October UFO Sightings in the Workshop

It's that time again.

The time where I realize that I've neglected to write anything new and worthwhile for my blog and have to resort to listing the latest roundup of UnFinished Objects currently being worked on in the shop.  The last couple of months have had me travelling and working on super secret projects with non-disclosure agreements, so all that's left is the hobby stuff I've been tinkering with in my increasingly rare spare time.

Here's a few of my favorites...

A while back I got a wild hair and decided that I needed to have the new flamethrower stormtrooper helmet from the upcoming Star Wars movie.  The paint work is almost finished, then I'll be writing up a detailed article about the building of this guy:


The nice part about the flametrooper helmet is that it is the base shape that ends up being used for the Snowtrooper helmet as well.  It just needs an added plate on the face and a big dome for the top and back.  So I'm making those too:

It also turns out to be the base shape for the new and improved TIE pilots' helmets.  I was trying to talk myself out of making them as well, but I seem to have failed.  I should have pics of that to show off soonish.

Since I'm on a roll with Episode VII Star Wars stuff, I decided I need to dress up the Lady Shawnon as Captain Phasma, the chrome-clad leader of the First Order stormtroopers.  So far I've made the helmet and I'm in the process of refining the chroming process.  For now, I've got this rough-draft copy painted up with a quick spraycan finish:


Since I can't leave well enough alone, I've also designed the smoking exhaust system for my Death Watch Mandalorian jetpack:


I'll be writing up that project as soon as I actually get it installed in the pack and shoot some video and/or photos.
That's a lot of Star Wars stuff all of a sudden.  Suffice it to say, I'm very excited about the new film coming out.  But a long time before that happens there will be Halloween.

This year Halloween falls on a Saturday and I'll actually be getting out and going places for a change.  Usually I'm swamped with work and end up being too busy to do anything for myself, but this year I've actually carved out a bit of time to work on my own project.  

So I've decided to go as Deathstroke from the Arkham series of Batman video games.  I've got a good start on the mask:

The bulk of the suit will likely be made of EVA foam.  More as a demonstration of how it's done than anything else.  

While that may seem like a lot going on all at once, I've also been building a smaller format vacforming machine:


I really love my big 24"x48" machine, but it tends to cause problems on the many occasions when I just need to form some small piece of something and I have to use up a huge sheet of plastic.  Having the smaller machine means only melting the little bits I need.

It's a build I've been meaning to take on for years, but I've finally been spurred into action because I'm writing a book and needed to be able to show a step-by-step description of building a forming table.

Yes, a book.  A book that will be published.  Here's a pic of the very preliminary cover:

In fact, you can pre-order it now.  Here's a link: http://amzn.to/1PyJu4p

Madness.

More to come.  Stay tuned...