Plenty of Progress
Apparently I don't take pics of half the stuff I make, and what I do take pics of, I don't bother to upload. Here's a couple things I'm working on for friends or Acen:
Platens for vacuforming:
Apparently, that's about all you need for simple, easy-to-tuck-under-the-couch apartment style vacuforming. The top pics is the underside of the platen, and the bottom pic is the top surface. They're 2'x2', I might cut them down a bit, but I don't know. I'm assuming the largest frames going on them will be 16"x22", but why not give yourself some extra working space? Also, tomorrow, I'm adding some 2x4s to the underside so it had a base to sit on. I might have some stuff I'll need this thing for, but one's going to Amethyst Angel, and the other's going to Crizl and if they like them, I might make myself one.
THE HOTBOX:
So it's fucking 0 degrees out on a daily basis, and I still have shit to work on, which means either 1)no fiberglass/bondo/paint/gluing or 2)leave a space heater on in the boathouse for 12 hours until the temp gets up to MAYBE 50 degrees so I can kind of work on fiberglass and hit it with a heat gun to try to get it to actually cure. I forgot I had a tutorial in a Car Audio & Electronics mag on what to do in just this situation:
You buy some foil-coated insulation foam and some 1x2s and build yourself an insulated oven to put a little space heater in. This box is 2x2x4 and is big enough to work in. The space heater is set to shut off at ~75 degrees, and can heat the box up to that in about 5 minutes, with it only kicking in occasionally for a few minutes to keep the temp up. So yeah, I stand in the 40 degree boathouse freezing and working on props, but as soon as I need to do any fiberglass or painting, I preheat this thing, close the door, and then open it when it's hot and do my fiberglassing in there and shut the door. So far primer dries in 30 minutes, and fiberglass resin cures in 20, and this is on days when it was -9 outside and 35 in the boathouse!
You can see the oven temperature gauge in the uper right of this pic. (the silver circle on the oven) The door doesn't have a very good seal, it's just a 2x4 sheet I hastily cut and stick in the opening. The oven's built with a bit of overhang on 3 sides to hold the door snug.
WILD ARMS PROPS:
Started with a 1/2" mdf spine, with 3/4" styrofoam on either side, sanded shaped, and then covered with fiberglass. The cylinder's MDF, the barrel's PVC. I had 4 reference pics, all different, and had to use the best parts of all of them. Unfortunately, I glued the cylinder together wrong and it ended up being 1/4" larger than I wanted :/ but I don't think it'll be that noticable. Also, the stupid reference pics show 6 holes on an 8 sided cylinder. wtf. So this is after sand/putty/sand/fiberglass/sand/putty-ing about 5 times trying to get a smooth surface. I still got some tricks in me to clean it up. Also, the grey sintra pieces in the top photo are held on with tape and need to be sanded, trimmed, and attached still. I just wanted to see how well they work.
Platens for vacuforming:
Apparently, that's about all you need for simple, easy-to-tuck-under-the-couch apartment style vacuforming. The top pics is the underside of the platen, and the bottom pic is the top surface. They're 2'x2', I might cut them down a bit, but I don't know. I'm assuming the largest frames going on them will be 16"x22", but why not give yourself some extra working space? Also, tomorrow, I'm adding some 2x4s to the underside so it had a base to sit on. I might have some stuff I'll need this thing for, but one's going to Amethyst Angel, and the other's going to Crizl and if they like them, I might make myself one.
THE HOTBOX:
So it's fucking 0 degrees out on a daily basis, and I still have shit to work on, which means either 1)no fiberglass/bondo/paint/gluing or 2)leave a space heater on in the boathouse for 12 hours until the temp gets up to MAYBE 50 degrees so I can kind of work on fiberglass and hit it with a heat gun to try to get it to actually cure. I forgot I had a tutorial in a Car Audio & Electronics mag on what to do in just this situation:
You buy some foil-coated insulation foam and some 1x2s and build yourself an insulated oven to put a little space heater in. This box is 2x2x4 and is big enough to work in. The space heater is set to shut off at ~75 degrees, and can heat the box up to that in about 5 minutes, with it only kicking in occasionally for a few minutes to keep the temp up. So yeah, I stand in the 40 degree boathouse freezing and working on props, but as soon as I need to do any fiberglass or painting, I preheat this thing, close the door, and then open it when it's hot and do my fiberglassing in there and shut the door. So far primer dries in 30 minutes, and fiberglass resin cures in 20, and this is on days when it was -9 outside and 35 in the boathouse!
You can see the oven temperature gauge in the uper right of this pic. (the silver circle on the oven) The door doesn't have a very good seal, it's just a 2x4 sheet I hastily cut and stick in the opening. The oven's built with a bit of overhang on 3 sides to hold the door snug.
WILD ARMS PROPS:
Started with a 1/2" mdf spine, with 3/4" styrofoam on either side, sanded shaped, and then covered with fiberglass. The cylinder's MDF, the barrel's PVC. I had 4 reference pics, all different, and had to use the best parts of all of them. Unfortunately, I glued the cylinder together wrong and it ended up being 1/4" larger than I wanted :/ but I don't think it'll be that noticable. Also, the stupid reference pics show 6 holes on an 8 sided cylinder. wtf. So this is after sand/putty/sand/fiberglass/sand/putty-ing about 5 times trying to get a smooth surface. I still got some tricks in me to clean it up. Also, the grey sintra pieces in the top photo are held on with tape and need to be sanded, trimmed, and attached still. I just wanted to see how well they work.