Nothing about spies, sex and AI in this newsletter. We’re scandal-free this week. Just some real good stories about makers from Maker Faire Orlando. Our own Gillian Mutti was there to meet the makers. The amount of creativity in Orlando is way underrated. Its theme parks attract many people from creative industries and many others just have a bug to do something unusual. As the folks at Weirdly Wired say: “Weird Is Your Superpower. Use it.”
Weirdly Wired booth at Maker Faire Orlando (photo by Gillian Mutti)
Table of Contents
From Maker Faire Orlando
by Gillian Mutti
Orlando knows a thing or two about bringing imagination to life, and that spirit of imagineering, engineering, and larger-than-life creativity was on full display at Maker Faire Orlando. From elaborate Star Wars worlds and roaming musical droids, Daleks to Ghostbusters and an immersive post-apocalyptic adventure, the Faire was packed with fan-built experiences that rivaled the creativity of the city's famous themed attractions. Groups like Imperial Tech Shop, the Florida Star Wars costuming clubs, Orlando Ghostbusters, Daleks of Florida, and The Fallout Xperience transformed their corners of the Faire into worlds of their own, showcasing the remarkable craftsmanship, technical ingenuity, and collaboration behind these ambitious builds.
Tucked among the crowds were independent inventors, passionate hobbyists, and small teams with enticing projects and equally compelling stories about what inspired them to start making. These makers reminded us that behind every great project is a story worth telling.
3D Printed Sherman Tank by Eugene Shek
On the hunt for the biggest 3D-printed project at Maker Faire Orlando, Fox 35’s Lauren Margolis discovered maker Eugene Shek’s impressive one-third-scale WWII Sherman tank. A fully mobile, remote-controlled creation large enough for her to climb inside. (See video here.) Built for his sons to drive, the tank took three years to complete, including 18 months spent 3D printing its components.
Powered by two 24V, 350W electric motors, the remarkable build features working suspension, headlights and taillights, a 360-degree rotating turret, adjustable gun elevation, and a Bluetooth speaker for realistic sound effects. Its miniature cannon even releases a puff of baby powder to simulate smoke.
A passionate 3D model builder, military historian, and living history re-enactor, Eugene combines his fascination with WWII armored vehicles and his maker skills to create large-scale, functional RC tanks that serve as hands-on teaching tools for military history and engineering. His Sherman tank has already earned a Staff Choice Award at the National Armor and Cavalry Museum model exhibition and second place at an annual model kit exhibition.
And in true tank fashion, the project required a little battlefield maintenance at Maker Faire Orlando when one of its tracks came off on Sunday. Undeterred, Eugene got right to work making repairs on-site, a fitting example of the ingenuity, persistence, and hands-on problem-solving that define the maker spirit.
Throwback! Jai-Alai Heroes Video Arcade by Astro Crow
What started with a love of classic arcade games and a childhood connection to jai-alai has become Throwback! Jai-Alai Heroes, an award-winning, retro-inspired arcade game created by Orlando-based indie developer Astro Crow.
Founded in 2010 by Brian Stabile, Astro Crow began with a determination to make games independently, eventually producing nearly 18 mobile titles before turning its attention to a more ambitious, hands-on project. Inspired by memories of his grandfather working at a South Florida jai-alai fronton, Stabile revisited an early game concept while teaching at Full Sail University, where he met artist Caris Baker, who joined Astro Crow as co-owner and art director in 2016. As she says in the video above: “If you can see it, I did it. If you can’t see it, Brian did it.”
Together, they spent years bringing the game to life, working nights and weekends, teaching themselves CAD, and even repurposing a water-damaged Frogger cabinet to prototype their design. The result is a fully custom-built arcade experience that combines the fast-paced action of jai-alai with vibrant 1980s and ’90s pixel art and the competitive energy of classics like NBA Jam and Windjammers.
Designed, developed, and fabricated in Orlando, Throwback! Jai-Alai Heroes has earned Best in Show honors at Free Play Florida and Playthrough GC, recognition in the Walter Day Collection, and a coveted spot in the 2026 PAX Rising Showcase, where it collected three awards. For Stabile and Baker, it's also about building community through competitive play—and this first arcade cabinet is just the beginning.
Weirdly Wired
One of the busiest booths at Maker Faire Orlando belonged to Weirdly Wired, a STEM-focused maker shop that brought a collection of creative student inventions and plenty of hands-on fun to the Faire.
Through its Inventors Challenge program, Weirdly Wired encourages young makers to dream big, experiment, and tackle real-world challenges through creativity and problem-solving. The students spent months developing their projects, navigating failed attempts, changing directions, and learning to work together before proudly sharing their creations with thousands of curious Faire attendees. Throughout the weekend, their booth buzzed with activity as students demonstrated their inventions, shared what they'd learned, encouraged fellow makers, and handed out dancing flexi kits.
For the founder of Weirdly Wired, bringing the students to Maker Faire was about more than showcasing their work, it was an opportunity to take learning beyond the classroom, connect with a larger community of makers, and show these young inventors that their ideas matter. Their enthusiasm, perseverance, and creativity earned Weirdly Wired a well-deserved Maker of Merit Award.
Mordekaiser by Matthew Harden
Always a crowd favorite at Maker Faire Orlando and Miami, maker Matthew Harden of MH Cosplay Design returned with another showstopping creation: Mordekaiser, an imposing, larger-than-life costume that stole the show when he appeared in full armor for his cosplay panel.
Mordekaiser by Matthew Harden (right) on cosplay panel (photo by Gillian Mutti)
The spectacular build was a two-year labor of love, drawing on more than a decade of experience designing and crafting elaborate cosplay armor, oversized props, and detailed character creations. Through countless adjustments and refinements, Matthew pushed his techniques to make the costume more realistic, detailed, and mobile, all without access to advanced 3D printers, laser cutters, or airbrushes. Instead, he relied on accessible materials and tools, including EVA foam, upholstery foam, fabric, a wood burner, Dremel, hot glue, contact cement, paint, and plenty of imagination. But beyond the incredible craftsmanship, Matthew's mission is to inspire others, particularly aspiring makers who may not have the resources or expensive equipment often associated with elaborate cosplay.
Makers of IgorBox — Mike and Lisa Heijmans
IgorBox is a “show-control platform for haunted houses, escape rooms and any sort of themed attraction,” according to its co-founder Mike Heijmans. The husband-and-wife maker team from Port Orange, Florida, developed IgorBox out of Rotting Orchards, their free community charity haunt.
Mike and Lisa Heijmans show off early prototype boards (photo by Gillian Mutti)
“It was a manifestation of our frustration” said Heijmans, learning from years of experience and designing their own solutions.
Drawing on 20 years of software engineering experience, Mike designs everything in-house, from custom ESP32-based circuit boards and firmware to a browser-based show designer. Visitors got to push the big red button, try to crack the code, trigger a scare, and explore the engineering behind the magic.
3D Printed Cameras by Jacob Bates
Jacob Bates, a photographer and 3D printing enthusiast, has spent years combining his passions to make cameras of his own. At Maker Faire Orlando, he showcased a collection of DIY cameras built with vintage lenses, existing designs, and custom 3D-printed parts, including his first original creation, the Hasselback.
Designed to shoot Instax Square film, the modular camera required Jacob to engineer his own film back around a hand-cranked development mechanism. It's still a work in progress, with a few film-feeding quirks to solve. Alongside his other 3D-printed cameras, Jacob demonstrated how a little ingenuity and a willingness to learn new skills can put custom camera building within anyone's reach. Keep an eye out for Jacob's projects and builds in the pages of Make: magazine!
3D-Printed TMT chair by Make Good
Make Good shared its 3D printed design for a Toddler Mobility (TMT) Chair. They were part of the MakerFX Makerspace and Witchdoctor robotics team.
Make Good’s 3D printed TMT chair (photo by Gillian Mutti)
Interview with Spectrum’s Sandesh Manik
In Make: Volume 99, Sandesh Manik shows readers how he built Spectrum, a spray paint mixing machine that uses an Arduino Nano to mix precise ratios of paint. Ambitious makers are welcome to try building their own. We’ve seen other paint-mixing projects, but none as dialed-in as this. We asked him how it came to be, and learned why he spent three years making it possible. Check out the interview on Makezine on Substack.
The Advisory: Class of 2006
If you are interested in high school education, I’d like to recommend The Advisory, a podcast series from Big Picture Learning. Andrew Frishman was a first-year teacher at the Met in Providence when he began meeting with a group of students in what they called The Advisory. This group meet regularly over their four years. Twenty years later, Andrew was curious what they thought of their high school years and what worked — or didn’t. The result is a five-episode podcast that you can find here. Last week, I was in Boston to attend a BPL board meeting and I had the opportunity to meet and hear from the former students who are featured in the podcast.
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