Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar In-A-Box - Other Crafts

T TheLuckyParrot Tiki Centralite Orange County, CA. Joined: Feb 18, 2020 Posts: 66	T TheLuckyParrot Posted posted on Mon, Mar 23, 2020 10:51 PM STAGE ASSEMBLY, PART 15 Good progress for a Monday! Let's start by showing my target level for wall decor within the cabinet. Here is the left-hand wall panel of the stage from yesterday, which I estimated to be only 50% complete: And here is the right-hand panel which I completed today: Notice the difference. Lots of items filling up the wall, re-creating the visual clutter of the actual ETB. The surface areas of this right-hand panel that are not decorated are those that the viewer will not see anyway. What I am doing here is finding vintage explorer/adventurer/polynesian photos, shrinking them greatly, creating a digital frame for them and putting them all onto one sheet of paper. I then print that out on a color printer, cut them out with scissors and a razor blade, and glue them to very thin sheet balsa. I can then cut the balsa and color the balsa edges with a felt art pen. Add a little glue and load them onto the panel. Sure, it's tedious, but the visual environment it creates is so much more rich for the viewing audience! So here I sit hunting for more photos with which to work. I have a lot more surface to cover. The unfortunate news is that I have been following my orders for miniature decor for the shelves, and the covid-19 impact is slowing all that down. Right now my last shipment will not arrive until mid-May. And I cannot pack this up and bolt it closed until I have those in place. This means that although I was hoping to finish in April, that ain't going to happen. With the challenges we are all facing at the moment, I am not going to complain about it. It can take until May of next year if that is what it takes to keep even one person healthy. It doesn't mean I am stopped, of course. There is still quite a load of electronics work to get done. That testing controller box I have started, the one with that mind-numbing mess of wires and soldering? I started the wood case for that today, mounted the controller and the power supply within, and attached the button panel which is now wired into the controller. This is kind of scary, because I am not doing system testing step-by-step as I go. I won't know if it works until it all comes together. But I make small progress on this as I fast approach the electronics for light and audio. That's one of my schematics for audio that you can catch a glimpse of in the upper right corner: [ Edited by: TheLuckyParrot 2020-03-24 08:26 ]

STAGE ASSEMBLY, PART 15

Good progress for a Monday!

Let's start by showing my target level for wall decor within the cabinet. Here is the left-hand wall panel of the stage from yesterday, which I estimated to be only 50% complete:

And here is the right-hand panel which I completed today:

Notice the difference. Lots of items filling up the wall, re-creating the visual clutter of the actual ETB. The surface areas of this right-hand panel that are not decorated are those that the viewer will not see anyway. What I am doing here is finding vintage explorer/adventurer/polynesian photos, shrinking them greatly, creating a digital frame for them and putting them all onto one sheet of paper. I then print that out on a color printer, cut them out with scissors and a razor blade, and glue them to very thin sheet balsa. I can then cut the balsa and color the balsa edges with a felt art pen. Add a little glue and load them onto the panel. Sure, it's tedious, but the visual environment it creates is so much more rich for the viewing audience!

So here I sit hunting for more photos with which to work. I have a lot more surface to cover. The unfortunate news is that I have been following my orders for miniature decor for the shelves, and the covid-19 impact is slowing all that down. Right now my last shipment will not arrive until mid-May. And I cannot pack this up and bolt it closed until I have those in place. This means that although I was hoping to finish in April, that ain't going to happen. With the challenges we are all facing at the moment, I am not going to complain about it. It can take until May of next year if that is what it takes to keep even one person healthy.

It doesn't mean I am stopped, of course. There is still quite a load of electronics work to get done. That testing controller box I have started, the one with that mind-numbing mess of wires and soldering? I started the wood case for that today, mounted the controller and the power supply within, and attached the button panel which is now wired into the controller. This is kind of scary, because I am not doing system testing step-by-step as I go. I won't know if it works until it all comes together. But I make small progress on this as I fast approach the electronics for light and audio. That's one of my schematics for audio that you can catch a glimpse of in the upper right corner:

[ Edited by: TheLuckyParrot 2020-03-24 08:26 ]

Post #801512 by TheLuckyParrot on Mon, Mar 23, 2020 10:51 PM