I managed to score a handful of plastic "replica" Broomhandle Mauser airsoft pistols for a ridiculously low cost, so my vision of producing a steampunky Mauser with glowing effects is one phase closer to mildewing in a box in the basement for the next 15 years.
Why the Mauser, you ask?
Well, it has an iconic shape so that even a really naff realization of the weapon is recognizable as what it is supposed to be.
It has plenty of space once the airsoft mechanism is pulled out for batteries and electronic driver circuits.
It has a venerable history as a historical gun modded for futuristic ray-gun needs. Which is to say that Lucas made Han Solo's gun out of one.
And it fits the Victorian Steampunk Era.
So another incoherent build log shall come into being.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Progress, Of Sorts
I received in the post on Thursday a replacement sequencer board for the EL Wire, and on Saturday night I retired to the lab to test it.
I used my new variable heat soldering iron to close the "solder switch", in reality a pair of closely spaced tracks on the circuit board that you bridge with solder in order to bypass the part of the circuit that steps down the 12 volts of the supply (provided by the Moran Aethero-Galvanic Exciter) to around three volts for the inverter that powers the wire. I was using a 12 volt inverter and so didn't need this feature.
I plugged in the EL Wires I had made, attached the inverter and applied power and was treated to a display of flashing EL Wire in different colors, as expected.
Emboldened by this, I closed the solder switch on the original board (which I had closed with a temporary conductive clamp before) and connected it up and lo and behold, it was working too! My awful repair to the damaged board was holding!
So when I can find time I can move forward with the project to upgrade the Neuralizer's barrel pyrotechnics *and* the backpack of my spacesuit.
I used my new variable heat soldering iron to close the "solder switch", in reality a pair of closely spaced tracks on the circuit board that you bridge with solder in order to bypass the part of the circuit that steps down the 12 volts of the supply (provided by the Moran Aethero-Galvanic Exciter) to around three volts for the inverter that powers the wire. I was using a 12 volt inverter and so didn't need this feature.
I plugged in the EL Wires I had made, attached the inverter and applied power and was treated to a display of flashing EL Wire in different colors, as expected.
Emboldened by this, I closed the solder switch on the original board (which I had closed with a temporary conductive clamp before) and connected it up and lo and behold, it was working too! My awful repair to the damaged board was holding!
So when I can find time I can move forward with the project to upgrade the Neuralizer's barrel pyrotechnics *and* the backpack of my spacesuit.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
A New Project Is Begun
Work on the Neuralizer upgrade has ceased pending the acquisition of a new EL Wire sequencing board. The last one purchased puffed out Magic Smoke and has proved resistant to my repair skills, and the first needs some reconfiguring and reprogramming to overcome a design flaw that may be dangerous.
But I've finally managed to source a globe from which I can hopefully fashion both a "slipstream" Captain Video-style space helmet and my long-delayed Steampunk Space Helmet.
The first is a matter of cutting a larger hole in the thing and fabricating a neck/chest fitting for it and possibly some side-mounted "earphones" with small aerials.
The latter will require dressing it out in the manner of a diving helmet, a relatively simple task.
A fan will also have to be arranged to defog the "glass" - a lesson some Hollywood FX designers didn't twig in some big-budget films.
I've obtained a globe and will be undertaking some experiments in the near future. Hopefully these will result in a workable design that I can use. I'll try and make a better job of documenting this process than I did with the neuralizer.
But I've finally managed to source a globe from which I can hopefully fashion both a "slipstream" Captain Video-style space helmet and my long-delayed Steampunk Space Helmet.
The first is a matter of cutting a larger hole in the thing and fabricating a neck/chest fitting for it and possibly some side-mounted "earphones" with small aerials.
The latter will require dressing it out in the manner of a diving helmet, a relatively simple task.
A fan will also have to be arranged to defog the "glass" - a lesson some Hollywood FX designers didn't twig in some big-budget films.
I've obtained a globe and will be undertaking some experiments in the near future. Hopefully these will result in a workable design that I can use. I'll try and make a better job of documenting this process than I did with the neuralizer.
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