Exhibition&Display - Model Makers Bristol / Amalgam Model Making

Megamorph, Aardman’s desktop icon gets supersized.

June 15, 2017

Still Naughty at 40! - Megamorph, an Amalgam giant poly sculpt. To celebrate the Morph: Still Naughty at 40! exhibition at The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, Amalgam Modelmaking was asked by The Grand Appeal Charity to produce a 3 metre high Megamorph. A giant version of one of Aardman's most iconic characters, Morph. Having previously made a life sized version of Wallace and collaborated on the touring exhibition "Wallace and Gromit Present a World of Cracking Ideas" we were honoured to be involved in such a prestigious project. After several discussions about which pose Morph should be in, we were supplied with a model made by Peter Lord, Morph's original creator, to use as reference. The next stage would usually involve us 3D scanning the model and then using a 5 axis CNC machine to produce the basic form, but in keeping with Morph's handmade look and feel, we decided to…

New Blades Show 2016 – thinking about a career in model making?

June 9, 2016

Amalgam are very familiar with building trade show display models, however, it's a rare opportunity for us to get out today, to visit New Blades Show, the annual model makers's fair to visit if you're considering a career in model making. Hosted by 4D modelshop at the Holborn Studios, London, the show features work by graduates from the Arts University Bournemouth, University of Hertfordshire, University of Bolton, City of Glasgow College, University for the Creative Arts and Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. And we are looking forward to seeing the displays, usually widely diverse in techniques and creative ideas. It's an exciting day for the graduates. Industry sponsored prizes are available - and it's an opportunity for them to meet potential employers and consider their career path. We wish them all the best of luck. Our recruits While we're visiting the New Blades Show, it's a chance…

INTERACTIVE MASTERPLAN MODELS TO ADAPT YOUR SCHEME DESIGN

May 27, 2016

Beyond dynamic lighting, there are other methods for making a masterplan model interactive. Our recent interactive masterplan for Ecotricity was developed as a simple, chunky, massing model, to assist with decisions being made in the formative stages of the design. Ecotricity founder and Forest Green Rovers Chairman, Dale Vince, wanted us to create an interactive masterplan model for their new Ecopark scheme. The site included the Forest Green Rovers new home stadium and sports campus, an environmentally conscious ‘Green Technology Hub for likeminded businesses from the green economy, and natural wetland reserve set around a redirected canal. Forest Green Rovers have also recently shortlisted nine stadium designs from almost 50 entries by architects based around the world in a competition to create the club’s new home. Adapt the masterplan with an interactive model The customer knew they needed a physical model, but were facing multiple challenges. The designers began with…

Large scale insect models for IVCC to mark World Malaria Day

May 11, 2016

For World Malaria Day, our team was commissioned to make large scale insect models to feature in an exhibition display, for vector-control specialists, IVCC. Mosquitos kill 433,000 people a year, mainly children under 5 and pregnant women. Bed nets treated with insecticides have contributed enormously to bringing down the number of deaths, yet vector-borne diseases are renowned for developing resistance. To resolve this challenge, international teams are working to develop new insecticides. World Malaria Day was an opportunity to raise awareness, so Jed Stone from IVCC marked the occasion by heading to London with two large scale mosquito models to share their message with MPs and visitors to Parliament. Insect models fascinate visitors IVCC set out their stall to engage visitors at Portcullis House, where the two insect models were placed on the table among leaflets and on-screen information. The emphasis was on making sure MPs understand how the international development funding…

Dynamic lighting to make your model stand out

April 22, 2016

While static 'on-off' lighting within architectural models has become standard practice, dynamic lighting can help a model stand out to win a competition or a bid for a new contract. Our system forms an incredibly flexible platform to display something as simple as tonal 'breathing' between colours, to forming the core of a rich interactive experience. Fundamentally, dynamic lighting is another tool at our disposal to help achieve our client's goals, and is a service we offer to create striking, contemporary models. The model we made for HOK and TAC Arquitectes of Barcelona stadium shows how we can use dynamic lighting with variations in colour to achieve a prominent 'wow' factor, and add layers of interest and detail to a design still in its formative stages. As dynamic lighting engages the audience - and can work interactively - it's a step across the gap between a physical model…

Autonomous Robotics

January 29, 2016

In February’s issue of Develop3D magazine, we were delighted to share the story of our exhibition model work, for Autonomous Robotics Ltd, which is based in Wiltshire. They are developing next generation seismic technology to gather data from the ocean bottom using a system of Flying Nodes – a new type of automated underwater vehicle. The oil and gas industry requires very high quality data, gathered from ocean bottom seismic (OBS) surveys, often at extreme depths and dealing with complicated geology. ARL’s planned system for a swarm of Flying Nodes system will significantly reduce the cost of collecting seismic data, with the ability to record on the seabed for up to 60 days and cover a wide range of surveys. Having prepared a paper to share on Flying Nodes at the Society for Exploration Geophysics (SEG) conference in New Orleans, Autonomous Robotics wanted to demonstrate a full size…

Exhibit design services to ignite your product launch

January 21, 2016

Exhibit design, display models and trade show stands can make a huge difference to the successful launching of a new product. Even a remarkably innovative and marketable design could go unnoticed if it isn’t given appropriate promotion, to grab a busy audience’s attention, at the right moment. In this case study we look at a project that came about in a collaborative effort between EF Engineering and Amalgam Model making. EF Engineering provides show finishing services to Perkins to display their diesel engines. John Knight from EF Engineering, and Chris Conlon had been in contact since early in 2015, discussing opportunities to collaborate on new exhibit designs displaying Perkin’s engines. Q1. What were the challenges faced by the team building the exhibition stand? CHRIS (Amalgam director and project manager): Perkins was looking for a way to make an impact on the agricultural engineering market through original exhibit design for…

Behind the scenes at the Bottle Yard studios – Amalgam’s on-site exhibition and meeting space is open

January 8, 2016

The Bottle Yard Studios opened in 2010, transforming a disused industrial space into a vibrant and busy creative hub for production. More international companies are bringing filming to the south west to use the space, which is great news for Bristol and the creative businesses here. However, for the art department, there is a significant challenge to find a company they can trust to produce high quality props, if they require last minute items, artefacts or signage to complete their production shoots. The site is on the outskirts of Bristol, with superb access to some of England’s most exciting film locations on its doorstep, from Regency Georgian to gritty industrial and picturesque coastline. However the majority of traditional creative service providers are based in the centre of the cities, like Amalgam’s central workshop in Bristol, which makes it pot luck for production teams seeking help with their props and physical…

Special offer ‘Recycling Roadshow Kit’ for Small Business Saturday

December 3, 2015

Amalgam's Recycling Displays is pledging to help more local authorities and schools spread the message about recycling and re-use - by offering a discounted Recycling Roadshow Kit. We've launched this kit to support the education programmes Councils are running, to help them meet the 2020 recycling targets. Grant Wilson from Moray Council was particularly helpful, telling us more about how they are using their information display point. The Recycling Roadshow Kit includes three displays, which recycling teams can take on the road, to spread the word about recycling and re-using materials. After talking to our clients, we've re-engineered the components, so the displays can easily be used in a shopping centre, railway or bus stations, or at school events and county shows. More details here Why use the Recycling Roadshow Kit? It is aimed at supporting local education efforts to reach young children right up to adults, through an interactive…

An Overview of our Sculpting Services

October 30, 2015

We are in the run-up to our third annual Halloween Pumpkin carving competition, the #AmalgamCarveOff, and being professional makers we are in with a good chance - however, the competition is stiff. With sculpting vegetables at the forefront of most people's imaginations this week, it's worth talking about the sculpting services we can offer, the projects we've worked on, and the role this traditional skill plays in the age of 3D printing. Animals and Props Our sculpts tend to be one-off, bespoke pieces, but in some cases serve as casting masters to create multiple copies in different materials. The Big Midge for BBSRC has been artworked to high levels of realism, and beyond hand-making and paint finishing required no further processes. The Rats of Medusa, for the BBC fantasy series Atlantis, took some thinking about how to create a texture that was both fur and stone. We settled on…