Drone Sniper resin figure

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Sweet....Love the warning decals on the gun's propellant bottle/battery!

The combination of the sensor, cable and the bot's pose does give the impression that he's 'listening' to something.....Would it be possible to add a couple of flashing lights to the sensor pod (which I like very much, it's style matches the figure nicely), to enhance the impression that it's actively doing something?

Reckon you might need some graffiti on those slabs y'know.....Some of it possibly only half-finished, tailing-off into a bloody vertical stain!

Edited June 28, 2013 by Sgt.Squarehead

[Will Vale]

Sorry for the lack of progress folks, we had birthdays, and then a scary earthquake, and work has been mental. Oh, and then it was our wedding anniversary but I managed to skive off for a couple of hours this afternoon and do some modelling. I reckon I need to get the sniper mounted so I can do all the in-situ painting and other bits and bobs, so I've been working towards that.

I settled on a place to stand him, making sure that the gun and bipod don't foul the concrete blocks, and the cable is long enough to reach the sensor. Then I drew around his feet and gouged out the texture and filler with a screwdriver so he can stand directly on the flat MDF. I painted the cut edges brown and will fill in with more earth mix when he's installed.

To make the mounting secure, I drilled up into the legs (from inside the heels) about half an inch and inserted some thickish brass rod to make mounting pins. It took two tries to get corresponding holes drilled in the base because the pins exit the feet at a slight angle.

I then set the figure in place again (not glued yet) and marked the sensor location on the concrete block. I drilled up from underneath with a power drill, and then fed a brass tube up into the block to complete the cableway. With that in place I could poke a hole for the wires through the front face and check it met.

The florist's foam is a pain - easy to make holes in, but very hard to fish wires though because it's so soft. As soon as the wire hits the foam it will dig in rather than follow a pre-drilled hole. In the end I got it to work by catching the end in a brass tube inside the hole, feeding in enough wire, and withdrawing the tube. It helps to use both hands so you can feel all the contacts (or lack of them) between the wire and the tube.

Once I've finished detailing the sensor I'll solder the wire joints on the rear face, and pull the LED wiring through using the beading wire which is in there at the moment. Oh, and I drilled out the base with a big spade bit to make a recess for a button cell.

Not very exciting pictures, but it is legit progress! I'll try and do some more tonight.

Will

[Will Vale]

So I'm into the scary "final assembly" stage, although that won't be the end of it since I need to do some more painting and decorating before I can claim this finished.

I fed the wires from the back through the sensor after weathering and applying dullcote, then soldered those to some longer wires to run down inside the concrete. The joints were (carefully!) heatshrunk and the wires expoxied into the back of the sensor. Then I added some pins from piano wire and fished the trailing wire through the block using the beading wire I fed through yesterday.

(click for bigger)

With that done I expoxied the feet, sensor, rifle and head in place, using blu-tak to set the LED in the right position within the head, and block out light leaks at the neck.

I think I need to tweak the set of the cable a bit, although it looks better from the side than the back. It has a strand of .3mm brass wire twisted with the conductors so it can take and hold a pose to some extent.

Oh, and here's the gun which I've slowly been weathering. I think it's a bit over-done now, so I'm going to go back and sponge/drybrush a little of the base colours to tidy things up and try and hide those damn decal edges.

For my money there's slightly too much variation, and too much dust.

I also need to add some final details (vegetation, mainly) and touch up the groundwork and some areas of paint on the drone.

Cheers,

Will

[Will Vale]

Aaaand a bit more. I've been touching up the groundwork and took some step-by-step pictures of how I like to approach it. This ia usually a model railway technique (perhaps because it works well on large areas) but I really like it for small stuff too. Apologies if you've seen this kind of thing before.

The idea was to fill around the sniper's feet where I'd cut a bit too much away, and I also did some low spots by the water where you could see the edge.

I'd saved some of my earlier earth mixture - this is a blend of crushed dried earth and soft rock, fine grit, tiny bits of cut up grass, scenic foam, and pigment powder to tint it. You can sprinkle it on but for precision you can't beat a bit of folded card or paper - tap to distribute the stuff.

Adjust with a soft brush while it's dry - you can't touch it once wet or it will pill up or otherwise not do what you want.

Wet with a spray bottle of wet water (water with washing up liquid) or dilute alcohol, or neat alcohol. The latter is good for very fine dust-like textures since it has very low surface tension. Get it fairly saturated, but don't make a lake:

Then apply a 50/50 mix of matte medium and water with an eye dropper. You can use PVA too, but it dries a bit glossier. Again, you want to saturate the texture with the glue.

Then finally sprinkle a bit more loose material on to soak up any pools, and leave for something between six and twenty-four hours to dry. It sets very hard, but looks loose.

Home stretch now!

W

[heloman1]

Coming together rather nicley Will, I thought you'd dropped/sidelined the project but good to see you're still in touch with it.

Colin

[Madhatter]

this is just insanely amazing Will. Your work is just incredible.

At the risk of sounding like a nit-picker (and believe me - I'm not) but just out of curiosity, how would he attach the cable from the sensor to his back if he's on his own with no one else there to attach it for him? Unless his arms can go backward, it seems like quite the task to plug himself in. Or does the cable retract - like a vacum cleaner power cable?

[Bengalensis]

This is painting and modelling at a fantastic level, really awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[Will Vale]

Thanks folks!

Colin, it definitely wasn't dropped but I did have a break while I painted some minis - I was getting "finishing fear" and it helped to do something else for a bit. Lots of late nights of work too which messes with my hand-eye coordination, but things are a bit calmer now! Here's what I did in the meantime, apart from flailing at the Wessex I should be building

At the risk of sounding like a nit-picker (and believe me - I'm not) but just out of curiosity, how would he attach the cable from the sensor to his back if he's on his own with no one else there to attach it for him? Unless his arms can go backward, it seems like quite the task to plug himself in. Or does the cable retract - like a vacum cleaner power cable?

It's a great question and I have no idea I did a test and with my anatomy I can scratch the back of my neck and indeed most of my back, but I have bendy arms, might not work for the drone. Maybe a co-worker plugs it in, and when he has to run somewhere it unplugs like an EVA power cable? The current cable also limits his freedom of movement to the degree that there'd be no point having a fancy robot, a turret would do as well.

Best not to think too hard about it.

I think the *shape* of the cable is a really great addition though, it completes the "bird of prey beak" curve of his head and provides a leading line for the rear of the base. Not bad for what is essentially recovery from bad planning (I didn't decide to light him early enough in the build).

Cheers,

W

Edited July 29, 2013 by Will Vale

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Think 'endoscope'.....He wouldn't need to plug the cable in, it's part of him, he's a robot! If he decides to download from a sensor pack, the cable would surely just deploy itself autonomously, he wouldn't have to 'consciously' do anything, anymore than we have to think about walking!

Edited July 29, 2013 by Sgt.Squarehead

[Will Vale]

Like an icky mecha-tentacle - dodgy

Well he's finished! I might want to touch up the water a bit and tweak things, but he was done enough to take along to club night. I'll take some proper pictures tomorrow, but here's a teaser of the plants I added:

Covered in bees!

Cool news: Apparently Mr. Sniper is going to be the poster boy for our club show

Will

Edited July 31, 2013 by Will Vale

[heloman1]

Cracking build and model Will, you've kept me captivated. I'm not a Sci-Fi fan but it was your approach and different techniques I liked. Thanks for the trip.

Good news re the club poster boy, a real feather in your cap.

Colin

[Will Vale]

Thanks Colin, I'm glad it was interesting. I've taken some pictures now and put a thread up in RFI

Cheers all!