Construction of the tower and materials

When constructing the tower i wanted to use my hand skills as much as possible as this was an area I felt I needed to improve on. I also wanted to try and keep the cost of materials low. To do this I decided that i would try use cheaper materials like MDF as it it is very easy to work with, and gives good results. I wanted to keep laser cutting to a minimum and only use it for detail on the model.

During this project one of my aims was to use processes that I hadn't used before such as moulding and casting. This would be particularly useful for making the legs of the tower. I had already decided that i needed to make them in sections as i would need to feed the wires for the lighting of the tower up through them. It was a good process to use because in the event the tower legs were damaged it would be easy to cast more.

During the construction of the tower I used quite a lot MDF as it very easy and quick to work with giving good results. I didn't want to use too much Chemiwood as it is very expensive and you can get similar results with MDF. I did however use chemiwood for making the former for the mould of the tower legs. This was agood idea as i was able to sand the chemiwood and sandseal it to a really nice smooth surface, perfect for the tower leg.

I only wanted to use acrylic mainly for the cladding and detail on the model. Having made the shapes using MDF e.g Gunwharf Quays it would be easy to clad the detail on using 1mm acrylic with etch. I also felt this would be quicker than making it any other way.