Re: Star Lord w/ lights and sound - Orb & Walkman complete, downloads section added
I'm loving this. What are the rough dimensions going to be on this?
Still ironing it out, but just to give you a ballpark, that middle triangular base section is about 92mm across. I'm trying to keep it as close to the scale as I'm seeing here:
Right now it should be printable as separate pieces... I'm just thinking about the hinges a bit because I want to make the whole thing relatively straightforward to cast. I modeled both parts (middle and hinged 'flap') with simple holes that I was just going to slide a pin through and glue in place, but actually making a moldof that hole ain't going to happen - mild oversight on my part - so I'm revisiting it tonight to make a couple changes. Also, does anyone have an image of what the back of the middle piece is supposed to look like? It just looks plain compared to everything else, so I might make some details up if it comes to it.
Tonight also sees an update on the pants, which are coming along pretty well if I say so myself! They're surprisingly hard to photograph because the materials are very dark and fairly low-contrast but the details are shaping up.
The hips are probably going to see the most work from this point, as the pocket details and other final, small pieces are being added. The holster pads are being done up in synthetic leather - real leather was considered, but ultimately rejected because the pants were difficult enough without adding in trying to sew the 2oz leather I have in there. I think the synthetic stuff'll look just fine, though:
When the pants are finished I will make a point of getting out into proper daylight, instead of artificial lighting, and getting some decent pictures of everything.
Review time.
So I have a week until the convention. Things didn't pan out quite like I anticipated - for one thing, my employment situation changed pretty substantially, and I've had to spend a lot of time job-hunting. I am a miserable perfectionist, so the thought of
rushing a lot of the things I'm working on just to have them done in time for NYCC is a no go - I wouldn't be happy showing off anything less than my best effort. The helmet, for example, is something I really want to nail the details down on - I know I could rush the whole thing and give it a quickie paintjob and it'd probably work from a distance, but I'd never be happy with it until I spent days sanding it and days lighting it and days casting and finishing it. Likewise, I haven't made as much progress with the blasters as I should have largely due to the fact that this is a first time trial for me; I had to learn how to work with electronics and arduinos specifically, and even now I'm waiting for an order from digikey that should give me a switch that I need to make the 'overheating' effect work properly. Ontop of all that, I've been dealing with my back problems and I lost quite a few days to bed rest!
I'm not going to rush these things just for the sake of the convention because I have a longer plan in mind - I have a few other conventions down the road that I'd like to attend, and I'm looking at getting involved with childrens' benefit stuff if possible with this outfit. I will be cutting a bunch of corners to still go to NYCC on Friday as Star Lord, but it'll be heavily abridged and not all that impressive - just for fun. But hey! Stay with me, and we'll make some cool stuff down the line, I promise. Star Lord has a lot of equipment and I want to get through all of it.
In light of not having the helmet, I decided I was going to make myself the earpiece instead. I modeled it up tonight based on the few reference images that were available:
It prints in three pieces, and I've designed it as tightly as I can so that I can still fit electronics inside it.

I've carved out room for two stardard sized LR1130 1.5V coin cells which I will wire together in series. I have some small 9mm slide switches that I took measures of with my calipers, which is what that rectangular hole in the side of the body of the earpiece is for - an on-off switch. The hole through the front, by the ear lobe, is sized for a 3mm red LED. The back cover will hold the coin cells in place and attaches with small eyeglass-esque screws that I have handy. Everything's got a flat face so it should be pretty easy to print out, and I sized it against the 3d head scan I had of myself to make sure it would fit my ear properly. Should have it printed by tomorrow so I can wire it all up as a substitute for the helmet in a pinch.
If this looks decent when I'm done, I might offer some of these up for grabs with electronics, too. I've tracked down a supplier for 3mm red
flashing LEDs that should blink about once per second that I think would be really interesting in this thing.
Anyway, more tomorrow!