PREMIUM – Ask Adam: Learning Daunting Skills

Every week, Adam takes a question from the Tested Premium Member community in the comments section below or on social media (tagged #AskAdamSavage) and answers here. This week, Adam talks about projects and skills that he finds daunting, and his approach to tackling them, and reveals a project in-progress using one of those skills!

Comments (12)

12 thoughts on “PREMIUM – Ask Adam: Learning Daunting Skills

  1. This was a short but very important “Ask Adam” sequence. The thought process that he describes about making the glove is key to any successful project. Going through all the steps in your mind and in the order in which you will employ them is a major part of making a good project. It can be considered the “training and research” portion of your project. Thanks Adam.

  2. Adam, have you gotten in touch with ILC Dover? They have made a lot of the astronaut gloves, as well as other space-related fabric components like the parachutes or cushions used in landing the Mars rovers. Growing up and going to engineering school in Delaware, they were always a local legend I heard about in class or read articles about in the local paper. I always imagine a factory of little old farm ladies making space suits on sewing machines.

  3. Hey Adam, speaking of space suits, what ever happened with your Martian build? We haven’t heard anything about that in a while.

  4. Hey Adam,

    What are you reading these days?

    Did you ever finish the Cixin Liu “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy? I read “Three Body Problem” based on your recommendation and I really like the trilogy.

    Cheers!

  5. Adam Is there any project when you were a kid/adult that really tossed you over the edge of the world of making that it ended becoming such a big part of your life as a person. And if so do you have any words of advice for young makers just trying to start.

  6. #AskAdamSavage

    Hey Adam,

    Long time fan, and I know this is a bit off-topic but…. I wanted to ask you if you would be interested in or like to finish your/a Boba Fett costume courtesy of The Workshop (the same person who sent you your Boba Fett Empire Strikes Back helmet!) which I hope you’re still enjoying! haha. I decided to reach out to see if I could achieve a passion/goal of mine of building and finishing someone (no offense to anyone else) a Fett costume I really appreciate and actually would take a lot joy in that I could look back on and smile. And I thought about the helmet you have and felt the helmet was appreciated(it could be false)…but I felt like It could maybe use a complete build/finishing for the rest of your amazing museum/collection. After seeing all your other space suit builds it inspired me to ask you this. As we can build our Boba Fett’s to your measurements, 501st approved, top-notch movie quality, ready to go with everything included to annoying your family right out of the box. Just seeing it in use/appreciated would fill another one of my childhood dreams since a one day build would take forever as I read in a previous comment you made. (in my dreams maybe one day…as i loved to meet you and your shop especially! No offense Adam but your shop is gorgeous!).

    My apologies if it comes off a bit personal. I’m just excited to even have a platform to express myself, art, and passions with you and not your secretary or “secondary in command.” But anyway, sorry for the fan boying out. If you’re really interested and would love to join us and enjoy with us this adventure and amazing opportunity, we would be more than happy to help create you your own personal Boba Fett costume of choice! Just like Jeremy Bulloch(except you’ll fit the height/build better since Boba was 6ft (6.2ft+ with helmet on/antenna up) around 145 pounds, small build). My apologies again for the tangents. Feel free to let us know theworkshopmikeor on facebook/Instagram/Twitter under theworkshopmike

    Thank you for all the shows, one day builds, just overall the amount of knowledge you’ve shared is priceless(not really, its probably worth a ton) but thank you for your time.

  7. How long is the longest it has taken you to complete a given project? I have some that seem frustrating and are taking a very long time (to me anyway) and I was curious how long do you keep at a project? Also do the projects that take longer tend to go in a slightly different direction than what you first envisioned?

  8. Hey Adam, is your replica of the Shining hedge maze going to have a permanent installation when the Kubrick Exhibition is over? I live in Sacramento, but I will hop over to San Francisco to see it if it gets a home in the Bay Area 🙂
    Also, are we going to see your Deagostini Millennium Falcon build? I am in the process of building mine. Only 10 more months to go!
    #AskAdamSavage

  9. I posted a long question on twitter and I don’t know if even the 280 character limit helped with clarity much, so here’s the question again (slightly changed because now I have thought about it more):

    You’ve worked prolifically with scale projects and models and even 1:1 projects like your space suits and other costumes, but even the largest of those are still made of primarily small bits and pieces. How does your methodology or process change when you’re working on a large scale project? Your Strandbest was large, sure, but it was a collection of smallish linkages and pipes and shoes. How would you go about tackling something like a timber-frame structure; something where the constituent parts generally require big tools, big effort, big machines, or lots of people? Does your research and planning change at all? #AskAdamSavage

  10. For #AskAdamSavage: You’ve dropped into a parallel universe where no one knows who you are and you can build a life doing anything you want with the skills that you have. You have no high level social connections. What will you do for the rest of your life? (see TNG “The Inner Light”)

  11. I model trains and have done so for about 40 years. There’s one thing I found I do, and that’s recognise a need for a structure or scenic feature somewhere on my layout. Sometimes, it will come very quickly, but other times, it can take donkeys ages. So long in fact, I become concerned Ive lost my modelling mojo. I could allow it to worry me, but I let it go and then sometime in the near future, it’s on.
    I’ve got the tools out and I’m shredding material and voila. It’s done.
    I sit back and admire my handy work and wonder why it took so long to get going, even when I’ve got the whole plan of attack in my head. It’s like, when I’m good an’ ready.

  12. I ruminate for days on end when I want to do something, but am unsure of how to do it. I see what others have done (if it’s not an original issue), look at the pitfalls and how to avoid them or improve the process. I have been imagining a fairly large 1:35 scale diorama of a Mass Casualty situation at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin for over 20 years now. It’s something I’m intimately familiar with, but have no reference pictures. The primary thing I’m stuck on are the casualties. The aftermarket for wounded “modern” soldiers is quite thin, so I know I will have to do a serious mod of soldier figures OR sculpt them myself, and that is extremely daunting. Now that I have a resin printer and some 3D modeling experience, I can see modifying existing 3D models to create what I’ve been imagining. I think I’m finally at a point where I can start my project…

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