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This is a brief post as we are now held up by a huge steel pipe running through the middle of our Cyc room, that has to be removed before we can do anymore

Cladding has begun - we used 3 mill MDF board as this was the cheapest option and is very easy to bend.

We found that it was very hard to counter sink screws into the MDF so opted to Glue and Staple the board to the framing.

We also decided to add a few more nogs in the framing to give the walls more strength, provide more gluing surface and minimize warping of the boards.

The Staples we used were very long and were fired via an air compressor so they sank in deep enough and we fired them in every couple of inches. This along with “liquid nails” glue should be fine.

Why we did not cut down that pipe at the very beginning I do not know. As I said in our very first post “I have a feeling this may come back to haunt us” now it is in the way and stopping us completing the cladding. It now needs to be removed without damaging the existing framing. We will be attempting to cut this down over the weekend and will update you all on our progress or subsequent disaster Monday morning.

I will apologies in advance for the no-doubt use of incorrect terminology and mathematical ignorance. If two people as mathematically challenged as Barry and I can build a Cyc room then so can you.

Instead of working out the pitch and radius of the curve or whatever other mathematical measurement was needed we jumped on the Pro-Cyc website and “borrowed” the measurements of one of their systems.

After looking at a few of their systems we decided on the following:

• Corner Module: 45° with a 3'6" radius
• Cove Modules: 3'6" radius x 4' wide

These measurements seemed optimal for lighting the corners and shooting multiple angles

We then scrounged up some old off cuts of plywood and cut out the curves; for the floor and the 2 corners.

As the corners have to be wider then the bottom cove we had cut out 2 lots of separate curves.

For the bottom of the corners we simply spaced out the bottom curved pieces and nailed one to every second post.

Now to save even more money we cut our spare 2x2 timber into 1x1 and used these to run horizontally between each of the curves and simply screwed them into place– thus creating the bottom cove, forming the basis of our curved wall.

To make the side/vertical curves we simply did the same process and nailed the boards vertically.

For the corner we just spaced out the bottom curves on the same radius and screwed them in place with a few off cuts.

The original plan was to bend timber around the curve. But after thinking that sounded a bit hard, we decided we would instead use plaster to create the bottom curves. So we simply stapled building paper and chicken wire around the bottom curve. This will provide a more then adequate base for the plaster.

We borrowed an old Staple Gun (with no safety) and Air compressor, to do the job. This thing had a heap of power and according to Barry it really hurts when you are shot with one.

This was far easier then expected. Stay tuned as we will soon be attempting cladding and plastering.

This is the second installment of our Cyclorama building attempt - The aim is for 2 non builders (David & Barry) to build a large 3 wall Cyc for under US$1000. You can read part 1 here

Framing up - Lets get the floor ready….

Before we get into it. I just want to state that it may appear that in almost every photo I am leaning on my shovel while Barry works. What these photos fail to portray is the fact that I carried Barry through this whole process, doing the bulk of the work. The photos merely catch me in a resting/recovery state as I prepare to yet again do most of the work.

Ready to start mixing; I have already moved about a ton of stone and sand indoors while Barry "had to check his emails".

Saying our floor is not level would be an understatement. So in order to get a nice even floor we had to make a new one. We were initially going to build a wooden floor but decided to use Concrete.

Concrete worked out cheaper and with a wooden floor we would have had to dampen down the noise with underfloor soundproofing..

Instead of just getting a concrete truck to roll up and pour in our cement – we decided it would be easy enough to mix our own and worked out at a savings of around $300 – So we borrowed a large trailer and 2 trips later had enough sand and cement to do the work.

We got our hands on a cement mixer. A quick search on Google to work out the ratio of Sand to Cement to Water and we were away.

We jacked up the wall to get it level and then boxed in the sides and to save money on getting someone in to cut the concrete later (this helps prevent cracking) we decided to pour it in 2 sections.

Now if I had the ability to turn back time – I would simply ring the local concrete company and get a truck to come and pour the floor. 2 half days of shoveling mixing, pouring, leveling and making a huge mess.

It took 2 half days but we now have a perfectly level floor.... Well at least according the Level App on my iphone.

Barry pretending that holding the Cement mixer is actually work.

Standing in shock as I watch Barry actually do some work.

The never ending job.

Taking a short break to recuperate after doing majority of grunt work. Barry ran to pick up the cement mixer once he saw a photo was about to be taken.

David leaning on his shovel after doing all the work.

What a mess! Since I did all the work, Barry can do the clean up.

First half of the floor all done.

The floor is now complete - will try and get a photo of finished floor up soon. Now for the curves: stay tuned.

The goal is to build this entirely by ourselves (ourselves = Barry and David, Barry and David = Cannot build our way out of a paper bag).

We also plan to build this for under US$1K.

We will be blogging about our progress as we go and all going to plan we will have this built in a couple of weeks.

Planning is overrated, so we thought we would just dive in and build it. "Measure once (with your eye or outstretched arms) cut 3 times is our motto."

So first thing we did is try and figure the size we wanted - there was no real scientific method to this and we were constrained by the space we had. In the end we settled with 41/2 meters wide, 4 meters deep and 4 meters high (4 meters = approx 13 feet). It seemed quite small, until we started making the frame.

Making curved walls is not that easy, so we decided we would figure that bit out once we had the framing done.

In order to save money we used 2x2 timber instead of traditional 4x2 framing timber. (WWF Wrestler Hacksaw Jim Duggan would have used 4x2.)

We borrowed a Nail Gun and a Drop saw and went to work... Well actually we stood around and scratched our heads for a good hour trying to figure out where to start.

We made all the frames on the ground then dragged them into position. There is this huge old steel pipe that is right in the way, so we had to cut out a few sections of the frame in order to get the wall to fit. Why we just didn't cut the pipe down before we began I do not know, I have a feeling this may come back to haunt us.

First frame in place - leaning on the pipe we should have cut down.

Second wall in place; after having to cut out a chunk due to that annoying pipe.

Third wall in place; again we had to hack it up a bit due to that #$#@ pipe. (I blame Barry)

Hot tip: Do not hold your hand behind where the nail gun will be firing

Framing done and dusted.. Well not dusted as you can see by the mess in the photo.

The almost builders

Check back on Friday; all going to plan the floor will be completed and the nail removed from my hand.

We have a new tutorial that explores a work flow for getting great looking slow motion out of DSLR's. If you can watch in full screen in HD you will get the best experience. You will also get the best experience if you are good at deciphering droning New Zealand accents!