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Spice Mining and Sandworm


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Hi all,

New month, new project. This has been rattling around in my head for a while and I think is sort of picking up on the stalled Gundam-wreck-in-desert thing I started a couple of years ago. I'm starting it now because I think it'll be quick, and it gives me some cutting and sticking to do as well as a break from painting and weathering.

I got some board game pieces from Kickstarter last year (for Cthulhu Wars) and one of the freebies was an extra copy of most of the miniatures. One of them (the Bhole) looks rather like a sandworm, and I liked the idea of using it as one. It's moulded in some kind of horrible vinyl/resin/restic stuff which is a bit bendy, but the detail is fine.

I started by hacking it off the moulded base (with a full-size hacksaw, no less!) and giving it a wash since I'm pretty sure it'll have been covered in mould release gunk at some point:

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(click for bigger)

Modelling: It takes you to strange places. Open wide!

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I thought of just basing it up on its own, but I reckon a small diorama will be more interesting to photograph and should make it clearer what kind of worm it's supposed to be. So I started fiddling around with some Bandai add-on Gundam parts and some other spares to get the start of a spice harvester:

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The wheels are thrusters from the MS Marine set, each one needed the propeller cutting off and the four blocks paring off the "tread". I then sanded the blocks smooth and cut new grooves to join up the ends and match the existing grooves. I haven't added hubcaps yet but I suspect something from a tank will do.

The left hand wheels are unmodified, the right ones are almost ready to use.

I found some sprue which fitted them so I could get an idea of how it'd look:

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This is also made from some Gundam aqua backpack parts from the MS Marine set. It's not supposed to be a model of the David Lynch harvester, but should have some echoes of that design. The right hand side is the back and should have some storage tanks sticking out. The left is the front, I haven't decided how to do the harvest-ey bit yet, but I like the idea of the control cabin being up above like the Lynch model.

The round holes are going to be hatches, with a little platform under/around them. It would be better if there was only one on each side so they might end up changing, not sure yet.

Since I took these I've made up most of the chassis, with poseable leading/trailing suspension arms. But the camera battery ran out :( Will put it together for a mockup tomorrow.

Cheers,

Will

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Surprised and delighted there are so many fellow Dune fans on Britmodeller! It's one of my all-time favourite books and I think the David Lynch movie brings the book to life wonderfully. (I know they don't exactly correspond, but that's never bothered me because look, Sandworms!)

It's really worth reading about the visual effects work - so much of it is shot in camera, which is probably why the look of the film holds up so well.

I did a bit more on the chassis and got the camera charged up again:

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The two bogies aren't stuck together yet, the idea is that the rear one will pivot, like a cross between a combine and a front-end loader, with big hydraulic rams doing the work. The harvesting gear will be fixed to the front of the chassis, again like a combine, which should simplify things there.

The suspension arms can all pivot so there's some scope to pose it, but I'll most likely glue the rear bogie at a slight angle rather than try and make working rams :)

Part count in the chassis so far is about 45, mostly salvaged from a Trumpeter Flakpanzer "Ostwind" and their LAV-R.

I did a test with this arrangement and the body. I think it looks a bit small up there, but that means the harvesting gear will be more important and I think that'll be a fun little nurnie pit.

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The discs are an idea for the bit that hoovers up the spice - not sure if I like it yet, but I don't like the movie's take on this either. Another option would be a combine-style wide boom thing.

Cheers,

Will

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I loved the movie, simply because it was so wonderfully baroque, but IMHO the TV mini-series were even better, much closer to the books.....I was hoping they might finish the storyline up, as AFAIK it stopped just short of my all time favourite Dune novel, 'God Emperor'. :rolleyes:

I'd have thought something rotary like a combine-harvester would be perfect.....It would definitely generate the rythmic thumping that attracts the worms (although they defend the Spice regardless of course). :nerd:

Could you perhaps make a pair of angled rotary harvesters at the front chanelling Spice to the smaller of your vacuum attachments located just ahead of and partially between the front bogies and the second vacuum attacment which could be located in the middle of the vehicle between the bogey pairs (might require you to lengthen the hull slightly)? :hmmm:

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Nice idea, I'll be watching the build. BTW, it is more correct to call it Giger's harvester design.

I always thought Lynch's movie as an insult to the book serie, sorry. And I don't believe it can be produced in a movie form (how one would visualize game in the game in the game or sight of obscure future beneath the waves?)

I highly recommend to watch Jodorowsky's Dune documentary. Maybe that guy might get as close as it can be. And you can understand better Lynch's catastrophic attempt (at least for me) and see how Alien movie team was unconsciously formed by this crazy director.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935156/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4

And today one of my friend shared this, sorry to derail a little bit but Dune fans will forgive me ;)

12279221_859704974143525_858445033943940

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I loved the movie, simply because it was so wonderfully baroque, but IMHO the TV mini-series were even better

I watched the first mini-series and I thought the cast showed promise, but it all looked so cheap and uninspired. I'm not convinced it's necessary to be true to the book, since that exists already. Although the rain at the end of the movie is a bit "what?"

Maybe I'm just style-over-substance at heart :P

Could you perhaps make a pair of angled rotary harvesters at the front

That took a while to figure out, but I get what you mean - I think it might be too busy? In the book the sand is drawn into the machine and centrifuged to separate the spice, which seems pretty reasonable.

BTW, it is more correct to call it Giger's harvester design.

Sorry for the confusion, I was using "David Lynch Harvester" as a shorthand for "the Harvester in the version of Dune directed by David Lynch" as opposed to Cryo's Dune, Westwood's Dune II, etc. etc. I don't actually like the movie's/Giger's design that much - it's very true to the description in the book (colour aside) but it seems not very practical. Usually a real-life harvester drives within its own cutting width, so that it doesn't drive over uncut produce, but the movie one has a really narrow snout and very wide track.

I always thought Lynch's movie as an insult to the book serie, sorry.

I know not everyone loves it, that's fine. It works very well for me :) I think it's impossible to make a 1:1 film of even the first book, but I think Dune manages to get the feel (and a surprising quantity of the more memorable dialogue) quite well given the running time. Even his inner voice stuff feels natural.

Jodorowsky got a great art team together, but had some pretty weird ideas too - spice as a sponge, Leto as a eunuch? What does that do to his relationship to Jessica, the whole reason for Paul's existence, and one of the best lines in the book?

Almost makes the weirding module seem normal :P

On the subject of harvester snouts, here's another possibility:

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I like the ammo as harvesting tines, I can imagine driving myself mad fitting hoses into all those little holes.

I also finished off the chassis, bar the need to sand and fill a couple of spots. That meant setting the steering pose and fitting the rams, one of which needed a bit trimming out of it to show the compression.

Cheers,

Will

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I love the way you've done the suspension arms Will. I know you mentioned using tank hubs on the wheels, but I've always liked the conical hubs from Rodney Matthews illustration, although maybe a bit too ornamental for you build

Rodney%20Matthews%20-%20Dune.jpg

Andy

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That's pretty! The first wheel I mocked up was a bit like that, with two truncated cones back to back. Also quite close to the movie wheels.

I think the one I have now probably needs something flatter though - what I'd really like is a spoked or sprung mesh hub (like Lunokhod?) but I don't want to make eight of them.

Will

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Like the idea of the front harvesting bits, think the movie one just basically had a large hoover on the front!

As for the whole book/movie thing, I think of them as totally separate, loved watching the movie with my dad when I was a kid, and later read the book and it blew me away. I enjoy them both individually

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I've started rereading the Dune novels as a result of this thread.....They really are unique. :coolio:

Just occured to me.....How are you going to model Shai-Hulud's teeth? They're a fairly critical element, not just in the scene, but in the story as a whole. :shrug:

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There are some moulded teeth (with relief) in the worm's mouth already, although there aren't really enough. I was hoping I could paint them and it'd look OK, I guess we'll see.

Will

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I dipped into the book for the harvester descriptions and ended up re-reading a chunk of it. It's a great piece of work. Will finish my cheesy Peter Hamilton book and then start again from the beginning I think.

I fiddled around for a couple of days with layouts for the header (technical farm machinery term) and ended up going with this:

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I'm musing about adding an outer set of tines to each header, which would hinge on the outside edge to fold up when the harvester was in transit. But that might be just a bit too much to put together and make look good.

The round bits are now the initial centrifuge, so they might need a blower vent pointing out and back on each side to sell this, plus tubing and so on going into the harvester's snout. The arms also need hydraulics and plumbing in order to make sense.

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This added quite a lot of length but I reckon it still all hangs together quite well.

I added the hubcaps from from Bandai "MS Spike" parts by cutting the disks off the ends of each piece, sanding them down and gluing them on. Quite fiddly trying to get them centred but if there are any really bad ones hopefully they won't stand out.

I did look for suitable (flat-ended) cones but didn't find anything small enough, sorry Andy!

Cheers,

Will

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Superb stuff, loved the Dune books - well most of them except "God (awful) Emperor of Dune" which just went on and on and on and on and on...

Tried to watch the mini series but couldn't handle it. The David Lynch movie is an interesting curio, with Patrick Stewart badly overacting as Gurney Hallek and Sting chewing the scenery.

"Cheesy Peter Hamilton" ????!!!!! How dare you, outside right this minute!!! ;)

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Thanks folks, progress has slowed a bit what with Valentine's and the lovely weather, but I'm hoping to get back to it next week.

Which of Hamilton's books are you reading? :hmmm:

I re-read the Night's Dawn trilogy recently, of which I had fond memories, but it really dragged this time.

"Cheesy Peter Hamilton" ????!!!!! How dare you, outside right this minute!!! ;)

Hehe. I like them, I just don't think he's ever recaptured the spark of the first two Mindstar novels, which are *amazing*. His later books have great ideas and I enjoyed reading them all the first time around, but I think on coming back to them they feel a bit turgid and over-long.

He has two writing tics which particularly bug me - breakfast foods (everyone is always eating bloody croissants) and over-naming things. "Datavise", "Boeing-Royce AL-42/B Airlifter" etc. and re-using these names in full over and over rather than abbreviating them or using them to add spice.

It's something William Gibson is incredibly good at, capturing this intersection of believable brands and future trends, and I think Hamilton should stop trying so hard - it worked for Mindstar, but it seems to have got worse over time. His take on sex is a bit twee as well :P

That said, the Pandora's Star series was fun. I loved the idea that wormhole technology would lead to massive railway networks as a natural consequence of trying to squeeze trade goods through a circle of a fixed size. Clever stuff.

Cheers,

Will

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