enl 227 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Does anyone have interesting projects coming up for Halloween this year? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fmilburn 445 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I'm making another airplane for my grandson. That is him in the photograph I use as an avatar for posting in 43oh. He wants a jet this year - hard to make a cardboard box look like a jet but 4 year olds don't know any better and I will spruce it up with buttons, lights, and sound. The avionics will be controlled by a MSP430G2452 on its own custom board. I'll post some pictures when I finish it.... tripwire, abecedarian and bluehash 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
abecedarian 330 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I'm making another airplane for my grandson. That is him in the photograph I use as an avatar for posting in 43oh. He wants a jet this year - hard to make a cardboard box look like a jet but 4 year olds don't know any better and I will spruce it up with buttons, lights, and sound. The avionics will be controlled by a MSP430G2452 on its own custom board. I'll post some pictures when I finish it....F117 shouldn't be too hard to form from box to jet. Myself, though, no HW projects. All the animatronics stuff my nephew sees just don't meet his criteria, so he's going to adding that "in"-human element. Fmilburn and tripwire 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fmilburn 445 Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 F117 shouldn't be too hard to form from box to jet. @@abecedarian - Even a 4 year old and his senile grandfather would not try to make a F117 out of a cardboard box. No, we have decided a F18 makes a lot more sense What about you @@enl? You must be thinking of something? tripwire and chicken 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
enl 227 Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 @@Fmilburn - nothing yet. Took my first real time off in 30 years over the summer, and now back to work, so I haven't had time to think. I'm looking for ideas, but not too hard. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
abecedarian 330 Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 @@Fmilburn My suggestion of the F117 was simply due to it being faceted in form thus well suited to being cut from cardboard. F/A-18 are much more curved so getting it shaped out of a box will be more work. But I'm interested in seeing the final design if you go this path. *edit- would be interesting to add the landing gear with motors and such so it could be 'piloted' around. Fmilburn 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
enl 227 Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 @fmilburn: F117 is straightforward.. One of the better patterns is at http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/airplanes/f117/ There are others, including some very nice origami, but I fear trying to scale origami up to costume size might require 0.5mm aluminum aircraft aluminum skin rather than cardboard to be manageable yet stiff enough when done.. Fmilburn and tripwire 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fmilburn 445 Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 I'm afraid the decision wasn't based on design or construction technique. It was based on the pure coincidence that the Blue Angels made a pass over a local park recently while he was at soccer practice. If after we finish people say "hey, look at that airplane" instead of "hey, Look at that kid in a box" I will declare success. abecedarian and tripwire 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fmilburn 445 Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Got it more or less finished and just need to do some touch up. This is what inspired it... This is the airframe and control panel put together. It consists of two cardboard boxes with corrugated plastic wings cut out of a discarded storage box. The panel is made from a paint stirring stick and the switches, pot, and buttons are recycled from other projects or stuff I tore apart. The lights are mounted on coffee can lids and covered with plastic cups from something we ate. Everything is held together with hot glue and brads. I went to the dollar store and got some blue and yellow wrapping paper and glued it to the airframe with outdoor Mod Podge (works great for this sort of thing). Then I put another coat of Mod Podge on it for strength and some lacquer to help weather proof it a bit. This is the avionics ready to be installed. There is a 3W LED for a searchlight in front and an Adafruit 24 light neopixel ring in back (not shown) that is driven by a special built MSP430 and Energia. The searchlight can be dimmed or brightened with a potentiometer. The sound comes from an old greeting card I tore apart and repurposed. The other buttons light up LEDs on the panel. We also decorated it with an Energia sticker. Here it is being taken for a test flight. It has pretty good maneuverability - he missed the brick wall. It does look like it was made from a cardboard box and it lacks the lines of the original but the customer is happy. tripwire, dubnet, Fred and 4 others 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fred 453 Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Awesome work. It's my son's 4th birthday coming up and I know he'd love something similar (but based on Dusty Crophopper). I should take inspiration from yours and bump it up the ever-growing project list. Fmilburn and bluehash 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 630 Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 What kind of sound effects did you implement? Are there greeting cards with jet fighter roars? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fmilburn 445 Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 The recording is a voice snippet from a Steve Carrell comedy sketch about raising kids - a not so subtle reminder about payback to my daughter, and his mother, who already knew it all by the time she was his age. It's amazing, he already knows everything too I had to look Dusty Crophopper up. I'm a bit out of touch with 4 year old entertainment although he has talked about Cars. That would be a good one too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
enl 227 Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 @@Fmilburn Very nice. That is a costume that he will look back upon in 50 years and remember fondly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Let me spice this up with a contest. Prize 1: Your choice of $25 giftcard from Sparkfun, Adafruit or anyplace that sends giftcards electronically. I can even Paypal it to you if you are not interested in a card. Prize 2: Same as above, but $20. Prize 3: Dev board from TI <$20. Runner ups: If members wish to donate prizes/boards. I can cover International shipping upto $10. Enjoy and submit your projects. October 25th will be voting day via a community vote. @@enl @@Fmilburn @@chicken @@Fred @@abecedarian I'll move this to the Project Of The Month Thread if members are interested. Fmilburn 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
abecedarian 330 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Okay, @@bluehash, you got me. I'll contribute a prize or two: Radio Shack Motor Pack, value = $39.95 USD WIZwiki W7500, value = $45.00 USD If these go unclaimed, I'll keep them open for any future contests. bluehash 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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