1:1 Stargate Life Size Replica! - "Too big?" Throwback to July 2022
- Thread starter Sendel
- Start date
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project - Big Update [05/07/15]
Wow. Did you have to rob a bank for all those casting supplies? :lol
Wow. Did you have to rob a bank for all those casting supplies? :lol
Sendel
Active Member
@Jintosh : I’d love too. I think that 8 years of my life spent on this project is long enough. I imagined so many times the moment when we’ll be able to make the last assembly of the Gate. It'll be awesome, a child’s dream.
@Sluis Van Shipyards : Robbing Smooth-On would be more straight forward I think. There should be less security systems.
The whole thing, silicon + resin was about 12’000$ (we then ordered a bit more) as we asked for a huge amount of materials we had a -15% deal with KauPo (Smooth-On’s seller in Deutschland).
I actually paid for everything the association spent these last years, so around 40’000$ and we still have to pay for the structure… I used the money my parents spared for me to use in case of hard times and the money I gained during my apprenticeship (when I had to pay less charges), so I really hope there will be a way to get my money back once the Gate will be finished. Like rent it, sell a few segment replicas… It all depends on how the MGM will react, as every other prop.
Question : I tried to change this thread’s title by editing my first post (clic more reply options) and changing it’s title. It didn’t work. Did I miss something ?
Update 2
Here are the themes I’ll speak of until the end of this project. They may be mixed and repeated :
-Build non durable workshops everywhere in your house (may be a bad idea)
-Preparation of masters with more or less complicated shapes
-Simple 1 part molds
-Huge brush-on molds (1-2m)
-Huge brush-on casts
-Matrix molds
-Poured (transparent) casts
-CNC milling
-Durable paint and paint effects
-Design of a 6m structure
-Build of a 6m structure
-Design and assembly of a simple light system
-Choice and adaptation of servos and bigger motors
One element that convinced me to begin this project was all the things I could try (fail) and learn. I’ll write about all the steps I went through and try to explain them clearly to help anyone who would make anything equivalent. Please feel free to add any commentary, any advice. I’m more comfortable now with all these processes but I’m still not a professional.
So, the first thing I want to share is the making of the mold of the back panel of the Stargate. It’s the biggest part of a segment, nearly 1x2m. We already explained how it was made in this thread but here is an enhanced version.
(This is the original master used for the series, we don’t own it, we have an original piece of the Gate).
We already tried to make a mold of this one.
The new one has been made to be more durable and easier to demold, but it was a bit more complicated to make. We were also only a maximum of 3 people on it this time, the first time we were around 6 people which is esier to make good pictures / videos.
For the first mold, we didn’t want to modify the original, so we used plasticine and it was nice but too fragile. This time, we were confident enough to make a definitive renovation of this piece. The cast was full of bubbles as for all the other parts of the gate actually and it had a few broken parts. So we fixed all that using apoxie sculpt (here in light gray) which was the only material which sticked enough on the surface or in thin areas. Still, there were some places were the apoxie didn’t directly stick so we glued these part when they were falling from the sanding we did after the sculpt. Of course we avoided modifying or scratching anything that wasn’t necessary.
We didn’t change the preparation of the master much from the last time. The base was made of two shuttering boards, the original masters of the SG-1 gate are actually screwed on the same kind of boards. As the panel is hollow we managed to fix it using different wood blocks screwed using the original holes made by the production originally to fix it on the structure for the show. We then cut in wood a profile of the two sides to fill them.
We then fixed a 1x1cm strip of wood about 5cm of the periphery of the panel. The last thing we did was to put non sulfur clay in all the borders and holes to make the whole thing completely hermetic to avoid the silicon to go under the panel and loose a lot of it. Using a basic clay wasn’t a good idea, that was a clay that dried quickly and shipped in the silicon after the first stroke of brush. Now I would use a non drying oil based clay for this, like a soft plasticine.
We used vaseline on the wood boards and strips to allow the silicon to demold easily. I didn’t want to use any release on the master (but I then did for the casts). I was afraid to loose details. Normally mold release shouldn’t mess the molding process but I've had bad surprises sometimes because I over applied or whatever. The downside of this could be for some details to break during the demolding because it sticked a bit too much to the master. This piece has lots of geometrical details, corners and edges, but most of them are big enough to avoid anything wrong to happen during the demolding.
Of course to use the following materials (mostly resins), you have to use the necessary safety equipment (gloves, the appropriate gas masks, etc.) and work in a well ventilated area.
Of course we worked in my bedroom just putting a large piece of plastic protection on the floor. Last time I added plastic protection everywhere around, but I learned to work more properly.
We choose the Rebound 25 from Smooth-On to make this mold. All the coats were applied using disposable brushes. Those were big and cheap and a few time we had to remove some of their hairs which fell in the silicon, but they were pretty ok to work with, because, as said, the piece has big details and we were able to go in every corner easily. When needed we used thinner brushes. For a piece with more little details we probably would have use better brushes for the first coat.
This time we streamed everything on our Twitch. Each time we worked, I had to plug my system with my computer, an external HDD to record directly and an absurdy long cable for the network plus an external webcam. That is a lot of fun to be able to explain what you're doing to your viewers but it takes also a bit more time. My external HDD was a big one so I always had a hard to time to find how to securely place it side to my computer, utimately it felt on the floor one day and we lost two months of work and a few other data. We tried a professional recovery but the HDD was already too much damaged. So now, I have two HDD, one to record everyhing and a backup. Always remember to have a backup of all your data.
We used our new vacuum chamber (36cm diameter) to remove the bubbles for the first coat of silicon. The print coat was thin to be able to get every details, we made a lot of little batches to avoid the silicon to gel too quickly. So we poured one batch at a time and then brushed the panel everywhere. To forget an edge could have led to new bubbles so we were really careful to avoid that. We then let it cure for a few hours.
(Meet JB - Fanny - Yelena)
We removed the bubbles from the second coat too, to avoid any bubble just under the first coat which skin would have been too thin not to break. We added a bit of blue in this coat to see more clearly were it was. We let it cure too.
(Meet me, aka Quentin, aka Sendel)
We then wanted to apply a glass mesh just after a new coat. This mesh with large stitches is there to avoid the mold to tear, mostly in the the edges during the demolding. We cut the mesh in large patches of 1x0.5m. It was ok because the shape of the panel with the silicon added was pretty simple and the mesh could easily be deformed to take the right shape. For more complicated shapes or more tight stitches we would have cut smaller patches. As the mesh imbibes the silicon, we were able to pass a new coat of silicon on it to trap it completely in the mold.
We made a mistake though, we applied it before reinforcing the edges. When you’re doing a brush-on mold, because of the gravity the silicon is going in the most low area in priority, so all the edges are the thinnest area of each coat. Fortunately, the mesh didn’t stick too much on the silicon. Only the center was stuck, so we let it there.
To reinforce the edge, we mixed Thi-Vex (a thixotropic agent, a thickener) in the silicon and then applied it with spatulas on all the edges (see above). We then placed the mesh back and applied a fresh coat of silicon (no vacuum chamber this time). We put the silicon only on top of the mesh because the mold was already really thick (we’d used nearly 34Kg of silicon already), so we did our best to « massage » the silicon through the mesh.
As there was already a bit of silicon on the patches it created bubbles in some places, so we cut the bubbles, filled it with silicone + Thi-Vex and added new pieces of mesh + silicon to fix it. It worked really well.
The lowest part of the panel is a big undercut, so we had to fill it with silicon + Thi-Vex, a huge amount of it ! To do so and as the thickened silicon isn’t that rigid, we put the whole thing vertically and poured it in the undercut.
Once cured, we added a thickened coat to level everything. Before this one was cured we added the square keys we had made in parallel during the process. To avoid it to move before everything was cured (especially on the sides), we used pins through the keys + the already cured coats. I made linear keys in a mold in which I was able to make two at a time. I then cut the keys in halves because it was too thick.
We then cut the silicon that had spilled out of the zone and cut the border of the keys (on top) which was useful for later. We added a bit of thickened silicon on the border of each key to create a rounded edge which is easier to demold. We then verified the thickness of the mold using a pin and added a final silicon coat (with a bit of red to see it and add a bubble-gum like effect, yummy) to level and smooth everything.
That’s it for the silicon part ! Well, it took 4 days to do this, we were four for the first coats then only two for the rest.
Now for the shell.
For the mold to get back in place correctly in it’s future shell, we cut 3cm keys on the 5cm border of the mold after removing the wood strips. Each inner corner of these keys are round to avoid to tear appart. We then applied vaseline once again on the on the boards and a release agent on the mold.
We fixed a temporary wall at 1/3 of the panel in the length made of a MDF piece and four battens to be able to make the shell in two part for the demolding to be easier (and we put more vaseline on it yaaaaay).
(Meet toilet paper - Twitch)
I made clay shapes on the wall to be used as keys, I should have made them vertically only but I had this bad idea to make some blocks placed up on the wall which would have been ok if I were able to separate the two parts of the shel horizontally which was impossible of course (you’ll see later). Clay was applied under the wood wall also to avoid silicon to go under it.
We used an acrylic resin which is made form a liquid and a powder. It is heavier than any resin we could have used and a bit less resistant, so why ? Because we were working in my bedroom and having resin fumes in the same place you sleep isn’t quite a good idea. Even if you ventilate enough to remove the fumes everything will stink for like a few months. That’s why we chose a resin which isn’t harmful and could be used without using gas masks.
The first part was made with a first thin coat which was essentially drying the top of the vaseline and curing in drops. The second coat was then able to stick everywhere but was too liquid.
So we contacted our seller who said it would be a good idea to add a thixotropic agent when need, on the vertical faces for exemple (he could have said that earlier, we had to wait for this new material). So we put a third coat more thick.
The next coat was directly made using a glass cloth damped of the resin then placed on the mold. That time, each patch of glass cloth was about 50 x 15 cm.
When needed, we used a thicker glass cloth folded in half to reinforce some areas like the sides of the mold or the wall between the two parts were we planned to force to be able to open the mold (spoiler, when we did it still was a bit weak and broke, we then fixed it)
Actually, we did this only after we noticed the sides and the wall were too weak. We then did the same on each mold.
For the second part, we removed the wood wall and the clay. We sanded the sharp edges too. Of course we put more vaseline on the part of the shell which would be in contact with the second one.
The same process was used (only 3 coats this time, the first think the second with thixo, then the cloth).
We then mixed the acrylic resin with shredded glass fiber and thixotropic agent to make a paste and apply it as pellets on each side of the wall where the two parts of the shell were linked. The idea here is to make these areas stronger to be able to drill holes in it and add bolts to fix the mold.
We then added a wood structure to avoid the shell to bend and break. To fix this structure we also used the thicker glass cloth directly on it. It was pretty durable. First I had this strange idea to link the wood structure of the two sides of the mold. Which was absurde because it was impossible to demold,
The demolding process was… awful. We unscrewed the wall and we returned the whole thing in all directions. We then unscrewed the master from the boards, forced with chisels (which is a really nice tool to use as a lever to demold). It made big noises of *CRACKS* but we finally were able to free the master and then the silicon from the shell. Fortunately the silicon hadn’t been too much teared by the chisels.
We then cleaned the mold, placed the silicon back in its shell (after a new coat of vaseline in between it went really well, thanks to the cut edges). We searched for any bubbles and filled them with silicon using syringes (it’s a nice idea but be careful not to put too much in it or you’ll get a bump were you had an empty bubble.
That’s all folks ! Thanks for reading. I hope it will be useful.
See you in the next updates.
I imagined so many times the moment when we’ll be able to make the last assembly of the Gate. It'll be awesome, a child’s dream.@Sluis Van Shipyards : Robbing Smooth-On would be more straight forward I think. There should be less security systems.
The whole thing, silicon + resin was about 12’000$ (we then ordered a bit more) as we asked for a huge amount of materials we had a -15% deal with KauPo (Smooth-On’s seller in Deutschland).
I actually paid for everything the association spent these last years, so around 40’000$ and we still have to pay for the structure… I used the money my parents spared for me to use in case of hard times and the money I gained during my apprenticeship (when I had to pay less charges), so I really hope there will be a way to get my money back once the Gate will be finished. Like rent it, sell a few segment replicas… It all depends on how the MGM will react, as every other prop.
Question : I tried to change this thread’s title by editing my first post (clic more reply options) and changing it’s title. It didn’t work. Did I miss something ?
Update 2
Here are the themes I’ll speak of until the end of this project. They may be mixed and repeated :
-Build non durable workshops everywhere in your house (may be a bad idea)
-Preparation of masters with more or less complicated shapes
-Simple 1 part molds
-Huge brush-on molds (1-2m)
-Huge brush-on casts
-Matrix molds
-Poured (transparent) casts
-CNC milling
-Durable paint and paint effects
-Design of a 6m structure
-Build of a 6m structure
-Design and assembly of a simple light system
-Choice and adaptation of servos and bigger motors
One element that convinced me to begin this project was all the things I could try (fail) and learn. I’ll write about all the steps I went through and try to explain them clearly to help anyone who would make anything equivalent. Please feel free to add any commentary, any advice. I’m more comfortable now with all these processes but I’m still not a professional.
So, the first thing I want to share is the making of the mold of the back panel of the Stargate. It’s the biggest part of a segment, nearly 1x2m. We already explained how it was made in this thread but here is an enhanced version.
(This is the original master used for the series, we don’t own it, we have an original piece of the Gate).
We already tried to make a mold of this one.
The new one has been made to be more durable and easier to demold, but it was a bit more complicated to make. We were also only a maximum of 3 people on it this time, the first time we were around 6 people which is esier to make good pictures / videos.
For the first mold, we didn’t want to modify the original, so we used plasticine and it was nice but too fragile. This time, we were confident enough to make a definitive renovation of this piece. The cast was full of bubbles as for all the other parts of the gate actually and it had a few broken parts. So we fixed all that using apoxie sculpt (here in light gray) which was the only material which sticked enough on the surface or in thin areas. Still, there were some places were the apoxie didn’t directly stick so we glued these part when they were falling from the sanding we did after the sculpt. Of course we avoided modifying or scratching anything that wasn’t necessary.
We didn’t change the preparation of the master much from the last time. The base was made of two shuttering boards, the original masters of the SG-1 gate are actually screwed on the same kind of boards. As the panel is hollow we managed to fix it using different wood blocks screwed using the original holes made by the production originally to fix it on the structure for the show. We then cut in wood a profile of the two sides to fill them.
We then fixed a 1x1cm strip of wood about 5cm of the periphery of the panel. The last thing we did was to put non sulfur clay in all the borders and holes to make the whole thing completely hermetic to avoid the silicon to go under the panel and loose a lot of it. Using a basic clay wasn’t a good idea, that was a clay that dried quickly and shipped in the silicon after the first stroke of brush. Now I would use a non drying oil based clay for this, like a soft plasticine.
We used vaseline on the wood boards and strips to allow the silicon to demold easily. I didn’t want to use any release on the master (but I then did for the casts). I was afraid to loose details. Normally mold release shouldn’t mess the molding process but I've had bad surprises sometimes because I over applied or whatever. The downside of this could be for some details to break during the demolding because it sticked a bit too much to the master. This piece has lots of geometrical details, corners and edges, but most of them are big enough to avoid anything wrong to happen during the demolding.
Of course to use the following materials (mostly resins), you have to use the necessary safety equipment (gloves, the appropriate gas masks, etc.) and work in a well ventilated area.
Of course we worked in my bedroom just putting a large piece of plastic protection on the floor. Last time I added plastic protection everywhere around, but I learned to work more properly.
We choose the Rebound 25 from Smooth-On to make this mold. All the coats were applied using disposable brushes. Those were big and cheap and a few time we had to remove some of their hairs which fell in the silicon, but they were pretty ok to work with, because, as said, the piece has big details and we were able to go in every corner easily. When needed we used thinner brushes. For a piece with more little details we probably would have use better brushes for the first coat.
This time we streamed everything on our Twitch. Each time we worked, I had to plug my system with my computer, an external HDD to record directly and an absurdy long cable for the network plus an external webcam. That is a lot of fun to be able to explain what you're doing to your viewers but it takes also a bit more time. My external HDD was a big one so I always had a hard to time to find how to securely place it side to my computer, utimately it felt on the floor one day and we lost two months of work and a few other data. We tried a professional recovery but the HDD was already too much damaged. So now, I have two HDD, one to record everyhing and a backup. Always remember to have a backup of all your data.
We used our new vacuum chamber (36cm diameter) to remove the bubbles for the first coat of silicon. The print coat was thin to be able to get every details, we made a lot of little batches to avoid the silicon to gel too quickly. So we poured one batch at a time and then brushed the panel everywhere. To forget an edge could have led to new bubbles so we were really careful to avoid that. We then let it cure for a few hours.
(Meet JB - Fanny - Yelena)
We removed the bubbles from the second coat too, to avoid any bubble just under the first coat which skin would have been too thin not to break. We added a bit of blue in this coat to see more clearly were it was. We let it cure too.
(Meet me, aka Quentin, aka Sendel)
We then wanted to apply a glass mesh just after a new coat. This mesh with large stitches is there to avoid the mold to tear, mostly in the the edges during the demolding. We cut the mesh in large patches of 1x0.5m. It was ok because the shape of the panel with the silicon added was pretty simple and the mesh could easily be deformed to take the right shape. For more complicated shapes or more tight stitches we would have cut smaller patches. As the mesh imbibes the silicon, we were able to pass a new coat of silicon on it to trap it completely in the mold.
We made a mistake though, we applied it before reinforcing the edges. When you’re doing a brush-on mold, because of the gravity the silicon is going in the most low area in priority, so all the edges are the thinnest area of each coat. Fortunately, the mesh didn’t stick too much on the silicon. Only the center was stuck, so we let it there.
To reinforce the edge, we mixed Thi-Vex (a thixotropic agent, a thickener) in the silicon and then applied it with spatulas on all the edges (see above). We then placed the mesh back and applied a fresh coat of silicon (no vacuum chamber this time). We put the silicon only on top of the mesh because the mold was already really thick (we’d used nearly 34Kg of silicon already), so we did our best to « massage » the silicon through the mesh.
As there was already a bit of silicon on the patches it created bubbles in some places, so we cut the bubbles, filled it with silicone + Thi-Vex and added new pieces of mesh + silicon to fix it. It worked really well.
The lowest part of the panel is a big undercut, so we had to fill it with silicon + Thi-Vex, a huge amount of it ! To do so and as the thickened silicon isn’t that rigid, we put the whole thing vertically and poured it in the undercut.
Once cured, we added a thickened coat to level everything. Before this one was cured we added the square keys we had made in parallel during the process. To avoid it to move before everything was cured (especially on the sides), we used pins through the keys + the already cured coats. I made linear keys in a mold in which I was able to make two at a time. I then cut the keys in halves because it was too thick.
We then cut the silicon that had spilled out of the zone and cut the border of the keys (on top) which was useful for later. We added a bit of thickened silicon on the border of each key to create a rounded edge which is easier to demold. We then verified the thickness of the mold using a pin and added a final silicon coat (with a bit of red to see it and add a bubble-gum like effect, yummy) to level and smooth everything.
That’s it for the silicon part ! Well, it took 4 days to do this, we were four for the first coats then only two for the rest.
Now for the shell.
For the mold to get back in place correctly in it’s future shell, we cut 3cm keys on the 5cm border of the mold after removing the wood strips. Each inner corner of these keys are round to avoid to tear appart. We then applied vaseline once again on the on the boards and a release agent on the mold.
We fixed a temporary wall at 1/3 of the panel in the length made of a MDF piece and four battens to be able to make the shell in two part for the demolding to be easier (and we put more vaseline on it yaaaaay).
(Meet toilet paper - Twitch)
I made clay shapes on the wall to be used as keys, I should have made them vertically only but I had this bad idea to make some blocks placed up on the wall which would have been ok if I were able to separate the two parts of the shel horizontally which was impossible of course (you’ll see later). Clay was applied under the wood wall also to avoid silicon to go under it.
We used an acrylic resin which is made form a liquid and a powder. It is heavier than any resin we could have used and a bit less resistant, so why ? Because we were working in my bedroom and having resin fumes in the same place you sleep isn’t quite a good idea. Even if you ventilate enough to remove the fumes everything will stink for like a few months. That’s why we chose a resin which isn’t harmful and could be used without using gas masks.
The first part was made with a first thin coat which was essentially drying the top of the vaseline and curing in drops. The second coat was then able to stick everywhere but was too liquid.
So we contacted our seller who said it would be a good idea to add a thixotropic agent when need, on the vertical faces for exemple (he could have said that earlier, we had to wait for this new material). So we put a third coat more thick.
The next coat was directly made using a glass cloth damped of the resin then placed on the mold. That time, each patch of glass cloth was about 50 x 15 cm.
When needed, we used a thicker glass cloth folded in half to reinforce some areas like the sides of the mold or the wall between the two parts were we planned to force to be able to open the mold (spoiler, when we did it still was a bit weak and broke, we then fixed it)
Actually, we did this only after we noticed the sides and the wall were too weak. We then did the same on each mold.
For the second part, we removed the wood wall and the clay. We sanded the sharp edges too. Of course we put more vaseline on the part of the shell which would be in contact with the second one.
The same process was used (only 3 coats this time, the first think the second with thixo, then the cloth).
We then mixed the acrylic resin with shredded glass fiber and thixotropic agent to make a paste and apply it as pellets on each side of the wall where the two parts of the shell were linked. The idea here is to make these areas stronger to be able to drill holes in it and add bolts to fix the mold.
We then added a wood structure to avoid the shell to bend and break. To fix this structure we also used the thicker glass cloth directly on it. It was pretty durable. First I had this strange idea to link the wood structure of the two sides of the mold. Which was absurde because it was impossible to demold,
The demolding process was… awful. We unscrewed the wall and we returned the whole thing in all directions. We then unscrewed the master from the boards, forced with chisels (which is a really nice tool to use as a lever to demold). It made big noises of *CRACKS* but we finally were able to free the master and then the silicon from the shell. Fortunately the silicon hadn’t been too much teared by the chisels.
We then cleaned the mold, placed the silicon back in its shell (after a new coat of vaseline in between it went really well, thanks to the cut edges). We searched for any bubbles and filled them with silicon using syringes (it’s a nice idea but be careful not to put too much in it or you’ll get a bump were you had an empty bubble.
That’s all folks ! Thanks for reading. I hope it will be useful.
See you in the next updates.
Last edited:
Sendel
Active Member
Last edited by a moderator:
cheech9898
Sr Member
Nice! Congrats on finding the original segment. I was out bid on 5 of them and Got 2nd chance calls about them. Had to turn down due to getting an Atlantis segment and an a bunch if other stuff.
Too Much Garlic
Master Member
Insanely cool work. Going to read everything more carefully later, as I just skimmed through it, but what a massive undertaking.
Sendel
Active Member
@cheech9898 : Thanks, I remember your Stargate Atlantis segment. It’s so cool, that was a pretty good choice !
@Too Much Garlic : Thanks, did you read it since then ? Because you’ll have more and more to read until the end of the project.
Update 3
Aaaaaand I’m back. Ok, I’m sorry, I said one update each week but it seem like I only have the time for one each month. ^^’
So, this time we’ll speak about making huge resin casts using huge molds. Here is the making of the casts of the back panel !
Most of our panels were made this way independently of the shape. This one will be really detailed as it’s the first I’m talking about.
The casts were made outdoors during spring to avoid letting all sorts of fumes go everywhere in the house and to move freely. Still we used gaz masks, gloves and glasses.
As the night were still cold and as we only had a few days together, we had to finish our day of casts in our little garden shed which was heated during the whole night (high cost of electricity… duh) to allow the casts to cure.
First thing first, to be sure to be able to demold easily our casts, we applied again vaseline between the resin shell and the silicon of the mold. Apply vaseline on the resin borders too is a good way to avoid any resin overflow to stick on your mold, but we didn’t care as it wasn’t causing any problem anyway.
Then we applied an UTF Universal Release (which is liquid and silicone based) in the mold. You have to apply it using a brush, just two thin coats are perfect but you have to pay attention to apply everywhere and to avoid over applying.
The resins we used was a Shell Shock Fast (Polyurethane) and some UVO black color. We actually bought 10 bottles and used only 3 or 4 for the whole Stargate as it’s super effective.
Only the first coat was colored black, the Shell Shock is gray / beige basically. We colored one bucket at a time to have less color differences. As everything will be painted with an other dark color we didn't mind having a bit of differences.
Oh, did I told you about Pop Corn ? No I didn’t. I bought 1000 Pop Corn pots in two sizes which are cheap and super nice to use. I didn’t have any curing problem due to an unsolicited product used for the pots as it’s made to put food in it… These are sturdy enough for liquid and thicker resins or silicons and if your let your resin too much time in it and it starts to heat, it won’t melt ! Or burn (well it depends of the resin, if it’s too hot it could burn).
That's only a part of what we bought.
Each day we poured all the part B of the necessary resin for all the casts, that way we only had to pour the part A when needed, it was a lot easier and quicker. To protect the resin we put a plastic weap on it, we tried to use the same ones each day because we use super non environmental friendly materials but love nature...
We made each coat in multiple batches to avoid the resin to gel too quickly or to heat. Each batch was applied by pouring the whole content of each pot at a time and quickly brushing it on the largest area possible. We used the same cheap brushes as for the silicon. For any hole or slot we used a stippling motion with the brush and then, we put our fingers (with gloves) everywhere we can. This way we avoided lots of bubbles, especially in the big undercut down on the back panel.
For the vertical wall, we kept it for the last batches to be used only there. To avoid getting a too thin coat here, we poured the resin which was going down due to gravity and then brush it up on the wall again and again until it was partially cured and didn’t flow anymore.
The Shell Shock FAST is a good choice for that, we could have put the mold perpendicularly but it was a lot of trouble only for this. But If used in a too hot environment the Shell Shock FAST was too fast and the pot life too short, but most of the time it was ok. The other good thing was that we didn’t had to wait too much time to put the second coat. Most of the time we were applying the first coat on each mold then going back to the first one wich was ready for the second coat.
The second coat wasn’t colored so we could see were it was applied. It was applied the same way than the first one. This time we used just a bit less resin. Once again we used our fingers, this time only in the undercut.
Then there was a third coat, this one wasn’t colored either, it was to be sure to have enough thickness everywhere, so we put it only where we were still seeing any black spot, especially on the edges. To be sure it didn’t go down too much, we monitored it and replaced it on the edges when it was flowing.
That’s it for the Shell Shock. Also, we didn’t care about putting not enough resin on the side walls as it was meant to be removed later for the assembly. We just put enough to ensure it to stay in shape as long as we didn’t put it on a frame.
The Shell Shock is really resistant to the… Shocks… duh. But it cas break really easily, especially in thin layers. To get a more durable cast, we applied a Rowing glass cloth as a fourth (be with you) coat. To do that we used the Epoxamite 102 (Epoxy) with the Medium hardener which was really too slow… it had to cure for 10-15 hours against 6-8 hours for the fast. Still it was nice to have a looooong pot life (22 minutes) so we had to make less batches. Fun fact : We bought 4 buckets of this and only needed 1 for the whole Stargate. The bucket is still not empty...
We applied it the same way as any glass cloth with resin, using the same brushes and a stippling motion to put the less possible resin on the cloth but enough for it to be soaked. We actually used the black UVO color in this resin too to see were we had put our cloth as it becomes transparent once soaked.
(Meet Julien and Jean-Philippe)
We then let it cure for the night and the next day we demolded it. To do so we had to turn it 180° which means carry the weight of the mold and the cast. Most of the time it was ok but impractical. Each day we had to carry it outside of the garden shed (remember ? We put it there for the night.) and demolded outside.
The screws with wing nuts are a must have of course for any multiple parts mold. The first back panel mold we had (see link in Update 2) was made of one part only. It was really difficult to get the cast out without making any damage on it. This one was easier but still a bit hard, most of the time we were climbing on the table to have more strength to be able to remove the first part of the mold. To help, we put a lot of wooden sticks everywhere we can, to allow some air to pass between the silicone and resin.
Once the first half was removed it was really easy to remove the second one. We then reassembled the two resin parts to be able to remove the silicon of the cast and directly put it back in the mold. The silicon is the heaviest part of all this and it’s also the lass practical as it’s soft…
We didn’t put more vaseline as one coat is enough for 3 to 5 casts but we had to be careful as some thin resin parts (mostly overflows) were going in the shell and get stick in the vaseline. Only a thin shard can make some big distortion on your cast ! Think about Dark Crystal, that was a tiny shard but caused soooo much trouble, eh ?
We then cut the extra glass cloth on each side and let the resin sides for now as we don’t have the structure to put it on yet.
(Side by side with the original, on the left)
Each back panel weights around 14 Kg which is a bit more than the original one made by the production. I’m still amazed by what they’ve made.
We didn’t have any problem with this except some bubbles and one cast that broke because we didn’t put it in the garde shed… but we sold the parts and people were happy to help us and get a part of the Stargate, that was nice. We had to let post-cure our resin to be sure the pannel didn't lost it's chape, it's important to put it on a flat area or it could be desastrous.
(Fifty shades of Stargate... why are there green ones you ask ? Well you're free to make your asumptions and I'll tell you next time !)
(Oh, now we know the exact diameter of this thing, that's good...)
So, that’s it for the back panel ! Next time I’ll speak about the mold and cast of the two pieces of the front panel.
Oh, by the way. Any idea about how to fix a resin pannel on an aluminium structure without making holes in it ? Like, not like that :
@Too Much Garlic : Thanks, did you read it since then ? Because you’ll have more and more to read until the end of the project.
Update 3
Aaaaaand I’m back. Ok, I’m sorry, I said one update each week but it seem like I only have the time for one each month. ^^’
So, this time we’ll speak about making huge resin casts using huge molds. Here is the making of the casts of the back panel !
Most of our panels were made this way independently of the shape. This one will be really detailed as it’s the first I’m talking about.
The casts were made outdoors during spring to avoid letting all sorts of fumes go everywhere in the house and to move freely. Still we used gaz masks, gloves and glasses.
As the night were still cold and as we only had a few days together, we had to finish our day of casts in our little garden shed which was heated during the whole night (high cost of electricity… duh) to allow the casts to cure.
First thing first, to be sure to be able to demold easily our casts, we applied again vaseline between the resin shell and the silicon of the mold. Apply vaseline on the resin borders too is a good way to avoid any resin overflow to stick on your mold, but we didn’t care as it wasn’t causing any problem anyway.
Then we applied an UTF Universal Release (which is liquid and silicone based) in the mold. You have to apply it using a brush, just two thin coats are perfect but you have to pay attention to apply everywhere and to avoid over applying.
The resins we used was a Shell Shock Fast (Polyurethane) and some UVO black color. We actually bought 10 bottles and used only 3 or 4 for the whole Stargate as it’s super effective.
Only the first coat was colored black, the Shell Shock is gray / beige basically. We colored one bucket at a time to have less color differences. As everything will be painted with an other dark color we didn't mind having a bit of differences.
Oh, did I told you about Pop Corn ? No I didn’t. I bought 1000 Pop Corn pots in two sizes which are cheap and super nice to use. I didn’t have any curing problem due to an unsolicited product used for the pots as it’s made to put food in it… These are sturdy enough for liquid and thicker resins or silicons and if your let your resin too much time in it and it starts to heat, it won’t melt ! Or burn (well it depends of the resin, if it’s too hot it could burn).
That's only a part of what we bought.
Each day we poured all the part B of the necessary resin for all the casts, that way we only had to pour the part A when needed, it was a lot easier and quicker. To protect the resin we put a plastic weap on it, we tried to use the same ones each day because we use super non environmental friendly materials but love nature...
We made each coat in multiple batches to avoid the resin to gel too quickly or to heat. Each batch was applied by pouring the whole content of each pot at a time and quickly brushing it on the largest area possible. We used the same cheap brushes as for the silicon. For any hole or slot we used a stippling motion with the brush and then, we put our fingers (with gloves) everywhere we can. This way we avoided lots of bubbles, especially in the big undercut down on the back panel.
For the vertical wall, we kept it for the last batches to be used only there. To avoid getting a too thin coat here, we poured the resin which was going down due to gravity and then brush it up on the wall again and again until it was partially cured and didn’t flow anymore.
The Shell Shock FAST is a good choice for that, we could have put the mold perpendicularly but it was a lot of trouble only for this. But If used in a too hot environment the Shell Shock FAST was too fast and the pot life too short, but most of the time it was ok. The other good thing was that we didn’t had to wait too much time to put the second coat. Most of the time we were applying the first coat on each mold then going back to the first one wich was ready for the second coat.
The second coat wasn’t colored so we could see were it was applied. It was applied the same way than the first one. This time we used just a bit less resin. Once again we used our fingers, this time only in the undercut.
Then there was a third coat, this one wasn’t colored either, it was to be sure to have enough thickness everywhere, so we put it only where we were still seeing any black spot, especially on the edges. To be sure it didn’t go down too much, we monitored it and replaced it on the edges when it was flowing.
That’s it for the Shell Shock. Also, we didn’t care about putting not enough resin on the side walls as it was meant to be removed later for the assembly. We just put enough to ensure it to stay in shape as long as we didn’t put it on a frame.
The Shell Shock is really resistant to the… Shocks… duh. But it cas break really easily, especially in thin layers. To get a more durable cast, we applied a Rowing glass cloth as a fourth (be with you) coat. To do that we used the Epoxamite 102 (Epoxy) with the Medium hardener which was really too slow… it had to cure for 10-15 hours against 6-8 hours for the fast. Still it was nice to have a looooong pot life (22 minutes) so we had to make less batches. Fun fact : We bought 4 buckets of this and only needed 1 for the whole Stargate. The bucket is still not empty...
We applied it the same way as any glass cloth with resin, using the same brushes and a stippling motion to put the less possible resin on the cloth but enough for it to be soaked. We actually used the black UVO color in this resin too to see were we had put our cloth as it becomes transparent once soaked.
(Meet Julien and Jean-Philippe)
We then let it cure for the night and the next day we demolded it. To do so we had to turn it 180° which means carry the weight of the mold and the cast. Most of the time it was ok but impractical. Each day we had to carry it outside of the garden shed (remember ? We put it there for the night.) and demolded outside.
The screws with wing nuts are a must have of course for any multiple parts mold. The first back panel mold we had (see link in Update 2) was made of one part only. It was really difficult to get the cast out without making any damage on it. This one was easier but still a bit hard, most of the time we were climbing on the table to have more strength to be able to remove the first part of the mold. To help, we put a lot of wooden sticks everywhere we can, to allow some air to pass between the silicone and resin.
Once the first half was removed it was really easy to remove the second one. We then reassembled the two resin parts to be able to remove the silicon of the cast and directly put it back in the mold. The silicon is the heaviest part of all this and it’s also the lass practical as it’s soft…
We didn’t put more vaseline as one coat is enough for 3 to 5 casts but we had to be careful as some thin resin parts (mostly overflows) were going in the shell and get stick in the vaseline. Only a thin shard can make some big distortion on your cast ! Think about Dark Crystal, that was a tiny shard but caused soooo much trouble, eh ?
We then cut the extra glass cloth on each side and let the resin sides for now as we don’t have the structure to put it on yet.
(Side by side with the original, on the left)
Each back panel weights around 14 Kg which is a bit more than the original one made by the production. I’m still amazed by what they’ve made.
We didn’t have any problem with this except some bubbles and one cast that broke because we didn’t put it in the garde shed… but we sold the parts and people were happy to help us and get a part of the Stargate, that was nice.
We had to let post-cure our resin to be sure the pannel didn't lost it's chape, it's important to put it on a flat area or it could be desastrous.(Fifty shades of Stargate... why are there green ones you ask ? Well you're free to make your asumptions and I'll tell you next time !)
(Oh, now we know the exact diameter of this thing, that's good...)
So, that’s it for the back panel ! Next time I’ll speak about the mold and cast of the two pieces of the front panel.
Oh, by the way. Any idea about how to fix a resin pannel on an aluminium structure without making holes in it ? Like, not like that :
Last edited:
Sendel
Active Member
Update 4
Hey folks !
Some BIG news about the SG 1:1 project. Once again we chose to take a new path and it's for the best ! We’re now confident that 2019 will be the year of the Stargate or should I say... the year of the StargateS !
As mentioned before, I’m a stage technician, but I really don’t know anything about building a huge and SAFE structure for the Gate. I tried to draw some plans, made some 3D models to see if my vision could be right, but I still didn’t know what I was doing. The plan was to pay a study office to make sure it was ok. I wasn’t really convinced of that idea even if it could have worked.
Then last April I’ve been contacted by Reis, a Scenic Constructor studying at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and also a CNC machinist and programmer. He asked us for help about his own project : To build a full size Pegasus Gate (from Stargate Atlantis) with animated LED glyphs for his degree project. He seemed confident and serious enough for us to look into his project and discuss a partnership.
We discussed a lot with Reis, the first idea was to build 2 complete gates but it was too much work (and money). For now the exact terms of our partnership are still unknown but seem more and more clear. We of course shared all our informations and researches regarding the Gates. I was really happy to be able to be more focused on the SGA Gate for one time.
Reis also made a complete CAD file of the gate and structure based on our accurate 3D models (picture above) to be able to make some easier (and precise) modifications later if needed. He’ll certainly want to tell you more about that.
The idea is the following : Both Gates will be using the same structure, a truss based structure (round with a triangle section). He’ll build his SGA Stargate using a lot of our SG-1 parts (that we will lend to him) as they have a lot in common. They will be painted blue as the SGA gate. For the pieces that have to be modified, he’ll make new casts using our own molds and then modify them (mostly cut some parts).
Then from May 9th to May 10th there will be a public exhibition to show all the students degree projects. During these two days you will be able to see (and even maybe dial) the SGA gate in London ! The precise location will be revealed later this year.
Once the exhibition is closed. We will disassemble the SGA parts from the structure and add the SG-1 parts with the rotating glyph track. All the pieces will be repainted with the SG-1 look.
We don’t know yet if we will have the time to make the stairs to display the Gate(s). And we still don’t know if we’ll find a way to assemble the Gate without using something like an articulated lift (which means it would be more expensive to assemble the gate and harder to do it in tricky locations).
Regarding my last updates, I’ll skip a big part of the making of here to explain where we’re at NOW, this will be easier to follow all the next updates. Spoilers : We finished all the panels for the gate, along with the details like the chevrons, the glyphs, etc. A lot of this can be seen on our facebook page. [link]
I will of course explain the rest of the molding and casting processes as flashbacks later, but for now we’ll turn the lights on the making of the structure and Reis will be the one to tell you about his exciting work !
So, three month ago we planned a trip from Geneva Switzerland to London UK. We packed all the pieces of the Gate in a van and go. It was very frightening to know all the panels were in the trunk overlapped and ready to break during the whole trip… and 15 minutes before arriving, after 16h of driving (with a night of sleep inbetween), we hit the breaks by mistake and all the pieces broke ! No, just kidding, we did hit the breaks but the panels were sturdy enough to be in one piece. Yaaay.
We spent the whole afternoon with Reis at Building BloQs, an open workshop in Enfield, London, the one where the build will take place. This place is AMAZING. It has everything needed from CNC to metal lathe to laser cutter to all the woodworking tools, even a textile area... and a place to eat the best Chilli con carne known on earth or just sit and talk.
We discussed the project and it was way easier in person to be able to draw our ideas, use pictures of the show and behind the scenes, etc. I mean, before that we were nearly stuck on some aspects as it was hard to explain our point of view regarding the rotating system or the assembly process for example as they are tricky mechanisms.
I also explained the whole molding / casting processes, a lot of details regarding the panels, their weaknesses, defects that will have to be removed (if we have the time for it), we spoke about the paint, the DHDs, the stairs. Hopefully Reis has now all the tools at hand to make his part. I’m really excited to see more of his work.
If you have any question, please feel free to ask us.
ReisMakes : Get up on stage now ! It’s your time to shine.
Hey folks !
Some BIG news about the SG 1:1 project. Once again we chose to take a new path and it's for the best ! We’re now confident that 2019 will be the year of the Stargate or should I say... the year of the StargateS !
As mentioned before, I’m a stage technician, but I really don’t know anything about building a huge and SAFE structure for the Gate. I tried to draw some plans, made some 3D models to see if my vision could be right, but I still didn’t know what I was doing. The plan was to pay a study office to make sure it was ok. I wasn’t really convinced of that idea even if it could have worked.
Then last April I’ve been contacted by Reis, a Scenic Constructor studying at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and also a CNC machinist and programmer. He asked us for help about his own project : To build a full size Pegasus Gate (from Stargate Atlantis) with animated LED glyphs for his degree project. He seemed confident and serious enough for us to look into his project and discuss a partnership.
We discussed a lot with Reis, the first idea was to build 2 complete gates but it was too much work (and money). For now the exact terms of our partnership are still unknown but seem more and more clear. We of course shared all our informations and researches regarding the Gates. I was really happy to be able to be more focused on the SGA Gate for one time.
Reis also made a complete CAD file of the gate and structure based on our accurate 3D models (picture above) to be able to make some easier (and precise) modifications later if needed. He’ll certainly want to tell you more about that.
The idea is the following : Both Gates will be using the same structure, a truss based structure (round with a triangle section). He’ll build his SGA Stargate using a lot of our SG-1 parts (that we will lend to him) as they have a lot in common. They will be painted blue as the SGA gate. For the pieces that have to be modified, he’ll make new casts using our own molds and then modify them (mostly cut some parts).
Then from May 9th to May 10th there will be a public exhibition to show all the students degree projects. During these two days you will be able to see (and even maybe dial) the SGA gate in London ! The precise location will be revealed later this year.
Once the exhibition is closed. We will disassemble the SGA parts from the structure and add the SG-1 parts with the rotating glyph track. All the pieces will be repainted with the SG-1 look.
We don’t know yet if we will have the time to make the stairs to display the Gate(s). And we still don’t know if we’ll find a way to assemble the Gate without using something like an articulated lift (which means it would be more expensive to assemble the gate and harder to do it in tricky locations).
Regarding my last updates, I’ll skip a big part of the making of here to explain where we’re at NOW, this will be easier to follow all the next updates. Spoilers : We finished all the panels for the gate, along with the details like the chevrons, the glyphs, etc. A lot of this can be seen on our facebook page. [link]
I will of course explain the rest of the molding and casting processes as flashbacks later, but for now we’ll turn the lights on the making of the structure and Reis will be the one to tell you about his exciting work !
So, three month ago we planned a trip from Geneva Switzerland to London UK. We packed all the pieces of the Gate in a van and go. It was very frightening to know all the panels were in the trunk overlapped and ready to break during the whole trip… and 15 minutes before arriving, after 16h of driving (with a night of sleep inbetween), we hit the breaks by mistake and all the pieces broke !
No, just kidding, we did hit the breaks but the panels were sturdy enough to be in one piece. Yaaay. We spent the whole afternoon with Reis at Building BloQs, an open workshop in Enfield, London, the one where the build will take place. This place is AMAZING. It has everything needed from CNC to metal lathe to laser cutter to all the woodworking tools, even a textile area... and a place to eat the best Chilli con carne known on earth
or just sit and talk.We discussed the project and it was way easier in person to be able to draw our ideas, use pictures of the show and behind the scenes, etc. I mean, before that we were nearly stuck on some aspects as it was hard to explain our point of view regarding the rotating system or the assembly process for example as they are tricky mechanisms.
I also explained the whole molding / casting processes, a lot of details regarding the panels, their weaknesses, defects that will have to be removed (if we have the time for it), we spoke about the paint, the DHDs, the stairs. Hopefully Reis has now all the tools at hand to make his part. I’m really excited to see more of his work.
If you have any question, please feel free to ask us.
ReisMakes : Get up on stage now ! It’s your time to shine.
Lt Washburn
Sr Member
First time I'm seeing this project. What an amazing amount of work; I'm very impressed! I look forward to future updates and seeing the Gate completed.
Sendel
Active Member
Thanks !
I've been working on this for 8 years, mostly searching for sources, learning mold and cast process, trying, prototyping... I'll be happy to see the end of this and have a bit of fun with the gate.
We'll start a new thread about the renovation of an original DHD too in a few days.
I've been working on this for 8 years, mostly searching for sources, learning mold and cast process, trying, prototyping... I'll be happy to see the end of this and have a bit of fun with the gate.
We'll start a new thread about the renovation of an original DHD too in a few days.
Sendel
Active Member
Update 5 FULL GATE !
Hey there !
It’s been a long time since the last update. I’m so sorry for that. We were actually woking like hell on the project and most of the time we were just able to share one pic a month on facebook.
Anyway, here I am in London. Writing these lines just in front of the full gate being assembled and ready to be raised… If your are in London on the 9th and 10th of May (in 2 days !) you can come and see it by yourselves between 2pm and 8pm. Here is the link of the event.
*Please note that you CAN'T come cosplayed or with any props during the exhibition as it's not a geek event.
So what happened before that ?
*Flashback*
As said we started a partnership with Reis who wanted to go big (or go home) for his last year graduation project at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama.
He was going for an Atlantis version of the Gate which is a good choice as it’s « less complicated » or at least less likely to turn bad mostly because of the rotating glyph track.
The panels are nearly the same (you actually saw some SG-1 / Atlantis mixed gates on the Atlantis show without never being aware of it). Same for the structure which will be used both for the SGA and the SG1 project. So the it seemed doable within the year he had to achieve it.
Then he went to work.
First thing for him was to understand the shape of the gate so from our accurate 3D model he made a CAD file. It had to be modified as the SGA gate is a bit different. Mostly because of the 2 rows of wormhole stabilizers. The front panels are also a bit more at the front and the glyph track is a bit larger. Thanks to cheech9898 and his SGA gate section we learned a lot of important things like that.
Now the second part of the theory was to design the main structure. The choice was made to start from a standard aluminum truss structure with triangular sections. On it would be added an extra tube to fix the lower part of the panels easily. The parts in-between are actually pierced to be able to add the rotating system later.
On this was added a wooden structure to be able to fix the panels easily using screws without making any holes in the truss. This was designed to be the lighter possible.
Waiting for the truss he had a bit of time to clean the raw casts of the gate, it’s actually a lot of work, sanding all the edges, some resin spills on the front etc.
The structure was built by a professional company to be sure it was completely safe and to fit the norms applying for this kind of set. This is one of the main reason we went for a truss structure and not a costume made one, that and the lighter weight of aluminum tubes instead of steel ones.
Once he got the structure at the workshop it was time to cut the wooden structure using a CNC machine.
To be able to assemble everything easily, gain a bit of time and be sure of the panels placement, wooden planks were added on each side of the truss part that he was working on.
Definitely an IKEA feeling there. You may ask how it would be possible to have a spinning glyph track with the wood part on the front. It’s not, but it will be modified with just a bit of work with a saw once we’ll be back at the SG1 version.
In parallel he had to design and solder some steel carts to store and transport the Stargate sections.
Screwing the panels is not that easy, he had to calculate the placement for every hole he made, and calculate te placement of each piece to be sure that they would fit correctly together.
Holes were made to light the V of the chevon. This is the SG1 version of this hole, the SGA version is a lot wider bit if we had cut this much we wouldn’t have been able to go back to the SG1 version which is the final goal.
Ready to be shipped for paint.
First black coat which is the work of Madeleine an awesome member of Reis's team.
Then a bit of dry brushing using silver paint.
And I won't show more about the paint for now. Let's wait for the big reveal tomorrow. But I can show you a bit of the lighting job made by the awesome Michael. He actually used turkey trays as reflectors ans super bright led strips to place behind the glyphs.
He also designed a full Atlantis DHD that will actually be able to dial the Gate ! Here depicted without the tiles but they will be there don't worry.
So here we are, ready to lift the gate. I can say that even if measured a lof of things around 6m and event I had a full circle in my garden, this thing is HUUUUGE, you can't really feel it if you're not in front of it.
After that we'll still have to put back the chevrons and the glyphs which I designed myself to gain a bit of time.
Here is something to talk about, the "Super Glyph" of the Atlantis gate. The question is, did they used CGI to dial the gate or did they have a way to do it for real ? If you put all the glyphs together you can find out that a lot of the lines are the same on each glyphs. We also know that when they dialed the atlantis gate, the same glyph was showing all around the gate to be then placed under a chevron. It could be that they used an led matrix (we know for sure the used leds) and were able to light any line or dot they wanted on each glyph.
But... on the atlantis segments propworks sold, the glyphs have each time a fixed design. Did they change them as it would have been too complicated to only modify the led system ?
Anyway, that's just me being a nerd as it would be really awesome if they achieved that at that time when we had just a few ways to manage A LOT of outputs in a complicated system with electronics.
See you really soon to show you the gate being raised and with the glyphs at the right place !
(Bonus pic, SG-1 style)
P.S. : OMG We're doing it, we're really doing it, woooooooohoooooooooooooooooo !!!!!!
Hey there !
It’s been a long time since the last update. I’m so sorry for that. We were actually woking like hell on the project and most of the time we were just able to share one pic a month on facebook.
Anyway, here I am in London. Writing these lines just in front of the full gate being assembled and ready to be raised… If your are in London on the 9th and 10th of May (in 2 days !) you can come and see it by yourselves between 2pm and 8pm. Here is the link of the event.
*Please note that you CAN'T come cosplayed or with any props during the exhibition as it's not a geek event.
So what happened before that ?
*Flashback*
As said we started a partnership with Reis who wanted to go big (or go home) for his last year graduation project at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama.
He was going for an Atlantis version of the Gate which is a good choice as it’s « less complicated » or at least less likely to turn bad mostly because of the rotating glyph track.
The panels are nearly the same (you actually saw some SG-1 / Atlantis mixed gates on the Atlantis show without never being aware of it). Same for the structure which will be used both for the SGA and the SG1 project. So the it seemed doable within the year he had to achieve it.
Then he went to work.
First thing for him was to understand the shape of the gate so from our accurate 3D model he made a CAD file. It had to be modified as the SGA gate is a bit different. Mostly because of the 2 rows of wormhole stabilizers. The front panels are also a bit more at the front and the glyph track is a bit larger. Thanks to cheech9898 and his SGA gate section we learned a lot of important things like that.
Now the second part of the theory was to design the main structure. The choice was made to start from a standard aluminum truss structure with triangular sections. On it would be added an extra tube to fix the lower part of the panels easily. The parts in-between are actually pierced to be able to add the rotating system later.
On this was added a wooden structure to be able to fix the panels easily using screws without making any holes in the truss. This was designed to be the lighter possible.
Waiting for the truss he had a bit of time to clean the raw casts of the gate, it’s actually a lot of work, sanding all the edges, some resin spills on the front etc.
The structure was built by a professional company to be sure it was completely safe and to fit the norms applying for this kind of set. This is one of the main reason we went for a truss structure and not a costume made one, that and the lighter weight of aluminum tubes instead of steel ones.
Once he got the structure at the workshop it was time to cut the wooden structure using a CNC machine.
To be able to assemble everything easily, gain a bit of time and be sure of the panels placement, wooden planks were added on each side of the truss part that he was working on.
Definitely an IKEA feeling there. You may ask how it would be possible to have a spinning glyph track with the wood part on the front. It’s not, but it will be modified with just a bit of work with a saw once we’ll be back at the SG1 version.
In parallel he had to design and solder some steel carts to store and transport the Stargate sections.
Screwing the panels is not that easy, he had to calculate the placement for every hole he made, and calculate te placement of each piece to be sure that they would fit correctly together.
Holes were made to light the V of the chevon. This is the SG1 version of this hole, the SGA version is a lot wider bit if we had cut this much we wouldn’t have been able to go back to the SG1 version which is the final goal.
Ready to be shipped for paint.
First black coat which is the work of Madeleine an awesome member of Reis's team.
Then a bit of dry brushing using silver paint.
And I won't show more about the paint for now. Let's wait for the big reveal tomorrow.
But I can show you a bit of the lighting job made by the awesome Michael. He actually used turkey trays as reflectors ans super bright led strips to place behind the glyphs.He also designed a full Atlantis DHD that will actually be able to dial the Gate ! Here depicted without the tiles but they will be there don't worry.
So here we are, ready to lift the gate. I can say that even if measured a lof of things around 6m and event I had a full circle in my garden, this thing is HUUUUGE, you can't really feel it if you're not in front of it.
After that we'll still have to put back the chevrons and the glyphs which I designed myself to gain a bit of time.
Here is something to talk about, the "Super Glyph" of the Atlantis gate. The question is, did they used CGI to dial the gate or did they have a way to do it for real ? If you put all the glyphs together you can find out that a lot of the lines are the same on each glyphs. We also know that when they dialed the atlantis gate, the same glyph was showing all around the gate to be then placed under a chevron. It could be that they used an led matrix (we know for sure the used leds) and were able to light any line or dot they wanted on each glyph.
But... on the atlantis segments propworks sold, the glyphs have each time a fixed design. Did they change them as it would have been too complicated to only modify the led system ?
Anyway, that's just me being a nerd as it would be really awesome if they achieved that at that time when we had just a few ways to manage A LOT of outputs in a complicated system with electronics.
See you really soon to show you the gate being raised and with the glyphs at the right place !
(Bonus pic, SG-1 style)
P.S. : OMG We're doing it, we're really doing it, woooooooohoooooooooooooooooo !!!!!!
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Lt Washburn
Sr Member
Really great work!
I haven't checked this thread in a while. D*MN! You guys are serious!
That is awesome!
