The Protoss Project

As of 1900 August 16, 2010, we've officially begun work on our Protoss Project.

The first step that we need to tackle (and will hopefully finish up this evening or tomorrow)  is how to deal with the digitigrade stilts, to get the correct "backwards leg" shape of Zeratul. Figuring out how large we're going to be able to make these, and how tall they'll make me, is the first major step in getting the scale of the body to be correct - I can't figure out any other pieces until I have an understanding of how tall I can become!

We started out with this wonderful resource from Gryphern on how they have made the stilts, however, there were a few things that we didn't like with them. We do not intend on furring them (obviously!) and they are a little bulky. Also, we intend on having to wear these for 6 hours or more, so I spent some time trying to figure out exactly how we can make them more comfortable to be worn for a very long time.

This first trial, that we started working on yesterday night and got about 1/3 of the way completed, is only a trial out of wood - we intend, once the design is worked through, to have them welded out of metal, to make them more streamline than blocks of wood.

What I thought may help take some of the tension off of the shin and ankle would be to put the foot plate on a slight pivot, with stops, allowing it to move more naturally, and also allow your heel to rest on something for added support, for standing around for long periods of time.

I have no idea if this will work - I'm a trained costumer, true, but we deal very little with more than basic engineering problems. Luckily, for me, I think more in those terms of engineering, so hopefully, this well-thought-out first prototype will help to figure out what the next step is in this epic project!

((pictures to come shortly, as well as a modification to the Blogger template...))