First Aluminum Test Casts for the B-17 Project
My first metal casts, these simple casts were made yesterday from a quick 2" hand-made plastic clay model, using a sand cast, two piece mold, and an impressive table-top induction metal furnace and crucible that runs- amazingly- on regular household current. The model is roughened by design, and will be adapted as I go through different models and casting strategies. Sorry for the photo quality!As you may remember, the B-17 project is a proposal for a large sculpture at UW which reproduces a WWII bomber formation involving hundreds of aircraft. What I'm doing now is working out little versions of the models for the maquette, the model of the eventual sculpture- and it will give you an idea of what's involved if I mention that the maquette alone could easily be 30 feet long.
The actual airplane models for the piece will be about 6" wide, with a far more specific surface, and there will be a minimum of 250. I'm looking to enhance rather than remove the casting irregularities to look for a particularly evocative surface on the basic form- and as one Art professor suggested yesterday, try putting all kinds of stuff in the sand void- straw, charcoal, perhaps a loogie.I've made of couple of larger patterns with a wave-like surface on the B-17 form - these planes will eventually be seen four stories up, so the intent is to remove detail and experiment with a textural surface that suggests motion, violence, and flight. So far, the crystalized aluminum surface looks promising.
The real trick of course will be the supporting structure, 4 wires trailing from each model to evoke the contrails in the sky from the engines. Attaching these wires to the plane, and to each other, as well as designing the interlaced supporting structure, is proving to be the real technical challenge, and will probably require some engineering.The large medal cylinders and lumps below are called a sprue, which I mention mostly because I like the word. The casting's appearance in these photos as something of a cross and headstone is ..interesting.
Much appreciation to Seattle sculptors Mik
e McGrath and Chuck Bonsteel for extensive help and guidance.This last shot here gives a little of the sense of why I'm going for a rough appearence- notice that as relatively crude as the model is, the plane is almost instantly recognizable.
posted by JAB at 10:47 PM
7 Comments:
When Lucas was putting together the special effects for Return of the Jedi, the model builders were faced with the task of making giant squadrons of Tie fighters.
Initially, they simply shrunk down the footage they'd already taken of the nicely detailed Tie fighters and composited it together to make it look as if there were 100s of them.
One small problem: It looked too detailed and because it looked too detailed, it didn't give the proper sense of real distance.
Ignoring that this wouldn't be a factor in space, they opted to make it so the models followed what people expected (loss of detail with distance) and instead redid these models less realistically.
In some cases, for the really distant models, they build them out dabs of plasticine lumps.
Which is a long-winded way of saying I think you're on the perfect track!
Awesome!
Those are really cool. Could I put in a request to have one of your test casts once you are done?
If you could mass produce them, I know a few Axis and Allies junkies who would pay top dollar for those!
I can make you one soon...
The casting process is relatively straightforward- "mass" production involves a sort of a wax christmas tree of little B-17s, or something that looks like the plastic frame plane model parts come in.
And now you know why those model parts came in those ridiculous trees :)
All that cutting, all those little parts, all that glue sniffing...
Good times... Good times...
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