Balloon Chat
Uncategorized Boards => Balloon Chit Chat => Topic started by: Graham Lee on November 24, 2021, 09:09:35 AM
It's big build Wednesday today and Thursday and Friday. I like to take my time.
I will start posting a few pictures as we go with the build later today.
The start of the pictures.
My room is only just big enough to fit the train in.
I have to build it in sections so it fits in car to transport to the venue.
This will act as the light for the front of the train. I was pleased with how this worked out sitting inside the structure.
The inner circle for the wheel.
Checking sizing for the wheel, the first one for me is always hit and miss.
I have added to the wheels that were made the other day, plus one of the wheels is back to front at the moment.
Yes I have sorted this out, that would have annoyed me if we had not noticed.
I did try some other style of smoke but was not keen on it so went back to the spirals.
This was the last picture from the build on day one.
This was day two of me building the train in my front room. When we have built the train before I had two
plinths for where the wheels/cylinder would fit together. It worked but took a while to to tie it all together.
So decided to weave it all as one, which was a little tricky going from circular to square.
This is the start of making the change in shape.
It needed extra support on the second bubble down all the way along the side of the train.
The full skirt completed, just seeing about height for wheel placement.
There was a lot of weaving plus the squares were six and four so had to concentrate on sizing all the time.
As the train was only going to be seen from one side I tried a different set up on the side that was going to be shown.
I thought the first side I did would have made the train too wide and then proportionally that would have made
the train look shorter by the optical illusion. Not sure if that is true or what I was thinking in my head.
So we went for a slightly different side weave for the other side of the train.
The first side the weave stuck out 3 inches from the curve and then with the 4 inch width of the wheel.
On the second side it was just the wheel sticking out the 4 inches.
The weave on this side blended in with the curve.
At this point Lyn said the train looked like Dougal from the Magic Roundabout,
Many will be googling now.....he he, but I could see what she meant.
As soon as I made the cab it did cross my mind that this was a little too tall but in the
confined space of my small front room and the main cylinder section not
being fitted together till at the venue it was difficult to see.
The problem was on the last train I made the cab area for them taking pictures was a little too small so I was weary of this as well.
So I wanted to wait till we had put it all together.
It was then onto making some more of the rear cab section. I had to make in sections as it would not fit in my car.
And the venue only had the foyer to build the design which would have been to busy and people asking questions.
Sometimes when making the design I do need some quiet time thinking what would work best.
I was trying out a couple of different smoke ideas.
The rounds to fill the box weave in with.
The last pictures from the second day of the build.
This is from the start of day three. These are the connection points for the cab.
Sorting out the front snow plough section? Not sure what it is actually called, off to google.
Its called the pilot or cowcatcher ;D
I added to the wheels and turned the odd one the right way around.
I always like to keep the place tidy when twisting so had me bin for all the cut off sections.
Looking to see about proportions, the rear cab definitely looked too high for me.
The bin did get quite full up with all the twisting we were doing.
Getting packed up ready for driving to the venue which was pretty close to me.
Joining a few of the sections together, we took it in 10 separate sections.
Placing the wheels to see what looks more proportioned.
The front cab cross section I fitted one weave lower to try and make it look a little less tall.
Plus if I wanted to take the top weave of the cab off later I could and it would blend in still.
I added an extra row of box weave above the rear cab wheel to try and make the cab look proportionally shorter.
Then it was time to fit the wheels on securely, this did not go as easy as I had hoped but we got there in the end.
It's surprising the different look the train takes on from the different angles of the pictures.
When I got home and looked at these pictures I did not like the way the connecting rods to the wheels were sitting and looked.
So I went back and took some more pictures.
You could walk in the back of the train to get a photo of yourself in the train cab.
There was a small bell that we fitted into the train bell so that it worked, you can just about see it.
The finished train after I adjusted the wheel connecting rods.
So I have ended up with a few pictures to use and trying to work out what are the better ones to use.
Trying to decide the better couple to use?
The last one.
The train had been in the Cinema for 14 days and we started to make the design 16 days back now.
It was looking in a very sorry state but the pictures don't show this, it was way worse than comes across on the pictures.
The wheels were all curved in and rather deflated, the smoke had seen better days and it was all very badly oxidized.
There was another showing this this morning of the film with Santa turning up
as well so I went in yesterday to try and spruce the train up a little.
Plus at a guess I would say it had shrunk up to 25%, I should have measured it before and after.
This picture is from my phone and I think shows the oxidizing a little better.
The train did look like it had seen better days.
The train after I had repaired the wheels a little, changed the smoke, adjusted the bell and
got rid of the oxidisation...is that even a word? Answers on a postcard please, he he.
It did not look to bad for 16 days old.
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