This is the magnificent, highly detailed
torso by Mike Joyce
and TimK (www.B9Creations.com).
It required 3 years of planning to
produce, and the detail is second to none. I've
been made to understand that
it was retooled from an original mold, restoring
all the lost detail that the
original robot once had. The fact that the trim
throughout is high and sharp, in
addition to other restored details, make it simply
the finest torso
ever created, period!
This is the neon backing plate I built. It's based
on a clay sculpture I made.
I designed it to fit the Mike Joyce/TimK torso
exclusively. This is actually
my forth version of it. Additional modifications
were made to it suggested
by Mike Joyce. I was never happy with those
universal type backing plates
that have been around for years. They never fit a
torso very well.
I did want to reproduce it for club members,
however, due to high
manufacturing costs, and not a great demand for it,
I decided
it wasn't a viable endeavor. The prototype was
installed
on my robot. It too was airbrushed with the same
color as my
fiberglass legs and knees.
A close-up shot of the finished detail. I
took great care while prepping
the trim for painting. Originally there were high
part lines left from the
molding process. These were rubbed down by hand,
carefully filled and
detailed. Aside from using power tools to drill
holes for the lighting
components and arms, all work was done exclusively
by hand. I also
modified the claws so they can be manually
positioned, opened or closed.
This photo shows a nice shot of the upper dome
area, which is
representative of the actual color of our robot. I
finally got the lighting right.
The PPG silver paint formula was carefully adjusted
to produce a low luster
finish. Additionally, you can see what a torso
looks like after it's been skim
coated from top to bottom. This was required in
order to produce our B9
with a very smooth automotive finish, as it
appeared to look on the TV series.
This was a tremendous amount of work and I don't
recommend it unless you
are very skilled using bondo, especially on a part
that is so large. All of our
fiberglass parts were prepared this way, even our
steel tread section. However,
if done incorrectly, you risk loosing detail on
your components, possibly to
the point beyond your ability to repair it.
The programming bay panel was supposed
to be off center to the right a
bit more, as some photos suggest the "real" robot
was. In fact, I thought I
did off-center it when I installed it. But after
studying a few photos
of the "real" robot, some appeared to be centered.
I decided to leave it.
Our authentic stainless steel torso locking
tab is finally installed. I
actually planned on making this part myself, but a
friend, who
owns a small machine shop, offered to produce it
for me if I supplied
the dimensions. I used a photo of the real robot
for my estimate and it
was difficult for this part.
I'm very happy with the way it turned out,
however, the donut on our
robot is an original club creation, which is
slightly larger in diameter
than what may be considered correct for today. If
not for that fact, you'd
be able to see more of the tab itself. I am
confident it is installed in the
correct position and location.
The only mistake was that I myself did the
polishing for it. As usual,
I polished it to achieve a mirror finish as is
evident by the nut reflection
on the tab. Unfortunately, strong overhead lighting
causes a reflection
on the donut as I'm sure you've already noticed.
The lesson learned, don't
polish it :::smiles:::
Here you can see the authentic working power
pack installed. It is a precise
duplicate to the original, down to the part number
on the frame.
The Acrylic vents have been installed on hinges and
trimmed with
authentic expanded metal screening behind them as
the real robot had.
