But I will say there are several Tublians on Neblous-9 who risked a lot to get these to me. I hope none of them lost any gills.
There are Top Secret Rocket Corps documents (Dogstar clearance and higher!) that have full specifications and Materaliser specs for The Raygun Gothic Rocketship.
Normally these could produce a perfect, working Raygun Gothic Rocketship by printing on Piperarian Dimensional Flux Sheet, assembling it with nanobots and placing it in a 7-axis Materaliser.
However, because such technology is banned on Earth (don’t complain to me, send a beammail to your Universe Senator), I’ve printed them on on 100lb glossy paper.
You can use a sharp knife and some adhesive to make yourself a scale, paper model of The Raygun Gothic Rocketship.
For $12.50 you get a full papercraft model printed on 100lb. glossy paper that we mail to you.
I’ve had this small Aperture that I made as a prototype for the Triaparator that has been kicking around my studio for a while.
Well, I’ve decided to turn it into a lamp.
Fitting huh?
It’s still has that raw, being-worked on look to it but it’s close enough to the final idea that I’m okay posting it.
The light source will go behind the small circle at the center of the aperture and throw light onto the copper hemisphere.
I’m going to use an LED for the light source. Normally, I avoid LEDs on old looking work like this, however, I’d like to sell this and an LED will last longer.
UPDATE (March 7th): I finished the lamp in time for the Five Ton Crane group art show opening on Friday night. The Flicker set below has updated photos of the finished lamp at the show. It will continue to be on display for the next three weeks and is for sale for $600.00. When I get a chance I’ll try to post an updated video of the aperture opening and closing with the light on. The lamp is adjustable, it can rotate and pivot.
I know I’ve posted a video of some of the experiments we did involving evacuating the plasma tubes of the Uira Engine but I’m not sure I ever posted any video of this later tube design.
Wow. I found this when I was cleaning out my laptop hard drive. This is one of the first concept drawings Ben (of Backbone Metals fame) did when he and I were first planning The Neuron Chamber. It’s amazing how close we got to these original drawings while still creating something entirely different.
I’m not sure if I’ve posted about it here (I’m loosing track of what I’ve been posting where) but I’ve been working on a papercraft model of the RGR in addition to the wooden model. I really had no idea how hard it was going to be to design a nice papercraft model of the RGR. It’s got so many funky curves and you can’t simplify them or you loose the whole shape. Below are some photos of the current model. This is nearly the final design, I still need to do the fin layout and then add some details (rivets, logo, doors, etc.) to the images. I put this one together really fast just so I can see how well the design worked which is why the model looks a little sloppy. I’m impressed with how well the main curve holds up to flattening and reassembly.
I’ve started working on a new lamp. The idea for this came from two components that have been kicking around on my work bench for a while that I realized would work well together. The first is one of those pneumatic things that prevents your trunk from slamming down on you which is now broken and only offers sleight resistance as it slides in and out. The second is this strange, plastic, green thing that already mounted to an aluminum bit that just screams to have an LED put in it.
The first thing I did was quickly machine two stainless bits that screw on to the threaded ends of the pneumatic thing. These are what I’ll use to attach the light and the base.
I did a quick CAD sketch to show all the basic movements it will have.
The pneumatic rod, now black, will be painted green to match the plastic green bit the LED will go in.
There is still allot to figure out about this one.
Oh, it’s called the Norgren Lamp because, the plastic bit was made by Norgren and still has there sticker on it.
A few weeks ago I posted about a few new sculptures I’ve started, none of which have any designs or plans, but are “make them up as you go along” projects. One of them I’ve been calling Spinny or sometimes Spinny Thing and it’s going to, well spin. The spinning is going to activate the sculpture much like a centrifugal governor and different kinetic elements will be engaged at different speeds. The first step was to get the thing spinning so I can start to experiment. Well, here are some photos of the mounting (I finally got to use that giant I-beam I’ve been lugging around for years) and a little video of Spinny Thing spinning under human control.
So one of the ideas I had while building the Rocket Sam papercraft model was to build some scale models of the Raygun Gothic Rocket that everyone would be able to build.
I’m doing the first in wood, and I just got done putting together a prototype. This was laser cut out of 1/16″ plywood, it’s about 13″ tall, currently has 6 unique parts and is glued together. There were some minor design problems with this first prototype, specifically, I made the slots where the pieces come together a bit too big and I think that the 1/16″ ply is too thin for most people to work with (it was kind of annoying for even me to put together). So, the next version will likely be out of 1/8″ ply, and have tighter slots.
When the design is locked in and detailed out, the models will be for sale here at Almost Scientific, the RGR webpage and any showings of the RGR we do.
For now, you’ll just have to enjoy the photos of the prototype:
About a month or so ago I picked up a copy of the SF Panorama which was almost too great for words. One of the best things in it was a Rocket Sam comic by Chris Ware that, on the back, had a paper-craft model of rocket. Well, the other night I totally geeked out on with a x-acto, a straight edge, some Elemers and cheep paint brush.
I had allot of fun making it and photographing it. But more importantly it really inspired me while working on it. I had a few really great ideas that popped into my head while building it. I’m continually shocked at how deep the connection is between my cognitive activity and building with my hands, even if it is just cutting up and gluing together little bits of paper. That activity can be so powerful.
The Panorama was created by the McSweeney’s folks to show the wold how valuable a physical newspaper can be in today’s digital world, and I think the Rocket Sam model really speaks to that. I’d really love if some little paper craft project showed up at my door each week, printed on heavy stock with bright colors. Imagine all the great ideas that would pop into my head. Imagine people all over the city sitting down to build the same paper-craft models each week.
One idea is almost directly related to this Rocket Sam model and our Raygun Gothic Rocketship. I’m not ready to post about it yet, but I’ll have it ready for an upcoming show in March.
The West Oakland Rocketry Club is an Art Rocketry club, based out of West Oakland CA, that Almost Scientific has been part of since the first launch.
Every once in a while (usually at the prompting of Radio Robot) we gather up our hot glue guns, cardboard tubes, Estes motors, wires, pie, our custom designed Launch Control Case and whatever we have lying around, and together we build art rockets. Since this is art rocketry not rocket science we work with a philosophy that the rockets don’t need to go up, but they do need to go somewhere.
We’ve built rockets out of almost everything: frozen turkeys, snow men, pods, ice, Slinky, Chinese food containers, steel, Popsicle sticks, feathers, and pork rinds. We’ve launched them in rain and snow.
While the rockets we make are awesome and amazing to launch the best part is gathering with friends to spontaneously make art.
Below is a slide show of some of my best photos of WORC since it’s first meeting.
Enjoy. Go build your own, and leave the instructions in the box.
I love the things you discover when you slowly incorporate the things you already have into a loose design. This project really began when I was designing the Triaparator for the Steampunk Treehouse. While designing the blades I imagined it would bee really beautiful to bend the blades upward as they opened and closed. When I did the first sketch of this concept I drove the motion with the same cam concept I used on the Triaparator. I quickly realized gears would be better. Not wanting to go buy gears I began scouting round for things I could find. Then I ran into Mark Galt (who’s in Applied Kinetic Arts) who hooked me up with some gears that could work. Once I had the drive mechanism locked in I could really start playing with specific blade concepts. Below are some new motion studies of some of the ideas I’ve been playing with. Here they are turning at 1 RPM, however, I really want it to go much slower.
I’m really torn between these two concepts. Any preferences out there?
Also, please let me know if you are having trouble with the videos not showing video. I’ve have sporadic glitches and can’t determine on what end there is a problem.
Same concept as above but at a different viewing angle.
Here is the other cool blade design. This video also shows a bit of the housing I’m imagining.
While we were building the Raygun Gothic Rocketship I was so busy working that I never had any time to take photos. I never felt bad about it because there were so many great photographers taking shots of it. Well today we had to display the Rocket for some very exciting secrete guests and I used it has a chance to finally snap some photos of my own. Of course most of the work had been removed from the RGR so while I was shooting I began to image they were relics being displayed in a museum.
Because I’ve not been working on a heavily-engineered kinetic or high-voltage stuff lately I’ve returned to an earlier style of working. I’m spending more time improvising and letting the sculpture tell me what it wants to be. I’m also spending time working on several pieces throughout the day letting my attention wander between them.
I’ve been playing around with some really nice stainless tube and wire the past few days. This originally started as abstract, organic sculpture but now I think I’m going to attach it to this stainless container and turn it into a planter of some kind. I’m going to try and find a plant that will grow and climb all over the twisty bits. I can also use the tube to create a watering system.
I love the reflection on the container.
This one is going to be kinetic. When the shaft spins the blades will pivot up. I’m going to add to this so that its shape changes, and new actions become engaged as the blades rises. Not sure if it will be hand powered or motor powered.
Not sure what these are at all yet. They are all stainless and silicone bronze. Remind me of flowers. I’d never set out to make flowers. This might be minimal kinetic — perhaps as a mobile of some kind.
Portraits of me at work, and my trusted shop assistant waking from a nap.
Here is a sketch of a concept that I’m thinking of developing into a new kinetic sculpture. In this animation the camera is rotating changing the view, however, the twists translation is controlled by simply rotating the upper black ring.
