Space Race

[Leevibe]

A Space Odyssey

The year was 1957. The USSR had just slung Sputnik into space to circle the globe, taunting the USA with its incessant beeps. In America, people dug their fallout shelters. In Russia, they drank vodka. The space race was on and the Soviets were crushing it.

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, there was a whole different kind of space race. In this reality there was no arms race, but rather an arm-in-arm quest by the Russians and Americans to launch out into and explore space together. It is from this universe that the Space Race pedal has emerged...





















This pedal is a MB Pork Barrel (CE2) into a tap tremolo. I built it for a great guy, Dillon, who plays in a band called Common Hours. He's the guy playing the Tele.

Dillon wanted a chorus—CE2 in particular —and trem together in one box. As we started working through ideas, I suggested the MusicPCB Tap Tempo Tremolo because of its versatility. He really got excited about that idea so we started talking about the look and style of the pedal. He really wanted something space oriented. Originally we were thinking some kind of sci-fi art and maybe a mission to Mars kind of thing. There was some going back and forth as we tried to come up with an idea we both liked and that I thought I could pull off.

Inspiration hit when he asked me if I could incorporate Russian text into the graphics in some way. (He had been studying Russian) That's when the whole cold war idea hit me. I asked him what he thought about a pedal themed around the space race with both US and Soviet styling cues. I thought it would be fun to imagine that it was actually a collaboration. He totally dug the idea so I started searching for images of old control consoles from that era. Then I got to work in Pages trying to draw something that could fit into a 1590XX.









I realized that the MusicPCB board wasn't going to fit, so I got to work drawing up a schematic using ideas from the Electric Druid and MusicPCB docs. Then I did the smart thing and sent my schematic to Stomptown to have him do the layout. I always love and admire his work.

Next, I got to work looking for cool aerospace looking parts that could either mimic the parts I was seeing in the reference pictures or could at least look like they fit. I found some pretty cool stuff at PC Flights and Perihelion Design. I also found some sweet non-run-of-the-mill stuff at some of the more traditional parts suppliers.

One of the goals all along was to make this thing look like it truly could be 60 years old. I learned some cool stuff by watching videos on steampunk. I was able to make the black plastic knobs look like they were metal that had some of the paint wearing away. To do this I used a "dry brush" technique. It's really fun. You take a paint brush, put some metallic paint on it, scrub it back and forth on a paper towel until it doesn't look like any more paint will come off of it, then swipe it back and forth across the high spots of the part you want to distress. It slowly deposits paint and allows you to build it up slowly. To create the patina, I used a brown stain/wash kind of paint. You paint it on, let it settle into cracks and crevices, and then wipe away the excess.

Another cool thing about this build is that all of the plates are machined from 1/8" aluminum. Special thanks to my good buddy Gary for cutting them for me. We went through a couple different versions. That's why some of the pics don't have the engraving in them. I wanted it to look like removable modules. I feel like the spray painting job was the best I've ever done, which isn't actually saying much. I actually did the whole wet sanding, multiple coats thing. They came out beautiful. Then I beat them all up to look old. The lettering was filled by spraying black and then wiping off.






























One of the issues Gary and I ran into was he wasn't able to get the engraving of the Cyrillic text because it had to be smaller. I figured a decal could work but I wasn't sure how I was going to get one that would be tough enough and wouldn't look like a decal. Enter Forest Dukes of Dukes Designs. It just so happens that his shop is across the street from my work. It also happens that he is extremely cool and helpful. I will absolutely be looking for help from him for future projects. He is able to print onto really tough vinyl in high detail and he can cut the decals to crazy shapes. The Russian decal exactly fits the aluminum plate that its attached to.

A while back, Dillon came to me and asked if I could somehow incorporate the "Caution Explosive Bolts" text from the escape pod on the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Hopefully a few of you already had it figured out) I took a couple of the best images I could find of it and did my best to exactly replicate the text. I was originally going to put it on the bottom of the pedal but he uses velcro. So, I figured out a better place to put it! It looks so rad having the in/out jacks be the "explosive bolts."









One of the things I ran into early on with this project was, how was I going to make all this stuff fit and work? I had been wanting to use a slide pot with a needle indicator for a while and I had dreamt up different ways of doing it, but none of it seemed realistic. The same with the little earth globe thingy. By the way, there are 2 interesting things about that globe. One is cool, one is... frustrating. The globe is obviously old because it has "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" printed on it. Fitting! The sucky part is that there is a cat hair that is forever entombed. I worked so hard to keep it clean but I failed.

Anyway, as I was working out how I was going to mount and fit all this stuff, I had bought myself a 3D printer and was learning 3D modeling. One day it just dawned on me that I could print custom mounting brackets to hold stuff in place. Many iterations later I had a working internal bracket for the globe, slide pot, internal LEDs, and indicator light boxes. I also came up with a solution to fit a needle indicator, which actually uses a regular old sewing pin that I clipped to length. I also made board brackets for the Finish Line bypass boards and a bracket for the jacks and switch on the top of the pedal. 3D printing drilling jigs is also awesome.









Cutting and drilling seemed like it would never end for this thing. All of the screws on the pedal are actually functional. It required a drill press to make sure that all holes were square to the surface of the pedal so the screw heads would sit flat. I first drilled out all of the aluminum plates and then used them as guides to drill the enclosure. I snapped a couple drill bits in the process but everything lined up beautifully.














I wanted the wiring to be cool and different. I had looked at a lot of cable lacing on line. It's an elegant old-school way to make wiring harnesses. I think it's beautiful. With the exception of a little bit of PVC hookup wire for some tight spots, the whole thing is wired with pushback cloth wire. I laced it using waxed linen thread that I bought at the craft store. I'm super happy with the way it came out.

Final assembly and wiring was like solving a puzzle and I was never really sure it would all go together until it finally did! I'm so grateful that I was able to get it. I had two really late nights last week pushing to get this thing done. This was a white whale that took me almost two years from conception to completion. I'm so glad to be getting back to my queue of projects. Hopefully 2019 will be a year I knock out several builds. We'll see.

Thanks for looking!!

[cooder]

What a fantastic mission! Great to see all those amazing steps documented and how it came together.
Genius and way wicked sense of detail!

And I'm sure the original space crafts had some cat hair in it as well, somewhere.

Cat hair goes everywhere. Just ask my dog.

[alanp]

This is going to sound stupid, but the lacing is what really drove this over the top, for me

[Marshall Arts]

Crazy Build and what a great source for inspiration and building techniques. Can I get one, please :-)

[Mich P]

Wow, what a cool job !
Well done !

[LaceSensor]

what does the toggle and the slide switch control ?

BTW, absolutely incredible.

[pickdropper]

wow, what an insane amount of work and detail.  Amazing job, Lee. 

This should probably be in the BOTY contest.

[Willybomb]

That, is unf**king believable. I didn't think anything was going to beat the Mega VFE pedal, but close it down folks...

I use the wash and drybrushing techniques with my model kits - drybrushing in particular I really enjoy, but it never occurred to me to use it as part of a pedal finish.

[gordo]

Thanks so much for documenting this.  Just an insane degree of artistry and foresight to get this from concept to completion.  I'm always pleased with myself if I slap a decal and some clearcoat on a box and it looks OK, but THIS is fully functional artwork.

[m-Kresol]

the amount of effort that went it to the small details is amazing. Crazy how much thought went into it.
Kudos!

[midwayfair]

Be still my heart.

[zombiesonore]

Splendid build report and incredible work there.
One of the beautifulest pedal I've ever seen.
You got my vote!

[davent]

Lee I have no words that could ever do it justice. I'm totally awestruck! Thanks for sharing with us mere mortals.
dave

[kaeisy]

Just amazing. Period.

[mjg]

Amazing.  What more can I say?