I know what you're thinking. It's about time for some electronics. Well here you are.

I got all of the electronics soldered up and tested (except the trigger switch which is on tomorrow's list). I was pleased and just a little surprised that almost everything worked just right. I did have two LEDs that didn't work. I think I destroyed them in the soldering process with my way too hot iron. But they were easily replaced and now it all functions. Here's a picture of the mess which is clearly not yet installed.

And here are some highlights. As you can see the LEDs were soldered onto some magnet wire and hot glued in place. They are connected to the little brown board next to the Trinket. It holds the transistors and resistors(see the schematic for details).

Here's a nice trick. Save some design hassle by soldering capacitors directly onto the voltage regulator. I skipped the input capacitor because It's connected right to a 9V battery.

Now to stuff this all into the head of the staff I had to remove a good bit of wood from one of the segments and the center. The servo will go in another segment. This really isn't visible when it's put together, except a little from the bottom.

Up next is the trigger, projectiles and launcher which will be inside that center piece of the head, and writing code. Then comes some carving details and lots of testing and fixing. By Saturday I'll be working on final assembly and paint. That should get the project done in time for the contest end. Awesome. Now I can sleep.