Extensive restoration of 1/6 VF-1S cockpit

[Palantirion]

05-26-22

The new HUD panels, 1 polished the other only cleared.

Both polished.

Clarity sample.

The new HUD panels, fitted to the upper console.

Other angle.

[Gabe Q]

She's really coming along! Great work on those HUD panels. I'm not sure people realize how involved this whole project is.

[Palantirion]

2 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

She's really coming along! Great work on those HUD panels. I'm not sure people realize how involved this whole project is.

Thanks! And your instinct is correct: People, for the most part, won't know how much work went into this restoration. What I'm showing here is very much just the cliff notes, or like watching a cartoon with 3/4 of the cells removed.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Palantirion

[Palantirion]

05-30-22

On to the shield. As a reminder, we decided I would turn this into wall art based on Farewell, Big Brother.

The first step was to stabilize the big fracture. I believe this shield is cast PVC, so if allowed to keep flexing it could lengthen the tear. Below you can see where I drilled to pin it. The pin was more cut paper clip, then superglued in place.

This also let me set the width of the crack. I wanted it to look more like something that happened as a byproduct of being shot, not like it was torn or hit with a truck.

Once the crack was stabilized I grabbed these extra picture hanging inserts and glued them onto fairly meaty areas. Then wired it for hanging. 

I looked up the episode and when Roy is shot the "laser" blasts come from about 7-8 o'clock only slightly higher than his VF-1. Also, they aren't lasers. The closest I could think of would be plasma. Sort of doesn't matter, but it helps me better visualize the damage knowing what's causing it. I used a soldering iron to burn through the shield from the direction and AOA close to what was pictured on screen (some artistic license). And I used a lighter to bubble and melt the surface to emphasize the direction of impact and impart a more obvious sense of the areas being overheated.

As there was more than 1 burst fired I also placed these three further up. These, not the bigger ones, were the ones that went through the cockpit's rear bulkhead and into Roy's back.

I carefully painted the impact areas (and crack interior) with silver, then heat stained them with Liquitex inks (a glaze would have worked similarly). The color range is similar to what you see on overheated exhaust (header) pipes; blue->red->yellow.

Then I used the lighter brown oil paint to weather the skull and bones. In this pic the skull is done, but not the bones, so you can see the subtle difference it makes.

I also used the silver paint to make various tiny nicks in the paint. This adds detail, but also will help to unify the piece with its damaged areas.

Paints used on the shield.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Palantirion

[Palantirion]

05-31-22 (ALMOST DONE!)...(sort of)...

I didn't think the shield looked quite right. I decided it needed a little more unifying detail. So I used a scriber to add additional, much smaller, fracture lines coming away from the points of impact. Then painted and stained them.

Another angle, showing how they help make the piece more cohesive.

A crappy picture of it hanging on my wall. I don't think it looks very good in the picture, but it looked really good in person. I especially like the colors in the heat staining, which don't show up well on camera. But, here it is finished!

[Palantirion]

06-08-22

Much time, few pics. Because polishing! Yeah it pretty much looks the same. But it doesn't. Not in person. Note the time jump, a full round of sanding many grits and then full polishing led to this marginal improvement. Still a bit of haze, although it looks pretty good from this angle. 

[Palantirion]

06-20-22

Another week+ of sanding and polishing, trying new techniques or variations of techniques. I can't really show these differences clearly via photo. Suffice it to say that I kept a log and of the 80 hours the project took, 17 of those hours were sanding and polishing this damn canopy. Which would have been FAR easier (on my wrist) if it hadn't been so thin, and concave.

Looking better still.

 

 

[Palantirion]

06-29-22

This, even though it looks pretty bad, is actually a big improvement over the previous sanding rounds (go ahead, scroll back up).

And I improved it further. Mostly by...doing more. Sanding more, polishing more.

Done with polishing. It's not perfect, actually far from perfect, but it looks ok. And it didn't. As long as it isn't a distraction to the cockpit detail below then I will call that mission completed.

There were little chips in the frame's interior, which needed painting. Thankfully no filling/sanding was required.

More chips up front, which were also fixed.

DONE! And ready for pickup.

[derex3592]

This whole thread is just a masterclass in how to do custom repair work!! @Palantirion You sir, are VERY talented! Can't wait to see the whole thing setup on display! BRAVO!