Christmas stuff

[navigator7]

Wow Gary,
I hope you are as jazzed with your work as the rest of us?

I have a few questions I hope you have time to answer:

1. It appears you have a conventional Bot sculpting 2" foam.
Did you provide registration marks or any kind of alignment cones on the back side before doing the carving? Or do the carvings simply lines up well enough layer after layer?

2. Would the 12" gantry riser ShopBot offers for foam been advantageous despite your outstanding results?

3.Do you know...or anybody else: Is the gantry riser interchangeable with the normal gantry? If so...is the process a day job, 6 hours, 30 minutes???

Specifically, if a guy had a 48 buddy and wanted to do foam for a month or so....would the 12" gantry riser be worthwhile or is slicing files the thickness of available foam totally suitable?

TIA

[pro70z28]

Chuck I haven't measured for sure but I think I have about 6" clearance, the problem would be finding a bit that long? That sure would save machining time and filler time too with less layers.
I'm guessing I have about 200 hours in it with machining, assembly, filler & paint. I didn't buy the materials so that doesn't factor in this job. (I think there is roughly $350 - $400 in materials). But, like I say, that 200 hours is not all chargeable as some of it was used to scratch my head?
As far as design I started from scratch using a ceramic camel from a nativity set I did 20 some years ago. There are no pre-made elements. I did do the treasure chest by hand rather than setting it up for the bot. I did a fair amount of relief cutting on the model once it was assembled, maybe 10-15 hours worth.
This won't be a paying job since it's for the church. All they wanted was a cutout but I offered the model just so I could get some time doing a real job with the new software. I was just curious what something like this would be worth had it been a customer request. I don't really see myself doing this on a regular basis. I think Aspire will be used primarily for sign work here. Thanks, any comments appreciated.

[rb99]

I remember a customer of mine with a feed store wanted a model cow and horse on the roof of his building. He found it at a company that sold full size livestock models and I remember they where very expensive. These where from molds.

Perhaps looking for the pre-made models to get an idea of the market?

RIB

[pro70z28]

Thanks for the suggestion Richard. I'll look into that.

[pro70z28]

Just finished painting the camel. I have to let it dry a little (Grass will dry darker) and then spray a coat of flat water based clear over the whole thing to protect the shaded areas. Delivery tomorrow with 2 days to spare. First musical date is this Wednesday.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...hedCamelRt.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...tedCamelLt.jpg[/IMG]

[mikeacg]

Absolutely beautiful, Gary!

[myxpykalix]

That is so lifelike i thought it was going to spit! Fantastic vibrant colors, great paintjob.

[rb99]

What I said before times 10!

You did the chest by hand?

RIB

[john_l]

Gary, Awesome results just as I expected from you.

Can I ask?... what paint process did you use? and is the gold real gold (leaf)?

Thanks

[navigator7]

Gary,
I thought I read where you would simply throw this art work in the attic after the holidays.
Right.
Richard said world class.
Dittos!