I know what I'll be doing 3 days before my birthday...

It looks like, from the trailer, a post apocalypse movie with a new form of being replacing man. Those new beings are rag dolls.

The cause of the apocalypse is quite interesting too, there seems to be a diesel punk feel to the mecha we see.

I think I took a different approach to finding Burton than most did. The first film of his I remember seeing was Ed Wood, about the legendary movie maker. I really enjoyed the film as it related the passion behind films like "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "Glen or Glenda". That same evening the TV station ran Burtons "Vincent", a wonderful short tribute to Vincent Price, and the shadowy world of Gothic horror.

My next Burton was to be Planet of the Apes, a film that I enjoyed, but struck me most for its use of the color red. After that I strayed back to Corpse Bride, then Sweeney Todd, before coming to realize common threads like Johnny Depp and dramatic lighting, and an oft Victorian backdrop to black humor.

'9' seems like it could be a Mad Max/Terminator on one front and a Toy Story on another. The doll characters are in a CG world of rapid attacks echoing the groundbreaking Final Fantasy. Seeing this promo I feel I want Burton to film Scarlet Traces, and maybe even War of the Worlds.

The short was too short to tell, but the "stick more in" philosophy of "Captain Sky" and "Finding Nemo" (jellies scenes) doesn't exist here.

Roll on September (but let's relax and enjoy summer first).


Turns out, Burton is one of the Producers for this movie. While it certainly looks Burtonesque, it did have a hint much of a war story, but then again, Planet of the Apes.

Still looking forward to it. AND Alice must be out soon.

Flitter Flyer

Inspiration

Ever since I don't know when I've been interested in this stuff. "Space 1889's" concept of Liftwood Flyers was fascinating to me. The classic idea of a flapping flier just seemed too much fun. So here is mine.

Here we have the flyer with the wings out of phase, lifting the rear as the nose drops, then lifting the nose as the rear drops. I saw how airsickness would quickly come on with this motion, so we put the gearing so they fly in sync.

The Synched flight has the rear wings traveling a little farther than the front, this is so the pilots flight is not obscured, and the rear wings are taking more of the load. The upstroke is faster than the downstroke where the little plutonic steam turbine is fighting the weight of the flyer.

I did make a dirigible a couple of weeks ago.

Part Count

As for the build. 47 pieces in the flyer. The mini-figure included brings the part count to 51. Lets not mention the flying base as seen in the stills. That is not part of the set, and was only an aid to photographing the set. Do the small antennae count as one part or two each? I counted them as one, since that is how it is in LDD.

If I had to sacrifice a part, I'd probably lose the front two railings. They sit higher than the rest because of the wing mounts. If I had unlimited part I would have raised the rest of the fence to match using some grey 4x1 plates.

Part Sources

So most of the parts are borrowed from my sons. Sure I have plenty myself, but it's Technic and older vintage space. The pilot is wearing Diggers (Dino Attack/Dino 2010) leather flying/football helmet, he is also wearing Catwomans leather suit, and Luke Skywalkers head.

The Build

Now for the parts lists, and the step by step building....

The Movies

So I used monkey jam to make the movie sequences, using our Logitech Pro 9000 webcam. The images were PNG files. I used Paint to remove the flying base frame by frame, but since there are only 15 images in total, this was not too painful.

The Conclusion

I was actually the first post in the entries, and joint 8th place in the "Reasonable Clever" Steampunk build competition. Since the rules only permitted one prize per entrant, I still got a little something.

My attempt at stop motion

So this may seem a little bland, but it is the very first attempt for myself. I have spent the last few weeks helping the rest of my family with their projects.

The intent is to take the three segments and blend them together, much the way it is done in the 1982 Polish film "Tango".

It's also my first video post here on blogger, let's hope it doesn't take too long to download for you.

Update - Though I had taped down the baseplate and tripod, using the release button on the camera caused the camera to move - there is no cable release for that Kodak. This caused the wobble. I used a regular halogen desklamp for even lighting, the extension ring for the close up lens actually casts a shadow when the on-body flash is used, which leaves the lower left un-lit. Lego is also shiny, and flared horribly with direct flash.