As the design of my starship bridge continues to evolve, so too does Keiko's captain's chair or acceleration couch. It started off looking like this:
020222_0015 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Okay, there's a lot you can't see here because of the shadows, but basically there were two things that stuck me:
1. Both the console and chair seemed a bit low with the figures legs going far beyond the end of the console and:
2. There was no support for the legs or lower parts of the thighs.
Another thing that struck me is that as I'm not working on a Hollywood sound stage with lots of room for a camera to move around, the placement of a large control console to the figures's front would severely limit the angles from which I could photograph the figure. Hence a re-design was necessary, eliminating the console and putting most of the pilot's controls into the armrests, as with Thunderbird 1. Redesigning the chair (Making things up as I went along) is what I mostly spent my afternoon and early evening doing. Here we see what the redesign looks like without cushions: Note: It was always my intention to have cushions in the first place.
Work in progress by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Work in progress by Gary Menten, on Flickr
And now with some foam board cut outs that will soon be covered with faux leather to simulate cushions,
A work in progress by Gary Menten, on Flickr
A work in progress by Gary Menten, on Flickr
A work in progress by Gary Menten, on Flickr
On should notice that the back of the chair has a section cut out specifically to allow the figure to be seated with both the PLISS and it's space consuming oxygen hose. I'm not sure if I'll pad the area around the cut-out at this point. We'll have to wait and see. I have not yet settled on a design for the armrests yet, a minor, but solvable problem being the size of the pistol holster on the figure's hip getting in the way of structure. Put in other words, I had failed to take this into account and the (sort of) planning stage.
I need more sheet plastic to do the armrests, and as the hobby stores (what's left of them at any rate) are closed tomorrow, that will have to wait until next week whereas my next foray will be to buy some faux leather for the cushions tomorrow, currently on sale at the local fabric store.
For those of you interested in the materials, this chair is mainly built using .030 and .040 sheet plastic, with the cushions being cut from 1/2" foam board. The base was made by gluing the lid from a jar of instant coffee (Nescafé, bottom) to a small plastic salsa container for potato chips. They were spray painted with Tamiya Neutral Grey (USAF) while the chair itself was sprayed with Tamiya light gun metal.
More to follow later.
020222_0015 by Gary Menten, on FlickrOkay, there's a lot you can't see here because of the shadows, but basically there were two things that stuck me:
1. Both the console and chair seemed a bit low with the figures legs going far beyond the end of the console and:
2. There was no support for the legs or lower parts of the thighs.
Another thing that struck me is that as I'm not working on a Hollywood sound stage with lots of room for a camera to move around, the placement of a large control console to the figures's front would severely limit the angles from which I could photograph the figure. Hence a re-design was necessary, eliminating the console and putting most of the pilot's controls into the armrests, as with Thunderbird 1. Redesigning the chair (Making things up as I went along) is what I mostly spent my afternoon and early evening doing. Here we see what the redesign looks like without cushions: Note: It was always my intention to have cushions in the first place.
Work in progress by Gary Menten, on FlickrWork in progress by Gary Menten, on FlickrAnd now with some foam board cut outs that will soon be covered with faux leather to simulate cushions,
A work in progress by Gary Menten, on FlickrA work in progress by Gary Menten, on FlickrA work in progress by Gary Menten, on FlickrOn should notice that the back of the chair has a section cut out specifically to allow the figure to be seated with both the PLISS and it's space consuming oxygen hose. I'm not sure if I'll pad the area around the cut-out at this point. We'll have to wait and see. I have not yet settled on a design for the armrests yet, a minor, but solvable problem being the size of the pistol holster on the figure's hip getting in the way of structure. Put in other words, I had failed to take this into account and the (sort of) planning stage.
I need more sheet plastic to do the armrests, and as the hobby stores (what's left of them at any rate) are closed tomorrow, that will have to wait until next week whereas my next foray will be to buy some faux leather for the cushions tomorrow, currently on sale at the local fabric store.
For those of you interested in the materials, this chair is mainly built using .030 and .040 sheet plastic, with the cushions being cut from 1/2" foam board. The base was made by gluing the lid from a jar of instant coffee (Nescafé, bottom) to a small plastic salsa container for potato chips. They were spray painted with Tamiya Neutral Grey (USAF) while the chair itself was sprayed with Tamiya light gun metal.
More to follow later.
A work in progress by Gary Menten, on Flickr
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