Thursday, March 15, 2012

Holoboards and Power Fields

or "She blinded me...with SCIENCE!"

After working on the modular wall project a few months ago, I thought it might be nice to get a bit fancy and add holoboards and power field walls. Since both endeavors were "in progress", I never posted anything here. I thought I had... but apparently not. Anyway, I went online to see if I could find transparent fluorescent acrylic sheets that could be used in the aforementioned capacity. I was lucky, and found Inventables online. They have some really nifty stuff that would work wonders on any futuristic terrain display.

First up was the simplest project- power fields. Using fluorescent orange acrylic sheet, I cut out small sections and carved in a criss-cross pattern using the back-edge of an eXacto knife*. These power fields will be integral parts of the wall sections, so I had to create appropriately sized brackets from sheet styrene and rod. All the walls and brackets are current out for painting, but here's a shot showing the concept and a finished field.


The second project was a bit trickier, and to be honest- I cheated. I used fluorescent green acrylic sheet for these, and cut out blocks of similar size to the power fields. However, knowing that I wanted more than just lines going back and forth, I left this project alone until I was able to find somebody who was willing to do some laser etching for me.


I got lucky. That being said, I still expect at some point to do hand carving, but in the mean time... well, damn, but these just look good. They'll need their own support structures, and I'm thinking that something that fits on top of wall sections or can stand on it's own is what I need. Soon...

*eXacto knives are very sharp. Use them carefully. Have bandages nearby just in case. Just sayin...

6 comments:

  1. "eXacto knives are very sharp. Use them carefully. Have bandages nearby just in case. Just sayin..."

    I thought that was why we all have so much super glue? Kidding^__^. Those laser cut section look aces by the way.

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  2. Who did you recruit to do the laser etching?

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  3. Is.. is that an Irkan (spelling) symbol? If my team was up against Zim, I'd quit the field!

    Great results, the etching catches the light passing through with just the right effect :)

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  4. This looks spectacular! Makes me want to try it myself...

    Love to see the Irken Armada paying for some commerical time. :)

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  5. GDMNW- I know a guy who has access at his job.

    Tael- Yes, that's the Irken Invader symbol. I was able to find an Irken font online, so the "text" actually translates into a recruiting poster that explicitly says "Zim need not apply".

    You need not worry about the Combined Army... Invaders are already infiltrating, taco humans!

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