More inspiration

Good ole' Boing Boing - a Steampunk mouse.

Spy photos from the workshop

We had another productive day at the workshop yesterday. AP came by and worked on the design for the rear of the carriage. He got crazy with the polyurethane glue. The dowels were salvaged from the dump. The end result is quite an interesting detail. We all agreed it looks like a pipe organ.I worked on the design for the new front end. Since the new rear used up both halves of the coffee table I had to look elsewhere for inspiration. And I found it in the form of a broken pedestal fan I had in the garage. (hoarding 1, minimalism 0) Using smaller steel that I scavenged from some salvaged fencing I set to work. I created the curves with a conduit bender and a lot of trial and error. I was making things up as I went along. I plan to take all of my ideas and put them into a model tonight to try and figure out the whole front design. I imagine a curving, almost bullet shaped front. We'll see.
Here's a shot of the work from the front. It shows the fan blades that I'd like to use. The idea is to put the blade back in it's normal place, line the grill with fabric and then light the slow-moving blade from behind. Should be a neat effect at night.

Steampunk Captain costumes

I found a neat sight that had a drawing contest to create a Steampunk captain. There's lots of great ideas for costumes here if this is your interest. It certainly is mine. Here's my favorite.

UPDATE! We -no longer- need a Caster!

The Perambulator design requires a caster to carry the extended rear weight. Here's one I found online. It will be up to the job.

A pretty good price. But the shipping is $12 more. So I thought I'd cast the net to see if anyone knew where we might get one for free or cheaper. Maybe a local shop or a junk place we might scavenge one from? Anybody have any ideas?
UPDATE- I bought this caster online. Should be here by Wed.

WOW! What a great day!

We had quite a productive day over at the Perambulator workshop yesterday. It was pretty impromptu but we eventually rounded up 5 of the group to get things started. In the morning AP and I took all of the unnecessary parts off of the cart. Then we removed the rear shocks/springs and replaced them with steel tubing. This will prevent the cart sag with all the extra weight. When The Baroness, The Amazing Leslie and Baron of All showed up we took the cart out for a stress test. We even piled on two teenagers. We were all impressed that the cart didn't seem to mind all the weight.
Next we got to work on the steel frame. Using the model for reference B of All and B of Less set to work cutting the steel to length. AP worked on cutting the table top in half for the end details. The Great Leslie worked on the overall shape of the exterior and did a lot of grinding. I worked on welding. Everyone contributed ideas for structural and detail elements. Things took shape quickly. We had a large portion of the frame done when The Baron and Ness left for the day. (Thanks for lunch!) The rest of us soldiered on. Leslie worked on the boiler for the vehicle. (An old air compressor tank.) While AP worked on hardwood flooring for the cab and passenger area. We finally punched out around six. We were exhausted.
But the end result is pretty impressive. We've got a lot more work to go but if this first day is any indication I'm sure we'll reach our objective before the big week. I'll send out a more formal email next time we have another work party. Go team!

Here's a picture of Aristotle in the side yard he helped clear. He is standing where the cart once sat. Many thanks for all his hard work.

Cart is up and running

For those of you on the edge of you seat with anticipation I am proud to report that the cart was liberated and, after tinkering, is up and running. See for yourself. Next step, Perambulator conversion.