The Sentinel Factory

I don't know how often I'll update this, but I've got a long-term diorama project I've been noodling on for... well, since the pandemic really. I'm to the stage where soon I'll need to start really committing to it and building some of the bigger dio parts. I'm wanting it to be multi-sectional, and it'll take up at least two Billy bookshelves, and be a way to display my various X-Mens and Womens along with the Haslab Sentinel (and the newer '97 one).

Anyway, on the way to all that, I've been collecting a lot of other small bit to use in various ways. One bit I really want to do is a manufacturing/repair shop where Sentinel heads are assembled and destroyed Sentinels are recycled into new mutant hunting death machines.

I found some gachapon robot skull toys that are the *perfect* size to serve as an interior skull beneath that Haslab Sentinel head. They also come with little feet and hands and other parts to make them whole toys of their own. In the final dio several of these skulls will be mounted on the wall to imply they're new and ready for further assembly, but some will be roaming around the display like cheap Sentinel sentries built from scraps to guard the base without having to commit as many resources. I've recently discovered that the Dollar Tree Final Faction toys have option part kits that use 3mm pegs (perfect for the 3mm ports on these robot heads). So I grabbed some, and started a-building.

Came up with this little monstrosity which I think of as some sort of high speed aerial drone Sentinel. I figure a coat of gunmetal paint, soem weathering, and red LEDs in the eyes and this thing will be awesome.

That sounds like a fun project! I hope we get to see pics when you get it all finished.

Justice said:

That sounds like a fun project! I hope we get to see pics when you get it all finished.

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Definitely! It'll still probably be a while, it's a big project.

I know what you mean. I've got so many display projects I want to do still. Am I working on any of them?

No. I'm not.

Justice said:

I know what you mean. I've got so many display projects I want to do still. Am I working on any of them?

No. I'm not.

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Yeah. I feel like I'll gain some ground on this one this Fall. I've been officially buying supplies, and the longer those sit around the more guilty I feel for not using them.

Justice said:

I know what you mean. I've got so many display projects I want to do still. Am I working on any of them?

No. I'm not.

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Honestly, thinking about it, the biggest problem I'm facing right now is I have no place to paint. I moved to an apartment with a balcony and was painting there (spray paints because I like a very crisp even coat), and a neighbor claimed it was getting droplets on his car (for context, I live on the second floor, his car was easily 40 ft away, and no paint was getting on me or my balcony next to the dang thing because I was largely using lacquer which dries almost instantly). I just don't want to take a bunch of pieces to a second location to paint things and then move it all back, especially if I have to do multiple coats.

Blech. It's annoying. I really do think I'd be way further into this if not for the painting thing.

JakeEkiss said:

Honestly, thinking about it, the biggest problem I'm facing right now is I have no place to paint. I moved to an apartment with a balcony and was painting there (spray paints because I like a very crisp even coat), and a neighbor claimed it was getting droplets on his car (for context, I live on the second floor, his car was easily 40 ft away, and no paint was getting on me or my balcony next to the dang thing because I was largely using lacquer which dries almost instantly). I just don't want to take a bunch of pieces to a second location to paint things and then move it all back, especially if I have to do multiple coats.

Blech. It's annoying. I really do think I'd be way further into this if not for the painting thing.

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Get a big cardboard box and turn it on its side and use it as a spraybooth outside. That should contain any over spray.

Justice said:

Get a big cardboard box and turn it on its side and use it as a spraybooth outside. That should contain any over spray.

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I have a feeling it wouldn't matter to this neighbor, sadly. I'm most likely just going to have to find another place.

Okey-dokey. Spent the first week of my vacation doing as little as possible, so this next week I'm trying to get some other stuff started. First image here is hard to make out, but that's a modified front panel for the glass doors on a Billy Bookshelf. We'll see if it works out, but the idea was to cover the panel in masking tape and then laser-etch a design into it. Once that's done I mop up the excess carbon with paper towels soaked in alcohol and then roll on a layer of acrylic paint. We'll see in a few hours if the process worked. if it did it should look very sharp (though it's going to be a real motherfucker to weed all the masking tape off).

The second set of images are of a prototype book-nook style diorama base. This is basically just a box within a box, with an airgap between the two boxes. This gives the front of the box a nice little windowed effect (I like a little frame) and the airgap allows me to hide any electronics or lighting I want to fit inside. This is very much just the base form which I'll be working later. Aside from one or two tweaks, it's successful as is, and later versions will be heavily customized and made into full dioramas. I just needed a base to work from. This one is about 13"x!0"x10" external dimensions and internal space about a half inch shorter in each direction. It's designed to fit on a single-wide Billy bookshelf but I plan to do a scaled up version for a double-wide when I'm done.

Had to do more touchups than I'd have liked, but I think the insert panel came out really good. I'll be doing more for all my non-toy shelves.

That looks SUPER slick.

Damien said:

That looks SUPER slick.

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Thankya! It's like a 3hr etch on the laser so I'm glad it actually worked out ok. I'll have to do the other panels on the weekends for a while since that's the only time I can usually get the machine for that long uninterrupted.