Steven Vasko’s Clavius Base updated

I have done a number of improvements on the model and I wanted to send an update.   This is my first totally scratch-built model, and there are understandably a few rough edges to it, but since I display it by hanging it on the wall over my other “2001:A Space Odyssey” models and it looks good from that vantage point, one could say it functions more as a piece of artwork. I started the project by getting many various screencaps taken from the section of the movie the base appears in, as well as photos taken from Douglas Trumbull’s website. The foundation of the work is a 12″x16″ canvas panel, foam board, and illustration board glued together. The structures are made of cut pieces of foam board laminated with sheet styrene. The “Astrodome” over the landing pad on the left started life as a clear acrylic craft hemisphere that I cut to size and detailed. The groundwork is composed of Prang “Das” modeling compound sculpted around the structures. The Clavius Base “meatball” is printed off the internet, trimmed, mounted on a backing complete with circular frame, and glued down. Cut pieces of ScotchLite material stand in for windows along the edge of the structures which light up when the light hits them. The frame is a pair of aluminum sectional frames bought from a local hobby and crafts store.

Steven Vasko