July 30, 2002

5:35 PM

What happens when you combine plywood, 1200 pounds of concrete, and 500 pounds of steel? How about a MadCat BattleMech at 38% scale of a real one? These lucky kids get their father to build them their own BattleMech.
posted by TuxHeDoh (19 comments total)

Not so long ago
posted by Nauip at 5:52 PM on July 30, 2002

Thirty eight percent scale? Exactly thrity eight?
posted by mathis23 at 5:59 PM on July 30, 2002

Coolest dad ever.
posted by Optamystic at 7:09 PM on July 30, 2002

That thing is possibly the coolest fort EVER :-)
posted by niteHawk at 7:15 PM on July 30, 2002

How about a MadCat BattleMech at 38% scale of a real one?

Define "real one".
posted by jjg at 7:16 PM on July 30, 2002

Wow, that's cool. I had a six foot long, two foot wide board stuck up in a tree with boards nailed into the tree and I thought I was the shit. Too bad my dad was into Napoleonic miniatures table-top rather than Mechwarrior...
posted by GriffX at 7:36 PM on July 30, 2002

It also occurs to me that this could be spun into a new Fox reality show... "When Engineers Have Children!"
posted by GriffX at 7:40 PM on July 30, 2002

That is just absolutely ridiculous. Hopefully this well-intentioned father will do the only sensible thing possible at this point: mount a Pentium 4 2.53Ghz processor computer with a Matrox Parhelia video card in a surround-gaming triple-screen configuration with a THX-certified soundsystem mounted in the cockpit, a couple of Clark Synthesis tactile sound transducers beneath the seat, and a fiber optic internet connection for some INSANE MECHWARRIOR 4 GAMING! Perhaps then he can save face.
posted by robbie01 at 7:57 PM on July 30, 2002

That dad kicks ass
posted by jonah at 7:59 PM on July 30, 2002

I wish I had that much disposable income and time.
posted by glenwood at 8:29 PM on July 30, 2002

I feel kind of inadequate as a father now ;-)
posted by dg at 8:54 PM on July 30, 2002

I just showed this to my dad... he said for Christmas he's going to make two of them for me. And they'll walk.

And shoot at each other.


My Dad is currently cooler, at least until he fails.
posted by dopamine at 9:11 PM on July 30, 2002

Wow, way better than that millenium falcon that guy tried to build in his backyard.

Reminds me of this life size gundam I came across a while ago.
posted by bobo123 at 9:59 PM on July 30, 2002

The common effigy is finally beginning to catch up with the times.

Don't get me wrong, cool as fuck. But Jesus, "life sized" Voltron (gundam whatever) statues, Mech-Warrior forts and wooden Millenium Falcons?
posted by crasspastor at 11:22 PM on July 30, 2002

I was watching this last night. I find it an interesting to juxtapose this father's effort to raise his mech with the effort of the ancient Polynesians to raise their totems.
posted by piskycritter at 5:18 AM on July 31, 2002

dopamine, that's the funniest damn thing I've read in a while :)
posted by Lame_Dave at 6:23 AM on July 31, 2002

This a great example of why I don't want children.
posted by theRegent at 8:18 AM on July 31, 2002

Yeah, but if it doesn't have functioning ER Large Lasers, it's just not the same. I was driving with a friend through the middle of nowhere Tennessee about fifteen years ago and we passed a trailer with a twenty foot high Imperial Scout Walker in front of it.

Both simultaneously: Holy shit! Did you see that!

It may have been a cannabis related hallucination. I can't be sure about that.
posted by mark13 at 10:23 AM on July 31, 2002

This a great example of why I don't want children.

So you can have it all to yourself!
posted by TuxHeDoh at 11:09 AM on July 31, 2002