ELO Spaceship Long Term Build - Resource Request

[Hostamon]

I'm interested in building an ELO spaceship like the one from the cover of "Out of the Blue." I am not going to use a $2000-3000 Wurlitzer speaker for the skeleton. Instead, I plan on building an idealized ship like on the album cover. I plan to use resources like resin casting, 3D printing, Neon sign tubing and vacuforming. I have no experience in any of these crafts, so I will be outsourcing and learning from scratch.

I plan to build this project over the next 3-4 years.

Any advice or input will be appreciated

 

[gothic]

it looks like your average saucer UFO build so you should find plans for that externaly I found




I did find this its an actual build hope it helps http://rockaria.net/4008/index.html

 

[Darth Humorous]

Interestingly, the ship’s shape and the concentric ribbing makes it look like the base form came from a giant frisbee. I wonder if that was the look they were going for…

Mark

 

[Broilermaker]

I was thinking frisbee and styrene

 

[Hostamon]

it looks like your average saucer UFO build so you should find plans for that externaly I found

View attachment 567060 View attachment 567061


I did find this its an actual build hope it helps http://rockaria.net/4008/index.html

Gothic,
I found the same pictures through Google. Thanks. The "rockaria" build was based on an original Wurlitzer wall speaker. Those fetch anywhere from $2000-4000 and I want to basically recreate the under-construction look of your first picture.

Interestingly, the ship’s shape and the concentric ribbing makes it look like the base form came from a giant frisbee. I wonder if that was the look they were going for…

Mark

Darth Humorous,
Thanks for the input. I'm going to do a total re-design instead of using found objects. Mostly 3D printed, vacuformed or cast parts is what I'm going for. However, I could cast off of a frisbee...

I was thinking frisbee and styrene

Broilermaker,
Thanks for the input.

 

[DonS]

I saw that converted Wurlitzer 4008 on the Rockaria site many years ago and wanted to do the same thing....but man, I could never find even a broken speaker to work with. Truthfully, even if I did find one, I'd probably balk at the price. In the years since, I've learned a bit about making stuff myself and this project has crossed my mind from time to time. If it's any help, I can tell you what I'm planning to do, most likely at some point in the far distant future. First, the basic shape would be vac-formed with a simple understructure, also vac-formed, to serve to add some stiffness but also, painted silver, to serve as a reflector for strings of LED strip lights. Might also use chaser circuitry for a strobing effect. Since I want to make something more like what's on the cover of "A New World's Record" (which looks like the Wurlitzer speaker) I'll make trims like this:

http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/m-GVaff2k5oXfANtR3N1Jzw.jpg

as 3D printed parts. The "ELO" script would also be 3D printed and the subsequent resin cast parts would use metallic powders mixed in to best resemble actual metal castings..

Since mine will take forever to get around to, I hope you to be watching yours!

 

[skiffy]

I've always wanted to see a model of this, so kudos for taking it on.

If you get a chance to see the double album cover for Out of the Blue there are radial ribs inside the ship that could be laser cut out of acrylic. There are also what look like tape deck components in the top viewports. That painting is one of my all time fave airbrush art pieces (that's what I used to do back before Photoshop) and Shusei Nagaoka did a fabulous job.

http://pinktentacle.com/2009/11/sci-fi-illustrations-by-shusei-nagaoka/

 

[JLuke]

Hostamon - did this project go anywhere? I arrived here looking for info for doing a similar project. I intend on building a personal digital jukebox with the spaceship!

 

[Hostamon]

Hostamon - did this project go anywhere? I arrived here looking for info for doing a similar project. I intend on building a personal digital jukebox with the spaceship!

I got as far as purchasing a neon sign transformer from a thrift store. I got it for a steal. I also found some oxygen cylinders that I was going to gang for a vacuformer. Unfortunately, I never got much further. I’ve got tons of mental images that I revisit from time to time. Nothing on paper yet.

 

[JLuke]

Thanks for getting back with me. This will be a slow, long-term project for me - but I intend to build a game room style jukebox/Bluetooth speaker fixture. There are some Spaceship Kitbashing groups on FB that I belong to that have done some great things with LEDs and Arduino lighting effects combined with fantastic model-making techniques. We'll see - I'm going to see if I can the the colored rings fabricated at a plastics company - and then build a model around those, and light it up from the inside out with LEDs. If I get anywhere on this, I'll update here, down the road.