Hello RPF Community!
I have always had a love for props and costumes since I was a little kid, so I figured this is the perfect place for me to get back into this hobby/ passion of mine, and have a chance to connect with so many like minded people!
I am a manufacturing engineer by trade specializing an plastics, especially thermoforming, and have a varied background in machining and material removal as well as welding, but again my forte is the polymer sciences. I would be happy to share any knowledge I may have on the subject of plastics and manufacturing since this area of props, costumes, models and the like are such a closely related mix of art and science. My collection is small and mostly self made from some lucky encounters with family members who had access to lathes and mills to help my childhood fantasies grow into a passion for the rare and obscure, as well as the well known props and doo-dads.
The shortlist of my limited collection (pictures to come) are:
-some attempts at lightsabers including Luke's ROTJ (still incomplete since 2008) and what i thought was a Graflex 3-cell but actually turned out to be a 2-cell (I was 12 at the time) which i will turn into something cool for sure.
-Intense builds of WW2 and WW1 fighter planes and tanks, all painted by hand because I could never afford an air brush, some with weathering but most without.
-nick-nacks and doo-dads I've attempted to assemble for Indy costumes including a hat (the very nice one with the pink lining)!
I started, I'm sure like most of you, by building LEGOs, then quickly into models. I spent most of my summer days inside painting boats and planes, building model rockets and getting them stuck in trees. By the time it came to leave high school I wanted to head for LA and start doing practical effects and working in prop shops, but I let my parents talk me out of it and I went into manufacturing engineering at Chico State instead. All in all, I'm happy I went with engineering because in the back of my mind I knew I would always come back to my first love of props and movies and sic-fi and having that manufacturing background allows me to understand how to make things and gave me access to tolls and techniques that are key to practical effects and props.
I am very excited to join this community of people who are doing the things they love and helping others like myself start or re-start their passions for this industry! I hope to post as often as I can with project updates and the like!