Supplies

Nose Blaster? Check.

Just a quick update this evening. Added the nose blaster to the head, sanded and primed. There's a few rough spots around still, but I think I'll be ready to make a fiberglass mold this weekend.

A little paint goes a long way

Over the weekend I managed to finished up the head - sort of. I still want to add on the nose blaster, but in the mean time, I slapped some primer on the head to give him an even surface finish. And, you know, cuz grey makes him look more like k9 and less like a craft project. Enjoy!

A good head on his shoulders

I had been juggling what I should do next, as I saw it I had two options. I could either learn fiberglassing and make a fiberglass version of the body or I could get k9's head taken care of. Realizing that I have absolutely no idea how to fiberglass, I've opted to do his head.

Construction has been pretty straight forward - 2 side pieces cut using the patter in the blueprints referenced in the first or second post of the blog. Tried to use the same MDF I've been using, but that wouldn't bend. Then I tried cutting grooves in the MDF, and well, I screwed that up. Fortunately, I had a 1/8 inch piece of board in my garage from a poster. So I cut that up for the sides of his head. Its working pretty well.

Once I got the two sides connected I started connecting them with 1/2 x 1/2 basswood cut to the proper size. With wood glue, clamps and my brad nailer in place I started putting the head together.

Once I got a few points between the side connected, I noticed the head was a bit wobbly. So I added some structure by using 1/2 thick MDF for the front part of the "mouth" and the nose area. Finally I've used some thin sheets of hobby plywood to cover the top of his snout. This is the same thin plywood I used on the curved back of the body and I will also use it to skin the curved parts of the head.

The Body

No, no, not a post about the excellent Buffy episode about Joyce's death, instead a quick picture of K9's finshed body. Enjoy!

Getting there...

Just a quick update this evening. I've got to the two upper panels on the sides as well as the next part of the back taken care of. It's now really getting that K9 shape to it. And yes, it still attracts cats.

2 sides + front + back = box

Yesterday I finished the back lower panel, the one with the recess in it. Today I've gone ahead and started building the body. With what I've got so far, I have a box. At least its a fancy box. A fancy box that seems to attract cats.

I'm not sure what else I'm going to get done this weekend, but at least its coming along.

Two (2!) Side Panels done

Last night I finished the second side panel. Which of course, was the 4th side panel I made. Here's the run down.

Side Panel #1 - that was the one pictured here - wasn't satisfied with the angle of the triangle bits, so I started over.

Side Panel #2 - completed it over the previous weekend. Satisfied.

Side Panel #3 - was halfway done and then had a disastrous accident with the saw. Trashed it.

Side Panel #4 - its the partner to #2.

Next up is working on the lower back panel and it's recess. Like the front panel, the back panel should be fairly straightforward.