Tag Archives: For Sale

MK2 Megabot vs Kuratas in Upcoming Solaris-Style Battle

2015/08/11

ONE SHALL STAND, ONE SHALL FALL…

After their unsuccessful Kickstarter in October of last year, the Oakland California-based MegaBots Inc. seems to have done the best thing they could do to stay active in the public arena. They picked a fight.

In late June via video, Andrew Stroup and Gui Cavalcanti challenged Suidobiashi Heavy Industries to a duel- A batchall, if you will, to fight against Suidobiashi’s current combat mecha- Kuratas. Neither Stoup nor Cavalcanti are unfamiliar with either engineering competitions nor high media exposure. Both appeared in the 2012 Discovery Channel reality show: The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius.

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Masakari Omnimech Cosplayer Wins Gold

2014/09/09

Some of you might have seen this thread on the official forums where user Ion Raptor has been working on a mobile 1/5th scale replica of a Ghost Bear Warhawk prime. I asked him what gave him the idea for this. He answered:

“The idea was from a sad lack of BattleTech costumes besides the occasional pilot cooling suit. The MW4 Warhawk itself was chosen because of its blocky and imposing design. The prime variant was a product of finding shipping tubes the perfect size for PPCs. The Ghost Bear scheme came from the pilot figure I bought, which was a Max Steel toy that happened to have grey and blue shorts on. If I ever do one again it will either be much smaller or through commission so that logistics are someone else’s problem.”

The Invasion of Rasalhague reinacted at Gencon 2014

The Invasion of Rasalhague reenacted at Gencon 2014

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Industrial Class Exosuits now in Operation and soon for Sale!

2014/09/03

Aliens, HALO, Gears of War, (of course) BattleTech, Edge of Tomorrow, and a whole lot of other science fiction properties feature powered strength-enhancing suits in a utility roll before being used in combat. I believe the idea goes back to Robert Heinlein’s 1959 novel Starship Troopers, but it’s really only been in the last fifteen or so years that science and engineering think tanks have been actively (and seriously) experimenting with something useable for military, commercial and even medical applications.

Bay twelve, please.

I’ve mentioned TALOS and Warrior Web; which I believe are undergoing field trials at the time of this writing, as well as the Hybrid Assisted Limb medical exoskeleton that’s also flexing its bionic muscles. But it appears in this article from New Scientist that South Korea’s Daewoo corporation already has a suit in operation in an industrial role at their main shipbuilding and marine engineering facility at Okpo-dong. Visually and performance-wise it is highly reminiscent of the Raytheon corporation’s XOS Mark 2 suit that the Iron Man and Avengers actor Clark Gregg donned in this video.

I can’t wait until they start armoring these things up.

Daewoo’s suit is a working prototype for a more robust version that could “lug around 100-kilogram hunks of metal as if they’re nothing” according to the lead engineer Gilwhoan Chu. So far the carbon fiber, aluminum and steel frame is rated only up to thirty pounds and has a battery life of only about three hours. Well, you’ve got to start somewhere. And when building fifty-five thousand ton container ships, even the small jobs that can’t be done by massive industrial robots still require a human with some heavier lift capability than we’re normally built for.

The Daewoo suit weighs in at a hair over sixty pounds, and can be fitted to anyone from 5’3″ to 6″ in height. Still a far cry from the iconic power loader from Aliens, but definitely a step or two in the right direction.

I have a headache THIS big!

And that direction seems to be taking us to Panasonic’s robotics arm, Activelink. Unambiguously called the “Powered Suit“, this bulkier exoframe can lift up well over two-hundred pounds on a charge that lasts about five hours. It’s pretty slow at about five MPH, about like a leisurely walk. And the best part is, it’s being mass produced for private sales. The initial run of one thousand units is set to begin in 2015 and the suggested retail price will be under five thousand bucks a pop.

If I had the scratch- I’d take it.

Well bargained, and done.

The Art of Doug Chaffee

2013/05/20

One of the most important ways we have of connecting with the BattleTech universe is with art. A picture really does tell a thousand words when dealing with a universe as far off as the one we adore. A key artist in bringing the universe alive was Doug Chaffee. Over the years, he painted many pieces that adorned the covers of novels, books, as well as numerous pieces in the CCG line.

Unfortunately, late April was the two year anniversary of Doug’s passing. It left us all poorer. There are some wonderful stories about how nice he was to fans at conventions. But, he left an important legacy for us. His style and composition contributed to the gritty universe. You can find some of Doug’s work at his studio.

Doug created over 70 of pieces of BattleTech art, plus line drawings in several books. His family has been selling the original art of his work, and they still have some of his BattleTech paintings. The gives the community Doug enriched an opportunity to have some of his art. Let’s look at some of his paintings, and at the end, we’ll discuss where one can go to get pricing information and pick up some art.

All of the art we’ll be looking at is listed for sale, along with prices, on a document passed along to us by Melba Chaffee. While many of his BattleTech pieces were picked up by others, most of these should still be available. Continue reading →