Spacesheep SF Launch Party: Build a BIG 3D Space Sheep

The model: simple boxes on a 1-inch grid

Plywood carries the weight, foam gives the shape

+ one evening for the lights: wiring and phone setup.

Lights: one LED strip, one phone app, four things glow

Everything is one chain of 280 LEDs

1. 5 V 10 A supplywall plug
2. →
3. WLED controllerWi-Fi, phone app
4. →
5. Eyes6 LEDs
6. →
7. Flame core36
8. →
9. Flame middle24
10. →
11. Flame edge15
12. →
13. Sparks4
14. →
15. Underglow195

The supply and controller sit inside the hollow body. You reach them through a hatch: the whole flame lifts off the back wall on magnets. Also run a second pair of power wires from the supply to the far end of the underglow, so the last LEDs don't fade brown. In WLED, set the power limit to 8 A.

Shopping list: lights are a third of the billShopping list: paint is 40% of the bill

• Paint & finish $195
• Foam $120
• Wood & screws $95
• Glue, pins & rods $65

• Lights $197
• Paint & finish $173
• Foam $120
• Wood & screws $95
• Glue & pins $51

Tools: utility knife + snap-off blades, 48″ drywall T-square, drill/driver with ¼″, 3/16″ and ⅜″ bits and a ½″ socket, caulk gun, 120/220 sanding block, tape measure, dust mask. Nice extra: a hot-wire foam cutter (Amazon). For the lights: a small soldering iron helps, but lever nuts and JST plugs get you there without one.

Nine flat colours: roll the big ones, spray the small ones

Never spray bare foam. Give every foam surface two coats of KILZ 2 primer first, and test your cans on a scrap. Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X comes in all of these colours. Hold each swatch on your phone against the can caps in the store. Seal everything with matte clear so the gloss cans don't shine.

Cut list: 4 plywood panels, 47 foam pieces

Assembly: structure first, paint, then details

1. Cut every piece

   Foam: score twice along the T-square with a fresh blade, snap it over a table edge, then sand the edge flat. Write the name on each piece in pencil.

   Show all pieces in 3D

2. Base: deck + legs

   Mark the post centres 4¾″ in from the front and back of the deck and 4¼″ in from the sides. Drill 5/16″ holes through the deck and 3/16″ pilots into the posts, then drive 2 lag screws into each post. Flip it over and check it doesn't rock.

   Show step in 3D

3. Holes for the lights, before the box closes

   You can't reach inside once the top is on, so cut these now.

   • Hatch: cut a 12 × 10″ opening in the back wall, centred side to side, with its centre 13¼″ up from the wall's bottom edge. The flame module covers it.
   • Cord: drill a ¾″ hole through the deck, next to a back leg, for the power cord and the underglow wires.
   • Eye wires: drill a ¾″ hole through the front wall, centred, 14″ up from the deck top.
   Show the box pieces in 3D

4. Body shell: the big box

   Six panels make a hollow box. Three are plywood (floor, front, back) and three are 2″ foam (two sides, top). The plywood walls carry the head and the spark rods and the flame hatch; the hollow keeps it light and holds the electronics.

   • Front wall: stand it on the deck, flush with the front edge, leaving 2″ empty at each side for the foam. Drill pilots, then drive 3″ screws up through the underside of the deck into the wall, every 6″.
   • Back wall: same, flush with the back edge. Clamp a scrap board across the tops of both walls to keep them square.
   • Foam sides: run PL 300 along the deck edge and both wall ends. Press each 42 × 25¼″ side on so it sits on the deck and covers the wall ends. Pin it with 3″ screws through fender washers into the plywood, 3 per wall end.
   • Foam top: take the clamp board off. Glue the tops of all four walls, lay the 42 × 30″ top on, screw it into the plywood tops with washers, and weigh it down with paint cans.
   • Cure: tape the corners and leave it 24 h.
   Show the box pieces in 3D Show step in 3D

5. Head box

   Glue and screw the head plate to the front wall with 6 × 1¼″ screws, centred, with its bottom edge 3¼″ above the deck top. Glue the sides, bottom and top to the plate, then the front last. Glue the bumps onto the head sides, 2″ below the top and 6″ from the back.

   Before the head plate goes on, drill a ¾″ hole through it to match the eye-wire hole in the front wall.

   Show step in 3D

6. Fill, sand, prime

   Spackle the seams and screw heads, then sand them flush with 220 grit. Keep every edge sharp: it's voxel art, so round nothing. Give all foam two coats of primer, including the loose detail pieces.

7. Paint

   Roll the body fleece colour and the head and legs charcoal, 2 coats each. Paint the details while they're still loose. For each checker panel, paint it all fleece, tape a 4″ grid and fill alternating squares with the shade. Mask 3½″ squares for the eyes.

   Show finished colours

8. Top tuft + checker panels

   Glue the tuft 4″ in from the back and the sides. Glue each checker panel 4″ from the back and 3″ above the bottom edge. Pin each piece with 4 skewers.

   Show step in 3D

9. Face

   Glue the face plate centred, 2″ above the head's bottom edge. Laminate the two snout layers, then glue the snout centred with its bottom 1″ above the head's bottom. Paint a 3 × 3½″ pink tongue on the lower middle of the snout.

   Glowing eyes: before gluing the face plate on, cut two 3½″ square windows through the face plate and the head front: 2″ either side of centre, top edges 5½″ below the head top. Frost the acrylic squares and glue them flush into the face plate. Stick a 3-LED piece of strip 1″ behind each window, and run the wire through the head plate hole into the body.

   Show step in 3D

10. Ears

    Drill ⅜″ holes 3″ deep into each ear and into the head top, 4″ from the head's back edge and 5″ either side of centre. Glue in 6″ dowels.

    Show step in 3D

11. Rocket flame

    Stack yellow, then orange, then red, each centred on the one before. Put the yellow plate's bottom 6″ above the body's bottom edge.

    Show step in 3D

12. Sparks

    Push each rod through the flame into a ½″-deep hole in the plywood back wall and epoxy it. Push a spark cube 1½″ onto the end with a dab of epoxy.

    • Rod lengths: 16″, 13″, 19″, 17″
    • Stagger the heights between 20″ and 33″ off the floor
    Show step in 3D

13. Flame module (it's also the hatch)

    Score and snap the tinted acrylic. Glue each colour into an open-backed box, 2″ deep, with acrylic cement, then frost the outside. Each box is lit from inside:

    • Zig-zag strip across the ½″ hatch plate: 36 LEDs in the yellow area, 24 in orange, 15 in red.
    • Glue yellow, orange and red boxes on in a stack, each centred on the one below. Hot glue holds acrylic to plywood well.
    • Screw 4 steel washers to the back wall around the opening and glue 4 magnets to the plate so they meet. Put a JST plug on the wires so the hatch unplugs.
    Show step in 3D

14. Glowing sparks

    Epoxy the brass tubes into the hatch plate so they stick out through the flame boxes. Run 3 thin wires through each tube to one LED glued inside a frosted, tinted cube, then slide the cube 1½″ onto the tube.

    • Tube lengths: 14½″, 11½″, 17½″, 15½″
    • Stagger the heights between 20″ and 33″ off the floor
    Show step in 3D

15. Underglow and wiring

    Stick the underglow strip under the deck, 2″ in from the edge and around the legs, using its tape plus a clip every foot. Put the supply and controller on the deck inside, through the hatch. Wire one chain in this order: eyes, flame, sparks, underglow. Add the second power feed to the underglow's far end.

    Show lights on in 3D

16. Set up WLED on your phone

    Join the controller's own Wi-Fi, then open the WLED app.

    • Set the LED count to 280 and the power limit to 8 A.
    • Make segments: eyes 0–5, flame 6–80, sparks 81–84, underglow 85–279.
    • Effects: Fire 2012 on the flame, Candle on the sparks, Breathe in amber on the underglow. For the eyes, use white with the Blink effect at a slow speed.
    • Save it all as a preset called "Launch" and set it to start at power-on. Optional: wire the motion sensor to a spare pin and set it as a button that runs "Launch" at full brightness.

17. Seal and finish

    3-Person Team Effort & Time Estimate

    With 3 people working in parallel, the total build time drops from two weekends down to roughly a single solid weekend (12–14 total working hours) plus glue/primer drying downtime.

    • Person 1 (Carpenter / Skeleton): Cuts plywood, builds base & body box, handles structural mounting and rod drill holes.
    • Person 2 (Sculptor / Skin): Slices XPS foam slabs, carves head/face bevels, and dry-fits foam outer panels.
    • Person 3 (Finishing & Electronics): Solders/wires WLED strips and acrylic flame boxes, then leads spackling, priming, and painting.

    Schedule breakdown: Saturday morning (4 h) for parallel cut + skeleton build; Saturday afternoon (3 h) skin glue-up & curing overnight. Sunday morning (3 h) fill, sand, prime & roll paint; Sunday afternoon (3 h) wiring install, detail attachment, and final reveal.

    Spray two coats of matte clear on the painted parts only, keeping it off the acrylic, then stick felt pads on the feet.

Alternative plan: the 3-hour glowing sheep

Build a plain cardboard sheep and let light and fog do the showing off: a glowing rocket flame with fog exhaust, an underglow that makes it hover, and eyes that light up. Nothing gets painted, wired or soldered. It's an indoor party prop, not a sculpture that lasts.

Light and fog give the wow, for about an hour of the work

What gets cut

Who does what

Step by step

AI-generated previews based on the sheep artwork. The checker panels in the lit photos are optional.

Shopping list (the day before)

• Moving boxes: 2–3 large (body), 1 medium (head), 5 small (legs, snout)
• Foam board, 20×30″: about 6 white, 3 black; pink poster board
• Tissue paper: yellow, orange, red, white
• 2 USB LED strips with a remote and flicker modes, plus 2 USB power banks
• 2 battery LED puck lights
• Small fog machine + fog fluid (Halloween aisles usually stock them in October)
• 3 low-temp hot glue guns and sticks, 3 box cutters, packing tape

Match the proportions by eye: the body about 1.5× as long as it is tall, and the head about half the body's height. Put it against a wall in the darkest corner of the room, so you can skip the hidden side and the lights carry the show.

Safety: use LED lights only, and keep the fog machine's nozzle away from cardboard and tissue, because it gets hot. Ask the venue before you run fog, since some smoke alarms go off from it.