Cool Animatronics

[JonnyMac]

My friend, Peter, updated his site today -- it's a really great demo of what hard work, patience, and craftsmanship will get you:

http://www.socalhalloween.com

It was a big project and Peter worked on it right up until dusk on Halloween.  He actually called me on the morning of Halloween for assistance: he needed something to move the wheel and faux fire for the ship.  I programmed a Prop-1 to run the servo driver that caused the wheel to move back and forth (this was later replaced by one of Peter's custom controllers) and a custom program dumped into an FC-4 provided faux flames (we used regular 100w lamps and theatrical gels for color).

I can tell you that the display looked as good up close as it does in the videos -- a real testament to what can be done with wood, cardboard, Styrofoam, and paint!