Saturday, July 21, 2018

Slide of the Month Extra - Shenzhou



 2018

Time to print: 3 hours

Finishing: 1.5 hour

Thingiverse 2013

Design: Craig_H
Modifications:  Bill Macfarlane






Shenzhou is the capsule from Chinese manned space program and translation I like the best is "magic boat". Similar to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft but on a larger in scale. On October 15, 2003  Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut to be launched into space. He orbited the earth 14 before reentry and landing in Inner Mongolia.

Based off a design by  Craig_H, I added a second set of solar panels on the orbital module to more closely resemble the Shenzhou 5 mission. The solar panels are super glued on the craft with a slight rotation. The slide is painted with paint pens and the flag was done using water slide paper.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Slide of the Month - Liberty Bell



July 2018

Time to make: 4 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

July 1999, page 50

Original design: Will Scarlet






"Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof" is the inscription on the Liberty Bell. And you can find more information on the Liberty Bell at the Nation Park System's web site here or listen to the podcast. Also what to hear what they think the bell sounded like before it cracked (base on computer models)?


I really like this one! Carved from maple this took a long time to carve and even when I was done carving I still felt like I could have done more. I wasn't really sure until I applied some Early American stain to the slide and WOW the feel of the bell came through. I attached a wooden loop and finished it off with a couple of coats of Poly.