Finally-The Zerby Derby airs on television!

First up, I thought I would post the link to Zerby Derby that is airing on TVO kids finally!

http://www.tvokids.com/shows/zerbyderby

It's definitely for little kids, but I think I'm a little addicted to it! This show would have been something that would have inspired me as a kid to get out and play! It would be great for this show to go global I think, as it has so much appeal. I wish the out-takes at the end were longer!
The message is wholesome and wonderful:"Answers are everywhere, try, try again" And it's a little refreshing to see something on television that's done entirely in camera, with no computer graphics!

But meanwhile, back in the shop........................

I've got John Anderson in working on the show build again. He was a huge help on the build last year. I like the fact that I can put a truck chassis in front of him, discuss what needs to be done, then in a short while I get a fully nested file, with all the parts, ready for Aspire and our Techno to produce. Saweet!

John's progress on the truck was pretty quick today. This is the robotic arm truck. The arm is swap-able for this "solar charging station" back-pack.

The head of the truck gets the same vacuum formed piece as the fire truck got last year. We didn't make the mold, but it fits the bill perfectly.

By the end of the day today, John had it pretty much built. We still have to add the LED charging status bars, and the "accessory plug" outlet. I think he's going to wire it up tomorrow.

The ferry boat got the decks and railings all cut out. I went with brushed aluminum Dibond for the substrate. The railing posts are 4" 1/4-20 carriage bolts, and they're close enough together that if the cars perch up on the railing, they wont bend it out of shape at all.

The ramp was a little bit tougher then I thought it was originally going to be. By the time the aluminum stiffeners got in, it was starting to get heavier then I had originally designed the sliders to handle. So it had to get re-worked with bearings and new guides. This of course added more space between the ramp and the deck, so it then needed a secondary ramp to bridge the gap. The good news is the secondary ramp folds down, cleaning up the front of the boat when the main ramp is fully retracted into the hull.

The head also got cut and assembled. This will have the animatronic eyes, as well as a servo to rotate the upper portion left and right.

The ramps a little steep right now, as the angle assumes the water level would be higher than the shoreline, but it should be perfect with the boat in the water. Things are progressing quite well now, and I'm super stoked about the progress were making. Everyone's buzzing around and getting stuff done!
8)
JWO