Fun & Games

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.

Mr. Bond, your jetpack is ready

Mr. Bond, your jetpack is ready

According to a piece on GOOD: A New Zealand outfit called Martin Aircraft Company is going to start selling commercial jetpacks for about $75,000. They’re 200-horsepower dual-propeller packs that can “reach heights of up to 2,400 metres and top speeds of 60mph” and don’t require a pilot’s license. Look for pill food and robot butlers […]

Laser-mapped subterranean passages

Laser-mapped subterranean passages

La Subterranea is a project that uses a laser to map out underground tunnels. La Subterranea [is] an ongoing research project which takes its name from a tunnel and viaduct system running underneath and through the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. As riverbed, vehicular thoroughfare, and the historical back alley to the city, La Subterranea has […]

Jet ski + jet pack = “Jetlev”

Jet ski + jet pack = “Jetlev”

It looks dangerous and is, reportedly, incredibly expensive, but there is no denying the near-maximal awesome factor of the Jetlev Flyer. Power comes from a four-stroke engine in a small “boat” which drags in the water behind/below the flying harness, and to which it is tethered by a big yellow hose that supplies high-pressure water and prevents the operator from exceeding a safe altitude. [Thanks, Alan Dove!]

Handmade bike show coverage

The North American Handmade Bicycle show was this past weekend, in Richmond, Virginia. The website for the event and their YouTube channel have some great coverage and some of the jawdropping bike builds that were on display there. Above, Sacha, from Vanilla Workshop, offers a tour of a bike he built for his young daughter. […]

Lego that makes you want to cry

Lego that makes you want to cry

And not in a good way. I have blogged about scary Lego before, but the capacity of the AFOL (“Adult Fan of Lego”) community to twist everybody’s favorite happy Danish building toy into Bosch- and/or Giger-esque abominations has pushed darker boundaries since then. This godawful* thing by prolific and talented builder Mike Foy is just called “The Void,” and, if I may suggest, belongs on the cover of some trendy modern edition of a very old and very evil book full of unspeakable things. [via The Brothers Brick]