Star Trek shadowbox

Hmm....maybe have some sort of partition behind the models thats painted black with pinholes in it-- and a light source behind that?? Course-- you'd have to make sure all the edges were sealed real tight or the effect would be ruined.....but that seems feasible.

Yes, that is a good idea but all the stars would have the same brightness. You could use some really bright or even glow in the dark paint and manually paint each star. In black space (on a black piece of paper) it would show pretty good. Interesting though, I would like to see your progress on it. Keep us posted.

What if you varied slightly the size of the holes....or even the angle that you poke the holes through??

Thanks for the replies. I'm thinking of using fiber optics for the stars. I would love to have some background nebula and a planet relatively close. As the ideas come up I'll share them.

Thanx,

DJ

How about some sculpey for a planet or moon. You could shape a sphercial shape protruding a bit and flat on the back to attach to your backboard but this would give somewhat of a 3dimensional appearance. You can also find something textured and press over to give a different surface appearance. Just an idea.

Could you use glass or plexiglass as the background? Then you could airbrush galaxies, stars, etc, and vary the colors and transparency. A light source behind the glass/plexiglass could then illuminate everything.

Dan

Great ideas everyone. I'll definitely be printing this thread pretty soon.

Wondering if it would be possible to get a translucent picture of an astronomical scene (like a small poster on film), and have it lit from behind. Is it possible to get some kind of translucent poster (like x-ray film)?

DJ

Was also thinking of using thick glass or plexiglass for the porhole window.
I would think that a thick pane might hide imperfections in the shadowbox, and just give a more realistic feel to it.

DJ

I've made some tentative decisions regarding the shadowbox:

First of all, it will be forced perspective. Meaning you have a limited viewing area, and you can only view it from one angle. So instead of having a medium-sized "porthole" to look through, it will only be a slot with thick glass and perhaps a lip on the inside to further narrow the viewing angle.

Second, it will be a medium-sized shadowbox, using a Star Trek Federation Heavy Cruiser (from the old Star Trek Space Ship Set), and a Klingon Battle Cruiser (also from Space Ship Set). It will be a ship duel that takes place in an asteroid field. I decided to have asteroids because they are big enough to hide the supporting arms that suspend them, and they can hold the supporting arms that suspend the ships. There will be a relatively nearby star that you can't see, but it will be represented by a bright light in the shadowbox that illuminates the starships. The back of the shadowbox will be black with fiber optics to make stars. The back of the shadowbox will be shielded from the nearby star's light by a board, so that the spotlight can only shine at a certain angle, thus illuminating the asteroids and starships, and not the back panel. In other words, the spotlight which represents the rays of the nearby star will have a forced perspective as well so the backboard will not be illuminated by it.

With the forced perspsective viewing slot you won't be able to see the sides of the shadowbox which would look unrealistic.

The starships will be mounted by rods onto the asteroids and fairly close to the asteroids by rods, and at such an angle that the starships hide the rods. The asteroids will be somewhat large relative to the starships. The asteroids will be mounted by rods coming from the backboard, at such an angle and location that they cannot be seen while viewing through the slot.

I'm thinking I'll have to make the asteroids with wood and milliput. Lava rocks are just too small.

Will use brass rod for the supporting rods.

Starships will not have internal lighting, but thinking about using flourescent paint for some applications.

Was thinking about using something like x-ray film of a starry background if that would be possible. I'll look into it, but will probably have to use the fiber optics.

My only concern is that the spotlight might shine on the backboard and make it look just like that, a backboard with fiberoptics. Hopefully making a slot to narrow its beam will take care of that problem.

This is what is in my mind right now. Suggestions and criticism welcome.
Thanks for the help so far

DJ