latest news headlines
Skull on the Beach for Fineline
Fineline was approached by Wave Marketing & Communications to build a large scenic skull for a Motorola corporate event staged at Bolongo Bay on St Thomas, the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Fineline was contacted by Wave after numerous previous projects including many other Motorola events, one of which involved creating the front of a giant Chevrolet car. Fineline was given a series of 3D scanned files to work from that were made from a hand carved model.
The event was themed on the cult movie ‘Pirates of the Caribbean'. The skull provided a surprise and a bit of a WOW factor as the entrance to the main show, and all attendees had to walk through the mouth of the 20ft high prop. The skull was manufactured from high density polystyrene on Fineline's 5 axis router in multiple blocks, which were then bonded together to construct seven final pieces. It was designed like this for easier packing and transportation in a shipping container.
The parts were then ‘manually adjusted' using chain saws and a miscellany of air powered sanding tools. This also involved the removal of some of the teeth, because when massively scaled up, some of the features looked quite different compared to the initial small hand made model! This process also provided a more authentic look of distress and decay that was required due to the finished machining process looking too accurate and precise!
The seven pieces were then sprayed using Fineline's new spray plastic facility to give structure, weatherproofing and a base for painting. Once coated with plastic the seven pieces were virtually indestructible ... as the polystyrene only acts as a former.
Once the pieces were plastic coated, they were scenically decorated in Fineline's workshop by Tony Ford, who completely customised the look and feel. The job took a month to complete in total, most of which was machine time, and the biggest challenge was the timescale as the shipping date was non-moveable.
Fineline were also asked to plastic coat several other props used for the event for weatherisation, and to boost their robustness as they were made from low density polystyrene.
4th June 2008
HEADLINES
news archive
search stories
FOOTNOTE: Select the news type you require in the red band above; this will enable you to see the current news stories from that section
© 1999 - 2012 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories
