EYES

As mentioned in one of my earlier 'Research' posts, getting the eyes right has been a key component of the build, and proved to be quite a challenge. I wanted to achieve the eye/lens aesthetic of the T800 from the first film and opted for the lens to have the appearance of being clear when unlit (as opposed to red). Additionally, I stumbled across a great post by Max (Sio's T800 Project) where he has a great idea to utilise a clear marble as the lens, and mount the bulb/LED behind it. So I decided to follow his example and purchase some cheap marbles from eBay, and mounted them inside the eye balls. I also stippled some black paint onto the back of the marble from the inside of the eye ball, to dim the effect of the red light passing through it, and to also give the lens a darker 'empty' appearance when not illuminated.

For the light source itself, I purchased a couple of clear LEDs from eBay (again!) and used the information I collected from a few sites to create the necessary circuit. With my original (decade old) build of the skull, I had used a battery source to power the lights. I decided to trawl the internet to see if anyone had an easy method for using USB as the power source, and discovered the following tutorial: How to build a USB powered LED light. For wiring up the two LEDs I found this page: LEDs for beginners. And finally, to work out the kind of electronic resistor I'd need in the circuit, I came across this site: LED Series Resistor Calculator, and this one (which also handily draws a diagram of the circuit out for you): LED series/parallel array wizard. This final page might prove useful in understanding how the circuit should be laid out: LED Circuits.

The marble (and stippled paint on the back) helps reduce the glare of the LED, and provides a slightly softer and flatter glow. It also has the added effect of providing a slightly blotchy appearance, which resembles the red glow we see on the eye closeup scenes in T1.

TEETH

Now that the Alclad II Chrome had been applied to all of the parts, I glued the acrylic teeth into position. It required a bit of tweaking to select suitable teeth from the set and to the get them positioned successfully. Note: you end up with some teeth left-over as I discovered a Terminator doesn't feature a full set of human teeth due to the chrome blocks at the back, where wisdom teeth would normally be. I'm not totally happy with the final result, as there's a bit of a gap between the upper and lower front teeth - I had already reduced the height of the lower rear teeth to help reduce effect of the gap at the front and felt further trimming might be pushing my luck (ie I might damage them irreversibly).

There is a massive visual improvement gained by replacing the original vinyl teeth with this acrylic set; they are incomparable and are something I would strongly recommend to anyone considering making one of these vinyl Endo Skull model kits. Actually, one problem is that they are too good; I'll need to grunge them up a bit so that he doesn't look like he's been visiting his dentist regularly.

You may also notice that I've started to paint in some of the finer detailing (eg panel gaps) and ageing/weathering into the recesses on the main chrome parts.

AIRBRUSHING: ALCLAD II CHROME - SKULL

Following the base-coat of Gloss Black Enamel Paint, I airbrushed the Alclad II Chrome onto the skull (see previous posts for more detailed explanations), with the following results:

AIRBRUSHING: ALCLAD II CHROME COAT - JAW & DETAILS

After the gloss black base coat was fully dry (I gave it 24 hours), next up was the Alclad II chrome lacquer coat. I set the air compressor to approximately 15-20PSI and held the airbrush at around 10-15cm from the parts being sprayed. Application was the same as with the gloss black base coat; using a steady 'brushing' motion over the surface until I achieved the desired reflective finish.

LESS IS MORE WITH ALCLAD
Alclad II chrome is a lacquer comprising of small metal particles. I found that it dries almost immediately upon application. I recommend a 'less is more' approach when applying Alclad II chrome - if you spray on too much it actually starts to dull. There is a 'sweet spot' to find when airbrushing the lacquer - immediately stop as soon as you achieve a nice reflective metal finish. NOTE: Alclad seems to brighten up even further after you have finished application - it actually happens before your eyes over the course of a few seconds. I believe this is caused by the metal particles in the lacquer slowly settling. Additionally, once fully dry (it doesn't take long at all) the chrome finish can be (gently) buffed up with a soft cloth (eg a glasses cloth) which wipes off the fine dust that tends to appear on the surface. You end up with a very reflective, metal-looking coating.

The results of Alclad II's chrome lacquer on the vinyl jaw piece

The individual neck pieces after being 'chromed'

I also applied primer, gloss black base-coat and Alclad II chrome to the jaw pistons

The super-shiny eye balls

I painted each of the mounting pieces for the eye ball and jaw pistons

AIRBRUSHING: THE BASE COAT - PART II

Lessons now learnt, I set about re-spraying the gloss black base coat, and this time made sure I found a suitable place to allow them to dry without the potential for 'accidents'. As mentioned, the Humbrol Gloss Black Enamel Paint is mixed with White Spirits in a 50/50 ratio to enable it to be sprayed on smoothly. I painted all of the parts in a single go, aiming to get a nice smooth finish whilst trying to avoid applying too much paint to prevent running.

Endo Skull now airbrushed with a base-coat of Humbrol Gloss Black Enamel Paint

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN!

Sometimes accidents just happen, despite being completely avoidable. Once all of the model parts were primed and ready for painting, I set about mounting the skull on the top of a plastic bottle (securing it in position with Blu-Tac) and securing the jaw on the end of a rod. I then sprayed a clean and even base coat of Humbrol Black Gloss; all went well - it looked very sleek and shiny - and I set them to dry on top of a unit in the bathroom.

An hour or so later I returned to the bathroom to check if all was well. It wasn't. The skull was gone, and I was baffled as to where. After a moment of trying to compute the possibilities I came to the conclusion that it had somehow fallen into the (what was previously a) pristine white laundry basket. I lifted the fabric lid to see the black endo skull lying on a white bath towel, looking up at me. It's as if it had deliberately fallen in there - it had clearly rolled along the surface of the bathroom unit and then plummeted over the far end, finding the two whitest items in my home to fall onto and thus stain with gloss black paint. Great! I just had to accept it had happened and chalk it up to experience.

I inspected the skull and discovered that the front was still pristine, but the rear (where it had been lying on the towel) was obviously ruined. As the paint was partially dry, I decided to let it continue to dry completely, and then set about sanding down the damaged areas with fine sandpaper. Fortunately this wasn't too much of an ordeal, and quite quickly I had the skull back in a state ready to tackle spraying the base-coat once again.

Endo Skull after the 'laundry basket accident' and subsequent sanding down to remove the damaged paint work

The jaw pistons now ready for the gloss black base-coat (mounted with tooth-picks in a block of styrofoam)

The vinyl jaw piece, mounted on a rod to ease spraying