Modular Set Project

[ender098]

Graham and I were talking about sets and it got me to thinking about a project we could all participate in. A Modular Dio set. I'm thinking of starting with a city scene and making a street down the center, warehouses, buildings, shops, Etc and making the whole thing Modular. What I'd like to do is start with a basic design and get input and Ideas how to create and make this thing Modular, so that as a set it's HUGE, but as individual pieces, it's small enough to store. I'm thinking about a city scene first and moving on to other Projects as we finish. Like an Airfield, a Dock/ lakefront, The Pit 3 (or whatever number they are currently on!), A Cobra Base, a Freighter, etc.

You may be thinking how can you participate in something I will be building. Well, my plan is to start the project, and using Input from you all, design how it will look, what to include, what materials work best, etc. If you want, you can donate parts, or if you have an Idea (say Outrider knows how to make cool Light posts), tell me what all parts and materials you need, I'll ship them to you and you can assemble it, (making a "how-to" as you go) and ship it back and I will incorporate it into the set. The whole process can be documented in the "how-To" section, with smaller posts for smaller individual projects (like if someone just makes a Lampost or a trash bin). This will give everyone the opportunity to learn and participate and increase the info in the "How-To" section!

We all have strong and weak areas. and some of us (Like Vader, as I just noticed) are Dio set Gods! What I want to do is pool this creativity and get a big project working. We can collaborate on certain days on MSN or get with Shane and piggy back off JoeTv! Who would be interested in this Collaborative effort? If I get enough people interested and willing to participate, I will hit Home Depot in February, as soon as I get home and rearrange my Garage to give me some work space! Any takers......?

BTW, who lives near LA or San Diego and would be interested in coming by the house and helping out? ;)

[vespapilot79]

I may just have to make a trip down from Bakersfield to help out some time. Maybe set a date and make it a group effort? That way all of the So Cal folks can meet in person. That would be wicked cool!! What city do you live in?

[Flatline]

[QUOTE=vespapilot79]I may just have to make a trip down from Bakersfield to help out some time. Maybe set a date and make it a group effort? That way all of the So Cal folks can meet in person. That would be wicked cool!! What city do you live in?[/QUOTE]
THIS IS A GREAT IDEA, I'M IN ORANGE COUNTY. I'M IN!! :cool:

[ender098]

[QUOTE=vespapilot79]I may just have to make a trip down from Bakersfield to help out some time. Maybe set a date and make it a group effort? That way all of the So Cal folks can meet in person. That would be wicked cool!! What city do you live in?[/QUOTE]


I Live on Camp Pendleton in Oceanside. In order to get on base, I'd have to meet you at the gate and sign you in. We can work out the details later. And before we get started, I could show you around the base.

Maybe we can get HammerFel to drop by!

Anybody outside the California area want to work on this via email or chat ?

[vespapilot79]

That would be pretty cool. My father trained down there before going to Vietnam. He was in the 1st MAW. I wish i still had my mil ID. Oh well. Hopefully you can get HammerFel to come by. Im really excited about this project. It makes me want to get my temple playset finished so I can start out with some fresh ideas.

[Tracker]

Sounds cool


The closet thing I'm working on, as far as a modular set design, are 3d cardstock walls the like to the one in the picture below but 1:18th scale and different textures

http://www.lordsofthebattlefield.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Fortress%20Wall%20Set-001.jpg

[Mobius_1]

HAH, you already have a bunch of stuff to use from me! :P i made my contribution before you even left the country! (i expect you to use them to their full extent if they are'nt broken yet ;) )

[Ion]

Sounds really great for me :)

I really can get into this, though there a one small catch. Well - let's face it - I'm from Poland and that means at least 6 hour difference... So e.g. MSN (or rather Skype in my case) on certain days could be great, but - don't know if your afternoon happen to be my middle of the night :D
Anyway, I'm a modeller so I might be of help, though I must say - I'm not a pro :)

I'm open to your suggestions :)

[Rambo]

Well, I cant participate actively but I encourage you to do it. I just want to say that a modular Terror Drome would be cool...

[ThinkTank]

i think it would be cool to get something humongous going on. that would be a vacation I would like to take. Im in for whatever I can do from Texas.

[Sonneilon]

I'm gonna be an absolute prick here.

I'd say almost 90% of the 'dio sets' I see make me roll my eyes.

I am a SUCKER to-scale or in-scale stuff. You want to do a set with tanks and etc, frikkin make EVERYTHING around it look to scale. A tank is NOT gonna be 3/4 size of a mountain that we can assume is as big as a ski mountain. I won't FAULT everything because i can use my imagination here and there (BATs bigger than the regular Joes, etc).

Everyone here knows that I'm a sci-fi freak and watch the MAKING-OF all the time. I pay close attention. I KNOW that you can't build a lot of sets without making them modular. It's not necessarily cuz of size, it has to do with taking the shot from different angles. So someone wants to build a building. THye build a 2-3 story building and just cut off a side. That doesn't work for me cuz ANY movie will shoot the specific scene room to room, area to area and they only use the building EXTERIOR for a specific purpose. You want to see the people walking thru a hallway, build a hallway OUT OF SCALE to the rest of the building!

You want reference how to do things? Check out Transformations. Episodes 1 &2 are available thru Lesreh's site! There are corridor sets. A lobby set. Just sets galore. BUT you NEVER see the WHOLE thing, the whole installation, etc. And that's how it should be. Think Aliens. You NEVER see the whole inside of the compound. Think Event Horizon. You NEVER see the whole inside of the ship at once. It's not a cross-section!

So when doing modular, think in film terms. The VIEWER never sees the whole game. That's called MANIPULATION and a lot of the fun of building sets. YOU show what you want. That creates the mystique and the wonder of just how the set was made. And I know, some of you guys have done some GNARLY jobs w/ your 1-shots in terms of set!

This is why I always made my sets so they had removable walls. So I can (ahem) try and get different angles. Let's face it. IF we had our own photostudios, we'd be set. We can set up the table in the middle of the room and move the camera around to get angles. And trust me, angles are huge in that... in that... you can tell a story and never change the posing! ;)

Anyway, I'll shut up. Want to impress me? Build your own USS Flagg so the Thunderwings actually fit to scale.

[ender098]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon] Build your own USS Flagg so the Thunderwings actually fit to scale.[/QUOTE]

Actually, I was planning a project similar to this.....can you say "HeliCarrier"?

[Sonneilon]

Dawg, I want to do a helicarrier ala Shield but I didn't how to do an exterior. It wouldn't fair to do all close-ups and interiors w/o EVER seeing what the thing looks like. I fault Star Trek : Motion Picture for doing a HORRIBLE job of showing what the cloud/ship looked like. You NEVER got the idea of scale or anything. THe later release, you got a remote idea but this 'ship' that V'ger piloted, it was supposed to be huge!!! AT least a movie like Black Hole (Disney), you got the idea of how THAT ship was supposed to be!!!

[ender098]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]Dawg, I want to do a helicarrier ala Shield but I didn't how to do an exterior. It wouldn't fair to do all close-ups and interiors w/o EVER seeing what the thing looks like. I fault Star Trek : Motion Picture for doing a HORRIBLE job of showing what the cloud/ship looked like. You NEVER got the idea of scale or anything. THe later release, you got a remote idea but this 'ship' that V'ger piloted, it was supposed to be huge!!! AT least a movie like Black Hole (Disney), you got the idea of how THAT ship was supposed to be!!![/QUOTE]


An exterior will be rough, especially curved edges. Anyone work on boat building and know how they warp wood to make a curved bow?

My biggest problem would be what to use for lift? If the thing is made of metal, then the Prop blades would have to be HUGE, and if they are that big, the planes would fly into them when landing or get sucked into them. I like the photos you sent me of the one with the jet Engines. I'm thinking something like that, or like the Huge Turbo Fans on the Dragonhawk.

That's the problem with knowing too much about Engineering, it kill creative imagination when you have to stick with what is feasible.

I was reading a few years ago about how a billionaire was thinking about creating a "floating city" with an airport on top that would have sit in international waters and cruise the globe. It would have it's own autonomy and it's citizens would have international citizenship. I wish I could fined the pictures. I found something similar, and this is cool;

http://weburbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/freedom-ship-floating-city-design.jpg

I don't know that Cobra Commander would pay to build something like this, but I could see him hi jacking it and declaring it Sovereign.

I found something closer to what I read and the pictures are closer to what was talked about in the article;

http://science.howstuffworks.com/floating-city.htm/printable

[guiltridden]

I can't build sets for crap but i have ideas, for the city sewers that are open from the side (for pics) that go up into the city and of course buildings with secret passages. A bank w/ a vault. A police station with a jail. I'll try to add more when I think of them.

[ender098]

[QUOTE=Ion]Sounds really great for me :)
I really can get into this, though there a one small catch. Well - let's face it - I'm from Poland and that means at least 6 hour difference... So e.g. MSN (or rather Skype in my case) on certain days could be great, but - don't know if your afternoon happen to be my middle of the night :D
Anyway, I'm a modeller so I might be of help, though I must say - I'm not a pro :)
I'm open to your suggestions :)[/QUOTE]


We can use any means to make this a collaborative effort. MSN, Skype, email, even just using a thread on this board to plan, design and post progress and pictures. Any input people have will be appreciated. Basically, what I'm thinking of doing is planning it here first. Then start building the foundations and then the streets, buildings etc. There's plenty of time to work out the details later, I can't even start until February when I get home from Iraq. I'm just trying to see who would be interested in giving input.


[QUOTE=guiltridden]I can't build sets for crap but i have ideas, for the city sewers that are open from the side (for pics) that go up into the city and of course buildings with secret passages. A bank w/ a vault. A police station with a jail. I'll try to add more when I think of them.[/QUOTE]


Do you have Ideas on how to build them? (ie; what Materials to use, how it should look, etc?) That's what I'm looking for. Can you draw or sketch? I'll take any Idea and work with it. Even if you have no idea how to build it or make it, throw the Idea out and we can collaborate on how to make it a reality.

[vespapilot79]

I know its expensive, but foamboard seems to be the best bet. Here is anothe cool thing. Try your local independent shop that frames paintings and photos. They throw out heaps of scrap foamboard. If they dont just give it to you, they may give it to you for next to nothing. Its worth a try. Most of all my research is off the web. I just type something in on the images search and go from there. I can draw pretty well, but im no graphic artist. Here is my latest prop. Im not happy with it entirely. But it works for now.

Just wanted to add this picture of the HAS for an airfield im designing. Would be good for the mod project as well.

[Sonneilon]

I use a 5/8ths foamboard myself. On occasion, I';ll just 2x4s and other doo-dads around the pad. For the bases, it's a cheap board available at the Home Depot or Lowes. Cut them up the way you want for the bases and you are good. The point of a wood base is so the bottom is stable (even if the walls won't be).