Painting the Power Generator. Building the Deathbot Armature

Over that past few days I have managed to finish painting the small hand cranked power generator and worked on the armature for the Deathbot robot. Right now it looks like the cable control system will work. I've had to replace some of the hinges with larger hinges and I had to replace all of the screws with longer screws so they will not just rip out of the wood. I am still working on piecing the armature together. I would like to get the armature completed so I can begin building the robot onto it. I think the Deathbot will look pretty good once it is complete. However, making everything work properly could be a problem. I have my fingers crossed.
I've painted the power generator with red primer, hunter green, flat black, burgundy, and yellow spray paint to give it that rusty, used, old look. I may tweek the paint job a little and add a few details such as peeling paint. I added the wires to the power generator before I painted it.

New Panasonic HD2 Writer software for Vista

Finally, after a few more attempts I heard from Panasonic about my HD Writer software problem. Their solution was that I must have inadvertently installed the upgrade for Vista before installing the original disk. Well... That didn't happen. The upgrade was installed after the origional disk 3 times and all three time the software would not work. Finally Panasonic decided to send me a copy of the new HD2 Writer software written for Vista. Hopefully that works.
I assume that I will receive the new software within a week.

Panasonic Customer Service SUCKS!!!

Okay, it has been two weeks since I sent Panasonic an email about not being able to get the HD Writer Ver1.0E for SD1 to work on my computer even with the Vista upgrade. After having everything wiped out on my computer I thought I would try reinstalling the program. It still doesn't work. I must say that Panasonic has some of the worst customer service I have ever encountered. Yet they send you a robot email stating that they will get back to you in a few days. I'm still waiting... and waiting .... and waiting.... Finally I sent them another email yesterday asking for a solution to the problem. I am now wondering if DirectX 10 is not compatible with the program. My advice is to NOT purchase a Panasonic AG-HSC1UP camcorder until Panasonic fixes the problem with the HD Writer program to make it work with Vista. I have become so frustrated with this product that I will probably never buy another Panasonic product again.
I must say that the camera is very nice. The software that comes with it is a piece of sh..!

Deathbot Armature Problem

Yesterday, I was nailing the Deathbot armature together and had one arm attached with hinges and was trying out the movement of the arm when it fell off. The screws came unscrewed from the hinges. The wood I used was pine and too soft to hold the weight of the arm. So today I went back to the do-it-yourself store and bought some spruce wood which seems to be a little bit harder than pine. I will have to recut the pieces that I had made from the pine wood and rescrew everything back together. The screws for the hinges are short too, so that makes me worried a little about how much weight they will hold.
I continued to make some props yesterday and today. I am constructing a small hand cranked power generator prop for Buggman's Trader's Post. I've used part of a cardboard carpet roll
cut to size and used masking tape to attach the top and bottom pieces. I've painted the hand crank for the generator and will be attaching it soon as well as some power cables to make it look
usable. The paint job for it will make it look old, rusty, and very used looking.
I have also painted the Cement City model, but still need to touch it up with some detailing.

Making teeth and other props

Just got the computer back from being fixed. I lost all of my data and am now starting to reinstall everything. As it turns out it wasn't Windows Vista that updated the video drivers. It was HP Updater that caused the driver problems I had.
The problem with the CD/DVD combo drive was caused by the software that came with the Panasonic AG-HSC1UP camcorder. It was Windows XP software with a Vista upgrade that I had to download to transfer the files from the camera to my computer. It doesn't work and is not compatible with Vista even after installing the upgrade. With the software the camera is useless. So I am thinking about what I should do with it.
During the 10 days I had no computer I started building the armature for the Deathbot robot.
The armature is made out of wood and the joints are simple hinges. The robot will be cable controlled and if that fails to work properly then my backup system is to use rods.
I've done some design work on Cement City. The buildings will be somewhat beehive shaped with wooden posts sticking out the sides. This design could eventually change. I will build the small model of Cement City from crumpled newspaper and masking tape and then paint it and add some foliage to help try to blend the model into a live action background.
I've finished the costume for the guard at Buggman's Trading Post. Well actually, I still need to finish making the shirt that goes under the outer jacket. The shirt may be just be a large bib since the guard will not be removing his jacket.
I've also started making smaller props such as teeth for hanging on a string to be used in the Shaman's health hut. These teeth are made from crumpled newspaper and masking tape. I may paint them or I may just use dirt to make them look used. Surprisingly, masking tape looks like bone under the proper lighting conditions.