Lone Wolf Drafting and Design

Another Beautiful Garage(Mahal)

2011-12-06T11:32:00.001-08:00

Recently, Lone Wolf Drafting and Design completed another GarageMahals design. This garage is the partner to the “classic” garage that we completed about 2 months ago.

The Classic Side of the Double Garage.

This side focuses on the client’s love for muscle cars. This space is going to be used to not only showcase his collection, but also to allow him to work on his vehicles. The center columns evoke a sense of the styling and contours normally associated with a high performance car.

The Center Column in Competition Orange

Close Up - Note the Pin Striping Detail.

Due to the complexity and subtly of the curves and nuances of the final design, we had to turn to an automotive designer to help us really capture the look we were going for. Gary Smith of Performance Design helped us do just that. Mr. Smith supplied us with some great illustrative graphics that really helped us get the project off the ground.

From there, we were able to select our cabinet layouts by Vault Cabinets, flooring, color scheme and custom wainscoting. Michael decided to use the ribbed seat design seen in the rear seat of classic cars to achieve a really unique wall covering topped with a checkered flag rail that really makes the whole thing pop.

Work Bench and Storage by Vault Cabinets.

Custom Rolling Door Storage Cabinets by GarageMahals.

Wainscoting With Ribbed Detail and Checker Chair Rail.

Below are some additional views of the project.

As always, thanks for reading!

More Custom Homes and Garage.

2011-11-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since my last work related post, but that is a good thing as I have been too busy working to really find anytime to post anything.

My first recent project was a vacation home in Colorado. This beautiful custom home took a couple of weeks to model and render, and went though several design changes before this project was put to bed. The results were satisfied clients all around!

You can see a few images of the project below. More can be seen on my website.


Front View

Front View

Motor Court

Detached Garage and Breezeway

The next project is a custom Mediterranean style villa that slated for construction in India – a first for Lone Wolf Drafting and Design. After a few design and color changes, the final images below were presented to my clients.


Original Front View


Original Front View


Original Courtyard

...And the revisions.

New Colors and Front Entry

My final project was a custom garage designed by GarageMahals. This space was to exude elegance, refinement and sophistication based on the luxury cars of days gone by. The end result was a richly appointed space that any luxury car owner would be proud to park their cars in. This same client will have a second garage designed for muscle car restorations. That project’s design is currently in progress.

Images of the "classic side" below:

Center Column and Garage Doors


Center Column


Back Wall with Columns and Art

Back Wall with Columns and Art

More images will be added to my website soon, so check them out here!

Thanks for reading!

I Am The 53%

2011-10-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

I was a NYC EMT.

I was there when it all went down 10 years ago.

When my service was done, I moved to Arizona to pursue a dream on my own.

I met my wife.

I started a business.

I bought my first home and new car.

Every quarter I write a check to cover my taxes; sometimes it’s a big check, sometimes it’s a small check, but it’s mine, and it represents what I earn, not what is given to me.

I have never needed government assistance.

I have never taken a social handout.

Some months are good, others are terrible. Some nights I sleep well, others not so much.

These are my choices, and I fight for them everyday, good or bad, right or wrong.

Corporate greed sucks and I agree that politicians are all shysters. But you won’t see me sitting in a park participating in a drum circle – I have to much work to do, and I have people who rely on me.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles…The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who at his worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.

I am the 53%. I am Sean.

#1amthe53

Going Home Again

2011-09-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

In my former life living in New York, I did very little with design or rendering. My start in the field of design began with an architecture firm on Long Island. I started out in the field overseeing projects throughout Nassau County, and when those contracts ended, I was brought into the office and began learning AutoCAD. For them, I was just a draftsman, and to be honest it wasn’t my favorite job. It was okay; it did pay the bills, and I did learn a lot, but I really didn’t do anything terribly exciting or interesting. But my other job was just the opposite.

In June of 2001, I began volunteering with the Patchogue Ambulance Corp in Patchogue, New York. Patchogue is a small town located on the South Shore of Long Island. It was a fantastic gig – I learned how to be an emergency medical technician (EMT), the proper way to drive an ambulance, and how to help people when they were most in need. Then September 11^th, 2001 happened. On the 12^th, I went into New York City to volunteer with rescue and recovery efforts. To be honest, I never thought I would do much – maybe hand out some water, organize some gear, nothing major. Well, by the end of the next day, I was on the pile working with other EMTs and emergency care professionals. Who knew that would happen?

I ended up working at the site and with various other organizations developed to help in the effort for the next 9 months. I would work my day job, work with Patchogue, and then head to the city on my nights off, or on the weekends. I continued working with NYC EMS in various capacities for the next 4 years. By the time I was ready to move out west, I had made the rank of Sergeant. I met some really wonderful people while working down there, and they helped me get to where I am now – in a beautiful home with my wife in Arizona, running my own company.

A few months ago, the world learned that Osama Bin Laden, the man most directly responsible for that day, was killed by a United States Seal Team; known to the world only as Seal Team Six. It was also announced that the World Trade Center Memorial would be open for dedication on September 11^th, 2011 – 10 years after that terrible day.

I will be there.

Many won’t.

This will be an opportunity for me to pay my respects and close this chapter in my life – not forget by any means, but maybe not dwell on it as deeply when this time of year comes around again.

I would ask anyone reading this blog to just remember. You don’t have to buy a bunch of cheap crap to show your patriotism (and yes, stores like Michael’s Arts and Crafts are doing just that) – just remember. Say a prayer. Thank an EMT, a cop, a firefighter or a soldier. Just remember the sacrifices they make for everyone else – for they are at their best when you are at your worst.

I will post another blog upon my return where I will share photos of the event.

Thanks for reading.

Photoshop and Rendering, Beautiful Together!

2011-08-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you wondering – I have been on vacation for the past couple of weeks, hence the lack of posts. I guess the more accurate way to say that is the Choates (that’s my wife’s sister, Sami, and her husband, David), came down from Oregon for their bi-annual Arizona visit. As always, it was a great time, and true to form, there was much Lego building going on.

This visit included a new Lego came called Creationary – imagine Pictionary in Lego form.

Lego's Creationary!

Creationary is a great family game that everyone can play. Due to the size of our family gathering, we paired up into teams to keep the pace going a bit quicker. I was on team Stina, who is my brilliant, Lego building niece, and we dominated, for the most part!

Then there were the new Lego sets that were purchased by Maja and Dan (Allie and Sami’s parents). The Choates just finished the Harry Potter Series (see Allie’s blog for more on that), so all of the sets revolved around the series. For the boys, we got the Hogwart’s Express – complete with an engine, coal tender, passenger car, snack car and the Flying Ford Anglia. For Stina, we got the triple-decker Knight Bus. We happen to be fortunate enough to have an official Lego Store nearby, so we also got several large cups of random, loose parts. I feel as though I lucked out because I got to keep all the Legos after the Choates went home (even though it really is all for the kids, right?)

The Hogwart's Express

The Knight Bus

All of the parts in two bins - I can't wait to dive in!

While the Choates were here, David, a Photoshop genius, was kind enough to take some time to teach me the basics of this powerful program. Up until now, I have been using Photoshop for basic photo edits – adjusting light levels, converting color to black and white and some other very basic touch ups.

David has since taught me how to really use some of the more complex tools in Photoshop. He has shown me how to properly layer, touch up images, add light sources, how to create and manipulate textures, and how to organize and layout a proper composition. He also pointed me to a fantastic tutorial site called Psdtuts+. There, you can find amazing, comprehensive, step by step instructions in how to create fantastic Photoshop images.

So far, I have created two images using David’s teachings and Psdtuts.

Fire Text on Psdtuts

My Version

Gold Text on Psdtuts

My Version

Ultimately, I will use this newly gained knowledge to make my rendered images even better and more life like. I will be able to add a new dimension of realisim and interest to my renderings that will bring even more of a “wow” factor to my clients. If you have the means, I highly recommend sitting down with Psdtuts and a copy of Photoshop CS or better, and learn how to use the basic tools of this great image editing tool. I will admit, I was very overwhelmed at the scope of Photoshop, but, as David showed me, when you break down into its simplest components, and concentrate on the tool sets that will be useful to you, the program is not quiet as intimidating.

So, a big thanks to David Choate – I ask anyone reading this to view his Flickr page here to view his amazing collection of work.

I will post more of my own work as I complete more tutorials and begin intergrating my renderings with Photoshop.

Thanks for reading!

Pin It!

2011-07-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post about an interesting website that Allie pointed me to called “Pintrest”. Pintrest is social media site designed to allow users to share all manners of visual media with each other. I have been using the site for about a month, and I have enjoyed looking at all the beautiful images on the site. I find it to be a great source of inspiration and an interesting way to see the tiniest nooks and crannies of the world.

The only downside is that it is currently an invite only site. If you are interested in joining Pintrest, just leave me an email address in the comments section and I will send you invitation.

Happy Pinning!

Rendering for Peace and Quiet

2011-07-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

As I have written in a few other posts, I live in a little modern version of Mayberry. I know all of my neighbors, and they know me. We chat in the street, have the occasional holiday party, and help each other whenever we can. However, there is the one neighborhood nuisance that no one can avoid – the door to door solicitor.

Yep, I’ve got ‘em here – landscapers looking for work, home water delivery, irrigation guys, house painter, Jehovah’s Witnesses and of course, the myriad of door hangers for local eateries and businesses. Every week it seems as though there is a never ending parade of someone trying to sell us something. To compound the problem, my wife works nights so she doesn’t get home until 11:30 or midnight. We usually stay up for another hour or so, getting to bed around 1:30 am. So, when solicitors ring our door bell at 9 am, it is safe to say that we are none to pleased.

Never. Ending. Parade.

What to do? I suggested getting a “No Solicitors” sign, but they have a tendency to be tacky or too commercial looking, so we have not purchased one. Allie and I have worked very hard on our home, renovating it just the way we like it, so putting a standard gold and black “No Solicitors” sign just wasn’t going to fly.

A typical no soliciting sign.

I decided to use my software to create a nice sign that would compliment our home while getting our point across. The project didn’t take that long, only about an hour to try a few different looks, render the image, and then print it.

My design.

There was a small issue mounting it, however. Allie had a nice piece of wood that the shape of the sign was based on. When we tried to mount it to the wood, the ink from the ink jet printer smeared, making the sign look sloppy. So, for now, our sign is on the fridge – maybe it will help me to lose weight!

No Soliciting....of the fridge.

We will try a different approach for mounting the sign, and we may change the color scheme, as it seemed a bit to dark for the exterior colors of our house. When we complete the new sign, I will post it. Thanks for reading!

I Need Some Lemons....

2011-07-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I should preface this post with a bit of an explanation. I’m frustrated and annoyed at the state of the economy, the state of our country, and the state of the job market, and particularly the hiring practices currently in place by most companies. Explanation over.

So, as we all know, the economy is well, let’s just say it – total crap. Politicians and economists, those living in their ivory towers, just don’t have a clue as to how the real world works. They continually promise positive change on the horizon, but as each day passes, it seems as though the horizon gets further away, and the country slips closer to another Great Depression.

So, what to do?

I have worked hard to keep my little company afloat in dire times. Now, once again, I find myself combing the job boards hoping to find something that I can do, but I’m not sure what that looks like. I am not an office guy – not because I don’t like commuting or anything, but because I can’t stand office politics and over the top political correctness – creative people cannot thrive in sterile environments, and that is exactly what today’s corporate setting has become. I cannot stand the idea of working my ass off for some lazy bum (aka a CEO) so he can get rich. Someone very close to me tells me everyday how people are being laid off, not because business is down, but because upper management wants their bonuses. So, instead of working to increase productivity and making a better product, the just fire people, throw them away if you will, just so they can get an extra million, because the first 10 wasn’t enough. I would happily work at Wal-Mart or Target, or any other big box store, but they’re not hiring. They have an endless supply of out of work individuals with BA’s and BS’s and PhD’s – why would they hire me, a guy with no formal degree? Mind you, that’s not just retail centers, it’s everyone.

I think that’s what really ticks me off. Yeah, I don’t have a formal degree – I only went to Roger William’s University for a couple of years before I could just no longer afford to go. So, what did I do? I went to work. I planted the seed for Lone Wolf Drafting and Design in New York, while being a volunteer EMT on Long Island and paid EMT in New York City and working a full time design job. Then, when I exhausted all options there, I moved to Arizona on my own. I found a job here doing landscape design and then went to work for GarageMahals. When that went south, I restarted LWD+D, developed my own client base, got married, bought a truck and a house, all while keeping my little business alive in the worst economy, ever.

So yeah, why would anyone hire me, right? Just because someone has a degree doesn’t mean anything. You could have 15 degrees which just shows you’re a professional student – fantastic. Where is the real world experience? Where is the education that only fighting for something that means something to you can provide? There was a time when you, that is the person that YOU are was enough to get you a job. People would take a chance and give you your shot, not because of your education, but because of the unique experiences that you could bring to the table. Why is this a concept that is so foreign to hiring managers now (well, maybe it’s because there are “hiring managers” who themselves only know how to follow a company hiring formula, and have no idea how to exercise free thought)?

So, here is my question: where do people like me find a decent job using my skills; a job where integrity, talent, tenacity and creativity really mean something – where is that job board? I’m really asking. Monster.com, Jobing.com, Careerbuilder.com, AZ Central and the like all have the same 5 or 6 jobs, and they all want 10 years of experience being a sheep in someone else’s office with 3 degrees.

Really?

Well, how about 5 years of sacrifice and hard work? How about 5 years of using my talents to make a name for myself in my industry and maintaining a client base based on word of mouth? How about getting my work published, twice? And how about 5 years of hitting the pavement looking for clients, going to conventions, and just scraping by so that maybe, some day, I could have a profitable company and make something of myself, by myself.

Where is the company that hires and rewards that guy?

Until the day comes that I find that job with that mythical company, I will have to continue to struggle. I have to keep looking for at least some part time work until the economy turns around and business starts coming in again. If anyone in the Phoenix area knows of anyone that may be hiring creative, talented, hard working people, please post a comment with a way to reach you. To anyone else with a small company that is struggling, I hope you find a way through, too.

Tech Review 2011 Part 2

2011-06-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, I like to point out products and services that either really stink on ice, or perform really well and deserve praise. I am happy to say this post revolves around the latter. (Click here and here to read about other product and service reviews). This post is Part 2 from my Tech Review 2011Part 1 post.

So, with every good phone, you need a good Bluetooth. I am a very particular Bluetooth type of guy, meaning, I am weird. I do not like things sticking in my ear; it irritates the hell out of me. Everyone at my gym uses ear buds, and I get the chills – my ears actually hurt for them. I am the only guy in there using full sized studio headphones while working out – I like the speakers the cup over my ears. So, like my old phone, I held on to my old Bluetooth because it met my weirdness criteria. It was a Motorola H350 with a partially open arm that went over the ear.

My original Motorola H350

The speaker was relatively flat, so it did not protrude into the ear canal. The only problem was the arm of the unit wasn’t very stiff, so if I leaned to the side that it was on, it would pull away from my ear or fall off entirely. However, it had good sound quality, and a decent range, plus I didn’t use it that often given that when I was on the phone, I really wasn’t doing anything else, e.g., texting or web surfing, in other words, I didn’t need my hands free. However, it finally died soon after I got my new phone. No really, it did – I started using it everyday, and the speaker just gave out. After 4 good years of service, it was time to replace it. However, just like with ear buds for MP3 players, everyone loves the kind that sticks in your ear. So, the hunt was on. First, I tried the Motorola HK200.

The Motorola HK200

Similar in design to the H350, this unit was lighter, and a bit more snug to the ear, however, the quality just wasn’t there. The sound quality and volume was poor, and the person on the other end had a hard time hearing me. On top of that, there was a small ear bud type projection on the unit. So, the thin plastic arm went around your ear, and then, through the course of the day, the ear bud piece would work its way into my ear. This was a no go. Unfortunately, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target, Wal-Mart and others all carry the same basic Bluetooth headsets, and none of them were what I wanted. It was time to hit the web (and that will be discussed next). So, I started the hunt, just using broad search terms, which would lead me to the big outlets in the beginning – Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc. Then I started digging deeper and deeper until I ended up on some random site at the end of the Internet universe. But, there it was – the perfect Bluetooth headset. It was unique looking. It went over the ear. The speaker was completely flat. I must have it. It is called the Maverick Lifestyle Nica Sunrise Bluetooth headset. The what?

The Maverick Lifestyle Nica Sunrise Bluetooth available in black and red.

I started looking for reviews and doing my research, and about 90% of what I read was positive. So, I found it on Amazon.com and placed my order.

So, here is where I am an old fashioned kind of guy. I love walking into a store, trying out an item, playing with it, asking the clerk about it, and walking out with it that very day. I am not a fan of online ordering for several reasons. What if they ship me the wrong thing? What if I get double charged? What if my credit card info is stolen? What do you mean the shipping and handling is more then the item itself? What if it’s defective, where is customer service so I can return it? All of these issues and more often kept me from ordering anything off the Internet, but this Bluetooth was exactly what I was looking for and it was not available in any physical store – believe me, I looked. So, after much assurance from Allie, I placed my order through Amazon. After 4 days, it arrived in the mail. I turned it on, paired it with my phone with no issues. However, some sort of weird echo type reverb could be heard during calls. Plus, the range from my phone was about 8 inches and would randomly disconnect from the phone. So I tried re-pairing the phone, recharging the unit, restarting my phone – nothing worked. So, since the reviews were good, I figured it must be defective.

Here we go – the fight to get this thing replaced. So, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to replace it. I went to Amazon.com, filled out the replacement request, printed out my documentation and within 4 days, my new unit arrived with 30 days to return the defective one.

The new unit works awesome. I leave the phone in my office, and walk to the other end of the house without an issue, the call quality is clear and it is extremely comfortable. The Sunrise also comes with arms for both the left and right ears, as well as a basic recharging cable. You can also order custom skins for your unit, as well as an upgraded desk dock and a car charger. I highly recommend this unit and Amazon.com for a hassle free shopping experience.

The car charger.

The upgraded desk dock.

An example of available skins, or create your own!

Do you have a favorite phone? How about a Bluetooth (or other hands free) headset that you would recommend? What online shopping experiences have you had and with what companies?

Hope to hear from you, and thanks for reading!

I’m Geeking Out, You Monster…..

2011-06-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

As I have stated before, I am a video game junky, although, now that I think about it, I think I’m more of a video game snob, as opposed to anything else. Modern Warfare and GTA/ Liberty City are two of my all time favorites; Modern Warfare because of its fast action and amazing attention to detail and GTA because of its beautiful gaming environment specifically as it relates to their version of New York City. Recently, my father in law, Dan, introduced me to Portal 2. He described it as a cool 3D puzzle solving game, to which my initial thought was “ehh, I’ll give it a try”. Dan’s description of the game really didn’t do it justice (sorry, Dan). From the moment is started playing, I was hooked. The environments are so beautiful and grand, the characters and fun and memorable (with some pretty funny dialogue), and the amount of thought put behind each challenge is staggering.

The entire game is based around an evil super computer named Glados that is forcing a captive human (you) to perform in a series of mentally challenging tests. Each test takes place in a room of her design, and you, as the test subject, have to use what is available in the room to complete the challenge. The only thing that you have with you as a constant is a portal gun – a device that creates a temporal gateway from one location instantly to another.

The Portal Gun

One of the many test environments

Glados - She makes life very difficult for you....

The catch is that only certain wall types will hold a portal. Along the way, you meet Wheatley, a small “core” that helps you here and there during the course of the game and, well – you’ll see.

Wheatley

Throughout the game, there are a bunch of other little characters each with there own unique personalities - my favorites, the turrets....

Searching.... There you are...

The game’s maps range from ultra cool, futuristic and minimalistic settings to vintage environments ranging from the 1950’s to the 1980’s; all with unique details and challenges.

The co-op part of the game is just as fantastic. The characters, Atlas and P-Body, are test robots designed to carry out the constant testing of Glados.

Atlas and P-Body on a mission...

Each test will challenge you and your partner and will either create a stronger bond between the two of you, or possibly tear you both apart, making you bitter enemies to the end. I am happy to say that my wife and I did not fall prey to the latter.

So, if you haven’t noticed by now, I love this game, and has definitely earned a spot in my top 3 favorites. I spent a week straight playing it to its conclusion, simply loving every second of it. I loved it so much, that I was moved to design my own Portal 2 inspired room.

My room inspired by Portal 2

For those of you that noticed, you will see the back round of my blog has changed. It is, in fact, my Portal 2 inspired space. Yes, the ultimate geek-out.

I plan to get the first Portal game in the very near future, as I have a serious need to keep testing. Thanks for reading!

Resting.

Tech Review 2011 Part 1

2011-06-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hello All. It has been a while since my last post, but I have been busy working on a new concept. As of right now, I cannot get into detail about it, but as soon as I can, I will and post images.

Cell Phones

For a long time, I mean a really long time, I had a flip style cell phone. To be specific, it was the Sanyo SCP 7050 – key word – RUGGEDIZED flip phone from Sprint.

My Old Sanyo SCP 7050 Flip Phone

This thing was awesome. I could throw it at a wall, run it over with my car, drop it in water and it would just keep working every time. I never had an issue with it, so I never upgraded the phone. I was 4 years past due for an upgrade by the time I went to the Sprint store. Every time I got the itch to get a new phone, the first thing I would ask the clerk was “where are the indestructible phones?” I would often get a puzzled look, and I would proceed to explain just how durable my flip phone was. Of course, they would proceed to tell me that there is no phone like that one, so I would leave with my trusty Sanyo.

However, eventually, my tech side got the best of me, and in the world of mini laptops and net books, iPads, iPhones, and affordable smart phones, I decided it was time for me and my wife to upgrade. After much toiling and playing at the Sprint store, I decided to go with the HTC Evo Shift built on the Android platform, and Allie went with the LG Optimus.

The HTC Evo Shift

The LG Optimus

This really is a great little device. I have found that, with the exception of writing a document, this phone has essentially replaced my laptop. It goes with me everywhere, I use it for texting (which I NEVER did on my old phone), web searches with Google Voice, GPS, as an MP3 player, portable television, and of course, Angry Birds. The versatility of the phone has been truly amazing, and its reliability has been, well, above average. My old flip phone had to be restarted due to lock up, seriously, twice that I can remember. There have been a few instances with this phone due to trying to do too much at once, or an over abundance of updates. The other thing that I really like about this model is the slide out keyboard. At 6’-4” tall, I have been blessed with large hands so the little glass touch screen keyboard it not going to cut it. The keyboard on the EVO Shift is a bit on the small side, but with some practice, I have managed just fine. As far as ruggedness goes, I purchased a hard plastic cover that mounts to the back of my phone. It then has a second hard cover that slides over the glass faceplate of my Evo and locks in place to the back piece. When the phone is not in use, or attached to my hip, it is secured in its own hard plastic cocoon. Should I upgrade the phone in the future, I may look more into something like the Samsung Galaxy, which my father-in-law recently purchased.

The Samsung Galaxy

The screen is bigger then my Evo Shift’s, therefore typing on the screen is a little easier. However, it is so light, I feel like I am holding a Noisy Cricket.

"I feel like I'm gonna break this damn thing!"

I'm Still Here!

2011-06-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to my readers - I have been diligently working on a new project, and I will be adding new posts soon. Thanks for stopping by!

It’s A Spray Paint Party!

2011-05-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

When my wife and I went to Portland, Oregon, we wanted to bring home something unusual, something to really capture the weirdness and coolness of the city. We landed on a gumball machine. It wasn’t old or original or anything, but it was interesting. The actual base of the gumball machines are made of plastic, the gumball tanks are clear plastic and they sit on a wooden platform supported by a balustrade.

Perfect.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a before photo, but here is the gist of it:

There are two plastic bases – one was black, the other green. The balustrade post was purple and chipped. All of the internal mechanical parts were ripped out and just sitting in the clear plastic gumball tanks.

Here is a photo of the gumball machine during prepping for restoration:

The base of the gumball machine.

The tanks and bases have been removed, so all that is showing here is the purple balustrade and tank base plates before sanding (which was done by my wife, Allie).

After Allie sanded the support base, I went to work on painting and putting it all back together. For the restoration of this and the next project discussed in this post, I used spray paint only, as did Allie on her projects, which you can read about here.

The colors that I used are Rustoleum’s Regal Red and Canvas White for both jobs.

Regal Red.

Canvas White.

I painted the purple base white and the green and black gumball bases red. I left the hardware the original metallic color (we had considered painting them silver, but decided we liked the original brass instead).

The finished project.

I used Devcon’s High Strength 5 Minute Epoxy Gel to put all the major components back together.

The epoxy - this stuff is awesome!

Most of the internal components were set aside (possibly for a future art project) simply because this gumball machine is no longer operational. As a matter of fact, Allie and I were thinking about filling the tanks with marbles or dice (we would be open to other suggestions – feel free to leave them in the comments section). I did however fix the exterior hardware – the trap door and turnkeys. Sadly, one turnkey is missing, so I am on the hunt to find a replacement.

The missing turnkey is on the left - anyone know where I can get one?

After that project was completed, I turned my attention to two filing cabinets that I bought at Goodwill. Originally, my thought was to replace my old, mismatched filing cabinets for a tall 4 or 5 drawer unit. After unsuccessfully looking for a tall cabinet for a reasonable price, I decided to get two almost identical cabinets – they were both the same height, but one was wider then the other. I figured they would look okay stacked up, which is how they were at the Goodwill store.

Of course, I don’t have a before photo, but I do have a pre-prep image:

The grey outer shell of the cabinet.

Just imagine another 2 drawer set in metallic grey, and that’s what they looked like. I decided that I wanted to add some pop to these cabinets, so I painted them. I used the same white and red spray paint combo from the gum ball machine. Those colors actually went very well with the wall colors in my office, which consists of Venetian Stucco (an off white) and Red Delicious (a deep red).

As I mentioned before, I was going to stack them, but after doing so, they just seemed too big and bulky and awkwardly placed in the corner. So Allie suggested that I make the cabinets the supports for my desk. Originally, I was a little hesitant – my desk was supported by two industrial sawhorses; what I thought was a unique solution (also thought of by my wife).

The desk with sawhorse support. Note the old, mismatched filing cabinets in the corner.

I would like to take a moment to point out the paper shades in the windows - those are no longer hanging in my office. Allie, my wonderful and talented wife, made me, that's right, made me, my own custom Roman shades. You can read about that project here.

However, the case to change out the horses for the cabinets was a strong one – I could have more readily accessible file storage and stronger (wider) supports for the desk. I was also able to better hide all of the seemingly hundreds of cables and plugs out of view and de-clutter the corner of my office. So, after much wrangling, Allie and I were able to swap out the sawhorses for the file cabinets, and they look great:

The larger (wider) filing cabinet.

The narrow cabinet.

Wide shot of completed cabinets and desktop.

View of cabinet color and wall color

Both projects took the course of a weekend to complete, and all in all, I am very happy with how they came out. We got them finished just in time to beat out the Arizona heat.

Thanks for reading!

More From GarageMahals.....

2011-05-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

So far, 2011 has been one of the better years for GarageMahals, LLC – a company owned and operated by Michael Rhodig in Phoenix, Arizona. As many of you know, Lone Wolf Drafting and Design has done extensive work with GarageMahals over the past few years. Michael typically designs the garages and provides sketches that I turn into 3D renderings. So far, we have worked on a couple of garages this year. The first garage, designed to hold a private collection of Ferraris, is shown below (note differences in artwork and cabinet colors in some of the images; the renderings provided allowed Michael the ability to show his client different detail options that were available):

Layout showing artwork and blue cabinet system to the left

Looking across the garage.

Note the garage door graphic on the right.


Same angle as above, note the different door graphic (and yes, it is supposed to upside down)

Another view showing blue cabinets.

Same view as above showing silver cabinets and alternate door graphic.

Same view as above 2 images with different door graphic.

After this design was completed, Michael wanted to present a design that featured a unifying chrome band that ran around the perimeter of the garage.

Option with chrome banding.

Another view with chrome banding.

Finally, Michael came up with an additional detail for the client’s consideration – a perforated panel in the corners of the garage.

Perforated corner panel detail.

Another garage developed by GarageMahals centered around a unique graphic on the back of the garage doors. Michael wanted to create the illusion that the actual garage extended beyond the garage doors by creating a realistic looking pseudo garage. Therefore, I had to model and render to separate garage for this project – a fake garage that would be used to illustrate Micheal's door idea and the actual garage that would be constructed for the client. The creation of the fake garage posed a unique challenge, as I had to imagine where the owner would be standing in his garage to create the proper perspective so it would look real when the observer was looking at the doors. After determining the correct position, I had to take a snapshot from that location.

Left door graphic

Right door graphic.

From there, the rest of the garage was fairly easy – a nice wainscoting system, metallic walls and custom columns between the garage doors.

This was the original wainscoting system.

Alternate wainscoting panels.

Looking at the doors from the center of the garage.

Same view as above with black and white doors.

Back of the garage.

Looking across the garage.

Most recently, Michael had the opportunity to step outside of his usual role as a garage designer, and was given the chance to create an entry way for a private, in home movie theater. Michael presented a couple of different options, one using a metallic wall covering with a two tone option, and a second design using a interesting dimpled material. The results for both designs were quite stunning:

View of the theater doors with 2 tone walls.

Crystal lighting and ceiling design.

Red carpet strip with Oscar Statues.

Oscar Statue.

Theater entry with dimpled material.

Oscar with dimpled material behind.

As we were developing this concept, Michael felt that the reflectivity of the dimpled material was not being illustrated quite right. The problem was that the material was so reflective that it was hard to determine how this much of the material would react in such a small space, especially because I was using such a small sample to base the image off of. Therefore, I created 3 images of the same shot with different reflectivity values for the wall material so Michael could determine which image best showed the material in the most realistic manner.

The least amount of reflectivity.

A little more....

The highest amount (anything more would have been to mirror-like).

We hope the rest of 2011 will continue to be as profitable and interesting as the first quarter. Thanks for reading!

Jade Phoenix and Mega Tokyo 2041

2011-05-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hello all – This is just a quick a follow up to the original Jade Phoenix and Mega Tokyo post. Here is the Hugh Geit Research and Development Facility at night. Thanks for stopping by!

For more information on this project, please follow these links:

http://jp-studios.com/news.php

www.lonewolfdrafting.com

http://www.indiedb.com/company/jade-phoenix

http://www.indiedb.com/members/lonewolf1211

The facility from above.

Central atrium.

Central atrium with bridge and elevator cores.

Front view.


Side view.

Rear view.

Jade Phoenix and Mega Toyko 2041

2011-05-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all – I have been away for awhile working on some very exciting projects. First off, I will be adding a couple of new garages and a layout for a private, in home theater lobby. I have also been working on a new dining concept and most recently, a new video game concept.

A while back, I was working on a video game concept for a group called “Always Beyond”. I really enjoyed working on the concept art work, but unfortunately, do to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, the project has been put on hiatus.

Always Beyond: The Pavilion

Always Beyond: The Cathedral Hanger

Always Beyond: The Tower

So, after that news was relayed to me, I got back to work doing my usual stuff – images for clients and promo work for my portfolio. Then, out of nowhere, I got a call from Steven Lundberg, a gentleman that had contacted me a few times through my page on DeviantArt.com. Every now and again I would see a post telling me that he liked a particular image that I had created, and we spoke through messages on a few occasions. But this time, he actually called me, on the phone – which was a bit of a surprise, to say the least. He called to invite me to work with his team, Jade Phoenix, who is currently developing a new video game based on some classic Anime TV shows, such as AD Police and Bubblegum Crisis.

Who? What? Yeah, that’s what I said. I love the Sci-Fi genre, but I have always leaned more toward the Blade Runner, Firefly and Star Trek side of the Sci-Fi spectrum. I have a few friends that really got into the Anime scene, but I just never got into it, so I was a little baffled as to why Mr. Lundberg would want my help…with anything. Apparently, Steve liked my design style and wanted me to bring some of architectural expertise and graphic vision into his project, and I said okay. So, after getting a crash course in Anime, watching a few episodes of AD Police as well as researching some of the other shows mentioned, I got to work on the “test building” – a simple u-shaped structure that didn’t have all that much to it. There was a basic blueprint in the “Bubblegum Crisis” handbook that had the layout for me to use as a guide.

The basic layout concept of what would become the Hugh Geit R+D Facility.

Steve wanted to see it more of a doughnut shape with an atrium in the middle, and that was it – after that, I was on my own to create. So, off I started coming up with a basic geometry – continue scrolling to see the black and white model evolution.

The under-roof supports.

The environment.

The roof shield from above.

The roof shield from below with additional supports.

At this point, the building started to get a bit more complex, and after sending these latter images to Steve, the building was given a name: The Hugh Giet Research and Development Facility.

HG R+D from above.

The front of the facility.

The inner lobby with elevated decks.

The central atrium with lateral bridge and elevator cores.


Back end of the building showing the roof and truss system.

The landing pad for VTOL aircraft.

The landing pad with a VTOL aircraft from above.

The front of the VTOL aircraft on the pad.

At this point, Steve started sharing images with his colleagues and as well as www.indiedb.com – an independent gamer/ developer site, as well as on the Jade Phoenix blog and website: http://megatokyo2041.wordpress.com and http://jp-studios.com.

Over the past couple of days, I have been rendering the model in daylight conditions. I plan to render them in nighttime conditions at well. Here are some facts about this model:

- Modeled in Google SketchUp Pro.

- Rendered in Artlantis Rendering Engine v 1.1.

- Contains over 1100 individual points of light.

- Has a file size of 800 megabytes (and continues to grow as more items are tweaked and added).

- The trees alone account for 300 megabytes of information.

- Building footprint is approximately 20,000 square feet, and the roof shield stretches out to approximately 100,000 square feet.

- The Hugh Geit building has multiple elevated walkways and 4 exterior elevator cores.

I will share more images and designs as they are created - thanks for reading!

It’s For the Kids, Right?

2011-04-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I specialize in design and 3D rendering. I went to Roger Williams University to study architecture. For as long as I can remember, I have loved to design and draw whatever popped into my head. One of my earliest and fondest memories revolves around Legos as a way for me to express my designs and ideas. I love Legos – I always have fun putting together models. As a kid, I would get a set of Legos, build the model, play with it, take it apart, and combine it with previous sets to make some sort of “super thing”, whatever that thing was. Sometimes it was a tank, other times it would be a fortress, aircraft, whatever. For me, Lego building was a great escape.

Ahhh - memories.

Even as an adult, I still have a deep appreciation for Legos, and if they weren’t so expensive, I would probably still be buying them. So, when I started visiting the Choates with Allie, I was happy to see that all of their kids also loved to play with Legos, and I jumped right in helping them build various creations. Then I found out David, my brother in law, also loved Legos.

Things just got serious, people.

Every evening, after the kids went to bed, David and I would dump out all of the Legos that the kids owned and we would just start building. I had found a kindred spirit. For some reason, we were always on the same page, and we could just sit there for hours building away. Here are some of the creations that we collectively worked on.

“Huey” Helicopter and Fast Attack Jet

This was the first major building job that took a few nights to complete (we would actually put the unfinished model out the kid’s reach so we could continue the next night). We started with the “Huey”. We looked up the Huey on the Internet and did the best we could with what we had to emulate Bell’s UH-1 Iroquois helicopter, an iconic piece of flying machinery that has served in every major conflict since Viet-Nam. We were able to build the body and get it pretty close to the correct proportions, but we had some issues – the original rotor was all wrong and our skids were just terrible. So, it was off to Wal-Mart to find some parts – yeah, it got that involved. We found a small chopper model for $10.00 that contained all the parts we needed – a spinning rotor with finished blades and a small landing skid that we used as a guide to building a larger version. The end result was pretty decent (despite the multiple colors, but that is the price you pay for combining sets).

Jet on the left, Huey on the right.

Overhead view.

Tail, rotor and engine detail.

Rescue chain.


Engines.

Landing skids.

Because David and Sami have twin boys, there has to be two toys to play with. So, we built a fast attack jet with working landing gear. After all, the Huey has to be able to battle something, right? Our jet is complete with a top mounted turret gun and after burner with flames. The boys loved them, and played with them constantly until the day of the massive crash, to which one of the boys responded with a heavy heart, “oh no, there are so many pieces….” I was not present at the time of the downing of the Huey, but I heard it was a heartbreaking event.

Apocalypse Vehicle

Well, David and I couldn’t have sad children on our hands, so we mothballed the Huey and the jet and got to work on the next masterpiece. This build was going to have to be awesome, we were going to have to outdo ourselves and blow away all previous models. Our solution: the ultimate apocalypse vehicle. We went all in with this one – we even decided to use pink pieces from David’s daughter’s Lego sets. We started with a monster base vehicle – massive oversized tires, multiple compartments, each with flip up roof access, a massive plow attachment on the front, and bays for three secondary vehicles. The AV also boasted multiple gunner stations, look out posts, communications tower and armory. Not only does the AV contain all of the above mentioned awesomeness, but it was built like a tank. After hearing about the Huey crash, David and I resolved that this vehicle was going to have to be “boy proof”, meaning that is going to have to stand up to some punishing playtime. We used heavy duty double wide blocks for the walls, and triple secured all flat pieces to make sure that this tank truly was that, a tank.

The AV.

The AV crawling over rubble.

Now, as I mentioned before, there are two boys, so there has to be more then the one vehicle (beside, a tank this awesome would cause a war between the boys as to who got to play with it first). Enter in the secondary vehicles: a road warrior style ATV, a glider that launched off the back, and speed boat for water combat.

The secondary vehicles - the boat in the foreground, the glider in the back.

Launch ramp up. Note the glider in position at the upper left hand side.

Ramp down, showing the ATV in its bay.

ATV launched.

I was not there when the boys discovered the completed vehicle, but I have heard that it was akin to finding the Holy Grail. The AV held up for the remainder of our visit, although I do not know the current status of our masterpiece. I am looking forward to the next visit so David and I can build the next great thing (hopefully, more Legos will have been purchased so we will have more parts to work with).

Here are a few images of a past creation – nothing as grand and epic as what we had created in our most recent visit, but certainly worth a mention, as it was the first time David and I collaborated on a couple of models.

Of course, when I got home, I built a quick little model for myself that I purchased in Medford – nothing terribly fancy, but it is a great reminder of the fun I had.

Lego building has become quite the event for David and I, and whenever we feel a bit silly about it, we just remind ourselves, it’s for the kids, right?

Portland, Oregon

2011-04-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

Let me just start by saying, what a cool little city! Really – a very cool little city. Allie and I decided that we were going to do the “no chain challenge”, meaning that we were going to immerse ourselves in the local shops and eateries, no McDonalds or IHOPs – just unique-to-Portland places. Given that Portland really is a unique city, it was not hard to do. We stayed at the Hotel 50 by the Willamette River – a nice little 3.5 star place.

Hotel 50

Our first day started late, as we had to drive up from Medford which took about 4 hours. After getting checked in, Allie and I were on the hunt for food. With Portland being a fairly small city, it was pretty easy for us to just leave the truck in the garage of the hotel for the duration of our stay and walk to our destination, wherever that may be. We decided to pop into a nice little Italian joint called Pazzo Ristorante – a lovely restaurant located next to Hotel Vintage Plaza.

Pazzo Ristorante is located on ground floor to the right of the photo.

Afterward, we walked around a bit and headed back to our hotel, all the while looking at the beautiful buildings and parks peppered throughout our route.

Just one of the many older buildings that make up Portland.

The Nines - A beautifully ornate building.

The next day, we started with breakfast at the Rivers Edge Café for a fantastic morning meal. From there, it was off to see the sights of Portland, starting with Portlandia.

Portlandia.


A plaque tells the story of Portlandia, but the rain makes it hard to read. Sorry!

This is a pretty cool sight to see, as it is something you would not expect to see in the middle of a block of office buildings. Portlandia is the second largest copper statue (with the Statue of Liberty being the first). The statue is based on the design of the city seal. It depicts a woman dressed in classical clothes, holding a trident in the left hand and reaching down with the right hand to greet visitors to the building. The statue itself is 34 feet, 10 inches high, however, if she were standing, the woman would be about 50 feet tall.

Next, we were off to The Lovejoy Columns. However, before I get to those, we passed an awesome little park that focused on a unique modern style fountain in the center. In the entire plaza sloped in toward the fountain, which at its center, had a large granite ball dedicated to the teachers of Portland. Part of the park had a small coffee shop with outdoor seating that was covered by an amazing yet simple glass canopy. Speaking of glass canopies, we noticed that there were many throughout the city, and here is my theory: it rains constantly in Portland, so outdoor coverings are necessary. However, if all of the canopies were made of more conventional materials, like canvas or concrete, then Portland would be shrouded in shade on their rare sunny days. The glass allows light through will protecting the people from the wet weather – a great large scale architectural response to Portland’s unique climatic conditions.

An example of a clean, modern style of design.

Massive glass canopies provide protection during Portland's never ending rain.

However, there were not enough glass coverings to protect Allie and I as we made our way to the Lovejoy Columns. As we got close it began to pour, so we had to take refuge in a small shoe shop next to the columns. I tried to get some nice shots, but the weather made it rather difficult.

The Lovejoy Columns - the rain made it difficult to capture any really decent images.

A closeup of the remaining artwork.

A little history: The Lovejoy ramp was constructed in 1926 & 1927 to carry Lovejoy Street over the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway's Hoyt Street freight yard. Noted bridge engineer Gustav Lindenthal, who was involved in the design of a number of Portland bridges, designed part of the Lovejoy ramp.

Some of the concrete columns of the Lovejoy ramp were decorated with detailed artwork. Though technically graffiti, it was done with much more care then most taggers. The art was the work of Greek immigrant Tom E. Stefopoulos, who worked as a watchman for the SP&S railroad from 1948 to 1952, and painted on the columns during dull moments.

The columns in their original state.

Next stop on the list: the Central Library. This was a stop for my wife, as I am not a big fan of libraries (after all, I am from NY, and after seeing the NYC Public Library, all other’s seem sort of “eh”). However, I was in for a surprise as this was not the usual municipal style building that most libraries are, and why would it be, we were in Portland! This was a beautiful building, the front had a very church like entrance; grand and with purpose. Once inside, the users are greeted with a small foyer that opened into an amazing central staircase that ascended 4 floors under a tremendous decorative frosted skylight. The first run of the staircase consisted of black granite treads with amazingly ornate carvings on each riser.

The front of the Central Library.

Just one of the many phrased etched into the stairs - this one is Allie's favorite.

Each room of the library had such a grand, monolithic feel; you felt like you were in a library, a place of knowledge and learning. Each floor was just as beautiful as the one before it. After the first rise of stairs, the staircase split off into mirroring stairs made of white marble.

View up the stairs to the fourth floor lobby.

The view down.

Once at the top of the stairs, you had an unobstructed view of the frosted skylight, and you could see the final floor, which had a balcony looking back over the stairs. The ceiling of the fourth floor lobby had a grand glass dome supported by 4 columns, truly a breathtaking sight.

Frosted skylight at the top of the stairs.

The dome in a ring of light

Dome glass.

We also took some time to visit the International Rose Test Garden to view the various roses. However, all of the roses had just been pruned when we got there, but it wasn’t a total loss. We were there on a rare sunny and clear day, so the view from the vista point was fantastic!

The view from the Rose Garden.

As I have mentioned many times before, I am from New York, and whenever I was in the city, I made it a point to visit street food vendors. It is in my humble opinion that with exception of late night diners, the best food in NY can be found in cart food. It is something that I have missed here in Phoenix, so when Allie told me that Portland had lots of cart food vendors, I told her that I would make it a point to eat as much of it as I possible could. In NY, street vendors have a tendency to spread out, everyone stakes out a territory – the hot dog has this corner while the soft pretzel guy had the next. In Portland, all of the vendors occupy a shared space, creating a park of cart food. When I die, I expect that this is what Heaven will look like:

Cart food heaven!!

I had a tasty German bratwurst loaded with all the goodness one would expect to find on such a meal. It was hard to decide where to go, but in the end, I think I made a good choice.

That evening, my wife and I decided to take in a movie, Portland style. As per our no chain challenge, we decided that we were not going to sit at a Lowe’s or AMC – nope, it was off to the Laurelhurst Theater in the Northeast section of Portland on the east side of the Willamette River.

The original Laurelhurst marquee all aglow in neon.

This theater was unique in that you could have dinner and a beer with popcorn and other theater treats in the theater while watching the movie! I have never had this type of movie going experience before, so I was excited. We got to the showing of “True Grit” early, so we wound up having our dinner in the dining section of the lobby. But we purchased a big pitcher of a local brew, got our snacks and enjoyed our flick, definitely an enjoyable time.

The last place we stopped on our last day was a Portland must visit: Voodoo Doughnuts. While the building is not architecturally significant, the doughnuts were pretty freakin’ fantastic, and as with many things in Portland, they were presented with flair:

Voodoo Doughnuts: The magic is in the hole! (Well, not for these guys)

All in all, we had a great time visiting Portland, and I hope we have a chance to do it again soon. If you have an opportunity to go, do it – you won’t regret it!

PS: Remember these?

Bill and Tedd's time machine?

There are still quite a few left on the streets of Portland.

Keep it weird!

I'm Back!

2011-04-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hello all! After being on vacation for the past week and a half, I have returned to work and I will be posting very soon about my latest projects and my fantastic time in Medford and Portland, Oregon.

44 hours and about 1200 miles of driving - a great time indeed!

Back to work! NOW!

The Storage Turd 5000

2011-03-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have proudly held our heads high when it comes to renovating our home. We have worked hard on making our floors, walls, bathrooms and kitchen as pretty as we can possibly make them. We were also very happy with the exterior of our house – it needed some work, but it was still nice and certainly passable. Then God intervened. In early October of 2010, the Phoenix Valley was slammed with not one, but two wicked hail storms in the same day and my new neighborhood was right in the middle of it. After the storm, I, like many of my neighbors filed claims with their respective insurance companies, and work began (and is still going on) all around the community.

Hailstones in our front yard.

One of the larger hailstones.

Our damage bill included the roof, A/C unit, large section of fence, the patio cover and our shed. TECA Roofing (who I highly recommend) did a fantastic job repairing or replacing everything, except our shed. Apparently, shed replacement was the one thing that TECA did not do. But, my wife and I gave it a “whatever”, and concentrated on the big stuff that was being repaired; the shed was damaged, but it was still standing. As the larger items were nearing completion, Allie and I started shed shopping, along with everyone else in the Valley. Wonderful. Just about every place in Phoenix was sold out of sheds, and the few that were remaining were very expensive, so we delayed our purchase for a little while longer. Finally, we found one well within our price range – things were now in motion.

First, we had to get rid of the existing shed.

The original shed, the Storage Turd 1000.

Allie and I did not want to deal with the demolition of the old shed so we sold it on Craigslist. The person who bought it also removed it and hauled it away.

Next step – painting the trim and laundry room of the house. With the money we saved on the new shed (and with what we made on the old shed), we were able to hire house painters for a little bit of a touch up. The fact is some of the paint was peeling, so with the old shed gone, the time was just right to paint (the original shed was placed up against the laundry room wall, so with the shed gone, that wall could be accessed). We hired Richard Dumholf and his crew who did a fantastic job for a very reasonable rate. In the Phoenix Valley, he can be contacted at 602-525-8904.

The front of our house with the original trim color.

A closeup of the original trim (shown with some storm damage).

The house with our new trim color.

Close up of the new trim color and house numbers.

After two days of painting, the job was completed and the new shed was delivered from Home Depot and it was time to build.

The shed we bought is a pretty basic Arrow storage shed measuring 10’ wide by 8’ deep with a maximum height of 7’ at the ridge line. It had a smaller footprint then the original, but at least I could stand up in it (the original only had a height of 6' at the ridge line). The entire box that it came in was about 7’ long by 3’ wide and only 6 inches thick. EVERY part was going to have to be assembled. Tons of panels and what looked like thousands of little screws, bolts and washers of varying shapes and sizes lay inside our cardboard Pandora’s Box. And, just as with the real thing, once it was opened we couldn’t close it back up. As a matter of fact, Allie had looked up “Arrow Shed Construction” on YouTube and she found a video of a man describing his experience. Most notable, he mentioned that he couldn’t PAY anyone to help him, and it took 3 weeks for him to build. Ugh. Allie and I had to take a step back, reaffirm our love for each other, and get to work.

Of course, about an hour in, we asked: "why did we do this to ourselves" and "why, God, why"? Well, we were committed, so no point in whining about it, right?

Step one, the floor kit. This actually wasn’t so bad. After clearing away the old floor (the buyer of the old shed did not want it) and re-grading the ground, we were able to lay down the aluminum floor supports in a fairly short amount of time. Then, weather delay. As we were about to start building the walls, the wind kicked up. The directions for the shed clearly stated not to build in windy conditions. Unfortunately, we had already started putting up the corners for the walls, so we had to disassemble what we had erected above the floor frame (we left the frame in place) and call it a day. We picked up construction bright and early on the following Saturday morning and continued into the waning daylight of Sunday evening.


Floor kit assembly with corner wall posts and bracing (this was after the wind delay).

We started with the walls, again, followed by laying down the plywood deck for the floor.

Walls with exposed floor frame.

Walls with plywood deck.

Close up of deck over frame - I used self tapping screws
to bite into the aluminum framing.

After the deck was down, it was time to finish the walls. By now, Allie and I were pretty tired, and a little overwhelmed by what lay ahead of us – namely the roof. But, we pressed on….

Completed walls with floor and roof gables.

The roof was probably the most challenging part of the whole thing, as most of the work had to be done on a ladder while holding large panels and tiny screws. After fighting with the roof for what felt like forever, we were done with the really hard stuff. Lastly, we had to add trim and the front doors. A couple of hours later, and the whole shed was finished.

Inside ceiling support.

Ceiling support toward front door.

We survived. We didn’t kill each other. There was no ritual suicide involved. We are not divorced. The shed did not beat us. However, at the end of the day, it is just a shed. It is not pretty or fancy, and it is not the first thing we will be showing out guests who visit. After all of the large renovation projects that we have done, this one, though laborious and large, just seemed sort of “eh” when all was said and done. Hence the name, Storage Turd 5000.

The completed Storage Turd 5000. It's not so bad!

Should you decide to attempt to build one of these things, here is some advice:

1. Be patient. Seriously, this is going to take some time - Rome was not built in a day, and neither is an Arrow Storage Shed.

2. Have a helper ready to go - you're gonna need them.

3. Be nice to your helper!

4. Keep your instructions near by at all times and re-read them again and again.

5. Keep track of your parts. We separated out all of our pieces by number. This will save you a lot of time and aggravation.

6. We found gloves to be very helpful - the panels are thin and sharp - you could really hurt yourself, so be careful.

7. Think outside the box - the directions are a little vague in some places, as are the diagrams. There also seemed to be some gaps in the instructions. So, think ahead and take nothing for granted. This is only a partial paint-by-numbers project - you will need your brain!

Good Luck!

The Zombie Apacolypse (Part 2)

2011-03-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

I have returned from my brief hiatus, and as promised, I bring you the ADOT MCV – the zombie apocalypse version!

The ADOT MCV - Civilian Version

The ADOT MCV - Zombie Apocalypse Version

For this version, I decided to show the vehicle all “buttoned up”, that is all of the doors are closed, all of the stairs are folded in, and the outriggers are retracted.

The interior of the vehicle really hasn’t changed, as the ZA edition of the MCV really focuses on beefing up the exterior. The first and most noticeable addition to the MCV is the giant plow (aka, the “zombie catcher”) mounted on the front of the vehicle. The purpose of this attachment, other then mowing down hordes of the undead, is to push abandoned vehicles out of the way, as well as to punch through the occasional concrete wall.

The Zombie Catcher

The next most noticeable attachment is all of the window guards. Obviously you don’t want any weak points in your mobile zombie stronghold, and windows are in fact, the number one weak spot. Therefore, every window and door has been fitted with plate steel, heavy bars or a combination of the two.

Window and door guards provide extra security.

Rear doors in lock down with rear ramp up.

All of the larger spotlights have also been fitted with protective grills. The roof is also lined with razor wire for added protection for the gun crew.

Razor wire at the roof line.

Yes, the gun crew.

Gun crew station on the roof.

Their post is located on the roof; built off the roof rack. There are two gunner stations, one forward left, and the other rear right. Both stations are semi-protected from the elements with impromptu constructed overhead covers. The turrets are salvaged from either a military installation or military vehicles (you have to figure that during the zombie apocalypse, military equipment would have been deployed, and possible abandoned as the zombie epidemic spread and overran military bases and checkpoints). The forward section of the roof rack (the narrow portion) can be used to store ammo boxes for the turrets.

Gun turrets with ammo boxes beyond.

Overhead view.

This was definitely a fun a little project to work on. Most of the time, as I have stated before, my work is pretty straight forward – a client tells me what they need, and I create it. Even my promo stuff is usually rooted in architectural design and theory. This was a fun departure from my usual stuff. Please, write back, tell me what you think, and feel free to describe (or show) your ideal zombie apocalypse survival vehicle! I hope you enjoyed it!

A Quick Update....

2011-03-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

I have had to put down my blogging pen for the past few days, as work and some other projects have taken up my time. I will be posting again real soon, starting with the conclusion of the Zombie Apocalypse (Part 2) post, so please stay with me!!!

The Zombie Apocalypse (Part 1)

2011-03-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

At this point, I think a lot of my readers know that I really enjoy my job and my work. However, with the economy still in the toilet, work can be hard to come by, and I have to make sure that I am still good at what I do, and I have to find a way to pass the time. Usually, I do this by creating rooms or buildings – something to show my design and rendering abilities. However, every now and then, I take a different path by endeavoring in more creative pursuits. Up until now, my non-architectural creations have been relatively small; Workbench, No. 3 and the Modern Art Gallery featuring several original art concepts.

I also keep myself busy by creating various vehicles such as the Raptor and Rabbit aircraft concepts, along with the “Low Rider” aircraft that will be featured in a later post, but here is a sneak peak:

The Low Riders over New York City

So, during some recent downtime, I decided to design a new vehicle for the zombie apocalypse – strap in folks. First, a congrats to Allie and Sami for correctly guessing the answer to the “Snapshot” posts – yes – the new vehicle is a mobile command center.

Of course, during the ZA, it’s not like Detroit is going to be pumping out any new custom cars or trucks, so a vehicle is going to have to be salvaged and converted for its new found mission: transporting survivors through the never-ending hordes of the undead. Before I can convert a vehicle into a zombie killing machine, I first must design a vehicle to be converted, but what to convert? A bus, an RV, how about a large SUV? Eh, it’s all been done before. So, I had to create a “civilian” (non ZA vehicle) first; that is, a vehicle that you might see on the road today, and then from that, create the ZA version.

I drew my inspiration from my father-in-law, Daniel Doyle. This is a guy that has busted his butt as a highway paving inspector for, among other companies, the Arizona Department of Transportation. This is not easy work – the pavement can get upwards of 150 degrees at the surface along with 110 degree ambient air temperature. On top of that, he needs site plans, maps, his cell phone, a 2-way radio, soil and asphalt testing equipment and a myriad of other paper work that he has to have by his side. Currently, he does all of this from a cab of a stripped down F-150 – what a pain (and clearly inadequate for any kind of zombie killing application).

A standard "no frills" Ford F-150 Pick Up Truck - Dan's current mobile office.

Enter the ADOT Mobile Command Vehicle (MCV).

The ADOT MCV.

This vehicle can hold a 6 person crew, all the maps and charts that he would need, computerized work stations and a tool garage at the rear of the vehicle with ramp access.

Map and chart room.


Workstations and central light table with overhead monitors.

Rear storage and access ramp.

Rear bay tool shed.

The entire vehicle sits 3 feet off the ground and features a liquid cooled floor as well as a commercial grade HVAC system. It would be designated as a “wide load” vehicle, meaning that it is 10’-0” wide, allowing for plenty of room to work and move around. It also features a left and right side drive along with multiple video cameras along the hull to make it easier to drive in tight areas as well as construction zones. The vehicles oversized tires and chassis height allow it to go just about anywhere, and its massive flood lights allow work to continue at night, when in general, it is cooler to work.

Left and right side driver seats.

Oversized tires provide additional clearance.

An abundance of high powered floodlights provide the ability to work at night.

The MCV also boasts a massive exterior storage rack on the roof with additional tires, a water tank and a compressed air tank. Toward the front of the vehicle on the roof, there is a collapsible antenna that can link up to the Internet and the ADOT intranet for fast access to changing and updated plans. The smaller antennas are for local communication between work crews and maintains a streaming real time feed for work progress, including GPS updates to show the exact position of the vehicle and how much road has been paved each day.

Roof rack with collapsible antenna on the left.

Roof rack with water and air tanks on the right.

This is the base vehicle that was created for the ZA – thanks, Dan.

Next up, the conversion – stay tuned!

PS – there will be more images of this concept posted on my website in the very near future – check it out! www.lonewolfdrafting.com

Snapshot!

2011-03-01T18:58:00.000-08:00

Another hint.....

Snapshot!

2011-03-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

Just a hint of an upcoming promo project - start guessing!