end was removed.

Thicking the Wing Walls

The hinge wall; was replaced, and thickness was doubled with the pine wood replaced by 5mm oak, gluing in place with epoxy as well as wood PVA glue to try and max the strength.

The sides begin kit bashed would have been hard to replace, so I just strengthened them bay adding a inner layer of oak before repainting.

Stabilising the Base

 
 The 4 dome base may look good but I found it was ot so stable so I added a frame foot to create a wider more square base.

A window like frame was created. From MDF and Sika Block.

This was then spray painted and looked to add corner bracket reinforcement and attachment to the underside of the prop.

This did not quite fit so one side had a veneer widening with the sika block glued in place.