R/C Gadgets Get Steamed

For those of you who though the steam and clockwork-powered contraptions in Hellboy, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, and even that Wild, Wild West remake were just the stuff of steampunk fantasy, check out CrabFu. It’s where artist and toymaker I-Wei Huang shows off his bizarro-world radio controlled gizmos, including an R/C steam-powered tank, a Steam Walker robot, various other gadgets, and even a hampster-powered Strandbeest.

To make these contraptions work, he has designed a variety of miniature steam plants (including boilers) for his vehicles. According to this interview in Wired, he says there is no actual advantage to using steam since it’s heavy and potentially hazardous; it does, however, test the limits of his engineering skills.

When he’s not building mini-steam plants, Huang is the character and toy director at Toys for Bob, where he designs characters for the Skylanders game.

You can watch some of his devices in action below:

Source: Wired