Right on. So a firetruck will take some sculpting but not a lot. So the wow factor as far as looks are concerned is going to probably be more in the detail of the “accessory” pieces. Ladder attached to the side, cool looking horns, etc. But they’ll still need to be light weight.
Does anyone know how to get a realistic chrome look? Ive never achieved good chrome with spray paint.
Also, I’ve never done gold leafing, but would love to learn if anyone knows how.
If we could mold clear plastic pieces on the vacuum former, painting from the inside actually turns out pretty nice. Not sure if we can do it, but worth looking into.
I was checking video tutorials on chrome look. Spaz Stix paint seems to be a favorite of model makers. They put down a primer, then a coating of very shiny black and then the chrome.
(take your choice spray paints or airbrush)
We need a siren and flashing light. That’s the most important part of a fire truck(at least that was my opinion when I was much smaller)
Yes, that’s a must. And the family requested that we make a fire nozzle that shoots streams of bubbles. We might also look into smoke. I asked grandma about that, and she thought that would be cool, and assured me that Logan has no problems with respiration.
Would be cool if he could see the sirens and the front of the truck as if he were sitting on the top looking over the cab from his seat.
As opposed to building a roof over his head and mounting lights to it. That would be… I dont think that’s a good idea.
Maybe an old fashioned one with an open roof? Like the old kids cars
There’s a lot of information that will be available on Sunday. Much of that will save having to speculate about issues like this, but yeah, there’s a really easy solution for that because of the way his chair is built.
Right now I’m organizing the photos and measurements so that it will be easy to reference, and I’ll make sure that everyone who shows up on Sunday has a copy if they want one.
With the way you and everyone is thinking ahead, I can see that we’ll definitely hit the ground running on Sunday!
I’m not able to make the the meeting tonight. I’ve been mulling over Malissa’s suggestion from the Area Leads Meeting of a picture frame, but maybe something more like a carved commemorative plaque with a space on it for a photo, and I think there’s real potential there. If there are other ways ceramic pieces could be worked into the build I’m all ears! I will take any suggestions back to the studio!
The tip of the hose could be ceramic?
Hey Team,
After a couple of generous $100 donations, I also had another donor who has contributed, as a practical matter, the remainder of what is needed to complete the build. I neglected to get permission to reveal the donor, but if that changes, I’ll let you know. We’d still love donors to reduce that blanket offer, but we have everything we need to kick this thing off. Has someone figured out how much PVC we need for the mock-up/build stand? If so, let me know and I’ll go pick it up, and if not, I’ll take care of it this evening. I’ll bring the materials over to our build spot sometime tonight.
Our spreadsheet of needed materials is now on the Google Drive here. If you think of additional items we need, or can update or fill in the blanks on what’s there, then please do.
David
Last night we got together to brainstorm on how to build the EPICest Wheelchair in the EPIC history of EPICness for Logan!
We have a lot of folks who are making this the most EPIC build ever – THANK YOU! Our volunteers, builders, and donors are the reason that this will be so EPIC! For now, I’ll mention the Team Leads. If you’d like to join a team, this will be who you want to talk to:
Erik @Erik is going to lead the artistic team. They’re responsible for the artistic design, sculpting, and basically making it look like the EPICest Fire Truck ever.
Jerry @jcarpenter81 is leading the structural build team. They’ll make sure that the build is easy to use, attach, remove, and is structurally sound but still lightweight and transportable and EPIC.
LaDeana @ladeana is heading up the fundraising/material donations team. Of course, she’ll also be spreading the word about the EPIC things we do at MakeICT.
Malissa @Malissa is leading the documentation team, so her team will make sure we have the entire build recorded for posterity in photos, video, and sound. She’s also doing our EPIC social media promotion.
Dominic @dom is perfectly suited for leading the team that’s making controls that let Logan use his Magic Wheelchair Fire Truck’s snorkel, lights, siren, bells, and whistles, by designing a set of EPIC controls for Logan’s uniquely EPIC abilities.
Christian @Christian is the team leader for Electronics. He makes the EPIC stuff happen when Logan uses his EPIC controls! The team will make bubbles, light, sound, vibration, smoke, time travel (well, maybe not time travel) happen by soldering this thing to that wire and making this circuit board control that servo and, well, you know.
My job, as Build Coordinator, is to keep everyone at Magic Wheelchair, Logan’s family, our build team, and everyone else in the loop so that they can see just how EPIC this build will be for such an EPIC kid like Logan! You can contact me @David
We’ve also got folks I haven’t mentioned here, like @jwithers, @jameslancaster, and some who couldn’t make this meeting. Thank you all!
David Springs
Here’s a Build Team photo:
And here’s our EPIC hero, Logan:
I’d also like to remind our members that there are plenty of opportunities here to learn new things, like Sculpting, Structural Building with Foam, Electronics, and Human Factors (I’ll let @dom explain that, he can do a much better job than I can). Think of it as a free class in lots of things!
@ladeana, there’s an article about how Magic Wheelchair is doing restaurant fundraisers, which is a cool idea. Not only do we raise money, but I get to eat!
Anyway, the info is here.
Cool. I will see about that. I know the Chipolte on Maize Road does that. (I went in once and they ask me if I was there to support some soccer team… um so I said yes…lol
Edited to make sure donations go to the correct place, see below.
What would y’all think about some build team T-shirts? I was considering getting a Magic Wheelchair shirt from the website, but then got to thinking it should commemorate our first team build, and should have both the Magic Wheelchair logo and the MakeICT logo on it, as well as something like “Logan’s EPIC Fire Truck” and “October 2018”. We could do them in the screen printing shop, and offer them to our members and visitors, as well. Maybe even make one for Shelley and Monte (grandparents) and Logan. Do we have a team member (or prospective team member) that can design and print these? Something that would have elements from both of these:
Attached are rough renderings that are approximately to scale. Lens distortion in the original image makes it difficult to get really accurate measurements. But these should be close I believe. Let me know what you guys think.
The builders guide recommended 6 inches of bottom clearance so that is taken into consideration.
Also the front view images of the chair have too much depth to get accurate measurements. I believe the width of the chair should be at least 21". But please judge for yourself when you get a chance to see all the images.
My measurements are really only for material acquisition. These are rough.
I don’t know what order those opened in, but the white one is intended for printing if anyone wants to do that.
I also didn’t include a lot of the little detail stuff. I figure those are better decided as the build progresses. 
Excellent work, Erik. The measurements that I drew on the photos are all actual measurements, so the width of the chair is whatever I put on that sheet. I can look again, but I think it was 24 inches?
You can’t look. Ive got your jump drive. Lol! The seat has a width of 13 inches. I remember that much from the images. I’ll give the drive back when I see you again and on it you’ll find the layered version of those images at full scale (as close as possible anyway).
