Anti-Procrastination: Building a Light Box

"If you want to make an apple pie, you must first invent the universe" - Carl Sagan

The mindset behind that quote above seems to be a path I take far too often:  I set up pre-conditions, invent needs, and find things that need to be done first before I can start something.  Sadly I even do this with my hobby.  I always want to have the right tool, the right brush, the right material before tackling a project.  Take for instance my desire to post pics of my mighty blue and orange horde.  My gribblies have needed multiple repairs after NOVA 2011 (yeah you read that correctly), plus I need to add static grass/flock to their bases, get the inks and varnish out to add depth, and matte seal them to kill some of the shine.  While my painted hordelings are definitely not what I'd claim on eBay as "pro-painted" (admittedly that's probably a low bar for some, but I like to think I have some sense of honor) - I've definitely considered the pictures I've taken so far to be pretty crappy, and would make my median paint job look far worse than it actually is.  If I'm going to be judged, I'd prefer to be judged fairly - and the ability to take good photographs that duly represent the level of painting have been a pre-requisite.  Until today.


I took inspiration from several different posts on how to build a light-box:
http://rustandthecity.blogspot.com/2012/06/budget-miniature-photography-my-tools.html
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?13043-Making-a-Light-box-for-under-25-US
http://corvusminiatures.blogspot.com/2010/04/finally-photo-studio-for-my-miniatures.html

Materials:

• 1 12x12x8 box from the Post Office
• Clear tape
• Tinfoil
• Wax Paper
• Aleene's Tacky Glue
• Razor Knife
• Scissors
• White paper
• Background printed from Corvus Miniatures 

Here's a few pics of the process:

I glued the pieces I cut out of the box onto the flaps to hold them in place and add strength/stability.  The tinfoil is all glued shiny side down.  Wax paper was cut to fit and glued down on the outside of the 'windows' so I can use multiple lamps - but with the tinfoil on the front/sides I can get away with one bright lamp if need be.  Below is a pic taken of the setup used to take the pic up top of the post.  

At any rate - took me about two hours to do, and I'm looking forward to taking pics of my painted guys now.  One procrastination barrier - eliminated!

Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with my latest terrain find:  a G scale trestle bridge...

Yup - that's an 18" ruler for scale..  it's about 46 inches long.  Big enough to fit a Land Raider or Tervigon...