From a certain perspective, Avengers: Infinity War is the story of that nice Josh Brolin fellow trying to make traffic better for all us and being foiled by a group of billionaire-backed cheaters in tights. Perspective is important, so lets look back at 2023.
In 2023, I knew that I wanted to refactor a portion of the gameroom around an Indy-Tiki Bar Concept. That part more or less went as intended. A few weekends getting the Mario Karts ready for their new home and a few weekends of measuring, cutting and fastening. The detour came later as I started making film prop replicas for the space and eventually the new bar doubled as a maker-space for assembling Dial of Destiny props. The self-realization here is that I’m at my best when building things and to a lesser extent fixing things.
I started 2023 with a single Ultimaker 3 printer. It was originally used during pandemic times for pandemic things and as a handy local fab unit to reduce our trips to the store. Later it was used to print and design difficult-to-find arcade and pinball parts, which is why I included it within the narrative of this blog.
I ended 2023 with (2) Bambu Lab X1C’s, (1) Bambu Lab P1S, (2) Elegoo Saturn 3 Ultras and (1) Elegoo Jupiter. My daughter also has a P1S as a sneaky introduction to engineering skills and maker concepts.
From 1 printer to 6 printers, I spent much of 2023 making film props instead of doing arcade-y things.
Partly as an exercise in tchotchke making in order to fill in the eyeball overload / Planet Hollywood ADHD aesthetic of the game room. The primary objective though is by learning to make common film props, I picked up techniques and references that can be applied later in other ways. Pinball mods, in particular.
I built:
Chachapoyan Fertility Idol and Base
multiple NCC-1701-D’s
an NCC-1701-E
an NCC-1701-G
multiple Rocinantes (from the Expanse)
an Iron Man Helmet and Mask
a civilian FTL ship from Foundation
multiple Prime Radiants
Eyepiece of Ra / Medallion
a Dune Crysknife
an Iron Man Arc Reactor
a BTTF2 Hoverboard
an Infinity Gauntlet
Several Holy Grails
A few low-res, simple Johnny Fives
so very many-many Dial of Destiny’s
2024: Heeeeeeere’s Johnny
As we start into 2024, I’m about 80% complete with printing of a 26” Johnny Five robot.
It is going to act like a visual - design reference for a 2/3 scale build.
For the 2/3 scale build I’m trying to incorporate parts from two other designs. One is a full-scale build and then a smaller 1/3 scale R/C build. A Full-scale build won’t make it through some of our doorways. I’m hoping a 2/3 scale build will still carry the wow-factor with added portability. The 1/3 scale build is highly detailed and most of the parts will double-scale fine for printing. I’m expecting to have to make some design changes around weight and balance, parts at rest and to have to engineer solutions around practicality, strength and automation. This build is going to take awhile, with roughly 540 parts plus an equal number of fasteners and custom pieces along with various electronics components.
In order to keep it manageable I’m breaking it up into milestones and I’m not putting dates on these because I still have a time-thirsty real job and family obligations. This is supposed to be fun, afterall.
Milestone I: Mimir Needs Input
A functional head that can talk, emote through eyebrow motion and neck pitch and yaw.
Milestone II
Open AI and other frameworks, give it a personality and allow it to see through imaging sensors
Milestone III:
Build the drive system
Milestone IV:
Build the torso and arms
Milestone V:
Head, meet body. R/C Control and limited Macro Recording and Playback
Milestone VI:
Fully Autonomous Discovery and Operation
Arcade Stuff
In addition to the J5 build, which is more of a long-term project; I’m excited to get back into some arcade stuff. I’m planning on updating the Bitkit-cabinets in the gameroom, fixing Missile Command, turning Centipede into a Millipede-Multi cab, working on Battlezone.
Pinball Mods
I’ve been working on design and plans for some high end pinball mods for Indiana Jones, Medieval Madness & Tron for starters. More to come!