Making a HUGE display - quite a few pics...

[Sulla]

I am not trying to get ahead of myself in projects but, I can sick my dad and friends on getting material for a future project. i am currently getting a sizable ammount of trek props/costumes (or in the near future) and I would love to have this unique way to display them. originally I was going to make a shlef with some backlit LCARS interspeced in it, but now I have changed my mind so that I can display larger items...

I was thinking of building a portable photo-op wall of a Federation Starship (an Intrepid class) that would have an MSD (which I creaded in adobe

and a small shelf below the MSD of LCARS control panels. Or baring that (it might be too expensive to get my MSD printed large enough) I might also do some standard sensor log or scan analysis screens. (I know these are PADDs, but thay are all I have of the "standard" display LCARS I made uploaded to photobucket.)

I've never made anything like this before and I have a few questions:

1) Is there a rattle can that would be ideal for this or baring that, a good roll-on gray that anyone knows of that can be purchased in the USA?

2) Where can one scrounge up or *cringe* outright purchase smooth plastic paneling for the wall section? I am thinking a couple of pieces no larger than 4' x 3' or so.
2a) is it possible to use a heavy paper or cardboard for these panels? I want it to remain light and perhaps wood framed cardboard would work too? Or some other material other than plastic? I am guessing that plastic will end up bneing rather expensive, and cutting cost at every turn is a must without creating something that is craptacular.

I figure I could lend this to local con-goer's and use it as a backdrop to display a dummy with a Trek uniform out-of-con.

Thanks.

 

[Darth Lars]

I would look into using "masonite" for the panels. It is a type of thin fiber-board where one side is smooth, so you don't have to seal the surface before painting. I don't know the price of it, but I think it is cheap. It feels like something between cardboard and MDF.

 

[Sulla]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Lars @ Jan 30 2007, 12:12 PM) [snapback]1407906[/snapback]</div>

I would look into using "masonite" for the panels. It is a type of thin fiber-board where one side is smooth, so you don't have to seal the surface before painting. I don't know the price of it, but I think it is cheap. It feels like something between cardboard and MDF.
[/b]

Thanks for the tip

 

[dropshipbob]

Sheet rock might also work. But you'd probably have to join two pieces to get the width you need...and that would mean having to cover the seam with spackle and then sanding. Maybe you could hide the seam with something?

Or you could use MDF board. It's cheap and lightweight.

The control panels, I'd recommend perhaps printing out the artwork you have on a large scale printer and then sandwhiching it between two pieces of plexiglass. Plexi can be found at most any hardware store. Then take that sandwhich and house it in a panel of your design and light it from underneath. Printing the artwork as a transparency might also do the trick.

For painting, you might want to try an airbrush. It's about the only thing that will give you a nice, even coat of paint on something this big. Rattle cans should be your second choice.

 

[Sulla]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dropshipbob @ Jan 30 2007, 01:18 PM) [snapback]1407955[/snapback]</div>

Sheet rock might also work. But you'd probably have to join two pieces to get the width you need...and that would mean having to cover the seam with spackle and then sanding. Maybe you could hide the seam with something?

Or you could use MDF board. It's cheap and lightweight.

The control panels, I'd recommend perhaps printing out the artwork you have on a large scale printer and then sandwhiching it between two pieces of plexiglass. Plexi can be found at most any hardware store. Then take that sandwhich and house it in a panel of your design and light it from underneath. Printing the artwork as a transparency might also do the trick.

For painting, you might want to try an airbrush. It's about the only thing that will give you a nice, even coat of paint on something this big. Rattle cans should be your second choice.
[/b]

Thanks. I think sheet rock would be way too heavy for a "portable" display. I will be making the wall in sections that will not require seamless joining, but with a slight redesign the only seamless joining would be the front of the control panel ledge.

I will be printing the smaller LCARS in reverse on transparencies. I already have that down pat. It's the bigger MSD that I am not sure about, but only for printing. the mounting and lighting I know exactly what to do.

 

[Sulla]

I think I'll be using 3/16" or 1/4" masonite. anyone painted the stuff before? What kind of finish can I expect?

 

[BigDumbWookiee]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sulla @ Jan 30 2007, 08:58 PM) [snapback]1408056[/snapback]</div>

I think I'll be using 3/16" or 1/4" masonite. anyone painted the stuff before? What kind of finish can I expect?
[/b]

The few times I've painted masonite, it really soaked in the paint. Count on putting down quite a few layers of primer first, and sand smooth before your final coat.

 

[Matsuo]

Go to a sign supply near you and look at all the samples of "substrates" they have, from masonite, to sheet styrene to finish coated hardboard or aluminum clad corplast.

You can look them up on line but nothing beats being able to look at samples first hand.

Matt

 

[Sulla]

I have been tossing around ideas and plans for this project for over a year now, and having finally settled on a good plan and have enough time and $ set aside for it to at least begin I am getting excited.

OK... that said, I am still trying to keep money low on this one. I have found cheep alternatives for the wall paneling (thanks everyone), I know how to cut costs on the clear plexi and smaller LCARS graphics, I figured out what filler to use on making seamless edges on the ledge panels, but...

I am concerned about the large LCARS screen display over the ledge panels. I have an idea to use a gloss black painted backdrop behind a large piece of plexi. I was thinking of creating a series of LCARS graphics of perhaps a science station or a random engineering room control wall on 8.5" x 11" transparencies, backing them a white background with my own method I developed using adhesive papers, and piecing them together sandwiched between the glossy black background and the clear plexi. This of course would not be back lit.

Another idea would be to do the same but instead of a black glossy background, use another clear plexi painted on the back side with gloss black, except where the light diffused backed-transparencies with the LCARS on them would go.

What kind of Janky look might that get? I am concerned about the "seams" where one transparency will butt up against the next. Do print shops like kinko's or staples offer large scale transparency printing like 1.5' x 1.5' sheets? Or would I have to go to a professional sign maker to print on photopaper or vinyl? That is probably too cost prohibitive though.

I estimate about $50 in materials before paint and transparencies. That includes a carpet scrap for the faux floor of the console section (see updated drawing. yes, the plans on paper are much more detailed and proportionate. ) and plexi, though I already have wood for framing screws, glues etc. on hand.

 

[dropshipbob]

I can't say I've ever heard of a print shop doing transparencies in that size, but I've been surprised before.
One thing I've done in the past is taken an image and made a photo negative of it. It's much the same as a tranparency, except the areas that are white on the image are clear. Printing shops do this alot in preparation of making plates to print off large items, so you should be able to get this done at the size you need. Explaining that you only need a photo negative will be the hard part.

If you can get one, you could use stain glass paint for the color.

 

[Sulla]

OK, based some redesigns of my Trek wall section I want to build I have decided to incorporate some interesting lighting. I want to stick with a good'ole light box with a florescent bar inside, but I was wondering if I painted the inside of the light box and the surrounding "inner walls" with glossy white, would that be a good reflective surface?

I ask because I am going to try to build the ledge panels with slide out ISO boards (based on pictures and the crude drawing below) and beneath the ledge will be a set of display shelves for other props. I would like for the same light box that lights the LCARS on the shelf panel to shine down through the bottom of the ledge lighting the display. I am concerned with light obstruction, and thought that using tinfoil as a cost effective reflective material in the light box was the way to go, but a friend proposed using glossy white.

Whaddya' think? (I should have some solid plans drawn up soon, with material lists. I will probably put up a blog when I get started on this in earnest.

 

[sector 7G]

use aluminum foil to line the light box, shinny side out

 

[Sulla]

OK thanks.

So I am looking at lining all the inner surfaces that will not be transparent*ish* with shiny foil. Will this simple mock up of my design shown below be sufficient to light the LCARS with the lamp so far back?

Note: the thing sticking into the front of the ledge is the clear plexi with an iso circuit pattern etched onto the surface that will be held in place with magnets and a couple of simple supports not shown in this crude drawing.

 

[sector 7G]

hmm not sure what is the overall length of the light box?

 

[Sulla]

It will be around 3' long in it's current design. A standard florescent light is what I am designing with currently. I have a few extra on hand and would like to use them If I can.

 

[sector 7G]

i'd use the 2 light florescent set up and be sure to remove the hood, shroud what ever the thing is called.

 

[Sulla]

Well, here is the first draft of the final design. This is the "consol/prop shelf" side of the corner display. The flat generic panel wall will attache to the right side of the consol. More to come later.

 

[thuth]

Many printshops with large-scale inkjets can use transparent film instead of paper. You might have to have them special-order the material, but it is certainly possible and I have seen it in 50" rolls.

 

[Sulla]

This is the LCARS console for the display. I was inspired by and based this piece on Tobias Weimann's fine works. It took me a few weeks just to get all the shapes down pat then a few more playing with colors. I kept a lot of the same numerology and some of the button abbreviations on the right most buttons he used in tribute to his work, but customized most everything else. This is the latest version. Please feel free to offer any advice/critique/opinions. (I have since removed all the palest pink colors from the graphic but have not uploaded it yet.) This will be printed out to approx 36" x 10.8" and backlit for this full sized engineering station I am making as a back drop to a nemesis costume display.

Here are three custom PADDs for the U.S.S. Monroe. The graphics are overlaying simple renditions of the PADD designs I am making for them. Note that the engineering PADD will have a slot for inserting ISO chips.

I still need to creat the display graphics for the three smaller LCARS screens, but here's the rough plans for my standing display.

 

[sector 7G]

Andy I really like the design elements of the padds, have you made one yet?