Animatronic dragon created in order to have a first approach to animatronics. This dragon is going to be taking care of its treasure and whenever it feels someone approaching, it will want to protect it, so that it won’t be stolen. For doing so it will open its wings, its mouth and it will change the color of its eyes to scare the possible thief.
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WITH THIS INSTRUCTABLE YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT:
- Making a two-piece plaster mold
- Creating figures with latex
- Some electronics with Arduino
- Creating a mechanism to make the dragon’s wings and mouth open a close
You don’t really need to make a dragon, you can apply these instructions to any kind of creature you want to create, your imagination is the limit!
YOU WILL NEED:
FOR THE MOLD AND THE LATEX DRAGON:
- Stick (20 cm)
- wood for the base (30 x 20 cm)
- Screw (to attach the stick to the board)
- Polystyrene balls
- Plaster type 3 (it provides excellent detail)
- Water
- Bowl (To mix the plaster with water)
- Acetate
- Tape
- Liquid Latex
- *Calcium chloride (Not mandatory)
- Wire
- Polymer clay
- 2 small glass balls (for the eyes)
- Paint for latex (I found it in Colombia as paint for balloons)
- Fabric Clothes
- Rubber glue (you can use contact cement)
- Vaseline
- Rope
FOR THE MECHANISM:
- Two folding umbrella arms
- A piece of acrylic (10 x 10 cm)
- Wire
- 2 small metal sheets (like 1,5 x 5 cm, for making the jaws)
- A plastic tube (similar to a Straw, but stronger)
FOR THE ELECTRONICS:
- Arduino UNO
- Servomotor SG-
- Red LED
- Resistor 220 Ω
- Motion detector hc-sr501
- Cables
FOR THE BASE AND TREASURE:
- Old coins
- Beads
- Small Trunk (Approx. 12 x 9 x 11 cm)
- Wood sheet (For using as a base of our animatronic)
- Terracotta color paints
It would be really difficult to make just one mold for the whole dragon, so if your creature has complex parts on the design it is better you create it separated and mold them on their own, as I did with the legs and tail.
1. Follow the same instructions from “Step 1”, but this time creating 2 legs and a tail. This time the wood for the base and the stick are not needed.
You only need to sculpt 2 legs and after creating the molds you can use them twice for creating the 4 latex-legs.
1. Carefully add pieces of acetate through the center of the dragon, joining these together with tape. (This will help us to divide the mold into two parts)
2. Mix the plaster with water and began to apply it to one side of the dragon. (Several layers must be applied)
3. Everything is covered in plaster except (in the lower part) a hole that is left, through which we will pour the latex.
4. The plaster should cover part of the acetate.
5. Let it dry very well.
6. The pieces of acetate are removed.
7. Apply Vaseline on the plaster so that half of the mold is not stuck to the other half.
8. Start to apply plaster as we did with the first half part.
9. Let it dry.
10. Open the mold and clean the clay.
1. Strap both parts of the mold together with the lace.
2. Pour a little unthickened liquid latex into the mold then swish it all around the mold and leave it until set, then repeat for at least 5 times if not more.
3. * You can add some calcium chloride diluted in water (16 oz water – 1 spoon calcium chloride) After the 5 previous layers, pour some of it in to the mold and swish it all around, then you can alternate 2 o 3 layers more – 1 made of latex – 1 made of calcium chloride.
* (This is not a needed step, you can use just latex, but if you use calcium chloride it will help you to obtain thicker latex layers, therefore making faster the process.)
4. Let it dry for at least 48 hours and then open the mold.
5. Cut off excess material.
6. Repeat the same process with the legs and the tail (Remember to make 4 legs).
1. To add details to the dragon such as some horns and nails, create basic shapes with wire and attach them to the dragon’s body.
2. Cover them with polymer clay and create the shapes you want.
3. To join the legs and the tail, holes are made in the body of the dragon in which the legs and tail enter (This can be done with scissors). Also, open the holes for its mouth and eyes.
4. Insert the legs and the tail into the corresponding holes. Apply glue from the inside (Could be Contact Cement. I used one called “Boxer”, I bought it in Colombia).
(Don’t worry too much, Read the steps and then watch the video in the next step, it will help you understand it all better)
1. Laser cut the base for the mechanism. (pdf attached)
2. Connect the servomotor to the base with screws.
3. Attach the plastic tube to the base (possibly with wire).
4. MANDIBLE MECHANISM the jaws are created giving a U shape to the metal sheets.
The upper jaw is fixed to the tube so that it doesn’t move. (It is not necessary to add the teeth in this step; I took the photo when I had already added them, but we will see this step later.)
5. The lower jaw joins the upper jaw with shafts that allow it to move.
6. The lower jaw is attached to the servo motor with a wire to control its movement.
7. Two umbrella arms are attached to the base of the mechanism (possibly with wire).
8. They are tied with wire on the back in the points that make them open and close and are joined to another wire in the vertical perforation that has the base.
9. This last wire is attached to the servo to control the movement of the wings.
1. Place the mechanism of the wings on fabric.
2. Draw the outline.
3. Leave a larger space marked in those parts where the mechanism bents.
4. Draw the desired shapes of the wings from the basic lines.
5. It is necessary to create a bag with the shape of the mechanism of the wings that covers the mechanism when they are covered with latex, otherwise, the mechanism will be latex covered and will not be able to move.
6. For this, I cut two plastic bags with the form marked in red and I joined them with tape where the yellow dotted line is seen in the image, creating a bag for the mechanism.
7. The bag created to cover the mechanism is covered with cloth and the wing is sewn.
8. The mechanism is inserted into the bag/wing.
9. The sticks that I put to create the wing divisions are not necessary. I noticed that when the dragon was finished, and I took them off.
The same steps are repeated with the other wing.
10. The mechanism of the wings should already be attached to the base of mechanisms as we saw in previous steps.
11. We prove that the wings can be closed.
12. And open again.
If necessary, we make adjustments.
(Don’t worry about the text after the two slashes // it won’t affect the code, it is there just to explain you what are we doing in every line of the code, if you prefer, you can delete that part and just leave the code in bold)
Upload the code:
#include //we declare the pins we are going to use
Servo myservo; // create servo object to control a servo
int analogPin = A5; //Analogic A5 for the sensor
int ledPin = 10; //Digital 10 for the LED
int val = 0; // variable to store the servo position
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Animatronics Dragon.
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(); // initialize serial communication at bits per second
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); //declare pin 10 to be an output
pinMode(analogPin, INPUT); //declare pin A5 to be an input
myservo.attach(9); // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object
}
void loop()
{
val = analogRead(analogPin); // read the input on analog pin
if(val > 100) // if the value is more than 100 then:
{
Serial.println(val);
digitalWrite(ledPin,HIGH); // Turns on the LED
myservo.write(5); // sets the servo position according to the number in the brackets, you should change the number inside the brackets according to the mechanism’s movement. Try this number first and then try changing it to other numbers, you will find the best for your dragon.
delay(15); // delay in between reads for stability
}
else //if the value is less than 100 then:
{
Serial.println(val);
digitalWrite(ledPin,LOW); // Turns off the LED
myservo.write(175); // sets the servo position according to the number in the brackets, you should change the number inside the brackets according to the mechanism’s movement. Try this number first and then try changing it to other numbers, you will find the best for your dragon.
}
}
It's a good year to be a How to Train Your Dragon fan, wouldn't you agree?
In addition to the live-action reimagining swooping into theaters this summer from original co-director Dean DeBlois, fans can also live out their own scaly, winged, and fire-breathing dreams at the Isle of Berk land opening at Universal Orlando next month as part of the hotly-anticipated new Epic Universe park. How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk joins Celestial Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, SUPER NINTENDO WORLD and Dark Universe as five new, worlds that will fully immerse visitors who go to Epic Universe.
RELATED: Everything to Know About Epic Universe's How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk
NBC Insider recently attended a press preview event that shed more light on the DreamWorks-inspired experience, which brings the world of dragons and Vikings into the realm of flesh and blood. As the portal leading into the Isle of Berk reads, the world has dragons and you and your friends and family get to not only see them but interact with them.
Head below to learn what we discovered before you plan your trip to Universal Epic Universe.
The Epic Universe recreation of Berk features a plethora of animatronic dragons and stationary dragon statues. After all, this is a place where Viking warriors live in harmony with the once-feared beasts of the sky. Thanks to Hiccup proving each of these beasts can be trained, travelers to the Isle of Berk will be able to interact with tons of dragons that are excited to meet you.
The main draw is a meet-and-greet experience with the most famous beast of them all, Toothless the Night Fury, whose animatronic self reacts in real-time to visitors and even smiles for photographs. Don't be afraid, Toothless' rider, Hiccup, will be on hand to walk you through proper dragon protocol. It's truly a wonder to approach a full-sized Toothless and have him not only look right at you but respond to your touch and decide he likes you.
And once you've tamed the Night Fury, be sure to check out the The Untrainable Dragon live show, whose characters (like Astrid and Stormfly) will wander amongst the crowd outside once the performance is over, allowing you to interact with even more dragons than Toothless. Just be sure to avoid scratching under a dragons' chins at all costs. Hiccup himself informed us that it can make dragons fall asleep, leaving it up to the Viking rider to carry the incredibly heavy creatures back home. That's just one of the many things you'll learn about dragons when visiting the Isle of Berk and getting an up close look.
"The challenge for us is not just to bring those stories and the story of Hiccup and Astrid and that whole cast of characters to life, but also convey that emotion and do it through the artistry,” Steve Tatum, executive creative director of Universal’s Epic Universe, said in late . “So, we really looked at the art direction of it. Without getting too deep into our design process, what’s important for you to keep in mind is that we decided to enter that story at a certain point and it was really important for us and we call it How to Train Your Dragon 2.5 because over the course of that saga, dragons and Vikings come to coexist peacefully and so at that peak moment of harmony is when we enter the story.”
In addition to interacting with Dragons, you'll be able to go on rides and attractions designed to help you and your party immerse yourself in the world of the films and literally take flight alongside some of your favorite characters with the Hiccups Wing Gliders ride and the Dragon Racer's Rally. Meanwhile, you can learn to live in harmony with the dragons even further by learning to put out their fires on Fyre Drill, a water ride where Vikings can compete to out soak each other all in the name of dragon safety.
If you've ever wanted to live in the world of How to Train Your Dragon, it simply doesn't get any better than Epic Universe.
For more information, please visit Simulation Animals Supplier.