After pondering on waterproofing, it struck me that I could very easily make Cub fully amphibious just by changing the stuffing.

An improvement over wadding is polystyrene bead, which I have loads of. This flows inside a soft case like a gel, and will improve the look of the skin as it pulls more naturally over the skeleton.

The added benefit of course is that it floats, and with a watertight frame and a little weight in the feet to keep it upright in the water all I have to do is work on a gait that propels it forwards and Cub can swim as well as put up with mud and spills.

Polystyrene is completely inert and weighs very little compared to wadding too, I'm quite excited at the prospect.

Skinning A Panda

First I had to come up with a decent design for the body that would also fit the frame.

This measured out to be 23" nose-to-tail, 14" across the hips and 11" across the shoulders.

Pandas have a saddle of black that goes from paw to paw up the legs and over the back, but doesnt join across the chest.

Rear legs are black up to the hips, and the tail is usually white. I've broken with convention though and made the tail black, otherwise it'll look rabbitty... Ears are black, as is the nose, but the distinctive eye patches can in fact be completely absent. Go figure...

A rare beta version Panda, unpatched.

The skeletronics are covered with polythene sheet which will also keep the beads out, so basically the shell is a funny-shaped bag.

Here's the template for the body piece, made of two colours of cloth stitched together. It joins down the belly with a zip, one plain and one furry as an outer case. The plain one has the sensor wiring stitched to it, and contains the beads.