Paul Mack
The past two years I have worked as a model maker on the movie 'Coraline' which is coming out in February of 2009. I can't show any of those photos until the movie is released but I made everything from furniture to fully animateable bicycles to moving truck suspension parts. I worked with a variety of materials such as wood, plastic, brass, copper, aluminum and steel. I learned basic machining using a lathe and mill. I am now also quite proficient at silver soldering (brazing).
This is a photo of me working on Wybie's bicycle for 'Coraline'. It is almost all handmade and mostly metal to survive the rigors of animation. It has front and rear suspension, an electric motor and my favorite, air horns. When I am able, I will put up a better photo.
Prior to Coraline, I worked as an architectural model maker for 3 years. In that shop I made simple block buildings from basswood or high density polyurethane foam. They were cut on a full size table saw and sometimes milled to more complex shapes. I made more detailed buildings by preparing AutoCad drawings and then using the drawings to laser cut and scribe acrylic sheet. I also worked on fiberglass models for displays in various places around the world including national parks and Portland's own Audubon Society on Cornell. Photos of similar projects can be seen at Rauda's website.
I really enjoy working with metals and here is a pair of earrings I made from the warning label on a lacquer thinner can. They are 0.675" diameter, about the size of a dime.
I have been involved in HO scale model railroading since junior high. These are a few photos of my favorite railroad projects.
I scratchbuilt an operating model of a coal loadout from Evergreen styrene and Plastruct shapes. I started with a photo I found on the Internet then made drawings and tested it out with railroad models and Legos.
The loadout loads trains with walnut shell "coal". The gate that allows coal to fall into the cars is triggered by magnets on the bottoms of the cars and operated by a small motor.
Once the trains are loaded they need to be dumped so I made an operating rotary dumper. It started with a static kit for woodchip hauling railcars.
The addition of parts from an old VCR, retired Burger King display, and EKG machine made the modified kit able to actually dump model railcars.
I am part of a modular model railroading group (everyone builds a section at home, then meets to assemble the modules into a large railroad). I built the bridges from kits and added more detail. I carved the land from scraps of foam and added landscaping. Here are some photos I took on my module and added backgrounds in Photoshop.
An overview of the module on its way to a show. It is 24 inches wide and 54 inches long.
One of the more challenging projects I have undertaken has been a model of the two railcars Boeing uses to transport partially completed fuselages from Kansas to Washington. First a prototype photo:
Next the model photo, obviously still under construction:
The airplane was carved from a block of polyurethane foam and sealed with primer. The long flat car was modified from one commercially available. The supports are scratchbuilt, the one under the main landing gear has nearly 200 individual pieces. The shorter car with the box on the end is scratchbuilt from styrene sheet and shapes. I only had a couple dimensions so most of the project was figuring out what to make by looking at photos.
I also enjoy building models of locomotive from photos. A few before and after photos:
This locomotive belonged to a small railroad where I used to live. To model it, I started with an undecorated shell and rebuilt the nose and added the details including antennae, horns, plow, hoses, grab irons (ladders), bell, air filter, sunshades, vents, working lights, paint and decals. I also bent the handrails from brass wire.
The following model involved more modifications including a rebuilt nose, cab, and electrical cabinet (the area right behind the cab). Before is on the top and after on the bottom.
This page is an abridged version of my web page which has more and larger photos of these and similar projects. I feel I am an accomplished model railroader and the skills I have learned over the last 20 years (5 professionally) of making models has given me abilities I can adapt to many different jobs.
Link to 'Coraline' previews on Rotten Tomato's website.