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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:16 pm 
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Good news! I came up with a new dome base! And I promise you all that this is the final dome change. I wrote in response to one concerned fellow fan's PM that whatever dome I find would have to be as good or better. I held back on posting anything until I was absolutely sure the dome base I had was going to be it, as this new dome base was misshapen to the extent that I nearly threw it away out of frustration, but kept at it, and as of last night, I believe I have a winner.

I didn't realize how much Goldie meant to people. I had received a few PMs of support, as well as shock, that Goldie's dome went to Quasimodo. It was a very difficult choice, but it basically came down to whether the dome should be a good dome for Goldie, or a great dome for Quasimodo. I'm sure future owners would appreciate the choice, but it did create a vacuum for Goldie. And what you're about to see, this new dome base is far more handsome for Goldie!


The "Straw Hat" dome

The situation of Goldie losing its dome after such an incredible story arc actually did start a dialog with a fellow fan who traded a Don Post based dome as a modification project from someone who tried his hand at casting but didn't feel he had the skills, so he never became a vendor.

Although the person who made this dome warned him that the dome had problems, the extent of it was not apparent because the flaws didn't show up in the photos due to the dome's bright color. It was dubbed the "Straw hat" because the guy who made this didn't have any dye for the resin at the time.

When it arrived in my hands, I could see its potential. It was warped. Allegedly the guy molded off a Don Post Classic Action, but honestly, it was difficult to tell it from a Don Post Deluxe. It wasn't until I treated the surface with black acrylic paint did I realize the project was a minor nightmare (or a major headache - depending on how much you want to think positive!)

Image

This is just one example of dozens upon dozens of surface defects that required filling all over the dome. And just when I thought I filled them all, I'd find half a dozen here or there. This took several rounds of patching and sanding to repair. In various parts, the dome literally had holes. I've never seen resin behave like this.

There were other areas (not viewable from this angle) where much larger areas were depressed, like the straw hat was attacked with golf balls by the village kids (you'll see it fixed later).

Image

Here I started building out the brow. I trimmed off some of the excess fiberglass, but I'm unsure why the brow was completely frayed, as if the resin avoided touching the walls of the mold while retreating from the edges.

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:18 pm 
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Hi, and welcome to Flange Hell. The entire flange looked like this. Actually, it looked worse. I happened to have some heavy duty kitchen scissors and cut the frayed fiberglass. However, as you can see, this was going to be far more work than a trim.

Now, fortunately, the skills I had developed over the last 3 years made this a rescue job which has taken me a little over a week.

Here is one stage of the flange repair:

Image

And here is another:

Image

The above shot is interesting because you can see the various islands I have had to patch.

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:19 pm 
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As mentioned earlier, parts of the dome looked like it had been tortured by golf balls. The corner of the crown facing the camera had to be significantly patched.

Image

And here's a shot from the other side Yes, I wasn't kidding about the flange repair.

Image

The crown here near the mid strip also had a depression that had to be blended in. It's not obvious from this shot because everything is seamless.

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:21 pm 
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And now the results.

Note: I've not resculpted the mid strip yet.

Image


Image

and...

Image

I'm really liking this dome now... not because it compliments the Goldie face nicely, but that this dome is similar in nature to the Golden Armor dome that originally came with Goldie. It felt like "If I were to attack that dome with the experience I have today, what would I do differently?"

It feels like Goldie is coming full circle!

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:04 pm 
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Wow, alot of work there... looking good! :thumbsup


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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:43 am 
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impressive , very good job :bow


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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:31 pm 
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What a nightmarish looking dome, but you worked it. It compliments the face mask pretty well. Once you correct the mid strip for ANH style, you should have a nice dome. As far as I can see you need to do more than just sharpening it. You have to add to it as well towards the right, to get the correct curve. :thumbsup

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:41 pm 
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That's just so good. I remember having enough problems sorting out my first Dalek dome. At least I has a straight edge to work a to. It must be really hard making sure you keep the flow of those curves.

I particularly like that last photo: the grey line on the right brow (as you look at the pic) give it a real 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough' look.
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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:37 pm 
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Good luck on this task Mac! Looks to be a fair bit of work, but with all your experience from working on Quasi and Goldie, I am sure your the man to do it. Looks like your turning into a vendor yourself, at this rate, you'll be pumping out ANH helmets left, right and center!!!

Did you get your Quasi moulds made?

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:03 am 
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The community support is encouraging! It means a lot to me to see you guys cheer these efforts on.

Vaux wrote:
Looks like your turning into a vendor yourself, at this rate, you'll be pumping out ANH helmets left, right and center!!!


Whoa, time out there, fella! :toothy I'm just a sculptor. I don't have the means to even make a mold, let alone create quantities like you're implying, but thanks for the boost! :thumbsup

My long term goal is not to become a vendor. This is not to say all vendors are bad, but the ones that have caused the community pain are the ones that set themselves up as perpetual vendors (like some that are on eBay). When they show photos of a prop, it's not necessarily something they have ready to ship, but it's a photo of a past product that's only representative of what they're selling - but you and I have no way of knowing that. Let's say you click on the "Buy it Now" button. The vendor then takes the money and start acquiring materials and then, basically, builds to order.

If he can't get the materials in time, then delays happen, and delivery gets pushed out. Worse, if he spend sthe money before he produces, he then has to wait for another person (victim) to buy in order to have money to acquire materials (read: Ponzi scheme).

There are vendors who may have meant well starting out, but due to mismanagement of time, resources and money, they delay delivery. I don't know about you, but expecting a 30 day turnaround and waiting over 1 year is just completely unacceptable.

There are some fellow fans who, like me, have been victims of other vendors, and they try to be better vendors themselves. I'm more of the category of being a fan artist who just wants to help out other fellow fans who have been down on their luck. In fact, some of them have been very patient with Goldie's progress over the years, and they are people whose fortunes I'd love to see finally changed. To help them, my goal is to simply do a short run of these. And learning how vendors make the mistake of taking money up front and not delivery, I'll put up my own money and wont' take a cent until these are completed, photographed, and ready to be put in boxes and shipped out - just like what various fan artists on the RPF have done themselves.

I have a day job and a career, and this is simply a hobby - but with a charity purpose, because I do want to help a fellow fan financially who has fought through things like cancer and other physical ailments - who, after purchasing pain medication for her body, usually finds it difficult to make ends meet, and I'd like to her to eat something other than peanut butter and bread. So although I don't know what the future looks like past the limited run I'm planning, I know that I do want to see that fellow fan continually blessed, if possible. I spoke with T-VIRUS (the one helping me with molding and casting this run - as we both met on the basis of being victims of the SAME vendor) and we agree that we want to leave the Vader aspect of the hobby better than when we entered it. As to what that future looks like, it depends on how many people want to change the culture of the hobby with me. I'm open to working with vendors to give fellow fans some affordable and good quality options that didn't exist when I first entered the hobby - provided that they believe in my vision and charity endeavor, and will purpose to have good business management and not take advantage of fellow fans. :thumbsup

One final thought is that Goldie, to me, is not so much as a prop but the product of a journey. In reading these posts, fellow fans have journeyed with me in my endeavor of turning something bad around into something good - it's thus not just a win for me but a win for anyone who has ever been taken advantage of by a vendor. My view is that a casting of something like Goldie is a keepsake of that journey. Hope that makes sense. :wink:

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:11 pm 
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Nice to know your doing it all in aid of a worthy cause Mac. I get where you coming from with the journey, people have read along while you've been making the journey from something bad to being good in the end.

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:06 am 
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Too Much Garlic wrote:
You have to add to it as well towards the right, to get the correct curve. :thumbsup


For screen-sized helmets, you're absolutely right, but this is not quite a normal situation. The difference between the DP DLX and DP CA domes, apparently, is that the DPCA flange is shorter in length. Although that is not proportionate to the screen props, its shorter flange is apparently proper for the size of the mask.

Back with my previous dome attempt, I went back and forth repeatedly on the flange length. What looked right for the dome by itself never seemed to look right the moment the dome was on the mask, as my dome - although severely hacked up and resculpted and redone, it was still a DP DLX in flange length.

The straw hat dome is DP CA, and I'm finding that history is repeating itself and I'm dealing with an identical issue of flange length.

Just wait and see. It'll look okay. :thumbsup

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:07 am 
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Awesome work. It is hard to believe that all this started with that original GA helmet. You have really put a ton of great work into this and it shows. Keep it up.


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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:16 am 
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CSMacLaren wrote:
Too Much Garlic wrote:
You have to add to it as well towards the right, to get the correct curve. :thumbsup


For screen-sized helmets, you're absolutely right, but this is not quite a normal situation. The difference between the DP DLX and DP CA domes, apparently, is that the DPCA flange is shorter in length. Although that is not proportionate to the screen props, its shorter flange is apparently proper for the size of the mask.

Back with my previous dome attempt, I went back and forth repeatedly on the flange length. What looked right for the dome by itself never seemed to look right the moment the dome was on the mask, as my dome - although severely hacked up and resculpted and redone, it was still a DP DLX in flange length.

The straw hat dome is DP CA, and I'm finding that history is repeating itself and I'm dealing with an identical issue of flange length.

Just wait and see. It'll look okay. :thumbsup

Oh, I was talking about the center ridge mid strip. Your flanges are just right as they are. :cheers

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 Post subject: Re: "Goldie" - A Tale of Transformation: from Trash to Gold
PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:18 pm 
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Wow Mac,
Great to see you have a new dome...

When do you expect to see Goldie done, well at least 99.9% complete. :wink:


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