1:1 Stargate Life Size Replica! - "Too big?" Throwback to July 2022

Sendel

Active Member
Last update (10) on page 6 !

Introduction :


What’s the project ?

-Building a complete life-size Stargate replica. This thing :

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-The ring itself is about 6 meter in diameter !

-The goal is to have a fully functioning Gate with a spinning Glyphtrack and a moving Chevron to engage them. Like in this video :


-Each piece is made from original props from the studios (we searched for 5 years for those) or precisely handmade to be more than screen-accurate.

-The base will be made like the outdoor Gate with fake stones.

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-We’re trying to make a giant screen in the Gate with LED strips for the Event Horizon, so that we can see trough and walk trough but still have a nice effect day and night.

-I worked for 5 years on this project and the work really began 2 years ago with the creation of our association : The Children of MacGyver. Now my entire house is filled with Stargate pieces…

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-We were helped by a lot of actors of the series as by Joseph Malozzi and also Roland Emmerich who directed the first movie.

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There is still a lot of work to do :

-I’m finishing my chevron this week, after that, we’ll have all the needed parts to go to Paris to mold and cast all the pieces of our Gate (Around 220 pieces for a full Gate) it will be a lot of fun. It’ll be made by us in a professional workshop.

What we made :

Here is a complete description of each piece of the Gate and how we found them, what we did with them or how we made them.

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Bumpy Ring (x9) :

This ring was really painful to make. 9 of them were sold around the world by Propworx but we never found any of these. There is really just a few good pictures of this part and a lot of blurry ones… we worked for something like 45-50 hours just on this part.

First of all, we acquired the blueprints used for the movie from Cheech on the RPF. These are really beautiful but not always useful for measurements as they were made before the last ones made at the workshop (sometime you have to interpret how to do something or to imagine it completely like for this ring and these sketches stays at the workshop). But it helped us to verify if our measurements were close and be sure that we were not going in the wrong direction.

Our good friend Andy gave us the first measurements for this part as he showed us how he did the base of his and it was really a good idea so we did the same.

After that we used a beamer and draw on paper on a wall all the pieces we could. It was easier than on a PC. It took something like 15h to have the 3 faces done.

Bertrand (our web designer) verified and cleaned all the pieces, it took also something like 15h to make all the lines parallel.

The pieces were then laser cut in MDF 3mm by a friend (it was not really well set so we had to hit the pieces to take it off the sheets. A few were broken, but easily fixed).

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We then glued each piece in place using the marks Bertrand added to his picture. We also printed it life-size so it was really easy to place each piece.

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And here is the result :

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We just need to put some primer on it, fill a few holes, cut the edges and it’ll be ready to mold.

Frontpanel (x9) :

For this one we exchanged a copy of our Backpanel with Andy, who has the original upper piece of the Frontpanel.

We made a replica of the lower piece of our Backpanel (it’s the same), calculated the space between both pieces and created a new piece on a wood panel. We added the wave strips (given by Andy), that doesn’t exist on the lower piece of the Backpanel, and also the inner strips… but we found out that these strips couldn’t be divided by 9 so we removed them, we’ll place them at the end of the project to have a good continuity.

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The Glyphtrack is just for exemple, but will not be cast with this panel.

Backpanel (x9) :

That’s the only piece we bought from Propworx to get started (we didn’t have the cash to buy all the pieces). We had to renovate it because it had a lot of holes made because of bubbles in the original cast. Apoxie sculpt was really useful for this job.

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We did try our own mold for this one, it was our first but since it's broken.

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Chevron Wings (x9) :

It was one of the pieces Andy gave us for the backpanel. He has a cast of the original ones but it’s completely unusable like this so he made new ones based on these and we should get a copy in a few times.

Chevron Crystal (x18) :

We made the inner parts of the chevron basing us on screenshots and on the blueprints, also we measured our other pieces so it could fit. We used Sketchup then I cut the pieces in Forex and I’ll assemble them as soon as possible. It’s really thick and will be cast in clear resin tinted orange.

Cristal.png


Chevron Crystal housing (x18) :

This piece was made by Andy first, but we thought it wasn’t as accurate as it could be so we did the same thing as for the crystal itself. The Pyramidal part is a bit different than the Atlantis one. This last part will be 3D printed to save a bit of time.

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Chevron V (x18) :

We had this one from Andy, who has a cast of an original one. I just filled the gaps on the upper part of it because I thought it was a mistake made when it was cast by the production maybe. Here is a test cast painted by us :

Chev.JPG


ChevronV.jpg


Glyphs (x39) :

All the glyphs were made basing us on the pictures of Propworx in HD thanks to Stitchloft. Bertrand drew them precisely and we had them laser cut by my friend. I then used a hand-router to make the chamfer (it only exists on the SGC one not on the outdoor one). When I couldn’t reach some narrow zones I used a column drill with just a nail under the drill to follow the shape of my glyph.

Glyphs.JPG


We still have to find some ABS for the texture on the glyphs it’s really difficult to order it for Switzerland. The idea is to make a mold of an ABS panel and then pour some resin in it and place the MDF glyph in it and let it cure like that.

Strips between Glyphs (x39) :

Our good friend Stefan let us use the only original Abydos glyph signed by the main actors of the series. We took good care of it and made a replica of the pieces on the edges. We verified it has the same length on the SGC and outdoor ones.

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Inner gate Strips (x180) :

I already mentioned it in the frontpanel, Andy gave us a copy of these and we have to cast a lot of them for the entire Gate (we'll make longer strips to cast it).

Strip.jpg


Base :

The idea is to make it in wood, polystyrene and resin, it’ll be really easy to achieve once we’ll have the structure of the Gate. We want to be able to dismount it in pieces of 2m x 2m max, but first we have to finish the Gate.

Lighting :

The enlightenment of the chevrons will be managed by DMX (norm used for the light on all the shows you can see today). We bought dimmable white LED strips and all the other pieces needed. Normally it’ll be managed by computer, but it’ll also be possible to use it with a light desk as used on stage usually.

LED.JPG


Chevron Movement :

We’ll use only one stepper motor for the two parts. The opening motion and closing motion will be programmed in advance, but to activate it we will use a DMX command.

Spinning Ring :

You have to be a bit of a rocket scientist to understand how it works, we have a motor specialist in the team who will do some magical things with a motor and a computer once we’ll have the structure.

The main idea is to have pipes in the Gate to lead the glyphtrack attached to wagons so it’ll be easier to set.

Structure.png


Event Horizon :

We’re still searching a good way to achieve that, but the main idea is to use a LED screen made of addressable LED strips like in this video :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hU_WYXxnvo

And… voila. That’s it for now, it’s the 1:1 Stargate Project as it exists for now. We’ll have to finish the few parts that are missing and then we’ll be able to go to Paris in a professional workshop to mold and cast all the needed pieces. Then a friend of mine will work on the structure and we’ll just have to assemble and paint the whole thing… the paint will be a bit hard to do, but I figured out how to do something really close when I painted the Test-Cast of the chevron V.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our work, please feel free to give us any advice, to criticize anything or to congratulate us.

You can follow us here :

Facebook : Les Enfants de Mac Gyver / Children of Mac Gyver
Intagram : Login • Instagram
Twitter : EMG / SG 1:1 Project (@EMG_Sg11) | Twitter
TikTok : TikTok - Make Your Day

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/c/LesEnfantsdeMacGyver

We are often LIVE on Twitch, but most of the time it's linked to our work sessions, so be sure to check our social medias!

Website : www.emg-team.fr


Thank you.

Quentin

Please note that every picture shown here are made for sharing our work with the community only. If you want to copy or use any of them for any purpose (your own replica for example) please contact us BEFORE. Thank you for your understanding.
 
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Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

There is one of these in the UK on a paintball site (but with no DHD).
I look forward to sseing how you progress with this.
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

All I can say is I wish this to be completed almost more than any other project ever. You can also then convince MGM to make a new series with your gate.
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

Your close on the outer diameter, it is 20ft. Inner diameter/hole is 15ft, assembled segment is 2.5ft from inner to outer diameters.

I thought I had some closeups of the outer edge bump details, if you need better close up shots just post so and I'll put some up on my photobucket that you already linked to.

Your right the clips are for the hanging the Iris, it was canvas with a plug attached. I have a blueprint for the basic iris as far as leaf shape, but not one for the actual hanging system.
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

@Nobby :
There's a lot of replicas in the world. You can see the one of the UK here (it's the 7th picture) : They’ve done it ! « 1:1 Stargate Project
You can see that the most accurate ones are often the most little and the biggest ones are often not really close to the original.
These are beautiful works, and I know we can do something even better.

@Mrkipling :
All I can say is that we will complete this project. We just don't know when and what will be the result. ;)

@Cheech :
Thank you for these informations ! It would be very helpful if you could add the shots you're talking about. :)
I've seen that you plan to sell some blueprints. I still have to deliberate if it's useful to me because I've already a lot of informations to build the Gate.



I just started to renovate my backpanel. It's pretty hard to do it with Plastiline instead of bondo but I don't have a lot of other possibilities to do it without definitely modifying the prop.
 
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Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

Sendei, if you want to get a little peak at the SG1 frame structure check out Joseph Mellozi's blog here

http://josephmallozzi.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/dsc07928.jpg

May 18, 2008: A cure for insomnia « Josephmallozzi’s Weblog

As far as the blueprints I have, the internal frame differs from these pics of the travel gate, but it specifies the major dimensions of the frame and what not to exceed. You've got a pretty good mockup of the internal framework of the Atlantis gate. As long as your close you can always shim out the panels to make it all line up.

As far as renovating your back panel, make a mold, pull 2 castings. Use 1 casting to clean up the details with bondo/body filler etc. Cut the other one up so you get the upper detail track and the lower detail track... then sculpt on the angled edge with the rectangular detail bits on both. Lastly, in the middle of your back panel, you have the inverted V..... that is a repeat of the Laser housing of the Chevron, the only difference is it doesn't have the angled area in the inner part of the V with the pointer pyramid. Use that as dimensional reference, sculpt the pointer pyramid area and extend the outer walls back accordingly.... The laser housing walls should be 3 inches tall on the top and 2 inches wide/deep on the front. Hope that saves you some time or at least gives you a way to pull some real measurements when scratchbuilding. Will get some pics of the outer details up shortly
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

Detail pics uploaded of the outer ring detail bits. I included 2 shots with a ruler in them for size reference. Details repeat about every 3 feet roughly.
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

As far as renovating your back panel, make a mold, pull 2 castings. Use 1 casting to clean up the details with bondo/body filler etc. Cut the other one up so you get the upper detail track and the lower detail track...

Hey, thanks for the pictures and the measurements, I should be able to do a few things with it. =)

I know that I could make a mold to clean up my backpanel, but it would cost me a lot of money. I think something like 1500-2000$. I already have a big budjet to achieve this project, but if I can spare a little bit of money doing one only mold (for the backpanel) it would be better for me.

Do you think I could make a one shot mold with cheap silicon and cheap resin ? I'm afraid it would make a worst cast than the original one.

The internal structure of the gate seems to be way more fragile than what I thougt. I checked the entire Mallozzi's blog a few weeks ago... how did I missed it ? o_O
 
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Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

Hello all. It's been a long time and there's still a lot to do. So here are just some pictures to let you know we're still alive.

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Backpanel cast.

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Two casts.

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From left to right : Backpanel prop from the series / First cast / Second cast / Test cast.

We're working on the structure, it'll be steel and concrete blocks to stand it I think.

It's really hard to cast so large segments so we have to be at least five to make one.

The first one were made with one layer of gel coat and two of resin + glass mat. I'll do the next with one layer of gel coat, one of resin + fiberglass backing and one with resin and glass mat because there is a lot of details and it makes bubbles with the glass mat.

Here are the little details I'm planning to fix in the next casts : https://picasaweb.google.com/106154105695443794525/TirageCastBackpanel

We keep going !
 
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Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

Wow. You're doing exactly what I've wanted to do for years. Fantastic! I can't wait to see more progress.
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

Thank you for your support !

Thats a BIG garden you have there :)

Actually my garden is just big enough so the entire Stargate could fit in it. You don't see it but there is a wall just at the bottom of the first picture.

Funny fact : We never casted a Backpanel the same way. Each time we're trying a new thing to fix some defects in the casting method. There is dips in it because it's a big casting and the resin is reacting strangely with the mold. We'll try to put some big weight (like sand) on it while it's catalysing. We hope it'll do the trick.

Here is the last cast :

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Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

This is going to be amazing! I can't wait to see it finished. Did you say you will be making a DHD for it as well or no?
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

We have to finish the Stargate first.
But the good point it that we know the owner of the original & functionnal DHD from SG1/SGA... so a replica can probably be made.
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

This is going to be amazing! I can't wait to see it finished. Did you say you will be making a DHD for it as well or no?

Yup, that's it. The entire SG will cost something like 20'000 $. So if there is a DHD it'll be later because we don't have the money. Same thing for a pegasus replica. ;) We will probably start a KickStarter soon. Do you think it could be a good idea ?
 
Re: 1:1 Stargate Project

Yup, that's it. The entire SG will cost something like 20'000 $. So if there is a DHD it'll be later because we don't have the money. Same thing for a pegasus replica. ;) We will probably start a KickStarter soon. Do you think it could be a good idea ?

I think it would be a good idea. There are all kinds of people helping out with stuff and I have a feeling that this project would do pretty well. It would be something to take to conventions eventualy.
 

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