Tauruscat: The Final Photos

The Tauruscat Dream Helmet has been done for several months, but I just got around to photographing it.


I had been planning on shooting video of it with lights in action, but alas, that still hasn't come to fruition.





Here is a detail shot of many of the resin components.



The rear view showing off the six aether collectors.

Sgt. Stubbs, Lab Assistant

My latest steampunk project, Professor Tauruscat's Dream Helmet, will be on display at the Museum of Curiosities, part of the 2011 Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition.

Demonstrating how the helmet works will be the professor's able lab assistant, Sgt. Stubbs (pictured above), on whom the professor has relied for many years.

Tauruscat: Front Plate Finished

Here is the front plate stained and antiqued and in place on the front of the helmet. The colors look better now, don't they? And the URF does not stand out as an anachronism.

Tauruscat: All Hooked Up

I have taken my replica of Professor Tauruscat's dream helmet from the shelf and dusted it off. Although it has been six months since I last worked on it, I have a good excuse. I've been busy! My leatherwork has been much in demand——and I am grateful for that——to the point of where my wife and I are making a living from it. Huzzah!

In my last missive on the helmet I had completed the insulators which attach to the crest, seen in the photo above. Next step was to cut the crest trim out of 2-3 oz leather and attach it to the bottom of the crest.

Here is the bottom view when the trim is mostly screwed in place. I then set the crest in place and bolted it to the leather helmet.

At that point I could attach the connecting hoses to both the insulators on the crest and the sensors all around the helmet.

Finally I can see what this crazy helmet is going to look like. Now a few blinking lights to give it life, and some aether collectors on the back to power it, and I'll be wearing it proudly to the Nova Albion con coming in March.

For those of you who may have missed the beginning of this saga (or forgotten due to it being almost a year ago) you may read it here from the beginning.

Tauruscat: Insulators

When last we visited the making of the Tauruscat thinking cap I had constructed the crest lenses. That was almost three months ago. Yes, I've been bad and was ignoring this project for others. Don't ask me why.


At any rate, I have done some more work on it over the last few days, and here is what I made. These are the connectors that sit atop the crest, and attach to the hoses. I fabricated two of them as shown above.

Then I molded them, cast eleven of them in black, and sandblasted them to remove the sheen (which turns them gray).

After antiquing them a rust color I put them (except for the front one) in place on the helmet crest. I'm calling them insulators cause that's what they look like to me, the kind that are mounted on telephone poles.

Tauruscat: Crest Lenses

Why does the crest have lenses? you might be asking yourself, and a good question it is. While Professor Tauruscat's central processing engine is working, I felt it would be convenient to have some physical manifestation of its inner workings, and so I will be hooking up some lights which will make the lenses glow as the wearer's thoughts are processed.

From left to right above, I fabricated the lens model out of clear acrylic sheet and clay, molded it in rubber (behind) then cast it in the pinkish resin. This piece I reworked, smoothing and shaping to better fit the spaces in the crest awaiting the three lenses. I molded it yet again (behind on right), then cast the final part in a translucent amber colored resin. Sanding off the gate gave me the finished lens on the far right.

I cast three such lenses, then inserted them into the crest, as shown above. The photo shows them illuminated.

Tauruscat: Crest Casting

Here is the crest cast as one piece. I'm happy with the ornateness of it, but I may change the colors. I haven't decided yet.

Next I'll be building the lenses that fit between the crest wings.

Tauruscat: Engaving the Crest

Just to let you know I haven't been totally ignoring the Tauruscat helmet, here is a picture of the engraving that I've been doing on the crest.

These various parts make up the master, from which I will mold and cast the finished crest.

Prof. Tauruscat's Helmet

Baron Henry Balzerhaught

As many of my long time readers may recall, I have been keenly investigating the Gryphon Interplanetary Aeroship Expedition in an attempt to verify its fabled journey to Mars and Venus, as well as other planets. There has been much speculation over the years over not only the expedition but also its sponsor, Baron Henry Balzerhaught of Upper Bavaria and his brilliant scientist/inventor Professor H. Tauruscat.

Little is known about this secretive project, and there are few facts that can be proven with any certainty. Many incredible tales regarding the expedition have circulated for years without any substantive backing.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight when I was recently contacted by the archivist of the late Baron's estate with news that a letter apparently handwritten by the professor himself to his patron had been discovered! Although I have yet to see the correspondence in question, I have been told that Tauruscat describes a leather helmet which he constructed and wore for the purpose of enhancing his mental faculties.

I do recollect that many years ago I read of such a device being invented by the professor. As I recall, the writer referred to it mockingly as a thinking cap. I am hoping and praying that the newly discovered letter reveals sufficient details about the helmet to provide us with some understanding of its purpose and functioning. Is it possible that the engraving of the Baron (shown above) could be him wearing said cap?