LUGNET News : ~2645/moc/050-buglab/content


Marco Tagliaferri / moc / 050-buglab / content

BugLab

During my attendance to TSL 2006 I got a hand on a bag of these
technic connectors. They were a good offer so I bought them.
From time to time I played around to find a way to use them.

One day I came up with a early version of this leg. That
was the start for several unsuccessful attempts on three
and four legged mecha.
Most of them were disassembled before they became more
than a rough skeleton. None of them looked the way it
should.

I started to think what could be the purpose of a big mecha with six or eight
legs. The favoured idea was an armoured transporter for rough areas. While
building I ran into two problems. The whole thing would not be big enough for
a usefull transporting device. The second was even more severe. The armoured
legs looked bold and out of proportion.
But the legs were what it all started with. So I dropped the armour and went
for a civil utilisation. It became a laboratory!

I took a few turns on the roundabout trying a spiders shape and the one of an
ant. As six legs were unstable I finally decided to go for a eight legged bug.

The shape kind of evolved on it’s own while I was building. It
took me by surprise how big it grew. But the legs were strong
and stable. When I started with the interior fittings the weight
exploded! The most upper horizontal joint was no longer able to
support the weight. As the ball joint was already doubled there
had to be an additional way to streghten it. Remebering
Black Mamba by Mark Neuman I grabbed my flexible axis.

After all the four I had on hand were applied everything was stable again. As a bonus
it looked quite good. Some friends helped me with the missing ones. Thanks once more!
Now weight was no longer a problem. Build of furnishings could go on.

Cockpit	Sensor controls	Toolbar (front)	Food replicator

Quarters	Shower and toilet	Toolbar (rear)	Energy and hydraulics

After that was finished the cover was built. Finally some details were added. The whole
process took place between february and august 2007. During the last half the BugLab
base (Mech Bay 04) was built. BugLab and Mech Bay 04 were on display at TSL 2007
and BB 2007.

2008-07-19

Primary content in this document is © Marco Tagliaferri. All other text, images, or trademarks in this document are the intellectual property of their respective owners.