My Christmas Blitz Build - walking Strandbeest Completed

[arfa1983]

The instructions say 1.5 hours to build it… I’m skeptical.

 

I’m not sure what the plastic is actually. I do want to paint it a single colour to give it a more finished look. The “real” ones appear to be almost the same colour as the plastic, a pale yellow.

 

It’s something completely different! I think it’s been in my stash for about 10 years. A pressie from my brother in law.

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Edited December 26, 2021 by arfa1983

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Cor!  A strandbeest!   

[Jinxman]

That looks very interesting - looking forward to seeing it come together.

[JOCKNEY]

Looks amazing,  I'm in 

 

cheers Pat 

[arfa1983]

Well. That was quick. It's literally going to be only a single post! But it was fun, something different, and it actually does something! Hopefully the gif works.

 

So this is what you get in the box

 

And we start at 12:24 local time

 

First assemble the creepy legs.

 

 

 

 

 

There is no glue required for this. All parts are purposely moving so the final beest can walk. I also Did not paint it as the plastic is not polystyrene and is functionally smooth to allow the parts to move. Plus I was lazy to paint it.

 

Then we move on to assembling the frame and crankshaft with the legs. Two identical halves are built before joining.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately the white rubber band in the kit broke. Thankfully I had some spring onions in the fridge with a suitable band on them!

 

At this point the legs were flailing about and falling apart. I then realised I had left off some parts. Thankfully they were very simple to fit without pulling it all apart!

 

 

At this point I deviated from the instructions which said to use the included double sided tape to attach the windmill blades. Enter superglue and clamps! 

 

 

While this was drying, I finished the rest of the assembly with the cogs and stoppers.

 

And then.... at 14:10 local time we are done! Hardly a marathon!

 

 

If you use a book as a fan on the blades it walks very well and very creepily! But I don't think this gif works! 

If anyone knows how I can upload a gif to show it walking let me know!

[arfa1983]

 

Edited December 26, 2021 by arfa1983

[RaceAddict]

That's seriously neat!

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday, that is weird! 😁 So it walks sideways, like a crab? Actually it's quite interesting, I couldn't work it out from the box art. Put a tray on top and it could be quite a drinks server. 🙂 Regards, Jeff.

[bianfuxia]

I just showed this to my kid and she said, "Cooooool! But freaky!"

 

Nice work on a very weird kit!

 

[Mig Eater]

Nice, I received this kit as present a few years ago too, wasn't quite sure what to do with it so its been stuffed at the back of my stash since then. Looks like it's a pretty simple but interesting build so I might dig it out sometime.

[arfa1983]

11 hours ago, bianfuxia said:

I just showed this to my kid and she said, "Cooooool! But freaky!"

 

Nice work on a very weird kit!

 

My son calls it a skeleton windmill 

[arfa1983]

4 hours ago, Mig Eater said:

Nice, I received this kit as present a few years ago too, wasn't quite sure what to do with it so its been stuffed at the back of my stash since then. Looks like it's a pretty simple but interesting build so I might dig it out sometime.

Yeah, it’s pretty easy as you can see. I thought it would take much longer than it did. Now it’s built though I’m not sure what to do with it. Maybe I’ll release it down on the beach so it can roam to its heart’s content.

[Jinxman]

1 hour ago, arfa1983 said:

Yeah, it’s pretty easy as you can see. I thought it would take much longer than it did. Now it’s built though I’m not sure what to do with it. Maybe I’ll release it down on the beach so it can roam to its heart’s content.

It looks like the kind of thing that could get out of control, and we would have to call International Rescue!

[Natter]

I wonder how our cats would react to this if it strode across the kitchen floor? Mind you, unless it feeds them they probably wouldn't be interested! As has been said, coooool, but very freaky.

[Natter]

This fascinated me so much I looked up Theo Jansen, and found some videos of his Strandbeests on YouTube. Absolutely amazing. Britmodeller GBs: amusing, challenging and even educational.