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Monthly Update - October 2020
September and October are going to be big months for AeroMaiden. I’ve started the process of building the first set of prototypes for the Classic Quad. As I showed in my last update, the first prototype (Proto 1) was a success and showed the design to be easy to assemble. However upon reflection I wanted to make a number of changes, both for aesthetics as well as ease of assembly.
Aesthetically, the updates were relatively minor. A pair of intakes were added to the front as well as minor wood sizing tweaks. The quad engine setup was also condensed into a double dual setup. Fewer parts and better looking. I also cleaned up the leading wing edge so no carbon fiber pokes out.
The wing supports were greatly improved and the water plume stand looks fantastic!
Now that the Proto 2 model is done, I’m very happy with the state of the project. At this point I have several branching paths I need to pursue in order to bring this to market.
The biggest and most time consuming activity of late has been the art direction. As sole curator, it’s a daunting hill to climb when you realize your traditional art skills are not good enough. As much as I would like to use traditional style artwork in my branding and advertising, commissioning the art would quickly get prohibitively expensive.
As such, I’ve been looking into stylized “low cost” alternatives to my original desires. Having a copy of Keyshot as well as Photoshop for rendering and edits has provided me with some interesting results to consider.
It’s a weird problem to address. Having a model works great for creating digital rendered content… however it’s a model of a model. If I want my packaging to represent the actual fictional ship, I would ideally create a model of same ship. So far that solution is prohibitively expensive on a time front. So creating stylized art of the “model of a model” blurs the line just enough to give me what I’m looking for. At very little cost to AM.
So far I haven’t found anything I’m truly happy with. However I feel like I’m quite a bit closer than I use to be.
One of the biggest changes I’m exploring is changing the “artwork” to an instruction booklet. Degrade my box to a simple box with a single color logo and put a ton of effort into an instruction booklet. Let it be the first thing you see when you open the box. Make it high quality… something not to throw away. Hell I might even include a little bookstand with the model for it.
Outside of packaging artwork, the livery is being done by a friend of mine. Hopefully the next time you hear from me I will have that livery tested on Proto 3! I’m trying to set a goal of having the kickstarter live by the end of November. Next monthly update should have me on the final stretch to Kickstarter and then Decembers update should be a “We are live! Oh crap I still got so much left to do!”
The Modelcast Episode 13 - Honorary Canadian
The Modelcast Episode 12 - One of those weeks...
The Modelcast Episode 11 - Canadian Internet Problems
The Modelcast Episode 10 - The Classic Quad
Monthly Update - September 2020
2020 continues to be 2020. Being a resident of Oregon, our state has been hit with prolific wildfires his year. This means fire threats, smoke and poor air quality. Because of this, I’ve revised my lineup of first models.
After the productive learning month of August, I set my sights on finally production the first AeroMaiden model. Before I intended to release RM001, I wanted to run through my entire process once for personal review and improvement. This involved developing model entirely without production.
From here, the “Classic Quad” was born. Originally designed as a racing ship took inspiration from the Il-62M and the F-117. The design was purposefully simple to encourage a quick prototype.
Over time the final design took shape into something I thought was relatively pleasant. I pushed my design style with the inclusion of 2 different thicknesses of wood and carbon fiber sheeting.
I ended up finding the thicker wood made a great skeleton for the model. It’s relatively strong and easy to handle. Most of the center of the Quad uses it… as well as the wing supports.
The rest of the model fell into line quite nicely. I’ve discovered a few areas needing improvement, but overall I’m happy with how easy it was to put together (something I knew needed work for a commercial release). With the first model done, I can start work on a livery and packaging.
With everything going on in Oregon right now, as well a positive reception from most people I’ve shown the model to, I’ve decided to make this RM000. A limited release model. The design has changed slightly into a firefighting water bomber and will be sold as a fundraiser for the local Red Cross to help with relief efforts. I figured I could give back to the community as well as get my first product out in the wild.
At this point I still have a lot left to do. I want to be on-sale by the end of the year which will require some hustle on my parts. At this point my path is close to diverging. Once I finalize the design, I can send the model off for livery design and info off for packaging artwork. At the same time I will be working on my box itself, both part list, layout, and packaging design. I don’t plan on selling until I have the entire limited run inventory completed.
See you next month!
Monthly Update - August 2020
The past month has been an interesting time for AeroMaiden. I ended up not getting much done as I focused my attention on my second brand, CrossBred. I hit a wall with needed artwork for both website and packaging.
I ended up putting time into enhancing my “art” skills. Since I don’t plan on doing final artwork in the near future, I worked on my process to get ideas and concepts across to artists. Breaking out the tablet I wanted to work on a smooth process that emphasized clear ideas.
As you can see, the process to develop art took a number of revision steps along the way. Characters were an especially difficult challenge as I am not well versed in character design. Coming up with accurate poses and interesting looks required its own development along the way.
Ultimately I feel the work paid off in droves. The artwork above has culminated into final artwork and a T-shirt I can wear. Because of this I am confident I can move back into AeroMaiden work and get the artwork I need for my packaging and website.
The Modelcast Episode 9 - Airhard Airsoft
The Modelcast Episode 8 - Drunken Bleachers
The Modelcast Episode 7 - The Cricket
Monthly Update - June 2020
June started off with a large push to finalize the exterior of the Freightstar as well as work on marketing and packaging materials.
Completing the exterior required the finalizing the intakes, engines and adding the fuel tanks to the sides of the main cabin. All items that took some time to flush out.
With the exterior done, sets and compositions were experimented with to see if a box design could start to take shape.
This, of course, also paved the way for work to begin on the interior and supporting structures. Currently the only interior item complete are the cargo pods.
During the month I reached out to a couple artists to get their level of comfort with what I was working towards. The above are some guide photos I selected to gauge interest as well as explore what I could create to help the artists I hire.
At this point I get to the kicker of the month… I will be shelving the Freightstar for now. Let me explain why…
During the month of May and June I experimented with resin 3D printer technology. I bought my own resin printer and at first was having some success with it. However, as time goes on I’m finding that many of the negatives are deal breakers for what I’m trying to achieve. It’s clear to me that 3D printing with resin requires a different design and manufacturing philosophy than what I originally thought. It was a good experiment but one I need to move away from if I’m to move forward with a product I can make in-house for the time being.
This unfortunately means the Freightstar needs to be shelved for a later date. The Freightstar was designed with the high precision of resin printing in mind. Many of the printed parts are too highly detailed for my standard FDM 3D printer.
As such, I will be moving onto my second ship, currently named the Mantabone. At this point I’ve begun concepting and design work on this ship and will be making the required changes to build it in-house like my legacy Star Citizen models. I will be looking into a finer nozzle for my FDM printer as well as doing reliability tests to see what the ideal setup will be for short term, low count production runs.
See you next month!
Side Project - URAN-10 (Уран-10) Nikon Z Adapter
For those of you who know me, you know I have a passion of vintage camera lenses. The Engineer in me finds them exciting and the photographer in me loves to experiment. Since 2019 I set of a goal of getting a lens from the WWII time period. My oldest lens at the time was from 1957, making anything from WWII over a decade older. While a surprising selection of options exist for the Ebay warrior, I specifically wanted an aerial lens. The WWII Kodak Aero-Ektars are highly prized aerial lenses for portrait photography and command similarly prized amounts of money. Given my tendency to look at what Russia/Soviet Union./USSR has to offer, I ended up coming across the URAN-10.
The URAN-10 (Уран-10) is a 10cm f/2.5 aerial lens from the 1940’s. While information exists, it’s hard to confirm with a number of repeat sources lacking. From what I can tell they were made beginning in 1943 and used in a phototheodolite. In simple terms, used from a plane to survey and map the ground with photography. While no photos of the original equipment seem to exist, a number of these lenses can be found on Ebay.
Working with an aerial lens presents its own challenges. The biggest hurdle is the lack of focusing mechanism. In its original equipment, most aerial lens are used exclusively at infinity focus. This means one will need to be added so it can be used like a regular lens. Another quirk is the coating. Aerial lens operate high in the sky and far away from their target. This often causes a color shift which the coating aims to correct.
Thankfully most of the process to adapt to the Nikon Z body was relatively straight forward.. I picked out a Fotasy Nikon Z to M42 focusing helicoid to use a base. Purchasing a focusing unit would be cheaper and more straight forward than designing my own. Plus this designs allows me to quickly swap the lens to Canon EF and Sony E mounts quickly.
My first iteration suffered from some quirks but left me with a solid base to build my final model. Performance seems to be high and after a number of changes I got to a final model which I’ve been actively shooting with.
So far I’m very impressed with the nearly 77 year old lens. While it suffers from heavy lens flaring from head-on light, the bokeh is wonderful. At wide-open it seems to have a bit of a light glow which is surprisingly well controlled and adds a very unique look.
While editing goes a long way to bringing colors out of it, I look forward to shooting more with the lens. If it ever arrives, I have a URAN-27 on the way which I will adapter to my Nikon Z as well. While not strictly a successor, this is another vintage aerial lens from the Soviet Union in a 10cm f/2.5 form.
However I am almost at 3 months for overseas shipping due to COVID…. so I’m not holding my breath much thinking I’m going to be seeing it anytime soon.
I leave you with some more photos from the URAN-10.
Monthly Update - May 2020
Sitting down at my PC, I have the privilege of typing my first ever month update! I want to make monthly reports something that I can use to keep blanket updates of information flowing to the website. While I’d love to use the blog on the website more often, I get to life sometimes won’t allow that.
Since this is the first update I don’t really have a specific format chosen yet. For now I think the information if just gonna be a slightly curated information dump. Eventually I’d like to graphically show all ship progresses and try to keep the updates as short as possible.
The biggest accomplishment in May was the exterior design freeze on AM001. The Freightstar is now visually frozen which means I can start working with artists to get packaging and website material done. For my first ship I think it turned out excellent and I look forward to building the first one.
Of course this doesn’t mean the work stops. Outside of starting artwork, the interior of AM001 still needs to be finished. This will not be a quick task as internal structures play a role in both holding the model together as well as making assembly fun and intuitive.
Along side the AM001 I am looking make my website go live in June. This will include building out some pages and getting it to a basic level of functionality. For now I’ll be using placeholder images til I start getting in some final artwork and really use material that will make the website pop.
Looking ahead to the future, my present goal is to release the first two models this year. While I originally told myself three, my path to discovery on the art and branding side have taken longer than I expected. I always expect more delays but am putting in an effort to hold myself to getting some products out this year.
Current Roadmap:
AM001 - FreightStar (August 2020)
AM002 - Mantabone (Working Title) (December 2020)
AM003 - TBD (Collaboration) (2021)
AM004 - Kestrel (Working Title) (2021)