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Description
Really crappy picture, but it should give you an idea. And no, it's not a torture device, or anything dirty.

These (I hope) will be part of an upcoming Nightcat costume. Like I said in a past journal, I think it'd be uber cool to cosplay her, plus it'd be great marketing for when I'm at cons. Eventually, I do want to get a booth at a comic con, presumably when I have NC stuff to sell, like books, bookmarks, pictures etc...

Anyhow, the basic design was found here: [link]
I made a few modifications and since this is a prototype, I'm sure I'll be making more.

In the above plans, the triangular piece was 45 degrees, but I changed it to 60. I wanted the base piece not to been too long and in order to keep my center of gravity above the base, I had to make that angle a lot steeper. The problem with that is my toe gets smooshed against the end of the shoe.

The rubber brace for the calf I found in the plumbing section of Canadian Tire. I figured it'd be more comfortable than hard plastic. I found the bungees at the dollar store and I lucked in and was able to double one up for the "tendon". Once I complete the second stilt I'll have a better idea on how easy (or hard) it is to walk in. I think the biggest challenge is simply the steep angle and my foot wanting to slide down. But I can also walk straighter and (presumably) there'd be less strain on my calf muscles.

So that's what I've been working on. No idea when I'll be finished, but I'm not in a rush. I'm looking at this more as a learning experience than anything.

I have scribbled out a design for the "animatronic" tail. Something that doesn't need any servos or knowledge in how to built stuff like that. I have many hobbies and know a lot about various artistic types (like construction, painting, drawing etc) but working with hardware like that eludes me to no end.

Description
Really crappy picture, but it should give you an idea. And no, it's not a torture device, or anything dirty.

These (I hope) will be part of an upcoming Nightcat costume. Like I said in a past journal, I think it'd be uber cool to cosplay her, plus it'd be great marketing for when I'm at cons. Eventually, I do want to get a booth at a comic con, presumably when I have NC stuff to sell, like books, bookmarks, pictures etc...

Anyhow, the basic design was found here: [link]
I made a few modifications and since this is a prototype, I'm sure I'll be making more.

In the above plans, the triangular piece was 45 degrees, but I changed it to 60. I wanted the base piece not to been too long and in order to keep my center of gravity above the base, I had to make that angle a lot steeper. The problem with that is my toe gets smooshed against the end of the shoe.

The rubber brace for the calf I found in the plumbing section of Canadian Tire. I figured it'd be more comfortable than hard plastic. I found the bungees at the dollar store and I lucked in and was able to double one up for the "tendon". Once I complete the second stilt I'll have a better idea on how easy (or hard) it is to walk in. I think the biggest challenge is simply the steep angle and my foot wanting to slide down. But I can also walk straighter and (presumably) there'd be less strain on my calf muscles.

So that's what I've been working on. No idea when I'll be finished, but I'm not in a rush. I'm looking at this more as a learning experience than anything.

I have scribbled out a design for the "animatronic" tail. Something that doesn't need any servos or knowledge in how to built stuff like that. I have many hobbies and know a lot about various artistic types (like construction, painting, drawing etc) but working with hardware like that eludes me to no end.