I decided that bold action was called for and that the problem couldn't be properly explored as an in-brain simulation, so I cut slots in the threaded flange of the faceplate to allow a spanner to grip the nuts.
The picture to the right is an attempt to explain this nonsense, with the version on the left showing two of the four holes for threaded rod and one of the four slots cut to allow spanner access, while the faceplate on the left is the starting point. A large square bulge the actual faceplate has set centrally in the other side so it can be gripped with a monkey spanner and screwed down tightly into the female fitting it is designed for (What I call an adaptor in the text) is not shown.
This required a razor saw and a Dremel cut-off wheel to do, and I only got one of the two plates reconfigured, but it represents progress. The new plan is to assemble the spaceframe from lengths of pipe, slightly longer lengths of threaded rod all holding the two faceplates aligned, then to screw the adaptors to the faceplates (the spanner can't get to the nuts with the faceplate installed in its adaptor).
The only fly in Mrs McReedy's Patent Lineament is that the faceplates will almost certainly be slightly distorted by the tensioned rods, and this may make the screw threads refuse to cooperate when it comes time to install them into the adaptors.
This bridge will be crossed if and when encountered.
Assuming the plan is sound and everything eventuates as desired, I will secure the faceplates to the adaptors by drilling and threading a hole through the side and installing a brass screw to lock the two components together. Glue would have been my first choice, but I may have to get this contraption apart again.
I will use the same method to secure the large domed pipe cap to the rear adaptor to form the rear assembly of the Aetheric Neuralizer, which will house the inverter for the spinal-mount Aetheric Resonator, a key component and most of the reason for the build.
I will also use the same method to secure the reducing coupling to the adaptor to form the Forward Resonator and Emitter, which will house more special effects the full inventory of which has yet to be finalised.
One annoyance that I'm hoping will yield to a buffing wheel and polishing compound is the writing etched into the pipe advertising the product as having been made in Vietnam1.
If the buffing idea doesn't work out I shall just include the pipes in the final paint job, which will be a sort of half-convincing brass spray paint. With some drybrushing and maybe a bit of airbrush work it might pass muster as real brass. At a distance.
I wanted to add some gauges to the Forward Resonator and Emitter and was hoping some cheap pool filter gauges could be pressed into service, but it turns out they are quite pricey and I am already well over budget on this project. But as I was being bounced around on my train ride home I had an inspiration, namely that small end caps, on the order of an inch or so inside diameter, along with a bolt, a short length of copper pipe and a computer printed dial might be pressed into service as a suitably convincing stand-in.
I may have to pour in some sort of hard-setting liquid to secure the bolt and make a support for the dial. I could use liquid plastic resin, which I have on hand, or Plaster of Paris which I also have on hand. The first is lighter and stronger, the latter is cheap. Perhaps by using a thick dowel as an armature and depth adjuster I can reduce the amount of liquid needed, in which case the resin would be the better solution.
Not sure how to arrange for the proper glass cover and raised bezel mounting for it. That issue may have to be postponed indefinitely.
I'm still toying with the idea of adding more light effects to the barrel. The only issue with doing so is that the effect I have in mind will totally swamp the visual impact of the Aetheric Resonator when it is fired up, which could simply be a matter of the correct performance when demonstrating the device.
Thankfully I can put this decision off until quite late in the build.
Until the next dispatch then.
Toodle pip!
Notes:
- Colonel Moran would only use British parts for the Aetheric Neuralizer, and moreover wouldn't be caught dead using parts from a French dependency. There are limits!
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