Museum-quality heavy-duty TIG welded toys and sculpture made from recycled steel by Skunk

Making a proper mask is tricky. Here’s how I made mine.

Choose your material wisely. I use scrap of bicycle inner tube, which is fitting for SCUL’s style of heroism.

Cut the material for the mask into a long rectangular piece that’s long enough to wrap around your head, with extra for tying in a knot, or to attach whatever fasteners you may decide upon. Make sure it’s wide enough to suit your needs. If you plan on sewing the edges, leave extra material.

Wrap the piece around your head. Take a pen and poke yourself in the centers of your eyes (gently, you’re not a superhero yet). Remove the mask and cut very small holes. Put the mask back on: now you can see what you are doing! Look in the mirror and draw the smallest holes you think may work. The eyes are the tricky part: If they are crooked, or the spacing is off, or they are too big, the mask looks real funny. Cut the holes, and try it on again. Repeat the drawing and cutting steps until you are satisfied. I suggest taking your time with this step. The holes need to be small enough so you don’t look excessively ridiculous, but large enough to not lose too much peripheral vision.

With your marking pen in hand and the mask on your face, draw the outer edge of the mask. Again: be conservative. Once you have your shape, fold the mask in half and carefully cut both sides at once. This assures the mask will be symmetrical. You may have to adjust if your face isn’t symmetrical like mine (twice broken nose).

I find that the curve around the nose is tricky: if you have too much material, it tends to bunch up the mask so it’s sits oddly. Take your time on this part.

Sew the edges of your material if needed. Consider adding some flair.

When donning the mask, be mindful that your peripheral vision is slightly compromised, even for a well-fitted mask. Some materials such as inner tube rubber doesn’t breathe well: it will make your face sweat. Remember to wash your mask so you don’t get some sort of alien acne breakout. Some heroes darken around their eyes with makeup; if you decide to go that route, you will not be very inconspicuous if you take the mask off.

Cloudbuster with Laser Array at Full-Charge

Maybe I spent too much money, but I don’t care.

I did some research. Spark installed two three-watt LEDs for the DDS. The old ones were two clusters of three one-watt LEDs. Total: 12 watts of LED power. Note: Ever look at the ceiling when Cloudbuster’s inside? See a bright ring? That’s the lights missing. Totally wasted zoobs.

The ones I found are two clusters of sixteen three-watt LEDs. Total: 98 watts of LED LASAPOWAH!!! Furthermore, these are pin spots, which means all of the light will fall on the Deth Stah, as opposed to shooting off into space.

One another plus side, Wombat put the D3 Mark-3 out of it’s misery. I hear Civitron was in on it too. Let’s call that one a mercy killing. Even Threespeed asked me to throw the thing out back at Fort Joy! Remember Fort Joy? The D3 mark-4 is on standby and will be delivered to Fort Tyler tomorrow.

Given that intergalactical funkapositede is graphed on an exponential curve relative to Disko Deth Stah Illumination, calculated as IF=D3I^1.337, 8 times more laser power and hit ratio improved from 60% up to 98%–intergalactical funkatude is equal to the laserpower-watts times the efficiency percentage, calculated as D13=L*E; we can reasonably conclude that total output can reach an itergalactical funkaposite level of freakshow-on-the-dancefloor illumination of smoovilicousness.

Observe: Current laser array are 8 watts at 60%, which gives out an IF level of 8. The new laser array at full power will give out 98 watts at 98% outputting an IF level of 447!

I plan on typically using only one, but have the second one on standby for double power: nice to have in particularly dark (or bright) areas.