GBFans.com

That's a beautiful picture...

+1

Niiiice! Crisp and a realy beauty, AZ.

Thanks, Im trying to make it as clean as possible

Big update. This has been done now since the beginning of February, and those of you that have been friends with me on facebook have seen the build up of this. It has come a long way, and still has further to go.... but enough of this lets get to the pics.


-Todd

Todd, Beautiful work. I feel like I'm a better person from just following your work.

Excellant work. Clean and crisp lines from what I can tell in the photos.

Thank you guys. This has been a long road. Just so everyone knows, nothing was hand cut. It was all laser cut. Therefore all the lines are as clean as can be.
-Todd

Killer build man! Can't wait to see one in person.

Ok first off......I am sorry that I didn't read the whole post. I guess I should not have asked anything. Didn't mean any disrespect or anything AZ. This is however IS an awesome piece of work.

No worries

This is a quick walk through of how I built my gigameter.

Split in half after seaming then the sides shaved down.


Sides finished with old cap design


Taped together with seam spacer


PVC for ring


Taped off


Ring cut


Bottom boxes finished


Boxes and ring test fitted


Motor and holder


Test fitted motor



Fins and key laser cut and positioned





Also laser cut styrene side panels


2nd cap build because the first was incorrect


Finished cap


All pieces together


-Todd

Holy hell, that thing is looking good. Excellent work.

Wow. Meticulous attention to detail! This thing is insane!

A thorough build-up of a Giga Meter is something that's been long overdue, good to finally see you're meeting the challenge AZ. Thanks for posting the build-up pics.

Absolutely beautiful build.

Im surprised no one has asked the big question...

I'll bite how much? And when should we start watching the for sale threads?

You're making me want to work on mine...

Dome lights wired up.

great work! are you planning on making the top "display panel" piece removable like on the original prop, or just sticking with the full-on GB2 mode?

Yes the top will be removable.
-Todd

Project almost complete. The molds are finished.

Oh, damn you... I recently bought a resin kit of the unmodified Buffer.

Oh well, guess I'll keep at it.


Damn you.
Damn you. Damn you. Damn you.

Yeah I saw, on the rpf. That was my old mold. There is an interest list in the for sale section if you are interested.
-Todd

From all the phone conversations and challenges this thing has given you, you deserve an award. Proud of you man. Great job!

Care to share what the electronics look like? In particular, how do the dome lights work?

Doing some searching around. First thing I did was make a loop of the scene where Egon uses the Giga for the first time on the NYC streets. Seems to have 4 LEDs for inside the dome in a line. 2 Red, 1 possibly Yellow, and then 1 more Red.

Ah, just saw on the Reference section there's a link to Cyland's page. I'll steal from him so I don't have to print screen, paste, and host a new image.


Cool, also right there showing the Giga in a stationary position.


The LEDs must be blinking at a pretty consistent rate, because they aren't solid when the inner dome is rotating or else it'd just be a solid red line. Seems to be 4 total columns of the LED's. And they look to be set in the inner dome, not a hole in the dome w/ light shining through.

Damn, should've gone through more of Cylands page before typing. Great image of the inner-dome for the G.M.

So likely the design isn't actually LED's per-say. I forget that the props were made in what, 1982, 83? Possibly some light pipe, like optical fiber. Light shining through them from their base inside the dome.
*edit*Ah, gotcha. Went thru whole G.M. page. Thought these were somehow pictures of the actual prop he got to dissect. Turned out its from a prop replica he made. Impressive work.

Regarding the upper microphone attachments. I have a concept I'm daydreaming on based on those microphones having their own individual central pivot point. If they do then they could both be hooked up to a single motor.



I can envision the possiblity of this design, going to see if I can put it into words. The base of those microphones is circular. And they have an outter "wall" so-to-speak that raises up, as shown in this image.


What can be done is drill a small hole through that "wall" and have a metal rod slide through it [insert "that's what she said" joke]. This allows simplistic flexibility with the design, because as the microphone would rotate the exact width between their bases and these holes would get farther apart when the mics separate, and then closer width as the mics return. But since the rods are freely sliding through a hole, and not in a fixated position like a peg or a bolt... then that little differentiation between their width will be inconsequential. These 2 rods will be connected to a T. At the base of the T will be a Linear Actuator, not pictured though.

That is if I can locate a micro linear actuator servo that does a very minimal amount of travel. Found one that does 20mm, but that in inches is 3/4 inch. Don't know if it'd need that much travel to get the Microphone tops to spread as little as they do. Or that might be just how much is needed. I dunno yet.

I decided to just spend the money and bought a Realistic Stereo Microphone #33-1065 for $30. Oh well, can't find them anywhere else, need to get one so I can butcher it for this prop. When I get it in the mail I'll see if this design concept is possible with a quicky mock-up. If it works then I'll start servo shopping.

Yes mine has only one motor running the microphones. Just some simple gearing had you will have it. http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtop ... 34&t=11939
look at Cylands drawing and you should be able to figure it out.
-Todd