5 Star cases has supplied a flight case solution for the 2009 BBC's Blast on Tour outreach project, which is undertaking a 7 month tour visiting 27 cities around the UK.
Blast on Tour is a programme of workshops and activities supporting the development of creative skills in 13 to 19-year-olds which takes place in and around the BBC Blast Truck and performance marquee 'village' which is established at each new site. The village includes digital workshop spaces and a separate performance area. Young people can use state of the art equipment to produce their own work with advice and support from BBC staff and industry professionals. Some of the workshops on offer include music, dance, performance and media.
The flightcase project included a selection of standard and custom cases from 5 Star to cover a number of areas in the whole physical Blast On Tour set up, including the first-point-of-contact registration and reception area.
"We needed a special set of cases for this," explains Kavanagh, operations manager for Blast On Tour. They needed to look good and accommodate all the necessary equipment, tools and materials needed for the registration process and for the efficient administration at each event.
The special cases for this area included a complete set of three large drawered trunks.
The 1.8m long cases feature removable front lids and a wealth of pull-out CNC machined plywood internal boxes to house items like merchandise, clip-boards, T-shirts, First Aid, stationery and other stuff.
The three cases are designed to be positioned into a ‘U' shaped layout, for which 5 Star supplied matching triangular infill panels. These fix to the cases providing additional surface area. Aluminium tubes help support the Reception when built, which, together with the infill panels, travel in the front lid when in the truck.
The new Reception has proved very successful, highly practical and works exactly as envisioned.
Other specialist cases in the project include a large ‘Fashion Trunk', built in wardrobe style, complete with front and back double opening doors. This has many compartments and dividers, accommodating 4 sewing machines, a T-Shirt printing heat press, an ironing board and a printer - among other miscellaneous things. At the back is a multi-position divider system for rolls of fabric, and numerous plastic compartment boxes were fitted by the 5 Star team to house smaller haberdashery items.
Two specially tailored ‘Radio Station' racks were designed and built to house a broadcast quality mixer and a rack mounted server PC, complete with keyboard drawer and assorted IT accessories.
One of these racks also features a unique TFT display housing. Mounted behind the broadcast mixer is a 19” TFT display, ensconced in a CNC machined casing, revealing just the screen area. The unique feature is the flip-up design, which allows for the rack to keep within the specified height. When in transit, this housing folds down parallel with the slope of the mixer. While in use, the operator can adjust the angle of the TFT housing via ratchet knobs fitted to the sides of the pod.
Various other cases and trunks included twin LCD trunks, 5 Star's popular 'Eurotruckers', a full PA enclosure set-up and a games console rack. Each case is finished in a specific Pantone® coloured high pressure laminate, and features BBC Blast branding.