Star Wars Episode VIII Trailer is Here!

Here it is:


As usual, it looks pretty phenomenal.

For me, this is the important part:

It looks like we can count on seeing Captain Phasma return.  From what little I can see, her costume is unchanged and she still carries the same blaster rifle:

In other news, now I have an excuse to do a bonfire photoshoot somewhere...

Building the Fallout 4 T-60 Power Armor Part 1: 3D Models and Scale

I suppose I've never been accused of being especially sane.  That said, I suppose the worst of my big, bad ideas always start somewhere.

This idea started with some box art.  Specifically, I was walking through the software section of some kind of store and was stopped short when I spotted this:

Back then I didn't know what the hell that thing was supposed to be.  I just knew that I wanted one.

I've usually got a pretty big backlog of projects on my "need to build" list.  So it wasn't any kind of impossible to resist the urge to start cranking out pieces and parts for this project the moment it caught my eye.  That's good because, while the helmet was pretty nifty, the rest of the suit could have used a lot more design work.

Fast forward a while and they made a sequel:

This one didn't really make me want to stop everything and build it.  Crisis averted, I managed to happily go on about the rest of my days until...

Fallout 3:

Suddenly the design stopped being about goofy retro sci-fi or funny parrot-faced weirdness and everything about it looked awesome.  This one got me even more interested.  Still, I thought the rest of the armor that went with the helmet left a little to be desired:

Don't get me wrong.  It's pretty cool.  But for some reason it seems like the design team finished working out the details on the head and shoulders and said, "good enough."  The rest just seems somehow lacking.

Then this happened:

The first time I saw the trailer for Fallout 4, I knew I wasn't going to be able to resist the urge to put this thing together in real life.  From head to toe, the whole suit was covered in interesting details and design quirks.  The final stroke was seeing how the whole thing was worn.  It turns out the wearer climbs up into the suit and stands on footpads about a foot or so up off the ground, then the suit closes around them.

The arms are a similar arrangement.  The wearer's hands reach into the middle of the armor's forearms and the hands you see from the outside are mechanical extensions.

This means that I get to make another giant suit of armor that will make a six-foot wearer into a seven-foot plus behemoth.

Challenge accepted.

When it started to look like I was going to have a lull in my project schedule, I began to shop around for digital models.  
Enter Joost Driesen.  When I was searching the interwebs for 3D files or someone to make them, we worked a trade and he sent me all of the models I'd need in order to build this monster.  You can see some of his other work here:  LINK.

Anyhow, within a few hours, he'd sent me this:


And a couple of days later this:


So I got started picking out the various pieces and parts and getting them ready for fabrication.

The first and possibly most important step was to decide on a scale.

In the game, the suit makes a full height human stand head and shoulders above another human adult.

I'm a little on the short side, so I started by generating a digital model with proportions that roughly approximate mine.  Then I just scaled the suit to look right standing next to me:



At this scale, the full suit will be just under seven feet and one inch tall.  Sideshow collectibles makes a 1/6 scale action figure based on this suit that's 14-1/2" tall.  You can see it here: LINK.  If their scale is correct, the full-sized version would be seven feet and three inches tall.

Given the variable heights of the wearers, I'm calling it close enough.

Stay tuned for the next update and I'll explain the process of turning all of these bits and bytes into pieces and parts...

COMING SOON to the 2017 Bay Area Maker Faire!

So much excitement.  But first, a recap...

Back in 2011 I brought my very first display to the Bay Area Maker Faire.  It was kinda decent:


That year's exciting new project was the series of Red vs. Blue costumes that my crew and I had made along with a bunch of UNSC trooper costumes we made to escort them around:


There was a lot of stress and strife, but I still enjoyed it enough to convince me to come back in 2012.  But in order to make sure I wasn't completely stale, this time I brought Space Marines:


In 2013, I decided to take it easier.  Instead of killing myself and torturing all of my friends and family with some massive insanity project, we got to just show up and display all of the stuff that was already finished from the workshop.  It was awful:


To make up for it, 2014 needed something bigger.  Something better.  Something new.  That was the main reason for building this beast:


THAT was a pretty good year.

In 2015, I expanded the display, had more various costumes walking around, and put up a whole bunch of new, portable props and such:


It was fun, but there wasn't a big, huge, new thing.

Then last year I missed the Maker Faire altogether while I was attending the veterinary school graduation ceremony for Doctor Girlfriend:


The only sample of my work walking around at the Maker Faire was this big red guy:


So this year I'll be back.

After a lackluster showing followed by a no-show, I've decided I have to make something pretty phenomenal for this year's Maker Faire.  I've only got myself to beat, so it'll be up to me to pick something suitably amazing.

Work has already begun and the project is well on it's way to completion.

What will it be?  Stay tuned for further updates...