jdegraff

Hell, I was in the rig for four hours, indoors, not the greatest a/c unfortunately, and sweating my ass off. I can only imagine the "fun" involved when you're outdoors, schluping 50+ pounds of rig and camera, and trying to get good shots. That'd make anyone ornery ;) No offense taken! Anyhoo, Nikk started the topic, Brett told me about it, and I was just replying. Perhaps it should have been started in the OT section or with an OT disclaimer, but that was Nikk's call. <shrug> A little ON topic, here....Always loved the Steadicam since I first saw The Documentary back in about '85 or '86 while taking film and video production classes at a local junior college. Financing and grades were a problem, so I never pursued any further degree in filmaking. Years later I managed to fall back into video production and media streaming in a corporate environment, which is what I do for a living now. I work on amatuer film now and then as DP, camera op, effects (both 3D and physical), editing, etc., and still aspire to own a real Steadicam someday ;) With the new rigs that were just(?) announced, that's more of a possibility than ever. Take care, and stay cool in the shade if you can ;) Jesse

Hey, Nikk was asking about smartguns, so apparently *he* cares. I have info, so I'm helping. {sarcasm}Nice to see such solid support....{/sarcasm} Luckily, not everyone in the Steadicam community has had your response, Alec. I've gotten help in the form of pictures, parts, and information from 4 or 5 ops on this board and elsewhere on the 'Net (thanks guys!). If you don't care about the movie props, don't read the thread. Simple. Regards, Jesse

Hey Nikk, I've got lots of reference on the gun, including lots of original parts. My end goal is to offer kits or complete builds to those that are interested. The gun bodies are going to be vacuformed plastic, or possibly fiberglass. Detail bits will be resin casts using some of the stronger casting resins that are available. The armored breastplate will be vacuformed styrene or abs plastic. If you're interested in more info, you can e-mail me at wyrwolffatyahoo.com (replace the at with @). Regards, Jesse

I've been approaching the problem from the other direction, since I don't own a Steadicam rig. I had an opportunity to buy a VERY used Mod III vest and pulled patterns from it. I also have a pair of spring covers that I've made vacuform molds for. From the many pics of the arm I've collected online, a friend started doing CAD drawings. Using those, I built a handmade mechanical prototype of the arm which works *great* for the smartgun, but wouldn't work for sh!t with a camera ;). I've got original source parts for the headset, shoulder lamp, and gun as well. My de-activated MG42 is still in the process of being molded, but I've got pics with my old one which is made from a stretched Ruger 10/22 dress up kit. You'll have to excuse the armored breastplate in these shots. The anchoring points were a total improve about 20 minutes before most of these shots were taken. Couldn't stand the look in my face on this shot. This shows the accurate struts on the sides of the gun though, as well as the headset.