Kyle Rayner Battery Project 1:1 Scale

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

Hi guys. I'm copying over the posting I put up on the RPF to catch people up here what I'm working on. I'll get all the progrees pics and details copied over the next couple of days...enjoy:

originally posted 11/27/2011
Last year I purchased a Mini Kyle Rayner Battery prop:


Well I have the other batteries and they are all 1:1 except the Rayner battery. I thought this was kida odd they didn't make a 1:1 battery.


So now I want to do a 1:1 scale version of the Rayner battery. I need to decide just how much bigger I'm going to scale it up. I thought it would be best to do a photoshop comparrision first. So up above is the mini battery next to the Scott and Jordan. Below, I scaled the Rayner battery to what looks good to me.



I took the mini battery and created a scale drawing of it and then scaled it to about the size of the one in the photoshopped image using the other batteries as reference and scaled it up about 135%.


Starting tomorrow I'm going to start building the full sized 1:1 replica of this battery. I'm gonna get some stuff laser cut in acrylic and alot of this will have to be done by hand. Ultimately I want to then take a mold and do a hollow cast so I can install lights. I'll probably cast a metal base in the handle for stregnth.

[TheGoatLantern Beta-Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close TheGoatLantern]

Looks good, I've alway loved Kyles unique battery

[Kuhan Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Kuhan]

Why no Guy Battery? All you need is a Hal Battery and a Michigan sticker!

[BTomaselli Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close BTomaselli]

you mean like this:

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

Something like that

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

Here are some more of the updates:
I got some of the laser cut pieces today. A couple of them are missing but should be on their way soon. Then I'm going to start assembling and finishing work.


Ok, got the replacement and missing parts in today. YAY!!!!
I've just temporarily assembled them to show how this is shaping up. What do ya think?






Ok, yesterday I did my foam filling. The goal here is to take up the majority of the space so when I cover the exposed areas I'm not using a ton of bondo.

First I took down the edge of the undercut so I could get as straight of a line as possible with everything that has a cone shape:



Then I started acrylic welding everything together:







I used standard floral foam from Michaels. Just trace cut and shape:



Then using a smaller putty knife I trimmed at least a 1/4" from all the edges and surfaces for where the bondo will fill in.



That's page one for now. Page two tomorrow...

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

Well right now it's all about bondo, bondo and more bondo. This is probably going to take two or three more days because it's best to do this in small batches. Here's a sample of what I have so far:




Here's more smoothing out the bondo layers:


Thanks guys. Laser cutting acrylic is very nice to work with. Especially if you plan ahead and have parts cut so they interlock. That way everything stays nice and square. Takes the guess work out of it.

Here's a few more pics on progress. The base is basically done. It's all shaped up and I need to hit it with some primer:



Here are some shots of the backside. The inside of this piece is conical shaped, so I bondo-filled it and there is a layer of spot putty I have yet to sand smooth:



MORE TO COME!

I've been spot puttying and sanding now. Most of the pieces are finished. Now I need to primer them and do finishing sanding work. I also worked on the convex lense on the backside. I also started work (no pics yet) of the handle. Here's a few more shots from todays progress:







More to come...

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

Ok, I've decided I'm gonna make this light up. Unfortunately that means I have to get these two parts recut. Not a big deal. It's only going to set things back a few days. But when I go to mold and cast these I can install the lenses for the lights and electronics much easier. I've also decided to just do an on/off switch with bright LED lighting.



Ok, the new adjusted parts have been laser cut and I should get them this week. In the meantime I thought you guys would like a teaser pic:



The new parts came in today. WHOOHOO!!!
So after I did an inventory:

I started to dry fit the new base parts that will also hold the electronics for the lantern. Here are a few shots of the battery/electronic housing assembly:



That funky cut in the middle is where the switch will go:


The button protrudes out just enough so it can be switched on and off easily:


That assembly will the slip into the base opening as one unit where it can be screwed to the insert:


And of course I designed it so the battery door is the only thing you’ll have to take off in order to change the batteries:

This is the “inside” of the base:




I’m so jazzed these cam in today. I can’t wait to get assembling these. I still have the back-end to redo and the handle. Oy, the handle is going to be the trickiest thing, but I came up with a spine/rib assembly I think will make it not only easier to build but symmetrical on both sides. Now I need to talk to my machine shop and see if they can make me some curved bars exactly the same each time. I’m going to cast metal handles into the lantern so it won’t break when someone picks it up. I’ll show how I’m doing that when I get to it. That reminds me…I’ve got to order some molding silicone and casting resin.

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

I've acrylic welded a few items. Here are a few progress pics:









Thanks Mega...

Here are some more progress pics. I really dig how the handles are coming out. The spine and rib method seems to be working quite well:

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

After I talked to my machine shop and showed them what I needed for my handle they realized they couldn't bend metal in the way I wanted with the tight tolorances required. So I went down to TAP and picked up some acrylic rod, picked up my heat gun and map torch and went to work. It's a good thing I bought a 6' legnth. I know I was going to learn as I went with this detail. I figured out very quickly what to do and more importantly, what NOT to do. You can see my first two tries didn't go very well but the learning curve was very fast and the third times a charm. Now I just need to sand and file some detail and I"m ready to take it to a local foundry to see about getting cast in aluminum. Looks simple enough but it did take me about an hour or so to get it right.















These last two pics are showing the cut I had to make to the face where the green lense is going in and how the front plates will cover the opening edge.



Ok here are a few more pics of the new handle prototype. I actually made two of these. One I took to my machine shop to show what I want it to look like and the other is going onto the working original. I'm going to get the vector file over to hime today and he said he could get them done in three weeks. That should work out great. Even better, it's gonna be cheapper than to have them cast in metal. CNC is alwys the way to go.

After I got the new laser cut pieces, I rounded the edges on my router:


Then I hand filed the inside corners. You can see the before and after differences:


And here is a primed piece.


Next photos will be the handle attached to the outside brackets and then attaching the complete handle system to the main body.



Stay tooned!

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

Hooray Pictures!!!

Yes, I finally got off my buttocks and snapped a few photos.

Here are a couple of pics of the handle attached to the "chicken wing" sides:



And here are a few pics after spraying it with primer and size comarrision with the mini battery. Now if you haven't been following the thread, it looks funny right? Because the front and back pieces the lenses go into are going to be cast up separately. Anywho, here are the pics:







I've got parts on order for the rotocasting machine and I still need to order silicone and resin.

More to come



...and that's where I am to date 5/5

[Fetus Sinestro's Sparring Partner Find all posts View Profile Close Fetus]

man i need an update on this beast... it's been so long and I was stoked to see how it was going to turn out

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

My God I love this thread!

[BlueMirageStudio Kyle's Nude Model Find all posts View Profile Close BlueMirageStudio]

This project isn't dead yet my friends. Just had other priorities come up. Some updates are coming soon.