A huge amount of engineering progress has been made in the last week, breaking a record for our entire team in action-items solved. The mechanical team completed their integrated model and made significant progress on CAD drawings for final manufacturing. Their work was combined with the computer team’s most recent updates, and we also started work on our weather resistance testing. Phew!

As our team gears up for our second Qualification Review Board next week, we’re focusing on testing. That means waterproofing, durability testing, and a huge range of qualitative tests as well. To start, we’ve been testing the durability of many materials in our project to ensure they are meeting design specifications. For instance, the ABS and ASA materials used for our 3D printed parts, the urethane resin used to coat them, and the faux fur fabric that will be sewn over top of the entire assembly. Each of these materials plays an important role. Both the 3D printed materials and their resin coatings passed our tests with flying colors.

Speaking of flying colors… while our birds might not fly, they need to look fly! Before and after treating our fabrics with a hydrophobic coating from 3M, we evaluated the appearance, UV resistance, and waterproofing qualities of each sample. This was one of our most surprising test results; the coated fabric materials were significantly more waterproof than expected, which is great news for ensuring a long lifetime for these animated figures. We are excited to see such rapid testing and progress and can’t wait to showcase our strides in staying on-track with our next Qualification Review Board.