Building progress

I am so almost done building this thing. I just need to attach the door, paint the scene to go behind the door (and hot glue that bitch in there), put the grass on the platform, and put the dome on.

For the dome, I'm thinking of cutting some Styrofoam in half and putting it up there, but that also makes me a little sad because the rest of it looks pretty nice, I think, and Styrofoam might look shitty. Then again, I can perhaps cover it with something that disguises the fact that it's, you know, Styrofoam.

Here's a better look at the side so you can see the work done to the roof and the stairs. Pretty goddamn intricate, thank you very much:


















And finally, here's the back and what the inside wiring bits will look like. I hope:
The black circle on the platform represents the motion detector. That will hook into the Arduino, which is the black rectangle on the right.

I MAY have a light up at the top. If I have extra time. I'll probably maybe play the sound clips from my laptop? which can sit in the back? Because I might not be able to get the speakers to work? It's at least an alternative plan.

You won't be able to see the laptop, anyway, though, because it'll be tucked inside there. And it's not like I'll have to stand there to operate it. So it's not exactly a computer on a podium? Yes?

Breaking ground

This weekend, I went home so I could use my dad's power tools and get started on this thing. This is what resulted from about a day's work:













IF you can't TELL, I have a 24"x24" base, with a structure 8" deep by about 16" high and 26" inches wide.

It gets larger from bottom to top to a weird, caricatured effect.

Then, after a second trip to Lowe's (and I stupidly forgot my 10 percent off card), we achieved THIS number:














From the back, it looks like this. Of course, when it's finished, the support beams won't be so prominent.















Then, finally, this is what I intend for it to look like:

















There will be a roof and a dome (possibly made out of Styrofoam). Windows and other things for the most part will be painted, except for those that will be interacted with. Those I'm going to rig up with some sort of slide open mechanism. At least the windows. The door, you'll actually be able to open.

There will probably only be three openings to interact with.

I'm still working out the details of that, obviously, but I hope to use an Arduino board and some motion sensors and write code in Processing.

I've also decided there's not going to be a back. I'll probably stick my computer in there to run the program from, instead of loading it onto the chip. And then I can use my computer to relay the sound, also.

As far as figures, I'm not planning on doing anything too drastic. Probably some simple, Photoshopped image. Sanford's, for example, will just be him, perhaps when you open the front door of the Statehouse, making a press conference, and delivering a few golden soundbites from that press conference he gave back in June.

Then, one of the larger windows will be Joe Wilson, and the other window might be Andre Bauer. Or something.

So, yeah. That's where I am.