Rosco Heatshield & Patt 243

[Stu]

Dear All.

 

Last couple of weeks I have thinking about how I can make my life easier for panto (oh no I haven't!) - I'm fed up of 243s eating through colour so have been wondering how I can make my gels last longer.

 

One idea I came up with is to put some Rosco heatshield in the colour runners, and then TV style bagging the gel onto the barndoors with some bulldog clips. There would be enough of an air gap between heatshield and colour, but would the heatshield be too close the lens in the 243? Would it melt?

 

If anyone has any experiences of this, or has done something slightly different, I would love to know as I'm getting through gel at a rate of knots at the moment!

 

Many thanks.

Stu

 

PS. I'm already turning the lamp back a turn or two when on full focus, not only for the gel but to stop the lens cracking.... :huh:

[Bryson]

We used to run our 243s with heatshield in. In the end, we realised that the real problem was the design of the gelframes in a 243. That metal cross in the centre gets so hot it melts gel on contact. We eventually cut the crosses out, and cut HT or Rosco a bit large and used it in the gelframe - the extra "stiffness" of HT or Rosco just about compensated for the lack of the support cross. (And obviously the temperature resistance helps, too!)

 

So, my recommended solution that doesn't look like crap (like TV-style gel bagging) is:

Remove cross

Use Heatshield

Use HT or Rosco.

 

Even then, I reckon you're looking at a max 5 shows per gel, depending on colour.

[Stu]

Thanks Bryson.

 

I'm not too worried about it looking crap as it will be up on the overheads I expect, well hidden behind portals etc.

 

I had noticed the 243 gel frame issue myself the other week, so I'll snip the others off in due course. I'm already using oversized gels (Thomas 1k 4cells, helps cos I don't need to have 2 sizes in stock) so that should be ok too, have to get some heatshield and have an experiment.

 

Ta!

Stu

(Any other ideas still gratefully recieved)

[gareth]

Have you tried the 'ponce wheel' technique? (The little spikey roller thing that wardrobe people use.) Apparently it's quite effective if you use it on darker colours to 'perforate' them slightly - although I've never tried it myself, so I can't personally attest to the success or otherwise of this particular technique!

[Bryson]

Spotted this today and thought of this topic:

 

Apollo Perfgel

 

Perhaps if you got the 2" squares type it might act as "ready-poncewheeled"

[Brian]

If you're going 'TV stylie' with the gel I wouldn't have though you'll need the heat shield. You're going to end up with a 6"-8" gap before the gel which will be plenty unless the hotspot of a 243 extends out that far? I don't have a 243 to hand to play with it's hotspot.