Thursday, June 25, 2015

Tooling up.


It. Is. Here. 

Project “V” has arrived in the receiving department and is moving to the assembly line.    This is to reinforce the deployment for He-who-must-not-be-named, but it's a surprise.   HWMNBN isn't a follower of this blog, so if any of yawl know  him, shhhhhh.  :)   This one won't be quick, as there is a ton of work to do on it.    Or rather, 80 tons of work. 

The base kit is amazing.  I video'd the actual opening and first-look, and you can see this machine at the link here:.


HWMNBN is used to a standard loadout of  AC20, twin ML's and SRM4.   With the maneuverability of jumpjets and the massive punch of the AC20, it's a brawler's dream, being able to use cover to close the distance and then emerging to open up with a massive fusillade for an Alpha strike. 

He is partial to the paintscheme he had when he ran with the Merc company; one that is black with red highlights.  Black is always a bit of a challenge to get right on scale, and it also means that the weathering techniques have to be more in the reverse from normal.  Instead of darkening up shadows and pits, it'll be the highlights of caked on mud, and flaked paint showing the bare metal and rust underneath that'll be needed.    The trick with all of it is coming up with the paint scheme ahead of time, and making it work with the weathering and damage techniques. 

The major work is going to be the cockpit.   HWMNBN needs an appropriate pilot and internal cockpit build, and I have recently gotten my paws on a set of decent 1mm lights.    The angle of the  screen and the shrouds around the head limit what you're going to be able to view, so the real work is going to be on the pilot himself and the back of the cockpit.  Instrumentation and controls will have to be limited to what can be seen on the side.    The  Maddog and the Timberwolf both  have "above" and "behind" windows that allow the main instrumentation to be seen, but the Victor just doesn't.  Neither does the Warhammer and norr will the Steiner Recon Mech when it arrives.   So the trick here is to merge the "interesting aesthetic" with the "that's a reasonable and expected place for switches/knobs/dials…" look.    The millennium falcon has lights and switches all along the back of the cockpit.   None of them are reachable during the frenetic activity of flight or fight, but they are reasonable pre-flight systems controls or usable by a flight engineer.  Battlemechs are mostly single-pilot and the controls need to be ergonomic and forward.   

Now, as to the "how".. I can see there will be a lot of grinding in my future.  I'll need to hollow out the torso and head, and then build the cockpit and support electronics into it.   I'm wondering if I want to put lights in the jump jets, but that may not.  I'll definitely hollow out the SRM tubes and put in missile tips.   At first blush, I think the best way to build the cockpit will be to just create a tub that sits under the head, and attached to the head so it will track as the head is rotated. 

Oh.. Just had a thought, and I hate myself for it:  I could light the ML's too.  These leds are small enough that they could go behind a lens..   Ok, that might be overkill.

So, back to the cockpit.   Another option I could do would be to make an access hatch.. That'd open up the build to more viewing, and will  rely on heavily modifying the head.   I'll let that bounce around my head. 

Right now, I have my Timberwolf built to be staged for battle.  I could take it out and play battletech on the tables down at Legions.  I'm contemplating making a diorama for the Victor.   If so, what kind?  Battle?  Refit?  Repair?  Battle-aftermath?  All of the above?  Any of the above?  .. Decisions..decisions..   At the very least, I should make an appropriately-sized Hex base to deliver it with…

Of course.. Now *I* want one too.   (But I still need to get through the JR7-D, the WHM-6R, the AS7-FCY , AS7-DDC and the MkIV Mad Dog. ) 
 

Thursday, June 11, 2015

updatedness updates

So here we go.  There is some bench movement, of a sort. 

First, I did  a couple of unboxing videos.   I have two subjects on my to do shelf that I'm starting to cleanup in prep for actual work.  The first is the BadAzz Raptor from BSG. 

The unboxing for that is here

To clarify any possible confusion, I really like this kit.  I have always like the concept of the raptor in BSG and thought the whole UH-1 concept craft helped give that whole atmosphere a more realistic military feel.   The Raptor has a good utilitarian sense to it and this model is a very nice version of it. 

Of course, I plan to light this one.   I need to figure out where and how, but yeah.. This isn't going to be a quick and easy project.  But I'm ok with that.. Why should they be? 

The second unboxing is the Jenner, from Thor's Mechworks.   The unboxing vid is here.

Like most printed items, it has the raised ridges on the surface, but they're really not all that bad.  I've played around a bit with some putty options and it looks like that'll address most of those issues.    I love my SSRM-packin' Jenner in MWO.   

This one..the cockpit will be .. Uhm.. Cramped?  :)   I am unsure at this point how I'm going to handle this.  I think what I may end up doing is prepping a copy of the main body, so if I screw up cutting into this one, I can just do a solid re-paint.  However, the scale is very tight for a 1/60 cockpit.  I may end up having to pull a 1/72 tub to base off of.   I want to make sure I keep it in line with the TimberWolf,  and the others I have in the pipeline. 

… more to come.