DAY 42 - Paint ???? Yep - Paint

Painting on this project can signal only one thing.... nearing completion (yeah, right).

Now that all of the foot drive pieces parts are in order, the wires are run through the legs and the foot drives tested with the new aluminum setup, it was time to get some white pain on them gams.

A little sanding on the bare aluminum horseshoes, and masking the recessed ports for the shoulder buttons and shoulder hydraulics.  The inner, fluted, surface of the horseshoes is also masked off, so these parts will be bare aluminum.  It takes every fiber of my being not to pull the tape off ....

These bare aluminum parts were prepped with self-etching primer.  I copped this explanation from an automotive message board:

Self-etching primer is composed of an acid and zinc. The acid, usually phosphoric acid, forces the zinc down into the top couple of molecules of the steel. Chemically impregnating the steel like this cannot reverse the rust but it can stop in from getting worse.

OK - so this is aluminum, so the rust thing is not an issue, but the Duplicolor Primer I bought works on steel and aluminum.

Here is one horseshoe complete ... maybe.  I used a Rustoleum Satin finish, and although I like the looks of it, it simply does not have the sheen of the body (which is already painted).  I picked up a couple of cans of semi-gloss to see how that matches up.  If I am still off, it may mean roughing up the body paint and re-painting with what I have on the legs and feet.....

A shot from the back - R2 has not been this bare in a very long time.  All said, with no legs, feet or dome, I could (ahem) comfortably lift the body with the batteries inside.  I figure the configuration shown below weight in at 50 - 60 lbs.

90 degrees to the West....

A shot from the front, showing some cool wiring in the dome.

A couple of Anderson Powerpole quick disconnects added to the legs - you can see one peeking out from the frame in the background.  I found that all three legs can be completely removed in about 10 minutes.  This will, no doubt, come in handy in the future in case he has to be packed up or torn down for maintenance.

Smoothing out a couple of rough spots on the center ankle.  The center ankle comes off of the main body with 4 bolts.  Nice and easy.  Removing the ankle cylinders, casters and the pivot of the ankle.... well that is a whole different story.    That process takes about 45 minutes.  One I hope not to repeat for a good long while.

Outer foot roughed up a bit with sandpaper.  The hole in the top is where the wires will lead from the ankle to the motors in the foot drive.  The holes in the channel - well, one is for mounting the ankle, and the other was for the wires, but will not be used, and it will be hidden once the ankle is in place.

One last look at the feet before they get a shiny new coat (or 4) of white paint.

An assortment of parts painted.  You may notice the holes on the bottoms of the center ankles.  These are the holes that the wires will feed through from the legs to the feet.  Again, when everything is assembled, no wires or holes will be visible.

The wires protruding from the center hubs of the legs are the power feeds for the foot motors.  They are taped off, and conceal the Anderson Powerpole connectors.

There we go - all of the leg goodies in one place, all white and happy.  You can see the body skin color is a bit off from this photo.  I will see how the gloss paint matches up.  Regardless, I am going to weather the little guy in the end, so I can make the parts match during that process.

Here is a sample of "weathering", or a gratuitous plug for Razor and Stak (AKA Sean Baumgartner and yours truly of the Ohio 501st)

Back on topic.  Battery boxes - these are the PVC boxes I picked up a few months ago.  I decided to go with these boxes, as the aluminum ones I purchased had the inside holes already cut out to allow access for the foot drive motors, but I felt that the openings were too large.  Once these are complete, I challenge anyone to tell me that they are not aluminum....

Overall, I rather productive day.  (As productive as watching paint dry will allow).  The next update will show whether the new gloss paint is a closer match.  I will wet sand some imperfections from these parts, then apply the final coat of gloss.  Wish me luck !