When I'm not playing with my Triumph....I make miniatures, models, FX,
sets, etc. for TV and Film.
If anyone has seen the Sizzler Commerical lately that highlights their
new $6.99 dinner plate... There's a 3' long toy goodyear-type blimp that
flies through the commerical with "$6.99" on one side and "Sizzler" on
the other...
They didn't have the budget to make it more detailed... so I'm not all
that impressed with it... but I made the Blimp. (A co-worker made the
little cabin/propellers section.)
For those with interest...How it was made is below:
--Justin
I cut out a profile of a Good Year blimp, gleaned from their site on the
web, in 1/2" MDF and glued 4lb foam to it. I sculpted one side of the
blimp, using cross-sectional templates I made up as guides. I then
pulled 1/16 styrene over this on a vacuum form machine... trimmed it to
the bottom of the MDF. I then sprayed this with a release lubricant...
and pulled over this, twice with 1/8" styrene. Pulled it off and
repeated. This gave me the two sides. I took another MDF cut out, but
3/4" (a routed copy of the 1/2" MDF profile) ... On this piece I
rounded the edges with a router roundover bit, lightened it by cutting
out circular sections, and screwed a piece of steel into it, near the
rear section, that would provide for our mounting post... The I glued
this into a blimp section by sinking it in to the 1/2 point of the MDF's
thickness. Then I pressed on and glued the other half... (The roundover
helped to keep keep the styrene round at the joint.) after some standard
car-type body work... (sanding, primer, bondo, etc.) It was ready for
paint... etc.
If I was to do it again... there is a method I have for temporarily
joining two pieces of foam with a central support... I would have turned
it on a lathe. Separated the two halfs... and vacuum formed these as
above. It would have been a little less work... but a lot more messy.
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