Starside Armory

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Starside Armory

Starside Armory creates equipment for space crew. Sometimes the surplus makes its way to Earth. T See www.starsidearmory.com for more information. Thanks!

01/31/2024

Orders are fully refundable in the event of jettison, confiscation, piracy, explosion, or any other circumstance in which it becomes undeliverable.

01/29/2024

Just vibin in the shop. I haven't posted much because I've been working on new or secret projects that all have special release plans.

01/18/2024

I made a few Cyberpunk 2077 themed MoonGrips for a certain VIP client. Fans might even see them in the wild. Should I make a production run too?

01/12/2024

Starside Armory will again be vending at this year! I've greatly expanded my catalog since the last event, which I'll summarize later. Even more to come as I enter Neo crunch time - a few new gadgets are in the works, I'll take a couple more steps forward on my personal gear, and I have some decor lined up to add to the neon soaked streets.

Until then, behold this assortment of Neotropolis scenes and characters!

📷: .lens.cap

12/20/2023

Custom S8 Light Collar for , who wanted one with a pink frame. The bubblegum color reminded me of a cherished Playstation Magazine cover by featuring Arial Tetsuo, the prodigal anti-grav pilot for Auricom racing team (seen here in a Feisar suit, likely to psych out her fans) from the Wipeout videogame series. Arial was also featured in the music video for Atom Bomb by Fluke, which made me fall in love with techno music and the cyberpunk aesthetic back in '96 (see video link in story). That vid was extremely influential to my tastes and I'm surprised it took me this long to make an homage.

Anyway, these photos are a good example of how all the panels can be reversed, mixed, and matched to customize your LCS8 as often as you want. I'll also be working on a few more custom builds leading up to Neotropolis. This one was a special collab and is/was not for sale.

12/19/2023

This concludes the assorted old work photos.

12/18/2023

[2013] This Fusion Pistol from Marathon 2 is the first prop I made with Starside Armory in mind. This was essentially my first woodworking and silicone mold/resin cast project. I had been consuming Bill Doran and Shawn Thorsson tutorials, and felt pretty confident that I knew enough to get started making props myself. I started with this to see if I was ready to tackle the more complex MIDA Multitool. It's constructed with layered MDF, which was cut out with a scroll saw and shaped with hand files. The handle looks like it might be sculpted with Apoxie Sculpt or something like that. The painted one is a cast made with SmoothOn products, of which I only made one and later gave away at a convention.

It's pretty simple and I didn't add all of the finishing touches, but it was a good starter project. The next morning I quit my job and filed my business registration! Give or take some years

12/15/2023

[2014] Stealthish 2012 Zero DS electric motorcycle. This early model was pretty limited in power, range, and component quality, but it was all electric!! I couldn't resist all the novelties - the silent drive, charging it with solar, and the fact that it had been imported from CA to HI. The silver frame was horrendous though, so I disassembled it as far as I was willing to bother and painted it with something black. I hope it wasn't PlastiDip, but I bet it was. I struggled to justify painting that nice anodized wheel finish, but it had to be all black.

This thing was neat, but something in the back was squealing like crazy at low speeds, which was especially annoying because it was the only noise it made. I thought it was the rear wheel, so I disassembled and rebuilt it with new bearings. It was not that. After a few dead battery strandings and comparing it to my superb WR250X daily rider, I decided to sell it. In a desperate attempt to get rid of the squeal, I squirted some silicone l**e on the rear sprocket the day that someone was coming to look at it. That fixed the issue. I thought I had already tried that okay?!

12/14/2023

[2014] My old Jurassic Park Motor Pool dual sport (08 Yamaha WR250X) from back when I lived on Earth. If you ordered a Snake Arm prop from me, it was delivered to the post office on the back of this bike.

It had a FMF PowerBomb exhaust, somewhat aggressive gearing, Shinko 244 tires, and lots of armor. Nothing too crazy performance-wise, as this was my daily rider and casual weekend offroader. Nothing too crafty about it either - I wanted to build a crash bar out of PVC to protect the light, but the first one looked stupid and I didn't need it.

12/13/2023

[2015] Low level Destiny Warlock, my first costume build under Starside Armory. I didn't weather it because I didn't know how back then. I used to craft in EVA foam, but man, the sealing with PVA steps took forever. Is there a better way these days?

12/12/2023

[2015] Destiny heavy ammo snack pack. I made this "in the field" at my parent's house out of acrylic scraps with a table saw and superglue. I didn't have a chance of finishing the MIDA Multitool before WonderCon '15, so this is what I carried around instead. I filled it with a CapriSun and a bunch of purple StarBursts. I hope whoever bought this on Etsy enjoyed the amazing fruity smell it came with.

12/11/2023

[2015] MIDA Multitool from Destiny. First large scratch build/silicone mold/resin casting project. Also... the last big resin project. I had a lot of fun building the master out of MDF, sintra, and an airsoft P90 (okay it was almost a scratch build). The front section was removable so that I could theoretically build different fronts, like Bad Juju, as all Scout Rifle lower receivers were basically the same. It had a magnetic magazine, flashlight, LED ammo counter, flip-out screen thing, and springloaded trigger. Made mostly with a scroll saw, drill press, router, and belt sander. Routing out the foregrip grooves was especially dicey - the process and tool were new to me, I eyeballed the spacing and length of each groove, and any mistake would have been a big setback. Also I can't recommend using a drill press as a lathe (unless you don't have a lathe). The whole thing was ambitious considering how few serious prop projects I had under my belt.

While the resin casts came out well and it all went together as planned, I sure did hate the process. The molds worked well enough at first, but I did not have enough experience with molds of that size. Resin leaking into the fiberglass mother mold made each subsequent cast harder and leakier. I constantly had to dremel resin out of the molds and replace the nuts and bolts that were coated in resin. At one point a huge sp***ge of resin got all over my bare arm (this was done in tropical heat, long sleeves were only a good idea in hindsight). Over seven years later, that spot on my arm still gets itchy around resin fumes. This is where I learned how resin ruins everything it touches.

Respect to those who work with urethane resins on the regular, because this project turned me off from it big time. I still continued to use resin and silicone in future projects, but I still haven't built another fiberglass mothermold. I know, I can learn better techniques and buy some helpful equipment, but I'm not over the discomfort of hot urethane and fiberglass dust sticking to my sweaty skin. Too much trash too.

12/09/2023

[2015] Honda Ruckus. I didn't do anything to it other than put the sticker on the fender, but I really liked that. It was extremely slow though

12/08/2023

[2015] Venom Snake's arm costume piece. I've shared this plenty before, but some of these were lost in the archives.

1: First build; paint detail was subpar but alas this is the photo that got shared by a few game publications and helped it be a popular item (thanks!)
2: Master build; 3mm sintra
3: Resin cast DIY kit
4: Alternate arms getting painted up, among the last of the finished builds
5: Dexterity test on first finished build
6: Zapping a Russian soldier
7: These icons are such good designs
8: Customer cosplay by
9: Customer cosplay by k-foto
10: Customer cosplay by [Not Sure, sorry!] and (who I would meet much later at Neotropolis!)

12/07/2023

[2015] MGSV Fulton Device. This was a really fun prop. It was an interactive photobooth at Amazing Hawaii Comic Con '15. Most people had no idea what the heck was going on, but the MGS fans loved it. It was such a fun way to photo costumes, talk about Metal Gear, and build my private army. For that reason it remains my favorite con booth experience, and not having to sell anything helped a lot too.

Fulton device made from a yoga ball, rope, a plastic cup, and other assorted trash. The stand is a tomato plant exoskeleton, a PVC pipe, and an umbrella stand.

12/06/2023

[2016] Rick and Morty portal gun. The portal juice chamber is a travel shampoo bottle with hair gel and a cotton ball inside. To make it I pulled and twirled little tendrils out of the cotton ball, then stuffed it in the bottle full of hair gel. Then I used a paperclip to position the tendrils and further pull at the cotton strands. The gel did its job and kept everything suspended. The cotton ball was dyed yellow first to try to get that accurate coloring, but the green LED and green gel kind of overpower it. The bottle cap was used to mount it to the body, along with generous hot glue.

The body was scratch built in sintra with a ping pong ball at the end of the handle. To this day I occasionally regret being lazy with that ping pong ball instead of just sculpting the accurate, more oblong handle shape. It was molded in a two part silicone mold and cast in urethane resin. I then drilled a channel through the handle for the switch and wiring, and wired up four green LEDs to the switch and a 9V battery. The front panel is thin frosted plastic from a large tupperware, with a sticker on the front. That part could have used more engineering.

First photo is with my friends and , and the others are unknown customers. So sorry! It's been a while, and these days I make sure to save such photos with credit in the filename. I guess I don't have build photos. Also I bet the cropping will be a mess, ah well

12/05/2023

[2016] My bedroom/workshop around the time I began planning to move. I really liked this cozy little workspace (there's a private bathroom through that door, something I really wish my current shop had). Obviously space was an issue, and it did smell a little like silicone. Which is a much better smell than resin.

Looking back on the miscellaneous projects, tools, and fish tanks is super nostalgic. If you have a workspace you're passionate about- no matter how humble - make sure to periodically record these moments in time!

12/04/2023

[2016] MGSV D-Walker, random WIP photos. In pic 2 you can see the little plastic tabs I embedded in the foam to ziptie the foam panels to the PVC frame. The head is mostly sintra and a functioning GoPro. Picture 4 is the head rotation linkage made from aluminum scrap. The controls area is all e-waste and motorcycle parts. The arm is my favorite part because I really like Huey's design - the parallel frame/panels with standoffs sandwiched between them is a really cool, simple way to make some 2D parts into a 3D assembly, and it affords a ton of room to mount further components.

I improvised every step of this build with stuff I had collected over the years, which makes you feel pretty smart

12/02/2023

[2019] Nero's gauntlet from Devil May Cry. This was my first commission in the new shop after a 3 year hiatus, and one of my first 3D printed projects (file provided by client). It's mounted on a right hand glove, so I used the left glove to finish one last unassembled Snake Arm set.

12/01/2023

New item available - Shiny Knife DIY kits! This is an entry-level electronics project that guides you through building your own prop LED knife at half the cost. Whether you're new or a solder jockey, electronics work doesn't get much easier than this. All you need is a soldering iron+solder, CA glue, and a 2.5mm hex wrench.

Choose almost any blade shape + engraving combination and LED colors. See the listing for more info and a build video. Link in profile.

11/30/2023

[2019] First "Enforcer" jacket build. I was attempting to enter the Cyberpunk 2077 cosplay contest, except I was much more interested in making an Arasaka version of the Crystal Jock/Samurai jacket. This led to me losing interest in cosplay and just making my own designs. It was much more fun to run wild with the cyberpunk inspiration. Is it derivative? Sure, that's where I started, but I'm now on version 8 of this light collar design.

I am a little ashamed to admit that the raised square corners on the shoulder armor were initially an accident. They're a result of the faux leather wrap folded over itself on the EVA foam pads. I was on a roll and I had already applied contact cement all over, so I just continued on and liked the look. I later modeled these pauldrons for printing and left the corner details.

At one point I added some teeth to the shoulder, but it didn't really fit the corpo vibe. More a Maelstrom thing. Come to think of it, I never did add any white detail to the shoulders or most of the jacket. I meant to, but I don't really get out and slice up the streets much these days

11/29/2023

[2019] A little Cyberpunk 2077 scene some friends and I put together for the cosplay contest. Shots are by

I was attempting to get various angles of the jacket along with the Johnny Silverhand hologram. This proved very difficult to shoot effectively (especially with the dimly lit set), and I'm so grateful to my friends for putting up with the conditions. I didn't know much about lighting or angles back then. I still don't, but I didn't back then, either

11/28/2023

[2020] Quick concept sketches on the first S2 Light Collar System prototype. I didn't use either of the ideas exactly - the body shape of the feathery sketch resurfaced in the S5 Viper, and the second pic influenced the design for the S2 Compiler. Both the feather and antenna addons could be fun to revisit for the S8.

This design took the LED construction from the Enforcer collar and stripped it down to the bare minimum, as the Enforcer was very bulky. Some exterior panels covered up the electronics, which were housed in the collar to make installation simpler (except the battery).

11/27/2023

[2020] Some variants of Light Collar System series 2 (Compiler). I don't think I shared this version with purple microfilm stuffed in the LED channel. Those are some kind of financial records from a major Japanese electronics company from the early 90's, so it's authentic ally cyberpunk (you'll have to trust me though since most of it is illegible to the naked eye). I didn't sell this test, I was just messing around with cutting the film in a vinyl plotter. I should use that method for something else...

The compiler collar was too labor intensive to keep producing. In later versions I reduced the need for sanding, and made it more flexible.

Last pic is just a WIP of one of the last compiler builds. Thought it was a neat pic but didn't warrant its own post.

11/26/2023

[2022] Mysterious box possessing unknowable interdimensional properties. This was a commissioned prop for a video by .dat.flo (Link in story), which is also the origin of the Gogul visor product that I am wearing. My silly video here was a quick demonstration of the lights and lid opening.

It's made from aluminum square tube riveted together with 3D printed brackets. The exterior panels are from computer cases, miscellaneous tools, and a non-functional PS3. All of the the parts are upcycled from my stockpile to keep it under budget and on-theme as a mad scientist's invention. It had a little bit more detail at one point, but I had to trim some metal parts to keep the weight down. Photos excluded per Facebook's limitation on mixed media; see Instagram for a few WIP photos.

11/26/2023

11/25/2023

[2020] I built this neck thingy in one night for Mike Diva's Run the Jewels Cyberpunk 2077 video (along with the guns my brother and I supplied). It's constructed from vinyl-wrapped sintra, and each piece is connected to a segmented spine with solid copper wire so that it's flexible and poseable.

This was an extra credit project that they hadn't commissioned - they just inquired about it at the very end of the time window, and I figured that I could build something pretty quickly, so I just took a shot at it for fun. It was incredibly difficult to wear and I'm not sure how durable it was, so I'm sure it was not worth bothering with on set. Oh well!

11/24/2023

[2020] Custom jacket for a DJ. I never shared it because I didn't want to give it away before his reveal, but I never heard from him again so here you go.

This was a fairly straightforward adaptation of the S2 light collar, except it's stripped down to just the LED structure and installed directly on the collar of a motorcycle jacket. The light coming out of the front ends are lasers! These could be toggled, or triggered by a switch hidden in the sleeve. I bet it looks cool in a foggy venue. The concept was his design, just using my tech.

The install was specific and finnicky, and coupled with the NDA-lite status, I chose to not reproduce this design.

11/23/2023

[2021] Shiny Knife Mk3 prototype. This big chonker was closer to a machete than a knife. I was developing the edge-lit acrylic knife idea that I first built in 2010, but I went too crazy with the features.

The core feature (besides the edge-lit blade) was an intertially-activated switch. A 9V battery on a spring-loaded carriage would slide forward and activate a switch when the knife was swung (even though I prefer piercing over slashing). Amazingly, it actually worked! It also had an override trigger that could be locked in the on position, a feature which transferred to the Mk4. For some reason I also added a master power switch, complete with a sliding safety cover and indicator LED.

This project might be the most R&D on a product that I dropped almost entirely. I still think it's a cool design, but I started over with the Mk4 and focused on making that as slim and simple as possible. It turns out you can simulate the inertial trigger by just squeezing the Mk4's trigger with your palm as you slash, or even stab. That is easier to activate and much, much simpler.

11/22/2023

[2021] Shiny Knife Mk4 prototypes. I realized while writing this that the finger ring on the "rescue" utility knife is the origin of the ring, and every knife soon came with it because it was fun to spin.

Many people asked if the white one is a ruler knife. No, you silly gooses, it was a test of engraving power in relation to distance from the LEDs.

The very first batch of knives used painted acrylic because I couldn't explain why the knives would be clear. The painting was kind of wasteful and the clear knives looked better though, so I didn't continue that.

Last pic is a custom Demon Slayer knife I made for a customer late in 2021.

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https://www.starsidearmory.com/

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Videos

[2022] Mysterious box possessing unknowable interdimensional properties. This was a commissioned prop for a video by @cuts.dat.flo (Link in story), which is also the origin of the Gogul visor product that I am wearing. My silly video here was a quick demonstration of the lights and lid opening. It's made from aluminum square tube riveted together with 3D printed brackets. The exterior panels are from computer cases, miscellaneous tools, and a non-functional PS3. All of the the parts are upcycled from my stockpile to keep it under budget and on-theme as a mad scientist's invention. It had a little bit more detail at one point, but I had to trim some metal parts to keep the weight down. Photos excluded per Facebook's limitation on mixed media; see Instagram for a few WIP photos. #kitbash #originalprop #cyberpunk #cybervibe #pandorasbox #cutsdatflo #wip

@magnes_mac_tire and @yenwon_sf studying the blade @neotropolisevent I didn't have LED fidget spinning in mind when I designed the Shiny Knives, but it quickly became my favorite feature #neotropolis #cyberpunk #scifi #cybervibe #yenwon #shiny #ledart

Secrets abound @neotropolisevent #neotropolis #cyberpunk #secretbar

Laser Conversion-P90 feature demonstration. This video gives an overview of the main components of this space age update to a classic firearm. In space, bullets are even more expensive. #spacepunk #spacegat #futureweapons #scifi #scifiprops #airsoft #customairsoft #laser #pewpew #raygun #blaster #p90 #spacegats #conceptweapon #cyberpunk #goldeneye #perfectdark #district9 #titanfall #cyberpunk2077 #stargate