themodelmaker

Few photos of my recent weekend project. This is a 33mm tall figurine of Carl Fredricksen from Disney/Pixar animation “Up” made in scale 1:48 to match the dollhouse I made recently. I sculpted it in two parts epoxy putty, you can buy it in every hardware store. I used the one with 5 minutes working time, it means I had to work fast and on small areas, and I could quickly make corrections with sharp knife. Glasses are made of 0.25mm styrene. All is painted with acrylic paints from Valleyo and Games Workshop range of colours and later sprayed with matt varnish. It was fun to make it.

If you are looking to buy a figurine of Carl or Russel, I would recommend collectible vinyl toy from Hot Toys. If you need something cheap for your child, I found good quality little figurines from german producer Bullyland.

I didn’t update this site for a long time. I’ve been very busy on a new project. This is a bigger version of Carl’s house from brilliant Disney/Pixar animation “UP”. I built it in victorian dollhouse scale 1:48 ( 1/4 inch ). The floor plan is 180mm by 180mm wide and it stands 210mm heigh to top of the chimney.

I had already prepared drawings for my previous project in scale 1:160. Bigger model gave me the oportunity to create more realistic and detailed windows, so I had to modify my drawings to suit new scale. I was also able to sculpt railing to the porch and create interiors. Living room can be accessed by openable side wall. It allows to fully appreciate Carl’s living room with his fireplace and have a view to the staircase with his collection of photographs on the wall. There is an option to look into the hallway through front door and window. In the movie there was some difference in size between interiors and exterior of the house. I couldn’t fit kitchen at the end of corridor, but I indicated it with closed door and created little green room under the stairs which can be viewed through rear window. A great help with that were sketches and pictures found on donshank.com blog.

Like previously I started with laser cut rigid 1.5mm plywood as my main construction with another 0.8mm layer containing some of the window details. I was able to see fast progress at this stage. It all slowed later when I had to trim with the knife panels for elevations, and stick them one by one. Repeat this process with shingles for the roof. The tricky part with them was warping after I put glue on it. Its because wood grain goes in shorter direction, the stripe with shingles absorbs moisture and bends before glue sets. I had to lay two stripes and clamp it for 15 minutes until glue dryes. When all parts were in place, I spraypainted them with base colours. I couldn’t buy exact colours in cans so I refined them with selection of acrylic paints from valleyo and games workshop to get the right tint. I used various techniques like drybrushing and washes, I also painted wood grains with very fine brush in some places. It took me more time than I expected, but I was pleased with the effect. After that I sprayed everything with two protective coats of matt varnish and then added transparent windows at the end. I didn’t forget about tiny mailbox this time

Carl’s house is now ready, and waiting for some more furnitures in the living room. I enjoyed building it and I hope you will like it.

Here you have few pictures of my finished scale model of Carl’s little flying victorian house from new Disney Pixar animation Up.

Here you have few pictures of my finished scale model of Carl’s little flying victorian house from new Disney Pixar animation Up.

Here you have few pictures of my finished scale model of Carl’s little flying victorian house from new Disney Pixar animation Up.

I was asked how to make curved wall at jubilee church. There is many ways to achieve this, but I will describe how I did it. This is modified version of vacuum forming without vacuum.  If you have vacuum table its brilliant, if not, this shape is easy enough so you don’t need it.

I couldn’t find a ball with radius I needed so I had to make my mould from scratch. First of all I cut cardboard arches with necessary radius smaller by 5mm. I only needed to make a section of the sphere. This was my quite rigid construction. I stuck few layers of paper (I used old newspaper and PVA glue) on cardboard frame to make a surface. Then I Added  5mm layer of air drying clay. When it was hard, I sanded it to get the smooth surface. I often checked it with stencil to check the curvature. After few hours I was happy with my mould.

Then I prepared 2 timber frames and many paper clips. I placed sheet of styrene between them and joined with paper clips. Frames need to be rigid enough to hold melted styrene in place when pushed against the mould. Put it for few minutes to the oven. I watched closely if its getting soft. I took it out the oven and quickly pressed on mould. Always use gloves at this stage !!! It hardened in few seconds and it will kept the shape. I needed 2 copies for each wall.

My walls are thicker than styrene I could buy in my hobby shop. I needed to add this thickness. I cut the rough shape of the wall and stuck it on my mould with 2 sided tape. That will be bottom surface of my wall. I glued few narrow stripes of styrene on the perimeter and few in the middle, creating sort of mesh. I glued another layer of thermoformed styrene on top of it. I cut it to the right shape and sanded edges. This way I had thick wall with smooth surfaces on both sides. I had to repeat the process 3 times.

It was very time consuming process. Now I would rather use rapid prototyping technology. It would be much faster and precise. The shells would be 3d printed from plastic material with exact shape and dimensions as in 3d software.

The cost of desktop rapid prototyping machine is dropping and getting more affordable. That’s why many 3d printing services are available for hobbyists. The one I tested myself is Shapeways.com . They have several rapid prototyping printers in their machine shop and their growing design community is very helpful to explain the techniques of creating perfect, non-manifold model. With shape like this It would be very easy to create it in blender and 3d print it.  Easy and clean way.I was asked how to make curved wall at jubilee church. There is many ways to achieve this, but I will describe how I did it. This is modified version of vacuum forming without vacuum.  If you have vacuum table its brilliant, if not, this shape is easy enough so you don’t need it.

I couldn’t find a ball with radius I needed so I had to make my mould from scratch. First of all I cut cardboard arches with necessary radius smaller by 5mm. I only needed to make a section of the sphere. This was my quite rigid construction. I stuck few layers of paper (I used old newspaper and PVA glue) on cardboard frame to make a surface. Then I Added  5mm layer of air drying clay. When it was hard, I sanded it to get the smooth surface. I often checked it with stencil to check the curvature. After few hours I was happy with my mould.

Then I prepared 2 timber frames and many paper clips. I placed sheet of styrene between them and joined with paper clips. Frames need to be rigid enough to hold melted styrene in place when pushed against the mould. Put it for few minutes to the oven. I watched closely if its getting soft. I took it out the oven and quickly pressed on mould. Always use gloves at this stage !!! It hardened in few seconds and it will kept the shape. I needed 2 copies for each wall.

My walls are thicker than styrene I could buy in my hobby shop. I needed to add this thickness. I cut the rough shape of the wall and stuck it on my mould with 2 sided tape. That will be bottom surface of my wall. I glued few narrow stripes of styrene on the perimeter and few in the middle, creating sort of mesh. I glued another layer of thermoformed styrene on top of it. I cut it to the right shape and sanded edges. This way I had thick wall with smooth surfaces on both sides. I had to repeat the process 3 times.

It was very time consuming process. Now I would rather use rapid prototyping technology. It would be much faster and precise. The shells would be 3d printed from plastic material with exact shape and dimensions as in 3d software.

The cost of desktop rapid prototyping machine is dropping and getting more affordable. That’s why many 3d printing services are available for hobbyists. The one I tested myself is Shapeways.com . They have several rapid prototyping printers in their machine shop and their growing design community is very helpful to explain the techniques of creating perfect, non-manifold model. With shape like this It would be very easy to create it in blender and 3d print it.  Easy and clean way.I was asked how to make curved wall at jubilee church. There is many ways to achieve this, but I will describe how I did it. This is modified version of vacuum forming without vacuum.  If you have vacuum table its brilliant, if not, this shape is easy enough so you don’t need it.

I couldn’t find a ball with radius I needed so I had to make my mould from scratch. First of all I cut cardboard arches with necessary radius smaller by 5mm. I only needed to make a section of the sphere. This was my quite rigid construction. I stuck few layers of paper (I used old newspaper and PVA glue) on cardboard frame to make a surface. Then I Added  5mm layer of air drying clay. When it was hard, I sanded it to get the smooth surface. I often checked it with stencil to check the curvature. After few hours I was happy with my mould.

Then I prepared 2 timber frames and many paper clips. I placed sheet of styrene between them and joined with paper clips. Frames need to be rigid enough to hold melted styrene in place when pushed against the mould. Put it for few minutes to the oven. I watched closely if its getting soft. I took it out the oven and quickly pressed on mould. Always use gloves at this stage !!! It hardened in few seconds and it will kept the shape. I needed 2 copies for each wall.

My walls are thicker than styrene I could buy in my hobby shop. I needed to add this thickness. I cut the rough shape of the wall and stuck it on my mould with 2 sided tape. That will be bottom surface of my wall. I glued few narrow stripes of styrene on the perimeter and few in the middle, creating sort of mesh. I glued another layer of thermoformed styrene on top of it. I cut it to the right shape and sanded edges. This way I had thick wall with smooth surfaces on both sides. I had to repeat the process 3 times.

It was very time consuming process. Now I would rather use rapid prototyping technology. It would be much faster and precise. The shells would be 3d printed from plastic material with exact shape and dimensions as in 3d software.

The cost of desktop rapid prototyping machine is dropping and getting more affordable. That’s why many 3d printing services are available for hobbyists. The one I tested myself is Shapeways.com . They have several rapid prototyping printers in their machine shop and their growing design community is very helpful to explain the techniques of creating perfect, non-manifold model. With shape like this It would be very easy to create it in blender and 3d print it.  Easy and clean way.

All of my moulds are finished. This is my first cast assembled.  It is painted with base colours. It will take a lot of time to paint and weather it. I will describe this process later in short tutorial.

All of my moulds are finished. This is my first cast assembled.  It is painted with base colours. It will take a lot of time to paint and weather it. I will describe this process later in short tutorial.

All of my moulds are finished. This is my first cast assembled.  It is painted with base colours. It will take a lot of time to paint and weather it. I will describe this process later in short tutorial.

Most of my parts are already done. This is my first  cast assembled and primed white. You see here 9 main parts and another 8 small details. I need to pour the silicone on 2 more pieces and I can finish this model.

Most of my parts are already done. This is my first  cast assembled and primed white. You see here 9 main parts and another 8 small details. I need to pour the silicone on 2 more pieces and I can finish this model.

Most of my parts are already done. This is my first  cast assembled and primed white. You see here 9 main parts and another 8 small details. I need to pour the silicone on 2 more pieces and I can finish this model.

I cut this elevation few weekends ago. My friend from university sent me his survey drawing of  this beautiful tenement-house in Poland. I thought it may be a nice element for the wargame table or diorama. I am going to make damaged version of this building   in the near future. It will be in scale 1:100 to fit the Flames of War figures.

I cut this elevation few weekends ago. My friend from university sent me his survey drawing of  this beautiful tenement-house in Poland. I thought it may be a nice element for the wargame table or diorama. I am going to make damaged version of this building   in the near future. It will be in scale 1:100 to fit the Flames of War figures.

I cut this elevation few weekends ago. My friend from university sent me his survey drawing of  this beautiful tenement-house in Poland. I thought it may be a nice element for the wargame table or diorama. I am going to make damaged version of this building   in the near future. It will be in scale 1:100 to fit the Flames of War figures.

This is my favourite part of the building. I think that asymmetrical tower captured my attention when I was passing by that church. It has 8  little columns on the perimeter and looked complicated at first moment, but it was very easy to make.

I started with 50 cross sections laser cut in 1.5mm cardboard. Then  filled spaces between pillars with green stuff and sculpted stone. It will be primed later and cast as single resin part.

This is my favourite part of the building. I think that asymmetrical tower captured my attention when I was passing by that church. It has 8  little columns on the perimeter and looked complicated at first moment, but it was very easy to make.

I started with 50 cross sections laser cut in 1.5mm cardboard. Then  filled spaces between pillars with green stuff and sculpted stone. It will be primed later and cast as single resin part.

This is my favourite part of the building. I think that asymmetrical tower captured my attention when I was passing by that church. It has 8  little columns on the perimeter and looked complicated at first moment, but it was very easy to make.

I started with 50 cross sections laser cut in 1.5mm cardboard. Then  filled spaces between pillars with green stuff and sculpted stone. It will be primed later and cast as single resin part.