ISSUE 1

 Return to the BUILD

“The first components of the fearsome T-800 are rolling off the production line at Cyberdyne Systems under the control of Skynet. It’s now your task to assist in the assembly of this legendary cyborg.
In this session, you will assemble the first part of the head of your T-800, beginning with the eyes which – once the model is finished – can be eerily lit by red LED diodes.”

If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend reading through my Getting Started page first.

Contents

Parts

Materials: Here I will describe the materials the supplied parts in each issue are made out of. All of the screws are metal, so I will not mention them. For instance, in this issue, the Chrome Eye and Nasal Sockets is metal, but the rest of the non-electrical parts are plastic.

Free Gift #1 – Toolkit

This small zippered pouch contains:

  • Four (4) Phillips Screwdrivers in PH0, PH4, PH5, and PH6 sizes (approximate)
  • Tweezers

Magazine

  • The Terminator Universe – T-800: Origins of a Killing Machine
  • T-800 Assembly – Model Instructions
  • Real World Science – Digital Vision: Artificial Intelligence and Photography

Introduction Flyer

Describes some of the details of the build:

  • Over 90 cm Tall
  • Movable Joints
  • Remote Controlled
  • Motorized Jaw and Eyes
  • Illuminated Eyes
  • Illuminated Apocalyptic-styled Base

Build

Assembly Begins!

Steps 1-2

Be sure you have all of the correct parts and they match what is listed in the magazine. We will not use the Chrome Eye and Nasal Sockets again until Issue 6, so put it safely aside for now:

The Eyes
Steps 3-4

Press one of the Red Eye Caps into each of the Chrome Eye Orbits.

Steps 5-6

Carefully insert one LED into the back of each Chrome Eye Orbit. The wires should be aligned with the pins on the Chrome Eye Orbit, with the red wire facing the side with the two pins.

What they mean here is to align the pins of the LED with the pins of the Chrome Eye Orbit. They should be on the same plane:

Step 7

With the concave side of the Matte Black Inner Eye Sockets facing you, place each completed eye into a socket with the third pin facing up. These will be loose until the next step is completed.

The instructions are WRONG here and Hachette notifies builders about it in Issue 18, but we are going to fix it right now. The third pin needs to face the other way as shown below (towards the top of the skull). This is quite tricky as the Chrome Eye Orbits don’t stay in place very well. I used a piece of electrical tape on the back side to hold these in place for this picture and the next step:

Step 8-9

Push the Eye Socket Brace in behind both eyes, trapping the socket pins, and fasten with two (2) PB 2 x 4 mm screws.

While Hachette supplied a PH0 screwdriver with their Tool Kit, they recommend using a PH00 screwdriver here. To make sure that the Eye Socket Brace is seated completely flush, press it into place until it is even with the outside edges. For the first screws of the build, they went easily and smoothly:

Another step is missing from the instructions here (also rectified in Issue 18). We DO use the Head Connection Component A (part 1-7) in this issue and connect the Chrome Eye Orbits together by snapping this part into place over the pins as shown below:

And with the eyes in place:

At this point, I noticed that the images used on the cover of the magazines is not of this model, but some another endoskeleton model. For example, The four ‘clamps’ around the eyes look to be metallic. So, I took the eyes back out and, using a tiny brush and some Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver acrylic paint, I tried my best to hand paint them. I think they turned out OK:

Long after I completed this article (around Issue 34), I got my hands on the Replacement Eyes mod from Model Modz and installed them. I also added a little more silver around the eye sockets, and both together made a huge difference. Check out the install HERE!

Thoughts

That was quick and painless for a first issue! Like most partworks models, there was not much to do. The only metal part is the Chrome Eye and Nasal Sockets; the rest is plastic. But, it does give you enough parts to temporarily put these parts  together and get an idea of things to come:

Next Up

 Issue 2 – Right Upper Arm Armor, Upper Jaw/Teeth, Right Shoulder Joint