Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome

While checking out some YouTube channels I follow, I came across another sci-fi web series from MachinimaPrime:

Trailer:

They just released episodes 1 and 2 this past Friday.  So far, I enjoy this and will keep following it.  Now I missed catching SyFy's Battlestar Galactica series so I can't compare the 2.  But I do enjoy space and robot Sci-Fi.  I do hope bigger Battlestar Galactica fans find this enjoyable so they can continue this project.

Vegas Snow

While blogging away and some other stuff, I noticed rain drops on the patio.  Then I looked up and saw white particles on the patio table.  When looking further, it turns out that it was snowing.  All I can say is "Woohoo!"  So like a tourist, I grabbed my iPhone and took pictures and told the wife.  We got more pictures.  My 2nd thought was "We're gonna have a white thanksgiving."  But alas the snow didn't last.  Apparently it's cold enough to snow but not stick.  But it's still awesome.  I don't go to a lot of places where it does snow, so any in Vegas is always a joy for me.

Let it snow playa! (disclaimer: may not be suitable for young viewers; this video is more appropriate for the Christmas season; blogger is not responsible for any actions that occur from watching this video)

Car Chase

R/C style.

Came across this video on FaceBook.  This is an awesome car chase done with R/C cars in reference to the latest Need for Speed video game.

I would love to have the gear and crew do attempt this type of video.  But alas, I am just one person doing the camera work with my solitair iPhone for the camera and the driving with a decent count of R/C vehicles.

And here is the behind the scenes video.  Also another good watch.

And if you like to watch a differnet style of videos, check out more by FreddieW on YouTube.

And remember: this was done with R/C cars.  DO NOT try this with real cars (unless your on in a movie or working with the Mythbusters).

Halo 4 live action

I was looking through twitter and one of the people I follow had a link for this:

This is a web/YouTube live action series based off of Halo 4.  Now I have only played the first Halo game and don't know much about the rest of the Halo franchise story, but this cast and crew needs to be signed on to do a full length feature film (and they have only 4 episodes done so far).  This is definitely one of the best video game based live action shows out there.  Another one, which was more of a one shot instead of a series, is Ghost Recon Alpha.

Crawler Updates

SCX10 Trail Honcho:
I did some updating on the Trail Honcho.  Added a gun rack and some side panels for the truck bed.  With the new light buckets added, I'll need to get another light kit added to make them work.

I also did up a movie poster based on the Utah evening crawl.  The app used was Strip Designer.

Venom Creeper:
I finally got the Creeper up and going, and even got some video of it.  It got a new body, a crawler specific Electronic Speed Control, and a light set.

Movie Poster:

Film:

Now with 3 R/C's having lights, I need to get some more night videos going.

Form 17

After watching another episode of FilmRiot, the host recommended a short film to check out.  Short description:

A bomb technician faces his most hazardous situation yet: Take Your Daughter To Work Day.
 

Exo Terra Buggy

I've been working on my Axial Exo Terra Buggy.  A 4WD R/C off-road buggy from the same manufacturer as the SCX10.  This is an awesome kit.  It has plenty of scale details, even details based of off and offically licensed from actual racing parts.  It even has an actual roll cage with body panels instead of just a full molded body shell.

The assembly process took a long time, but it was fun.  Getting the shocks together was my only snag (I'm not a fan or putting shocks together).  You can call me a geek for this, but I did take pictures during the process.  I might put them into a small video of sorts.  With this buggy, I ended up getting my first brushless motor setup.  It took me a little time to decide, researching on how brushless motors are rated, but I finally decided on the green of Castle Creations with a Mamba Max Pro ESC plus NeuCastle 4600KV motor combo.  I also picked up an extra Airtronics receiver for my MX-Sport 3ch 2.4GHz radio.  Didn't want to run my first brushless motor setup with the standard AM 75Hz radio band.  For the main body panels, I chose a metallic blue paint.  I did do one mod during the build: added 2 light buckets to the hood panel.  Unfortunately I did this after painting.  I don't really recommend doing that if you can help it.

After getting it together, electronics installed, and painted, I finally took it out for it's first run.

During my first run, the brushless setup was not bad.  I was actually expecting it to be a little to fast for me to handle.  But it wasn't.  I picked a lower KV motor to get the slower speed, and I don't have Lipo battery packs yet.  The battery I did put in is a Venom Group 5000mAh 7.2v NiMH pack.  And I'm using the stock gearing setup.  This actually seems like a good way to ease in to brushless, especially after reading up on how fast brushless motors can be.  I had fun driving.  Now I need to find some dirt to drive on.

Since the first drive, I have added a light kit.  That took a little bit of time to install.  I had to watch the wire routing and make a few holes bigger.  And this brings up the major downside of this buggy.  any kind of internal maintenance will be a lengthy process due to the roll cage.  To me this is definitely more designed to the basher/scaler over the full on race pro.  Mainly due to something breaking which give you some increased bench time.  I also added an Axial hub cover set.  It covers the screws and nuts that hold on the wheels, and I picked up a black set to match the wheels.

Over all, I recommend this kit if you like off road 4wd buggies, scale details, and assembling your R/C models.  But I do suggest having some R/C kit building experience first before tackling this R/C assembly kit.  If I get an opportunity to, I may pick up another one.