Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Model Begins!

I cannot tell you how excited I am that work has begun on the cut-away tactile model of the Planetarium's StarBay and Zeiss Universarium IX Projector!

 We've done some work to figure out the layout on the casework, and while I knew it was going to be 24" in diameter, it was completely different experiencing how big that is, for lack of a better phrase, "in real life."  Below are some pictures of the process of mocking it up to get an idea.


On a wooden table sits three more pieces of wood and on top of those sits a circle of wood that is 24" in diameter. There is a stick of wood the same length as the diameter of the circle of wood with a screw holding it loosely to the circle. Seen in the picture are the hands of a young man using a drill on the side of the stick. He is dressed in a dark blue sweatshirt. Also on the table is a yellow tape measure. In the background sits a belt-sander and several other work benches and two-by-fours. The room is very brightly lit and has plain white walls.
Figuring out the base and dome size

A young man can be seen cutting a square piece of wood on a band saw which as a white case and, like the head of the young man goes out of the frame of the picture. The young man is wearing jeans, a sweatshirt and brown work boots. There are many drawers behind him that are blue and hold small pieces of hardware such as screws. The room is well lit and has a grey floor. There are scraps off wood around the band saw.
Cutting out the shape of the dome with the band saw

The young man dressed in a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and dark blue jeans holds the half circle of wood that represents the done over a cut away curved piece of wood that is propped up on silver square metal weights to represent the walls and dome of the StarBay. It sits over the 24" diameter circle of wood that is the floor of the StarBay. This all sits on top of a large wooden table with piece of wood around it. Behind this table is a green table that holds the table saw and it has a white guide running perpendicular to the wood table on it as well.
Giving an idea of the size of the model


It is going to be so amazing when it is done!  I was also excited to receive some pictures today.  I am now out of town but work on the model has continued.   I'm very excited to see the Zeiss model's positive in person when I get back (and special thanks to Ian for all your hard work)!

Sitting on a grey cart is a black pencil and several sheets of graph paper. On the graph paper sits discarded yellow pieces of foam and the beginning of the positive to create the mold for the Zeiss Model. The view is from the top and there is a sloped rectangle with a couple triangles at slight angles jutting out from the tallest end with the small point of the triangles by the rectangle. On top of the end of the rectangle and the two triangles is a circle of foam. On the sloping rectangle are eight rectangles sticking up perpendicular to the sloped rectangle. These are the eight planet, sun and moon projectors.
Zeiss model starts to appear as a positive in foam! Here is the base and planet projectors

Sitting on a grey cart are several sheets of graph paper. On the graph paper sits discarded yellow pieces of foam and the beginning of the positive to create the mold for the Zeiss Model. The view is from the right side and there is a sloped wedge, or rectangle with a couple triangles at slight angles jutting out from the tallest end with the small point of the triangles by the rectangle. On top of the end of the rectangle and the two triangles is a circle of foam. On the sloping rectangle are eight rectangles sticking up perpendicular to the sloped rectangle. These are the eight planet, sun and moon projectors. In the fore ground is a ball of the foam about the size of a golf ball
Side view of the Zeiss model's base and planet projectors


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