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Happy Friday!  Today I want to dive into a set design and build that I’m so excited about.

Signal Factory, the same guys we are partnering with on our show, also do a plethora of other production work.  Last year, they were approached about designing a set for  ETU Swat, a reality competition show about swat teams.  They were excited about the opportunity and called Tim in to construct the set-up and provide a few ideas to compliment their design.

We had to keep all the set photos under wraps until the show aired. That happened this week!  Did you happen to catch it on The Outdoor Channel?  I know most of you that read this blog are female and therefore may not be too interested in the show or this set, but I am going to gush over this set because that’s what proud wives do! 🙂 Plus, even though I’m a lady, I love “masculine” design so maybe you do too! 🙂

Here’s a summary of the show just to help you understand the set:

Elite Tactical Unit: S.W.A.T. is a character-driven, adrenaline-fueled reality show featuring the fierce competition between active-duty S.W.A.T. officers who are put into realistic missions that are both mentally rigorous and physically dangerous. Hosted by Mykel Hawke, a renowned former special forces operator and star of Discovery Channel’s “One Man Army” and “Man, Woman, Wild,” the S.W.A.T. operators are divided into two seven-person teams as they compete in weekly team elimination challenges until only two remain. Then, it’s an all out battle to see who will win more than $100,000 for themselves and the departments they serve back home. It’s as real as it gets when the elite compete, and it’s only on Outdoor Channel.

The Signal Factory Guys and Tim were in charge of designing and building the armory and the command center where the contestants would gear up and make a plan of attack before missions.   We’re going to start with a look at the armory.

Tim and the guys settled on using lots of concrete, heavy metals, darker colors, and some serious accent lighting to portray the rough and tough feel they were going for.   Tim was able to build this incredibly cool sliding metal door.  Unlike my metal door, this is the real deal!  This piece involved a bunch of welding and weighed close to 150 lbs!

Of course the metal door and cage had to be heavy duty because it was designed to protect all the guns, ammo, and other dangerous swat supplies.

The Signal guys loved this “Sig Sauer” sign that Tim fabricated and lit from behind.  Make something glow and I am instantly a fan! 🙂

As you can see, these are some shelves designed to hold supplies.  Tim had the idea to use the fabric straps (which are actually webbing you hang air conditioning duct from) as the support mechanism. I love the idea and I think the look is perfect for the show.

Here’s the rest of the space and supplies. . .

These next few photos show off some of the details in the space.  Remember how I said they used concrete on the set?  Well, Tim didn’t actually pour those huge concrete columns.  Can you guess how he achieved this effect?

ARDEX!!!! 🙂 Of course you know Tim figured out to include our favorite product in the set!  He covered some industrial foam blocks in ARDEX’s Feather Finish!  The end result were columns that looked like solid concrete that had been chipped and weathered over the years.  Love!

Ok, so now let’s get to the command center!  This is the place where teams come to map out their mission and discuss a plan of action.  Here’s a wide view of the area. .  .

The area has a few super cool pieces, one of them being the unit that holds 6, count em’ 6, TV monitors.

What really makes this unit amazing are the graphics on the monitors.  Those were done by Kyle (from Signal Factory).  This guy is amazing at what He does. (He is also responsible for The Two Guys Bow Ties logo.)

The space planning in this area doesn’t seem quite right from an outsiders point of view, but from a production point of view there is lots of room for cameras and the layout will look normal on TV.

I really like these drawing boards that are made from plexi glass and metal pipe.  Their clear nature provides opportunities for really cool shots as contestants draw out possible plans of attack.

The light table was created as another place to lay out missions.  Once again, “you had me at the glow.”

So, there you have it! I am so proud of Tim and his work on this set.  Of course, he couldn’t fabricate these pieces all on his own, so a big thank you goes out to all the guys who helped complete the job!  (Chris, Travis, Shannon, Daniel, Richard- he couldn’t have done it without you!)   If you’re interested in checking out the show, it’s on The Outdoor Channel, Wednesday night at 9P/8C!