Do you sketch out your ideas before you start or do you just dive into a box of parts and start building? I want to know more about the process you go through to create such a stunning work.
I came close to sketching this time.

I do have an idea of what I want to see from the build - I wanted the complex pipe work this time, and it had to make visual sense - note the Exactra PCB has tiny sensors pointing at the primary crystal - it had to look as though it could work.
With this in mind, a great deal of time is spent preparing the parts, arranging them, putting them together to see how they look. Planning really is the key, it has to look
right so I tend to spend hours just playing with the parts and scratching my head until something does look right.
Often I'll find a part which needs to be altered, sawn in half or have part of it removed, a hole drilled of another piece added to it.
The emitter cone for example. That's part of a cine camera lens. I had to grind it down to fit into the emitter, then I sanded off the aluminum anodizing to reveal the brass beneath. That was then polished with T-cut and Brasso to clean up all the grinding scars.
The real difficulty with this model is cutting the parts (Parks BTW, plus a Gavidoc emitter, plastic handwheel) exactly down the middle. I had to work
very slowly and carefully, and that's not easy for someone who likes to see instant results. :lol BTW, I've just cut a Parks MPP in half with an X-acto razor saw - it took the best part of 2 days.
Howard.