The main body of the tri viewer is all finished and painted. This pic is actually about a week old, so more work has been done since. You can see that I added in the bevel under the top ledge, which was the final construction detail I needed to take care of.
As of this writing, the only thing remaining to be done is to add the frames that go around each of the three windows. I've already got them cut out of styrene, they just need to be glued into place.
And then this puppy is done and ready for delivery!
I've finished assembly of the monitor. This meant measuring out and cutting those three slats that go in on the tips of the triangles. I still need to cut down the sharp corners of the base and lid, but it's getting there.
The base is finished and painted. I have forgotten how agonizingly difficult it is to clean out EVERY little detail on porous surfaces. I really quite hate it! Very time consuming, and even after hours and hours of work, it's still not totally without flaw. BUT it will look great on film, that's for sure!
In other news, my Torchwood Vortex Manipulator FINALLY showed up. Shapeways was a little slow, but finally delivered. It looks pretty nice, though it needs some cleaning up. Smaller than I expected too!
Here's a couple shots of the tri viewer as of this morning. I have a couple of coats of primer on both the base and the body. That MDF just soaks up primer like a sponge! I'm going to give it a light coat of spot filler, to save me a tons of time.
As mentioned before, I'm extremely pleased with the overall dimensions of these pieces, and the uniformity. For something made out of press board and MDF, these turned out beautifully.
Yesterday was an extremely productive day on the Tri-Viewer. I spent many hours out in the garage working on this, and it came together very nicely. The bad news is that I've now officially entered the really painful phase of the project, which is the putty/sand/primer/repeat phase. ugh!
Here you can see the main body is complete, and I've started puttying up the edges. I still need to install three vertical slats on the side, but the overall construction of the main body is complete. I drilled wood screws into the underside, so the thing is never going to just fall apart. I'm also really happy with the pyramid.
In one afternoon, I finished the base. It may not look like much from the photos, but it was actually a pretty complex build, with a lot of pieces that needed to be cut pretty precisely in order for it to all fit together properly. Here you can see I'm gluing a couple of side panels to the bottom of the base.
And here is the whole thing assembled, but missing the corner triangles. Those were cut out later and glued into place.
As of this writing, I'm knee deep in puttying up the base, and it's coming together very nicely.
This also showed up in the mail yesterday. I got it from amazon.com. I originally purchased one from the same manufacturer at Home Depot, but it was too big. This smaller one fits perfectly, is invisible, and spins VERY smoothly. I'm pretty excited about it.
That's all for now. I will post some more pictures of the tri-viewer as I have something interesting to show, but for the next little while it's going to be very boring putty work.
Assembly of the main body continues, and is moving along quickly. For extra rigidity, I sank a series of wood screws into the top panel and up into the side walls. I then glued the bottom plate into place. Screws will be put into it once the glue dries.
Meanwhile, I cleaned up the outer rim of the pyramid and glued it into place. Lots of clamps and tape were used to make sure it was held in place firmly, and that any warping was pressed out.
Overall I'm very pleased with the progress on this so far. Next comes the no fun part, which is puttying out all of the wood grain. ugh, I hate that stuff!
Not really much of an update, but regular readers will know I enjoy being thorough. This morning I laid in a coat of fiberglass on the pyramid for the tri-viewer. I want to add some structural strength to it, and also some more material under the seams, as I will in the future be sanding them down to match the softer contours seen on screen.
I have also pretty much settled on my design for the base. It will mimic the second prototype I drew up yesterday. If new information comes to light, I can always build another one. I find that I do a lot of things twice, as I learn a lot on the first go-through. It seems that no matter how long you do this stuff, there's always new things to learn. Which is probably one of the main reasons I like the hobby. It's never the same project twice.
In other news, WonderCon approaches! Many people put together photoshop mashups showing which characters they will be costuming as (or cosplaying, depending on who you ask), but I thought I would put a different spin on it and show you what MY plans are for WonderCon...
I made a few tweaks to my design, and also fixed some flaws in the first version. Here's a paper prototype that incorporates these changes. This feels and looks much closer to what I want it to be.
Unless there is some earth shattering reference that comes to light in the next day or so, which is entirely possible, I will pursue this model for the base.
I have what I believe to be a good design for the base of the tri-veiwer. My main reference came from a fairly straight on shot of the viewer that can be found in THIS blog post. I straightened it in photoshop a little bit, but the front face is undeniably shaped like a pyramid with a rectangular base.
Another few screen grabs show some other details.
Here's my process. I drew up my design in illustrator, then printed it out on card stock. This is the same stuff that pepakura folks use to make Iron Man and Halo armor.
Once cut out, I assembled all of the pieces as much as I could, but keeping it flat. Please note that it was about at this time I realized there was a problem with my design :)
After another iteration with the top plate, I taped it all up and here's what I got. You can see from the pics that there's a flaw in my print out, as I forgot to account for the fact that the corner triangles are set at an angle, and are not lying flat. Hence the three gaps. This has since been corrected.
I'm definitely interested in feedback if anyone has any. I've really based this off about four screen grabs, and I may very well have missed a detail or two.
Interestingly enough, I JUST realized I made a tiny error in my calculations. I was looking at the profile of my prototype, and comparing it to the profile of the Mudd capture. I realize that what I saw as the angled edge on the side of the base is a different edge on the prototype. Hard to explain without some pictures, but the punchline is that I need to modify things a bit.
As with many of my projects, there is a lot of trail and error. What will often work perfectly in my mind does not translate to the real world. Sometimes I just forget a piece of information, which ends up being my undoing.
Case in point.
My plan was to construct a template out of styrene in the shape of the pyramid, then slush cast resin in it to get the final shape. The factors at work here are the styrene is very easy to work with, it's very easy to get a high degree of precision with, and best of all, resin does not bond to it.
I very quickly put together this master form, after making a few cardboard prototypes to make sure I got the overall shape right.
The thing I forgot is that the resin I'm using heats up a lot when it cures, and heat warps styrene :( The piece I produced was very decent, but was warped a bit too much for my liking.
So it was back to the drawing board, though this time I was committed to using a material I had more faith in. MDF.
Here I've cut out the pieces using the same templates I used for the styrene.
Here's the MDF all taped together and being glued.
Here's the underside, with a bead of wood glue on it that is drying.
I also did some work on the main body. One of my dimensions changed slightly, so I re-cut the walls. I used my belt sander to bevel the edges. This way the pieces will fit together better at final assembly.
I would say things are going very well with this project. The only thing really remaining that could be problematic is the base, but I think I have that all worked out. (Please re-read the first paragraph of this post right now)
Someone posted a great reference pic of the tri-viewer online at the RPF that included a profile view of the stand. I took it into photoshop, and adjusted a little bit for parallax. Not perfect, but enough that it's square enough to import into Illustrator.
Once there, I added to my drawing the base, and also the top pyramid. In my drawing, the base is the right height and the profile looks good, but this drawing does not properly show the shape of the base. I'll put together a drawing later that shows this.
For now, I am feeling very happy with this drawing. It appears to match up to screen reference, and "feels" right.
I have a few progress pictures to show off of the Tri-viewer.
I had to really plum the depths of my memory to dig up all that old geometry knowledge to make this work properly. With that said, it still need some tiny tweaks, but I'm very happy with the overall shape of this.
Here's my first prototype of the top pyramid for it. I think it's a tad too high at 1/5", but I'll have to reach out to the experts to make sure. I'm thinking 1" might actually be right.
I realized today that documenting a project via episodic youtube is a VERY time consuming effort. I am many months into this build, and I have to believe that one of the reasons it is taking so long is because of the overhead involved in filming and editing the vids. Still, they are their own reward, so I'm not complaining. The purpose of the build isn't really to get a grapple gun, but is instead to make a set of videos that will forever more be used as reference for my fellow prop builders.
I have finished cleaning up the new batarang master, and I am quite happy with it:
Please recall that this began life as a casting taken from an ICONS Ice-Rang from the movie Batman & Robin. It didn't really take all that much work, but the work took place among numerous other in-flight projects. I would like to get this under rubber tomorrow.
Mermaid tail master pattern continues. I'm roughly half way done gluing down all of the styrene. It's just very meticulous and boring work. I try to do the scales in sets of ten strips. That's about all my patience can handle before I have to switch gears and do something else.
Zero progress on Han in Carbo.
I've started a new project too. Vic Mignogna / JediVic has asked me to build a Star Trek Tri-Viewer, as seen in the conference room of the original NCC-1701 Enterprise. This will be used in his upcoming series "Star Trek Continues." I'm very excited to be able to contribute something to this production, which promises to be the finest fan made Trek show to date. I've done some initial research, some preliminary drawings, and have kicked around a few details with some fellow trek enthusiasts on the RPF. I have some dimensions that feel good. I think the next step is to build a mock up.
I'm also making a series of props for a project that I don't think I'm allowed to talk about at this time. So far, it's been a really fun process. I designed a few props using adobe illustrator, while going back and forth with the producer using iphone photos over txt message. It's really amazing how technology allows people to collaborate in ways that would simply not have been possible a few years ago. As it stands, I will be delivering about a dozen or so props to this production, though a few will be duplicates.
So as you can see, there's a lot going on right now.
I'll end with a quick story. The other day, I was having lunch at Dreamworks with a friend. (does that count as a name drop?? If you name a studio? is that a name drop????) He was giving me the tour, and he spotted a co-worker/friend of his a cube or two away. He said he wanted me to meet him, as he was cool. My friend introduced me as "Matt" and the guys response was "Oh! Rise of the MattMobile! I love your blog!!!!"
Mind. Blown.
I tell ya man, it's a funny old world when little ol' Matt Munson is being recognized by people who work at a major Hollywood studio! It was a pretty major day for me, as I assumed the PREVIOUS time someone recognized me from my videos/blog was bound to be the last.
In closing, I really do want to give my honest and sincere thanks to all of the folks who read my blog, watch my videos, give feedback, and tell me that they either enjoy the blog or are learning something from it. It's really VERY gratifying to know that my hard work is appreciated, especially when it is appreciated by people who I respect and admire. So thank you!
Based on some dimensional help from the good folks at the RPF, along with a couple of great screen captures, I'm starting my initial design work on the Tri-Viewer.
Here is my first stab at a front view.
This does not include the thin pyramid that will be on top.
The question I struggle with now is one of side view. Are the top and bottom lips angled, or not?
For reference, the part I have highlighted in red is what I'm referring to as the "lower lip". There is a corresponding "upper lip" directly above it on the tri-viewer.
My latest theory is that the side view is like this. Flat on the bottom, angled on the top:
I have been asked to build one of these. I think it'll be a neat and fun little project. No idea where to start. It's these kinds of "Sky is the limit" projects that I find fun and interesting. Time to start doing some research.
In less than a week, I finished a kit that has been sitting on the shelf for more than 7 years. Wow. I guess it goes to show that when you focus, and don't get TOO nutty about details and perfection, you can actually get some work done.
A few thoughts on the overall build. First, I'm pretty happy with the results. Not extremely happy, but satisfied. As mentioned a while back, I was very inspired by John Palmeri's rapid builds of two phaser rifles for DragonCon. They looked GREAT in person, though when asked, John seemed pretty ashamed of the results. This sort of reinforced in my mind what I have known for a long time, which is that it is always the creator that sees the flaws, seldom the audience. It was with that thought that I really plowed ahead with this build and knocked it out quickly.
Having not built up a kit this large in a long time, a lot of lessons were learned that were previously forgotten. For example, whenever I start a new project, I think I will always get new cans of paint. A lot of this rifle was painted using two cans of old plasti-kote that I had sitting around. Yes, it was the right paint code, but because the cans were mostly empty, the paint coming out tended to splatter more than spray. This made for an uneven overall coat, and I'm not too thrilled with it. The scope, however, turned out really great, as this was done with a fresh can of paint. Interesting stuff.
I also broke some new ground in securing parts of props together. This kit featured a couple of load bearing handles that needed to REALLY be secure on the rifle. I used wood screws throughout the build, often cutting off the head so that the threaded part of the screw could fit into the other half of the rifle. I thought this was pretty ingenious!
Having seen a number of screen used props first hand, I would say that this build up is more tidy than those, but not as clean as some other builds that I have over-indulged in. I guess it's just a matter of preference, though I think I am indeed convinced that I'd rather have the thing finished, than still in a box. It's a pretty satisfying feeling to get a project like this finished.
So that's it for this project. Now I just need to find a place to keep it! It's pretty big! Time to find the next kit to build.
At the time of this writing, the Star Trek Voyager Compression Rifle is actually finished, though I still have a set of progress photos to post. They are contained herein. Mostly, this is just final little details that went into the build up.
For example, there's a little tab on the rear handle, something that looks like it might be a trigger. That needed to be painted silver. For the sake of time, it looks like on the screen used props they accomplished this with a brush. I decided to spray paint it. It took a pretty intricate mask to get it to work out right.
Here's the final outcome. It looks like there's silver down that thin channel in the middle, but that's a reflection.
I put the final touches on the scope assembly. There was a lot of dremel work involved here to get that pointy thing on the front to sit properly. There's also another tab looking thing on one side that took some doing to get it to fit properly. The paint job on the scope turned out really nicely too.
There are a set of rectangles on the inner sides of the forks that needed painting. This also took a pretty intricate mask to get right.
Here is how it turned out.
After this, there were a few little black details that I hand painted. For example, this part on the main power cell.
Then it's just a matter of final assembly. I spent A LOT of time with the dremel getting the power cell to sit properly in the rear of the rifle. That was probably the most time consuming single part of the build.
