Mass Effect M35 MAKO Build Attempt

[ThunderChild]

Just a note to anyone building the Mako, parts A7, A8 and A9 are missing some tabs that joins them to A1. Not a big deal I'm sure but an error on my part nonetheless.

[imavingalaughaswell]

ok i'm going to try to explain why i stopped building it .. this will appear to be a bit long so sorry ..

To me there are several ways that model designers design thier models ,what ever way a designer chooses i respect their choice and what im putting here should not really reflect badly, its just my own opinion based on my abilities and experience as a model builder..

one way is to use what i will call the "box" method ..
When you build the model you are building a series of different shaped boxes that all join together to make a completed model ..my examples of this would be maybe the yamaha papercraft kits and maybe some of paper-replika kits which im sure you are all familiar with..

"Box" type models are great but have , and create major issues for a builder of my abilities ..first you have to get good score lines else when you fold the "box" it will not match what it should look like , these need to be clear e;g a black score line on a black coloured part causes an issue!!

then you have the issue with warping and destortion of the boxes , this is directly affected by the score lines,if you scoreing is not spot on you have to push or pull the part to make the joins line up ,this creates distortion in the part itself..

hope i'm makeing sense so far????

so instead of ending up with a part with a nice flat face to join on to another part,its either concaved or convexed (think thos are the words) or maybe it has a twist to it ..and when you have this over and over with the parts it makes a big difference to the overall model build and look..

oh and another thing that affect this is choice of building materials ...paper or card thickness , the glues you use..

So on to the next type of model design which i will call "continious".
where you use many parts to create a continious 3d model ..errm if that makes sense ..let me just see if i can find a few examples ...Canon papercraft have some in there animal section..

where you are making open ended boxes/tubes that join together to make one big continious 3d part..

again thes are great but have the same issues with score lines affecting the outcome , but because you are not closing of the boxes its easier to deal with,although you can still get distortion warping etc its easier to handle with these typs of model..

ok i hope ive explained a little about what i think are the differences with types of model design ..

but how did this directly affect this design???

so the major issue was the weight and visibilty of the score lines ,on the few parts i built i had to Guess where the some score lines should go , this is not good , if they were bigger parts you could get away with lines being out a little..but in this model some of the parts a small.and because it was a "box" type design there was no real room for errors..
Now this could well be down to my printer /ink / paper/ card i'm using , i don't know ...but i have to say i use the same materials with all my builds and never really have any issues..

When i made the first two "boxes" (A1-A2) and (A3-A4) thay looked great until i tried to join them , you can't see it in my pictures but when i joined them together i had i big gap on one side of the glueing face, so i knew right away this was going to cause big issues as i progressed through the build ..


any way enough waffle...

Thunderchild...

Thankyou for this model ,its a very nice design and i hope someone will create a build thread and give it the justice it clearly deserves , but it is beyond my current abilities and experience as a builder..

[ThunderChild]

Thanks for the explanation imavingalaughaswell, it makes sense.

I found that the continuous method has the same problems though. If I add a warped part, everything added to it will get warped to a degree and the entire model will look skewed in the end. But then again I'm not a very good modeler to begin with. :D

Like you said, everyone has their own preferred method of design and building. in the end there is not really a right or wrong.

[Zathros]

I do have a solution for you, but totally respect you desire and opinion, which in fact I share, which lead me to this method. I was building the Galileo Shuttle from the Original Star Trek, and was so mad at how I could not seem to make folds parallel to each other. Ending up with a model that looked like "misaligned warp nacelles" tweaked it!!

I cut the model up, where I felt uncomfortable with the folds, and made 90 degree pieces to glue the parts together. I would glue one side first, using a table to align the pieces I made with the sides and used a paper of similar thickness to compensate and push back the pieces, that way, when I glued the next pieces on, the would be flush and form a nice edge. This worked out great, and since I used a heavier gauge paper for the "folded gluing pieces", it had the benefit of creating a structural component. I never fold a piece past the angle that is needed. It worked for me. I have seen your work and you are more than capable of cutting up parts. I think that folded parts do have accrued intolerance issues, and this is a result of the method they are made. Some extra steps could fix this, but, a builder could do this, and in fact, many builders do many things with their models to produce their desired results. Just an opinion.

[Vermin_King]

It is always a shock when I do a wheeled vehicle, if all the wheels touch the ground without tweaking. Some warping is always there. I think that when I build this, I will do like I see in the small tank builds so often ... dry fit more than once. It's sort of like carpentry -- measure twice, cut once. Only here it is dry fit twice, glue once. Another thing I have had good luck with is starting at the middle and working to the ends. Errors don't seem to compound as much that way.

[Alan Pulido]

Not bad attempt. I didn't like the wheels though. Can they actually move? Btw, what type of papper did you use?

[toudi sk]

Alan Pulido: the heels stick firmly, but is sure possible make it moving.
I try build this model too and use cardboard 160gr/m, but better is print it on 120gr/m, because is problem with thickness of paper.

Hi ThunderChild, very nice model with great textures, but may I ask you, can you make center crosses to circular parts to for cutting with compass circle cutter please? Something like this.



And maybe divide the tire crosswise to make a plastic pattern too.

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[elliott]

The last time Thunderchild posted in this thread was over 6 years ago and he hasn't visited the forum in over 18 months so I wouldn't be holding my breath waiting for a response.

[toudi sk]

Thx for info, so i have to go my own way. :D

One of the ways how to make rotating wheels.

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[elliott]

Didn't mean you had to leave; we'd much prefer you stick around. Just don't expect a fast response in this case, that's all. Still, you never know...