Portal 2 : Frankenturret replica round 3 (4?)

Pre-mature posting, yes, but I wanted to get something out this week at least...

May I present the (almost) finished round 3 of the Portal 2 Frankenturret! (It's more done then it looks- I have all the corners and edging cast and ready to go)




Despite one minor hiccup, I'm extremely happier with this one. Itterating on a project can lead to better results! Who knew!

Some quick facts about this puppy (a more in-depth post when I finish it off):

Better / newer cast pieces. Remember to sand. And sand some more. At all stages. And then dremel the sucker after you cast it. And then sand some more.

That's a sawed off tick-tack case for the body there. Always knew those suckers would be useful!!

The neck and leg joints/extensions are parts from my forever-useful ripped up type-writer (it was dead when I got it! and electric! and I would never think of harming my working non-electric one). That sucker is just a parts heaven. Not only is the metal/pivots from there, the springs at the end of everything are from there too.

Hot glue will look tacky. Doesn't matter how hard you try to be neat about it. Tacky. But what else can I use!?!

Tool dip & solder & thought-out electronics are not tacky. Yeah.



Working on it Monday was really invigorating. Makes me want to do a couple more projects in the same vein. There's just something about it... I think it's a mix of how wonderful Portal 2 is as a game and how simple the designs are. They do a fantastic job of humanizing these little robots. Or, at least... animalizing them? There was a YouTube comment that- dare I confess- I liked which pointed out that the Frankenturret is basically like a pet hermit crab.



It's not just me who's head-over-heals for these puppies... There are a number of (more) awesome projects out there then just mine. A couple links :

The much linked to papercraft one. I've not given it a go yet (paper's not really my medium) but I will at some point...

Not all replicas need to be very detailed to still be cute. I'm thinking of making a plush version based on this guy's clay model (already received approval to do so)

The number of people who humanize the turrets in fan art is kinda' surprising. Also, the fan art in general can be kinda' awesome.

This little future over-lord is pretty sweet, even if he is the original turret model

One could even adopt a frankenturret style of fashion

In closing, here's a video of me fidgeting with the work so far... I don't think you realize how fun flicking those little spring-legs is!