Azure (The Dead Pool)

[mad gerald]

Detroit ... Didn't bring my camera or my 40 cal....so I didn't do any running around in the HOOD

... this gives me the association of a remake of "Gran Torino" ... (SCNR) ... BTW: if it's not Glock, it may be Walther S&W I presume ...  

@Marc
1/20 scale is pretty huge ...   ... in comparison to 1/35 scale (your usual scale) ... how will you do the tiles then? Using paper/card board again? Or tiles en miniature? And how are you going to get/make this "dull luster" of old pool tiles? ... bookmarked ...  

Cheers

[marc_reusser]

Thanks for all the kind words, interest an input. Narayan, I will definitely have to check out some of the refernce material you mention. I do have what are probably several to ten thousand clipped images of abandoned and desrted urban places a good number of them here in the states, including detroit. (I actually was thinking of going there for a weekend, just to take photos)

Gerald, the tiles have been a conundrum, and something I have been discussing pro's/cons and issues with, with Gordon and Alex, the installation has to walk a fine line between accurate and neat tile work, and shitty soviet craftsmanship.....large fields need to be even and regular, while edges, details and corners are a bit more of a haphazzard mess. My first thought was milling the larger aresa in styrene, and then doing the individual tiles for areas of odd cut pieces, and poor edges.....this was however quickly abandoned, as my mill is manual, and all the tile patterns are staggered.....and my skils are ok, but probably not good enough to be perfect in a large field of regular sized items, where being a just a hair off would be immediately noticeable.  So I started thinking about laser cutting, and laser etching...but the material for laser use I had seen till now all had even a slight surface texture....which would not work on glazed smooth tile........But as luck would have it, I ran into a fellow at the convention that does extremly fine Nscale and even smaller laser cutting, that is really nice an clean, and he said that there is a type of signage plastic, that can be laser cut and etched with no over-burn (like many of the paper/board type materials) and it wont , melt from the laser, so as per discussion with him the plan is to send him a test CAD file in the next couple of weeks and he will do a piece, to see if it works for my need.

[mad gerald]

Marc, thanks for your explanation.

If the tiles are going to be laser-cut ones, IMHO styrene is not easy to handle, but you could use acrylic (don't know the correct term in english: acrylic resin or acrylic polymer??? I guess here it's also known as PMMA [Polymethylmethacrylat]) ... may be, it's similar to the signage plastic this guy mentioned. Only disadvantage is, that the laser leaves some recess looking (and feeling) like traces of (gun) powder, which can be removed with spirit/ethyl alcohol. Advantage is, that acrylic has a more dull side and a more semi gloss/matte side - IMHO the latter seems to match the appearance of a tile surface.

Cheers

[marc_reusser]

Thanks for the plastic info. It is definitely not syrene. I am not worried about the finish being dull or satin.....actually of both are equally smooth I would limely prefer the dull, as the entire piece willbe primered and then painted (primer sticks better to dull)... if it end up being the shiny side, I would likely dill it with fiberglass pencil anyway.

Because of the primer coat I am not concerened with any burn discoloration either. All that matters is the consistant width of the grout and tiles.

Any variety variation in burn depth is also not a problem, as I am planning to physically "grout" the tiles with a yet to be decided filler material...likely the lightweight patching compound, or something else that will tint or later stain to the proper coloring.

The finished tile surface will be achieved through painting an clear coat.

[shropshire lad]

Thanks for the plastic info. It is definitely not syrene. I am not worried about the finish being dull or satin.....actually of both are equally smooth I would limely prefer the dull, as the entire piece willbe primered and then painted (primer sticks better to dull)... if it end up being the shiny side, I would likely dill it with fiberglass pencil anyway.

Because of the primer coat I am not concerened with any burn discoloration either. All that matters is the consistant width of the grout and tiles.

Any variety variation in burn depth is also not a problem, as I am planning to physically "grout" the tiles with a yet to be decided filler material...likely the lightweight patching compound, or something else that will tint or later stain to the proper coloring.

The finished tile surface will be achieved through painting an clear coat.

  So something like this wouldn't be of use to you . Would it ?
http://www.dioramadebris.co.uk/135-scale-12-paving-slabs-mould-1350013-17-p.asp

 Nick

[marc_reusser]

Nick, I have that mold, and thought about ot...but the slight irregularities, combined with a slightly rough and porus surface would cause me more grief than I want...never mind having to hand set and space the pieces fairly accurately.

[shropshire lad]

Nick, I have that mold, and thought about ot...but the slight irregularities, combined with a slightly rough and porus surface would cause me more grief than I want...never mind having to hand set and space the pieces fairly accurately.

  I didn't think it would be suitable , but you never know . As for spacing the tiles , do what real tilers do , and use matchsticks ! Or the scale equivalent .

[marc_reusser]

.… As for spacing the tiles , do what real tilers do , and use matchsticks ! Or the scale equivalent .

Yeah...thanks...been there and done that .....technology marches on .

[Peter_T1958]

Hi Marc

Some guys here are doing a heck of a job and one thing is for sure: you are one of them!
If, for example, 20 years ago somebody had said that there will be a guy doing a swimming pool diorama some day, he would have been declared insane!

I'm absolutely hooked on that subject and your project and for that reason I googled therefore a lot this weekend. It is hard to believe but this pool remained operational until 1996 for the workers in the power plants !!!

I found here [http://www.neqo.be/]some good reference pictures (Chernobyl -> Pripyat-> Swimming Pool) and a breathtaking 360° panorama [http://www.neqo.be/360/PoolPripyat.swf]

I am eagerly awaiting the next update ...
Peter

[narrowgauger]

Hi Marc

what I want to know is the method you are going to use to develop the prototype nuclear pollution on the model.  After all Chernobil cannot really be depicted without at least some heavy water in their pool.

have fun & stay cool
BernardS

[finescalerr]

Only you would think of such a thing, Bernard. He's going to sprinkle it with Strontium 90. Now go stand in the corner. -- Russ

[mspaw]

Marc-

Have you made any progress on this build? I was wondering if you would be interested in having parts the layout milled from acrylic sheet. You certainly could get a nice tight not to mention hard surface. Ive done some small work with 0.5mm tooling and at the scale you are working at i would think that should work. Just a hint of radius edge to the tiles if that's appropriate. If nothing else id love to see what could be done as a small test.

All the best.

-Michael

[marc_reusser]

Michael,

Welcome to the forum.

Between real work, and my Parakeet attention span, I haven't made any progress on this. Your input and suggestion is definitely very interesting and tempting. Let me come up for air on what I have going, and I will drop you an email,...definitely interested in discussing this option/approach, as I still would like to do this project. Thanks.

[mspaw]

Marc-

Sounds great. Ive recently bought a house and am just getting around to setting the shop back up. The mill should be live here in a few weeks and then I could run a small sample test. If you wanted, give me the measurements in mm for a section of tile and Ill cook something up just as a proof of concept.
 
I was also thinking that you could cut a small modular block of tiles, say 4x4 and make 6 slightly different versions and then cast dupes. Then you could mix and match with no apparent repetition, and it would be much easier to lay than all individual tiles. If the tiles are a square aspect ratio they could be rotated as well for a bit more variety.

All this being said, I really don't know how much variation you need, I'm sure it would be slight.

And on the topic of beautiful decay; if you guys haven't seen  Romain Veillon's photography its worth a look for sure!

http://romainveillon.com/gallery/industriel-2/

I seriously want to model up a small section of a control room or any of his other subjects. Beautiful work for sure.


-Michael