Abort, Retry, Refail (day 11)

Tonight I adjusted some of my pauldron work that I’d done on other recent nights. I can’t really hope to get the alignment of these parts exactly right, but if I can spot something wrong, and verify it with a measurement, then I can do better.

Work began with a check and adjustment to the edges of the pauldron, checking that the edges aligned with the edges of the centerline guide. This, along with a measurement of the distance from the centerline guide, verifies whether a particular bit of the part edge is in the right place.

Next, having identified the alignment problem with the spikes, I pulled the shell off from the guides. In addition to correcting the spike fringe parts’ alignment with each other, I also wanted to sink the spike fringes deeper into the pauldron’s surface, making them more like bumps in the surface of the pauldron instead of the much more prominent and distinct features that I’d made them. I was a little worried that pulling the shell off might break it or that I’d lose the ability to check it against the guides, but it worked out.

After making my desired adjustments to the cross-section guides to place the spikes deeper in the surface of the pauldron, I reassembled the part to take a look at the effect. The side spike turned out OK but the front and back ones wound up too deep, so I added some styrene plate as a spacer.

Finally, I reseated everything, and put in some fresh epoxy putty around the spike fringes in their new location… And then I checked the alignment again and… well…

Looks like I’ll be giving it another try tomorrow.