Digital Kit Bashing

One of the things that became popular among model makers in the film industry years ago was something called "kit bashing". They would raid the local toy model store and buy up tanks and airplanes and ships and anything they could find.  They would then use the little pieces to build something altogether new.  You might be suprised how many tank parts can be found on the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars.

Anyway, there are a massive number of free 3D models on the internet. Not all are very good quality, but they are a great place to find elements you can use to begin.  By combining elements and taking models apart, you can build some very unique things, or familiar things in a unique way.

Today I did a combination of modeling. Some of these items are made from scratch. Some are built using photographs as reference, and others are "kit bashed".  These parts will be included in a panel on the back of my trailer that will look like a control panel for this traveling "sign machine".

 This will be a panel with some read-outs.  I'll make some graphics which will be embeded in clear epoxy for the "glass"

 These, obviously, are cool buttons and switches.  Why travel to radio shack? With Vectric Aspire and some imagination, I am my own parts warehouse!

Again, here are a few more switches and some dial indicators.  I used an exisiting model for those, but wanted a recessed window instead of the one found on the original model.  The Farnsworth? For Warehouse 13 watchers it'll be familiar.  I'm not using it, of course. It's just for a side project. I never waste material, if I  can help it.

So here are a bunch of the parts. They've been primed and some early coats of paint added.
I love watching a file go from being a digital idea to a solid reality in a couple of hours!

Finally, here is the first of the logo panels for the trailer. They will be offset.  Each one is about 4 feet x 16 inches.

Soon the paint will be finished and we'll start to assemble the parts. In the meantime, there's more to carve! Stay tuned.