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Balcony Chuck restoration
Topic Started: May 30 2015, 07:28 AM (41,113 Views)
80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
Since I plan on restoring Chuck, I figured it was time to make a thread. First post is more of a record of where I'm starting from.

Posted Image

The good:

He has all his body cosmetics.
They're in great shape.
Has all his cylinders and a valve bank.
Parts seem to be in good working order.

The bad:

Mech is missing the right forearm and hand.
Whites of the eyes are marked and discolored.
Irises are chipped, scratched and also mismatched.
No nose.
No lower lip.
No tongue.
Is that white thing supposed to be teeth?

The unknown:

Status of cylinders, valves and other mechanics. (No compressor or controller to test those yet.)

Working on either getting the old right forearm/hand from the previous owner or a replacement from another member.

Eyes are really important to a character, whether they're 2D or 3D. Here are Chuck's.

Posted Image

Now you know why I've taken most pics with his eyes closed. I think the iris on the left eye is newer, or at least intended for a different bot. It's a different size, and the lines are painted in white. The pupil is off center too. I'm hoping to find a replacement that matches the smaller one on the right eye. Lots of wear on both from the eyelids rubbing against the surface and taking the paint off. My plan is to fill the chipped areas with epoxy putty, then sand smooth and repaint.

Eyes I can keep shut, but the nose and teeth stick out all the time. Still waiting on most materials, but I got tired of looking at the pull tab hanging from his mouth and made him some new teeth from some imitation leather. I looked at pictures and guessed on the size and shape, but I think they turned out pretty good. Even though he still looks weird without a nose, the new teeth make him look much better already.

Posted Image

On figures of this age, they used French stretch terry fabric to cover his nose, snout, jaw and lower lip. The tongue was made from satin. The previous owner reupholstered his snout and jaw, but didn't use the same type of cloth.

Unfortunately, stretch terry is not easy to find except online. The pink fabric looks fine so I'll leave that for now until I can find the correct fabric. My plan is to give him a new nose and recreate the lower lip and tongue. I ordered black and red stretch terry from fabrics.com. Hopefully they should arrive next week. There should be plenty of fabric left over if I have to redo them if/when I find the correct pink cloth.

I hope to work on him a little each day.
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Vega-Three
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Every step you take in restoring him, it seems like he somehow steps out of uncanny valley just a little bit more and becomes a little more cheerful. Stinks that the clevis fastener was too small, but that's an easy thing to fix. He's coming along nicely.
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
Here's a pic from the auction...

Posted Image

I know I'm sentimental and anthropomorphizing too much, but to me he looks a LOT happier now.
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Poprock Balboa
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Anarcho Punk In Training
I don't think you're anthropomorphizing at all, to be honest. He literally does look happier, just by the air around him now that he's neater and much more well put together.

I mean, he expression isn't happier, but his air and overall mood he puts off by way of just viewing it looks much more happy, if not just plain no longer "put me out of my misery" like it used to be.
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AD Machine
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Eagle Scout
Wannabe Aaron Fechter
Jun 17 2015, 10:00 PM
I don't think you're anthropomorphizing at all, to be honest. He literally does look happier, just by the air around him now that he's neater and much more well put together.

I mean, he expression isn't happier, but his air and overall mood he puts off by way of just viewing it looks much more happy, if not just plain no longer "put me out of my misery" like it used to be.
He does look a lot happier with a nose, mic and teeth. Also, are the eyes fixed?
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Menutia
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For comparison, I am attaching a pic of this CEC when he was first "discovered" in a storage facility. He definitely has seen some bad days in his past. Bravo on the restoration... he has come a long way baby!
Attached to this post:
Attachments: CEC_MECH.jpg (197.24 KB)
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DerbyChuck
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He looks Pretty good now
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PaulKTF
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80sgirl
Jun 17 2015, 08:56 PM
Got his replacement arm parts today, but it turns out the clevis piece on the end of the cylinder is too small to fit over the connector on the forearm. Apparently they beefed up the connection at some point. But I was still able to wire it up with a twist tie so Chuck could hold his mic for this pic.

Posted Image
He sort of looks like he's singing in the shower! heehee.
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Vega-Three
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Menutia
Jun 19 2015, 10:58 AM
For comparison, I am attaching a pic of this CEC when he was first "discovered" in a storage facility. He definitely has seen some bad days in his past. Bravo on the restoration... he has come a long way baby!
Wow, to think something in such a condition can be made new again is amazing!
Edited by Vega-Three, Jun 19 2015, 04:18 PM.
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
AD Machine
Jun 19 2015, 09:16 AM
He does look a lot happier with a nose, mic and teeth. Also, are the eyes fixed?


I'm still working on his eyes. It turned out the eyes are not croquet balls as I had heard. Or if they are, croquet balls were a different diameter back in the '80s. So the slope on the irises I created was wrong. I tried to go in yesterday, but couldn't get a spot on the printer. But now they are doing appointments on Mondays so I signed up. So hopefully I'll have them complete by the end of next week at the latest.

Menutia
Jun 19 2015, 10:58 AM
For comparison, I am attaching a pic of this CEC when he was first "discovered" in a storage facility. He definitely has seen some bad days in his past. Bravo on the restoration... he has come a long way baby!


He is undoubtedly the sorriest looking Chuck I have ever seen. Can't believe they apparently slapped some gray fur on Jasper's jaw and ran him with that. :blink:
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DerbyChuck
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Hes slowly coming together








In :cecwink: pizza
we trust
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
Yup. It's been a long time coming, but he's finally having his day. :cec:

I took the dryer vent tubing off the mech arms because it made it difficult to get his gloves on. Most of the shaping foam in his arms is gone, but the gloves come up to his elbows and do a good job of filling out his lower arms. So now I need something to fill out the space above his elbows so his arms don't look like skin and bones. Something that won't get in the way of his movements. I'm thinking of carving up a pool noodle and wrapping it around the frame with electrical tape.
Edited by 80sgirl, Jun 20 2015, 11:45 PM.
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DerbyChuck
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Whats the vest size maybe i could find one on ebay
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Vega-Three
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80sgirl
Jun 20 2015, 11:32 PM
Yup. It's been a long time coming, but he's finally having his day. :cec:

I took the dryer vent tubing off the mech arms because it made it difficult to get his gloves on. Most of the shaping foam in his arms is gone, but the gloves come up to his elbows and do a good job of filling out his lower arms. So now I need something to fill out the space above his elbows so his arms don't look like skin and bones. Something that won't get in the way of his movements. I'm thinking of carving up a pool noodle and wrapping it around the frame with electrical tape.
If pool noodles end up not working you could try using a square or two of flooring foam (EVA foam) for the arms. It can be heated and shaped with a heat gun and it's durable. You could also make a wicked set of armor for Chuck out of it. Y'know, just ideas. :cecwink:
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BrenBill
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Vega-Three
Jun 21 2015, 04:09 PM
You could also make a wicked set of armor for Chuck out of it. Y'know, just ideas. :cecwink:
This took way longer than expected, haha.
Posted Image
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Vega-Three
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brenbill
Jun 21 2015, 09:24 PM
Vega-Three
Jun 21 2015, 04:09 PM
You could also make a wicked set of armor for Chuck out of it. Y'know, just ideas. :cecwink:
This took way longer than expected, haha.
Posted Image
I didn't expect someone to Photoshop a mock-up of my idea, but you did and it's even better than I could've imagined.
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
JaydenT2005
Jun 21 2015, 02:47 PM
Whats the vest size maybe i could find one on ebay


Big. I estimate he would probably wear a 4x.

Vega-Three
Jun 21 2015, 04:09 PM
If pool noodles end up not working you could try using a square or two of flooring foam (EVA foam) for the arms. It can be heated and shaped with a heat gun and it's durable. You could also make a wicked set of armor for Chuck out of it. Y'know, just ideas. :cecwink:


Thanks. The pool noodle ended up working really well. I went out and bought a jumbo pool noodle today and was able to cut it to fit around his arm cylinder and shoulder supports. Here's the results...

Before:

Posted Image

After:

Posted Image

Posted Image

No more flabby upper arms!

Edit: Started this post before the armor pic was posted, but it's hilarious. Have to add that to my already long list of costumes to make for him...
Edited by 80sgirl, Jun 21 2015, 10:45 PM.
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AD Machine
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Eagle Scout
Dang, Chuck looks good.
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
Well, I tried again on Monday and this time I think I got the size down.

Posted Image

I want them blue with yellow lines and have been experimenting with sanding and painting using the earlier set. The sanding process leaves the surface of the plastic an off-white color. I'm sure it's possible to get it back to shiny black using progressively smaller grit sandpaper, but I think it would be faster to just sand them smooth and hit them with glossy spray paint. Then I'll paint the blue over that, and then the yellow lines on top.

The problem I'm currently running into is making the lines leading out from the pupil. I'm using acrylic paint and the blue color shows through when I use a brush.

Any of you artists out there know how to make a thin line of paint that won't show the darker color underneath?
Edited by 80sgirl, Jun 25 2015, 03:58 AM.
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AD Machine
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Eagle Scout
80sgirl
Jun 25 2015, 03:56 AM
Any of you artists out there know how to make a thin line of paint that won't show the darker color underneath?
Try painting a base of blue, wait until it dries, then sand it down until its smooth. Then paint the irises onto the eyes, using the 2nd color. I've never painted a bot myself, so I'm not positive, but from my painting experinces, that should work
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
It's getting those fine lines that's the problem. I know they were hand made. Maybe the brush I'm using is too big.

Anyway, Chuck is now mechanically complete.

Posted Image

Posted Image

I hope his cylinders and valves are in good working order. I got a compressor, but the controller probably won't come until next week. Held off on ordering that until I could verify the compressor wasn't a dud.
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