The Fortune Playhouse

[Stuart]

A great overall work of art. But one question still remains open to me, what kind of lighting did they have at that time or was the theater only used in daylight?

All they had at the time was natural daylight although they may have used candles and lanterns occasionally as props.

[Mobilgas]

what's with all the creep-y figures on the walls look's like they all have horn's on the top of there heads....   Satan???

[Stuart]

Yeah, I suppose they are a little creepy. They are satyrs, a mythological creature, half man half goat. This is one of the things that are spelled out in the original builders contract.

[Lawrence@NZFinescale]

I'm imagining some Elizabethan sitting in his lawyers office drawing up the contract: "So nudes are out?. Satyrs then, yeh, we need a few of those..."

[WP Rayner]

Superb job Stuart... very impressive work!

[Stuart]

At the risk of being redundant, I wanted to post some additional photographs of the Fortune Theater Playhouse model.  These, and the ones following this post, were taken by a professional photographer so I am hoping they show more detail and clarity than my earlier ones. 

These first four shots show the basic model - front, side and back.  The openings in the roof in the rear view allows the spectator to look inside to see the interior of the "hut", the small structure above the stage. 

This project was meant to be an educational piece for students studying the performing and audience spaces of this particular Elizabethan playhouse.  It, therefore, separates into several pieces, and some parts of the structure are left open so they can be observed. 

[Bill Gill]

Stuart, I came across this new company that uses a very high end scanner and printer to scan people and print them in full color in N, HO and O scales. They are not inexpensive, but perhaps if you need additional figures for your Theater or other upcoming commissioned models they coul scan your sculpted fugures and print them: https://westedge3d.com.au/gallery/

[Stuart]

This is a close up of the "hut" structure located directly above the stage.  A red flag waves predominantly above, signaling the advent of the day's performance.  The flag was formed from a piece of .003" sheet copper and I used various diameters of brass tubing and rod as forming tools to create the bends and curves

A red flag indicated a performance with an historical plot, a black flag meant a tragedy was the subject matter and a white flag signaled a comedic presentation.



 

The "hut" contained a winch which was used to lower actors down through the stage ceiling representing gods, angels, spirits and the like.  It took a couple of stout, strong armed gents to control a slow and safe decent of a trusting actor.  Bringing the poor chap back up to his lofty perch in the hut likewise required considerable effort and concentration.



 

The stage ceiling was painted to represent the "Heavens" complete with mythological gods, cupids, clouds and stars.  This depiction of the "Heavens" is a recreation of an actual ceiling located at Cullen House, Banffshire, Scotland.  The gold stars are 3D printed items.  You will notice the door in the ceiling which would have been removed to allow for the decent of the aforementioned deity personage.


   

[finescalerr]

Terrific. -- Russ

[Stuart]

The gold capitals at the top of each marble column were created in SketchUp and 3D printed.  Unfortunately, the program is not geared for much in the way of creating organic forms so, the leaves at the base of each capital are not as detailed as I would have liked.  But, where they are placed in the model, up high and next to the ceiling, I felt it was not as critical to get exacting detail.



 

The columns themselves were turned using acrylic rod, primed and then painted to appear as marble.  It took considerable experimentation to finally come up with an acceptable representation of marble.  Valejo acrylic paints were my salvation here.





Like the capitals, the stage furniture was created in SketchUp.  The floral pattern on the front of the table was scanned from a photo of an actual 17th century table, imported into SketchUp and then traced and sized to fit my table face.  I was pleased that the pattern actually shows up in the finished printed piece.  The chairs were also created in SketchUp and 3D printed.

[Stuart]

Stuart, I came across this new company that uses a very high end scanner and printer to scan people and print them in full color in N, HO and O scales. They are not inexpensive, but perhaps if you need additional figures for your Theater or other upcoming commissioned models they coul scan your sculpted fugures and print them: https://westedge3d.com.au/gallery/

Thanks Bill for the heads up.  I will keep this in mind if there ever is a next time.

[Stuart]

Here are a couple shots of the gallery sections of the model showing all the timber work that went into the construction.  The original structure in London, England succumbed to fire in 1621.  It must have been a raging inferno with so much available fuel to burn.





Each column in the gallery was topped with a carving of a satyr figure, as specified in the original Fortune Playhouse contract.  To create my versions of satyrs I used Fimo clay to create the masters, poured a silicone mold of each and then cast a series in urethane resin.  To do this successfully, without the considerable irritation of air bubbles in my finished product, I broke down and purchased a pressure pot for casting.  Although a sizable initial expense it proved to be a life saver.


   


This photo shows my original Fimo sculpted pieces.





I left one of the stair towers open for observation. The configuration of the stairs to each gallery level was a major design concern for Dr. Richard Hosley, the fellow who researched and developed the reconstruction of this project.  He wanted to be sure that his efforts to determine how the stairs were constructed did not go unnoticed.
 

         

[Peter_T1958]

This lets a modeler of the old school philosophize about such extesive modelling projects. I tend to believe that the normal modeler (not professional model builders) will probably finish such a masterpiece only once in a lifetime. And it will be the case in the midst of life, when he has experiences and skills enough to start a labour-intensive project like this here.
Somewhere along the way I noticed that with increasing age I get somehow afraid of such great challenges, well knowing, that my skills wont get better in the next twenty years. That's why my projects are becoming more and more manageable and that's why such modelling projects like yours cannot be over-emphasised.
Congratulation!
Peter
P.S. May be this Swiss colleague will be of interest to you...
http://modellrapport.ch

[Bill Gill]

Stuart, Thanks for posting more photos of the theater. It's a magificent model all around and a joy to study.

[Ray Dunakin]

What a fantastic model! Very clean, precise construction and paint work, and the seams are virtually invisible.