Thursday 21 May 2015

Collaboration with Nicki Bilbie (Set)

Over the Easter break I made the fishing boat that would be the set for Nicki. She sent me some photos and diagrams of what she was thinking it would look like. So the only way I would get anything done with this was to just go for it! I decided to make the top half of the boat, the part that would be above water, this would leave me a rectangle on the underneath that I could create a solid base with, including a stand so Nicki can use tie-downs to animate.


I started by cutting two pieces of MDF that would form the floor of the boat. Then I cut several pieces of timber at an angle, these would be the starting point of the sides. I drilled through the MDF first, then drilled through the timber afterwards.



A frame was made out of timber to hold everything together, drilled from the top down through the frame.


Added timber lining to make the sides of the boat, and the back. Hardboard formed the point at the front, hardboard was the only thing that would bend enough without snapping.


I cut up pieces of balsa wood in strips that would become the floorboards. Stuck the floorboards with UHU glue. Cut another piece of MDF and sanded it down to make the front of the boat.


Sanded it all down using sandpaper and the sander to get a continuous finish on the overall boat. I then gave it its first coat of walnut varnish!


The boat after its second coat of varnish.



I then bought some rope intending it to around the outside of the boat, but Nicki & I agreed it looked better as a prop in the boat. I painted the name of the boat in white acrylic paint 'Rusty Blue'. Placed to-scale armature plans of Nicki's to double check its scale. Thankfully Nicki was pleased with it and I was too, I'm no carpenter! 
(Thanks Dad for the help and for letting me steal tools, thanks Mam for the help and accepting the mess I made!) 

No comments:

Post a Comment