We’ll give it a shot… (day 49)

It’s been challenging to make headway this week, just a lot going on. As always, just got to keep at it as well as I can. Last time I reworked the polycap installation for the midriff joint, and lamented the fact that the connecting rods installed in the midriff were still so far out of whack. Today I used a guide to reinstall the rods with better alignment, and also made some adjustments to the chest block for better symmetry.

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Do it again, Do it better (day 46)

Numerous times in the previous posts about the waist joint I said things like “I could have made this so much easier and better if I had the two polycaps stuck together with a styrene tube and built up the torso around it”… Sometimes it’s important to resist the urge to re-do work that’s already done, but I decided in this case it’d actually be worth it.

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Five Years Later… (day 45)

Prior to the 100 day challenge my progress on this project was characterized by bursts of activity separated by years of non-engagement. The past couple days I haven’t managed to get any time in on the project. Missing two consecutive days of the challenge feels like that, like I’ve been making all this progress but it could just stop at any time and I wouldn’t get back to it until 2030 or something. A bit of an overreaction perhaps, but I do want to do better than that.
Today I continued work on the polycap joint connecting the chest block to the midriff. Honestly, it still needs work, it’s been a challenge trying to get the two polycaps properly aligned with each other, and to get the two rods that plug into them parallel with each other and properly situated in the midriff. But I think what I have now, I’ll be able to work with, without having to start over (again).

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Poseable, Therefore Valid (day 42)

I had struggled for a while to figure out how to add a polycap joint to allow the chest block to move relative to the midriff, but finally I found a solution: Have two polycaps, one on either side of the cockpit, so the joints wouldn’t prevent me from having a hatch-open cockpit part as an option, and put the joints at the bottom of the chest block, rather than the top of the midriff, so I wouldn’t see them poking out the front sides of the midriff. It was a slow process to add the polycap to the torso, and I’ve only done one side so far, but it looks promising.

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Midriff Work (day 40)

Today I spent a big chunk of time puzzling about how to attach the head and midriff to the torso. I’m not sure I’ve come up with a solution I’m happy with yet so for now I’ve altered the midriff part to fit around the canopy frame.

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New Canopy (day 39)

Last time while working on the chest block and head I actually lost the cockpit canopy part. I figure the original part will turn up sooner or later but it’s a simple enough part that I decided to just build another one. This could be considered a waste of effort but it may be an opportunity to make some improvements as well.

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Can’t be bothered to think of a title (day 38)

Today I mostly worked on refining the head interior. I’m trying to work out how it should attach to the body, but I also need to work out some kind of keying system so the helmet can stay securely attached to it… Tonight’s work is mostly in preparation for those steps, getting the head interior to fit better inside the head, hopefully with enough space for a clear visor part, and getting the monoeye centered better within the head.

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Contact (day 37)

I didn’t get anything done yeaterday and today’s work maybe isn’t the most compelling… But it is a necessary step. In a previous day of work I did a rough sculpt of the cockpit hatch and set up the canopy that sits above the hatch. That was just the first step, of course, the parts need further refinement, so today I worked on that.

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A Vent Countdown (day 35)

Continuing the recent trend of working on chest block details, I’ve built the chest vents and cut holes in the chest block shell parts so I can countersink them.

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Detail-related pun (day 33)

I just realized, at this point I am one-third of the way through the hundred day challenge. I’ve known from early on there was a real chance that, at the pace I was establishing, I probably wouldn’t finish the whole build in the hundred days, but being a full third of the way through the challenge does kind of put things in perspective.
Today I did more detail work on the chest block. I decided the ridges on the front of the chest were too high, so I relocated them, and I added the similar ridged details on the sides of the chest block, and on the sides of the backpack.

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