Ant-Man and the Wasp Buses by Sculpture Studios

Welcome to Sculpture Studios. Pretty sure most of you will know all about this bad boy. The sequel to the Marvel Disney superhero movie Ant-Man now returns with The Wasp in 2018. As part of the promotional campaign we're going to be making two miniature buses. One of these needs to fit over a tandem mobility scooter so we're adapting the style of a London bus to make it as small as possible. Both of these are going to be adorned with miniature movie advertisements on the side much like you would see on a real London bus. We're literally given about three weeks, if that to get this carved, moulded, cast and finished with metalwork and appropriate detailing and all this to be delivered for the summer release at the beginning of August. Considering film release dates are planned probably the best part of a year in advance why ad campaigns are left so late, we'll never know. But we love a challenge and it's great to be making something for Marvel and Disney once again. Okay everyone, all you people out there. I've taken on once again a ridiculous deadline. The job's very nice. It's a double-decker London bus here. This is for Disney. That's the style they're after or that kind of thing. And it's to be situated over a double buggy where two men can get inside and have a ride along the streets. And it's going to be made of fibreglass in the end so I have to make a master pattern and then a mould and get two casts out within three weeks. Stick this half-moon bead on in a very straight line to keep that top line very consistent and we'll cut through the mullions afterwards and then the rounded corners. I'm just trying to map it out this evening and get things done. It's half past ten, eleven o'clock now and I'm going to be working on to about one o'clock, say. While it's nice and quiet and there's no phone calls, hopefully I can meet Disney's deadline for Ant-Man. Very, very close call on this one, I think, everyone. It's not so much the timing, it's the chemicals going off and curing properly. We're using a range of different materials to create the master pattern. The corners of the windows that you can see here were originally modelled in plasticine and we've taken a silicone rubber mould. We then pour a two-part plastic into the mould and these are then popped out after ten minutes or so, cleaned up, ready to go on the job. All the crucial elements of the bus, the windows, the doors, any frames for the advertisements on the side, the headlamp and indicator locations, all need to be mapped out onto the master pattern. A few elements that are a bit more detailed, like the grills and the engine vents, we're going to purchase externally and add later once the cast is created. Here we are with the master pattern so far. What's happening here, Aidan? Here, we're keeping this block of polystyrene. It's got an MDF front with a melamine surface. On the bottom here, we've done a little raised surface just to give it some sort of detail. We've got reflectors here, about 75mm and 40mm going on here. They're not actually going to be lights, they're actually just going to be reflectors, just to give it a bit of a look at the whole thing. But it's coming along nicely. A little bit more time would have been nice just to give things a little more detail, but we don't have that luxury. As is the nature with film work all the time for some reason, things are left till the last minute, but luckily we're good at working to tight time frames and in tough time conditions. This is particularly tight though, I must admit. Particularly tight. It's going to be quite tight in there as well, isn't it, for the two blocks? One could say, if they left this any later... They missed the bus. Ding, ding. Mind your head, Kevin. No time to waste. On to the mould making now. We're using a wax as a release agent on the entire pattern and this will help the fibreglass mould release off of the job. We didn't get any footage of the mould... I mean, there was no time to get any footage of the mould being made. Not a moment to lose. But the mould was made from resin and glass fibre in five pieces. That's all four sides and the roof. When this is removed, it's cleaned up to get rid of any harsh seam lines or extra texture picked up by materials like the sticky back tinfoil. Once again, we go over with a release agent and we start with a red gel coat so at least the bus has a red base to begin with. We back this up with four ounces of glass fibre and this will be strong enough to form the shell of the bus but light enough not to add too much weight to the buggy. Remember, metalwork still needs to be installed inside this so we need to be as weight efficient as possible at this early stage. Beginning work on the second of the two buses. This one's going to be even smaller but it's staying more true to the original London bus shape. This isn't going to be made from glass fibre or moulded but it's going to be made straight from MDF. This doesn't need to have anyone inside it though it would be rather fun to be remote controlled but this is more of a photo opportunity prop. The wheels are being turned on a lathe another new toy for Aidan to mess around with and the body made from 12mm board. Where the larger bus will eventually have perspex windows the smaller one we're just going to add a slightly reflective material and artwork to give the impression of glass. With all the pieces of the cast for the larger bus cleaned up well, there's always more to do on them so we'll get back to the finishing later they're all tacked together, ready for joining. We use strips of glass fibre on the inside to make sure all the corners are nice and strong and we use car body fillers to make up the seam lines. We use mild steel to create a box frame on the inside and once this is laminated to the job with more glass fibre this makes the whole shell more structurally sound. These two horizontal bars that you can see being installed here will eventually sit on the base of the scooter. This is in order to support the whole bus shell and this way none of the fibre glass even needs to touch the scooter and the metalwork frame takes all the weight. Here we have the mini scooter bus so far the fibre glass work is pretty much there. Going around and keying up the job now and Aiden's just going over with some acetone to get rid of all the dust so that he can prime this tonight, isn't that right Aiden? That's correct sir. Around the other side is where the door sections are on the internal we've got the metalwork and these rods here, this one here on the right hand side is what houses the hinge for the door it's going to be the front driver's door and if Liam would like to demonstrate the back door beautifully done Liam, beautiful. And what we're going to have here are two open windows there and there, so the people inside have a bit of ventilation and this is also going to double up so that someone can reach in and pull a long bolt or basically hold the door shut and likewise being that far back means the driver, where their head's going to be about there can pull their bolt as well to gain access to the workings of the door from the inside. Going to get a shot of this being primed. As with many of our sculptures for the artwork we're using 2K car body paints this is for both the primer layers that Aiden's going on with here as well as the red colour top coat. These car body paints are suitable for outdoor use in case the bus happens to drive into a little rain or one of the Trafalgar Square fountains probably won't bow too well for the electric scooter but hey, at least the paintwork's going to be safe. This also ensures a nice, solid, durable colour that can withstand a little manhandling. What's this Aiden, another prime? You're giving Disney some special treatment aren't you? Yeah, special treatment. Felt and braces always help in safety. We're going over with our secret sticky back tin foil for the windows. Trust me, it's more fun making people wonder where we get it from. And for the lining of the windows where there would usually be a black rubber seal on a real bus, we're using pinstripe decals that you would often use on vintage custom cars. This creates the perfect look to complete the windows on the small bus, and for the larger version we mask up the areas around the windows and all the frames, and Jess goes over with a black airbrush. Here we are, slow and steady wins the race. Well, once that bus is on it's not going to be going very fast is it? If that's the top speed. Oh no, is that a turbo bumping here? Punch it. Oh, there we go. Straight in. Nice and quiet isn't it? You can go your own way. Go your own way. I don't care what anyone says, that looks great fun. Not too bad? Yeah. Right, here we are with the Ant-Man and the Wasp bus. First thing you need to notice is these three windows are empty. So the two drivers have some ventilation so they won't get too hot inside. These windows are made of Perspex. This is only made from fibreglass for the majority of it with a metalwork frame on the inside. We've tried to keep this as thin and as light as possible so that the scooter isn't struggling with too much weight. On the inside here, which you can reach from the outside there's a long bolt that goes all the way through to the front frame of the metalwork which you can pull out to gain access to the front door. This hinge only opens a certain way so be careful, open this nice and slowly it stops at a certain point so that the two doors don't clash. On the inside here in order to fix the bus to the scooter there's this metalwork which rests on the base here and there's four bolts, two at the front and two at the back that attach to a detachable bar underneath and we've labelled them front and back and we're leaving the tape on the mat here so you know exactly where this frame goes on here. The main thing to consider is this wheel at the front is perfectly in the centre of the arch so they can turn left and right without hitting the fibreglass itself. Everything can be dismantled by the bolts. When this is first dropped onto the base due to the angle of this handle and the seat the whole bus itself needs to move ever so slightly forward as you're lowering it down into position and then it can all be bolted tight. In order to charge the batteries I have a lovely assistant here my lovely assistant what are you doing? Come here. My lovely assistant prepared this earlier thank you very much Clive. In order to charge the batteries on the inside here a little charger point a little three point plug in straight into there and it can be done through the window yeah? Yeah it can be done through the window or you can have it going under the arch if you don't want anyone to see it charging or something like that and then that just plugs straight into a normal mains. At the back here we've got a small bolt gaining access through the window and that's for the back passenger to jump inside. We've got to clean this up generally all on the inside. We recommend only two people with around thirteen and a half stone on average to get inside. Obviously if you've got someone slightly heavier have someone slightly smaller at the other end but with this being about seventy kilos on top and the max weight being two hundred and forty kilos that the scooter recommends it should take as a maximum load two thirteen and a half stone people should be fine. We've just driven it around the yard everything seems to work fine it's got quite a bit of speed on it not that you should need that much speed when you're driving around hopefully but yeah everything works fine all of the lights are just reflectors so there's no extra electrics that's going to complicate anything or not work or anything like that we're just waiting on the van decals and these should be arriving by Coria in a couple of hours. This little bus is just a sort of representation of a miniaturised one and it's made out of 12mm MDF we're waiting for all the decals to come we've just put an impression of some lighting on the windows as if it's shimmering again little reflectors not really lights at all but I think it gives a general impression that it's a small bus. The final details are all being added to the buses now. Reflectors of various sizes for the headlamps, the tail brake lights and the indicators are placed on the front and back, the grills have all been installed and painted and graphics are being made up for the adverts. Oh and here's Aidan with the decal stickers I've sent them the measurements to have these printed and they all fit lovely so far the big tail is going to be this one on the other side where there's a split line for the join of the door hinges but these ones here which are all in one piece all intact and they fit lovely in the frame just an adhesive sticky back vinyl let's go straight onto the bus side looks very very nice indeed we've also sent us a few extra details like the destination plate the license plate it's the little things this is the bus side with the hinge and this is where we've sent the measurements of where the hinge is and their artwork very well placed just going to trim this up so the hinge has a bit of white as well all in all fits very very nicely going around the edges and just making sure all the lines are neat is that side on? Transport's now being arranged to bring these buses to a central London storage location so these can be busted out in the run up to the movie release Do you have a Parallel Park to Miniature bus? Oh, who let Aidan drive the buggy? He didn't pass the driving test Old age! Prior to the film going live in UK cinemas on the 2nd of August 2018 the little Ant-Man and the Wasp scooter bus was spotted all around central London 3D advertising is always a great marketing strategy particularly in this day and age where people can easily film, photograph and share online in seconds this is also beneficial for interactive pieces like this where members of the public can actively engage with the sculpture and stand right alongside it. This made a nice little name for itself and it found its way into a couple of newspapers where its younger brother on the other hand was rubbing more than elbows and bums with just the general public Oh, what's that they're sitting on? For the London photo op at the movie's release the miniature bus found itself under some celebrity booty. It's great to see this being featured for the movie event and fantastic to be working for Marvel and Disney once again Special thanks must go to Andy Green for coming to us with the project and for really getting this moving and we look forward to any future projects. Please feel free to leave any comments below as they're always appreciated and hit the subscribe button for our latest videos You can like Sculpture Studios on Facebook and follow at Aidan Hines on Twitter and for more of our work visit SculptureStudios.co.uk Thank you very much for watching and remember with great power comes great resp... that's not right What DC comic lover wrote this? Who wrote this? Oi!