Borderline Trek Film

[Potemkin_Prod]

Did they get to see the puppets they are voicing?

[Melonpool]

Yeah. a lot of them have been doing these puppets for years at comic conventions and we did a movie back in 1994 when I was in college. The puppets keep getting revised, but the puppeteers keep coming back for more. I just posted a short clip of some of the puppeteers goofing around here:

http://blip.tv/file/3635450

[Melonpool]

I played a lot of catch-up this weekend (I have to keep up with Project Potemkin, after all). I have three sections (out of eight) in place now and two more ready to be assembled. I'm hoping to have my version of the helm station in place by the end of next weekend as well, but we'll see how much work I can accomplish. As a solo project, a Bridge is quite an undertaking -- even if it is puppet-sized!

As I said in an earlier post, this isn't supposed to be a direct copy of any one Bridge -- it's just heavily-influenced by TMP Bridge, with elements of all the other bridges and command decks from Sci-Fi that I've loved over the years.

Anyway, enjoy!

[Potemkin_Prod]

What do you mean, keep up with Potemkin? You've got alot accomplished already, and an especially great turbolift and captain's chair (although fuscia's not my personal color preference)! I just wish I could figure out how to do the angled turbolift alcove. Could you post a shot from the other side?

[Melonpool]

Ha ha! The Captain's chair isn't painted yet -- when it's done it'll be like a steel grey with a tan seat back. It's made out of a 10-gallon bucket, so you kind of have to go with what they stock at Target.

I have a picture of the door from the other angle, but unfortunately, the door's shut when I took it, so it won't be much use to you.

I'll take some pics tonight and maybe draw up some plans, if that'll help. It's really pretty simple, and would definitely work with what you're building.

And I think it's great that we're building these at the same time -- I wish there was more online showing tips and pitfalls in this process. I never found anything really when searching for the last year or so while I was thinking about doing this film.

[Potemkin_Prod]

Our pitfall was the joints, no doubt about it. Probably the weather conditions down here caused it, but we ended up using some bondo, some sheetrock compound, and gorilla tape on every seam. What worked for one station didn't necessarily work for another. Tonight I get to repaint all six stations and have my fingers crossed for them--even though our camera operators say it won't be noticeable.

Funny you're using buckets. When I built my small Classic Trek bridge for the 10" characters, I used large,styrofoam, Chick-fil-a cups for their chairs.

But you're right. The construction being done at the same time is incredibly mutually beneficial.

[Melonpool]

I know what you mean by the joints -- I have no idea why mine aren't lining up, either! My plan is to use a small piece of flat rounded moulding on each seam once the whole thing's painted. I want to make sure that these things are still sectional, since my plan is to transport it to a nearby studio when we shoot. Not knowing how long it's going to take to build, I didn't want to build it onsite and have it be in his way for months on end.

My plan is to make all of the set sections in my garage, then truck them about 20 miles to the studio -- which has a lot taller ceiling and a lighting rig -- something that my garage sorely lacks!

[Melonpool]

I found this picture of the door before it had the "skin" on it. Hopefully, it'll shed a little light on how I made it:



Basically, the wall is built with a curve to it, ranging from about 4 inches at the bottom to about 18 at the top (over a 4 foot span). You should be able to adjust this to your specs.

Since I have 8 pie wedges, each of my sections has a 22.5 degree side. I think you said yours has 10 sections -- if, so then yours are probably at about 20 degrees, right? Whatever they are, these curved vertical risers are built so that they plug into one section of the pie. You then make 2 identically curved sections that you can put at the opposite angle from the outside -- that is, if your sides are at 20 degrees out, your door cut out vertical risers are at 20 degrees in. The beauty of this design is that you only have to find one curve, instead of making a different one for the cut outs.

I put a flat door piece at the back of the door cut out to make it 90 degrees again (since the door is at 90 degrees). A trapezoid-shaped header goes in at the top of the door cut out. And a "doorskin" or 1/16th inch MDF skin goes over the curved wall. I would think on yours, you wouldn't have to make the curve go all the way to the floor -- maybe about 3 feet off the ground up to the ceiling would be good.

Here's a quick sketch -- hopefully, it'll make sense!

[Potemkin_Prod]

Thanks for the info. Ours has 12 sections, and the cut is usually 15 degrees or 30, depending on what we're cutting. I think we're just going to have to try one this evening and see what our results are going to be.

[Potemkin_Prod]

Melonpool wrote:

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I know what you mean by the joints -- I have no idea why mine aren't lining up, either!

I think its the MSD/TSB that we're using. It's so thin in both our cases that the humidity causes it to buckle ever so slightly, so the joints just can't line up...

We're at the point in our production that we can't go back and resurface the panels with actual plywood, but it's something we're going to have to look at for our subsequent ones (unless it really doesn't show up when we film, as our director of photography is suggesting it won't).

[Melonpool]

It looks like you could use the slant of your console tops as a guide. I don't think they absolutely have to be curved to get the same effect -- you could probably get away with using the same angle as your console tops as the angle for the cut-out hood of the door.

By all means -- use the angles you've already figured out. It took me forever to figure out the 22.5 degree angle. I made a foamcore model of the doorway to help me visualize how to make it -- it might be useful for you to do something similar if you have the time.

And do you have any pics online of your model set that you used cups for the chairs? I'd love to see it!

Steve

[Potemkin_Prod]

I'll see if I can get a few tonight and upload them.

[Potemkin_Prod]

Okay, here's how to make chairs out of Chick-fil-a styrofoam cups, a wooden dowel, four pieces of balsa wood, a balsa plank, Elmer's glue and two thumb tacks.

(URLS removed -- non functional-- sorry)

[Barbreader]

Your links didn't work for me when I tried them in the middle of the night EDT...

[Potemkin_Prod]

Barbreader wrote:

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Your links didn't work for me when I tried them in the middle of the night EDT...

I'll try again this evening. Thought there was a problem with the http:// showing up twice, but now I'm not even sure the pics are there.