Pushing My Own Buittons

Did a little computer work this morning. I had to create the dials/labels for the various gauges...
This panel still needs more glaze work and paint, but I couldn't resist putting some pieces on just to see how it's coming along:

I also mixed up some of my favorite "orange gold" to go on the logos for the trailer.  One more coat to go, then it's on to number 2.

On the panel above, the two pieces on the sides are reserved for the old style "throw switches" from Frankenstein's lab.

Once I made the labels, I attached them, then poured a clear epoxy in to permanently hold them in place and protect them. Soon it'll be time to attach the rocket, logos and panels...

Painting Parts Makes Me Happy

Coming up with an idea is great fun, but watching the pieces become real objects is the best part of what I do.  Each layer of paint and/or glaze brings the object more in focus and closer to what I have imagined.  Sometimes little details change, which is fine.  An experiment with color turns out and changes the color palette a bit...but the overall picture holds.

This weekend I spent some time carving more pieces for the trailer, and working on the paint for some already completed.  It's coming along nicely...

Plenty to prime and paint still! And there are even still more fun pieces to carve. The trailer will show exactly the kind of work I do....from painted images to dimensional pieces. All will work to tell the story of what my work is about.

I still have some readouts to create in photoshop and illustrator, which will be placed in the recesses, and then a clear epoxy will coat them in place and make them appear to be under glass.
My contraptions don't measure the same sorts of things as others might.

These dials and knobs look more like they came from Frankenstein's lab, a subtle nod to some of the early pieces that started all of this for me. 

Next, there will be more parts, fun things to attach to the trailer and the final paint work. Stay tuned!

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.

Today I Mooned The Whole Town

In preparation for the dimensional pieces that will be attached to the trailer, I put on some rust.  We also spent some time painting in the moon on both sides.  I still have plenty of work to do on the moon, but this is a pretty good start.  There will be lots of fun gizmos and wires and gears.

The door on this side will get a port hole and  plenty of other details.  Later this evening, I should be able to post some pictures of the logo all carved out of some HDU.

How Logo Can You Go?

I attended a great 3d Sign Workshop over the weekend.  There were 5 amazing instructors who covered a wide range of techniques and alternate viewpoints concerning how to make them.  I like diversity and left with plenty to consider and apply.

I've decided to make the logo on the trailer dimensional.  I spent some time today building the file for carving.  This is a quick look at it right after I imported the logo.  Ultimately I had to make some additions in illustrator and re-import the file.

Once I added the components I needed, I added some texture to the base, and a nice dome to the logo itself.  Vectric Aspire 4 makes adding textures and shapes to the letters very simple. Using a technique I picked up from Jaime Oxenham, I cleaned up the edges around the logo.

There is still a bit of a soft edge on the bottom of the logo, but I plan to paint the base with a rust texture and am not concerned about that part.  It'll be about 60" long and 16" tall.