Friday, September 22, 2017

Slide of the Month extra! - Scoutmasters run on



Fall 2017

Time to make: 1 hours

Original design: Bill Macfarlane












OK, I can't all the credit for this one since Dunkin' Donuts made it so easy for me but in honor of the first day of fall. I was in a Dunkin Donuts and saw a novelty coffee and pumpkin spice lip balm which looked like the makings of a slide.

The first step was to open the tops and to clean out the waxy material inside. Next I trimmed the labels to remove the lower part so it would look like a regular cup of coffee. I glued the tops on the cups with some super glue. When dry I drilled a couple of small holes on the side in the top and bottom of the cups. Next I super glued a small piece of wire in each hole to hold the cups together. When dry, I drilled a hole in the back of the cups for a wire neckerchief and glued the wire in place.

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

From old to new: First Aid Kit


September 2017

Time to make: 1 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

Sept. 1951, page37

Original design: E.F.S








The last of the film can slides from Boys Life  (that I know of) is a quick reach when you need a band-aid. While it's no replacement for a full first aid kit, I can appreciate a handy place to grab something for small cuts. The original kit carries finger band-aids, a gauze pad, some first-aid tape...

An aluminum loop is pop riveted to the back and the cross is painted on with model paints.

A plastic film can version


My updated version uses an Altoid Smalls tin which I painted white with spray paint. The decal on the front was a picture I found and printed on my home printer to water slide decal paper.  The contents of this kit are as follows;
Band-Aids
gauze pad
Tylenol 
first aid tape



Friday, September 1, 2017

Slide of the Month - Space Shuttle


  September  2017

Time to design: 2 hour
Time to print: 2 hours (your times may vary
Finishing: 3 hour
Original designer: DigitalSpace Corporation 
Try it yourself: Space Shuttle





The last slide in the American manned space program (for now). The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft and there were 6 built.  Although only 5 flew in space, they completed 135 missions for a total of 1322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds. (The Enterprise only flew in sub orbital missions for approach and landing tests.) Between 1986 to 2011,  Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour  served as a platform for the deployment of several satellites, the Hubble Telescope, the launching of deep space probes, conducted a slew of experiments. They also transported section for the building the international space station. In 1986 Columbia was lost during launch and Columbia was destroyed during reentry in 2003 resulting in the death of 14 astronauts. 

This slide is based on Atlantis which flew the last mission July 8, 2011 after which fleet was retired. I used the design from DigitalSpace Corporation because it was the only design I found with the cargo bays open. To be honest, I had a bit of problems with this print. The rocket nozzles did not print completely and the cargo bay doors were barely connected to the shuttle. I ended up using some more UV glue to help build up these areas. I used a sharp knife and sand paper to shape the nozzles and smooth the places I had to re-enforce the cargo doors. I painted the slide using white spray paint and the heat shields as well as the detail with a black paint marker. The cargo doors and nose of the shuttle were painted with silver paint. The decals were printed using markings I found on the Internet and printed on water slide paper. The Rassvet ISS module in the cargo bay was made from a barrel from a ball point pen and the end was painted with a gold paint marker.