DeathSmart
About this build
Smarties and melted chocolate are built up in two bowls, then joined into a giant sphere. The original photographs show the layered construction.
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What the original account establishes
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- The pimp is a tribute to the Smartie mothership from a childhood dream brought on by too many red ones. The ingredients were 8 hexagonal tubes of Smarties from two 4-multipacks at £2.40, which proved two tubes short, 2 x 400g bars of milk chocolate at £3.40 and some butter. With only domestic facilities, the giant shell became a mosaic of ordinary Smarties, easy to repair after battle damage; two bowls made a two-piece mould, chosen over plates for the hangars and planet-destroying laser inside. The bowls were smeared thinly with butter, twenty or so Smarties laid in the bottom with a thin dribble of melted chocolate, and once that had firmed another ring added outside and chocolated, tier by tier to the rim, with the Smarties slipping past each other in landslides as the sides steepened. Both halves were refrigerated until solid and fell out with a couple of sharp taps, the butter and Smarties acting as a release agent; with the Smarties run out, the halves were joined with chocolate alone, leaving an unshielded equator. Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5 · Source 6 · Source 7 · Source 8
Notes from the contributor
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8 Hexagon tubes of Smarties (not enough, I needed two more) (Two 4xMultipacks=£2.40) 2 x 400g bars of milk chocolate (£3.40) Some butter
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I decided a two piece mold would be the best approach. I was torn between plates that were too shallow, or bowls that were too deep. I went with the bowls, as the mother ship would need to house hangars for smaller smartie ‘fighter’ ships, command and control, planet destroying laser beam etc.
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The original account
When I was a kid my favorite sweets were smarties. I used to sort them into colours before eating, and ended up with multi-coloured fingers. One evening I’d eaten too many red ones and I think the E-numbers got to me. Dreams that night were of smartie space ships invading the earth and taking over.
The pimp is a tribute to the Uber-smartie mothership that led the invasion – the DeathSmart
Ingredients
8 Hexagon tubes of Smarties (not enough, I needed two more) (Two 4xMultipacks=£2.40)
2 x 400g bars of milk chocolate (£3.40)
Some butter
Design
The first consideration was how to make the giant sugary coloured shell. With only domestic catering facilities to hand, I quickly gave up and decided to use a mosaic of smaller Smartie shells. This has the added benefit of being easy to repair in the event of any battle damage using off-the-shelf parts.
I decided a two piece mold would be the best approach. I was torn between plates that were too shallow, or bowls that were too deep. I went with the bowls, as the mother ship would need to house hangars for smaller smartie ‘fighter’ ships, command and control, planet destroying laser beam etc.
Construction
The bowls were given a a thin smearing of butter to aid removal later. I wasn’t sure how necessary this was at the time, as if the plan worked, there shouldn’t be too much chocolate in contact with the bowl.
Next, twenty or so smarties were lay in the bottom of the bowl, and then a thin layer of melted chocolate dribbled over them. When the chocolate had gone reasonably firm, another ring of smarties was added to the outside, and the same chocolate applied. This is built up tier by tier, until the smarties cover the whole inside of the bowl, all the way to the rim. This process gets progressively more difficult due to the steepness of the bowl increasing, and the side profile of the smarties giving them a tendency to ‘slip’ past each other. Some of these landslide moments can be seen in the final product.
When both halves were complete they were refrigerated until completely solid. The next part was a journey into the unknown – how badly stuck to the inside of the bowls would each half be? The walls were over engineered in terms of thickness because I thought I’d struggle to get the halves out of the mold, but the plan went perfectly and the combination of butter smear and smarties acted as a perfect release agent, and they fell out with a couple of sharp taps
With both halves now solid, and balanced on top of each other, I discovered I’d run out of smarties, so the two halves had to be joined using only chocolate. This has lead to a design vulnerability – a lack of smartie shielding around the ‘equator’. In the event of an attack I can imagine a miniature RingRaider (do they still make those?) could quite easily fly along the chocolate ravine and take advantage of a pin hole.
