Micro-Weapons

Popular Mechanics showcases four small weapons: the Spike missile, the SDB (Small Diameter Bomb), the MALD and the Lightweight 25.

The idea is to be able to strike more accurately and carry more ammo. Finesse over brute force.

Status

Sorry about the slow updates. I’m trying to finish the Warrior models for my Tyranid fleet. It’s slow going — lots of greenstuff work. Pictures coming this weekend, for real this time.

Building Excesses

Check out this page on Dubai’s architecture. Very impressive. Even more impressive is the fact that it’s been paid for by us, the oil consumers, designed by North American and European firms, and built through the sweat and labor of tens of thousands of African and Asian workers. Make of that what you will.

More G.I. Joe

Not entirely sold yet, but I’m willing to wait and see. We might yet be surprised. Check out more characters from the upcoming movie.

Pilot's Wings

This is wicked cool: a small wireless camera that fits into an R/C plane, and matching VR goggles. I’ve blogged about a similar homemade set-up a while back, but this is a commercial product. $550 and you can strap it to any remote vehicle you have, plane, car, even model trains.

Seeing the video and watching the plane fly in formation with another model, I could only imagine the mock dogfights you can do with this…

Littoral Combat Ship

Take a look at the U.S.S. Independence, the Navy’s newest ship. It’s fast, versatile (check out the modular equipment bays!) and its triple hull design allows it to sail close to shore. Very futuristic appearance, too — I could swear I had ships like these in Sid Meir’s Alpha Centauri game.

Macross Frontier

I briefly mentionned the series before, but Macross Frontier is exceeding all my already high expectations. It’s both a sequel and a remake of the original Macross, and it’s got all the right elements: love triangles, kickass music, planes that turn into giant robots, swarms of missiles, Kawamori mecha designs, ultra-high production values…

I’m up to episode 5 and I can’t wait for next weekend’s episode 6. Very highly recommended if you aren’t following it already.

Iron Man

Just came back from the movie. I need a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke. Yes, it was that good — if you’re into mecha, which I obviously am. It’s 126 minutes of robotics/gadgets porn, with tons of details and very good characters.

There’s really no reason we can’t get good powered armor or mecha movies anymore. Forget that old “but you can’t see the actor’s faaace!” whine, John Favreau found a way. So I want — nay, I demand! — movies or TV series of Starship Troopers (for real this time), Forever War, Armor and so on.

When (not if) you go see the movie, stay until the end of the credits. I mean it. It’s your… ultimate goal.

Ironhide

Can someone explain to me why neither Hasbro nor Takara has been shoving bucketfuls of money to this guy to get him on the Transformers toy design team?

The Buried Cyborg Army

Of course, Cold Storage: East Germany’s Buried Cyborg Army will probably turn out to be a total B-movie. But the concept sounds pretty fun, if not extremely original. Bonus for using Commie Iron Ivans instead of the predictable (and overdone) Nazi Ubermench.

Computerized Combat Glove

No, it’s not a powerfist-like weapon. Rather, it’s a computer interface built into a combat glove, to let soldiers use sensors and display without having to deal with a keyboard or mouse.

Forest Fire Prevention Robot

Now that is an awesome scratchbuilt model of a futuristic mecha-sized robot. Be sure to check all seventeen pictures!

BotCon 2008

The official Transformers convention took place this weekend. As usual, Hasbro showcased some of this year’s new toys. The Animated line continues to amaze me with its clever engineering and faithful designs. The Classic line isn’t bad either — we would have killed for those toys back in the 80s!

Carnival of Space 51

It’s been a while since I’ve linked to the Carnival of Space. They’re up to issue 51, collecting space-related articles and posts from across the Blogosphere.

Recycled 'Bot

This guy built a 21-foot tall robot out of old styrofoam containers. Looks pretty neat!

A Brief History of the Exoskeleton

Popular Science has done a feature on the history of the exoskeleton concept.

It’s strange that they didn’t include Starship Troopers, though. I think powered armors were also featured in Lensman, but I’m not 100% sure.

DO WANT

Check out the Atom. It’s a kit car that weds an ultra-light tube frame with an Honda Civic turbocompressed engine. 500 kg mass + 300 horsepowers = a lot of zoom.

Of course, you have to go to a racetrack to be able to really feel the car’s performances, and forget about using it in the Canadian winters, but… it looks nimble just sitting there.