Make recently posted about the Freak Vehicles pages over at Modern Mechanix – and oh, it’s times like this when you realise that when people say that truth is stranger than fiction, they were probably talking about the curious and downright inventive forms of transport that turn of the 20th Century inventors dreamed up. From the curiously familiar (using kites to power a trip to the North Pole) to the quite impractical (eagle steered airship) to the tragically cut short. It’s three pages of great contraptions, real Steampunk, written from the perspective of the 1930′s – and just because they’re great (and H.G. Wells related) here’s two pedrail related images to bundle along with it.

Mr McEwen writes to say that he and his ladyfriend are working on the early stages of a Steampunk themed silent film, for the lady’s art class. Presently they are doing some costume tests, as you can see from their Flickr pool, but I’m very much looking forward to seeing what the finished film will be like. I have to ask though – have you considered using goggles?
I hope you don’t mind, Mr McEwen, but I edited the image to remove the door accoutriments; they were somewhat detrimental to the Steampunk feeling *chuckles* Very best of luck to you both in your silent Steampunk production!

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Mr Epp, Mr Björn, Mr Ian, Mr Klaus, Mr Park, and posters over at the frequently interesting Clockworkers Guild LJ, have all brought The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello to my attention.  Oh – and it looks such an indulgent treat, it must be said.  Some of the recommendations say that it is unsettling, others that it is beautiful, and indeed – the two are not incompatible.

Set in a deeply Steampunk world of airships and high collars, this perfectly stylish production tells the tale of a young man with a tragic past, and an uncertain future in a land where a terrible disease ravages the populace.  Can he redeem himself in one last adventure?

For those of you fortunate enough to be perfectly half the world away from me, this short animation is being shown in selected Australian cinemas through February and March.  The DVD is available also, but is Australian and New Zealand region only – though, I hear tell that recently the British Channel 4 showed it, so perhaps there is hope for those who are not region free!

Mr Hildebrandt has taken the plunge and created a site for all of his contraptions and creations – an excellent way to keep all of his work together in one place. He’s called it Jake of All Trades, and his most recent addition to it, is an 19th Century style patent document mockup, complete with Victorian looking illustration! It’s a very nice piece of ‘forgery’ or mashup, and I’m sure it would seem not in the slightest bit out of place when sat next to some of the more ambitious patent documents that were actually submitted.

So, Jake of All Trades for the Telecalculograph, cog belt buckle, Victorionixie Tube, clocks and other interesting creations. I’m very pleased to add that to my sidebar links!

Now, isn’t the above a perfectly lovely looking grimoire? With that metal latch and embossed gold pattern, down to the little brass corners, it looks like its a book that has some really important things in it – well, much to many people’s surprise I’m sure – its actually a modded flatbed scanner!

The Datamancer has recently finished its conversion, and has a great many pictures of the process that he went through – including proof of it opening, in case you don’t believe me that it’s not a real book. chuckles Its a very clever mod – and I’m doubly impressed with the embossing, and clever use of ribbon for the gilt edges of the pages. Very well done – it must be the best looking scanner to be found! (I’m sure somehow the idea of a book ‘eating’ the information of other books pressed against it, is fuel for a short story or two.)

Mr Branitar pointed out these very nice and chunky wargame/roleplay miniatures from Terraform Battlefield Scenery – there’s a good dozen or so interchangable low-tech steam walkers, tracked vehicles and quadropedic war machines that tower over the standard infantry models. The one above is called Frank ‘N Steam (I kid you not) and is possibly my favourite of the bunch. Some have wooden legs, some are more bulbous in shape, but I’m sure they’d be just the thing in a more military-themed Steampunk game. Lovely riveted details – thanks Mr Branitar!

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The Steam Ship Master, is a 1922′s wooden hulled tugboat that apparently is the only one of its kind in North America still in its original setup.  It looks a lovely machine, and the views in this six minute video of the engine room are very mechanical and curiously quiet – I always forget that steam doesn’t have to be loud and explody!  You can read more about the SS Master over at the SSMaster society page – a group devoted to just keeping it running and maintaining it as a heritage object.  It’s got a mighty strange whistle though – sounds a bit like a duck trying to blow its nose!

A while ago, Mr Ryan recommended the above shop, Astragal Press. With smallish but very specialised sections of books on antique tools, crafts, horse drawn carriages and sleighs, steam engines and blacksmithing (amongst others) I’m sure the more hands-on of Steampunk fans could find something here to help with their projects. Personally, I’m always tempted by ‘Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements‘ – but you already know my weakness for cogs and gears, I’m sure – like a Steampunk coffee-table reference book. Oh, and for those like myself who were wondering what an Astragal was, there’s a good page here.

Mr Svensson dropped me a line to remind me that I hadn’t yet posted about the wealth of informative links to be found over at Phil Masters’ Steampunk Links page. Predating Brass Goggles by a very significant amount, Mr Masters page is a treasure trove of links concerning 19th Century costume, technology and Castle Falkenstein specific information. In other words, there’s a good chance that the sheer quality of Mr Masters page, and the length of time it has been around, is probably responsible for their being a Brass Goggles at all! It seems that the page hasn’t been updated in some time, however, I cannot tell exactly how long, but the search engine page seems to talk of things being recent which occured in 2001, so that’s my best guess. A few of the links are dead, but most of them are still great and lively.

Mr Svensson also speaks very highly of the Castle Falkenstein game – a “Victorian Fantasy” roleplaying game that used playing cards instead of dice (dice not being a game for gentlepeople, after all). No doubt there’s a wealth of information on such a well thought of game to fuel dozens of posts in the future!

Ms Atherton and Mr Andy W, have pointed out the pretty amazing concept designs for a short film called Once Upon a Christmas Village, by Dreamballoon. Done by Mr Stølen, also known as the Anachronaut, the film itself is apparently not Steampunk, but certain elements of the designs done by Mr Stølen, most certainly are. From Santa and his wing-elf clad in appropriate flying goggles, to the above mechanically enhanced reindeer (note the side-mounted engine) there’s a lot of fun, lightheartedness to this. They’re looking to get funding to do a full length film, and I hope they get it!