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

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by Vermin_King

Those would work better.


Kevin, have you had any success?

I think so, see next post...

[Algebraist]

Dear all

The model is broken into the following sections:

Boots, lower legs (shins and knees), upper legs (thighs and pelvis), torso, arms, gloves, helmet, life support system, final assembly (finishing parts). So I had a go at the lower legs for 1/4 model

I started with the right shin. Here is making a start on that part.



Since a spacesuit is virtually all a cloth material on the outside, the instructions recommend "pre-wrinkling" the relevant parts before gluing. This is to make the model have that wrinkled cloth effect. Here is a before and after wrinkled part



I found that holding the part between finger and thumbs of each hand and imagining where it was on the model and thinking how it would the piece would get it creases in real life gave quite good results. the other thing was you need to put a lot of creases in (way more than I originally thought that would be needed) to get a visible effect.



You might notice there are some "detail" vertical joining tabs on the outside near the bottom of the shin. This are quite small so I tried out some new scissors someone recently gave me, which are in shot in this picture



I had never seen anything like them before and are called "Decoupage". The "handles" are sprung steel which you gently squeeze to cut and then they spring back when you release. They make very small delicate cuts provided the paper is not too thick. (I suspect everyone on this forum already has a pair!)



I found 160 gsm paper was okay but any thicker was too much for them.

Then it was onto the right knee and then the left shin and knee



So I now had a pair of lower legs



At first I found it strange trying to join the pieces because they were never in the same plane as each other and constantly curving. But once I did a couple or so joins I got the feel of how they go together then the parts really did fit together perfectly.

I was now ready to try a test life-size lower leg part!

Regards

Kevin

[rifleman]

your doing well sir well done have you been shopping at the range by the way

[Algebraist]

Dear all

Having managed to make the lower legs for the 1/4 model I felt I was able to tackle a test life-size knee part. However before doing that I investigated what "wrinkled" paper parts were going to be like (strength wise) at life-size.

I quickly made up a couple of prewrinkled largish rings and joined them together.



Even though they were made from 250 gsm paper and were not that wrinkled there is no way they are going to be able to support the model. just by way of comparison the 1/4 model uses 160 gsm paper and can support the 1/4 model.

There are essentially two options if I want to continue down this path. Either (a) make a completely self supporting "skeleton" and then enclose it in a "skin" of the (wrinkled) model, or else (b) strengthen the wrinkled model parts (somehow) and possible add additional internal support.

I really cannot think of a practical way that I can manage of doing (a). As for (b), the only way I can think of realistically strengthening the wrinkled "walls" of the model is by gluing additional layers inside. However after a lot of thought and suggestions, I just don't see how this can be achieved with such wrinkled walls. the wrinkling needs to be kept and I think this means the inner layer will only be able to have a relatively small amount of contact with the outer wall and so not really strengthen it much at all.

This leaves (as far as I can see) only one other way of making the model. In the 1/4 model instructions it gives an "alternative" to wrinkling the parts of the model. It gives a method invented by Billy Leliveld, which means you make the model unwrinkled and then explains how to add wrinkled paper as an overlayer. Billy has a photo of one of his astronauts on his pinterest site https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/548876273306063540/ and here it is



Of course as you can see it looks fantastic.

There is one thing that really makes me nervous about this approach. In the instructions it says about this method

"Even experienced modelers should practice this method to become familiar and comfortable with it". This sounds to me like "This method is very difficult".

However I can see no alternative for this project, so I decide to concentrate on trying the make strong enough unwrinkled model and then to worry about using the above method.

So I an using the "take a snapshot" utility on the pdf file to enlarge by 400%. This hake the parts huge and have to be broken into parts to print, for which I am using 250 gsm A3 paper. The second photo below has a normal peice of A4 paper to next to them to give you an idea of scale



I am cutting out the parts on an A3 cutting mat and joining (almost) all the parts using joining tabs. Since(almost) everything is going to covered in a "skin" later, this will not affect the look of the final model.



So here is the completed wall of the knee. To give you some feeling of size, first here is a 1/24 scale model astronaut, so 7.5cm (3 inch) high



Then with my tea mug



Then with a 1/4 scale model knee



And finally with the life-size knee



In the 1/4 model there are "bulkheads (formers) at the top and bottom of the knee which are backed onto cereal box card. Normally I would scale up the thickness of the backing card BUT these bulkheads are not flat, but rather "flex" to an undulating shape. I find that in the life-size model I still want to keep the backing card to be cereal box card in order to enable this flexing. However they still seem to be strong enough to do their required job even at life-size



So the wall now need "laminating" but they are all undulating curves. So I try using strips of various sizes and find you can get a good result. My tests show that 3 or 4 layers produce exceedingly stiff walls. I also find that an internal joiner to the former greatly helps.



So overall I think the test shows that it should be possible to make reasonably strong walled parts. So based on this I think the next step to to start and make the actual parts and see how it goes.

Regards

Kevin

[ShadowCory]

Originally Posted by Algebraist

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions ShadowCory. Following one of your suggestions I have tracked down a you tube by someone who built a life size model of "Link" from the nintendo Zelda series of games (final video in the build series below)



Is this the one you meant? Have not managed to watch them yet though.

Cheers

Kevin

Actually it was this one:
https://geekologie.com/2013/08/life-...mass-effec.php


Same principle though. That Link was cool, but this Jack looks to be about 6' tall!

Cheers to you as well!


Edit: Bonus! You get to see his cardboard computer!

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by rifleman

your doing well sir well done have you been shopping at the range by the way

Thanks for the compliment rifleman. Also I guess that is where the scissors came from.

Regards

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by ShadowCory

Actually it was this one:
https://geekologie.com/2013/08/life-...mass-effec.php


Same principle though. That Link was cool, but this Jack looks to be about 6' tall!

Cheers to you as well!


Edit: Bonus! You get to see his cardboard computer!

That is an incredible model, thanks for sharing ShadowCory. I would have never noticed the computer unless you pointed it out It is great!

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Dear all

So I have made a start on the actual pieces of the the life-size model. I am starting with Buzz's right shin.

The shins and knees are essentially "rings" with formers top and bottom. for a leg section I am working from the bottom up (like a rocket). Here is the first ring of the shin



And one with the astronaut figure to give a feeling of size, who I have decided to name "Gene" after Gene Cernan (currently) last human on the moon.



I proceed to cut the pieces and make more rings



So now to join them all together. Now I really start to realize just how big the parts are. I find it quite a challenge trying to get pressure to join then since the parts are huge, way bigger than my hand, so unable to "pinch" the tabs. However I get used to handling them an work out ways to hold it and press it. Interestingly (or will it become maddeningly) since all the parts are different I need to think of a new "handling way" each time. So here is the shin without formers (with and without Gene)



I do not think this gives the true scale of size however, so here is a photo with my hand in shot



There are definitely no "fiddly" bits so far! However you do have to be pretty accurate with you cutting and gluing in order to make everything fit just right. the design of this model is fan-tas-tic. is goes together so well. An advantage of the method I am attempting (essentially all of this will be covered with "wrinkled cloth effect paper") means that I am only concerned with overall shape (so the odd wrinkle and splodge mark does not matter.

Next up are the formers which are large. They are backed bu 0.5 mm card (cereal box card)



I am cutting then so they are rings of roughly 3cm wide



And so they are glued into place



I surprised me how long this all took. It is not that it is intricate (clearly it is not). It is that everything is so big it all takes much longer than I thought. However I am really enjoying it now that I have started the actual model and feel that I am making progress

Regards

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Dear all

It struck me as I was cutting out the parts for Buzz's right shin with my scalpel, that the curves of the shapes reminded me of when I have see tailors drawing chalk shapes on cloth to make a suit.

But of course this is what is should be like since the model is really about making a space "suit".

This go me thinking back to the Apollo days. In my country (the UK) one reporter above all others epitomized the Apollo era. He was called James Burke (some of you may remember him). He is (yes he is still alive) an interesting person and was a linguist by training. In fact he says that is why he thinks people liked his "scientific" reports, because he had to try and understand things in simple terms with no pre scientific knowlege.

Anyway, here he is explaining what makes up the Apollo EVA suit, which I thought you might like to see



Regards

Kevin

[dhanners]

Burke is also the author of some great books on the history of science and invention, including "Connections" and, my favorite, "The Pinball Effect." They are fascinating reads.