Props | Meinert Hansen

The 7th Ring

For awhile I’ve been working on a personal project in fits and starts. I have a fair bit of material in my sketchbook, but I thought I would reveal the name of the project and the logo. It will be a narrative art book with some actual video elements for promotion.

Yes, it does deal with the planet saturn.

This was the original title, which will now be the first part of the story: Part 1 – The Phantom Lines, Part 2 – The Order of Immaculate Orbit, and Part 3 – The Limitless Ether.

Here’s a scratch-built model of Saturn which I’m working on, as part of a lot of miniatures which I’ll be building.

Rocketships

As a space nerd, part of my personal prop projects include rockets. Here are three examples.

A Steampunk rocket, made from a wooden toy puzzle. This was made about 20 years ago.

Here’s the goofy rocket I made in less than a day for The Homestretch, the Super-8 film my brother Gunnar and I made for the Straight 8 Film Festival at Cannes last year. Spot the Kinder eggs…

Here it is on set for the shoot.

A rocket I’m working on for a personal book project. More this summer.

My Spacesuit

Here’s something I worked on, on and off, over the past month when I had free time. I intend to do a little video shoot with it at some point. I’ve had the Russian MIG helmet for 6 years, and always intended to build a retro-looking suit to match it. The collar needs to be adjusted, because it rides too high over the shoulder straps, but otherwise, it’s quite comfortable, even with the heavy backpack.

Old vacuum cleaner, cocktail shakers, water bottles and a military backpack harness.

Workman gloves and plumbing parts, with a BBQ thermometer and video remote buttons.

The collar is made from a plastic bucket, and the rim for the helmet is from a drum practice pad, exactly the right size for the helmet.

Here I am at the office with the full suit on. As you can see, the helmet is riding a bit too high, but that’s an easy fix. Can’t wear the helmet sealed for too long before it fogs up, so I’m going to put a little fan in it.