Thursday, October 22, 2020

Slide of the Month - Jack-O-Lantern (enhanced)


 


        October 2020

        Time to make: 2 hours

        Boys Life "Slide of the Month"
        
        Nov. 1994, page 58

        Original design: Don Gubler







So lets add more power to the Jack-O-Lantern slides!


So much fun to have a pulsing light to give a eerie feel to this slide. I started with carving the basic Jack-O-Lantern out of maple and painting it with hobby paints. A couple coats of Poly served to seal the paint and give it a harder finish.  The next step was to hollow the pack of the slide to so there will be space for the light.  For the electronics, I took apart a battery powered  "tea light" which is ideal for the way the light flickers. The useful parts I was able to harvest was the  LED light, switch, and battery.  I could not use the battery compartment so I used a button battery holder I had left over from another project.  I  soldered the circuit together and after testing, began to assemble the components to the slide. I used 5-minute epoxy to mount the LED just above the eye holes, switch to the side and the battery holder to the back of the loop. After the epoxy had hardened, I routed the wires as neatly as possible and used some more epoxy to keep them in place.

All and all, a great upgrade to an already good slide!

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Slide of the Month (Just for Fun) - Impostor Among Us



    October 2020

    Time to make: 2 hours

    Finishing: 1 hour

    Original design: Bill Macfarlane









Wait did Orange just come out of the vent?!!!!!  
A online version of Werewolf,  the crew members of a spaceship are pitted against an impostor set on killing the crew.  But who is who?  Only the crew can decide by voting who goes out the airlock. Oh, and while your at it, there are tasks you need to complete too. Among Us is just a lot of fun and runs on mobile or Steam. (I also think InnerSloth is a great name for a group of game developers.)

Oh boy this was fun to make! I had a couple of pieces of pine left over from another project and originally started carving the green crew member and that when very quickly. Hmmm...could I make the Impostor? So after I found a version I thought I could carve, I set about carving the basic shape of it.  Next, I formed the tongue and teeth using some plastic model sprue and heat. I painted the Impostor  and with hobby paints (like I did with the crew member) before painting the tongue and teeth using some paint pens. When everything was dry, I glued the parts in place. Now I had two slides I thought until I put them next to each other then HOLY COW this looks better. I connected the two figures using a small piece of coat hanger, a couple of holes, and some more super glue. Luckily for me, the tongue was a little long so I could cut off a bit and glue it to the head of the green crew member. A couple coats of poly finish it off.

Saturday, October 3, 2020

Slide of the Month - Jack-O-Lantern Slide


         October 2020

        Time to make: 1 hours

        Finishing: 1 Hour

        Boys Life "Slide of the Month"
        
        Oct. 1980, page 71

        Original design: Wayne Mason


As I understand it, Jack-o-Lanterns are based on the Irish folk tail of Stingy Jack

A quick, fun little slide made from pallet wood! I started out cutting a semi round disk and then rounding the wood into a half dome(ish). Using some deep v-cuts, I formed the sections of the pumpkin. A bunch of sanding to make it smooth and painting with hobby paint. The eyes, nose and mouth were painted with a paint pen. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.