Chompbot #5 - Industria Mechanika - complete

[trickyrich]

Ok I thought I had better build something for this GB seeing I and the host, so here it is........well almost, it’s in the post.

I had had glorious plans for this build, like bringing out one of the resin 1/48^th Ju-388’s I have, or a 1/48^th Westland Welkin night-fighter, or even the 1/32^nd RB-51 Reno Racer (I had started it but it is less than 25% built), or even some other exotic stuff (1/48^th Savoia Marchetti SM.79). But I now have limited time for the big projects, so thought maybe one of the smaller resin models I have. But I find I’m at the moment stuck in a “fixing it” phase, where I see something not right or inaccurate and just have to fix it......which just takes time. I had a few other ideas...but evilBay had other ideas, so I had to go back to the drawing board many times.

So I wanted something simple and fun, sort of something to get the mojo going again and I had seen this model a few times and it just sort of started to grow on me. So much so that it’s in the post along with a couple of other items to go with it.

This is the full set edition, which is no longer available but is available as separate items.

This pure and simple will be a fun build...though I may play around with a lighting kit for the headlights, will have a think about it.

These dudes are in a never ending battle with the evil Vegetable empire....so if I can find a killer tomato or carrot, then a diorama may even happen!

I’m not too sure if I will get to finish this one in time but I intend to have some fun with it. Will post some photos once it arrives.

[whitestar12chris]

Rich look forward to seeing this, I do like modelling with a sense of fun.

All the best Chris

[mackem01]

Haven't got a clue what it's all about but I love the look of it. looking forward to seeing some plastic (and a back story?).

[trickyrich]

Haven't got a clue what it's all about but I love the look of it. looking forward to seeing some plastic (and a back story?).

Well I hadn't thought about that, a back story, hmmmm Well being as I am on night-shift and really shouldn't buy anything more from evilBay as I'm running out of hiding space in the stash, that was a good idea. Just a few quick lines, easy.

Ok I'm now up to 3000 words in this tale of woe, so much for something short and sweet and I've only just gotten to the Chompbot!

So I've decided it will posted....whether you like it or not!

Even I can't be that mean so it will be in installments as;

a, it's too long for one post

b, I haven't finished it yet!

So it will be a race to see what I finish first the story or the model, though the model hasn't arrived yet and I won't be able to start it till June.

Anyway the first installment of the tale of woe..............Mad Scientists

Oh and there is a Ken doll and he does get hurt soon!

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This is a tale that is both a warning to Mad Scientists and small children alike about the perils of mutant vegetables. Special thanks must go to the artist Jake Parker whose drawings provided a wonderful and frightening insight to this tale.

This tale takes place in a place not that far away in and around a city called Otteropolis and concerns a race that went about their everyday lives just like you and I. These were simple folk, mostly farmers, who tended their crops which provided an abundance of produce that supported this most tranquil of societies. Life here revolved around the farms and the produce they produced. In the great city of Otteropolis scientists work tirelessly in the in the never ending pursuit of improving the harvest, either with clever machines, dazzling inventions, or biological marvels.

And this race, who were they? They were the Wabbids, a smallish race of friendly persuasion unfortunately cursed with an abundance of soft fine fur all over their bodies. This and their physical shape, they were a little bit vertically challenged, gave them a soft fuzzy cute look that made you just want to pick’em up and cuddle them...this of cause was not a good idea. For while they may have looked and been soft cute and cuddly, they could have a mean disposition if annoyed....or cuddled without asking!

However there idyllic lives were shattered one day by an invasion of most momentous proportions, of which would shatter and change their lives forever. For the path they chose to counter this most horrific of events would lead them to a threat far more deadly than that which they were to face this day. From where these creatures, these abominations spewed forth from was never known, nor where they eventually went after their rampage. But their presents from that day til they left were to have an eternal affect on the Wabbid’s lives.

These creatures came forth like a plague, consuming everything in their path. Once rich fertile land covered in natures abundance was reduced in days to dry shrivelled up husks, just mere skeletons of their former glory. And what were these creatures, these abominations that caused total destruction and desolation of this once fertile land, ...............

To be continued at the readers peril, don’t worry nothing’s going to happen to the Ken doll.....yet!

[trickyrich]

ok before the story continues a wee update...nothing to report! They're still in the mail, though the lighting kit has arrived, not sure how it will fit though!

ok back to the story.....

......................................BUGS!!!

Big fat bulbous green bugs, long sinuous brown bugs, bugs with six legs, bugs with twenty legs. Bugs of every imaginable and truly unimaginable type were present in a variety, shape and size never seen or dreamt of before! But the most abhorred of all these terrifying grotesque creatures were the humongous, gelatinous, bloated slimy Slugs! They moved in that slow slimy silent way devouring everything in their path, to live just devastation, slime and the obligatory poor in their wake. All these abominations consumed everything in their path, moving noisily from field to field as they chomped their way through nature’s bountiful treasures, laying waste to all and sunder. Their hungry never ceasing, their path never wandering, their hunger never subdued as they consumed all that was before them. Leaving nothing but husks and shredded detritus in their wake along with of cause piles no mountains of brown poo! Which a little bit later would turn out to be a very valuable Bio-Fuel and solve another of their issues, but I digress here.

With bugs on the rampage, with crops and livelihoods in the balance, starvation a mere.....well in the distance, the framers and citizens of this fair land pleaded with the scientists of Otterpolis for help. The scientists took up this challenge with great gusto, I mean after all these years of making things that benefited humanity who would want to make machines death and destruction, poisons of perilous proportions!

All sorts of strange, amazing and utterly weird contraptions were unleashed against the foe, great clouds for gas and dust of unimaginable colours and properties were thrown at the bug horde but to no avail, still the rampant bugs progressed in their never ending path of brutal destruction and devastation. Now assisted by the occasional rouge robot that couldn’t decide which bug to destroy and thought it would be easier just to raze the whole field! And as for the coloured clouds of doom, well never a white sheet was there to be seen in this far land for quite some time......and didn’t the scientists cop it for that one when they went home!

There was however one scientist name Willard, who let’s be honest was a little strange and weird and whom most of his scientist friends tried to avoid at lunch, that had a clever idea. He was one of these people who never finished first and never finished last, he was just in the middle. While most of his fellow colleagues went on to achieve greatness or become mad scientist, Willard was just Willard.

Willard had a daughter called Lucy who whilst he loved dearly and would do anything for her, hated her vegetables! No matter how he tried he couldn’t get her to eat them, whether smothered in cheese, covered in pastry, or mashed with meat she would protest profusely whilst heading for the fridge for a tub of ice cream. Nothing he did or tired seem to make a difference, there would always be a pile of sodden vegetables pushed to the side of the plate, that’s if they got there in the first place!

So within the midst of this calamity and much to the annoyance of his colleagues Willard just played around with his potions, half thinking about the plague and half about his beloved daughters dinner dilemmas. And then one day it hit him, though most now wish it had been a brick and not an idea that had!! Why not make the vegetables taste so sweet and sublime, that was it. How then could his daughter resist sure sweet juicy succulent delights! As for the bug problem that was easy, just make the vegetables taste horrible and bitter...durrr!

So with great gusto he raced off, well sort of shuffled quickly off to his lab to create this most amazing of potions for his daughter’s dinner and diabolical death for the bugs! After a short time and a few mishaps, paint will cover the stain and we won’t talk about that ..... in the corner! He was done and before knock off time as well, he was pleased, maybe even time for a quick ale on the way home.

To be continued........a pint of your best and a packet of crisps please?

[trickyrich]

Ok finally the beast has arrived!

I only had a bit of time to have a quick look and fondle of the lovely resiny bits before I headed back to work! The resiny bits are lovely, moulded in nice grey resin with very little flash and nice and small mould blocks. The only issues I’ve found is that there are a few bubbles hiding just under the surface of one piece and a mould issue on the clear bubble.

With the quality of the moulding the bubbles shouldn’t be an issue as there will be very little sanding require namely due to the quality of the resin and way the parts have been engineered to fit together. The clear canopy will probably need to be replaced, either with a replacement item or I may VacForm a replacement.

can just be seen on the very top, unfortunately it's on the inside so a bit hard to repair.

As you can see by the instructions it’s quite a simple build, so that’s nice.

I bought a 4 LED kit online so will be using this to add a little bit of extra to this model, there’s pleanty of room for the battery, all I have to do is make the rear door opening a bit bigger (this opening is hidden behind the door). The front two headlights will be drilled out and replaced with LEDs. With the cockpit I plan to run some fibre optics into the control panel, plus maybe replacing some of the screens as well as lighting up the floor in under panel area, hopefully this will give a nice glow to the cockpit area. I may even drill out some areas behind the “teeth” to make them a bit scarier!

Haven’t got a colour scheme yet but I have plenty of time to dream one up.

All in all not a huge project, but as usual for me a bit time limited.

This should be lots of fun!!!!!

[whitestar12chris]

Looks very interesting Rich, sounds like you got a good resin kit there with few issues.

All the best Chris

[CliffB]

Good luck with this Rich - I wouldn't know where to start!

Cliff

[trickyrich]

These guys are awesome, sent a message about my issue and got an immediate response, they are willing to supply a replacement if I need it. They even asked for some photos so they can check out the issue and ensure it doesn't happen again.....great service.

But as mentioned I may VacForm a replacement as it should be a lot clearer than the resin one...well see. Please check out the site by clicking on the link.

Ok an a wee bit more of the tale.......

Every night he would wander home, trying to think up new and wonderful ways to cook vegetables that night only to be defeated by this beautiful and sweet monster, opps I meant child. But this night however would be different for he had a cunning plan, for within his case, alongside the deadly and highly toxic though sparkly and shiny jar of “Bug Death” which he would drop off in the morning or when he remembered, was a small plain dark jar of his super chocolate sprinkles. This he planned for the vegetables, to sweeten and tempt his dearest daughter, the “Bug Death” of cause was for the bugs. That and the fact he had discovered the perfect way to rid the land of bugs forever had filled him with joy and happiness along with a couple of pints of his favourite ale on the way home. His mood was lifted his judgement, well.......a wee bit off.

On greet his daughter when he arrived home that night he launched into a tale of the wonderful dinner he was going to cook her tonight and how the bugs that plagued the land would be gone soon forever because of his brilliance. And how what was in his case would change the world and her eating habits forever. That within a jar in his bag was the most wonderful of ingredients that would make this special sauce for the lovely fresh vegetable he had for their dinner. And so and so he went on in a most confusing state, well I know I’m confused and I’m writing this...anyway! Of cause she didn’t believe any of this at all, as soon as the “V” word was mentioned she lost all interest in her father’s news! So leaving dear papa just drifted off in his musing she headed back to her room, first via the fridge, then on to continue playing her Action Barbie doll who was at that stage in the middle of water boarding poor old Ken......don’t ask!

Willard was now exhausted and ambled off in the direction of the den for a quick pre-dinner nap, ok to sleep off the booze before dinner. He was lost in thoughts of bugs and a difficult but adorable daughter, and how he would change the world, and possibly eating habits and how he must put the jar of “Bug Death” somewhere safe which was his last thought before he drifted off to sleep.

Little did he know how eventful and apocalyptic that short nap would be, for within these 5 short minutes.....ok it was a long 30 and a bit minutes, but anyway, the world they and the rest of the Wabbids inhabited was about to change forever!

Back in the dungeon/Barbie Dream Mansion, Ken had finally confessed to his crimes against humanity and the fact he didn’t separate the colours from the whites when he did Barbies washing. He actually admitted to a lot of other things as well, he shot JFK & JR Ewing, faked the moon landings and caused England’s embarrassment at Eurovision! Lucy happy with the outcome decided to see how the dinner or the ice-cream was progressing. Noting her dear father was still asleep she hatched a cunning plan of her own to do away with tonight’s vegetables or at the very least make them inedible!

To be continued.......

[trickyrich]

OK finally here we go!!!!

After what seems ages here we go with the build. Well I actually started a couple of days ago but there was nothing to take photos of other than the dust! As usual with a resin model everything was give n a good wash to start off with. Next just about everything other than a few small items was cut off their resin blocks.

The general moulding is lovely other than a few minor bits of flash and was really simple to clean up. The only issue I had was with the two main bits of the body, one side seemed to have a larger gap then the other when the arm module was fitted. I’m not sure if the mould was slightly warped or it was a fit issue. Simple to fix it took a while to sort out, not 100% but I can live with that join, some careful filling will fix.

Everything else as mentioned was easily cleaned up. For all the arm and leg joins resin pegs are supplied, for the arms this is fine, as they don’t not support any weight. But the legs will so the pins were replaced with steel pins, this will also help with the final positioning of the legs.

As mentioned earlier I will be using a lighting kit for this build, a first for me. The head lights will be drilled out (done), and some of the instruments (done as well, though I did manage to drill through the cockpit wall, will fix with additional detailing), plus I will light up the area behind the teeth as well (drilled out as well). For the instrument panel I will be using fibre-optic cable plus a few other bits to add some glow to the cockpit area as well….with luck.

The little dude (or Wabbid) will go into the cockpit, plus I have a few friends who if I have time (am a really late starter) will be added to a small diorama.

Well all the test fitting and sanding and drilling is completed, hence all the dust! So now the build process should be pretty quick, the lighting/battery/light switch may slow it a wee bit but I’m planning to leave parts easily removable to help with this.

Colour scheme….well have some plans for this, tossing up with a plan boring Grey or a type of “Splinter Grey” scheme loosely based on my “Splinter MiG”!!

Oh and the story well be completed….sort of have to as I haven’t really gotten to the Chompbot yet!!

[Mottlemaster]

I have some old Airfix kits that have pilots / crew that look more like your Wabbid then your Wabbid does. looks like some quality resin , infact i had to go to the start of your thred to check it wasnt plastic injection

[trickyrich]

Ok update time!

Well things have progressed very smoothly with this build. Major parts are now together and gaps that were to be a problem have sorted themselves out quite nicely. Super thin super glue was used to help fill these gaps managed to go everywhere….but strangely where it was meant to go! Is the build blessed!!!!

Ok the main body is now altogether. There was a gap on one of the arm panels that worried me a bit, but a thin strip of plastic card sorted that out nice and easily.

One problem I did have, and which is a common issue with most resin model is bubbles!!! The moulding for this model is excellent but unfortunately if you go too deep beneath the surface you will expose the dreaded bubbles!! While it looks bad it is quite easy to fix, you need to clean out or expose the bubble, then use either thin super glue or filler to fill the bubbles, sometimes it may require a second go.

All the main bits were now attached to the body, the top/cockpit section will be left unattached as this will be how I change the battery (it’s a big 9V one).

The arm joints were drilled out for pinning. I will be adding small sections of springs (as shown) for the cabling between the arm joints….just to make it look a bit more real.

While playing with the Arado I found the perfect clear replacement lens for the cockpit, so now that bits sorted out.

Plus I painted the mount bits….and found my finger prints….so may have to do them again.

It does look good, there is not much left before painting and final assembly. As mentioned I have a clever colour scheme in mind……..a bit like my “Splinter” MiG!

[trickyrich]

ok I haven’t updated this for sometime, though I have been working on this build off and on the whole time, just got side tracked.

Most of the time till now has been involved clean and tiding up the model prior to painting. I had a few issues with painting but they didn’t turn out too bad at all.

I didn’t want it to be just a plain solid colour else it would have looked a bit boring, so I pinched some ideas from my “Splinter MiG”. Actually these are a trail for some colour schemes for the Dust model I have!

This broke the bland solid colour down quite nicely, but I still wanted some additional colour…so some custom “sharks teeth” were in order. Now she looks much better!!

The arms have some additional ducting added (a bit of spring from a bearing seal I had), plus I will add some extra bits to the feet/legs.

Plus I have started painting up the cockpit/instrument panel as well. A clear coat will go on shortly, plus some touch up of the “metallic” bits as well.

There is actually not a lot left to do, maybe a weekend worth of work.

Did a quick test of the lighting, looks really cool.

With luck the next update will be the second last to go….am enjoying this build immensely!

[whitestar12chris]

Coming along nicely Rich, lighting looks good.

All the best Chris

[trickyrich]

Well I have seemed to have neglected this build of late! The was meant to be a “Mojo breaker”, but with the change in my work routine and two new builds (Arado & Tropic Moon build) the Mojo had returned and this got pushed to one side!

But it needs to be finished and I’m glad to say she’s almost there. There wasn’t a lot left to do, the painting was finished, so really it was just the tiding up and detailing left to do.

The cockpit was finished, though I still have to finish the pilot, though this is will not hold up the completion. The hardest part of this stage was fitting the fibre-optic lines.

The rest of the model was given a coat of clear semi-gloss and a light wash. I want to leave this nice and clean as it suits the build.

Next everything was put together, the legs and arms are set in place, to sort of simulate the beast in motion.

The lights were added, this was not as easy as I had expected, namely because I used very thick optic cable that was not easy to work with! But the end result is great! This is the very first time I have lighten a model, so I am very happy with the results.

The canopy is not the best, it’s a bit cloudy, but being resin there is not to much I can do about it.

In the end I adore this model, it brings a smile to my face everytime I look at it. There are just a few minor touches to do and it’s complete…something completely different to everything else in this build……which is normal for me!

[Arniec]

That looks nice. nearly finished.

Cheers,

[whitestar12chris]

Nicely done Rich

All the best Chris

[trickyrich]

Well she is finally done, the Bot itself was pretty much done, just a couple of final touches needed, but I did need to do the pilot.

For some reason I had glued the head on, but for painting it was easier to do it in two parts…so off with his head!

Next all the major colours were airbrushed on, then a couple bits hand painted before a coat of clear.

Next some detailing, figures aren’t really my thing so it was a wee bit rushed, that and I was on a time limit for sunlight out the back for photos! He doesn’t look to bad at all, so head back on and into the cockpit.

I managed get out into the backyard/terrace while there was some sunlight, so I sent him loose and watched the mayhem!

It was a great project, and I enjoyed it immensely, even though it did get pushed to the side a bit! It was meant to be a mojo breaker, but with my sudden change in work routine and the Arado (then the Tropic Moon project) I found my mojo again so it got a little left behind. But this project will continue into the next phase as I have some more wee men/wabbids to add plus a diorama….maybe!

Thanks for viewing and the comments, it may not have been as exciting as some of the other builds but for me it was a fun one!! More photos are in the gallery.

[noeyedears]

makes a nice change from tornados and migs very nice!!

[Mottlemaster]

Looks like its guarding your strawberries against blackbird and slug attack . Love it

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[trickyrich]

Looks like its guarding your strawberries against blackbird and slug attack . Love it

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More like the opposite! Those strawberries have gone wild, you take your life in your own hands going near them!!!

[BritJet]

Well I've no idea what it is but the kits looks really good and you've made a cracking job of it. I bet you had fun with it which is what it's all about.

Thanks for hosting this GB and all your helpful comments along the way. Do you know why the Gallery is locked? I'm trying to post the photos of my shiny thing.

Steve