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This evening, on tales from the Gonk factory....

Great to see things back in production. I too like the yellow one. Is that contrasting colour dark sea grey?

What if it had a tail hanging at the back? It could be how it plugs in to recharge.

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On 28/07/2021 at 15:08, Hunter Rose said:

The bottom one has a cool A Wing vibe, but I really like the black and yellow, it reminds me of Claptrap from the Borderlands games, definitely gets my vote! 

 

Yes, there is a bit of similarity. I've re-worked the yellow one now to incorprate some white areas like Claptrap has. It's still a work in progress, but I think I'll be going with yellow in some form.

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On 28/07/2021 at 18:03, Pete in Lincs said:

Great to see things back in production. I too like the yellow one. Is that contrasting colour dark sea grey?

What if it had a tail hanging at the back? It could be how it plugs in to recharge.

 

It's more of a faded black, but I might try it with grey as well. I like the idea of the tail. Like one of those auto retract power cords on a vacuum that always break.

 

I realised I'd forgotten to show the back of the upper body before. I've modelled it with an inset section where the main connections or controls will be. The back of that inset area then has a slightly recessed rectangle.

 

51345748904_a2f044cd34_b.jpg

 

That recess was designed to hold the cover panel from C-3P0's back. I've got a couple of these left over from the Bandai kits I've build, and I figured that droid manufactureres would use common parts across different models.

 

51345003776_feaeed7190_b.jpg

 

This is the faceplate for the front. I wanted something with a vertical format, and it's going to have a central 'eye' like R2. The plate drops into the recess on the front.

 

51345748644_76ee7989a4_b.jpg

 

51345748594_102fd0a99e_b.jpg

 

For the eye, I've got this sheet of glossy stickers that have a domed convex surface that reflects the light nicely.

 

51345006346_feeb499710_b.jpg

 

The hole in the faceplate was scaled to the smallest sticker on the sheet, and it's ended up fitting perfectly (surprising for something I've designed). The adhesive on the back of the stickers has been printed in a dotty pattern that can be seen through the translucent resin of the sticker, and actually looks pretty good I think. I've used a dark orange one for the photo, but I'll just pick whichever one looks best with the final colour of the droid.

 

51345006291_4862b07c37_b.jpg

 

Speaking of colour, here's a few more tests. I'm still favouring the yellow, but I need to sort out which areas to paint black and/or white.

 

51345940900_d124113f80_b.jpg

 

51344923151_f2a1904163_b.jpg

 

51344923001_4690f5f65d_b.jpg

 

Andy:cat:

 

 

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The middle one above is probably more in keeping with the usual Star Wars colours, I think. But I still like the yellow one above.

Is that Graffiti on the one above? Nice idea. 

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Looks like yellow it is. But I'm glad you've added some contrast to them, the first colour test on the previous page was a bit too much yellow.

 

Either way I trust your eye Andy. It always tends to work out looking great.

 

Glossy eye sticker looks great !

Edited by Portaler
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      Anyone for greebles?

 

51360520632_269a1aaa3b_b.jpg

 

51361500103_12319d9a88_b.jpg

 

51361499948_ebcf3e201c_b.jpg

 

51362286790_f5d52dbc7a_b.jpg

 

These all printed far more cleanly than I was expecting really, given the small size. For reference, the little round plug thingies in a row of eight on the sprue strips are each 1mm in diameter. The larger ones in a row a six are 1.8mm. Printer resin is rubbish for showing detail until it's painted, so the CAD image of the designs below shows them better.

 

51361279126_2f8813b00a_b.jpg

 

Some of these will end up on the Gonk, in particular the centre plug on the strip of six, the square one with the rounded corners and the hole in the middle. That one's going to be the plug on the trailing cable for Pete's tail idea.

 

Andy:cat:

 

 

 

 

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On 7/30/2021 at 8:08 AM, Andy Moore said:

 

It's more of a faded black, but I might try it with grey as well. I like the idea of the tail. Like one of those auto retract power cords on a vacuum that always break.

 

I realised I'd forgotten to show the back of the upper body before. I've modelled it with an inset section where the main connections or controls will be. The back of that inset area then has a slightly recessed rectangle.

 

51345748904_a2f044cd34_b.jpg

 

That recess was designed to hold the cover panel from C-3P0's back. I've got a couple of these left over from the Bandai kits I've build, and I figured that droid manufactureres would use common parts across different models.

 

51345003776_feaeed7190_b.jpg

 

This is the faceplate for the front. I wanted something with a vertical format, and it's going to have a central 'eye' like R2. The plate drops into the recess on the front.

 

51345748644_76ee7989a4_b.jpg

 

51345748594_102fd0a99e_b.jpg

 

For the eye, I've got this sheet of glossy stickers that have a domed convex surface that reflects the light nicely.

 

51345006346_feeb499710_b.jpg

 

The hole in the faceplate was scaled to the smallest sticker on the sheet, and it's ended up fitting perfectly (surprising for something I've designed). The adhesive on the back of the stickers has been printed in a dotty pattern that can be seen through the translucent resin of the sticker, and actually looks pretty good I think. I've used a dark orange one for the photo, but I'll just pick whichever one looks best with the final colour of the droid.

 

51345006291_4862b07c37_b.jpg

 

Speaking of colour, here's a few more tests. I'm still favouring the yellow, but I need to sort out which areas to paint black and/or white.

 

51345940900_d124113f80_b.jpg

 

51344923151_f2a1904163_b.jpg

 

51344923001_4690f5f65d_b.jpg

 

Andy:cat:

 

 

My favorite is the Green, orange, then yellow. Of course I think the yellow would be perfect for the mining guild colors. 

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3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

My favorite is the Green, orange, then yellow. Of course I think the yellow would be perfect for the mining guild colors. 

 

Ah, thanks so much Dennis, that's perfect. I'd forgotten about the mining guild colours being black and yellow. He's now got an identity; an over-worked mining guild droid, slowly starting to rust away. I'll just need to draw up the guild logo and find someone to print out some decals.

As for the other colours, that's the beauty of 3D printing; I can make as many of these as I want now, so I'm sure I'll end up doing the other schemes eventually.

 

12 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Remind me later in the year to send a begging letter to Santa for a printer.

 

With the Mars 3 coming out in the near future, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of Mars 1 and Mars 1 pros (the one I've got) going cheap when people upgrade. It still amazes me what a relatively cheap resin printer can do, and once you've got one you have an almost limitless supply of parts.

 

Andy:cat:

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In light of Dennis's suggestion of a mining guild droid, I've reworked the yellow version slightly and added the guild logo (and a lot more weathering), and this is the one I'll be going with. Just need to get some decals printed for the logo and text.

 

51363346368_69ffa44ed2_b.jpg

 

     I also did one in a dark grungy finish that will get used on either another quad gonk or some other future droid.

 

51363857794_f4cbbb46b7_b.jpg

 

I've just finished priming the main components with Mr Surfacer. I'll give that a couple of days to fully harden before rubbing it back and giving it a quick polish, then I should be ready to start getting some paint on it.

 

Andy:cat:

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Nice decision Andy. Yellow always looks good with the contrast of dark gunk etc on it.

 

Quick question on the Mr Surfacer prep while we're waiting. I thought it was essentially a primer, but why the rubbing back and polish ? Or are you applying with a brush and rubbing back gives a better surface finish ?

Edited by Portaler
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On 08/08/2021 at 18:58, Portaler said:

Quick question on the Mr Surfacer prep while we're waiting. I thought it was essentially a primer, but why the rubbing back and polish ? Or are you applying with a brush and rubbing back gives a better surface finish ?

 

Yes, it's basically a primer that comes in different grades. I'm using 1000 which is kind of like a micro filler and primer. I'm airbrushing it and it leaves a nice even surface, but it's quite matt and it benefits from giving it a quick rub with a fine sanding pad, or even an old t shirt or something, just to smooth out the surface, especially if you're going with a glossy top coat.

 

So, firsty, appologies that I keep posting artwork instead of model shots, but I want to nail down the colours before I start painting so I'm not having to wing it later on. Having said that, I'm now going to post some more artwork🙄

 

I'm definately going with the yellow and black mining guild scheme, but the sketch I'd done previously was based on a an earlier photo when I didn't have all the final bits and pieces printed. I really needed to redo it with everything in place, so I know exactly what colour everything's going to be, which I've now done.

The one thing I'm still unsure about is the white section under the mining guild emblem. @Will Vale mentioned that it would look better with an even border of yellow around it, which I agree with, but I'm still not sure if it looks better with or without the white panel. I've drawn up both versions, so I'd love to hear which people prefer, or it anyone's got any other suggestions.

 

51369123612_73843dc647_b.jpg

 

51370615269_a6f4158cc2_b.jpg

 

I had to temporarily stick all the bits onto the model to take the photo I used for the sketch so I'll post those too, so at least this update actually has some model shots in it, and you can see how it'll look in it's final form.

 

51370885455_1c1b08cd4a_b.jpg

 

The main body has had the primer coat now, so it's essentially ready for paint. I've also attached the mesh grilles behind the openings on the front and sides, and added some guitar string cables to the feet.

 

51369881681_68fb3d4c9f_b.jpg

 

All the small details are in place here, but I'll be removing them to paint separately.

 

51370106963_8a17e05bca_b.jpg

 

Andy:cat:

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Lovely work, and the sketches are so good you almost don't need to make the model now :)

 

I'm not sure about the white panel - I think the bordered one is better than the rectilinear one, now I find myself wondering if it should be a white field for just the logo? Or maybe plain yellow - you could always get a tiny block of white/yellow hazard stripes on there somewhere. I can see that having some white somewhere will make the yellow look more saturated by contrast.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

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I like the one with just the black logo on the yellow, personally I think the white doesn't look right only because the other smaller logo doesn't have one and there is no other white on there. Like Will said you could add some other details like the hazard striping and throw some white in which would help tie it in of you want to keep it, but I actually like that it doesn't break up the yellow and keeps that looking like a strong main colour.

 

Just my two pennys worth!

 

Oh and its nice to see some gratuitous bare model shots! :D

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From my point of view, the plain yellow is a bit bland, however the white panel breaks it up, but it's a bit too much.

 

So yeah, yellow, but with something a bit more subtle with the logo than the white to break the pure yellow would be my vote.

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Stellar work Andy.  My suggestion is to go with the plain black logo.  Looks good, makes more 'sense' in that I don't see many companies adding a another colour to there machines if they don't need to and it looks more like the machines I normally work around in construction. Just for grins I suggest to remove the thick black mid section as well, keep the back belt, to lighten the colour scheme even more.  That way the two thin oval vents stand out more and you could do a nice dark sooty stain to make them pop even more.  I suppose you could use a light sooty stain on the dark panel so maybe....  Looking forward to what you end up doing.      

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Thanks for the input everyone.

 

I agree, the white wasn't really working, but at the same time I felt the plain yellow was a little too bland. In the end I've settled for having a white band around the bottom edge of the upper body. I think it gives the design a bit more pop without being too obtrusive.

On 14/08/2021 at 14:11, ScanmanDan said:

Just for grins I suggest to remove the thick black mid section as well, keep the back belt, to lighten the colour scheme even more.  That way the two thin oval vents stand out more and you could do a nice dark sooty stain to make them pop even more.

 

Thanks Dan,

Yes, I agree, having the mid section in yellow would highlight the vents better, but I really like the contrast between the black and yellow. My plan is to have the yellow fairly glossy, like painted metal, then have the black sections in matt to look more like the kind of moulded trim pieces you see on plant machinery.

 

So, this is the final design (so long as I can get the decals printed)

 

51383682991_40012179db_b.jpg

 

Getting that sorted has meant that I've been able to make a start on painting. I wanted to do the chipping on the yellow parts with masking fluid, so the first job was to lay down a coat of dark rusty brown.

 

51383934148_cb36dc01db_b.jpg

After that was dry I applied the masking fluid, mainly with the tip of a toothpick to keep the chips as small as possible, then sprayed a white basecoat in preparation for the yellow.

 

51383934113_99bc883534_b.jpg

 

I masked off the white band on the bottom of the upper body, then sprayed the first coat of yellow. This was a fairly pale lemon yellow to which I added another layer of masking fluid, so the pale yellow will show through in places under the final yellow coat.

 

51382924732_2df41206e0_b.jpg

 

The final coat was more of a golden yellow, and once that was dry I removed the masking. The result of the chipping isn't too bad, but I'll probably go back and refine them with some brush painted chips later on.

 

51382924682_ee23d47e86_b.jpg

 

The paler yellow doesn't show up that well until you get close up, but it does add a bit of subtle variation to the finish. A lot of it may well get lost under the subsequent weathering though.

 

51383682796_32a6cf6097_b.jpg

 

Next job will be to mask off the yellow parts ready for painting the black sections.

 

Andy:cat:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah ditto to Hunter Rose. Good decision in the end imo. I can see some stanley knife scratches being added more in the centre of those big flat panels.

 

Love how there are up to 2 layers of chipping colour coming through. I can see why a graphic visualisation can really help. It does my head in thinking how multiple layers will look, when to put on shipping fluid etc.

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On 8/7/2021 at 10:17 AM, Andy Moore said:

With the Mars 3 coming out in the near future, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of Mars 1 and Mars 1 pros (the one I've got) going cheap when people upgrade. It still amazes me what a relatively cheap resin printer can do, and once you've got one you have an almost limitless supply of parts.

 

Andy:cat:

Yeah the days of hoarding odds and ends and looking through $1 shops for greeblie stuff are defintely numbered !

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4 hours ago, Portaler said:

I can see why a graphic visualisation can really help. It does my head in thinking how multiple layers will look, when to put on shipping fluid etc.

 

Yes, it definately helps to have something to work from, especially when the thing you're making is completely made up.

 

 

Apologies fro the slow rate of updates on this. I've done a little more work, which I'll post below, but I'm really waiting to see if I can get the decals printed. I've contacted someone about it, but still waiting to hear back. If anyone knows someone who can print decals I'd love to hear.

 

So, as I said, I've got a little more work done. The black parts of the body have been sprayed, after masking off the yellow sections. There are various shades of dark grey/black used here to give a faded/weathered look. I just randomly mixed drops of blue, red, sand and green into the black paint to get different tones across the surface. They're pretty subtle and don't show up that well in the photos, but they look better in person.

 

51393040013_989b9569ab_b.jpg

 

With the masking removed, some of the edges will need tidying up a little, but otherwise it turned out okay. The black sections will get some further weathering, as per the illustration, but then the body sections will be essentially done until I can get the decals printed.

 

51392778566_457cb3f52b_b.jpg

 

51393512364_912830ec9a_b.jpg

 

In the mean time I'll make a start on painting the various greebles. I've already got the main base coats on the feet and legs, and weathering them will be the next job.

 

51393793560_d9fc63e2ce_b.jpg

 

     Andy:cat:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Work's still progressing on the quad, albeit at a snails pace. I'm still waiting to hear about the decals, so I can't really do much more painting or weathering on the main body parts for now. I have beent painting some of the smaller details though including the mid band and the bumper panels. I was originally going to paint the small side shields separately, but in the end I decided it would be quicker to glue them in place on the mid band and paint everything together. It did make getting paint behind the shields a little harder but otherwise it worked out better this way. The front and rear bumper panels were still painted separately, then glued into place after I'd done the weathering. Paint was satin black lightened with a drop of sand brown, after which the weathering was done with a light grey using a combination of brush painted chips and scratches and some rough dry brushing.

 

51426076848_98fd39f36f_b.jpg

 

I used the same weathering method on the black areas of the upper and lower body, and I've masked and sprayed the red border around the recessed panel on the rear body. I can't really take these parts any further now until I get the decals sorted.

 

51425081542_27d4ab0099_b.jpg

 

51426588619_3fd62bf02b_b.jpg

 

So this is how he's currently looking with the feet in place. Still some more detail parts to add, and plenty more weathering to do.

 

51425827716_af2133492a_b.jpg

 

Andy:cat:

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Nice weathering Andy. Not overdone and the black mixes came out well.

Here's an idea to keep you busy.

The holes in the top centre are for batteries?

So one battery in there with a coiled wire plugged into it leading to a magnetic hand held torch (flashlight) stuck to the side of the gonk.

Or to take it a bit further, a basket on the side containing an electric drill etc, also plugged in?

This is a mobile workmate. A little Black & Decker decal would be good! :laugh:

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  • 1 month later...

Amazing catch up Andy. Gonk and quad Gonk  are a feast for the eyes and the mind of a would be print junkie. I love your use of printing and trad modelling it works well and it’s exactly the direction I’m going for too. Two questions if you don’t mind. 
1. what did you search for to get the tubing. I had a similar idea for Hewey as I have some old water tube in the cellar from when we had an 80s caravan. This is too big but searching for thin tubing on ebay gets me. Well. Not that type of thin tubing, especially when I added.    “ribbed” into the mix. 🤪

 

2. how big is said gonk? My current pieces only just fit on the plate. To be fair I should have gone smaller but…. I didn’t wanna.  I’m curious to see if it’s as big as Hewey.

 

I’ll tag along if that’s ok. I will scavenge ideas left right and center. Hopefully one day my oil spills will look half as good as yours.

 

Johnny.

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