Mixed-media Patoroch Land Raider

[g0rb]

Thanks for the kind words Don!

[g0rb]

Built the crew hatches on the top (the back one still needs the last piece, I mucked it up), and attached the headlights to the re-smoothed front surfaces.

The last two pics show the current state of the complete model.
The second of the two shows the rivets I am adding to the model. I make them from sculpy that I press through a sieve I made from cardboard, they are easy to then pop out, bake and attach.

I guess this is the last 20% of the work. That takes 80% of the time

[ShadowCory]

Fascinating! I like the idea of using a mold to replicate parts. Have you tried the silicone and cornstarch method?

[g0rb]

Thanks ShadowCory. The idea to cast miniature tank tracks from a mold is not mine, you can find some examples here:

Making Tracks: Casting Tread Plates for my Rebel Grots
https://creativetwilight.com/making-...-tread-plates/

True Scale Rhinos, Predators, Vindicators, and oh yes...Land
True Scale Rhinos, Predators, Vindicators, and oh yes...Land - + WORKS IN PROGRESS + - The Bolter and Chainsword


As for the silicone mix: I've only tried silicone + lighter fluid, and silicone + soapy water.
As far as I know, silicone + corn starch works well too, but it does result in a stiffer mold, and since I'm casting with fairly fragile material, I wanted the mold to give a bit more.

[g0rb]

Small update: added the little radar dish, a machine spirit symbol, and started on one of the sponson canons.

The radar dish is straight out of the plan, except for the mast (?) which I made out of a short bit of plastic tube.

The machine spirit symbol consists of two parts: a round gear symbol and a skull symbol. I cut out the same gear symbol a couple of times on index card, then stuck them together. Then I made a tiny skull out of out of apoxie clay, created a mold out of sculpy with it, and then used that as a push mold to make more apoxie skulls with. There are lots of little skulls on wh40k gear...

I got started on one of the four sponson canons, but I am not sure that I like it. I might make something myself instead.

[g0rb]

As mentioned before I don't like the standard sponson lascannon weapons much, so I'm trying my hand at designing a multimelta, using openSCAD to get an STL file, which I then feed to Pepakura to unfold and print.

I built up a quick prototype to see how it goes (that is why the body of the weapon is purple, it's the default Pepakura color). It looks ok, but the placement of the vinyl tubing has to change, so I've redesigned it and will build another one.

Also built the crew-hatch mounted weapon, looks like a heavy bolter. For anyone interested, this piece is re-used a lot in Patoroch's models, and the instructions to build it can be found in the Rhino 2008 model.

Also started adding some of the edge trim details.

[g0rb]

Tonight I built the new (and improved! ha!) sponson weapons.

The red tube that sticks out the top will be trimmed, there is a sensor box that goes on top of it. I've added the vinyl tubing again underneath the guns - this time the setup is more forgiving angle-wise, so the tubes look better.

I've also added a little skull, and a purity seal, both made from sculpey.

I used some tubing between the guns to keep the spacing right, so I'll have to cover that up somehow.

[rockpaperscissor]

The swiveling weapons look great! The sculpey enhancements add a new layer of detail. Do you plan to disguise the edge of the corrugated cardboard bracket, or will you leave the openings exposed?

[g0rb]

Thanks Don! Yes, I plan to use strips of various widths of index card to cover up the exposed pieces of edging, such as the bracket. There are a couple of places that need covering.


In the end, I do plan to prime, paint and weather the model, but I want to know that what is underneath is constructed properly

[g0rb]

Sponson weapons, take 3.

I wasn't so happy with the guns, plus it was a tight fit to get them to swivel, so I shortened the design, improved the pipe attachments, and added some more details.

Printed it out, and started construction.

The guns are now more to scale (whatever that means in the 40k universe)
Hopefully, this is the final take...