A friend of mine
Ralph Maiers called
me up one day and said
that a he wished to put
together
a new Video portfolio,
as he was looking for
work. The movie
"Butterfly Effect" was
in the can and he was
looking for the next
project. Ralph has
worked on some of the
big movies as a Special
FX Graphic Artist or
even as the FX
supervisor as was the
case on The Butterfly
Effect. He said he
needed a skull that
would be aflame, as if
it were in motion with
the flames flowing out
back from the eye and
nose holes. He had a
poly
reproduction-human-skull
but couldn't add real
gas and flames, as it
would melt, and thought
that I could build a
metal skull.
I told him, that as he
suspected I wasn't big
on burning skulls, but
couldn't pass up the
opportunity to try my
hand at sheet metal
sculpture. Between my
anvil and a hollowed out
stump I roughly banged
out the skull in the
photos below. I'll ad
that I think it looked
better in shinny steel
color, but for the
filming process he
needed to apply a heat
resistant grey paint.
The reason being, he was
going to Map-out the
metal skull and Map-in
the nice white
reproduction-human-skull.
Tornado
Generator
Again
Ralph Maiers called
me up and now he is
working on the movie
"The Muppets Do Wizard
Of Oz" and he needs to
generate a tornado. He
says he
could do it digitally
for near on a 100G note,
or in a pool of water
for half that. But he
has had this idea for a
while about building a
giant funnel open on one
side to create a tornado
twister. Would I be
interested.
Now
your talking I said, and
went down to Bellingham
Wa. to talk with him
about the details. Ralph
suggested that I could
work in his not finished
shop. (One roof, no
walls)
But I thought that
insted of spending days
on end looking for his
tools, I would be better
of in my own small shop.
The material was ordered
but was delayed and the
Production company was a
little on edge.
The Fun part of a one-of
project is figuring out
how to even get started.
What I had to build was
a cone 6-8 feet tall,
two feet diameter at the
bottom and three feet
diameter at the top.
this was to be the body
of the tornado
generator. But in order
to be able to film the
tornado whilst it was
being generated, the
front 1/4 of the cone
had to be open.
Mouse over for FX
The
first thought was that
in order to have a
controlled confined
space we would need to
close the open part with
plexiglass. But now
filming would be through
something foggy.
Research would indicate
that the door way could
be left open for
filming.
The only way that I
could think to form the
sheet metal into a cone
with an open side would
to do it around a wooden
disc at the top and the
same at the bottom, held
together at the right
distance, and that I
would have to build it
horizontally, as opposed
to the vertical that it
would operate at.
Mouse over for FX
After it was assembled,
I could then remove the
supports and the discs
from the inside. Well
planed for the bottom
disc as it slide up to
the larger diameter of
the cone. But the large
end of course could not
slide down into the
smaller part of the
cone. Tee-he, was a
couple of the choice
words spoken.
I took it down to
Bellingham were we stood
it up and added the rest
of the apparatus to make
it work. A hole was at
the center of the base.
This is where a
vacuum-cleaner was
attached. The top had a
ten inch hole where a
ten inch flex hose was
attached that came from
a turkey broiler.
The turkey broiler had
one inch of water in the
bottom and five pounds
of Dry Ice inside, all
being percolated by the
burner underneath. The
Dry Ice let loose a
large plum of smoke that
filled the top of the
Tornado Generator and as
it started to fill the
space at the top the
vacuum at the bottom
drew the smoke down, all
the while, like a
toilet, the smoke
proceeded to twist, and
voila, we had created a
twister.
The film below was
taken, second try late
at night, and was enough
to please the production
company enough for a pro
shoot a week later.
Pull the slide bar over
or click Green Go Button
2 times
One of My Bikes That I Built
'81 Virago the 151st
one built for North
America.
Can you see the 73
custom things done to it
???
Well, OK there are
half a dozen things that
you won't see in this
photo,
because the Springer
hadn't made it on yet.
I'll tell you one, the
front of the tank is
raised 1.5 inches.
OK another, dual left
and dual right signals
mounted to the front
axle.
A few you can't see, '51
Ford, Wedge and Twin
Torpedo, Tail lens,
with Blue Dot in the
Lynx Eye, mounted on the
rear of the seat.
Foot clutch and Honda
Piston for Handle Grip
on the Jockey Shifter.
