Greeblies For Sidepanels Arrived!

The 3D-printed greeblies arrived!

Had to cut off one row from the grill for it to fit:

Sprayed some parts "chrome":

And some parts silver/aluminum, grey and khaki (for the small nipples:

Went over the u-clips with a black wash, and a tad of rust-colored wash on some of the screws:

Drilled out a hole for the selectorswitch on the hero-panel and drilled out the knob and fastened it so it is functional:

Printed new dot-decals because the previous ones were too small and flawed:

Comparison with the old ones:

Transferred to a clear screen:

When I sealed the sheet with waterslide decals with clear laquer, some parts of the paper turned a yellowish hue.
I tried a few of the decals out, and they weren't discolored and worked out fine.



The panels in their current state, not much left:

Sadly I had bought the wrong kind of rectangular yellow LEDs to go behind the screen on panel #2, and will have to wait (up to two weeks) for replacements before I can finish it.

Private Screening of The Empire Strikes Back + Han At The Bar

Today we surprised fellow trooper Eirik, TK-3444 with a birthdaycelebration where his significant other had arranged for a private screening of The Empire Strikes Back at the local cinema. I haven't seen it on the big screen since the Special Editions were released in 1997. It was awesome! And great to see the scenes with the Han in Carbonite again after having been familiar with him for so long now.

I walked by work after and took a few snapshots of the HIC, having mounted a small spotlight I think it looks really presentable:

And here you can see the subtle yellow/orange hue emanating from behind the HIC:

I have a deadline of getting the sidepanels finished (only greeblies left really) by may 16., as I'm going to take the HIC out for a stroll on the parade at may 17. Norways national day and I want him to look his best.

I plan on taking some proper pictures of him when he goes back up on the wall, before the plexiglass goes on, when he is FINALLY completely finished (hopefully).

Further Progress on Panels + Pictures of The Original Panels

Painted the rest of the panels:

Bought a 200cm long 2cm diameter PVC pipe for $4 and cut 30 0,5cm thick rings:

Had several sets of decals printed (I only needed one set but thought I might as well fill out the sheet with several to give to others who might need them):

The decal with the black dot pattern goes over the window that covers the yellow LEDs on panel #2 (the one that is going to sit below the main "hero" panel with lots of blinking lights.

Added the decals on the panels, and I also got help from my girlfriend to make the small circular stickers that go on most of the panels, and lastly glued on the rings:

Note the right side panels from top to bottom are on the left and vice versa:

With natural light:

Now I'm waiting for the yellow LEDs that go in panel #2 and the rest of the greeblies (there are well over 100 bits and pieces to glue on in total) to make it look "screen accurate".

This might be a good time to share pictures of the original panels (something that might be nice for those uninitiated or unfamiliar with the Han In Carbonite prop). These pictures are humbly borrowed from Philip Wise of rebelscum.com, a legend in the HIC building community, who was central in discovering that the original sidepanels came from the instrumentpanel of an old Volvo 343.

Left side from top to bottom:

Right side from top to bottom:

Painting The Side Panels

Today I started painting the panels. I sadly ran out of primer with two panels left, so they'll have to wait for another day (probably tomorrow).

I cut out the windows for the lighting in the hero-panel with an exacto-knife and masked off the rest of the windows, keeping them the natural opaque color of the resin, as the backing on those windows on the hero-panel was that colour originally. Saves me from finding the right material to attach behind those windows. Then I sprayed it with Rustoleum Stainless Steel, taking my lead from MonCal who thought the panels were the same colour as the carbonite block just that they aren't weathered like the block is.

I used liquid masking in the little hole below the main window:

Put in the electronics kit I bought from modeljag to see that everything looked correct:

Drilled holes for the LEDs (by hand, going up 0,5 mm incrementally so not to crack the thin plastic):

Painted the perforated boards with acrylic paint from Citadel Miniature-paints (I have a whole box full of them that's been sitting there for 15 years now) and had two hues of blue that matched the original pretty well if I may say so:

Installed all the electronics again, and I must say that it is looking good:

I also sprayed five of the other panels with aluminum, will wait a few days till it has completely dried, mask out the windows, and spray the rest of the panels in stainless steel as well.

Then I'm just waiting for zenix to say when, and start selling 3D-printed greeblie-kits!