Photon Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 (edited) I’ve wanted to build a piloted Mech/Powersuit with the driver in an open roll cage for a while now. I recently picked up a set of Polish tank crew figures and decided to have a go. I don’t really have a clear design in mind, other than I’d like to have exaggerated, cartoon proportions, with large arms and shoulders and small legs. Kind of like Bluto from the Popeye cartoons. I started by building the seat out of some leftover polystyrene scraps. The joysticks and foot rest are Gundam parts. They’re kind of chunky and possibly scale-breakers, but I’m playing this one fast and loose. Next, I built up a frame to support the huge arms. This was printed in five parts and assembled around the chair. On either side of the pilots head , I drilled the mounting holes for the roll cage. This will (hopefully) be bent up from some acrylic rod. A bit hard to see, but the black textured piece behind the drivers head is from a video cassette. I also filled out the back with sheet styrene and started to add some kit part details. Under the seat, I’ve added a piece to attach the legs to. I’m happy so far, but slightly unsettled as I have no real plan. I will trust that the Spare-box Muse will lead me down the golden path to kitbash Elysium. that’s it for now. Thanks for looking in. Pete Edited May 16, 2021 by Photon 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 Like the concept, nice details with the cockpit, can't wait to see more! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 4 hours ago, Photon said: I will trust that the Spare-box Muse will lead me down the golden path to kitbash Elysium. Or, just go with the flow, Baby! (Woof Woof!) Often works for me. It looks rather good. I'll keep an eye on your progress from my LayZboy replica of Ripley's Powerloader. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockpopandchips Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 You just know this is going to be good...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon Posted May 23, 2021 Author Share Posted May 23, 2021 I realized that the part that I had mounted to attach the legs to was too wide and was going to make for quite a bow legged stance. So I sawed it off and attached a thinner piece to help bring the legs closer together. There was a rectangular hole left behind, so I took the opportunity to glue some 1:72 tank tracks in place to suggest some mechanical detail within. I also scratched the leg attachment flanges. I tried to align them in-line with the shoulders. I also started to mock-up some arms. I like where this is going, but I'm not too happy with the hands themselves. These are from a early 80's Gunze Sangyo kit and they are fairly crude. I'd like them to be bigger and forming fists. The 1/100 Gundam fists that I have are too small to use here. I may have to scratch build them 😬 . I think the open frame forearm will be a good starting point for some mechanical details. I will need to get the legs sorted before I go too much further with the arms, since I'll need to know how far to separate them from the body to clear the legs. I've got a handful of pieces picked out for the legs, but still need to engineer how everything gets attached. until then, thanks for looking in. Peter 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted May 23, 2021 Share Posted May 23, 2021 Nice work. It all takes time, but it keeps the brain active. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon Posted May 23, 2021 Author Share Posted May 23, 2021 42 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said: It all takes time, but it keeps the brain active. sometimes my brain’s a bit too active... 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted May 23, 2021 Share Posted May 23, 2021 The label on the jar said Abbie Normal. Or something similar. BTW, That's Fronkensteen! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tzulscha Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 No, it's pronounced Eye-gor. Looks good so far Mr Photon! Keen to see how it winds up. I do love this scratch building craze! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 Just a brief note to say that I am still working on this despite the lack of posts. I have taken a brief hiatus to finish a couple of older models that were 98% of the way done before I got distracted with this (& others that have yet to be disclosed here 😳). I always seem to stop 3 feet short of the finish line...a bit pathological, maybe? Usually a model show or contest is needed (ie. a real deadline) for me to actually completely finish something. So, I’ve decided to participate in something with a mid-June deadline, largely to provide a bit of motivation so I can put these older pieces to rest (the Construction Mech & my Spaceship Crash Site DIO). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon Posted June 19, 2021 Author Share Posted June 19, 2021 (edited) Hey friends. I got some time in on this recently and made enough progress to be worth sharing. I formed the roll cage from some ⌀1.5mm acrylic rod. It bent reasonably easily with some gentle help from a heat gun. I bent the rod around a form cut from some thin MDF with the profile of the cage. The cross pieces were cut to length and the cage was gently squeezed by hand while the cement dried. I had been dreading this and I'm chuffed that it turned out as well as it did. if this hadn't worked out, I probably would have tried soldering some brass rod. I also have assembled the legs from an assortment of parts. The feet and lower leg are made from some Evergreen styrene and the armour is Gundam. The upper thighs were some unused bits from the Hasegawa Hitachi excavator. They were thin shells, so I filled them with epoxy putty and drilled the hole for the tube. The tube was capped with some 1:72 tank wheels and a polystyrene 1/2 pearl. The pearl will seat in a spherical depression in the flange on the main body. This should allow me some flexibility to pose the leg while the glue is drying. I'll need to improvise some sort of jig to support the body at the proper height while doing this. Hopefully, this will be able to stand up on its own 😳. I'll probably pin it to a small base, in any case. I'll hopefully be adding some more mechanical details to legs, then onto finishing up the arms. At that point, I'll be on the home stretch. Thanks for looking in. Peter Edited June 19, 2021 by Photon 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 Acrylic rod and a heat gun. Gotcha. Great cage. Nice legs. Like the pearl idea. And it's good to see this back in work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon Posted June 19, 2021 Author Share Posted June 19, 2021 Here it is mocked up. I'm digging the stance... 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Oh man I'm loving the big arm look! Great to see more of this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Nice mock up. Stumpy little legs, but does it need to be tall? Probably not, unless it's to lift stuff onto high shelves/vehicles. It will keep the CG low too. The arm looks good and strong. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 I've added more small details here and there and also got some primer down to both see where things are at and to use in photoshop to help work out a paint scheme. So here are some gratuitous primer pics to geek out on (if you like that sort of thing). I freely admit that I have NFI what colors to paint this. thanks again for any interest. Peter 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 24 minutes ago, Photon said: I freely admit that I have NFI what colors to paint this. JCB (or in the United States) Caterpillar yellow ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 There's a Jerrycan on that arm so therefore it must be Military. Desert yellow. Cockpit green would be different. But, Commercial use? Orange and Blue. Yellow is so last decade. Though it does show up rust very nicely. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 8 hours ago, Photon said: (if you like that sort of thing) Indeed I do! Looks great, and just to throw my hat into the colour options, I'd be tempted to do a light blue with some white bits because I love a retro looking paint job and it would show up rust and weathering really well. Just my two penny's worth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan R Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 How about some kind of rusty red, with a lot of rust marks and streaks... Cheers, Alan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to try and paint over these photos in Photoshop and I'll definitely try these out. As much as I like the idea of the JCB yellow (I think it suits this subject well), having just finished a model of a construction robot, I'm a bit reluctant to "do it again". I'll try mocking it up on the computer, in any case. 15 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said: There's a Jerrycan on that arm so therefore it must be Military. It was my hope that the jerrycans wouldn't be too obvious. My thinking was they were a detail stamped into the sheet metal to give it some strength. I have a bit more work to do on the upper arm armour, anyway. I'll try blending the edge of the can in with some putty. Maybe that will slightly disguise its origins. Thanks for pointing that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 The Jerrycan is the Greeblie of choice for most Sci fi what if type builds. It's easier to spot builds that don't have them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Swedish splinter camouflage! Decision made. No further discussion required. 🤔 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 I saw a farm trailer the other day. It was blue, but that was flaking off/worn off and the original yellow showed along with rusty bits. All of which showed it up as rather second hand, but gave it a history at the same time. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon Posted July 17, 2021 Author Share Posted July 17, 2021 Yes, that’s the kind of finish I’ve had in mind. I’ve been looking at a lot of WWII aircraft colors, particularly the paints for the interiors and the underside of the plane. I think a lot of the original Ma.K colors that Kow Yokohama chose were from WWII aircraft, as well…duck egg, middle stone, Grauviolet, etc. Thanks for posting 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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