This is a six foot Jupiter 2 built for the Distaff Singers of Oakland California for their annual show 2003 by Trevor Brown. This prop was required for a musical revue that involves the travels of the group on a road trip that wonders though New Mexico.

The flying saucer needed to be able to be easily rolled out on to the stage, and rotated upright so that it could be stored off stage. The support would also hide the stage crewman that would roll the ship on stage and hide a dancer that would appear from behind the saucer.

The ship was constructed by taking accurate measurements of the Polar Lights model and using Autocad to increase the size by 6. The structure is built of ¾” foam core. The skin needed to be a sheet large enough to allow cutting the circles in one piece which could then be draped around the structure and glued down. The skin is a sheet of polyethylene plastic which I would never work with again. Only a glue gun could hold it in place, and not very well. Paint does not really adhere to it either. If given the chance, the paint will peel off. This material is the only thing I could find at the time that I could buy in a sheet of 10’ by 13’. It is normally used for man made ponds.

The core was built using a Jupiter 2 core kit More expensive high intensity red leds were used rather then the proper yellow lights so that core could be seen from the audience. Extra lines were run to the top of the saucer from the core to add some spice to the dome. The ship was powered by one 9 volt and a few AA’s.

The final ship measures 6’-0” across and 2’-0” top to bottom. It now resides on permanent display in a Formica countertop shop in East Oakland.

Trevor Brown