Making a Scale Model Martini Glass

Everyone needs to know how to create their own display model of a martini glass, don’t you think?
What you need for this project:


• clear & fluorescent acrylic                  
• ren board
• plywood & bolts
• wood dowels
• laser cutter
• lathe
• band saw
• disc  sander
• oven
• paint
• solvent

Model  Maker, Scott, started with a piece of plywood, cutting an 8 inch diameter circle in it to form a frame for the lip of the martini glass. He then clamped a piece of clear acrylic into the frame using bolts.



The frame was given legs to lift it off the surface. This gave room for the slumping action to take place in the oven.  The acrylic clamped in the frame was then heated up in the oven.



It came out of the oven with a typical parabola shape to it. Immediately a wooden dowel was pushed down into the center of it while still hot to form the more conical shape of a martini glass. The dowel was held in place until the shape cooled.


While the glass shape was still in its frame it was brought to the laser cutter. The laser was used to cut the martini glass out, following the inside edge of the 8 inch diameter frame.





The base of the martini glass was slumped in a similar manner. Less heat was applied because the slump was much shallower on the base.
Clear acrylic tubing was then put in the lathe and tapered to match the curve of both the top and base of the martini glass. Solvent bonded the three pieces together.
The olive was made from ren board and shaped and cored on the lathe. A hole was drilled through the center of the olive for the “tooth pick”.




The pimento was a strip of fluorescent acrylic heated flat in the oven. It was folded over and stuffed into the core of the olive. Then the olive was primed and painted.




Finally, a wooden dowel was tapered and thread through the hole in the olive and placed into the glass.




Voilà!

At this point our model maker went home and fixed himself a real martini.