In the last few days I've been adding to, tweaking and testing the new woodgrain textures. There was a little last minute sorting and labeling today. Then we declared the collection complete and I gave the files to Peter for uploading to our website. It is now officially gone to market. I also finished routing our first paying project using three of the new textures. We are pleased with the result. I look forward to seeing what everyone else does with them too.
Fabricating endless bits and pieces
I spent the bulk of my time today making sparks in the shop today. I kept the plasma cutter busy at cutting brackets and pieces for the front assembly of the train. I welded on the pieces as fast as they came off the machine. By quitting time I had the boiler in place as well as the smokestack and related rigging along with the armature for the remaining hand sculpt. There's still the front number plate frame to fabricate and the whistle pipes to weld into place and then the crew can finish off the sculpting. We've had to make a few changes and alterations as necessitated by the realities of fitting everything mechanical inside the body but it won't be long until the train engine looks a lot like the model we built so long ago.
Sign bracket
A sign bracket should, in my opinion be far more than an afterthought, something that merely holds up a sign. The bracket should be designed into the sign from the start, both to hold the sign securely in place and also to fit in with the story which the sign is telling. It was fun to combine various elements and pieces for this one. A plasma cut steel leaf is yet to be added inside the pipe circle. The Toad Stool Elixer sign is now assembled and ready for the sculpting process to begin.
