Post #801227 by TheLuckyParrot on Tue, Mar 10, 2020 11:12 PM

STAGE ASSEMBLY, PART 5

I'm working in parallel right now, taking advantage of the time it take things to set or dry and moving the electronics along on the side. My last post I showed some of the ongoing electronics work. Here is set decorating (finally!).

I took the stage decks and painted them just to make sure that I was sealing up the wood for long-term care. Of course I used flat black, in case I fail to cover absolutely every tiny speck of stage area. Then, on top of that now-painted surface, I applied that expanding foam in a can that is used for home insulation. Gotta be careful, because the stuff can really grow and get out of hand! This creates a "lava field" surface that I can paint, carve and install hidden lighting or attach flora.

This is a full set view:

Here are two close-ups:

And this is an overhead view:

One thing that is apparent to the keen eye from these views, which will NOT be visible from the viewer perspective in the end system, is that I worked pretty hard to keep the foam from expanding from one section of the stage to another and prevent future maintenance access. If you look carefully you can see seams, which I later trimmed and enlarged. But from the front...NO SEAMS! It all still comes back apart.

Coming up: I have a video that I am trying to upload off of my phone so that I can show painting progress of that foam. It's just the first of several coats but it shows how quickly this stuff morphs from Home Depot mode to "Oh wow! I can see where he is going!" mode. With luck, I will get that link posted here fast.