More toy design details for the ten-part cargo pad
- The tiny offset central square in the middle of the panel set which makes up the cargo pad/plate is the top of a post which passes down through the slider slot in the underlying torso block.
- There are very small dimples and protrusions in the plate edges which line up when the pad is lying flat and help it to hold its shape. Secondary dimples help the plates hold shapes at 90 degrees so that they're not flopping around loose even though they are not pegged in those positions. It also means there is no need for inlaid magnets to perform the same function.
- The purple wings attach to the ends of the cargo pad as follows:
1) A shallow rectangular chunk of the endmost plate is hinged just in from the plate's endmost edge and is only about twice as deep back towards the centremost edge as the plate is thick. The hinge axis is about half a thickness in from the outermost edge. The length of the segment is about one third of the outermost edge, and it is centred on that edge.
2) When swung outwards 180 degrees, this segment has a rectilinearly sculpted outer edge (square-wave style). The edge of the wing which connects to it has the corresponding negative of the pattern.
3) Each attack and decay edge of the square wave (the edges orthogonal to the outer plate's outermost edge) has a plastic dimple/bump which fits into a corresponding bump/dimple in the mated piece. Together, these line up to form a rough hinge for the wing. Along with the existing hinge in the shallow segment, this forms a double hinge allowing for the wing to rotate nearly 360 degrees with respect to the cargo pad.
4) The cargo pad's outermost plate has an identical cast to the wing edge where the shallow segment folds back in, so that it clicks into place and forms a smooth, nearly unbroken surface.
5) This means that the cargo pad must now be formed in twelve pieces, not ten:
- There are very small dimples and protrusions in the plate edges which line up when the pad is lying flat and help it to hold its shape. Secondary dimples help the plates hold shapes at 90 degrees so that they're not flopping around loose even though they are not pegged in those positions. It also means there is no need for inlaid magnets to perform the same function.
- The purple wings attach to the ends of the cargo pad as follows:
1) A shallow rectangular chunk of the endmost plate is hinged just in from the plate's endmost edge and is only about twice as deep back towards the centremost edge as the plate is thick. The hinge axis is about half a thickness in from the outermost edge. The length of the segment is about one third of the outermost edge, and it is centred on that edge.
2) When swung outwards 180 degrees, this segment has a rectilinearly sculpted outer edge (square-wave style). The edge of the wing which connects to it has the corresponding negative of the pattern.
3) Each attack and decay edge of the square wave (the edges orthogonal to the outer plate's outermost edge) has a plastic dimple/bump which fits into a corresponding bump/dimple in the mated piece. Together, these line up to form a rough hinge for the wing. Along with the existing hinge in the shallow segment, this forms a double hinge allowing for the wing to rotate nearly 360 degrees with respect to the cargo pad.
4) The cargo pad's outermost plate has an identical cast to the wing edge where the shallow segment folds back in, so that it clicks into place and forms a smooth, nearly unbroken surface.
5) This means that the cargo pad must now be formed in twelve pieces, not ten: