Mu-TH-UR Computer 6000

[joberg]

Yep, great work indeed guys! Degasing works wonder...specially when working with clear plastic/resin.

[clutch]

It also works well after Mexican food.

[joberg]

Thanks Clutch for the tip: it'll probably save my relationship with my GF

[Mike Rush]

Here's a shot of the internals after some paint:



Some of the colours are not quite right yet, but I'm getting a bit burned out from trawling model shops (the few that still exist) looking for paint!

The label on the square object was too obscure to see, so we (I) made up a fake label which has the MU-TH-UR identification, a wings logo, and our initials.
_________________
Mike

"We're not heroes - we're from Finchley"

[joberg]

Keep up the good work Mike: it's looking good.

[SKIN JOB 66]

Great work once again !

(Love the MU-TH-UR label option a lot !!!)



Fred
_________________
THE FUTURE IS A THING OF THE PAST

[RICHIES ARMOR]

WOW!! Looking amazing!!

Richie
_________________
MYSPACE.COM/ALIEN_ENVIROMENTAL_SUIT

[sethb6025]

Very nice!
_________________
Wait; I'm having one of those things! You know; a headache with pictures?

[stephen210]

great work Mike!!

[kaiburr]

Excellent work here! I am truly impressed by your great work on this, just lovely.

Nathan

[Mike Rush]

Before we got to the final stretch, Colin wanted to do one more 'test run', this time embedding things properly to find out the pitfalls.

As he didn't have all of the pieces yet, he used stand-ins and also made some dummy items! (This also saved using up some of our valuable etched metal parts.) Here they are laid over a printout, ready to go:



And here are the first few going into the mould! I believe that in this picture a thin layer of clear resin has been poured and allowed to set before the pieces are laid on top. (Correct me if I'm wrong Colin!) This means that unlike the original, our pieces are more in the centre and not simply lying on one side.



It's a definite two-stage process, with the flat metal pieces going down first, followed by the more 'solid' items. Here it is later, with all of the innards in place and the mould topped up with resin.



And... well, words fail me.



From here it looks like glass!



You may notice that Colin even marked dots on the mould for where the magnets need to go, which have transferred onto the resin. Clever!



There is a small amount of overflowed resin at the top end, but that's not a problem. The master, and hence the mould, were deliberately made thicker than necessary so that the open side could be milled down later to a perfect uniformity. Here is an earlier test after milling.



All that's left then is to polish that side until it looks the same as the other sides. Unfortunately the milling can't be done straight away as the resin takes a few days to reach full hardness.

And after that, it's just a matter of attaching the handle dowels, a little filler, some green paint, and drilling and screwing the magnets on.

Now that Colin has all of the internal pieces necessary, he is doing a 'real' key as we speak. Can't wait to see how that looks!

So it's coming along. I said I was hoping for November and we're about on schedule. So with any luck, Bob Burns may get a nice Christmas surprise.

I'm just sorry all the workload is on Colin now - but he's doing a fantastic job. Thanks Colin!
_________________
Mike

"We're not heroes - we're from Finchley"

[joberg]

Beautiful work you guys! That clear resin is really...clear Bravo Collin for a job well done and yes, it would be a great gift Xmas gift for Bob!

[SKIN JOB 66]

BRAVO GUYS, this is absolutely brilliant !!!

(I would also say that it looks even better than the original key, at least from what I can imagine when I compare your photos with the propstore's)

Fred
_________________
THE FUTURE IS A THING OF THE PAST

[Mike Rush]

Thank you!

It certainly does look better than the original key... but then the original key is thirty years old. Plus it was probably built in about five minutes, whereas this one's taking over a year to do.
_________________
Mike

"We're not heroes - we're from Finchley"

[noble]

Absolutely stunning work guys!

All that effort pays off.

[Harry Harris]

My reaction to your most recent photos rhymes with "Clucking Bell"!



Harry
_________________

[andy]

Very, very cool!

Andy

[SKIN JOB 66]

[Mike Rush]

So this is the Real Thing under way!

In the first photo you see the first thin layer of resin in the mould. Next to it you see one of the diagrams which I provided to Colin, showing how many pieces and where they all sit. Colin has laid out the etched metal parts (cut from their sprues) over their printed counterparts ready to go - all very methodical.



Notice that Colin also drew a grid over the diagram, and a matching grid which he cut out and placed around the mould to help him line things up. Clever fellow!

And here it is after the etched metal has been carefully placed in position. This takes a while.



Next, more resin and the first solid parts.
_________________
Mike

"We're not heroes - we're from Finchley"

[joberg]

Eager to see that prop coming together...very good job