Third Troop At Sirkus Shopping

We were asked to return on june 15th for a third time by Sirkus Shopping, and we were only happy to oblige!

These troops at Sirkus are very enjoyable and havce become a favorite among several troopers, one of the reasons being the positive atmosphere and enthusiasm of the guest at the centre.

At this troop we also had the pleasure of welcoming a new member here in Trondheim (and Nordic Garrison), namely our very own Darth Maul!

 Picture courtesy of Sirkus Shopping.

17th of May National Day Parade

We were a fixture in this years parade as well, something the public has come to expect and look forward to.

We wanted to make a bigger impact than last year by having even more troopers, but we weren't able to recruit enough. Although we had a few new ones join us this year, most notably Ingeli who came all the way from Sweden to take part in this joyous celebration!

Local newspaper Adressa also highlighted our appearance in the parade: Athletic Girls and A frozen Han Solo in the Parade

I even got to stroll Han Solo in Carbonite around

A videoclip as well:

We changed into our gear at the firestation and decided to take our group-photo there afterwards as well:

Posing for my mom:

It was a nice day with great weather and we got an awesome response from the public as always.
This parade is the highlight of trooping in Trondheim, and it will be even better next year!

Painting Han

The previous pass of woodglue had seeped in to the woodwork pretty good, so I did another pass and made the texture around Han Solo. I figured I'd get the texture approximately the same as the original, but not be nitpicky about the exact patterns, just get the right "feeling". Then I sanded and filled the remaining spots, and then sanded again.

Wiped it clean with a damp cloth and finally put primer on it, which made it look like a complete piece.

Then I was quick to spray the box-portion with Rustoleum Stainless Steel

I then waited until it was dry to the touch, masked off and sprayed the carbonite texture and Han with Rustoleum brand Aluminium

The whole painting seance took me less than two hours, from primer to Aluminium coat (including driving a trip to get another box of primer because I had been a noob and only bought one, which wasn't enough).
I let the paint dry for a day, and came back to weather it with thinned down black acrylic paint.
I painted the black on with a brush, let it sit for a little bit (just the right amount of time, a delicate business) and wiped it off with a cloth, doing multiple passes over all. I also weathered the "stainless steel" box.

After that, which took me just under two hours, I let him get some sun, and meet other people.

I am very happy with the result, and I'm looking forward to getting him in my livingroom.
Right now he's at the firestation where we will change tomorrow and walk in the national day parade.

I still have the sidepanels to finish, and will probably do those across the summer. But in the meantime, I'm happy to let him shine as he is!

Pouring The Carbonite

Had another go at it today, and did another pass of filler where neccessary and finally started to make the carbonite texture by pouring woodglue over, something that went very smoothly:

I have been swamped with school and work since newyears, so I haven't been able to do nearly as much on this project as I would like.
I'll try to make another pass tomorrow, as I have the entire day off.
Wanting to make it presentable (sans sidepanels) by next saturday, and maybe stroll it around during the may 17th national day parade.

Another troop at Sirkus Shopping

This weekend we had another appearance at Sirkus Shopping

 

I have also made some more progress on the Han in Carbonite, although it's not that visible. I've strengthened the boxes with crossbraces, glued the main panels with Han in place and started to bondo the screwholes and other irregularities. So the boxes are completely assembled now, and I'm missing the bondoing and filling in the woodglue to create the Carbonite texture.
Trouble is the solvents in the bondo are pretty toxic, and I'm working in a basement with no ventilation, so I would like to take it outside in the garage to get good ventilation while filling and sanding it, but it's winter here now and minusdegrees so I'll have to wait a little bit for the temperature to rise. Might try to give it a pass anyway.

Just checking in

I haven't had time to do much on Han after newyears, as I've gone back to school, and that takes up most of my time.
But this week, I had some time off and went to tinker a bit on the project.

I glued down the cast pieces even further, and tried to get them to lay as flush as I could:

Glued on the feet as well.

I also recieved one set of  "pockets" which go on the ends of the carbonite block, which I started to install.
No pictures of that yet, but next time I'll take some more pics.
And I presume I'll get to start pouring in some wood glue around Han and making the carbonite texture next time. As well as smeraing on some filler on the screwholes and joints and sanding that smooth.
I suspect I have a lot of filling and sanding ahead of me.

On another note, I found a local dealer which actually has the spray paint I'm looking for (at a reasonable price as well) so I bought a few cans of that, and I can't wait to just get a layer of primer on there.
With spring coming and the weather being a bit nicer, I can pull the HICs out in the garage and do the painting there. Helps me from getting suffocated by the fumes too.

Anders and Han in Gabba's Palace

Went to play poker at my friend Gabriels house, where I'm also building the two Han Solos in Carbonite.
Took the opportunity to take a picture of Han and my friend Anders:

Han is glued to the board now (minus the feet which will be added next time), next up is filling in the seams around him to make him blend into the board smoothly and add woodglue all around and make the carbonite texture. A lot of filling and sanding after that.

PS: We sometimes call Gabriel "Gabba", and Anders coined the phrase Gabba's Palace as the name for the basement. I thought it was hysterical and can't believe noone has thought of it before.