Making, Crafting, Creating... aka Whatcha workin' on?

[jamesnsc]

This is what I have going at the moment or just happen to have a pic of on my phone if it’s packed away until the mood strikes - and isn’t RC related.

Balsa

I have this “Space Dolphin Pod” that’s about 40% complete:

Which is going to the friend I made this “Space Whale” for a while back:

I have a hammer head shark variant of those made out of old PCB’s but it’s packed away in storage. I’ve also recently been working in plastics, so I may switch away from wood in making the next set of these I gift.

Hand Guns

I've amassed a bit of a SciFi sidearm collection over the years... about half of which I made myself.

I just finished collecting all the parts to make Jayne Cobb’s sidearm “Boo” from Firefly:

This is Deckard’s PKD Blaster from Blade Runner which has about 40 hours into it, not that you could tell:

I also have a pistol variant of Christopher’s rifle from District 9 that I’ve just started the design process on:

CosPlay

I started working on a vest and boots from Gears of War about a year ago and finally picked up some Worbla to lay the final layer and details before "sending it" to paint (I built a paint booth in my garage out of PVC pipe and plastic sheeting - though for full size items I do the same thing but use the garage door rails).

Art/Misc

I made this double-sided print (acrylic with copper and silver leaf on canvas) for a friend this past xmas as she likes Wolverine and Star Wars, doesn't have a lot of wall space and just purchased her first home. Side A:

Assembly and Side B:

…and I did these doodles recently by way of a good bye & good luck for a co-worker who got pinked in the name of more profits for those at the tippy-top.

Then there is the “Strap-On” from Snyder’s “Sucker Punch”. Models are always slow burners for me as it takes a lot out of me to work on them.

This is the first mock-up for conceptual purposes:

It will be the “as landed” version, so a dragon will need to take a big bite out of the tail.
The cockpit is nearing completion, with a lit EFIS system, as shown in the film:

It’s 1/48 scale, so you likely won’t see that, but I’ll know it’s there - 1/32 would have been much easier to work on but the cost of materials goes up significantly when you make that jump in scale. Quite a bit of the exterior is done and most of the interior lighting is in, but it’s boxed up waiting to be pulled out when the mood strikes next. These were just the pics of it that happened to be on my phone… IIRC there are about 20 some odd LED’s in it and the propeller spins with a disk POT blended into the underside of the engine nacelle so you can change the rotation speed.

Lastly, is my likely-never-to-be-completed always-in-progess someday-to-be-Steampunk Scalloped Warlock:

That’s close to six years of incremental progress, so, like I said, slow burners are kinda my thing. They kinda have to be the way things are, adapt and overcome

BTW, if there are any guitar players out there that haven’t played on a scalloped neck, do try it.

so…yeah.

(Edit: Added a reference link for a completed Boo & PKD)

[Wanderfound]

All painted up; red wuns go fasta.

[ficuswhisperer]

$10 for the lot. He got a whole box from the electronics bazaar. I guess the Soviet-era nixies flow like water there. They are the smaller IN12 size - good enough for my first crack at playing with tubes. The bigger ones are getting really rare apparently.

The drivers are Soviet K155ID1s which can handle the high voltages.

I’m totally excited. Next step is to build a PSU which I’ll do this weekend as long as I can find the missing parts I need locally. Otherwise it’s Jameco time.

I’ll post pics when I’m done.

[anon37332521]

It’s a crappy photo, but I inherited these nixies. I really wish I had one more of the large ones.

I want to do a wifi enabled NTP based clock with them as the display. I’m still trying to think out how I want to do it aesthetically, with a couple of the smaller tubes for seconds. The fact that the larger ones are viewed side on and the smaller end wise is what is making me waffle at the moment.

[nemomen]

I work with glass sometimes, this is a drill twisting molten glass dropping out of a kiln at the local warm glass place.

Once it cools, should be able to do something with the spinny glass in a new project.

[nemomen]

Molten glass coming out of a kiln spun with a drill results in:

It’s white/clear mixed, but they’re both reactive so once they’re fused to other glass they’ll do a lot of colorful things.

[onemanmob]

Neat! Reminds me of glass drink mixers.

[nemomen]

I’m kind of thinking of just finishing the ends of the bottom straight piece and leaving it as it is, the photos don’t really do it justice since there’s so much depth to it and the light plays with it really nicely in person.

The Han in this is also cast glass (the steel blue reacts with the air to get the sheen) with enameled irid for the side panels - the backdrop’s glass too:

[anon73629133]

This isn’t mine, but I love the idea

[enso]

@aeon

The current project is a Shapeoko 3 CNC mill like this one:

I have a Shapeoko 2 that I’m upgrading to an X-Carve…when I get to it.

[enso]

@funruly

This isn’t mine, but I love the idea

I have this…birthday gift.

[Wanderfound]

Maiden flight done, maiden prop broken.

Grounded until more props arrive.

PS: yes, I know the tail flash is backwards. The red stripe would’ve blended into the fuselage and looked funny if I’d done it the right way around.

[Wanderfound]

Polyhedral alternate wing…

[ficuswhisperer]

Got all the remaining parts I need for my nixie tube power supply in the mail today but I’m stuck working on a time sensitive work project and can’t start building it yet

As an aside it was my first time ordering parts from Digikey and I’m damn impressed with the level of service. Great prices, fast shipping, and beautifully packaged.

[Wanderfound]

Finally got some new props.

Test flight #2: flew around long enough to drain one battery, had a slight takeoff mishap after refuelling.

Snapped the fuselage clean in half, but no biggie. Ten minutes with hot glue and packing tape to fix.

Test flight #3: nudged the ground on the first takeoff thanks to a poorly-timed gust. On the pre-flight check for takeoff #2, I noticed a bit more engine vibration than usual.

Took off anyway, turned into the wind and throttled up…and the engine firewall tore loose.

Oops. Plane no fly good when the engine is pointing straight down.

All fixed again now, though.

[anon73629133]

@funruly

Someone who claims they love me gifted me a MOD 102 DIY amp kit.

Well, I’m shite at this. I’ve re-checked the wiring twice, re-flowed the solder, nuttin. All I’ve got for my trouble is one blown fuse (which I can’t replicate), the power light went on once (which I can’t replicate), and smoke tendrils come out of the green side of the power transformer if I leave it on for more than 30 seconds (I’m good at replicating that!).

No clue if one of the parts was bum (PT, power tube), or more likely I’ve shorted something and can’t find it.

[TobinL]

@Wanderfound

Snapped the fuselage clean in half, but no biggie. Ten minutes with hot glue and packing tape to fix.

A big bonus to a diy foamcore plane, oh it broke well not like I spent big $$$ on it. Between the new electric motors and ultra light cheap foam materials it is amazing how cheap one can get a good looking plane to fly around.

[Wanderfound]

Yup.

I fully intend on crashing this plane until it’s no longer repairable. Then, I’ll pull out the electronics and shift them to a new foam airframe. The only non-recoverable expense is about $2 worth of foam.

For around $100 initial investment, you have a lifetime supply of new planes, with designs as diverse as you care to create.

[Ignatius]

@aeon

The current project is a Shapeoko 3 CNC mill like this one:

Ugh. Jealousy. I want a CNC but I don’t have the space to put it in. Nor a 3D printer.

[Wanderfound]

Test flight #4: ran another battery dry, even made a sort-of proper landing at the end.

Test flight #5: I really should have bought some new rubber bands for the wing attachment instead of relying on whatever was lying around in the shed. Oops.

Still, hot glue heals all wounds. Onwards and upwards!