OMG RWBY

RWBY - Red White Black Yellow

I've been a fan of Monty Oum's work since I discovered his Dead Fantasy series a few years ago, and was thrilled to hear of his new work with Roosterteeth - RWBY. After watching the trailer, I have to say...

It was like love at first sight. The music caught my breath, the fighting choreo and animation blew me away, and that weapon the main character uses, the Crescent Rose... I fell for it. So hard. If you haven't seen the Red trailer for his new webseries premiering 2013, check that out below before reading further: 

You see that gunscythe? I want to build that gunscythe.

No, wait.

I will build that gunscythe. A full-size model that would pack and unfold as the animation suggests (or as closely as I can replicate it). First, a paper model to visualize the shapes and use the dimensions to scale to a possible CAD model, then a small-scale model to test out any details, then, the final large-scale model.

After brainstorming and sketching out possible ways to make this thing work in real life, I paused to make a static version of the fully-extended head of the gunscythe from computer paper.

Above: The paper Crescent Rose head on a backdrop of my sketchbook.

Read more...

Above: Made from snips of paper.

Above: It's figurine-sized!

That was as far as I got with the paper model. I really only wanted a paper model of  the head of the gunscythe to get a physical sense of the different moving parts, as the shaft of the weapon would most likely just be made out tubes, telescoped together. For the small scale model, I had the idea of taking one of those automatic umbrellas and using that spring mechanism that was already built into it. Which meant I had to take apart the umbrella first.

Dissembling umbrella - Go! What I learned: It is surprisingly easy to take apart an umbrella, and they're a lot more more fragile than I thought.

1) Sawed off the handle. Not really necessary, especially in this case,

where the release mechanism didn't protrude into it,

and the handle just turned out to be entirely wooden.

2) Bent off the metal restriction at the tip of the umbrella

with a screwdriver. It took little force to pry off.

3) Cut loose any fasteners that hold the cover to the skeleton

to remove the umbrella cover sheet.

4) Loosen the clips that hold the skeleton prongs in place.

In this case, this meant untwirling some metal fasteners to loosen them

from their connection to the main mechanism.

5) I removed all but 2 of the prongs, hoping to emulate the scythe head.

But after I reattached the prongs, the force of the spring was too strong for only

2 of the prongs to handle, and they easily snapped under the pressure.

6) So in the end, I had a disassembled umbrella and 2 broken prongs.

....Umbrella skirt time.

I will have to rethink my idea of using an umbrella as a small scale base. Or at least, I'll need to make stronger prongs to withstand the force of the current spring I have.

Regardless! Let's just say, I can't wait to see the other trailers of RWBY. If all of the other characters also have badass weapons such as the Crescent Rose, a few friends and I will be oh so tempted to try and form a group cosplay set. Not that this hasn't already been discussed... :)

TBC.

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In other news, I found some spinach and ripe guacamole in my fridge, and tried to experiment with the other things I had. What I came up with: Spinach and eggs with chunks of guacamole, eaten soft-taco style with paratha bread. Didn't taste too shabby! Next time, I'll try adding some sort of crunchy nut to it - maybe cashew or almond flakes. Yay, experimentation!

Above: Row of assembly.

Above: Scored pieces of guac amidst a spinach and egg stirfry.

Above: Arranged thusly! Modify to your liking!