[pchrisbosh1]

I'ts been 10 years since I started my last scratchbuild shell and I thought it would be a great anniversary to start my final build that I've been talking myself in and out of for the past several years. My previous shell is something I'm very proud of and grateful for but has a few quirks I wanted to re-adjust. I probably could of more or less just pulled a cast from my mold and hacked into it and made the adjustments necessary but I thought it would be more fun to just start from the ground up and document my progress as it might help some future scratchbuilders that are eager to start their own builds.

I've got some new measurements from MBurkit (Thank you) in addition to some previous ones I've had that might help fill in some gaps in the areas I more or less had to guess. I know Mack Factory is releasing a direct cast Sony Lobby Hero/Spengler shell that will put an end to all the measurement speculation but until then I thought it would be more fun and perhaps nostalgic to be like the old days and try to get as close as I can without having it on hand.

As for the materials I will be using .080 styrene for most of the structure and of course will be using .125 (1/8 inch) for the various ribs, cyclotron rings, and syncgen plates. Looking back in hindsight I can't believe I finished my first shell in roughly 2 months. This shell might take a little longer then that as I plan to be a lot more tedious with the measurements.

Of course I started with the powercell like my last build. This probably took me 7 hours plus to build, I thought I completely nailed it then I went back did some various double checking of measurements from different angles and I was off a hair....partially tore it down and rebuilt it to spec.

Here is the styrene workspace to start with. I usually start by measuring all my templates/faces out on some styrene. I always cut a tad more so I have material to work with in case I was off or undercut.

Start gluing all my faces together and sand smooth. At this point I start dremeling with a sand drum all the curves and corners to match the screen used packs before I start placing on the ribs. I also do another check of measurements to make sure I'm good on all angles in case I'm not I could easily readjust.

Starting measuring and sketching where the ribs will go. The sketch on the box is just a rough draft of where the ribs will go. As I'm putting each rib on I'm using my ruler to make sure each rib goes in its precise spot.

Hours later were finished


All the angles and tapers are to spec and I'm happy with it!


On a side note the powercell on the screen shells has a taper where the base of the power cell is wider then the front which causes this slight angle.


Now were moving on to the crank gen. The crank gen is an absolute beast to build and probably one of the hardest parts of the shell to build especially when trying to match the screen used shells. There is so many uneven measurements, tapers, and wonkiness to it. So far I've slayed the beast and wounded it to my liking but it's still half way alive and need to further slay it to my liking. On to putting the finishing touches on it and getting all the corners rounded off, sculpted and smoothed out.

Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome!

[mburkit]

Looking freaking great so far!

[JWils23]

The attention to detail is second to none! Love watching this come together.

[pchrisbosh1]

Thanks you guys really appreciate that! More progress coming soon.

[abaka]

This is one of the most exciting things I've seen in the community in a long time. The legendary Bosh shell being upgraded....I didn't even think it could be upgraded!!!

[oidoglr]

I saw the YouTube video last week and was hoping there'd be a thread!

[Q-man]

Beautiful work, but why not use real wood for the ribs.
Do you prefer styrene for mold reasons.

[pchrisbosh1]

Beautiful work, but why not use real wood for the ribs.
Do you prefer styrene for mold reasons.

Thanks Q. I thought about it but really just wanted to keep the same material it's much easier and I don't want to run into adhesion issues with the wood vs styrene mix. It probably would have been fine but I could easily give a faux wood grain look to the styrene similar to how I did on my last shell.

Made some progress over the last couple weeks and thought I'd share some photos..

So of course we start with the base a lot of odd and wonky measurements going on this looks like the easy part but it took me a day or two to just get this far


Then of course I start to cut out all the ribs on a sheet of .125 Styrene. I overcut the ribs to make adjustments in case I don't place the the rib down right the extra excess makes it easier to snap off and readjust.


I ran into an issue with the powercell which I thought I got perfectly right but I got a text from my buddy Burkit and he helped out and pointed out that the bottom powercell rib on the screen used packs doesn't enlarge towards the motherboard like seen in this picture

Burkit shared a reference photo showing that the rib stays the same size all the way through. I was baffled for a day and it drove me crazy because I didn't understand what went wrong. After many hours I finally wrapped my mind around it and figured out the mystery and realized that on the screen used packs instead of the bottom plate of the powercell being square like I had it that it actually is angled with the bottom powercell rib so that it runs the same size all the way through like so


I made the adjustment and now it looks right. I looked on MacksFactory Idealized Hero Shell and he had the same artifact and that's probably because he used the HMS Production shell as reference.

I start taking a dremel tool and getting all the corners and crevices rounded off and looking like the screen used crank gen

Had to make sure the top ribs are crooked like the screen used shell


Add a fresh coat of filler primer and were done for now. I will definitely go back and add in all the faux woodgrain/nails marks/texture when I'm closer to being finish. This crankgen is much more accurate then my original and I'm extremely happy with it!






Were moving on to the gunmount now. Stay Tuned! All comments welcome.

[bigi71]

Amazing to see this! Really brings back some memories and I´m going to be watching the progression on this shell for sure

Love the shapes of the generator, super nice job.

On the powercell i was wondering more or less recently if theres a second taper which is only on the fins about an inch or so away from the motherboard. In some pictures it looks like the fins on the side of the powercell get thinner from there towards the motherboard. I thought i would add this to my shell as well so i just wanted to point it out and ask if im seeing things or it looks so to anyone else too.

Good luck with the build, looking forward to see more!

[mburkit]

Chris, you did a good job fixing that bottom rib on the powercell. Beyond that, your crank gen looks great! I love seeing these types of builds.

[JWils23]

Excellent work as always Chris, that crank gen is a beauty. Can’t wait to see the rest of this shell come to life!

[pchrisbosh1]

Amazing to see this! Really brings back some memories and I´m going to be watching the progression on this shell for sure

Love the shapes of the generator, super nice job.

On the powercell i was wondering more or less recently if theres a second taper which is only on the fins about an inch or so away from the motherboard. In some pictures it looks like the fins on the side of the powercell get thinner from there towards the motherboard. I thought i would add this to my shell as well so i just wanted to point it out and ask if im seeing things or it looks so to anyone else too.

Good luck with the build, looking forward to see more!

So good to see you back Bjorn! Just seeing you post again is pure nostalgia for me and brings back memories of the good ol' days of the board. If it wasn't for you I'm sure none of us here would probably even know what styrene is . Your the OG master styrene builder. Newcomers out there take note Bigi71 is the man.

For the powercell ribs your absolutely right...it looks like the top 3 side ribs have a small taper going towards the motherboard. The fourth rib has a very small taper but barily noticeable. Looks like the artifact came from sanding or grinding down. This is a detail that I'll probably add last but good eye for noticing that! I don't think it's a detail that has been replicated at this point.


In this last photo it doesn't really look like much was grinded down...maybe half or quarter of 1/16th a inch I'm guessing.

Thanks James and Burkit for the support and comments. More coming soon!

[pchrisbosh1]

We are still rocking and rolling guys got another update I wanted to share. I moved on to the gunmount, EDA, and spacer. Here some pics of my progress.....


I'm super proud of this EDA as it's much more accurate then my original. This was one area that always kind of bothered me on my original shell and I was glad I got to rework it and get it right! I added the proper curves and tapers this time around. 10 years ago I thought the left corner taper ran all the down but it doesn't on the screen used shells and it's pretty much like so.


This gunmount is also far more accurate then my original shell. I missed a couple angles on the mount box on my first go -round and was able to correct it this time.



Built the corner above the gunmount. On my original shell I had the width of bevel much too narrow on the screen used packs the bevel is 3/8 and flares out to about 1/2 towards the gunmount and crankgen....Thanks Burkit for tip on this one my man!



Started work on the cyclotron....I wanted to get this out of the way as it's probably the hardest part of building a pack. If I could get this out of the way it should be smoother sailing. I built the cyclotron much better this go around and thought I'd share what I got so far. The cyclotron on the screen used packs is roughly 2 inches high including the half inch frame around it. I added a channel around the edge so I could sculpt the rounded edge with putty and sand smooth.




So that's where were at so far. I'm going to finish off this cyclotron the next coming days and get the cyclotron rings cut out then move on to the syncgen. All is going well! Thanks everyone for the support and as always any comments welcome.

[mburkit]

Man, that is coming together quick!

[JWils23]

You’re on fire, just burning through this build!

[pchrisbosh1]

Thanks guys. More coming soon!

[Lowberg]

Been following on youtube, so I had to jump back into the forum like the good ol days!
Love watching your awesome styrene skills bring this thing to life.

[pchrisbosh1]

Thanks Mr. Lowberg I appreciate your support all around. I'm still at it and hoping to finish the shell soon. Waiting on a special gift to make this shell even more amazing and really put the finishing touches on it!

[abaka]

Just wondering how the progress with this build is going?

[pchrisbosh1]

Hello Abaka.......I'm still making progress and plan on finishing the shell sometime soon. I got a bit sidetracked with a few other projects as I'm preparing for Dallas Comic Con next month and I plan on giving the shell my undivided attention after that.

I have made some more progress since my last post and I started building the Syncgen and finishing up the cyclotron trying to get everything within the parameters of the Spengler Hero Shell outline someone was kind enough to send me. This is pretty much where I stand at the moment....


I've posted a couple updates on my Youtube channel discussing a few areas that were reworked or problems I've encountered https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOh2E1_wkM I'm so excited to get back to it and trying to recreate all the screen used details. I've got a few ideas and so far this is coming out so much better then my first shell.

[abaka]

It's just beautiful. So nice t see it coming together!!!

[pchrisbosh1]

Alright guys I'm back at it. I'm giving my full attention to finishing this shell and finishing it right. I was able to have full access to a Anovos Spengler Legacy shell which if some of you don't know is a direct cast of the Sony Lobby Super Hero. As great news as that is for this build It's kind of a double edge sword and has changed the dynamic of the build, as it has caused me to have to back track and pretty much have to rebuild most of the work I've done in some form or fashion....some more extreme then others.

The screen used paper measurements I had as great as they were just didn't translate the same as being able to physically look everything. After seeing everything I can understand why they didn't translate well and that's because there is so many angles, tapers, contours that you have to account for and if you don't the measurements won't add up right. I originally thought being hands on with a hero shell would make this build easier but I deceived myself because it has made the build much harder in all actuality.

I've been in the lab for a couple weeks now for hours upon hours trying to make every piece as perfect as possible. This is what I have so far....


Put a nice coat of black primer to make sure my shadowing looks right in comparison to the hero shell. Nothing is attached at the moment because I was tediously reworking every part and trying to make it fit perfectly within the hero shell outline.

The ribs had to be removed on every box and thickened up. The original hero shell ribs are closer to .150 and not 1/8 or .125 like we originally thought. This was a good thing because a lot of my rib placement was more off then I originally thought so I got to reposition exactly to match the screen used hero.

I completely had to rework the gunmount. I spent 2 days on this piece...I originally thought the cyclotron was the hardest part to build but after trying to take another crack at this when comparing to the hero shell I soon realized this was much harder. Just a lot of angles on every side which if not accounted for it won't match the original or sit right.

I added the striations or lines from the plywood or pine wood being stacked. I'm one of the few who doesn't believe the original shells were built of foam....I'm more convinced they were built of wood since they nailed in the ribs...not sure why they would use nails if it was foam. Logic points me towards wood. Those line stacks are exactly 3/4 inch each so I'm under the assumption it was 3/4 quarter inch stacked wood.

The bottom rib on the crankgen is slightly angled inward on the hero shell. This was a detail I also replicated.

Added a small groove seen on the hero shell on the rounded part that's underneath the vac intake of the crankgen.

Tediously added in the line marks on the bottom of the crankgen groove to match the hero shell exact

I added in the line marks from the EDA stack seen on the hero shell

Scultped in the rivet marks to closely match the hero shell and rounded the edges off on the EDA

Powercell ribs perfectly matched to the hero shell

Added the small flairs on a few of the ribs that go towards the motherboard to match the hero shell

Being hands on with the hero shell matching the texture was really important to me. I know in the past I've used drywall texture which looks spot on in some areas but in other areas not so much. After seeing the texture with my own eyes finally it does look like some drywall texture is used in some areas and in others not ...especially the cyclotron it's much more subtle.

I was recommend Elmers Glue to stipple because some assume the packs were made of foam and it was sealed with Elmers. I don't believe the original packs were made of foam but It was worth a try...so I tried it and it didn't turn out very good in comparision to the texture on the hero shell. So I assumed since the shells were casted in fiberglass resin maybe they used some fiberglass resin to cover up the wood grain? I don't really know but it was worth a try and to my astonishment on my first try the fiberglass resin stippled on some styrene with a brush looked exact even to touch.

I hope you guys enjoyed my progress so far. I know it doesn't look like much but there really is a lot of love going into each individual piece. I'll have more soon. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome!

[ccv66]

I'm glad you brought up measurements being a tad off. I posted a comment awhile if there was an updated dimensions since the release of the Anovos shells, I was more or less told the old ones were perfect.


Texturing is kinda hard. I ended up wet sanding spray on bed liner. Not something you would use on a movie perfect pack. For the average guy, it's super easy and durable

[pchrisbosh1]

Yah Texturing isn't the easiest task and it's hard to find the sweet spot. I've seen a few bed liners that look amazing and real close to the hero shells in certain areas.

I know Harbor Freight has their own brand of bed liner texture spray I really want to try and hopefully if it's as good as I think I could skip the homax spray texture altogether. Thanks for the comment.

[pchrisbosh1]

Hey guys I've been making some headway and I apologize for the lack of updates. I've been putting in some painstaking hours trying to finish this shell but I'm finally making some progress. I've been trying to match the screen used measurements 1:1 and it's been a daunting and difficult task but the good news is I'm almost done with it and everything is falling into place just right.

I still need to add putty and fill in the gaps, smooth everything out and get it all blended. Then comes the fine detail work of trying to replicate the screen used texture and imperfections. So far this is where I'm at

My original syncgen I had to scrap as it was just slightly off in shape and it's rotation...with that being said I had to completely rebuild it. Thankfully my cyclotron was in perfect spec to the original screen used cyclotron so I didn't have to rebuild that which was a major relief.

This picture is me trying to get everything to fit within the screen used shell outline so that it's a perfect match and if screen used motherboards are ever available this new shell will fit. This is much harder then it looks because there is no straight edges on the screen used shell every wall on the shell is tapered or angled so trying to match the measurements 1:1 to fit within the outline is probably the hardest thing I've done buildwise. I've wanted to give up multiple times but thankfully when I've been in those moments it seems without even trying everything just seems to fall into place.

Now finally this is where we are at today and now the countless hours are starting to add up

Screen used bumper fits perfect






Were almost there! Thanks guys for looking and any and all comments welcome.

[JWils23]

I know I’ve told you this before, but man oh man is this shell a wonky wonder! You’ve hit it out of the park, even with the frustrations I know it’s brought. Looking forward to seeing some texture on it and some more of those hero details.

[pchrisbosh1]

Thanks James really appreciate it. It's coming along slowly....oh so slowly but were getting there! The texturing and detail replication is definitely going to be its own beast but I have a few ideas.

[WShawn]

Superb work. I love seeing scratch builds like this.

Shawn

[pchrisbosh1]

Thanks Shawn! Well guys I've been working extremely hard trying to finish the shell and as far as the base portion goes I'm finally done with that part and here is my progress thus far....












Now comes the hard part of touching up imperfections and adding imperfections...kind of a paradox huh? Also the daunting task of getting the shell properly textured which will require a few different techniques and adding in the various paint brush marks, wood grain, gouges, scratches etc....

On to the next one guys I hope you enjoying the progress! All comments welcome.

[WShawn]

Again, immaculate work.

Could you share a photo of the inside of your shell? I'd like to see how you've tied together all of the various components.

Shawn