NPC Motors and Other Stuff Arrives

I've been so busy with my micro videos for the Arkham City Grapple Gun build that I've neglected to post a lot of pics and stuff regarding R2. But don't worry, the lil' feller has not been forgotten.

A week or so ago, these arrived. They are the motors I will be using for the drive system on R2.

As of this writing, all of the parts for the drive system are on hand. What I really need now are foot shells. But I'm working on that, mind you.

The wheels are here also.

My 600th Blog Post.

And is anyone listening?? ;)

It was on November 12, 2007 that I started my first blog. It was dedicated to a single project, the build up of a Star Trek tricorder from an episode named "Endgame." For the record, that tricorder is still not finished.

http://mattmunson.blogspot.com/2007/11/endgame-tricorder-buildup.html

I suppose this is one of those things where I'm supposed to reflect on what I've accomplished here, throw in some words of wisdom, and overall sound pretty proud of things. I'll give it a shot, but at the end of the day, I still feel like I'm just shouting into an empty room. lol

But for me, blogging is its own reward. I love documenting things that happen in my life, mainly because I love looking back at them after time has passed. I also collect photos of my life, and am still enjoying video tapes that I filmed as many as 20 years ago. I guess it's just part of my psychological makeup. So keeping a blog or two is really just a natural extension of that. And besides, I think it's fun.

I think my greatest thrill comes from meeting people whom are new acquaintances, yet they are intimately familiar with my projects from reading my blog. That's kind of a cool little kick in the teeth, and makes me feel like a celebrity. And isn't that what we all really want at the end of the day.

But let's get back to the projects. As of right now, I've got three projects that I'm really actively working on. The Grapple Gun from Arkham City, the Batmobile, and my second R2-D2. I cranked out a number of smaller builds in recent months, but wanted something more challenging, hence the grapple gun. R2 is just filling in the time until the batmobile shell arrives. When it does, I expect that to take center stage on the project workbench for months to come. I'm sure I will still divert every now and again to work on things like R2 or other "quickie" projects, but I really want to focus my attention on that darn car so I can get it done in a reasonable amount of time.

I've still got a billion things I want to take care of and get done before I keel over, so I'll have to stay busy. For those few of you who are regular readers, I hope I've provided some entertainment over the years, and possibly even some inspiration. Keep the faith, and I'll see you at post 1000!!

Arkham City Build Videos Continue!

This is number 12, I believe. Not very heavy on prop building content, but more a treatise on shopping preferences. Watcher beware.

Overall, the build is going really well, and I'm really enjoying this new format of documentation. I don't think it's sustainable, as it is a lot of work. I find it much easier to just take some photos along the way, then post them up to the blog at the end of the night, along with a few self-important sounding ramblings to give them some flavor.

But making the videos is pretty labor intensive. I've gotten my pipeline perfected, and I am definitely cranking them out with great efficiency, but it still takes about one hour per episode from start to finish. Add into that the overhead involved simply in filming the stuff while I'm doing work.

Don't get me wrong, it's very rewarding, and I'm pleased with the results. However, unless there is high demand for another one of these series' in the future, this will probably be a one time gig. Eh, I take that back. Who knows.

Arkham City Grapple Gun Progress Picture

After a couple of days in the garage, a few hundred bucks on tools, a minor injury to my thumb, and seven micro-videos later, this is where my Batman Grapple Gun stands.

Overall, I am very pleased with the progress. What makes me happiest is that I'm using tools to make tools. I find that fascinating. It's the pinnacle of human development!!!

I'm also learning a lot, and am having a lot of fun. I haven't even started the hand grip yet, but I've learned a lot that I can apply to that part.

Stay tuned for more videos, by the way.

Episodes 2 and 3 of Arkham City Grapple Build

Batman: Arkham City Grapple Gun Video Build

I'm doing an experiment with a new build, the grapple gun from Arkham City and Arkham Asylum.

Legs, Armpits and Horseshoes.

I spent a lot of time working on R2 today, but don't have much to show for it. I'm involved in a bunch of detail work that takes a lot of time, and yields minimal results. Allow me to explain.

First up are these arm pit details. It takes a good chunk of time to get the styrent cut to the right lengths, and then the bevels sanded on each end. Then you have to make sure they all fit perfectly, glue the piece in, then putty up the seams. Just very time consuming, and there's four of them to do.



As predicted, I absolutely hate working on the legs. The whole putty/sand/paint/repeat process is just killing me. I picked up some different primer the other day that goes on much heavier, and that's making things go faster. But still, at the end of the day it's just very unsatisfying work. Still loads to do too.



For reference, here is how my work bench looks after ONE DAY of work. It was clean when I started this morning. Once I kind of get rolling, putting stuff away takes a back seat.



I worked on these little buggers A LOT today, and still didn't quite get it right. I'm trying to fix the radius on the corners here, using my dremel and the router attachment. I think it might be time to just go buy a good router. Ugh. These are not turning out really well, and I think I just need to step away from it for a while, and come back fresh some other day.

Primer Tests, Coin Return

Work continues on the coin return innards.



I'm doing some primer tests. I've committed myself to using off the shelf paints for the body and legs. The auto stuff I used last time is too much hassle, hard to maintain, costs a fortune, etc. So here I'm doing some tests to find the primer that works best with the white paint.

Coin Return, Rockler

I finished my first scratch built coin return. Overall, I think it turned out OK. It's far from perfect, but it will do.



The rockler bearing also arrived. This is what R2's head sits on so that it can spin.

Pocket Vents and Skirt.

There was some pretty significant clean up to be done on the pocket vents. I used super glue gel and some zap kick to fill in the big holes, then puttied over the tiny cracks. Oh, here's a pro tip. If you want one side of the surface to be really smooth, like the facing side, put down some scotch tape, then glue from behind. Its not perfect, but it saves you from having to grind down a big bubble of glue.



Then onto some primer.



The skirt is just about finished, I think. I may need to add some junk to the inside to reinforce it, but cosmetically, it's where it needs to be.