Trigger time

I got a bag of momentary switches from Radio Shack, and rewired my Voyage Trekkers ray cannon so the trigger lights up the barrel LED. A switch in the butt still operates the side lights.

Two batteries for the sides, one for the front.

While I was at it, I decided to rewire the ray pistol too. And drill two holes in the sides for a couple more LEDs.

And I added a battery.

I rigged a momentary switch to that trigger, too. So now they look like this.

Time for more interplanetary missions of peace!

The trigger lights need to have their triggers pulled for them to work, so here are some action shots. I'm in my civvies. Don't tell Sunstrike! (T-shirt's Blue Milk Special, though)

PEW PEW PEW!

pew pew!

This will do until after Youmacon next weekend. I might add more power to the ray cannon barrel LED. Not another 9 volt, though. It's only rated up to 14.8 volts. See, I read some of the directions! I think I can add a AA or AAA, depending on their voltage.
I'll go as a sack brigade zombie from The Other Grey Meat on Halloween or Friday, VT marine on Saturday, and maybe Soldier A if I feel like a day 3. Caitlin Glass should be back, and she's familiar with the song.

VT ray cannon!

My new Voyage Trekkers ray gun's coming along fairly decently. I got the LEDs and wired them up so six of them stick out through holes I drilled along the sides, with a switch in the butt.

Three 9 volt batteries, wired in series, so you add them up for a total of 27 volts, but the amp hour capacity stays the same? For a total of oh who cares.

I saved for the muzzle the red LED, which is designed to light up yachts and semi trucks.
I need to get a couple more battery brackets to lock down the insides, but the set up looks good and is so far working.

I put a bowl on the end to make it more of a cross between a classic
Star Trek phaser rifle and a laser cannon from an X-wing fighter.

The middle light is from an LED flashlight I bought from ACE hardware. This is my failsafe, in case my bulbs burn out or the wiring comes undone, a couple real possibilities. At least something should be able to light up!
Here's the ray gun in low light for the full effect.

All the wiring's inside the casing so Lizzie's allowed to check it out.

So just some taping down the wiring, bracketing the batteries, maybe some paint touchup, and a strap, and it'll be ready for Youmacon at the end of the month!
For my The Other Grey Meat sack brigader costume, I heeded the advice of Facebook friends and ordered some Ben Nye makeup from ebay. It's a ghoul kit.

Category 2 zombie in the larger image, category 1 in the inset.

It should come with gray cream makeup, color highlights, brush, sponge, makeup pencil, and spirit gum. Not included is any sort of makeup fixer, to keep it from sweating off or something. I checked the makeup aisle at my local Meijers store, but there's no use-this-to-keep-your-zombie-makeup-stable section, for some reason. 

EE degree needed

With some hacksaw, drill, file, and screwdriver work, I pretty much have the arrangement set for my Voyage Trekkers assault ray gun (heavy).

Have you ever seen such precision!

The look I'm going for is something like the original series phaser rifle from Star Trek.

Something like this-ish.

Paint's applied, so now it's time for the electronics. The replacement electronics. I connected the LED setup ripped from the original toy to a 9-volt battery, lit them up, then promptly burned those suckers out. So is a 9-volt more powerful than three AAA batteries, or something? Huh. Anyway, I have new LEDs for it, to go in some holes I drilled along the sides, the window thing, and down the barrel.

I'm using the plastic lid as a test circuit board. Why? Is that a problem?

It all should be ready by Youmacon at the end of the month. Also at the Detroit convention will be my Sack Brigader from The Other Grey Meat. I'm planning to get some better makeup, to try and avoid the whole sweaty-makeup mess.
TOGM put an album of my Category 2 zombie costuming on their Facebook page, which was very cool! I'm on there along with Tom Gatto, cosplaying the Phantom (my boss), Sylene the purple-haired Category 3 as cosplayed by June Maillet, who created the webcomic along with her husband James Maillet, and other TOGM stuff. Quite an honor!
My next project won't be ready for anything anytime soon, but it's started, at least. The sewing pattern I ordered arrived.

Emma the cat has no idea what this is all about.

I like how the instructions start with "Do not be alarmed!" My plan is to use this pattern to make a samurai outfit. I have a manga character all picked out, something actually based in Asian culture, which is a key requirement for participating in cosplay contests at the anime conventions I've been to.
It will be a challenge. Not least of which is Lizzie the cat. Lizzie's usually the one who shows up in the floor photos I put on here. She's not in this one because she was half a second from rending the very thin paper sewing pattern into a million pieces. She was locked up in the bathroom for this picture.
Then there's the whole "sewing" thing.