{"id":3761,"date":"2021-03-06T17:44:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-06T17:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/?p=3761"},"modified":"2021-03-06T18:45:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T18:45:47","slug":"gi-joe-new-set-catastrophe-in-the-gulf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/?p=3761","title":{"rendered":"GI Joe – New Set – Catastrophe In The Gulf"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second boxed set Greg Brown put together for Cotswold Collectibles\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>this year was another set that nicely pays homage to original GI Joe Adventure Team sets – Catastrophe in the Gulf<\/strong>.\"\"<\/p>\n

Based around a very nice Hammerhead Shark, Greg also sourced some great new Scuba gear, and a working motor!<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

My part was to create an Undersea Sled<\/strong> which could fit the motor, and a Rebreather Oxygen System with Mask.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Undersea Sled<\/strong><\/p>\n

But first things first. I had to get started on the showpiece – the Undersea Sled<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

First, a rough sketch to get our heads in the same space.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yep. This is how I start. With rough concepts that I don’t really elaborate on on paper. At least not always. The concept is a quick sketch to get an idea across. By that time, my mind already has the idea much more solid, and in full 3D. Sometimes I take time to draw them out more carefully and even add color, on paper, before starting. Not this time.<\/p>\n

I wanted to start with a familiar base, something that looked like mine<\/strong>, so I used the main body of my Helijet Pack<\/a><\/strong>. The body was actually quite conducive to the Sea Sled design, with some alterations.<\/p>\n

First, I wanted a water-jet system that could be used for propulsion, and not look dumb.<\/p>\n

My first thought was a set of boot jets I had created previously.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I incorporated those boot jets into the design of the Undersea Sled, enlarging and scaling them appropriately, until they fit the design.<\/p>\n

Here is a screenshot I sent Greg of the model early on:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This 3D model is actually a little later in the process. I had already updated the arms.<\/p>\n

But the early prints came out pretty well:<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

A sharp-eyed person may notice I’m using pink. I often use seldom-used colors to prototype, so I don’t waste the good stuff.<\/p>\n

Then came prints in real colors.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nNote that at this time, I thought a curved arm might work, but I opted against it, as it didn’t fit with my other designs, such as the Flight Pack<\/strong><\/a>, which uses a similar body, but has some vital angular parts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some images of the prototype as it was being developed:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I chose a blue that closely matched the Scuba Suit Greg had made.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rebreather Tank And Mask<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once Greg liked what he saw, I started on the Rebreather. I had concepted out something like a futuristic SCUBA tank, with twin tanks, held at the bottom only, fitted to the body and strapped into place, with hoses to a mask.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Which I modeled up and sent Greg a screenshot:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

First print:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Greg saw the prototype and thought it looked too much like the Rocketeer’s Jet Pack, and I have to say… I agreed. It hadn’t struck me before, but on looking at it in that light, I could see the problem.<\/p>\n

And Greg had a bit of an idea of what he wanted for it, and soon enough, my sketches were looking more like what he had in mind.<\/p>\n

So I switched gears completely, and went with a more modernistic, less future-retro approach.<\/p>\n

I added a very obvious tank at the bottom, which gives it a functional feel, while also being completely recognizable as a SCUBA tank, which would feed a hose into the body, then two hoses would feed into the mask.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mask<\/strong><\/p>\n

We settled on this, and then I began working on the hoses and mask.<\/p>\n

My first issue was that a small part that should hold some detail (the Mask) could<\/strong> be printed with the FDM printers I use for most of my toys, but I felt for this one, I should use my new Resin printer, the Anycubic Photon.<\/p>\n

Printing things for the Photon is a bit harder, and can fail easier, so I’m not all that eager to make whole large parts with it (with some exceptions) but for smaller things, I thought it was time to give it a try.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

I modeled them so the paracord I would use as hoses would fit into the sides, and epoxy into place nicely.<\/p>\n

But the real quiz was – how the heck am I supposed to attach this to the head?<\/p>\n

I didn’t want to add yet another piece of elastic, given that the Goggles had their own, which fitted onto the SCUBA hood.<\/p>\n

So I thought – why not put the SCUBA hood to good use?<\/p>\n

I figured if I made tabs that would fit along the cheeks of a head, inside<\/strong> the hood, it would hold rather nicely.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Really, the last thing to do was the hoses and elastic attachment which was a bit complicated, since I didn’t want an elastic for the Rebreather, and a different one for the Sea Sled.<\/p>\n

I decided to loop them together. This way, you could use one, or the other, individually – or both as a single strap.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The last thing was how to hose it all together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blue paracord fits into the tank, connecting it to the body. Then two hoses go to the mask.<\/p>\n

And after adding one of my very popular wrist Cuff Communicator\/Controllers, with new sticker of a sea wreck, we called it done.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second boxed set Greg Brown put together for Cotswold Collectibles\u00a0this year was another set that nicely pays homage to original GI Joe Adventure Team sets – Catastrophe in the Gulf. Based around a very nice Hammerhead Shark, Greg also … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3761"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3809,"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions\/3809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.huxter.org\/words\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}