Capt. QUINT - a catalogue of camouflage

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... prepare to be amazed! I give you the wondrous catalogue of camouflage of Capt. QUINT! Similar to the turbo props of days gone by, fuselages were painted in a variety of colors and patterns to blend in with different terrains.

Though I have a story in the works (in collaboration with fiction writer, Michael Ard-Kelly)... though, for now, I'll let the images do the talking...

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Enjoy!



Capt. QUINT - the finished prototype!

Behold and read on in awe!

The long-awaited and much-anticipated Capt. QUINT one-of-a-kind, hand-made, blood-sweat-and-tears (with the occasional rage and denial) prototype is finally complete in all its fantastic glory!

Getting to this stage was not a simple task - I'm pretty sure that I had to go through every step at least twice - if it wasn't due to equipment failure or uncontrollable weather issues, most mishaps could be chalked up to human error (usually due to severe sleep depravation).

It took me the better part of 6 months to reach this stage (and almost $2000) but well worth the journey...

To recap the sequence just check out my earlier entries:

Cocktail napkin doodle (not recorded in this blog)

Red pencil blue-print mock-up (see last image in this here entry)

3D digital sculpt (there were multiple iterations for this stage)

A few rapid prototypes (3D low resolution print outs from the STL - digital sculpts)

Full color rendering

High resolution prototype:
rapid prototype with high build filler, sanded smooth and base coat applied

Painted prototype (air brush and spray paint)

Texture mapped 3D digital sculpt

(not yet blogged about) clear hard plastic stand concept - shown here in silver - and initial package design.

Capt.QUINT - in color!

Here's a sneak peek at a "promotional poster" that I've been working on for some good old fashioned marketing and PR.

It's a digital (Photoshop) illustration at this point that I'm looking on doing a limited "artist proof" fine art print set and ultimately a sizeable (4x3 foot or larger) acrylic one-off painting on canvas.

It's airbrush time!

The year was 1999 the last time this equipment had seen the light of day. The paints are new (the ones from back in the day had transformed into oddly shaped super-balls), the compressor idles smoothly, the hose is air-tight and the brush is still calibrated - other than the very likely potential of grave user error the painting of my one and only prototype (see unpainted sculpt here) should turn out flawless!

I'll be doing a whole lot of practicing today...

Capt. QUINT - final 3D sculpt (full color)

Fresh from Seattle - the final 3D digital sculpt in all its colorful glory. My 3D model maker and designer, Peter Thurwachter, has flawlessly translated my illustrations into a texture mapped digital 3D equivalent, ready to be sent off for vinyl production!

The colors may appear somewhat flat in these images, as they are intended to represent painting guidelines for the manufacturer. I am, however, using them to create an airbrushed prototype of my own...

...despite not having touched my airbrush since my Art Institute days in Seattle, over 15 years ago - I have high hopes for the outcome!

Now, the color is going to be a basic 2 tone green kelp cammo with fire engine-red "wing tips" and tail. the underbelly and engine accents are going to sport a chrome or brushed aluminum finish - still in testing, at this point. I am creating the decals (solely for my prototype) in Illustrator and printing them on water transfer decal paper...

...lets see what happens!

PS. We also went with a removable clear plastic display stand to ensure proper exposure on the toy shelf!

Capt. QUINT update - high resolution prototype

Instead of dropping $2500+ on a nice and clean looking professional prototype (which, I found out, is not needed by the final manufacturer - they make their own), I went with a local 3D  print in the usual ABS plastic(significantly less costly and a whole bunch faster).

There had to be some final changes - We printed this prototype from a series of separate STL files to ensure better output resolution, additionally, the larger insertion pegs have made it less fragile.
 
To remedy the lower resolution finish, each piece had to be coated with multiple layers of a high build primer - most home hardware stores and auto parts suppliers carry a diverse variety of these...

Despite the 99% humidity (most spray paints recommend no more than "moderate" - which, I guess, means around 70%), the primer eventually dried to an acceptable level of tackiness in 5 days!

The next steps involved a couple batches of a 400 grit sandpaper (dry, for a smooth yet tactile surface - to better accept the base coat that followed) and about an entire season rerun of AMCs Mad Men.

I used a neutral olive for the base coat - similar to the color on bare aluminum fuselages...

... now I'll need a table top compressor and some time to dust off my old iwata airbrush to give this prototype its final skin!

The 100 Day Project

I started on this early last week (not quite the 6th, but close). Geoduck and Grits - The beginnings of a Designer Toy Company.

 

Follow it on Facebook and Instagram.

The idea is, basically, to commit to do something (creative) and stick with it for the duration of 100 consecutive days. In my case, I decided to recount my migration form the Pacific Northwest (Seattle) - Geoduck - to the Atlantic Southeast (Savannah) - Grits. I always wanted to tell this story, in a blog or something, but this is way more fun...

I'm also using this opportunity to draw some attention to my new Designer Toy Company - Troublefish - by including a detailed "how to make your own production toy and sell it" section to the project (a little SMO - social media optimization)...

Please check in for updates - and take a peek at the troublefish page on FB (feel free to like it)!