Packaging and Spray Paint Challenge.

Well... seeing as how my previous post was met with deafening silence, here, in the interest of overwhelming disinterest, are a few more projects. They lack fully detailed tutorials, but they aren't that hard to figure out.

Plastic soda bottles aren't exactly "packing materials," although I suppose one could stretch the point and say that juice and soda are packed inside them.

A looooonnnngggg time ago now (seriously, was it really 2007?) I started with some empty soda bottles and some cardboard boxes...


... and built a U-Boat!


In all these years, my techniques have neither improved nor evolved. It's still cardboard, plastic, styrofoam, hot-melt glue, and spray paint.

Here's another soda bottle project from a few months ago:


Bottles and fast food beverage cups became a rocketship:


This is the diorama (or "room box" in doll forum terminology) I have been using most often for the past few months:


The rear wall is a random piece of foam packing material. The sides and floor are insulation foam remnants left over from a neighbor's remodeling project. The seams are visible where I had to glue smaller blocks together to get the size I wanted. Glue, spray paint, and "mood lighting" and ya got yerself a swell secret underground lair... or a practice room for your garage band:


Finally... things like this are what I'm always hoping to score when I go to the dump! So much potential!


Although that "potential" takes up a lot of space in the storage shed!  

Awesome stuff Dave.. no silence from me mate !

I just thought, the rocket ship really reminds me of... PIIGS IN SPAAAAAACE !

Copying MiskatonicNick's method of creating modular sci-fi backgrounds using foam core, spray paint and odds and ends. The technique I used will be explained in my next post.

The rivets! The textures! The metallic colors! Gaaaahhhh! Mind BLOOWWWWNNN!!!!

In short, what you're doing here is looking fantastic, and I'm looking forward to the "How To" segment because I think I need to start over from scratch!

Coming up shortly, Dave.

Super cool!

Are the "girders" made with foamcore board?

That's very helpful for me to know how you did the rivets. Thanks!

And thanks for providing a close-up photo of how you made the interlocking slots.

I have discovered that the minimum functional height for action figure walls is 16 inches. 18 inches is even better. That said, it looks like you could use your method to add horizontal connecting beams and add additional height to the walls.

Must have taken forever to measure, punch, and apply those rivets!

That's a great idea on the interlocking sections, A lot easier way to connect the sections.
But I'm curious how the corners fit together?

TNshooter wrote:

That's a great idea on the interlocking sections, A lot easier way to connect the sections.
But I'm curious how the corners fit together?

The corner requires a 90 deg right angle tab, that's all.

These are all very impressive!

I like that U boat Dave!

More excellent builds guys! I really like the space ship Dave, as well as the box rooms you created. Really clever stuff!

Wow Gary! what a fantastic build on the walls so far, I'm sure the add wall detailing will really bring it all together .

Blondeactionman wrote:

More excellent builds guys! I really like the space ship Dave, as well as the box rooms you created. Really clever stuff!

Wow Gary! what a fantastic build on the walls so far, I'm sure the add wall detailing will really bring it all together .

I'm really just using the late MiskatonicNick's techniques, as he outlined them in some of his Flickr images and as I understand them. I am not even certain the material he was using was Foam Core, but it does sound like it.

That's so funny, because... I literally just today painted a clear plastic lid specifically because I thought it looked like a reactor core!



Now... considering the attractiveness of much of the crew of the Inside Straight, a transparent bathtub might be an eye-catching addition to the decor!

Just... not in Spo...Schlock's quarters, please.

The Doctor doesn't need to take baths, does he?

[quote="SCU_HQ"]   That's so funny, because... I literally just today painted a clear plastic lid specifically because I thought it looked like a reactor core!


Fantastic plastic. Great minds think alike....or was Schlock using his limited telepathic powers to convey an idea to you.

Now... considering the attractiveness of much of the crew of the Inside Straight, a transparent bathtub might be an eye-catching addition to the decor!

We may yet build a shower room for the ladies.

Just... not in Spo...Schlock's quarters, please.

Vulcan males bathe in private.


The Doctor doesn't need to take baths, does he?f

Holograms don't sweat or get dirty.

Kimono Troop Command wrote:

....or was Schlock using his limited telepathic powers to convey an idea to you.

That might explain why one of my eyebrows kept twitching upward.

Looking forward to seeing the results

Okay, not strictly packaging, but foam board. I had quite a few odd shaped bits left over from various builds so I decided to put them to good use. Instead of carving the stone work, I cut the foam pieces into brick shapes. Then using silicone glue (No more nails) I glued them to a piece of chip board i had made into  a wall and a base. It took a while, but ended up with something that resembled a ruin. I painted it. I also had a few old table legs which I use as pillars. Still needs finishing, but wanted to share what I had so far.

Wow that’s impressive Dal.

Clever use of the table legs! This is looking fantastic!

If you do your "wargaming style" painting and add some moss, this will be mind-blowingly cool!

I would say the table legs count for the theme of this topic, because they are salvaged and re-purposed "junk" material.

Brilliant ! looks like an old bombed out fireplace where the chimney has collapsed

Great work Dal. The material is not required to be packaging material. Any old junk you have lying around will do. It's the spirit that matters....

Thanks guys! It's coming along slowly, I'm trying to fit carrying on with this during 1.1 jobs. Hopefully I will have another update soon!

Okay, this is what I've been working on, somewhat imperfectly for the last few days. The inner ring of the porthole or view port is made made from a wooden macrame ring, the larger and flatter outer ring from the shiny cardboard top to an aluminum food dish; cost: 3 for $1.00. The rivets are more of the small rivets I've been using for the bulkhead joints and the whole was spray painted in light gun metal with Tamiya acrylic spray. The planet and starfield behind the view port were added in using Photoshop.