There should be a lot of turkey feathers around after Thanksgiving, well, at least here in the US!
Alan KM6VV
yeah my friend has turkeys on his land and he said he would get me some. Although he doesnt have many left now… 
been working on a new neck design for the hawk. if it works it will allow for 3D movements.
Jonny, You’re a genius when it comes to clever ses designs. The wings look awesome. The design as a whole looks awesome.
Great job!
Hi Jonny,
I see you’ve been pretty busy lately! Cool! I totally dig this design! You made the wing design really compact.
But the head totally blows my mind! 
It’s amazing how detailed and life looking it is! Really cool!
I can’t wait to see how the rest comes together.
Thanks for sharing and keep inspiring us!
Xan
Thanks guys. Well i have started the body sculpt too and i started casting it. My friends little girl decided she wanted to prod her fingers into it so now i have to recast it. Lol. Anyway i will be making the under shell once molds are complete. I will be making two casts of the mold. One will be made using a plastic resin and the other in silicone to act as a skin. Im also working on another neck design that works like a spine. Kinda like the robot dinosaur 'pleo neck. Waiting for parts on that.
That should be interesting! Kinda like a snake, no? For your next project, you could do a snake!
Alan KM6VV
Well you pulled my leg Alan,
here is the prototype concept of it.
just need the pulls cables to make it work.
if it works ok i will remake the parts better.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0031.jpg
underside:
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0032.jpg
the idea is that the servos will all pull the mechanism over to each side. but if all pull together then the “neck” will shorten and then lengthen as the servos return position.
i have also included the process pictures of the part “making its self”!! 
these pictures were taken over the period of 3 mins! This is Easyflo 60 resin!
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0027.jpg
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0028.jpg
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0029.jpg
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0030.jpg
Hi Jonny,
Very interesting, how stiff/hard is the resin material after hardening? Looks like you can drill and fasten the four hex spacers onto it, and it holds ok? A good way to use some of the big circular servo horns!
But what if you need to replace one of the servos?
Looking forward to see the neck moving!
its virtually unbreakable and you can drill, tap, sand, etc when set.
this prototype is on the back bench as the main part of the project is going forward but i will have a chance to play with it to see how it goes. as a prototype i will prob try and snap the servos from the resin. i have planty so not to worried about bracking the tabs… plus i could just “mold” some more. 
the current “original” design is coming along, and i hope to be casting in two weeks.
You GLUED the SES brackets to lids? You might consider PCB (epoxy-fiberglas) board stock. Easily worked with hand tools. you can even solder brackets and stuff to it!
But yeah, I can see what you’re doing! Tnx for posting the pix!
Would it work to use full bell-cranks (differential drive), i.,e., TWO pull wires on a single crank, one on each side? But then I guess you couldn’t pull both to shorten the neck…
Have fun!
Alan KM6VV
No not glue, liquid Polyurethane plastic resin. 
“Glued” as a verb. I don’t think “resin” can be used as a verb. :>)
Alan KM6VV
A small update:
i should be casting the head shortly, so really excited about that. 
also here are the feathers. i will be gluing these. lol
This is from a whole bird.
In the post, about 500 im guessing
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/completebird.jpg
Plus another 80,
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/80feathers.jpg
All feathers are sourced in accordance within the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. They are the by-product of a licensed game keeper.
That’s a lot of chicken, er, Hawk feathers!
Alan KM6VV
i have casted the head. i was initially going to make the mold using a silicone rubber compound but due to the fact it had a ratio of 100:10 by WEIGHT, and i didnt have scales i couldnt hold myself back and i decided to cast it anyway using plaster. the detail is awesome and unexpected.
i have added a fill hole for when i pore the mold with polyurethane liquid plastic, and then also for the latex.
the sculpture is slightly messed up but a quick ten mins should clean that right up.
Enjoy:
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0035.jpg
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0036.jpg
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0037.jpg
im going to let the mold dry a bit more before i make the final casts.
Here we have one Hallow Polyurethane Plastic Underskull. 8)
just a little clean up.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd355/innerbreed/SAM_0040.jpg
I had to smash the mold to get it out.
but i should be re-molding the sculpt again so i can make more copy’s.
Looking great!
Kurt
thanks. just need to cast the bottom beak, or mandible. need to get a smaller servo for this part i think. ran out of room in the head. the wall thinness of the resin head ended up being about 4/5mm think! i was hoping to aim for 2/3mm.
trying it on for size. 8)
Oh and 'no, my monitor is not transparent, just an effect.
hi guys,
This is the mech.
As an initial movement test im looking to see how it performs. so far im not happy with the wings, so not much playing with them in this vid.
Its controlled using a very basic setup with small movements to the joysticks of a Wireless PS2 controller.
the movement for the head is pretty close to what im looking for but im looking to smooth out the movements of the wings so it will look more graceful once the under-skull, skin and feathers have been added.
This video was intentionally made for in house viewing but i could do with some feed back to see if others have any ideas on the mech’s design or control.
Also i didnt intentionally upload it at 11:11am 11/1/11 (YouTube Time), just coincident.
You extend the wings, but can you “flap” the wings?
Some confusion on torso (neck?) rotating independently of wings.
Alan KM6VV