Ugh, been working on this one for weeks. I really don't want to use a VW profile, or any other type of van, but I can't seem to find any dead-on side shots from the cartoon. Got lots and lots of 3/4 perspectives, none from the side. Once I have a better idea of exactly how it should be shaped, I can't WAIT to do that one. I even have a "shell roof" texture done.
They each have an "Antiposession Tattoo" that would make a decent logo.
My wife's kinda hooked into the fandom for the show, and if she spreads this around on the blogs/tumblr, you'll definitely get some sales. These girls are nuts for anything involving the show.
Haven't posted since the posters hit the internet in a big way... my apartment has been filled with cardboard tubes for two months now! I never could have thought this would happen. I'm currently working on getting the posters printed on mounted canvas or a higher-quality framed material and holding an auction for a local charity, but that seems like it might not come to fruition for a few months yet.
Anyway, I wanted to share another thing I've been working on.
It's a 1965 Vespa Super Sport 180, identical in almost every respect to this one from the 2000 anime FLCL from Gainax.
Last summer I decided to fulfill one of wife's long-standing dreams of having a scooter. She would often talk about wanting a Ruckus or a superbike, but she would more frequently fawn over how cute a classic Vespa looked. She's also a pretty avid cosplayer, the kind of girl who spends hours dying and styling wigs, who has completely taken over the second bedroom of our apartment with rolls of fabric, buckets of resin, and all manner of crafting accessories.
I started a secret savings account last July and I've been putting little things into it since. eBay sales, tips from when we use the movie cars as charity limos, stuff like that. In February I reached my goal and started officially looking for a starter body. The SS 180 is a pretty sought-after type of scooter, it's not the rarest or most valuable, but it's really popular. Originally I planned to build a clone by buying a late 70s P-series scooter and swapping out the parts to make it into an comparable look-alike of an SS. At the end of February I lucked out. Someone in Arizona was selling an SS, the exact body type that I needed. The exterior was kind of rough, but mechanically it was sound. The original engine had been removed and replaced with a more powerful, more reliable, and easier to maintain engine from a P200. This made the scooter undesirable for a collector, but ideal for someone who wanted to turn it into a nerdmobile. I guess the meme of "and nothing of value was lost" might apply here!
So I made up a story about going snowmobiling across the divide with my brother as a cover to keep my wife from asking too many questions. I grabbed a good friend to tag along and we departed for Flagstaff, Arizona.
We drove through the night, planning to sleep in Socorro, but stopped in Albuquerque to visit Walt's car wash from Breaking Bad. That was pretty cool.
After leaving Socorro we headed west to another place I've been dying to visit for years, the Very Large Array.
Most famous for it's role as a location in Contact, Terminator: Salvation, and a handful of other films, the VLA is a set of 27 dishes arranged in a Y-shape that act as one large radio telescope. We hit the visitors center, watched the little video and looked at the exhibits, and I picked up some VLA swag for my nerd friends back home. The staff saw the car and got pretty excited (we must have been their only visitors in a while), and they let us drive around the access roads of the facility for some neat photo opportunities. Great people, awesome place. You should go.
Near Holbrook, Arizona we came across an old Route 66 Wigwam motel that had classic cars parked in front of each room to add to the atmosphere.
So it looks like Radiator Springs is a real place!
After that was Meteor Crater.
Which is pretty goddamn amazing. I was a bit disappointed that it felt like a tourist trap thanks to it being privately owned, but the crater itself is worth seeing. VERY cool.
We arrived in Flagstaff around 4pm and made our way to seller's house. He ran over the details of the scooter, things like modifications, damage, behavior, all the good stuff.
At this point, I had never driven a motorcycle or scooter by myself. Now that I think about it, the only two-wheeled motorized vehicle I'd ever been in control of had been a Segway! He took me around the block on it, gave me a quick lesson, and I tried it myself. It almost got away from me at first (the P200 engine is a goddamn MONSTER for this thing), but I figured it out and took my first ride in a neighborhood in Arizona. We loaded it up into the back of the Magnum, it fit perfectly. This was a huge relief as, eyeballing the space back there, it didn't look like it would fit. The measurements the owner gave me before I left were well within the confines of the car, so I had to trust the math.
The fuel take was pretty empty, but it still reeked of gasoline, something we'd have to endure for the next 12 hours. We went home by going north through Utah. Moab, Grand Junction, Vail, and back in Denver by 2am, which was pretty good!
After getting it hope and secreting it to a friend's garage for storage away from prying eyes, we stripped it down and got it ready for paint. Kind of sad to see the flat black go, that looked REALLY cool...
A week later it was ready!
Initially I'd planned to get the scooter 100% complete before giving it to my wife. But she is pretty particular about her cosplay stuff, her favorite costumes are the ones she made completely from scratch. For her it's more about making them than wearing them. So I changed my plans and decided to unveil the scooter early so she could be a part of the assembly process, thereby turning it into something she helped make. When she first saw it, she didn't quite understand. She thought it was just someone else's scooter that would be perfect for a Haruko FLCL scooter. When I stated that it was hers, she looked at me confused, shoved me, and started crying.
God. Damn. Adorable.
We brought the Vespa home and wiggled it into the elevator and up into the apartment. Work started immediately.
And it was all back together Friday night!
Saturday was spent getting it running smoothly again.
Things left to do for the scooter:
- bar-end turn signal lights
- the "blade" that attached to the front suspension
- replace a few gray seals with black ones
- add the ignition switch on top of the headpiece
- replace the legshield beading the original, fatter trim
- fix the horn
Things left to do for us:
- motorcycle safety class
- gear shopping
My wife cosplayed as Haruko back in 2007, so now she's in super go-mode to get that costume back up to her standards so she can wear it on the scooter at the next con!
A terribly fun project that will make for a terribly fun summer!
FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
Nicely done. Well played. I can totally appreciate the awesomeness of the effort you went to to get this slamming gift for your wife, and it had a bitchin' roadtrip to boot. Any gift giving enterprise which can include a sidetrek to the VLA is alright in my book.
Aaaaand busted one of the clutch cables today, having to limp home in 2nd gear. Shouldn't be TOO hard of a fix, I still need to get a speedo cable so we can tell how fast it's going! I hope whatever is gonna break actually breaks before the weekend of the con!
This is me. 12-15 year old me always wanted that Vespa so, so badly. That's a really awesome project. And 21 year old me is insanely jealous. Fantastic work by you and your wife.
so when can we expect the stop motion video of your wife riding it through town set to the pillows
We actually plan on doing this through the halls of the next convention. I'm devising an "engine diaper" so it can be moved inside (plus Colorado convention halls aren't PACKED like larger cons). Also, we're considering taking the setup we used for the Jeep's dinosaur roar sound system and applying that to tiny speakers to play Pillows songs. The Vespa doesn't have a battery, however, so it's not going to be an easy one to tackle.
so when can we expect the stop motion video of your wife riding it through town set to the pillows
We actually plan on doing this through the halls of the next convention. I'm devising an "engine diaper" so it can be moved inside (plus Colorado convention halls aren't PACKED like larger cons). Also, we're considering taking the setup we used for the Jeep's dinosaur roar sound system and applying that to tiny speakers to play Pillows songs. The Vespa doesn't have a battery, however, so it's not going to be an easy one to tackle.
Posts
Doctor Who
Tardis.
No idea what you'd do for the background.
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
Hoping for a Rocketeer, Pee-Wee, and Wraith poster by next week!
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
I'm in for that one.
Edit: Had another suggestion. What about a 1920s car in front of the Boardwalk Empire logo?
Dear satan I wish for this or maybe some of this....oh and I'm a medium or a large.
Steam: Feriluce
Battle.net: Feriluce#1995
Ugh, been working on this one for weeks. I really don't want to use a VW profile, or any other type of van, but I can't seem to find any dead-on side shots from the cartoon. Got lots and lots of 3/4 perspectives, none from the side. Once I have a better idea of exactly how it should be shaped, I can't WAIT to do that one. I even have a "shell roof" texture done.
Also, last night was "Are You Man Enough" night.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
http://www.geekologie.com/2010/10/female-college-student-builds.php
The car that the boys drive is a '67 Impala.
They each have an "Antiposession Tattoo" that would make a decent logo.
My wife's kinda hooked into the fandom for the show, and if she spreads this around on the blogs/tumblr, you'll definitely get some sales. These girls are nuts for anything involving the show.
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
Anyway, dug up some images for the Turtle Van, aka "Party Wagon."
The toy, pretty close to a profile view, but minus the side door.
The real-life reproduction of the van.
Shots of the toy from the front, back, left, and right.
Model sheet for the cartoon version. Note that it has a different design from the toy version.
Image from the game; not quite profile, but...
In 8-bit!
The original van in the cartoon, before Donatello begins to mod it.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Normandy SR-1 below the N7
Normandy SR-2 below the Cerberus Logo
I love the Normandy. IMO it's gonna be one of the all time classic spaceship designs along with the Enterprise, Millennium Falcon etc.
Steam: Feriluce
Battle.net: Feriluce#1995
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
At first I thought it was the ship from Heavy Metal but that's this
Dear satan I wish for this or maybe some of this....oh and I'm a medium or a large.
A Police Cruiser from the 40s in front of the L.A Noire Police Badge.
Posters are Magic
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
http://www.moviecarposters.com/wizard-express
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Anyway, I wanted to share another thing I've been working on.
It's a 1965 Vespa Super Sport 180, identical in almost every respect to this one from the 2000 anime FLCL from Gainax.
Last summer I decided to fulfill one of wife's long-standing dreams of having a scooter. She would often talk about wanting a Ruckus or a superbike, but she would more frequently fawn over how cute a classic Vespa looked. She's also a pretty avid cosplayer, the kind of girl who spends hours dying and styling wigs, who has completely taken over the second bedroom of our apartment with rolls of fabric, buckets of resin, and all manner of crafting accessories.
I started a secret savings account last July and I've been putting little things into it since. eBay sales, tips from when we use the movie cars as charity limos, stuff like that. In February I reached my goal and started officially looking for a starter body. The SS 180 is a pretty sought-after type of scooter, it's not the rarest or most valuable, but it's really popular. Originally I planned to build a clone by buying a late 70s P-series scooter and swapping out the parts to make it into an comparable look-alike of an SS. At the end of February I lucked out. Someone in Arizona was selling an SS, the exact body type that I needed. The exterior was kind of rough, but mechanically it was sound. The original engine had been removed and replaced with a more powerful, more reliable, and easier to maintain engine from a P200. This made the scooter undesirable for a collector, but ideal for someone who wanted to turn it into a nerdmobile. I guess the meme of "and nothing of value was lost" might apply here!
So I made up a story about going snowmobiling across the divide with my brother as a cover to keep my wife from asking too many questions. I grabbed a good friend to tag along and we departed for Flagstaff, Arizona.
We drove through the night, planning to sleep in Socorro, but stopped in Albuquerque to visit Walt's car wash from Breaking Bad. That was pretty cool.
After leaving Socorro we headed west to another place I've been dying to visit for years, the Very Large Array.
Most famous for it's role as a location in Contact, Terminator: Salvation, and a handful of other films, the VLA is a set of 27 dishes arranged in a Y-shape that act as one large radio telescope. We hit the visitors center, watched the little video and looked at the exhibits, and I picked up some VLA swag for my nerd friends back home. The staff saw the car and got pretty excited (we must have been their only visitors in a while), and they let us drive around the access roads of the facility for some neat photo opportunities. Great people, awesome place. You should go.
Near Holbrook, Arizona we came across an old Route 66 Wigwam motel that had classic cars parked in front of each room to add to the atmosphere.
So it looks like Radiator Springs is a real place!
After that was Meteor Crater.
Which is pretty goddamn amazing. I was a bit disappointed that it felt like a tourist trap thanks to it being privately owned, but the crater itself is worth seeing. VERY cool.
We arrived in Flagstaff around 4pm and made our way to seller's house. He ran over the details of the scooter, things like modifications, damage, behavior, all the good stuff.
At this point, I had never driven a motorcycle or scooter by myself. Now that I think about it, the only two-wheeled motorized vehicle I'd ever been in control of had been a Segway! He took me around the block on it, gave me a quick lesson, and I tried it myself. It almost got away from me at first (the P200 engine is a goddamn MONSTER for this thing), but I figured it out and took my first ride in a neighborhood in Arizona. We loaded it up into the back of the Magnum, it fit perfectly. This was a huge relief as, eyeballing the space back there, it didn't look like it would fit. The measurements the owner gave me before I left were well within the confines of the car, so I had to trust the math.
The fuel take was pretty empty, but it still reeked of gasoline, something we'd have to endure for the next 12 hours. We went home by going north through Utah. Moab, Grand Junction, Vail, and back in Denver by 2am, which was pretty good!
After getting it hope and secreting it to a friend's garage for storage away from prying eyes, we stripped it down and got it ready for paint. Kind of sad to see the flat black go, that looked REALLY cool...
A week later it was ready!
Initially I'd planned to get the scooter 100% complete before giving it to my wife. But she is pretty particular about her cosplay stuff, her favorite costumes are the ones she made completely from scratch. For her it's more about making them than wearing them. So I changed my plans and decided to unveil the scooter early so she could be a part of the assembly process, thereby turning it into something she helped make. When she first saw it, she didn't quite understand. She thought it was just someone else's scooter that would be perfect for a Haruko FLCL scooter. When I stated that it was hers, she looked at me confused, shoved me, and started crying.
God. Damn. Adorable.
We brought the Vespa home and wiggled it into the elevator and up into the apartment. Work started immediately.
And it was all back together Friday night!
Saturday was spent getting it running smoothly again.
Things left to do for the scooter:
- bar-end turn signal lights
- the "blade" that attached to the front suspension
- replace a few gray seals with black ones
- add the ignition switch on top of the headpiece
- replace the legshield beading the original, fatter trim
- fix the horn
Things left to do for us:
- motorcycle safety class
- gear shopping
My wife cosplayed as Haruko back in 2007, so now she's in super go-mode to get that costume back up to her standards so she can wear it on the scooter at the next con!
A terribly fun project that will make for a terribly fun summer!
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
hey satan...: thinkgeek amazon My post |
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
This is me. 12-15 year old me always wanted that Vespa so, so badly. That's a really awesome project. And 21 year old me is insanely jealous. Fantastic work by you and your wife.
SteamID: Baroque And Roll
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
FLCL is one of my favourites. Great job, Boomerjinks!
Steam: YOU FACE JARAXXUS| Twitch.tv: CainLoveless
SteamID: Baroque And Roll
As soon as I saw the pictures, Ride On Shooting Star automatically began playing in my head
We actually plan on doing this through the halls of the next convention. I'm devising an "engine diaper" so it can be moved inside (plus Colorado convention halls aren't PACKED like larger cons). Also, we're considering taking the setup we used for the Jeep's dinosaur roar sound system and applying that to tiny speakers to play Pillows songs. The Vespa doesn't have a battery, however, so it's not going to be an easy one to tackle.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
You sir, are a god among men.
Too bad SS 180s cost something awful or I'd do the same (had plans for this a few years back).