Saucer Sighting

After all the fun I had making my last "budget project", the Ion Cannon, I thought I'd have a crack at something else that appeared on my worktable recently.  Our "Stranne" lamp from Ikea has been flickering for a while and I replaced the cord switch, leaving me with this surplus item:

Yeah.  The project potential was obvious so I popped over to the craft store and bought some 1/2" wooden balls. These I sawed in half - surprisingly difficult to do evenly.  Fastened to the underside of the switch, they give us a retro-chic "Adamski" UFO look that many people probably recognize.

I decided to leave the cord holes, but added mesh inserts to make them look like some kind of sensor or port, and scribed some lines suggesting a ramp or hatch on one side.  Lastly, I added some view ports made from smallest brass washers I could find, and primed.

After a couple of coats of silver spray, and a few accents (ramp borders in steel and viewports in gloss black), I had a UFO!  Not too bad if I say so myself; a bit "clean", but it seems to suit the subject.  And as befits a budget project, it came in at around $8.00 (and some of that was Canadian Tire money!), including a fresh can of silver spray paint.

Scale is about right for a small "scout" type UFO...

(Note my lazy failure to fill the screw holes)

"'Klaatu Barada what', Mulder?"