To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[FFigawi]

The engineering and design you produce for these costumes is incredible!

 

[DopeyBadger]

The engineering and design you produce for these costumes is incredible!

Thanks! it’s fun to see what’s in my head become reality.

 

[Stitch&Co.]

That is impressive!

 

[DopeyBadger]

That is impressive!

Thanks!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Haunted Mansion Homage - Medusa Headpiece 3

Before we moved to the articulating snakes on the sides and back, we needed to test whether the fit was still good with the crown attached.





The next step was to paint the white parts to actually look like marble. I used this guide on youtube.

The key was using a sponge to give it some texture, and then using a small feather (like a crow not a boa) that could be used to create the thin randomish lines. I used Liquidtex white, mars black, and gold.







Next was the big moment, the motor! I ordered a S30K 12V 7.5 RPM 2-Wire Geared Motor. The instructions called for a 14 RPM motor, but there were several comments that stated they had issues with their gears turning. It could have been from gears that were too tightened. It could have been because they used AAs instead of the recommended instruction batteries. Or it could be because the motor didn't have enough torque to turn the gears. So I hedged my bet and went with a 7.5 RPM motor. It's a little slower, but it has a little more torque. The motor took a few weeks to arrive from China, and it was far lighter than I expected. It's easily less than a pound. The instructions suggest a three 18650 3.7V battery (with the goal of 3 getting you close to 12V) (link). You also need a battery holder which I also found on Amazon (link). Lastly, I needed a connection between the motor wires and battery wires. Previously with the Anne hair we used these male and female DC terminal blocks (link). Problem is the connection was unreliable. It was stripped the moment we walked into Magic Kingdom, and then during Halloween at home, the connection became loose and cut in and out. So I searched for an alternative that came pre-wired and found these 18AWG DC Power Cable Pairs on Amazon (link). These should have a far more reliable connection.

I soldered the battery to the power DC male, and the motor to the other power DC female. Put the batteries in, and then connected the two DC power connectors. Now I hooked red to red and black to black wires, but the snakes turned counterclockwise. So to fix it I cut the wires at the midpoint on the battery holder and connected red to black and black to red. This reversed the direction of the motor and then the snakes turned clockwise. I took it upstairs and G gave it a try.





They turn pretty slow, but we like it. It gives a creepy vibe. G loved the effect on her shadow.



So I call it a major success. Next up is working on the side and back snakes that'll act like hair draped down.

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