UOLTT: Operation Royal Salute (Gift to CIG)

[DamDirtyApe]

 

After all the waiting you've all had to endure, I am finally pleased to announce that Operation Royal Salute is now finished and active. 

 

We ran into an insane amount of delays which kept pushing back the dates over and over: Carpenter was not available for the job immediately and the second wanted much more than the quoted price; One key component of the gift had to be flown in from the other side of the country; Fittings were not available locally; And the print shop's large printer was being repaired for over 2 weeks.

 

But the community stuck behind us and we finished with what's appearing to be amazing results. The package will be arriving soon so we will have 2 full weeks to have it aired on Wingman. I think they'll choose it to be.

 

Thank you UOLTT fleet.

 

And above all else we want to express an extra bit gratitude to the following members. Though this is a fleet gift, this would never had been possible without you.

 

@ixi_your_face

@Hazy125

@foxhound590

@looney

@Str_Mape

@OMEGA SUPREME

@Wauthar

@DaRk0

@b45op

@CatCloud

@Jobobee

@Thunderjolt

@XiaoPigs

 

Mega thanks to Josh Bill for the cedar box and Mark over at CopyWright in Tacoma, WA for the poster and label prints.

 

Additional mega thanks goes to:

 

@Artofinca for creating and providing both the LTT poster and the container label. These are absolutely amazing.

@iLash for creating the UOLTT logo which we all know and love.

@Nit3Rid3R, @LukaP and @Jobobee for all the support through the creation.

 

So please enjoy the following build log. And thank you again.

 

Operation Royal Salute.

 

Notes:

 

-EDIT- 23/05/14 at 2034: Adding the images and logs below in following posts.

-EDIT- 23/05/14 at 2111: Added photos of the main contents to the gift.

-EDIT- 23/05/14 at 2236: Added photos of weathering, fittings, staining, sealing and all foam work.

-EDIT- 23/05/14 at 2245: Added photos of the finished product and the packaging methods.

 

Now, noone bite my head off for the shipping time. The expected delivery date is 29/05/14 or 30/05/14.

The shipping price to get it there by Tuesday was $320.

The shipping price to get it there by Wednesday was $265

The shipping price to get it there by Thursday was $175

And the shipping price to get it there by Thursday or Friday was $75.27

 

Since I was covering the additional charges that went over the budget, and believe me we went over, I had to go with $75.27 to get it shipped out tonight since I didn't want to wait to have a fundraiser since there's no way it was gonna be featured on next episode anyways. Memorial Day weekend.

 

But... It's on it's way and it'll have a full 2 weeks and 2 episodes to be featured on Wingman's. So mission complete, fam.

 

And good luck getting through all the thumbnails.

 

-Edit- 30/05/14 at 2350

 

[DamDirtyApe]

I've never done any sort of build log so don't mind the layout. I'm gonna just post and explain the things that happened in the order they were done.
 
SO. Moving on.
 
Right off the bat the first thing we did was procure the actual contents of the gift. We'll start with showing off the side pieces.
 
This is Blanton's Original Single Barrel Kentucky Bourbon... I think the company can speak for themselves.
 

 

Here are some of the photos we've collected over time. Only had a GoPro and my phone handy so don't mind the mixes of quality and angles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So when ixi and I first started talking about setting this up we spent around 3 hours or so talking in Skype about what sort of alcohol we were going to get for the gift, seeing as alcohol is the running theme involved in all CIG gifts for Wingman's. We really wanted to ensure that we were only sending the highest quality alcohol and we also wanted some flare to make every detail of the gift stand out. That's why we went with the Blanton's bottle. It's a perfect combination of both, and even through the blurriness you all can see the incredible amount of detail Blanton's puts in for the presentation alone.

 

 

 

And now, I know I'm doing this probably out of order, but here is the centerpiece. The coup de grace. The reason Operation Royal Salute is named Operation Royal Salute.

 

This is a <REDACTED> <REDACTED> <REDACTED> <REDACTED> of <REDACTED> <REDACTED>/<REDACTED>. It was produced by <REDACTED> <REDACTED> in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation. Named after the traditional <REDACTED> <REDACTED> <REDACTED>, all <REDACTED> <REDACTED> <REDACTED> are <REDACTED> for a minimum of <REDACTED> <REDACTED>, which allows the <REDACTED> to develop a <REDACTED> and <REDACTED> <REDACTED>.

 

But don't take my word for it. I'll let the creators do the talking.

 

 

 

 

 

Love you, ixi.

[DamDirtyApe]

The alcohol selected for the gift was maticuously chosen to be absolutely  amazing and of the highest quality. But the contents alone won't ensure that we get hosted on Wingman's. We needed to step up the packaging a bit more since they unbox every single one. So once again ixi and myself were on Skype for a few hours and figured out that this was the best choice. Stained, aged cedar with fitted bottle holders. 

 

Huge thanks to Josh Bill and his team in Puyallup, WA but design boxes for cedar-box.com. Thanks for providing us with this top notch cedar box. This thing was already sanded, built and heavy as all hell, lol. 

 

 

 

We originally were wanting to make a metal logo for the box. But after all the materials were collected, we were surprisingly over budget by a bit. So to cut down the costs without having to setup another fundraiser, we chose to go with a branded logo. 

 

 

Since cedar is a fairly soft wood I used a print out and traced the design into the wood via indentation. 

 

 

 

I'm not a woodworker at all, so the only option I could think of is hand drawing the logo with a soldering iron.... By the end of the entire project that iron has met the garbage can. But you'll see why that happened later.

 

 

Before moving to any polishing like staining or sanding or weathering, I decided to start checking to see if we had enough foam to work the job. I've never worked with foam so we went with something a little more expensive, but easier to use, in Kaizen foam. Kaizen foam is a product of FastCap and is a multi-layered soft formed foam. It's very impact absorbent and was fairly easy to work with... When the lamination between the layers peeled properly.

 

 

 

We actually didn't have enough foam to fill the box to the brim so I had to cut up the extras to make in between supports to fill the gaps.

 

 

[DamDirtyApe]

Before getting too far with the box I had to start with the brass fittings we were going to use. After talking to a few members of the fleet I decided to try out a few different weathering methods. First was an overnight saltwater bath, then a chisel and hammer, grinding it into concrete to have natural wear, setting it on fire and then black spray paint with a rub down. Here's the results.

 

 

 

 

 

So after the weathering for the box and the brass were finished... Ready to stain and gloss the box up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the exterior was finished I started back with the foam

 

 

 

 

 

Since the supporting foam would not be shown I didn't care how rough the cuts were underneath.

 

 

 

These were the first cuts which I would alter later. That soldering iron to the bottom left is the one that I ruined in smoothing the edges. Should've listened to @LukaP and hooked up a wire to a battery, but eh. Walmart it is.

 

 

Final product of how it all fit inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got the poster printed at the shop and also asked @Artofinca to create some professional looking poster container labels which he was more than happy to create. And man, these look amazing. Just like a UOLTT wine bottle.

 

 

 

In case you're wondering which @Artofinca poster we used...

 

 

Container is black PVC go give it an industrial look.

 

[DamDirtyApe]

Finished.

 

 

 

 

 

Ixi wrote up a letter on behalf of the fleet and the High Council. I wasn't sure how to present it properly, so I just used a general white envelop so I didn't have to fold it and slapped the extra label on it. I also cut into the foam a little to the first layer which worked as a stabilizer.

 

 

Then it was time to pack the box. Since the interior foam was so dense and soft, I didn't really do much. I triple wrapped the entire wooden box with large form bubble wrap and had to custom make a box to fit around it. Here's the results.

 

 

 

[AustinKZombie]

Reserved

 

 

 

 

Well that looks amazing you put so much work into it.

Edited May 24, 2014 by AustinKZombie

[DamDirtyApe]

No idea why I reserved so many.

[CatCloud]

wat
Oh Khay. i se whats going on now.

[AustinKZombie]

No idea why I reserved so many.

It may come in handy

[AustinKZombie]

wat?

Exactly what I said

[Semphis Rythorn]

bleh wish i wasn't broke i would've donated ;(

[DamDirtyApe]

bleh wish i wasn't broke i would've donated ;(

 

lol Don't mind that. It's a fleet gift. We all can enjoy it once they show it.

[DamDirtyApe]

EDIT: First reserved spot has been updated with main contents of the gift. 

[DamDirtyApe]

Exactly what I said

 

This is actually a gift going to CIG. We're attempting to have it shown on Wingman.

[DamDirtyApe]

EDIT. Box layout and foam photos have been added.

[ixi_your_face]

Those measurements were needed damnit!

 

Also, pinned.

[DamDirtyApe]

EDIT: Weathering, fittings, staining, sealing and all foam work has been updated.

[DamDirtyApe]

EDIT: Added the final photos of the package and the packaging for it.

[DamDirtyApe]

Editing a video that'll show the process.

[iLash]

This is surely the best gift CIG will ever get in their studio  :lol:  B)

Nice work everyone. This will make our org even more outstanding from all others

[thedomsaww]

Damn proud to be in this org. That truly is an epic gift.

[DamDirtyApe]

Damn proud to be in this org. That truly is an epic gift.

 

Yo, Domsaww, lol. If it gets featured it might boost our fleet numbers too.

[Wauthar]

Gentlemen...

You have truly outdone yourselves! It is beautiful and I hope it will leave a good impression for our group as a whole.

[DamDirtyApe]

Gentlemen...

You have truly outdone yourselves! It is beautiful and I hope it will leave a good impression for our group as a whole.

 

Wouldn't have been possible without you, @Wauthar.

[Jobobee]

Man, that looks amazing. Will look at all of the photos when I'm home, on phone for the moment.