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swandog — Pivoting Pinions V.1
Published: 2007-11-08 15:40:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 30895; Favourites: 394; Downloads: 945
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(Sorry to keep spamming y'all with my wing WIPs, but just in case my ideas might help someone else, I'm posting them here.)I think I got this figured out now...I'm trying, at least!
This diagram shows the internal armature of the fursuit wings (in this case, the undersides of the wings), which operate via a string-pulley mechanism (the string being elastic, in this case), something along the lines of these wings: [link]
[link]
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[link]
Am aiming for a look like this , but without using real feathers...Instead, the feathers will be made of either fake fur or "fun foam" covered in thin velvet or fuzzy "flocking" , with lightweight, flexible kite rods as barbs, and the primaries will pivot on the ends of these barbs as they fan out, similar to this simplified diagram and little demo prop , as well as this collage .
Other similar designs:
[link]
[link]
[link]
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And here's how I'm hoping the "arm" of the wing will look, only much bigger, of course (and only the wrist joint will move):
[link]
[link]
More technical info on the anatomy of wing movement (both real and mechanical):
[link]
[link]
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[link]
[link]
Anyways, I will probably have to tweak the design further as I actually start making these, and will continue to give updates here, so stay tuned if you're interested!
EDIT: ~lotusii was interested in making these for me, so I color-coded everything in the image to make it a little more understandable:
Yellow = Fake fur "feathers", stretch fabric and foam padding
Green = Plastic or wooden armature and wing base
Light blue = Wing bolts/screws, wire rods, tubing, pull-tab and hook for string, and other bits of hardware used on the armature
Orange-red = Non-pivoting barbs (aka feather shafts)
Blue-violet = Pivoting barbs (aka feather shafts)
Lavender-pink = String pulley for armature and knotted fishing line for feathers
(Here is a video of the mock-up she made, based on my design: [link] )
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Comments: 63
While it's an interesting design, I'm not sure that it would work that well on a costume - mainly because of how much weight that it would end up being.
You really don't want to use wood, because that will really be heavy. Plastic might be better, but even that is not going to be 'featherlight'. Add to that various gromets, pivots, etc... And then the fabric that you're talking about for the feathers; velvet is not a very lightweight fabric. Then with foam too - that's still more weight.
With the wings that I made for Morse, they're relatively simple, as lightweight as I could make them, and they -still- weigh my arms down. The fabric is something called "silkessence", which is about the lightest that I could find, and rather than foam on the inside I used some 'shirt stiffener' to give a little more rigidity to each feather.
You need to remember when planning this that the weight of it all should definitely be a factor you must consider. After all, that weight is going to be right there pulling down on your back for the entire time that you have that apparatus on you.
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*nods to all your tips* I'm leaning toward plastic (Wonderflex, to be precise, since I have a huge roll of it) over bent aluminum rods, with only the pivoting wrist joint (that the primaries are attached to) be made of wood (maybe balsa). The base can be made of balsa, or plastic and foam. For the feathers, I was going to go with the thinnest, lightest foam I could find that was still sturdy (Fun Foam, or something similar), and either coat them with a sheer velveteen stretch fabric or even spray "flocking" on them...Will just have to experiment to see what works best, but I do want them to be white, soft and fuzzy. I can hold a lot of weight in backpack form on my back, and I'll only be wearing these wings for 30 mins tops at a time, so I'm not too unduly worried, but I definitely do plan to try to keep things as light as possible.
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Is a fascinating project.
I tried making a winged costume years ago; is a lot of work if you don't want to cheat and do a bat with clothe/plastic film wings.
I'd be careful with using elastic thread or rubber bands and opt for using small metal springs located in the design somewhere. Elastic and smaller rubber bands have a distressing habit of breaking at worst possible times.
You also might consider use of Bell Crank, to help offset weight of the wings when they're fully extended and not passing weight directly thru the back harness.
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The elastic I was talking about is the sturdy cloth kind they use in waistbands on clothing; it puts up with a lot of stretching, but I may still go with nylon twine or something...not sure yet. And yes, I have thought of having a crank, something like window blinds use, but I fear the design may get too complicated for me then. But at least I plan to add that little hook shown on the drawing onto my belt or something (on each side), so I can at least attach the pull tabs there, and have the wings stay open whilst freeing both of my hands.
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A Bell Crank is an ingenious lever/fulcrum used in bicycles a lot - springs or bungie could attach to it.
Afraid I cann't describe how it works too well, you could do a fast web search or ask about it at a cycle store - most modern racing bikes have at least one. Was invented by Alexander Graham Bell(amongst all the other stuff he did).
Glad your doing models, is best way to see how everything has to fit together, also gives a better idea of how much it'll weigh.
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Oh god, now I want to get back to work on my foxbat suit and now I want to make wings for it @.@
How will the wings attach to your back ?
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P.S. And if you're making a bat, you might want to try this design, covered in fabric:
[link]
[link]
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Hmmm, that is interesting, but I don't really like the HUEG harness of doom, or the fact that they move with the arms. It's a neat idea for making wingarms though, hmmmm... *plots*
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Yeah, the harness is massive, but that could be tweaked...And here is another bat-wing design (scroll down for pics): [link]
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Oh, wow, that's really awesome! Thank you so much! <3 <3 <3
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Here is an idea of how they will attach: [link]
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