Camel Train Part 2
Sorry about the delay in posting the the results of the Kellogg’s Camel Train premium project. I finished it a while back, but only finished a making-of video last week. Thanks to Rob in Milpitas for the nudge to post more about the rest!
LIGHTING
The lighting coming up from the back would have been a little easier if my box were a little deeper. I was battling the how-far-do-I-want-it-to-stick-out question. Where the issue makes a difference is how hot the lights can get behind your set. I was thinking LED ribbon, but I had no idea how hot they can get. I ended up using lower wattage LED fairy lights.
I created a plastic shelf along the top (hidden by the cut-out foliage in front of it, and another sideways shelf behind the ridge. Both of these are attached to the wooden box. There is about 1/8″ of a gap above/behind the shelf in which to stuff the fairy lights that sort of wind back and forth till the 20 light strand is used up. (the top might have been a 30 bulb fairy light string.) The semi translucent plastic defuses the lights nicely. I would have liked the top lights to be a little brighter but the LED ribbons were just too hot.
It is really convenient to have the set unit able to slide in and out so that you can replace the lights. I mounted the two battery packs on the side of the box. I’d had a fantasy of setting it up with a motion sensor, but that is just not a priority at the moment. The frame hides the battery packs just fine. I did have to shorten the wires to the top lights. My friend Warren is a wizard with stuff like that so he was a great help there. He also gave me the scrap plastic for the shelves as well as the fairy lights which were left over from some prop job he had.
It all assembled pretty easily once all the parts were done. There is some light leakage around the set which I dealt with using black tape. I’ve yet to add the Monkey with the Blunderbuss sitting on the treasure camel (arrived from Australia a while back). He should be painted and glued in later this week. At the moment he still needs another coat of yellow and his dark wash which will bring out the details.
I did have fun shooting the camels crossing the ridge in slow motion. I was not that familiar with Adobe Premiere when I started but it was a great project for learning the program. Then I edited in photos from the process along with some video and it ended up being a little over 6 minutes. That is the only way I’ve ever been able to learn a new computer program. I need to have a project that I care about. I’ve much still to learn about Adobe Premiere of course, but it was fun (when I wasn’t pounding my head against a wall).
BOX ART
I also decided to recreate the box art from a very small blurry jpeg. Well… from a few small blurry jpegs. Eventually the box will be on a shelf under the final framed diorama. (It won’t be sitting on top of the frame.) Please feel free to reach out if any of this launches you into a project of your own. I’m always inspired when I hear of others who are using their creativity.
I should note that after printing (It needed to be printed on two sheets – back and side, front and side) I realized that I shortchanged the top and the bottom flaps. I made it work for me (i.e. not worth the cost of reprinting), but they should have another inch or so. The box itself is not to original scale, I printed what would fit on the cardstock that was available. The box is not a perfect replica, but it is very close.