Replacement for heavy flats?

[Johnno]

Our school hall stage has three flats on each side. They are a monument to British craftsmanship being constructed from 3x2 timber and hardboard and are accordingly heavy. They are held upright by a couple of chains each. They work fine but are a complete pain to have to do anything with due to their weight. What are the tried-and-tested alternatives?

[Stewart Newlands]

2x1 at 24" intervals on an 8x4 with an edging frame and 4 or 6mm ply seems to work for a few people.

[JPSTechie]

Do you want the flats to be movable or in the same place all of the time.

[Andrew C]

3"x1" and scenic canvas. The old ways are often the best!

[Johnno]

The flats are permanently in position and just used to break up the stage sides. I would like to be able to move them when there is no production so I can move the scaffold about more easily.

 

I was wondering whether I could just use fabric if I attached the top to a wooden bar and chained it up while weighting the lower edge with a metal rod tied down. Might not work in commercial theatre but might in school? Certainly easier for me to deal with on my own.

[Stewart Newlands]

3"x1" and scenic canvas. The old ways are often the best!

 

:-( ** laughs out loud ** yes don't forget the canvas it is a much more useful finish than ply you may not need the ply at all especially if you are flying it.

[paulears]

Nothing wrong with using legs like this - a nice bit of Bolton twill or similar with a chain pocket at the bottom doesn't look too bad at all.

[Roderick]

I second Paulears suggestion, a nice set of legs would be a great solution, much easier.

Personally I prefer wool for standard legs, no problems with fire retarding them :), and a timber batten in a pocket at the bottom, that way you can screw the legs to the floor to stop them moving during shows with lots of excited kids.

[David A]

Absolutely don't screw to the floor as when someone trips or falls onto it the cloth will rip, a chain is a much better idea.

[WiLL]

I was in a school venue once being looked after by a retired professional SM, his solution was remarkable to say the least. Standard wool serge legs with chain pockets, although he's removed the chains and inserted a piece of 2x1 timber into the pocket so that the leg was stretched equally at both bottom and top. It also gave him a more rigid surface for his double line of velcro which he had stiched to the bottom of the chain pocket and stapled into the wooden stage. Less fixed than screwing and if someone fell against it heavily the velcro would release before the cloth would tear. However with a strong enough hold that the normal student approach to moving masking legs out of their way rather than walking around them didn't move the legs out of position.

As someone who used to run an educational venue singlehandedly I would have to say that fabric legs are the way to go.

[paulears]

In fact - the use of fabric can provide some exytra features. A trip to fabric warehouse, or similar can provide fabric cheap enough to look good for a few shows, then replace them. Pro venues select material to have long lasting properties, something that might not be needed in a venue with less 'traffic'.

[David A]

Sorry. but no, Paulears, a local fabric won't be fireproof and in the process of fireproofing it is easy to stuff up the material.It is far better to buy a theatre fabric like Molton which is not expensive but is heavy, lightproof and fireproof.Burning the theatre down can ruin your day.

[paulears]

Don't agree, I'm afraid. Proofing is not a complex job, and the products readily available from many suppliers. All sorts of colours and materials are available and some are very cheap. Proofing of lighter weight material is now quite easy, and the modern proofing agents are less prone to stain.

[David A]

O.K BUT if you're going to fireproof do so before cutting the cloth as the clients we have who fireproofed their own curtains have shrunk them on 3 separate occasions and another had to scrap a set of blacks because of staining.I still recommend costing manufactured fireproof cloth, we buy ours from Belgium but even when shipped to Australia it is not much dearer than domestic cloth.And it is certified which makes life easier with H&S.

[Fletch]

Hi,

 

Just for reference,

 

I had great success using some painting canvas from Whaleys when I made some flats last year.

 

Here is the link to the fabric with the prices - Painting Canvas - it comes flame proofed so if you do a price comparison do remember to add on the cost of buying some sort of flame proofing.

 

I also (just) managed to make this canvas do 8ft flats, as it is 105 inches which is 8 foot and 9 inches.... just enough for a wrap around on the top and bottom.

 

 

 

Bye

Fletch