The Great Flash Gordon Invitational Community Build

[Mark McGovern]

Great job with a different color scheme. I wonder who will be next to complete it?

Won't be me. I've been slogging away with a different approach and haven't been able to post photos on HobbyTalk. I don't want to have to sign up for another web site to post photos. So maybe I'll just give up and post them here.

[Rob P.]

Won't be me. I've been slogging away with a different approach and haven't been able to post photos on HobbyTalk. I don't want to have to sign up for another web site to post photos. So maybe I'll just give up and post them here.

Speaking of Hobby Talk, when they did the email and password reset, my log on appears to have vanished. Nothing I have tried has worked to get me back, short of starting out as a new member. So I may just go back to lurking there and just stay active over here.

Hope to start my Flash build soon, and what I have seen here so far looks great!

Rob

[mach7]

Do you have any photos Rob?

[Rob P.]

Not yet mach7. Flash and my Thunderboy base are on hold while I work on a stop motion figure and back drop for my youngest boy. He gets priority on my model time! But I should be able to get it together by October.

[billikenmonster]

These completed kits look amazing great work on them guys. I just sent my globe helmet to a friend of mine who works with glass he is going to fabricate one for me. I'm going to ask him to make a bunch of them. So hopefully this will be a solution.

[RKoenn]

These completed kits look amazing great work on them guys. I just sent my globe helmet to a friend of mine who works with glass he is going to fabricate one for me. I'm going to ask him to make a bunch of them. So hopefully this will be a solution.

If he makes them in one piece from glass you need to figure out how to get the head through. The head is larger than the diameter of the hole at the base of the helmet. I tested it before I put mine on and I don't believe, using the exact same size base hole which you kind of need to to for a good mate at the neck, and the head will not pass through helmet neck.

[halloweenfan 1978]

Finally got a little time to do some seam work yesterday... pics next week hopefully.

[billikenmonster]

Bob K thanks for the "heads up" I am sending the head and torso to him today it looks like the outer ring will fit his head thru it is almost a 1/4 " bigger

[Mark McGovern]

billie,

That's the only possibility I could see, using one of the lower rings to mount your single piece helmet. If this works, you could end up with the greatest Flash ever - are you really willing to take on that responsibility? Of course even then, there would still be the question of how Flash got his head through that little collar in the first place...

[billikenmonster]

Ugh this is a workout and I'm not even working the glass. But I'm excited about it. We will see what happens. I dremmeled off the air hoses before and I got guitar strings to replace them.

[Mark McGovern]

I did the same thing. Also removed the straps for the air tanks. Plenty of filling and sanding by the time that was done, I can tell you - especially as I'm doing a shiny finish on my Flash's space suit. Wire will replaces the air lines and lead foil will become the new straps.

[billikenmonster]

if you haven't done it yet consider the guitar strings they are ribbed like a flexible hose or a piece of BX wire they can be primed and painted any color

[Mark McGovern]

Right, billie, but I like the wire. I get it for free whenever the phone company works on the junction boxes behind my house, which is weekly. The bare wire is just the right diameter to replace the molded hoses, and if I leave a little insulation at the ends - voila! - I have connectors!

However, the guitar string might be useful for one more adjunct I'm adding to Flash's suit. It's a small control box that'll be strapped to his left arm. See, I filled the gaps between the air tanks to make them a more substantial unit and the air lines will connect to that. The idea is to create the appearance of a mechanism that regulates the suit functions, like the backpacks real astronauts on EVA wear. Guitar string would work well to represent the control line from the little arm box I made to the backpack. Thanx for the tip!

[billikenmonster]

I will have the glass helmets next week they sit on the lower ring and they look awesome I will have a dozen at Jerseyfest

[Mark McGovern]

Hello, all!

I hope everybody has had an enjoyable Labor Day, and are enjoying their labors on their Flash Gordon kits! There are some updates I'd like to share with you as we enter the final month of The Great Flash Gordon Community Build.

Since I started the thing, I'll go first: finally got to the point where I gave up trying to post photos of my progress here, so I've posted WIP photos on my web site: http://www.mcgovernsmodels.com/. If I post them here, the photos are simply too large. And, in my WIP gallery there are captions that explain what's going on.

Next Steve Marciante, "bilikenmonster" here on The Clubhouse forums, has done what they said couldn't be done: he has had made one piece glass helmets to replace the kit item. Steve's helmet will fit over Flash's head, which the two-piece plastic helmet can't. That means you could twist off the helmet from a completed figure and slip the new one on painlessly. Supplies of the glass helmets are running low; to quote Steve "...I think I have 4 left but I can get more..." At $16 each, these are a great addition to the model. Contact Steve for yours at: billikenmonster@gmail.com.

Here's a bit of a surprise, but it only occurred to me after we started building: everybody please send me one or two good raw (meaning unedited) photos of their finished models. I plan to work up an article about the Community Build and submit it with all the photos to the IPMS/USA Journal. No guarantees that the article will get into print, but they've published three of mine this year already.

This may put a strain on those of you who haven't got their models done yet and aren't sure they can get Flash Gordon finished by the October 1 deadline (I'm in that club). With all due respect to those who have finished their models, I'm willing to take a vote from everyone who has at least begun a kit. How many want to see the deadline extended and to what date? Mr. Marchiante suggested the end of October; anyone else?

[Mark McGovern]

More replies to the extension on the HobbyTalk thread: http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/13-modeli ... ost6027538.

[billikenmonster]

I'm sending FG head and torso down to my friend who makes the helmets he is going to keep a master so if another run should occur he won't need my model kit I don't think I will get it back in time from him to complete the kit so I will have to bow out of the build but looking forward to seeing all the great works

[Scooke123]

Hey Steve, if you need a head and torso I can send you one. I have an extra kit I can steal the parts out of.

[Mark McGovern]

Everybody,

The deadline for the Great Flash Gordon Invitational Community Build has been extended to the end of October. Keep Calm and Model On!

[billikenmonster]

Great News thank you and thank you Steve Cooke for your offer on the head and torso I should be able to finish with what I have completed already. I should get mine back in a week or so and then I can get busy