#scooter motor

[red-pencil]

Floorin' it this #AniMonday !

Trying to push the flame effect to sell that Ember was made of fire as opposed to a creature that was ON fire. Thought it might be fun to use the negative space to imply the band on her goggles.

[its-where-the-wild-things-are]

[copperbezel]

Zephyr Slip

At the end of last year, before I'd begun working on Bit Cobalt, I ran into some paleoart of Austroraptor, a dromaeosaur (raptor) from Argentina. Austroraptor is one of the largest dromaeosaurs, with a long, narrow, Big Bird snoot, conical teeth that probably point to fishing, and small forelimbs, as well as leg proportions that hint at a runner. Much of the paleoart I saw depicted Austroraptor in waterbird colors, which gave it a soft and friendly appearance, immediately my new favorite dinosaur.

So I drew an Austroraptor and then a robotic one, adding a quail topknot or ahoge feather, and started to think about making a transforming figure that would change from this animal into a humanoid robot. But a transformation from cute robot girl to cute robot girl, except one of them is a dinosaur, seemed a bit redundant, and there would be compromises in both directions that would detract rather than add.

But a couple of months later, I saw a particular motor scooter and something clicked, and the game was on. I love motor scooters, and they're a fantastic accessory for other figures on the shelf. I went through two foamcore prototypes to nail down the transformation, making it as simple and sturdy as I could manage and making sure both modes would scale well with other 1/12 scale figures.

I also started collecting some reference images for details I could nab and integrate, and to nail down the scaling of the scooter.

After I had something that worked, I drew up some concept art for both modes and started modeling. I was able to streamline the design a couple of steps further in the 3D model, and then it was all carving up shapes, fine tuning, etc. Probably the longest phase of modeling was after I had my model roughed out into shape, but needed to build the joints, firm up the edges, define all the contact surfaces, and apply subdivision surfaces. I found it useful to rig the model and set a couple of animation steps in Blender for the two modes so I could simply page back and forth between them.

I had to set the design on the back burner while I worked out the kinks with my 3D printer and built my last couple of projects. Then I made a test print to identify any trouble spots, and after a couple of tweaks to get the feel right, it was time to print and finish the real thing. Zephyr Slip is the first thing I've printed in "color", and thanks to some dyes I need to experiment with more, she won't be the last. That means a much more durable finish for parts that have to slide against one another or clip into place. I did add a gloss coat to some surfaces of the black elements, but it shouldn't show chipping much. (Unlike the kickstand, thanks to my terrible decision to paint its feet.)

Like my previous figures, Zephyr's eyes (and console) are just printed gloss paper under a coat of gloss varnish, and her headlights and taillights have some clear resin poured in over the paint and cured into place for lenses.  Cutting plastic windows like the ones on my Vertigo GT for the lower headlights didn't have the same effect, so they got the same clear resin treatment. The decal designs themselves were made in Blender, because I've given up on Inkscape's interface, but I think they came out okay.

The joints are almost exclusively 3mm ABS rods, although her hip joints are Kotobukiya Hexa Gear joints, which gave me a sturdy pin and hinge in a compact package and without visible pegs. I'm looking into options to make the pegs show less while being easy to remove for the construction and painting process. Despite some care with the tolerances, I did have to widen some peg holes and mush some pegs during assembly to get her pose well and snap together tight into either mode. But everything does clip solidly into place, resulting in a really playable figure. 

As my first fully transforming figure and also my largest, Zephyr Slip is definitely the biggest figure project I've tackled so far, and I'm extremely happy with the results. Posability is probably her weakest area, but she can pounce and emote, and with her solid handfeel and satisfyingly snappy transformation, I'm happy with the design. 

Paleontologically, I've followed most of the proportions of the real animal, although her torso should be a little bit longer, and her tail half again as long. She should also have visible first fingers, and I'm playing into the paleoart meme of bare snouts on dromaeosaurs that shouldn't have them. The proportion of thigh to shin is exaggerated, and the tail should have some left-right sway even if it's inflexible in the vertical axis. But it pleases me that she is both a roughly accurately scaled Austroraptor, and also a fairly realistically scaled scooter (if a bit chunky).

As always, due credit to @aprilpowered and Workbenchmaniac for support and feedback along the way, as well as Nemocyte (Tumblr | Twitter), whose feedback helped me to work out (among other things) the articulation needs of a theropod figure, something I'd never had to think about before.

[forthepleasureofmylife]

Naples Italy

Photo: Dieter Krehbiel

[aengelren]

bro stressed himself out so much he turned 80 in a years span

[ss396chevelle1968]

Cristy Ren

[theatrekidenergy]

Please reblog for larger results!

[castawavy]

DoorDash™

before / next

[thinmintgirl]

I sent you a picture of my cat in a DM and then realized that you probably get a bunch of dick pics.

i’m gonna be honest, i was a lil scared to open it, especially bc you said here’s pancake and i was like oh.. oh no

[buginateacup]

Calling it now. Jamie is going to ask Roy why he broke up with Keeley and Roy is going to admit the same as he did for Chelsea he thought he was going to be some dead weight and drag her down just like he did when he couldn't play football anymore.

And Jamie is going to say something profoundly intelligent and himboish and go "Yeah. Because you're old."

Roy: *growls*

Jamie: "But you're still in it though ain't ya. S'why you're me coach. It doesn't stop being part of ya just because you're not on the field anymore. I mean look at me? I'm gonna be the brand ambassador for me own line of graffiti wear when I retire"

Roy: "Why the fuck are you thinking about retirement you little prick?"

Jamie: "Well it's not like I can age backwards yeah? Who wants to be running around when they're sixty hobbling after the ball like it's mushy pea day at the retirement home"

Roy: "Fuck. You've actually thought this through haven't you."

Jamie: "Course! Old people wear tracksuits too grandad"

[its-where-the-wild-things-are]

[houseofcatwic]

1954 Paul David Scooter.

[blackros78]

Angie Dickinson Vespa scooter ad, 1967.

[forthepleasureofmylife]

San Francisco Books Paris

Photo: Dieter Krehbiel

[misforgotten2]

What was the operating cost of the surgeon who tried to save your life?

Popular Mechanics December 1952

[ss396chevelle1968]

Skyler Simpson