About Me

My photo
I make toys for kids who don't want to grow up. I'm on the lookout for new projects. If you're interested in commissioning me to build something ridiculous, shoot me an email.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Mortar Launcher Gnomes in Stock

For those of you who've been waiting for an opportunity to add some more firepower to your garden gnome squad, I've finally managed to get a handful of these guys painted up:
Mortar Gnome 4


Loading a round into the M120 Mortar Launcher, this little guy is ready to rain deadly fire on gophers and squirrels alike from a safely entrenched position behind your planter boxes or across the lawn: Mortar Gnome 3

You can pick one up at http://etsy.com/shop/thorssoli.  They sell pretty fast, so don't delay.

On the off chance that the mortar doesn't provide heavy enough fire support for your garden pest problems, I'm also working on a radio gnome so your squad can call in air strikes:
Untitled

More to come.  Stay tuned...

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Unseaworthy Vessel of the Week: Sun Cruise Resort and Yacht in South Korea

Back in 2006 I was sailing as 3rd Mate on board a hydrographic survey ship.  One afternoon we were cruising along the coast of South Korea when I came up to the pilothouse to take over as watch officer.  When it came time to get an appraisal of the shipping traffic in the area, I couldn't help but notice this particularly unsettling ship in the distance:

This is Sun Cruise Resort and Yacht, a hotel designed and built to look like some implausibly horrific maritime disaster.  We were in the area for a few days and I still couldn't help but be weirded out every time I turned around and saw this hotel which was clearly designed to look like something left behind by Godzilla.  It was just as bad at night:

Many folks might ask why someone would build such a thing.  Not me.  I figure it started with some absurdly wealthy South Korean going on a cruise and getting seasick.  Then they thought, "this would be great if only it would stop moving."  A few years later, there it is.  Problem solved.

If it was up to me, the next step would be setting it up with wheels so I could back it into downtown Seoul every month or two just to see how much destruction it could cause.  It's things like this that should make the world glad I'm not a billionaire.


If you get bored, check out their website for some fascinating Engrish.  Especially if you'd like to make reservations for a "romantic propose," so you can come to "the special resort for making your impressiver love confession."

Tell me that doesn't sound like a good time.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Ironman Costume Part 2: Making the Hard Parts

A while back I posted about making a Mark 3 Ironman helmet using my 3D printer named "Jarvis."  I'm very pleased with the finished piece, but being me I couldn't be satisfied to stop there.

Since I still had some amazingly detailed digital models for the rest of the suit, I decided it was time to go ahead and build it. 

Here's a "during" shot from that last post:



Of course, there's been an awful lot of progress since then:
Untitled

If you'd like to see more progress pics as well as a description of the process involved in making the rest of the armor, read on...