Life-Size Buzz and Neil (enlarged 1/4 Ken West "Apollo Astronauts on the Moon")

[Algebraist]

Dear all

Thought you might be interested in another "life-size" cardboard creation I can across on you tube. It is of a lego mini figure



And then you can specialize it to a particular mini figure, such as this



Regards

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Dear all

Now that I have reached the upper legs on the life-size model I needed to make them in 1/4 size first to understand how they went together.

Each thigh starts as a series of rings and then moves to partial rings



And then a joining part between the legs



Once the formers are added there was then a very fiddly (for me) stage of adding a pocket on each thigh and then the upper legs were complete



I decided to try an experiment of seeing if "packing" the legs (to help stop crushing and light shining through) was viable. So I glued the lower and upper legs together.

Here are the legs "unpacked" close to a light



To pack the legs I used toilet paper as this is very cheap and light. I figured to would diffuse the light and provide some anti crushing resistance for the model



Here you can see the comparison between packed and unpacked legs



And the finished effect on the legs



As you can see it works from the light point of view. It also greatly helped against crushing (better than I thought to be honest). However it does not overall add to the structural integrity of the model (ie in holding the model up). So if the model buckles before packing, then packing this way wont save it. It did take quite a bit of the roll (about 3/4) so added noticeable to the weight.

So overall, if the life-size model needs additional strength in any part then this packing method would be no good. In the end I removed all the paper packing from the 1/4 legs.

So now onto the life-size upper legs.

regards

Kevin

[beckychestney]

Lego man is hilarious!

[cfuruti]

Originally Posted by Algebraist

...In the end I removed all the paper packing from the 1/4 legs...

Wise move. Glueless TP is structurally weak, just see how many layers are in a (relatively heavy) roll which you can still easily dent and crush, even longitudinally. I guess it's only appropriate for small models, where 1) weight (cubic, remember) is not significant, and 2) narrow tubelike parts are hard to reach. Neither is true for your model.

About light blocking, aluminum or mylar foil are probably the most effective materials, but obviously can't play a structural role because they can hardly be glued.

Regarding previous suggestions to pose the astronaut attached to a support, unfortunately realistic "natural" props, like the flag pole, LEM ladder and the rover, are either too flimsy or fairly involved on their own.

[surfduke]

This is a fantastic project. Kinda like a life size Elvis or Blues Brothers statue for nerds. To bad ☹️ the left wing nuts destroyed our dreams of a true moonport back then. Keep the flag flying and honor our real heros that fly those controlled explosions to the final frontier!

[surfduke]

BTW
If you need any reference material or to talk over any details just contact me. I'm somewhat of a spurt-x on all things space glory past.

Good luck and God speed reliving magnificent desolation.

Duke out!

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by beckychestney

Lego man is hilarious!

You could actually do a giant lego minifigure astronaut. Like what comes with the latest lego lunar module kit



Regards

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by cfuruti

About light blocking, aluminum or mylar foil are probably the most effective materials, but obviously can't play a structural role because they can hardly be glued.

I would have never thought of using mylar. Is it an easy thing to glue to itself and paper?

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by surfduke

This is a fantastic project. Kinda like a life size Elvis or Blues Brothers statue for nerds. To bad ☹️ the left wing nuts destroyed our dreams of a true moonport back then. Keep the flag flying and honor our real heros that fly those controlled explosions to the final frontier!

Thanks for your compliment to this project. Much appreciated surfduke

Originally Posted by surfduke

BTW
If you need any reference material or to talk over any details just contact me. I'm somewhat of a spurt-x on all things space glory past.

Good luck and God speed reliving magnificent desolation.

Duke out!

Also thanks for the offer of reference material etc. That is going to be really helpful.

Regards

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Dear all

So I have started on the upper legs of the models. I decided to build both Buzz and Neil together as much as possible.

So first up is Buzz's left thigh. The parts are getting enormous now. As you can see, the "bottom ring" of the thigh is spread over three sheets of A3 size paper



Obviously this is contains a lot of "excess" paper (which will be used to strengthen the model so not wasted), but even when cut out the parts are still pretty big. Below shows the size with a 30 cm (12 inch) rule along side



So the first ring is joined and it is the biggest yet.



And working up the thigh things are just getting bigger. Here is the second ring being made.



Now comes the point to attach the first two rings to each other. As with the other large models I have made I find it is essential to have a "dry run" about how you are going to actually hold, turn, glue and press the part each time you are going to do a glue. At this size just holding or adjusting the angle you are holding the model can be a challenge I have found. Hopefully the next photos give you a feel for what it is like




Eventually finish joining those two rings



and so it is onto ring 3 (still getting longer)




And then attached to the rest of the left thigh




Continued in the next post....

Regards

Kevin