Passage to Nowhere

I can now say with certainty that one small corner of the room is done. I have put the last touches on the closet and we can pull the curtain on that part of the project. Literally.

Everything needed pulled out of there, spackle dust wiped off, and stacked about in the corners. I painted the inside and the original trim molding I'd saved from earlier the darker green. It all just went back together fine. A simple enjoyable project with no hidden surprises.

The tassels are a Walmart find of all places as were the curtains. I like the look of them tied back but they don't HIDE anything that way. I'll probably add another curtain behind the two tied back ones. Oops..did I say done?

The other tiny little project was a replacement of one of the electrical outlets entirely and a fancy-pants faceplate treatment for all. The gold paint was too much so I washed them with a thinned black weathering solution which settled in the crevasses to bring out the details. Not too bad.

It's gotten too freekin' cold to paint my track lighting so I am moving onto the floor. I don't remember seeing much of the floor in the movie but I don't see any reason why Nemo wouldn't have put in a wood top over the metal structure to keep things a little warmer and quieter in a noisy damp sub.

Dark side of the Room Part 1

What we have here is the result of a series of compromises. The main problem was converting a 4 by 3 foot square window into something resembling one of the bulbous domes from the Nautilus. Since I had angeled this wall using a sloping false wall I had to create a piece to match that slope, evoke "roundness", and still allow for the main insert to be removable, in case of fire or whatnot.

Picture one shows the insert. It sets inside and upon a small frame inside the window sill area. It is also attached with two ring bolts that have been darkened to blend better. The unpainted circular area in the center will be cut away and an acrylic convex dome coming inside into the room with a diameter of about 2 feet will go in which will hopefully provide enough light for normal functions. The insert does not go all the way to the top you may notice. This is because this south facing wall gets very hot in summer and I wanted the air to be able to move freely. I can still see the top of the main window too so more hidey work needs done.

Picture two shows the hood installed. I just now figured out whats bothering me. The three inch strip needs replicated on both sides of the hood for continuity with the insert. That will make me happier about it.

Last picture is a treatment for the section below the window sill. It is a half-moon shape that will sport that fanciful scroll piece from Hobby Lobby hopefully breaking up the window area still further.

I am waiting to order the dome for a while so it will stay ugly for now. I am hoping to have the "eye" lighted using solar pathway lights.

In the meantime track lighting for the ceiling and closet flooring.

Plot me a course to the island of Crespo

Well now THAT map looks a lot better!

It went together quite well the 2nd time around. For scale I should tell you that the whole thing is five and a half feet by around four feet. This one is laminated and that process has made the colors a little richer than the first map plus it is easier for the magnets to slide over. Each of the magnets has a twin on the back side holding it in place. A decorative button adorns the top magnets which ride over the maps' surface and are attached using two-part epoxy.

The magnets are powerful enough to follow each other when the top one gets moved so they can be placed over a ships plan at will keeping things firmly in place for taking reference measurements or just general study. If I pull the top magnet too far away and the inner one drops there is a lip catching them on the inside and its just a matter of hovering over the right spot till you hear the "click" of magnet mating. It really does work slicker than I thought it would.

The skinny window has gotten its deep-sea frame attached and looks as nautical as a long skinny window is apt to look. To the right and in the other three corners I have put up the last of the riveted strips. I thought they needed to be a little smaller for some variety and they still need a little weathering yet. Next up is the big window where I will be going for the glowing "alligator" eyes look.

That should get the neighbors a little more nervous than they already are...

Underhand, underwater, and damned un-English

Hey lookit my submarine!

Now things are looking better. I have spent the week preparing all the hull frames and painting up the embellishments and gluing them on to the individual members.

Using some "extra grip" liquid nails and for the middle ones Marsha's grip, we attached them to the ceiling and walls. I had to splice in the straight sections in the middle using the same glue and some seam filler which was actually a model-railroading landscape foam that would not attack styrofoam and could be painted the same color. Turned out good, most of the seems are hidden now.

The light fixture is pretty neat too. It hangs a bit low for my taste but when I bought it I thought I'd be able to mount it flush to the ceiling but instead it has to dangle using one chain link. I will try to shorten it up some because right now my head only has about 8 inches of clearance and the heat cooks my noodle.

I'll be framing that small skinny window next and running some more rivet straps up the four corners and also, stay tuned for Map Version 2.0

Dumbasses of the Caribbean

That would be me.

I was looking forward to posting about my FINISHED map/plan holder but I had a terrible disaster in the making of Map version 01. I will be putting up a HUGE map of the Caribbean on the east wall that will double (with the help of powerful magnets) as a ships plan holder for easy reference. All very well, so I took the map spray glued it extra flat to the backer board and wanting that old world varnished look began Modge-Podging all over the top to seal it and give it some brush strokes. The map began popping up and wrinkling everywhere and since the glue was beginning to make the paper stiff I couldn't pull it taut again. Total Disaster! I removed the old map and took two hours sanding off the glue residue to re-use the board for map Version 02, which will be fully laminated and I have done away with the vanished look idea altogether.

It just shows that not everything works as planned and a project like this has lots of steps back as well as forward.

The first image is the hull frames, painted, and with some decorative flourishes I've molded from wood masters that I will be painting and gluing onto them to add that extra touch so they aren't so plain looking. The second and third images are of the map backer and the gilded frame which is now ready for installation when the new map arrives.

The frames are going up next then the map. Stay tuned...

Front Yard of Terror Part 2

"Booty Island" is a full size rendition of a Halloween village piece I noticed this year. The item is called "Greedy to the End", and it seemed to invoke a great back story for our skeleton dude here.

Originally there was to be an audio track for him as well but I ran out of CD players. It was going to be ocean sounds and seagulls and such and will be included in next years display. The whole island is fairly fragile being just stretched sand colored cloth with real sand sprinkled over the top for looks and the tots would have been clamoring all over it if not for the imposing looking skull/chain fence.

Notice my vast booty? (Hee) The larger parts are Goodwill store finds and the coinage was mostly bought in bulk from Party America. The glowing jewels effect is a textured clear plastic insert from an industrial overhead light fixture cut to size and set in the chest with some LED lights on a changing pattern underneath giving it that captivating glow. Not my original idea mind you but an adaption from something I saw on the web.

That guys' booty wasn't nearly as impressive as my own however.

Front Yard of Terror Part 1

I broke this Halloween special into two parts. Each part will feature some pictures and clips from the two major Halloween projects this year. i didn't get everything done I wanted but MOST of it and just like Linus tells Charlie Brown after another fruitless night waiting for the Great Pumpkin "Just wait till next year!"

This guy, "The Captain" turned out pretty good. The arm motion needs work, hes no Abe Lincoln in the Hall of Presidents, but hey its my first animatronic. There is a sea shanty song playing the whole time and when the scare is triggered a scream and some loud banging occurs. To my everlasting delight it terrorized at least three trick or treaters on theri rounds last night. Halloween is great!

The jaw you'll notice moves pretty well in time with the evil laughter and that part of the scare really worked well. Its just a sound activated servo in the Capt's skull to his jaw doing the dirty work but it was unnerving to a couple kids.

Next year our Captain is going to have a full scale WORKING cannon to fire based on the T-shirt tossers you may have seen at parades or sporting events.

I'm hoping for a nearly peed pants affect from that one!

They don’t call me Long John because my head is so big.

Now we are on the home stretch folks. Just one more shopping trip weekend for last minute big box store purchases then a week to get everything set up and working. I hope it doesn't snow...

I confess..this weekend was too nice and I didn't get any building done. I did make a couple of purchases though. And I DID wrap up my cemetery fence pillars two of which are shown here. A little fleck-stone paint, some airbrushing, and some moss garland and there ya go. Instant creepy.

The other characters are new this year and are essentially "blog padding" if you will. They are kinda neat so like Pokemons "try to find them all" when you come visit.

I promise the next blog will be better. Things are going to be going out, and up this weekend (thats what she said) So stay tuned...

That’s the finest pirate booty I’ve ever laid eyes on.

18 days to go and I'm feeling saucy...

This week I worked on a chain barrier fence to go around the front of Booty Island. Last year I had kids tromping right up to my helmsman like he was some kind of skeleton Santa Clause. This year with this pile of gold coins and sparklies I thought I should erect a fence to discourage that kind of behavior. Also the island itself is going to be just fabric with a sprinkling of sand on it and it won't be very sturdy at all.

The fellow with the sword poking from his ribcage will finish out the islands look. I will have this done this week. The working pirate cannon is getting less likely to be done in time but I have added more parts to the pile.

To learn more about my booty go to TomsHairyHeinie.com

Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?

26 Days to go! I am over the hump. Today I put all the pieces together for my skeleton pirate captain to see how things worked. Well he swings his sword (gay-ly) Needs work but he does swing! The ambient chantey music and the pop up scare pirate work too. I wish I could have more of the actual guy in the barrel show when he does but space is limited in there. But there is a scream sound when he does and I have a strobe going off as well. Umm..the standup pirates jaw moves in time with an evil laughter track running off of a CD.

The pieces together here are more than the whole and I can't wait to see it going at night. When I get it nailed and tweeked I'll post a movie.

Next up is more of a static display of a desert island with a long dead pirate over his treasure chest of booty. Not really scary but neat I hope. I'll have some ambient seashore sounds to play and a whole lot of booty.

A WHOLE lot of booty, Arrgg.

Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I AM happy to see you.

Sunday the 21st. This was a semi-productive week. It got off to a slow start but picked up speed as it went. The pirate captain skeletons mounting hardware was completed this week. he now has a rigid spine of half inch threaded rod to keep him erect and the receptacles are mounted in the proper spots on the wharf for him to stand in later. Next week he will be stained and painted to look a little more "lived in."

Todays project was the pop up pirate in the barrel. After some cussin' and discussin' with myself I got him to a working condition more or less. He still needs programmed though. There will be ambient sea shanty type music playing on a loop, and then when a tot comes near and I trigger it a loud scream will sound and a flashing light will go off. Should be neat.

Tot might not think so though...

How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off me rudder?

Here is a progress report for the last week or so. I remembered I had tossed all of my cemetery fence columns from last year so the new columns got moved up to top priority. The previous ones were just a thin masonite rectangle with stone "wallpaper" glued to the sides. They weren't holding up well.

These new ones are various sizes of particle board and they are very heavy and stout. The decorations are wood embellishment thingys from Lowe's that weren't working for the Nautilus room but look neat here.

The last pic is the start of the wharf "set" for my new skeleton. I have installed the servo in his skull that will make his jaw move in time to a sound file. I'm not sure what he's going to do-maniacal laughter, sing a song or what. Ideas?

Ahoy Scurvy Dogs

From now till all Hallow's eve this blog be hijacked. Since I am now prisoner here to their whims there will be no further updates to the room until the curse is released the day after Halloween. Meanwhile I'll be documenting the new additions to the yard display as I go. This years new cast of characters include a "talking and singing" pirate captain and his slightly dead pop-up friend, a poor soul whose skeleton now lies atop a gleaming pile of treasure, possibly a full size (working?) cannon prop, and new columns for the cemetery fence.

Not to mention the return of this guy from last year...

A riveting update

Rosie here.

I have been busy running some riveted straps across the ceiling. Its kind of a surprisingly labor intensive part of the project. Each one is primed then needs two coats of paint and then finally a light weathering before it can go up. It looks pretty neat up there but by itself not much of a blog update.

However, tonight I finished up the first rough hull frame of which there will be four running across the room on those straps I put up previously. I used masonite for the cutting guides clamping and sawing both halves together for uniformity. To insure they lined up I screwed them together over the rough cut pink foam with 3 inch bolts before using a variety of hot wire cutters to cut out the frame shape.

I will repeat his process 3 more times for these. There will be "beams" across the center and smaller curved frames on the far side. Hopefully when painted they will all look like rusty metallic steel.

Till next time I won't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but you...

Out of the closet

Hello World! I'm here and I'm....finished with my closet exterior styling.

I thought it turned out very well and it looks like my riveting scheme will work pretty good. There will be more of this look around the room. The corner forms are made from thin MDF and high density pink foam carved into an arch shape. The foam has been smoothed over with joint compound, sanded and painted so it looks convincingly solid.

The "metal" riveted strips are masonite with some of my rivets glued on at about four inches apart. Its lightly weathered with artist pastels in rust, brown and a slimy greenish color.

You'll see more of the pink foam in the next step where I'll be using large pieces to simulate hull frames running across the ceiling. THATS when will things will start looking more submarinee-er

Scroll Troll Details

Thanks for the comment and question Paul. I modified the blueprint to fit my needs a little. The original as you see has some flimsy looking spindles on the ends that had to go. It orignaly measured around 20 inches and without those it came in at around 17. I ended up blowing them up to around 22 inches.

The other picture shows a movie still with the piece in question and they look about 16 inches or so as used on the set. They added a whole lot off style I thought.

I am currently turning my rectangular closet entrance into more of an archway with riveted steel all around. Should be posting by the weekend.

More moldy fun

The silicone and two part resin I used to make the rivets have a shelf life and once they have been opened they have to be used up fairly quickly.

These scroll work style pieces will adorn two of the three utilitarian looking storage cabinets that will be going in the room. The art work was from a blueprint on the disneysub site inspired by an actual piece in the salon room scenes of the movie. There they served as decorative bookshelf fronts that ostensibly would keep books from popping out whenever the Nautilus took a roll. Here they will eventually be used to help disguise a rather plain, modern-looking mass produced storage unit.

The wheel handles will be functional in that they will be operational. But not with water.

Electricity!

Windows 08

There is this really useless window on the west side of the room. It is 11 inches wide by 5 foot high. Not nautical at all. It needed a disguise.

Using half inch MDF I measured a long oval shape that overlaps the opening of the window just a bit. I used an paint stir stick as a custom compass to draw the curves on either end.

I cut it out carefully with a jig saw. Sanded. Then added some of those rivets around the perimeter and painted. This was also an opportunity to try out some weathering techniques and I found that latex isn't as helpful as say enamel or acrylic in this regard. The end result is a little heavy maybe but since this is a window to the "deep" it should show a little extra rust.

Ultimately there will be a red custom sized curtain in there blocking the decidedly none aquatic view of the neighbors basement house.