Monday 31 January 2011

K-9 Head, take 3, day 5

With the glue now cured on the Antenna Support pieces, I unbolted and removed the Aluminum Channel pieces.  That will be reinstalled again later.


I cut six pieces of 3mm styrene from scrap, each piece being be about 15mm x 30mm.  I glued three together to form a 9mm thick styrene piece, then turned the head frame over and glued the two assemblies into place up under the Head Gun Inner Face. These pieces will later be tapped to screw down the top part of the head.

Sunday 30 January 2011

K-9 Head, take 3, day 4

With the glue set on the Head Gun Inner and Bezel Inner, I added the two Antenna Support pieces.  To keep the pieces aligned, I bolted them onto the aluminum channel pieces prior to adding them and then slotted them into place.  I am glad I did as the width for the channel pieces was about 1mm too narrow on the Head Base and Internal Real Left and Rear Right pieces.  I sanded them gently to fit then glued the Antenna Support pieces.  I applied a bit more glue when the first batch had set to make the joint nice and strong.

I glueg in the remaining two Side Support pieces so they are flush against the cutout in the Inner Bezel.

Thursday 27 January 2011

K-9 Head, take 3, day 3

I am trying to take each step carefully, allowing a few hours for the glue to cure and harden prior to adding another part.


The parts with the glue cured, and ready for more!



In the part below, you can see that I have scored the sides of the Bezel Inner. This is because later that section will have to be removed. It is far easier to score a part on a desk then trying to do it on a prop. :)


Bezel Inner glued to the first two Side Supports. I used a set square to keep the angles at 90°.


I diverge slightly from Dave's instructions here, opting to glue the Bezel Inner to the back of the head (Internal Rear Left/Right), the top of the nose to the front (Head Gun Inner Face), and then join the parts together. This way you know what angle that intersecting glue joint needs to be.



Bezel Inner and Head Gun Inner Face glued together with masking tape and supports removed.


Tomorrow, the neck support and additional head supports. I will probably also add a little glue in areas that need strengthening too. If you ever do this, make sure you only do small sections at a time - if a part is under tension, it may unseal the joint, or make it soft, and you will find that all your hard work is misshapen!

Monday 24 January 2011

K-9 Head, take 3, day 2

As I had the parts all cut out, all I would need to do is clean up the edges with a bit of sand paper and chamfer the parts where needed to the appropriate angles (checking it against other parts of course). I still not have found any Weld 3 glue, so I have been using Revell Contacta Professional (from model store) to glue the parts instead. To keep the parts square, I have a good set square, and also some metal guides that hold the parts together till the glue sets. Sometimes a bit of tape has been useful to keep parts together.

Internal Rear Right and Internal Rear Left parts glued to the Head Base. Note chamfer on the Head Base.



Nose Supports glued onto the Head Mouth Face part.

Tape Guides glued for the ticker-tape tongue.


The other-side of the glued parts above, showing the mouth opening.


Rear Supports glued to Internal Rear Right and Internal Rear Left. I had to support the back of these to make sure the weight of them didn't change the internal angle between the internal parts and the Head Base.


You can see the supports clearly here.


Glue has cured and supports were removed.


The other view of the part.


Back Support glued into position against the Rear Supports. I used masking tape to hold the part in place till the glue cured.


While the glue was curing, I chamfered the Nose Face part and glued it against the Nose Supports and Head Moth Face. I used masking tape again to hold the part in place. Then I glued the base of the Head Mouth Face to Head Base. Supports were used to keep the part in place.


Another view of the parts glued.


View from above. With the light fading, I thought it was best to let the glue cure and strengthened over night.

Sunday 23 January 2011

K-9 Head, take 3, day 1

As I am fortunate to have access to a laser cutter, I laser cut the fiddlier parts of K-9's head, the rest hand cutting it using my trust Olfa knife.

I had also purchased a piece of 20x20x1.5mm aluminium u-channel (purchased from Bunnings) that day, so cut that into the 233mm and 340mm lengths. A drill press helped make sure the holes were aligned front and back. Using a smaller guide drill bit initially, also made sure there was less clean up in the holes. Getting the right sized counter-sunk screws were a pain, and had to go for imperial sided ones (purchased from Mitre-10), but they seem fine. I used four, using a couple washers at the back, and super gluing the bolts tight. Everything was sanded clean and smooth, including the tops of the counter-sunk screws.

Just a little note, I used the Antenna Support pieces as a guide for the location of the screw holes on the actual U-channel, to make sure when it comes to bolting up the neck to the support that all the holes will line up true. Below is the completed Aluminium Neck Assembly.


Saturday 22 January 2011

The start of K-9 head, take 3

I have been having problems with the constructing the head, and after two attempts with unsatisfactory results, and the new release of Dave Everett's Styrene K9 plans, I have decided to follow Dave's lead and try his head construction. I will try to show how I put it together step by step, taking photos as I went.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

K9.replicarobots.net currently down but not out

The new K-9 Website, http://k9.replicarobots.net/, has been down for a little while now due to a supplier problem. However, the founder Dave Everett is working on getting the site back and running. So don't despair, it will be back! With hope it will be up again soon.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Sylvester McCoy Sweater

I have been interested in having a Sylvester McCoy Sweater for a number of years now, and recently having improved my knitting skills I thought I would give it a go. However, when I was looking for the design, I came across a group that is attempting to do a second run of professionally made McCoy sweaters. The first run looked very impressive, so I put my name down for it and thought I would share it here, just in case there were more Dr.Who fans, like me, who have been desiring the item.

The link to the sweater and ordering is here or if you message me I can pass on the person's email address to contact them directly.




Monday 10 January 2011

More K-9 Art - K-9 Love!

This K-9 cartoon is by Otis Frampton.

Source

Sunday 9 January 2011

Amazing K-9

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself with the pun!

Ben Morris is an illustrator, and does some fantastic work, including a clever K-9 maze which was in Doctor Who Adventures (issue 135, pages 18-19).

Source

Saturday 8 January 2011

K-9 in Crochet!

Continuing the pattern of crafty K-9 people, I have found a wonderful design by Meredee, it is K-9 in fillet crochet! She has created two designs, one large and one small. These can be found on her site, or on the images below.









Those on Ravelry, I am sure you can find her their too.

Source

Friday 7 January 2011

Cute K-9 T-Shirts

There are more t-shirts with K-9 popping up on the market. Brilliant!


Source

Source

Thursday 6 January 2011

Cardboard K-9

Impatient to make a full-scale K-9? Here is a fun way to spend an afternoon and build a K-9. It originally featured issue #3 of Doctor Who Adventures Magazine, but an enhanced version can be found at the following link or click on the image below.


Source

Wednesday 5 January 2011

K9.replicarobots.net

If you haven't had a chance to check k9.replicarobots.net out yet, I recommend it. Dave Everett has just added his plans for a styrene K-9, which includes instructions, and the cut-out templates, similar to the styrene R2-D2's. The plans are based on the very accurate Lespaceplie K-9 Plans.



Very soon I will finish the FAQ's for the site, which will include technical information on all TV versions of K-9.

Steampunked K-9 (K-1889)

It is amazing what can be done with the concept of K-9, and how much the form can be changed and yet stays recognisable. This is a fantastic example – a steampunked K-9.


Artist James Richardson-Brown, who made it for a piece of Doctor Who fan-fiction entitled Time and Tide, created this wonderful work. It looks that he used a Character Options remote control K-9 as the base.

Source

The artist’s site

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Simpsons vs Dr. Who

Dean (Springfield Punx) draws many of his favourite characters in the Simpson’s style and he has done Dr.Who and has even drawn K-9!

So cute!

Source