The rules of the Sign Challenge competition require that our pieces be shipped in a two foot by two foot box and then be pulled out and displayed on top. Rather than drape the box I decided to make it a part of the display. To maximize the size of the centre piece it meant the walls of the box needed to be as thin as possible. Steel construction was the obvious answer and with our MultiCam CNC plasma  handy the job was easy.

The files for the box were designed using EnRoute. The stars were drawn using the star creator. Nothing could be easier. I decided to use quarter sections of pipe for the corners with the radius to the inside.  The cutting of the steel plate took less than a half an hour. To weld all of the pieces together and grind it all smooth took about sixteen hours. It looked great already but the magic was yet to come.

No matter how one’s dimensional work is done, whether by using software and a router or if it is done by hand the real magic happens with the paint. The current Sign Challenge piece is a good example.

The routed tracks and hand sculpted vehicle body and character look great un painted. Even so the painting process was where the piece came alive. As I painted I thought of the story I wanted to tell, then set to work.

The tank is well used and dirty from miles on the road and in outback conditions. The driver is intent on going wherever he wants and so the tank has definite wear and bumps and scrapes. He’s also not much for maintenance and so the tank engine is grimy and dirty. The commander of the vehicle is persnickety about his own image and so the brass on his uniform is well polished.

The paint was put on in multiple coats, starting with the yellow, then the silver (bare metal) followed by two colours of rust. Then I applied a glaze we call SWAMP over the whole piece to dirty things up. Judicious removal of the glaze with a soft terry towel rag created the magic of age and grime.

Tomorrow the painting will be complete and the box/base finished as well. With the full reveal the theme/story of the piece will become evident. The clue is in the licence late. Stay tuned…

There’s detail at every level of this little piece. The engine is a four cylinder Hemi and was a great deal of fun to do. The wiring and plumbing will take it over the top. The painting process is going to be a great deal of fun too and will add a lot of character to the piece.

The turret of the tank was as much fun as the rest. It won’t be long until we are into paint!

My grand daughter Phoebe and I managed a little sculpting time this weekend. We finished the base of the sculpture and mounted the tracks. We even got a good start on the lower portion of the vehicle. I’m happy so far.

I’ve designed the box and stand as well as the upper portions of the imaginative vehicle. There will be plenty of eye candy to look at – just for fun! Stay tuned for more in the next day or two…

I then built the gears and various other pieces in the same fashion, modifying the base reliefs to add details. When all of the pieces were done I creates a larger zero height relief and MERGED HIGHEST all of the pieces to it.

I then created a copy of the finished relief and flipped it. The one on the left is the inside of the track. It has a 1.5″ rectangular relief merged highest into the centre. This will be used to mount the track to the centre portion of the vehicle.

To provide a better picture of what the finished tracks would look like I sliced off the background.

I then tool pathed the relief and sent it off to the MultiCam. Two copies of each piece were routed from 30 lb Precision Board.

This morning I glued and clamped the pieces to form two vehicle tracks. I used Coastal Enterprises PB Bond 240 glue.