MunnyWorld entry – “!BOOM!”

“!BOOM!”
This is my first custom DIY designer vinyl “Munny” toy from Kidrobot. I was inspired to see if I could capture action with my concept. Since the toys on their own are very static, I wanted to a design that was much more dynamic. I’m excited to start on my next concept.

My process:
First, I made the explosion form out of Great Stuff expanding foam on a styrofoam ball. I then created a 2-part mold of it with OOMOO® Silicone Rubber from Smooth-On. After that, I did a slush cast with a translucent urethane plastic (also from Smooth-On) so I’d have a hollow plastic form. Painted it with transparent red and acrylic paint.

The smoke trails were made with Great Stuff on wire so I could bend them once it was dry and it would have stability. Could have cast them too, but I felt it would have added too much weight with such a small area for adhesion.

The lighting was made of 2 yellow and 1 red LED that flickered. The flickering was controlled by an Arduino microcontroller that I programmed so it would flicker randomly. The Arduino I used was the Boarduino which has a much smaller footprint so it could fit inside the base.

The base was made out of paper mache (the kind in a grey brick at your local art supply store).