A clever concept camera that combines retro instant pictures with even more retro pinhole photography. Each camera comes pre-loaded with two sheets of Fuji Film instant film (probably Instax mini ) and easy to follow pictograms on the back. You pop open the camera, open the shutter flap to make the exposure, and then collapse the camera again. The pencil that’s included is then rubbed along the back in one direction to burst the developing paste on the film. Cut in half and you have two photos, one for you and one to send as a post card to a friend. Very clever! I now have a reason to get a pack of that film and mess around with it.
When my boys were very young, I made a treasure chest from a cheap toolbox, placed an electronic lock in it (AT90S1200) and sent them on a treasure hunt, solving clues and ultimately opening the chest to get their pirate booty, a pair of N64 games. Over the years that chest has been used on many such hunts, created by myself or the boys.
Fast forward over 10 years later and I felt it was time for a new chest, one that would run the treasure hunt itself, playing videos, sound effects, and even hand out paper clues. The typical scenario would start with the chest playing a video clue on the iTouch, which would send the treasure hunters off looking for more clues and eventually get a key. Returning to the chest they would insert the key which would signal the chest that they completed that scenario and it’s time to start the next one, which could be another video, or dispensing a paper clue or map. Once the last scenario was completed the chest would release the big spring loaded trunk latch and the treasure hunters could reap the reward of what ever was inside waiting for them.
This is a pretty amazing project and the documentation is top notch. Thanks for telling me about this Kelly! Once you have seen the chest writeup go have a look at his robots, the man is a master of ingenuity and creativity. I’m proud to say that my robots have had their tin cans kicked by his ‘bots a number of times. Treasure Chest
Soon a group of volunteers from Denmark will be pushing the boundaries for human endeavor. Well, humans that live in Denmark and are not affiliated with a major aerospace concern. These adventitious will be launching a test rocket as part of their attempt to put a man into space. The launch is to occur in the Baltic Sea on August 31th and is all goes well will reach 150,000 feet.
from their website: “This is a non-profit suborbital space endeavor, based entirely on sponsors and volunteers.
Our mission is to launch a human being into space. We are working fulltime to develop a series of suborbital space vehicles – designed to pave the way for manned space flight on a micro size spacecraft. Two rocket vehicles are under development. A small unmanned sounding rocket, named Hybrid Atmospheric Test Vehicle or HATV and a larger booster rocket named Hybrid Exo Atmospheric Transporter or HEAT, designed to carry a micro spacecraft into a suborbital trajectory in space.”
I hope all goes well for them. If they are successful they will be the first organization to enter the manned spaceflight game entirely without government donations.
I absolutely love stumbling across these gems. The classic sfi-fi shows and movies like Space:1999, UFO, and Moon Two Zero have such a distinctive look to them that even if the story was a bit crap you were still in for a visual treat. It’s kind of sad that now a days whenever you see a spaceship in a movie it’s inevitably gray or white. It’s rare to see anything with color out there, not so with the classics! Anyway, have a look at this beautiful collection of artifacts that Sission has collected and restored and in some cases he’s built accurate replicas of the originals.
“Hello and welcome to my Sci-Fi model website. Here I will be displaying some original film studio props and many of the model replicas that I have constructed over the last 25 years. This will mostly be from the works of Gerry Anderson, who’s world famous television shows have entertained me for a very large part of my life. Thanks mostly to the talents of such artists as Derek Meddings, Mike Trim, Brian Johnson, Steve Begg, Keith Wilson, Reg Hill and many, many others.
Just click on the highlighted text to navigate and I hope you enjoy your visit”
If it wasn’t for the talents of Roger Dean, Chris Foss, Mobius, and countless others, where would our science fiction books get their amazing cover art? In ‘Sci-Fi-O-Rama’ you can take a leisurely jaunt through the countless dimensions of hyperspace and huge space ships and just soak in all those fantasy worlds.
Not only is this super fun looking, but there are some very nice build photos that show how the SRBG2007SideWinder is constructed. Electric powered, fires hundreds of shots, simple design, what more could you ask for in a rubber band gun?
But if that wasn’t cool enough, you should look through the pages of the Japan Rubber Band Gun Shooting Association. Yes, there is a group of people that get together and compare notes on how to build rubber band guns.
A clever concept camera that combines retro instant pictures with even more retro pinhole photography. Each camera comes pre-loaded with two sheets of Fuji Film instant film (probably Instax mini ) and easy to follow pictograms on the back. You pop open the camera, open the shutter flap to make the exposure, and then collapse the camera again. The pencil that’s included is then rubbed along the back in one direction to burst the developing paste on the film. Cut in half and you have two photos, one for you and one to send as a post card to a friend. Very clever! I now have a reason to get a pack of that film and mess around with it.
