Articulated/jointed and super-detailed Flea light scout mech

[Millenniumfalsehood]

I've always loved the tiny little Flea battlemech in the game Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries. It's small, can't take much damage, and has only three hardpoints. But it's FAST, and I had a great deal of fun running around with it, armed with medium lasers, and plinking other mechs to death, heheh. One hit and I was fried, but it was a fun ride nonetheless. So I've decided to build a model of it I found on Blaar's site. Not just a buildup of the rather simple kit, but a fully detailed model with complete articulation, including 3-axis hip and ankle joints. I've done this sort of articulation before, on the Catapult mech:


Fully articulate Catapult battlemech


That was a fun project, too! But it was also put together rather quickly and I didn't do any more than the bare minimum of reinforcement to the overall structure. This time, I'm going all-out on making this little mech as tough as possible so that it can withstand repeated handling from repositioning the legs and torso. I'm also going to try and get it as clean as possible by using spackling and acrylic paint to clean up the join lines and any wrinkles I happen to put in the paper. This will be quite a fun little project!



And as stated in the other thread, I'm still interested in doing stop-motion animation with this model and others. I'll see about learning how to do that when I'm done with this model.



I decided to start off with the hips, as they are the core of the build and everything will build off of them. To begin with, I first glued and cut the lovely panels BLaaR included with the model to help with joint positioning:








I then opened up the black areas of the hips where the mech's mechanical parts poke through the skin and used that to open up the holes on the structural parts. Then I took a second print of the kit and tripled up the hip side panels, then cut out the raised section around the hip opening and glued it in place. I also cut the hole for the torso joint, and then folded and glued the hips together. I glued in the structural parts, as well as a bunch more panels on the inside to make the structure very firm. I also put in two spacers to keep the sides from shifting around while I pushed and pulled the future hip joint pieces through the hole (I figured it would be a tight fit and I wasn't taking any chances of the hip deforming as I worked it around).









Then I began work on the actual hip joint. First I cut a strip of 2mm chipboard which was as wide as the hip joint hole was tall, and then inserted it into the hole to figure out where to cut the round ends.










To make the centers of each hinge part, I first measured the overall width and then marked the halfway point, and then used this measurement to mark the distance from the tip to the center.








After that I poked my eXacto through the board on either side of the centerline, trying to keep it roughly equidistant from the center, then I connected the holes I'd poked by poking four more holes between them.









After I punched the center out, I took a 1/8" dowel and gently forced it into the octagonal hole. On the other side, I trimmed away any material that was forced out of the hole, resulting in a hole that was perfectly sized for the axle pieces.





I repeated this on the other end, then repeated this whole process three times to get four pieces. I had measured how many could fit on either end of the hole (there's a small projection in the center of the hole) and found that it was 8mm wide, so four strips on either end will fit just fine. I then began working on the other hinge parts. I rounded the end of the strip and made a hole in it using the same techniques as before, then I connected it to one of the hinge parts. I then used that to mark where it should be cut to be low profile, yet have plenty of clearance.









Rinse and repeat eight times:






Since I would need to measure the length of the axles and the spacer between the outer hinges, I mocked up two spacers and inserted them into the hip:








I then cut two spacers out of a paper straw and glued two of the outer hinge parts to each of them.








When those were dry, I used a brown Sharpie to color the parts. Paint would be unsuitable as it would add thickness to the parts, which would make them impossible to fit in the hole without trimming.

[Millenniumfalsehood]

After that, I cut two axles, then I began assembling the hinges. After cutting additional spacers to keep the inner hing parts separated at the right distance and gluing them in place, I gently pressed the parts together, then used a hammer to gently pound the axles flush. I finished them off with a dab of superglue gel on each end.











Finally, I cut two half circles and colored them brown, then I inserted the hinge assembly into the hip and capped off the axles with the half circles to keep them from working loose and to give it a more finished look.





I then started on the other axis parts. I first used a sanding stick to gently sand the outer hinge parts flush with each other, then I cut out a piece of chipboard which fit them as close as possible. Then I used the paper straw as a template to cut a hole in it. I then cut a circle and glued it over the square, and then used the hole in the square to cut another one out of the circle.






Then I took the sheet with the leg parts on it and laid it out so I could cut a piece of the straw which was as wide as the thigh. Since it would sink into the hip part a bit, this would ensure that it was long enough to enter the thigh part, but not so long that I would have to trim it down later. I then glued these pieces to the previous assemblies and capped them off with the centers of the holes I'd made.









I then glued these to the hinges, putting a dab of superglue at the top and bottom of each hinge. Since it was superglue gel, it wouldn't flow down and lock up the joint, but it would still provide strength and structure to the hinge. For a little more added security, I put some strips on the tops and bottoms of the outer parts.









The best part of all this is that not only is the joint functional, it's not much bigger than the original simple hip joint supplied in the kit:





Setting aside that part, I began working on the front of the hips, beginning with adding cardboard to the inside of the part. I took the second print and cut out panels from it to use as templates, then cut chipboard backing panels. I was able to give it a little more strength by cutting multiple panels in a single go, then carving out channels in the back of the joints to enable bending.








After reinforcing the interior, I folded up the assembly and glued it together, then I glued it to the hips, then I added some raised details to it that I found on the parts.









I then took some spackling and worked it into the joints to smooth them out. This particular spackling is pink when it's wet, but when it's dry it turns white, which let me know when it was time to begin painting the joints. I then took some Apple Barrel acrylic paints and painted over the joints, then blended them into the body. I also took this time to paint over the dotted fold lines and give it a little weathering on the edges and the hip joints.









That's what I have so far. Next up are the thighs!

[Millenniumfalsehood]

Okay, here are the thigh parts:





First thing I did, much like the hips, was to take the templates provided and glue them to chipboard, then cut them out. After I did that, I used the pieces I made as templates to cut out two more chipboard backs for the skins. I then took one of the outer thigh parts and used it to make cutouts on the outer chipboard backing. There are some cutouts on the CG model which have two big pipes running through them, plus the cutout for the hip joint as well as the reverse knee joint. I made the pipe area just a bit bigger so that the skin would overhang it. This I find looks better than just having the cutaway happen right at the opening on the skin.








I needed to finish the inner sides of the thighs, so I switched over to those panels. I glued the outer panel over the chipboard, then started cutting out the areas that would be sunken in as well as the hole for the hip axle.









There were two quartets of some kind of tubes which I'd need to replicate. I used the parts I cut out of the panels as templates for the backing panels, then I found some Q-tips with plastic shafts that would be perfect for the tubes. I cut eight sections out of one and spray-painted them with Rustoleum X2 black primer so that the acrylic paint would stick to them, then I superglued them to the backing areas, painted them black with gray tubes, and then attached them to the thigh parts.











The next step would be the circular pits on the knee joints. I first backed them with cardstock and painted that dark red, then I cut the raised quarter-circles from the sections I'd removed and painted their sides red. I then glued them in place.











Then it was time to attach them to the hips. I first cut four circles of chipboard with holes that would fit the hip axles, then I slid the inner hip onto the axles followed by one of the circles. After supergluing it to the axle, because the straw I made it from was waxed and PVA wouldn't stick to it, I slid the second circle over it, then trimmed excess hip axle.








Now I could return to the outer hip panels. The first thing I did was add a second layer of chipboard, because I realized that the pits in the side wouldn't be deep enough for the pipes to reside in them. Then I backed them with cardstock. After that I created a jig to help me bend and shape the pipes. I took some coathanger wire and first bent it to the proper angle, then I rough cut it, and then filed it down on both ends till it fit on the jig. Then I superglued it into the pits. I noticed that there were two mounting brackets going across them in the texture, so I took some chipboard and cut out two 3-shapes, then split them each in half and glued them in place. Finally, I painted them with black primer.





















While the primer dried, I glued some strips along the inside of the inner hip pieces to support the strip I'd be gluing around the perimeter.

[Millenniumfalsehood]

After the outer panel pieces were dry I detail painted them, then I glued the skin to them. I noticed on the skin that there was a panel on the front quarter that looked separate from the main skin, so I separated it from the skin and then glued both in place.





I then held the outer part next to the inner part and then used a jury-rigged gauge to figure out how far apart it needed to be. I then used that measurement to cut a strip of chipboard which I could glue in place around the perimeter of the inner thigh.





While that was drying I decided that I needed to keep the joint parts from flexing too much on the inside and possibly working themselves apart, so I glued two circles of chipboard on the inside of the outer panels, then finally I glued them to the inner thigh parts.








After the glue set on that, I took some spackling and spackled the sides to ensure that the whole thing was as square as possible, and after attaching the skin around it and adding some embossed details, I painted the thighs. I also took some cardstock strip, rolled it around my eXacto until it was the diameter I needed, then glued it in the knee joint and added the joint part around it to act as a spacer.









Looking pretty good, if I do say so myself! The uneven tone of the paint looks like it's fading unevenly in person, though I might make it a tad more evened up before I call it done. Next up: the shins!

[Millenniumfalsehood]

This took a while! Hopefully the length and huge number of pics isn't off-putting. I'm trying to document as much as possible so that people can use my build diary to replicate what I did for their own battlemech and robot models. Hopefully it isn't too much. If it is, I'll try and lower the number of pictures I post.

Here are the parts for the shins:



The first thing I did was take the main side pieces and glue them to chipboard, making sure to cut out the panels that would be separate pieces, much like the ones I did on the thighs. Then I took the second copy of the kit parts and tripled them up, then cut out the raised details around the joint and near the ankles and glued them in place. I also painted the sunken areas black with a little brown mixed in.



The next part I assembled was the knee actuator covers. I first beefed up the thickness of the part and cut out the center, then after backing it with the second kit's parts I cut the bolts out of the areas I'd cut away and then glued them in place. I then assembled them, and after the glue dried I attached them to the shins.



After that was done it was time to build the ankle parts, since they would be integrated with the shins. First, I glued a strip of cardstock to a piece of chipboard a little bigger than the ankle parts, then I held a 1/8" dowel next to it and tightly wrapped the cardstock around it and glued it down, taking care not to get any on the dowel so I could remove it later. This tightness ensured that the ankle, which has to hold up the entire 'mech, won't shift around too much when the leg is angled. I then built up the part so that the joint would be robust. After that, I glued on the sides of the ankle joints and then trimmed them, then I cut the centers out. Finally, I cut out the flange that goes around the joint piece and glued it in place, and then painted the parts.







When the parts were dry, I then began working on the pin that the ankles would hinge on inside the shin. I first wrapped a dowel in card until it fit snugly in the ankle parts, then I cut it free, leaving a small amount exposed to give the glue joint more bite. Then I held the ankle part on the ankle and marked where the joint should be to have the most travel and then carved a hole in it. After forcing a dowel into it to make sure it was the proper size, I superglued the pin I made in place, with the extra bit I left on the end going into the hole I made. Then I test-fit the ankle parts to make sure they still worked and to make sure they held up the entire assembly.







Next I began gluing on the side walls. I used the same technique as before with the thighs to figure out how wide to cut the strips of chipboard, using my custom gauge to get a proper width. I paid close attention to the art on the edges of the shin and glued in a channel for some ribbed hose to fit in later. After gluing on the sides, I started considering the ankles. Eventually they'd start to get loose as the interior got worn down from use, so I decided to add in a spring-loaded brake to keep them from moving when the 'mech was resting. I pulled apart two mechanical pencils and ripped out the springs and alignment pins, then I cut two solid blocks of chipboard and cut V-grooves in the ends. I also cut receiving slots for the springs. After putting a liberal amount of superglue gel on the slots, I pushed the springs into them and let them dry, then I put the alignment pins in the other ends and set them aside. I glued a block of chipboard inside the leg and then inserted the spring parts, and then I glued in strips of chipboard to make a slot for the spring to ride in. This was done so that the spring wouldn't flex back and forth, forcing all of its potential energy into clamping the brake onto the ankle. I then pushed the inner shin parts onto the knee joint and glued chipboard washers to it to hold it in place.











Finally, I glued the side of the shin down, trapping the spring and ankle part inside. I put a drop of superglue gel on the ankle pin as well. The brakes worked wonderfully to keep the ankles from spinning freely and as-is, they can hold the current assembly upright on their own. I'm confident they'll be able to hold up the whole mech when it's finished.



After that was dry I cut out the exterior skins, starting with the skin around the back end of the shin. It has a cutout on it for a ribbed hose, which would need to be made as well. I tacked it in place, along with one of the side-pieces for the yellow bits on the back to help me make the hoses. I started with paper Q-tip/cotton bud shafts and bent them to fit the right profile. After that, I marked on them where the ribbed parts were and then used their width to calculate their circumference using pi. I used this number to cut a strip of thinner (90lb) cardstock and then cut out pieces to glue onto the paper core. After painting them black and then drybrushing successively lighter shades of gray, I then glued them in place.

[Millenniumfalsehood]

After that was done, I applied spackling around the shins and squared it off, then glued down the skin around it. I also assembled the yellow side pieces for the ribbed hose and glued them down, and then I assembled the front tubes and glued them in place. Finally, I gave the entire assembly a coat of paint and weathered it.







The final parts to be added were the sideways axles for the ankle parts. I made these out of wood entirely for durability. First I cut out four end pieces from a strip of craft wood, then cut holes in the centers with my eXacto. I didn't want to risk a drill ripping these small pieces apart, and even the gentler approach with the eXacto knife split one of the parts. After that, I glued strips of cardstock around their sides to make them look more detailed, and then I glued a piece of dowel to two of them. After painting them gray, I inserted them into the ankle parts and glued the other piece down using superglue (again, for durability). The thin, regular superglue flowed into the joints, but didn't go into the ankle parts themselves because of a slight gap I engineered into it to make sure this didn't happen. After that, I painted the front parts gray and tested them to make sure they would hold up the entire assembly. Luckily, they did. I won't be spring-loading these joints because I probably won't have room for it in the feet (though I might give it a shot anyway).







That's it for now! Next time: the feet!

[bigpetr]

Just beautifull, looks realy solid.

[rickstef]

The pictures are perfect, and the right amount.

This is next level stuff, so far the build looks phenomenal.

[Millenniumfalsehood]

Thanks guys!

The next phase of construction was the feet. These proved to be more complicated than I thought, but mainly because they just felt simple to me. First, the parts laid out:



I decided first to start with the base of the feet. Since this model will be used in stop-motion animation, that meant there needed to be a socket in the feet for a pin so that the model won't shift around as it's being adjusted between frames. I began by separating the panel on the bottom of the foot from the outer edges, then glued those edges to a piece of chipboard. Then I glued this to another piece of chipboard and marked the centerpoint on the back for cutting, since I didn't want to mark on the already-painted parts. I then cut a hole for the pin socket. Then I took the inner parts and trimmed them back a bit, glued them to chipboard, and then carved holes in them. After pressing a 1/8" dowel into them to widen the holes to the proper size, I glued in short pins made from the same dowel into the holes. Then I pushed these "plugs" into the bottoms of the feet to make sure they'd fit. The grooves around them were handy because I could insert a pair of tweezers into them and use these to grasp the plug and pull it out. There's plenty of friction to keep the plug in otherwise.











The next task would be to make the sides of the feet. I cut one of the spare side pieces out and figured out where the axles for each toe joint should be, then I laid the foot bottoms on the side parts and marked a line representing the tops of the foot bottoms. This presented a bit of a problem, as the joints were below the edge of the bottom parts, meaning I'd need to cut channels for the joint axles into them. I used the holes on the side piece to mark where to cut the bottoms, and then carefully cut out holes for the axles. I then cut several small sections of dowel and superglued them in place, using gel to give them a little bit of body.





The next part would be to make the side frames. I used the piece I cut to cut out four pieces of chipboard in the right shape, cut down to account for the thickness of the bottoms. Then I cut notches in them so they'd fit over the axle pieces. I glued these down, then I cut some pieces of chipboard to go between them. These would both serve as a spacer for the side frames as well as a place for the ankles to glue, so I held the legs up to the side frames and marked on them where the spacer parts would go. I then glued the spacers in place and added some card to them to make sure the fit between the spacers and the ankles was snug.





After that was finished, I turned my attention to the sockets for the pins. I cut some 90lb card into a strip and then sanded the end to a razor point to make it roll up easier. Then I began wrapping it around a 1/8" dowel to make it into a tube. I wanted the walls of the tube to be rather thick since it would support the entire mech when it was balanced on one leg. After both were made, I glued them in place, then glued a cover plate over it to make sure the pins wouldn't poke through the top skin. I also glued in blocks of chipboard where the ankles would reside so that they would have something to rest on while the glue was setting and to give the glue joints more bite. I tested them out to make sure the ankles aligned with them, and used the opportunity to test out the sideways joints. They ended up being less stiff than I wanted, but that's okay. What's important is that the front to back joints in the ankles are very stable thanks to the spring-loaded brakes.









Next up would be to skin the feet. I cut out all the panels, then started with the sides. I used the previously cut panel to cut holes in each side piece and then glued it in place. Then I began skinning the front and back. I had to cut out holes for the ankle parts, but this was otherwise a straightforward part of the build.



Then I began to make the toes. This began with cutting out the sides of a front and back toe, then setting it on that side panel I'd been using and marking where they best fit. I also cut the bottoms of the toes, since I planned on building the treads on them Then I cut the side panel piece on these lines, since I wasn't using it anymore, and then glued these pieces to the toe side pieces. I cut out the holes so I could use them to mark the joint holes in the toe structures. It was then time to cut the structural pieces. I used these toe skins to cut solid and holed structural pieces, then I slid the holed piece onto one of the toe axles and then cut off the part of the template that had the hole in it and held it onto the toe structural part. I then marked on this template where I would need to cut it in order for the last part to have clearance when the toe was bending. Then it was just a matter of cutting out the right number of pieces. The inner pieces are marked with X's to make left- and right-side pieces. This is because when cutting, I glue them to chipboard first and run my blade around them, and since I'd need to make them three layers thick, it needed to be done twice per toe, which would introduce errors into the parts. Making them right and left handed would ensure than any errors in the parts would be as symmetrical as possible.

[Millenniumfalsehood]

Then it was time to assemble the toes. I first glued the inner parts to the part with the joint hole and test-fit it to make sure it fit right. After that, I slid the toes onto the axles and cut out eight washers to glue over them, then attached the toes with them. I then cut the bottoms of each toe. Before I could glue them, I would have to cut notches in them to account for the foot parts. When that was done, I glued them in place, then glued on the outer frame parts.















Finally, the last thing that needed to be done was to skin the toes. I did this, while also adding some raised panels on the front ones. Then after they were skinned I began making the tread parts. This was done by taking some chipboard and cutting very thin strips of it, which I then soaked in superglue to give them some structure. Chipboard is made from layers of thinner material compressed and glued together, so with the parts being this small there was a decent chance they'd come apart while painting. After the glue had set, I chopped them into short segments, then glued them onto the bottoms of the toes and trimmed them. After trimming, I used a sanding stick to make them all level and then add bevels to their sides for visual interest.







Then I began painting the feet. Since the toes often scrape through grass and get banged around quite a bit, I made sure to give them quite a bit of wear, mud, and rust. Finally, when the paint had dried, I glued them to the legs.





Man... it's starting to look like a BattleMech! I'm really happy with how this is turning out so far! Though I will need to do some repair next time. One of the toes popped loose, which will basically require a rebuild. But that's not going to be a big deal.

Next up: the body!