SCULPTURE - "Flying Monkey Squadron" pt.2

This project started with a few sketches. I had some general ideas, but knew that I'd play it by ear, depending on what I'd find to "recycle" from various found objects.

I had been cleaning the basement, and ran across an old computer that was hidden away. It was so "ancient", that there was not much use left in it...so I busted it apart and found a bunch of great pieces to make some flying machines with! Here's my "box of giblets"...just odds and ends of various interesting things that I might use to make who knows what.


Below is what I ended up constructing for the basic "aero-pack". The propeller was made from the cooling fan in the old computer. The housing of the motor was an end cap for PVC plastic plumbing pipe. The main body and wings were made from wood. The support wire that connects to the base, and the "handle bars" were made from the heavy gauge metal wire taken from a plastic clothes hanger (the kind with clips for holding pants). I wrapped the handle bars with thin black wire, to give some added detail. I didn't do any work to the grip handles yet, because I was going to add that as part of the hands of the monkey pilot sculpture.


The exhaust pipes and "back padding" were made out of Sculpy modeling clay. I used Super Glue Gel to piece things together and plumber's epoxy putty for sculpting some extra bits. I made some strips from soft foam rubber to look the seams of old boiler plates, and used pin heads for the rivets.


Once I had everything constructed, I coated the whole thing with Elmer's glue that has tiny bits of wood particles in it. I wanted to give a bit of texture to unify the surface of the machine, and to fill in some gaps. I painted the whole thing with a base coat of brown acrylic. From there I built up the colors I wanted with drybrush techniques, going from dark to lighter values. I also applied some very thin washes of black and brown to give it a unified "antique" look.


Here's the final version of the "aero-pack", with the base sculpted to look like swirling clouds.


Next chapter...I'll show the process of sculpting the monkey pilot.
-W