Summer 2017: The Creation of the 2017 Liang StarGazer

Hi Everyone! 

This past summer I decided I wanted to design and build something. My obsession with Joshua Tree National Park sparked my idea of creating a model vehicle in which two people could travel and stargaze in. I took some photos along the way to document the month long project. Hopefully this may inspire some of you to transform a creative thought into a reality.

WEEK ONE

Focus: The design of the car and the plastic roof.

I created some rough sketches of what I envisioned for this car. Since the back part of the vehicle needed to be clear, I thought using a large plastic soda bottle would work well since it is the correct size and shape. I enjoyed the bottom design, but since the back part would be wood, it would be very difficult to curve it at such a sharp degree throughout.

These were my final blueprints for the 2017 Liang StarGazer.

I gathered my materials for creating the plastic portion
of the van. I used tape and multiple ruler types to
create a uniformly straight line to cut off from the
bottom portion of the bottle. Using a knife and
scissors, I was able to get the task done. 

I had to make the bottle shorter, so I cut the circumference of the bottle twice, and connected the two pieces using plastic glue. This glue melts the plastics together, and takes 24 hours to fully dry. So, I had to find a method to keep the two pieces strongly touching entirely for a day. With a combination of tape, decks of cards for stabilization, some rocks I got from a gift shop, and Gudetama binder clips, the two pieces were successfully attached.

WEEK TWO

Focus: The wooden structure of the car.

This was my first time working with wood, but since my dad creates frames for his oil paintings, he had the necessary tools for me to use. I used Basswood for the two sides of the car, and a mixture of Balsa wood and Plywood for the other wooden parts.

A large part of this project was cutting, sanding, and glueing the wood.  I underestimated the amount of energy and time I would have to spend perfecting the shape of this car to the precise measurements of my blueprint. Nonetheless, I learned a lot about the properties of wood and how to make both sides symmetrical using calculations. I gained significant muscle from sawing and sanding this wood.

WEEK THREE

Focus: The steering wheel, license pate, headlights, seats, bed, and telescope. 

I scavenged my house of any black materials to help create the objects inside my vehicle. I found pieces of plastic and rubber that somehow fit perfectly to make a proportionally sized steering wheel. I found an obsolete Nikon camera eye cap that strangely resembled a license plate holder. I found a bottle of Fish Oil Pills with the right curvature to make into headlight covers.  

To create my bed, I cut up clothes that I no longer wanted and stuffed them with the padding I got from inside a necklace box. Lastly, the seats of the car were made of wood since I could not find two identical pieces of recyclable material that I could make into car seats. I painted them silver to create contrast with the inside and outside of the car, which I planned on painting black.

Using a combination of pens and different sized markers, I was able to create one of the main aspects of the StarGazer: the telescope. This is a reflector telescope. A mirror collects the light which is then reflected to the eyepiece. They are effective for seeing galaxies and nebulas in the night sky. 

WEEK FOUR

Focus: Attaching the plastic roof, adding tires, spray-painting the car, and creating the windshield and windows.

Connecting the plastic roof was one of the toughest challenges about this car. I wanted it to be a removable piece in case I ever wanted to add or fix anything on the inside. So, I created a base of balsa wood to attach the plastic to in order to screw it onto the basswood base of the car. Since the plastic is so thin, it would not be stable enough if I just glued it to the wood. To solve this issue, I cut two long rectangular strips of wood and glued it to the removable piece of wood. Placing the plastic roof on, I filled glue in the crevice of the wood and plastic to stabilize it. 

I ordered the wooden tires and pegs online. However, the pegs were too toy-like so I sanded them to a more realistic shape. After many measurements and markings, I was able to successfully attach these wheels to the car by putting hollowed out wood pieces to the bottom of the vehicle.

Since wood is a porous material, I needed to cover it with primer before spray-painting it. Using an old Blick card, I scraped the primer smooth after applying it to the surface. I waited overnight before sanding it to make it as polished as possible.

Using a semi-glossy spray paint, I covered the outside and inside of my car and the tires. I put two layers on to ensure a complete coating. After a couple hours of drying, I began working on the "glass" components of a vehicle. I found a plastic container for mangoes that was slanted at just the correct angle to make into my windshield, and a plastic salad bowl cover was used to make my windows. 

And thus, the 2017 Liang StarGazer was born:

- Sarah