[Pontiacivan]

I wanted to try and make some old school style tactical displays for the Iowa CIC.

I like the way edge lit acrylic looks so I scrounged some from my garage.

After spending all day removing the glue from the protective paper, I screwed up when scribing the lines.

Here's a tip.....don't use 30 year old acrylic! Lol. I could NOT get the damn glue off with anything !

Don't even ask how I botched the lines while using a straight edge.

After all that.....here it is....

:doh I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[apotheosis]

I'm amazed at the perfect circular etch lines !
Are you planning to do another one entirely or perhaps lay on a thicker line to cover up the 'woops' part ?

 

[Pontiacivan]

I'm amazed at the perfect circular etch lines !
Are you planning to do another one entirely or perhaps lay on a thicker line to cover up the 'woops' part ?

I'm going to try and widen the "woops" and see how it looks.
I do have a couple more to play with, but that old glue.....ugh!

Here is the POC from last night. Really butch, but it gave me encouragement.

 

[Johnnye4]

that is cool

 

[GubernatorFan]

It looked good enough to me. After all, it will be a background feature, right?

 

[Pontiacivan]

that is cool

Thanks! I know I can do better!

It looked good enough to me. After all, it will be a background feature, right?

Sort of. I think it will be visible enough in photo shoots to see the flaws. I'm gonna try again!

 

[spyder]

Looks good to me!

 

[russcal]

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Heya, Pontiacvan!

Looks good despite the errant line!

As for removing stickum residue, use a piece of fresh masking tape. The tack on the tape is usually enough to lift stubborn residue that would otherwise smear and make a mess. Follow up with a wipe and polish using eyeglasses / safely glasses cleaning wipes (avail at hardware store or occasionally at auto parts store), and, ta da!

Thanks for posting your in process work... it’s inspiring and instructional, the good as well as the mistakes!
.

 

[Pontiacivan]

Looks good to me!

Thanks! I still want to make a better one!

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Heya, Pontiacvan!

Looks good despite the errant line!

As for removing stickum residue, use a piece of fresh masking tape. The tack on the tape is usually enough to lift stubborn residue that would otherwise smear and make a mess. Follow up with a wipe and polish using eyeglasses / safely glasses cleaning wipes (avail at hardware store or occasionally at auto parts store), and, ta da!

Thanks for posting your in process work... it's inspiring and instructional, the good as well as the mistakes!
.

Thanks for the tip! I should have mentioned the nature of the problem though. Seems over the years the adhesive underwent some form of chemical change. The paper separated readily with soap and water, but what was left behind was no longer tacky. It was so hard and so firmly bonded to the acrylic, I thought The acrylic had heat crazed over time. I wound up using WD-40, a soft cloth and copious amounts of elbow grease to remove it. The plastic underneath was undamaged, but the adhesive wouldn't simply roll off, like rubber cement, as it did when it was new. I was also surprised that the WD-40 didn't dissolve the adhesive by itself, even when left soaking for over an hour.

 

[dadrab]

Select a small area and try a little brake fluid to clean that crusty adhesive. It should not hurt the acrylic.

 

[Pontiacivan]

Select a small area and try a little brake fluid to clean that crusty adhesive. It should not hurt the acrylic.

I will give that a shot. I have lots of scrap pieces. Thanks !

 

[pukingdog]

Extra credit to you for posting warts and all. It's bold work to start with, and you've overcome adversity before, the results will be worth it.

 

[Pontiacivan]

Extra credit to you for posting warts and all. It's bold work to start with, and you've overcome adversity before, the results will be worth it.

Thanks PD! I actually enjoy this part of the hobby, and things are looking up!

Select a small area and try a little brake fluid to clean that crusty adhesive. It should not hurt the acrylic.

Dadrab, brake fluid is going to work well. Thanks for the tip. Although I'm still stymied by how long it takes to soften this junk, it's easily 75% quicker than the WD-40. It takes less elbow grease and will wind up costing a lot less to use than WD-40. Here is a picture of a scrap I'm working on so you can see the remnants of the old adhesive. It looks like it should just roll right off, but it won't budge without some brake fluid. I have a piece soaking to see what happens if I leave it.
The original I posted this is about 3"x 5", tomorrow I'm going to tackle the 6"x9" piece.

 

[CineChild]

Still wicked kewl--

 

[ReverendSpooky]

Damn, that is such a cool effect! Really looking forward to see it used in the larger dio.

 

[Pontiacivan]

Still wicked kewl--

Damn, that is such a cool effect! Really looking forward to see it used in the larger dio.

Thanks! I'm itching to get out to the garage and clean of the larger sized displays. I suppose I should just have ordered some fresh stuff online....it would have been here by now!:lol
Of course if I did that , it totally negates 30 years of hardcore plastic hoarding! What a waste!
Interesting to note, only the 1/4" clear was affected. None of the 1/8" acrylic ( including the clear ) gives any trouble pealing and none of the 1/4" colored acrylic either. It's all from the same manufacturer and all the printed paper backings appear the same.

 

[Warrior49]

What are you trying to do? A radar display?

 

[Pontiacivan]

What are you trying to do? A radar display?

Or something similar. Maybe just a static plotting chart that is back lit.
It's likely to be a mix of effects, including moving LED displays.
Doing a radar sweep would not be impossible for me, just very time consuming because I work so slow ( ly? ) .
I also have several small color MP3 players to display moving Images.
These particular displays are for background effect, but I'd like them to be decent and the poorly cut lines will show if I use this one.

 

[Moonbase Alpha Male]

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Looks good as a concept, and as a demonstration of effort. Gonna be good. Usually we see postings of end results that don't necessarily show all the skills exercise, trials and effort of getting there. I'm saying that myself as being not very physically talented, also I'm lazy so I appreciate being reminded how much work goes into something like this.

Could you possibly save that one piece by making the cross-grid lines a physical overlay of some kind, with toothpicks or something, so the grid would look structural while the circles would still be generated on the screen?

 

[Pontiacivan]

.
Looks good as a concept, and as a demonstration of effort. Gonna be good. Usually we see postings of end results that don't necessarily show all the skills exercise, trials and effort of getting there. I'm saying that myself as being not very physically talented, also I'm lazy so I appreciate being reminded how much work goes into something like this.

Could you possibly save that one piece by making the cross-grid lines a physical overlay of some kind, with toothpicks or something, so the grid would look structural while the circles would still be generated on the screen?

I experimented with widening the line using the side of a file. The results are very promising. The trick will be making a cut of uniform depth so I need to make a jig first. I'm going to try and beg some free time from the Mrs. And work on a fresh one later today. I hope to post the results.

Anyone who has followed some of my WIP posts will know that the ship contains heavy influences from Star Trek, Space 1999, Thunderbirds and The Expanse
Minor, but still important influences include Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, the newer version of BSG ( the display is inspired by the large, green lit board, which is static, not active ) Star Wars and many other science fiction movies,clips,etc.
I also spend a good amount of time looking at Lego dioramas. I highly recommend this technique since Lego builders have a very intuitive grasp of the illusion of reality. Then I apply what I have seen to my materials box and "round the edges" to increase the realism.
Again, I like SCi Fi because the level of realism only has to satisfy my imagination and the imagination of the viewers.