midlifecosplay-blog

[midlifecosplay-blog]

Finally making some progress on the base of the gauntlet! Spent the morning with a Dremel to grind down the angled sections & drilled holes for screws, wiring, and assembly. Tomorrow I start work on the wrist & finger skeletons.

[midlifecosplay-blog]

The basic layout for the wiring & control circuitry for the Doomfist gauntlet. The small circles on the lower right are potentiometers, they represent the flex sensors I’ll have attached to a glove inside the arm tube of the gauntlet. As I move my fingers, they’ll activate the fingers of the gauntlet. The servos at the top left will control the wings of the gauntlet to rise & fall as the fist is fully closed The motors in the top & bottom center will control finger movements, and the servos at the top right will control thumb movement & arm rotation. So much to wire & build!

[midlifecosplay-blog]

3D imaging & scale planning for the Gauntlet. Starting Tried a few pipe cuts, which didn’t go well... time to head back to Lowes tonight! This build gets more complicated every day!

[midlifecosplay-blog]

Test, Engineering, and Measurements

So being a planning & design geek, I’ve been focusing a lot on the scale of the armor, dimensions, fit, etc.. After yesterday’s Lowes excursion, I once again measured everything again to see how it would turn out with the tubing & material I picked up.     Well I was hoping for 6 inch wide tubing, but the closest I could do is 4.5″, unless I buy $20 worth of couplers & glue those together instead, but that could risk the integrity of the upper arm of the gauntlet, which will be the anchor for the robotic fist.  I think the current pipe should work out though.  Worst case scenario, I’ll wrap it w/ foam for added size.   I also ended up picking up a 3.5″ diameter tube for the larger sections of the side power supply tubes of the gauntlet.  

I ended up having to tweak some of the measurements in the design of the gauntlet, but with the new tubing, I only lost half an inch from the original plan, so I think it should work out, even without padding the arm tube. 

[midlifecosplay-blog]

[midlifecosplay-blog]

Growing older but not up!

Something about being 35 seems to hit home for a lot of people. We start looking back & wondering what we've accomplished & where we're going w/ life... fortunately I feel I'm in a good spot.

I've done the cliche stuff you're supposed to do by this age, so now it's time to get into something geeky but challenging... Cosplay!

So, for my first Cosplay, I choose.....

Doomfist from Overwatch!

Now, there have been some great attempts at this by some talented people. Where I want to go is more true to the art, and also technically realistic. So far everyone's gauntlets have been stiff & solid fists w/ no mobility.

I intend to reverse engineer Overwatch Artist Renaud Galand's depictions of Doomfist & see if I can't design & build a true to design & scale (at least for my height) & mechanically realistic Doomfist gauntlet & armor set!

With any luck, I hope to have it up & ready in time for Phoenix Comic Con next year!

Stay tuned, it's only going to get more insane from here!