2001 A Space Odyssey, wall mounted mission patch

So I’ve got a new laser cutter and needed a project to learn how to use it.
I’d wanted to recreate the large mission patch seen in this publicity shot of Dr. Heywood R. Floyd for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity.
I wanted it to be the same size and 600mm / 2’ diameter appeared to be about right.



I’d recently seen a Presidential crest which had some relief to it and decided this was the look I was after.
I didn’t want it too deep and decided on producing it from layers of 1, 2 and 3mm Perspex / Plexiglas.

The usual problem with something of this vintage is good, clear reference. After scouring books and the net these are the best images I could find.


Image taken from the laser disc


From original chest pack

Image from the internet – unknown origin

The last one had the best resolution and looked very close to the original.
As a starting point I drew a full size circle in CorelDraw, imported the image and enlarged it to 600mm. At that size it wasn’t very sharp and the more I zoomed the fuzzier it became
If anyone knows who created the image please let me know so I can credit them.



I started with the sun rays but soon realised that just tracing what was there wasn’t going to work as a lot of the rectangles merged together and that the remainder were unevenly spaced apart. Suffering as I do from modelmakers OCD I couldn’t live with this so I started again. I eventually got it as close as I could and called it done.

The text was another problem as I had no idea what the font was. I asked a few graphic designers I work with but they couldn’t help either, and even the great site
http://typesetinthefuture.com/2001-a-space-odyssey/ didn’t have the answer.

Eventually I came across a font called Palatino Linotype which was available in the 60’s. It’s very close but still not perfect, leading me to alter some of the letters to get them as close as possible. If anyone knows the correct font I’d appreciate you letting me know so I can correct what I’ve done.
Although not in the original photograph I also added Discovery and Clavius Base to the drawing in case I decided to add them later.





Once everything was worked out I transferred the data to the machine and had it engrave the image to a sheet of 3mm acrylic (rear disc) and then it cut the circle from the sheet. I engraved everything to make it easier to position everything when it came to assembly.



Next from 2mm acrylic I cut the inner disc with all the projecting rays and after a bit of sanding gave it a coat of primer to see how it looked.


I planned for this disc just to sit on the one underneath and you would have seen the white and the yellow through the slots.
In the end I decided it would be more interesting if the rays and the stars were raised, so I cut all the infill pieces. It was a lot more work but I think it looks so much better.



Originally I cut it from clear material with the intention of spraying everything, but in the end it was easier to have the black and white areas as self coloured acrylic, so I cut most of again.
With only the blue and yellow to spray it came together quite quickly and then it was assembly time. This took quite a time because of the large number of pieces involved.





I still need to make some brackets for the rear so I can hang it on the wall and then I can photograph it properly. At the same time I'm going to do a few shots with the Discovery and Clavius text temporarily attached as well.
Hopefully I should get these last bits done this week and then I can hang it in my office.

Excellent work. Looks like the original.

Maybe this will be of some assistance?

The unfortunate possibility is that the text may have been hand-lettered.

Looks fantastic!

Thanks for your comments guys.

Finally finished and I went with the Discovery name.
I just have to make another now as a good friend has bought this one to add to his 2001 collection.

That looks amazing, and such a different thing to model. Are you planning on sharing the cutting template, or are you going to sell these?

Thanks MFP, I've sold a few and when I've got a bit more time I'll offer them here.

Yes, I believe the lettering was done by hand for these. I have not found ONE titling font that seems to match the originals, so I have recreated it in Illustrator with a hodge-podge of fonts, and sizes.
The biggest problem for me with this is tweaking/adjusting certain letters, which had to be done after I wrapped the text around a circle.
It's almost there, and I will post some pictures later today if I have time.

OK. So here is my hodge-podge font mapping:
U = Felix Titling 24.17pt. 89% Horizontal Scale (HS) 106% Vertical Scale (VS)
N = Roomy 24.17pt. 87% HS 105.5% VS
I = Perpetua Titling MT Light 24.17pt. 109% HS 106% VS
T = Trajan Pro 26pt. 90% HS 94% VS
E = Roomy 24.17pt. 89% HS 105.5% VS
D = Palatino Linotype 25.45pt. 84% HS 105% VS
S = Centaur 28pt. 104% VS
A = Felix Titling 25.45pt.
R = Revive 8 26pt. 102% VS
O = Perpetua 33pt. 72% HS 95% VS
C = Revive 8 28pt. 69% HS 92% VS
G = Roomy 24.17pt. 81% HS 103% VS
Y = Felix Titling 27pt. 89% HS 94.5% VS

All the rest you can probably figure out, or have a designer figure it out. Baseline shift also varies between certain fonts. Good luck, and hit me up if you have any more questions!

scots72 said:

OK. So here is my hodge-podge font mapping:
...
All the rest you can probably figure out, or have a designer figure it out. Baseline shift also varies between certain fonts. Good luck, and hit me up if you have any more questions!

Click to expand...

That sounds like a lot of font-work. But the result looks good.

It was a Saturday afternoon worth of font work haha. It still isn’t finished, as I still need to add the weird triangular serifs to the top of the As and thicken up a few letters with strokes.
I also need to finish the gold ray lines, and the stars. But I hope people can use it when I’m finished.
It looks to me like the original movie patches were screen printed, so I’m eventually going to give that a run on my press.

Very well done and I really appreciate the effort made to find the fonts!