Farnsworth Discussion

Here are the photos. First, front lit with photo in place:

3abaza5u.jpg


Next, with the Artie photo backlit behind the "half-silvered" screen:

qydyse7a.jpg


Admittedly, I dimmed the room lights for the second photo. Hopefully, brighter lights behind the photo or positioning it closer to the glass can make that less necessary.

Here it is with normal room lighting:

2usytaqe.jpg


Future tests: edge lighting the photo by putting it behind a piece of clear acrylic with LEDs shining into the edge of the acrylic.
 
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ah man i wish i'd known before but the Richard Wheatley cases are from just up the road to me or at least they were.
 
Found a great, cheap ($5) 28 LED work light that will fit in the Farnsworth and provide a lot of light to illuminate a picture behind the half-silvered screen. Runs off 3 AAA batteries like the sound module and has a separate 4 LED strip which can donate a bright white LED for the red light on the face plate.
To use it this way I needed to figure out a way to secure the screen and not block the light:

5aguqa2e.jpg


he6ygyse.jpg


I put a piece of plexiglass behind the glass and secured it with the 4 escutcheon pins. These come through the faceplate and then through 4 matching tiny holes in the plexi. The pins are then cut off and bent around to apply even tension to the plexi. Very sturdy and nothing blocking the light. Artie's photo will go under the glass dome with polyester fiber fill under that for light diffusion and the LED array goes under the plexi.

More photos to follow. Control of the light is the next issue and I need to watch where in the sound/light sequence the screen activates.
 
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Final result with my light up, static image screen:

qupaju6y.jpg


y3y6ysyg.jpg


Really a struggle making it all fit but worth it in the end!

No dimming of lights needed to see a good image but it looks washed out in photos unless I dim them a little. All the audio features work and the red light lights up with the ring tone. Had to sacrifice the variable lead time, though, as there was no room for a selector switch under the brown knob!

I had to resort to manually turning the lights on under the screen. This is done by pressing in slightly on the left knob.

Now for a little more weathering!
 
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I got a plastic faceplate from etsy and have been trying to get a weathered metal look. I used rub n buff and the fragility of this stuff it giving me fits. But I think I came up with a pretty good method for getting aged metal. I put on a coat of metallic gold spray paint, and then when it dried I put on a very very heavy coat of rub and buff. I let is sit for about a minute and then when it was almost dry I started to work it around into clumps. I then let the clumps set up for a minute and them buffed like crazy. The effect it left was very reminiscent of pitting.

20130424_134408.jpg
 
I don't know if this will help. I learn if you want a long term rub and buff finish that might last a little longer without clearing it. What I do is after painting I lightly sand the surface with a fine sandpaper then apply the rub and buff. It seam to stick in the sanded area better and the uncleared rub and buff has a better metallic surface. Youu should test your results 1st,
Good luck
Mark
 
I had an idea for the screen that I thought may interest some people. I know there has been some debate on vacuum formed plastic vs watch glass. The plastic is more authentic but the glass looks better. I tried to get the best of both worlds. I put a thin piece of sheet aluminium behind a magnifying glass lens. It gives the same look as a plastic dome, but it's made of glass!

20130426_161752.jpg

20130426_161816.jpg
 
Whew, just this minute finished reading through the entire thread. Took DAYS. Luckily, the shopping list is in the first post, so I already have everything but a faceplate to start my build, and I've got a lead on that, so I'm about ready to get started. I've got about 30-40 individual posts bookmarked for help as I go. This might be the single most helpful thread on the whole site.
 
My Finished Farnsworth.....Im very happy with how it came out for my first attempted. Source all parts with help from peoples on here, so thanks very much.
Let me know what u think.
DSC03423.JPGDSC03444.JPGDSC03452.JPGDSC03453.JPGphoto.JPG
 
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Does anyone have another source of a wheatley box? went to the site just a few min ago to order another since I screwed up the first one I had (never got around to reordering another one) and it appears to have disappeared from there site.

Planing on picking this up again this summer, so I'll probably have some questions along the way. Even for basic technique since I don't really have any prior prop building skills.
 
DemonFire said:
Does anyone have another source of a wheatley box? went to the site just a few min ago to order another since I screwed up the first one I had (never got around to reordering another one) and it appears to have disappeared from there site.
Click to expand...

Richard Wheatley company is in receivership. Here is the message I got from a guy handling some orders.

"Your email has been forwarded to me by mark Woof, the managing director of the above, who have sadly ceased trading.

I am supplying Richard Wheatley products throughout the U.K., Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. REC.com are supplying the Americas and Asia.

If either of us can be of help then please get in touch

Best wishes
Clive Edwards"

His email address is richardwheatleymuseum@googlemail.com
 
ahoudini said:
Final result with my light up, static image screen:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/15/qupaju6y.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/15/y3y6ysyg.jpg

Really a struggle making it all fit but worth it in the end!

No dimming of lights needed to see a good image but it looks washed out in photos unless I dim them a little. All the audio features work and the red light lights up with the ring tone. Had to sacrifice the variable lead time, though, as there was no room for a selector switch under the brown knob!

I had to resort to manually turning the lights on under the screen. This is done by pressing in slightly on the left knob.

Now for a little more weathering!
Click to expand...

That's definitely the best Farnsworth I've seen!
 
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