Carving A Car

[BrianWolfe]

The method that Natethegreat describes is a very effective way of enlarging complicated sculptures, especially if you don't have an accomplished artist there to do the work. One of our competitors often will take a small model and have it scanned then cnc layers of styrofoam which are layered up and carved. It has many advantages not the least of which is to establish many thousands of points exactly where they ought to be. We made a 3' tall maquette for a 50' tall angel this way. We have also made plaster maquettes we ran through the band saw to make profiles for the layered up foam. This is a head of Apollo we made for Invention of Love at Lincoln Center using similar techniques.

 

[dcollins]

Dear playwrights: Stop writing cars on stage.

 

[derekleffew]

Dear playwrights: Stop writing cars on stage.

And helicopters!
And boats, trains, planes, and all other modes of transportation.

For that matter, learn the difference between a film script and a play.

 

[Goph704]

Foam carving would be a great option to pursue. As others have also stated, foam can be a cheap but labor intensive. One option to pursue is sculpting a scale model of the car you want. Then make a mold and recast the car with a liquid styrafoam. With a bandsaw cut the styrafoam model into sections that depend on the scale of your model correlating with the thickness of styrafoam you are using. Then set up a projector to shine on a syrafoam sheet and adjust the throw to where the shadow that the styrafoam section gives is to actual size. Trace around the shadow, and cut it out. Layer the sections, and sand/plaster until it looks like your clay model. If you get good enough you can actually make giant sculptures using this method and make some good money, either as a fundraiser for your theater or to go towards the inevitable college debt!

This sounds like the way to go. might I suggest two things, during a production of Greece we did a similar treatment around a Golf Cart to get the look of Greased lighting, we also used a product called Sculpt-or-coat, that can create a finish similar to fiberglass without being actual fiber glass it's made by a prof. at UNCG and it's a little on the expensive side, but worth the investment.

 

[BrianWolfe]

We also used a product called Sculpt-or-coat, that can create a finish similar to fiberglass without being actual fiberglass.

I have used sculpt or coat. It is like a thickened flexible white glue. It works fine for protecting the foam somewhat. It is not anywhere near as strong as fiberglass and it is not easy to get it smooth enough for a car finish. It is great for tree trunks, rocks and other rougher textured pieces. Just my two cents worth.

 

[Van]

And helicopters!
And boats, trains, planes, and all other modes of transportation.

For that matter, learn the difference between a film script and a play.

And Elephants and Scene Dissolves. WHo the Hell can 'Dissolve' a scene on stage ???????

 

[BrianWolfe]

No, no please keep writing in the elephants!

 

[aelfric5578]

Brian, the pics you've been posting are amazing. Those little mini foam cars are adorable And now an elephant...I wish I had even half your talent.

Meanwhile thanks for all the suggestions, guys. We're having our first props/scenic meeting this Sunday. Let's see what we decide to do.

 

[Pixie]

I built a car for my high school. It was a last minute thing that the director asked me to do for Grease (The "old junky Grease lightning") Person who was supposed to get teh car parts for it never did it. Lucky for me it was just the front end, built a wooden frame and molded it out of chicken wire (I had built Milky White this way previously that year so director used and abused me), applied some paper mache- budget and time. Highly recommend plaster paris sheets. much better to mold and play with. drying time is faster too, painted it, used a glue mix to give it a little shine and there we had it.
Front end of a car done in two days, 2 days before opening.
Let us know what you decide to do!

 

[pkoenig]

I just finished making Greased Lightning for our local high school. I started with a golf cart; built a frame of 2 x 3's, some 1 x 6's and a skin of 1/8" masonite. I then made a canvas "drape" over it to be the old, junky car; this was removed during the song to reveal the hot rod underneath. I had to give the golf cart back to the school, but I have the body available, which can be bolted directly onto an EZ-go golf cart. I'm about 50 mi NW of Chicago. I had trouble attaching photos to this post; email me for photos [email protected]

 

[Octopus]

Hello, everybody, I´m gonna make Cadillac 62 series year 1953...
There are not such any cheap cars to rebuilt in the Europe...
I will cut the body from the foam, cover by fiberglass, bend windshield from the polycarbonate...
But what the hell with all that chrome grills and other accesories?

 

[BrianWolfe]

Check Ebay. I bought the whole front end to a 1963 Caddy for $100 and made vacuum formed copies for Jersey Boys: