Sandcrawler project

Finally...once I mold these parts and cast them, I can go back to actual model-building/kitbashing. I'm looking to have the molds done tomorrow, Disneyland on Saturday, and then cast on Sunday/Monday, plus start working on other areas of the outside of the case Sunday/Monday. The rear areas will have to wait til the casts are done and on the model. For size reference, the cylindrical part pictured first is about 3.5" tall I think (haven't actually measured it), and the other piece is about 5.5" tall.

First up, the part that, on the original model, was a Saturn V rocket stage topped by a car model hubcap:
(with flash):

(without flash..my lights are really yellow):

Next up, a machinery assemblage that on the original model was made of Harrier and other jet engine parts, from what I can tell. this is about the only angle it'll be viewed from once it's on the model:

Other angles:

And finally, what happens when I get REALLY tired of working the same #$#$@# piece over and over and I just wanna do something DIFFERENT...with scrap clay...

I can't begin to describe how glad I am to be done with these. I might go back and fix little things before I mold them, but while I know they're not perfectly symmetrical, I'm not going to worry about it. They look decent from the limited viewing angles when they're on the model, and that's what matters :) comments are welcome though...BTW, all those strips of silvery-ness on the one part: I used solder to create raised lines in the final cast. It was pliable and easy to put on, much easier and more visible than the thin copper wire I tried first.

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Originally Posted by artoodeeto

And finally, what happens when I get REALLY tired of working the same #$#$@# piece over and over and I just wanna do something DIFFERENT...with scrap clay...

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LMAO!!! hahahahahaah :banana:

Great sculpting dude! it's really hard to make things in real 3d without a pc :P

thanks! yeah, it was pretty tough. I'm in the middle of mold-making now...using brushable latex. In the future, I'm going to switch to a 2-part silicone rubber that's pourable. I had no idea the latex would take as long to cure as it does, so what I thought would take an afternoon (to make the molds) is going to end up taking days. Oh yeah, and the beastly stuff has ammonia in it. So it stinks. Fortunately not TOO badly, but I still smell ammonia all day.

wicked dude:D i am going to +rep you not only for the great work, but for the sg atlantis sig:P

alrightie, here's some more progress! pics below include my completed molds (which are now holding the casting resin, poured this morning and now curing and giving me a headache even though they're in the extra bathroom w/door shut and window open), and my initial attempts to sort through the seemingly bazillion old model parts. I actually just bought a box of old model car parts, looks like mostly engine parts, which I've discovered look the best. all sorts of pipes and things just looks perfect, and in my initial stash I didn't have enough. Hopefully once I get this box of goodies from the seller, I'll be able to finish off the detailing the way I want to. I also can't WAIT to get the cast parts on the model. I'll demold the first set tomorrow night, and assuming all goes well, pour casting set #2 tomorrow night. Again if all goes well, by Wednesday night both sets of cast parts will be on the model, and I can finish detailing the back section around those pieces. I've done nearly as much as I can back there for the moment. Note - the initial pics, I just had parts piled on top of the model, the ones that are now glued in place are shown in the last couple photos below.

oh yeah...those two Asus things in the last pic, those are duplicates of the little extra fan that came with my motherboard. The wires on these bad boys are still attached, in fact they're on hinged flaps that open to provide access to the lights below. i'm thinking about wiring them into those lights; it'll probably dim the lights a bit and the fans won't spin fast, but that's ok. I'm leaving their plugs intact in case adding them to the lights messes everything up, in which case I can just unplug them. but hopefully they'll be a spinning external element while the machine is on.
The light gray cylinders glued on each of their hubs are a couple "intakes" from the engines of an old X-wing model. In fact, if you look carefully at these pics, you can see parts from several Star Wars fighters (x-wing, a-wing, b-wing).

Nice, love the inclusion of the Asus fans. You should definitely hook them up! I'm a huge fan of moving parts. :D

Thought I'd toss this question out there - anyone have any ideas for covering up the hinges? I'd been thinking posterboard squares to match the rest of the paneling, but the issue is the little screwheads stick up, so it'd require several layers on each hinge half, with the bottom-most layers hole-punched twice for each screwhead. Now I'm thinking a better idea might be to use some of the smaller model parts i've got and just cover up the screwheads themselves, at least on some of the hinges, and do the panelling idea on some of the others. I'd do it somewhat at random, the idea really is to disguise the fact that the hinges are there. Thoughts?

Wow, this is really looking awesome now. I second keeping the fans spinning; sort of like engine intakes or something. No thoughts on the hinges; sorry.

could you maybe use some abs plastic or styrene around the hinges? I like the idea of covering them in model bits. I like that.

I 3rd the spinning fans. just run them at a low speed so you can see them moving, I think that would look cool. could be like exhaust turbos or something. lol

oh ya, the fans will spin. Speed won't matter in the slightest. My only real worry is how much voltage will they draw away from the lights; I may have to run them on their own circuit.

I think I'm going to go with model bits on the hinges, at least for some of them. I wish I had hinges that could go on the inside and still allow the panel to open outwards. I do have a sheet of extra styrene that's thick enough to cover the screws, but I don't want these big obvious square bits sticking out beyond the rest of the panelling. So model bits are likely the way to go.

New pic! I got 2 of the 4 cast pieces on the model. They're screwed in, 1 each, from the bottom. Held the screw in place with a ratchet, then literally spun the epoxy cast (after drilling a hole in it) around til it was tight. It's like they're superglued on, but they're fully removeable, at least for now. The other two cast pieces are ready to go on, but since I used resin for them instead of epoxy (shoulda used epoxy...the resin casts didn't come out as well. I pulled the mold off too early, and now the mold's pretty much ruined and I don't have time right now to make another one. It's not too much of a disaster, one piece came out fine and the other one can have detail added back to it). Anyway. Since I used resin, they still stink to high heaven. I'm going to give them airing out time til the weekend before adding them.

with the fan-flap open showing access to the lights (the other one opens too but not quite far enough to stay up on its own):