I started with some cardboard templates and a basic layout of the two walls I was going to feature. Watching the video and starting with the size of a regular door in corner of the room, I estimated the bulletin boards to be about 3’ x 2’. Because of the small details here that I wanted to be visible, I had to build in 1:12 scale which means 1” represents 1’.

I transferred the template measurements onto MDF and cut three pieces off camera. Err, well – technically my husband cut them to help me out.

In case I couldn’t find material to simulate mini carpeting, I made the floor a hardwood finish using coffee stir sticks that could have worked as neutral flooring in that space.

I tried using a baby washcloth on top of the flooring - albeit the wrong color - by seeing if the sizing of the pile would work. Ultimately, the cloth became the padding for the real “carpeting” I later installed, which happened to be a fleece-like scarf from Dollar Tree in a color that worked better.

With that, I painted one outside wall and the bottom with black acrylic paint and the inside walls a neutral beige or almond color.

Being that the actual office is in an historic property, I tried to match the window and frame style for 3D printing. I found some great files on Thingiverse, sized them accordingly, and printed two for inside and two for outside. 

I reduced their thickness in Cura resulting in thin and stringy prints. After a light filing, I sandwiched acetate between them to simulate glass. 

I ordered a door on Amazon because I didn’t want to 3D print one of that size. Ehh, personal preference. The door was lightly sanded and painted with white acrylic paint on one side. It took at least 3 coats to get a nice coverage. I thought it would be good, but it should have been primed first.

Probably could have used the airbrush for this to get a smoother finish but I was on the fence about the actual age of the door in the documentary, so I used a brush to get a thicker looking coat on.

I also used this same method on the window frames because many older homes have layers and layers of paint that give the appearance of a thicker finish.

The Dollar Tree scarf was super fuzzy but worked out pretty well. I painted a small wooden dowel and used it to frame the edge of the “carpeting” which now completed the entire frame.

I found some wall trim on Thingiverse, 3D printed it, painted it white and installed it.

I also designed smaller trim pieces in Blender, 3D printed and painted them. These went around the door frame inside the office.

Now, I really REALLY wanted to construct working mini blinds here, but I tried many methods and none looked that great. I designed these blinds in Blender and printed them. They came out super dense and they weren’t going to let any light through the windows.

I went back and removed every other slat in Blender in order to have a more open look for the final shots. When those printed, they looked ok but the tiny details were too small to print without falling apart. I use PLA but I’m sure a resin print would have captured those details better.

The revised prints came out OK. They looked better but they’re still not quite what I had in mind. Though the PLA is white itself, I gave them a quick coat of white with the airbrush to match the trim in the office for a cohesive look.

I did intentionally print them with supports because of the angle of the slats. I was afraid to remove them for fear of damaging the delicate structure as they’re printed in all one piece. After I painted them, I realized I could *CAREFULLY* remove the supports. It took me about 3 hours to remove the supports from both blinds.

That process wasn’t as smooth as I’d hoped. It was like playing Operation with carpal tunnel. Needless to say, there were some small repairs to be made to the structure. Nothing a little Tacky Glue couldn’t fix.

I glued the blinds directly to the window frames bookending them with thicker pieces to look like a hanging frame on top and a few retracted slats on bottom.

I kept a bunch of purge lines in case I needed to make tiny repairs. In this case, I found two pretty robust ones and used them to mimic the tilt wands since my print of each was so thin they broke off.

A delicate process...

But I think they look pretty convincing.

I also kept some brim pieces knowing I could use them for this specific purpose as they’re thin enough to simulate lift cords.

I knew I probably couldn’t get the tiny end caps to 3D print and didn’t have the time to hand make them out of clay so I opted for using beads. I’m not thrilled about it, but it worked.

The process of getting the “cords” attached was a little finicky to say the least.

I ended up not liking the top trim on the window frames so I replaced that. I wasn’t too worried about it because it’s not super visible in the final shots but it’s just enough material to hide any remaining gaps.

The desk I made was from this tutorial. 

I couldn’t really see this desk area in any of the reference videos, so I wasn’t sure if it was accurate. I figured I’d keep it simple to blend in and not stress because it wasn’t the focal point of the piece.

The metal chair was actually one of the first things I tackled for this project. I seem to have a love/hate relationship with making chairs in Blender so I challenged myself to try and get this one right. I’m fairly sure this is the chair shown, though only briefly. 

It took a while to print...

Because I made the legs so thin, they were too flimsy to add holes in the feet so I reinforced them with some smooth cardstock that could blend in to be painted with the PLA. I put a small piece on each side of each leg, bent the bottoms, and used the pin vise to make the holes.

I did eventually go back into the program and made them sturdier for any future prints.

It got a coat or two of glossy black nail polish to give it a metal look.

The windows in this project were only second to the nemesis that is what I believe to be a Knoll-Pollock vintage office chair.

After both trying to 3D model it and make it out of other materials by hand - four different times I may add - I finally caved and bought this file off of TurboSquid.

I had to do some tweaking in Blender and in Cura to print it in sections because I knew it wouldn’t print that great in one piece.

Though while removing it from the print bed I injured myself pretty badly with a metal scraper and probably needed stitches, I was pretty impressed with how it came out and felt it would work well in the scene.

Fortunately for me, Santa brought me some chrome paint pens. I then painted the “leather” using a mix of acrylic paints.

I used a variety of colors to get a close match to the aged leather.

I mixed up a dark wash to give the appearance of a used, yet well-loved, chair. The most important details for me were showing the recesses of the lines in the fabric pulled around the buttons as well as rips and tears.

After about three passes of aging, I dirtied up the frame a little because well, it’s not new chrome.

Off camera, I painted the little wheels black and used the chrome pens for the rest of the base which also was treated with a dark wash.

I went back in and touched up the chrome in some areas to look like wear and tear over the years and not make it look so smooth.

I grabbed some “stuffing” off of the top of a cotton swab and glued that with tacky glue on the chair where I’d rubbed the paint off to mark the spot. I think I was able to get it in the right place according to reference images and the film itself during Greg’s interviews.

The whole structure got a coat of matte mod podge to seal it all in.

I took pictures of a few of the books that I own and found some of the covers online that I did not. I resized, printed, and cut them out with the Cricut to make as props in the scene.

If we want to be specific, note that I took liberties with some of these as far as the edition. The books I chose here are mentioned in the series except one (I added an Easter egg in there, 👽 Varieties of Anomalous Experience).

I tacky glued the covers to some foam, cut them out, and cleaned up the edges.

The broken crucifix shown in The Unbinding was designed in Blender and 3D printed to fit on the wall between the windows.

Off camera, I added a little handmade scroll to the top. Much easier than trying to print.

I ended up adding additional window trim after I designed the wall, hence no space between the item and the windows themselves here.

The Hellier goblin head, designed by multi-talented Tyler Strand, was almost as hard to make as the metal chair.

I decided just to go for it and tried my hand at sculpting in Blender vs hard modeling like the other pieces in this build. It turned out better than I thought it would, and I’m pretty happy with it. I know it’s not perfect, but I’m still proud that I took the leap.

I found this tutorial and kind of loosely based it off of that.

I actually primed this one with the airbrush and hand painted the rest.

I gave it a fleshy tone like Tyler's original model. 

It was difficult to capture the small details in the print but it does the job in the scene as a small desk display. Again, I’m taking license here because I couldn’t see the desk nor the items on it. This project definitely needed this item to tie the essence of the main story together.

I didn’t like the original display box I built from cardboard, so I 3D printed a smoother looking one which got a coat or two of the black gloss nail polish and glued the head onto it.

A sheet of real corkboard from Dollar Tree for bulletin boards.

I printed, painted, and gloss coated some simple frames.

Even though we’re not using real push pins I wanted it to look as realistic as possible, though perhaps a tad too thick for these small frames.

There were definitely some things I absolutely could not match, like the pages of symbols which were too difficult to see. So I went with something close.

It took me quite a few weeks to compile all of the images I was able to discern from the boards themselves. I chose a few standard sizes with which to work, as I only have a general idea by sight in regards to paper sizes used. Other than the full board maps, I chose 8.5 x 11, 5 x 7, and 3.5 x 5 and converted them to 1:12 scale accordingly. 

They were arranged in Photoshop Elements, printed, and cut on the Cricut maker. I even tried to incorporate any imperfections like black lines from photocopied sheets and the white framed sides of photos.

Extremely tiny and difficult to work with!

Two down, A LOT more to go...

There were people pictured that I had no idea who they were… until now. The hardest one to find was Frank Stranges and if you find this photo online, you’ll see it had to be mirror flipped here. Also of note was Dolores Barrios.

In retrospect regarding the assembly, I think the boards may be set too high on the walls but I just went with it. It was a finicky operation.

The doorknob was a miniscule detail and was found on – you guessed it -  Thingiverse. The texture design is antique but you can’t really see it here. 

I should have just gone with a modern one. I don’t particularly care for the gold here but I did put UV resin on top to make it smooth and glassy. I would definitely change it up.

I bought a blue star balloon specifically to use a piece of it for this project. It feels somehow wrong, like how people say you should be gifted Tarot cards; to me this isn’t authentic enough as finding one in the wild. But I had to do what I had to do.

Since I didn’t want to destroy it and only had that one semi-circular piece to work with, I tried to make it look crinkly and deflated.

I would be remiss if I didn't make a reference here to the A.C.B.T.F.

   A.C.B.T.F. =

ALIEN CAVE BASE

TASK FORCE