Making a Lego GoPro Time Lapse Dolly

 
We got a Pizza oven! …and this time-lapse film of us building the stand for it is made using a little dolly unit I built for our GoPro. We’ve always wanted to have a simple small unit to plonk on a table during breakfast and slowly trundle forward, but such a device simple doesn’t seem to exist. So making one seems to be the only option.
 
Here’s a few prototypes:
 

 
First I tried building a little winch with a super geared down motor, and a trolley for the GoPro made of Lego. It worked, but it was cumbersome, and tricky to set-up.
 
Then I put the winch on the trolley and used it to power the wheels. Much better, but it was too fast and a bit noisy.
 
For the final design (although I’m sure I’ll tweak it again), I rebuilt the motor and gears using an old Lego motor and all the cogs I could find in our Lego box that’s sat in the cupboard since we were kids. Now it’s super slow, and the Lego motor runs almost silent. Oh Lego, is there nothing you can’t do?
 
I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking “But what does it look like if you strap an infrared filter to the GoPro and set it off on it’s jolly way down the garden path?”. Well it looks a bit like this:
 

 
Here’s the brave little soldier in action:
 

The Great Outdoors Road Trip – time lapse

In our first time-lapse of one of American raodtrips we stuck to our guns and showed the whole thing warts (boring bits) and all. This year we deliberately shot things from different angles and at different speeds so we can make a more entertaining edit, which I think we achieved? What do you think?

 

This trip took 17 days and when through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and California. Stick around for the thrilling 360° finale – which is a journey to and from Disneyland, of course.

Across America in 15 minutes

 

What does it look like to sit in the front of a car and drive across America in 15 minutes? A bit like this I guess.

 

This is a 3,920 mile road trip that takes in New York, New Jersey (via the Northlandz, world’s biggest model railway), Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia (Mark Cline, one of life’s winners), Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California (quick Disneyland stop ‘natch) and Nevada (they have guns there).

 

It all started with a surprise sound track on a mysterious CD found in the hire car we picked up in New York, without this I don’t think the Boob would have survived (yes the Boob did all 3,920 miles of driving, what a trooper):

 

 

We’ve got more videos to come from the trip, and photos… so many photos, I’m not sure the Internet is big enough, we might need a new one.

Lightspeed to Endor /Romford

Another little test of the time-lapse controller. This time The Boob took us on a whirlwind tour from Collier Row, to Hainault then Romford and home. The dog track was kicking out in Romford, some slow traffic made for some good still moments in the time-lapse. Oh yeah, we were on a 3 seater speeder bike.