Blackadder's Lucius Pattern Reaver

[Blackadder]

That's an interesting way of solving balance issues.

Do you think there'll be much difference in the balance of the two patterns? Or will most of the balance be through the frame anyway?

Yes there is, my homemade void generators weigh only a fraction of the resin generators and when I mount them on the assembled legs they will not balance properly and the model falls forward even without the weapons attached.

Since the model's Lucius armour is so light I have at this time to over compensate but also need a way to remove excess rear weigh should the situation call for it with out causing any surface damage to the completed model; hence the sand.

[Psychosplodge]

Do you think you'll actually swap the armours often when you're done?

[Blackadder]

Probably not since I prefer the Lucius Pattern (All my IG Titans are Lucius) but I do look forward to the prospect of painting a Mars motif.

Ah to be young and have a choice...........

[Psychosplodge]

lols

[Blackadder]

Thanks,

The Sand Reckoner:

It was Archimedes that first made an attempt to number the grains of sand on all the beaches in the world and then went on to calculate the number of grains of sand to fill the known Universe (At that time) He developed a system for calculating large numbers.

I thought of this today whilst ballasting these Reavers.

http://i.imgur.com/LLYjVAQ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/LLYjVAQl.jpg

In a small way I have achieved a minor equivalence in satisfaction; both models proceeding apace.

http://i.imgur.com/beCMhnU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/beCMhnUl.jpg

Each are in different stages of completion but both are on a par.

Where one model has this or that bits done the other has different bits done which keeps me from getting too far ahead on either model.

I have each model numbered with either odd or even numbers so the parts won't get mixed up, a simple solution as the parts, close as they may be are not completely interchangeable.

http://i.imgur.com/cj1csvP.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/cj1csvPl.jpg

My goal tomorrow is to have both ready to be mounted on an assembled set of legs.

[Blackadder]

Done:

All the major components are done, whew!

http://i.imgur.com/i9pRHzr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/i9pRHzrl.jpg


The front view (Pardon the towel but the legs are just pinned together temporarily.)

http://i.imgur.com/TFmIdsM.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/TFmIdsMl.jpg

view with Warlord legs.

More images to follow in an hour or so............

[Kirsten]

looking very impressive

[Psychosplodge]

^this

But are you happy with it? as really that's what matters.

[Blackadder]

Yes it has come out better than I expected.............

Done 2:

The side view shows the sheathed void generators and the rear lower vents completed (except for detail) and the weapon armour finally in place although it needs to be thickened; now that it is mounted on the body I can see where the clearances are needed.

http://i.imgur.com/yJSUJOv.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/yJSUJOvl.jpg

And again compared to the Warlord legs.

http://i.imgur.com/F8QOVio.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/F8QOViol.jpg

More images to come.............

[Blackadder]

Thanks for the reply; There are still some who are not aware of the fact that the styrene Lucius armour is completely exchangeable for the original Mars armour.

Face off:

While ostensibly on the same side this could very well be called a Face off between the Reaver and the apparently in for maintenance Warlord; actually Luteus' body component is getting a tuneup and anyway is much too tall for these closeup Reaver shots.

http://i.imgur.com/v4mpTLz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/v4mpTLzl.jpg

and this next image could be entitled ''Tidy Whiteys'' because that's what the rear armour puts me in mind me of.

http://i.imgur.com/jvEZlBm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/jvEZlBml.jpg

Anyway all together the upper body armour and the lower leg are seemingly proportionate, that was a big fear of mine during construction that the armour would not match in scale.

That's the major problem with working without a specific goal drawn out; you have no idea of what the outcome will look like.

[Kirsten]

an amazing job

[Wolfshade]

That is immense.

[Blackadder]

Yeah it looks pretty big for that angle....

Detachable Details:

While I'm making the Void Generator exhaust louvers i figure I should show how I built up the Gatling gun.

I wanted to be able to rework the Gatling gun and I didn't have time to sand the barrels smooth and clean the casting properly plus it seems a royal PITA to get the barrel aligned properly considering the casting anomalies so I opted to use screws instead of glue to hold the parts together.

Seen in the image below are the barrels drilled and tapped for 8-32 screws with the 12 o'clock position barrel drilled and tapped towards the gun base so it can be attached to the body of the gun.

http://i.imgur.com/Oq3wdwv.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Oq3wdwvl.jpg

Once I get the gun armour finished I will install a center aligning pin so the barrel assembly stays centered on the base.

http://i.imgur.com/Af7JRuU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Af7JRuUl.jpg

The 12:00 barrel will be tack glued in place for ease of removal along with the barrel yoke making the whole assembly dis-mountable for Lucius/Mars conversion.

http://i.imgur.com/gzVAong.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gzVAongl.jpg

To the left of the gun is the rear louvers for the generators.

[Blackadder]

Louvers:

I hate doing louvers just about more than any other part of scratchbuilding even more than rivets.

The problem is if not spaced properly or straight or the degree of opening is not homogeneous they look like crap.

So how to make the Void Generator exhaust louvers?

I hit upon the idea yesterday, checking out the moulded Mars resin castings..........

http://i.imgur.com/Oq3wdwv.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Oq3wdwvl.jpg

...........I found similar strips in my stock of Evergreen styrene; nothing new there, but also I got some 1,0 X 1,0 MM strips for the slat spacing.

I glued the square stock to the strip stock leaving a half MM margin from the edge.

http://i.imgur.com/ApOEjmp.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ApOEjmpl.jpg

I marked the face side of the slat with pencil for even straight spacing.

http://i.imgur.com/g7ZC6Cb.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/g7ZC6Cbl.jpg

Once I got the procedure down pat with the first louver as an experiment; the subsequent three remaining are going quite quickly.

more to follow..........

[Blackadder]

Generator Vents

I spent quite a lot of time on these Reavers this past week and there is darn little to show for it, mainly cleaning up some of the recent work and duplicating parts for the other beastie.

So mainly all I have to display is the installed Vents which didn't turn out too shabby but I can see by the photo one of the slates is askew which should be hard to adjust.

http://i.imgur.com/SEB4vJH.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SEB4vJHl.jpg


Now that the vents are installed I can fill the gap under the generator housings so the upper and lower louvers form a continuous line.

Next on the to-do list is to finish off the center rocket pod housing and the rear of the adjacent superstructure housings...........

http://i.imgur.com/sOUGszg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/sOUGszgl.jpg

[Blackadder]

You're running outta ideas Blackadder.

I put this together this morning when it dawned on me it looks reminiscent of a Cylon Raider.

http://i.imgur.com/IUw6Knz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/IUw6Knzl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Wai1JAI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Wai1JAIl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Aodm14X.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Aodm14Xl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/upEbsfC.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/upEbsfCl.jpg

What's a Cylon Raider you ask?

That's what google is for........... :D

[Blackadder]

Done:

God knows how many bits and pieces of styrene went into replicating the interior framework of the Mars Reaver so the parts fit to a paper's thickness tolerance but it's finally done.

http://i.imgur.com/eULUl0c.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/eULUl0cl.jpg

All the pieces fit exactly and the front upper and lower components lock together with just two pins.

http://i.imgur.com/GiBJScB.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/GiBJScBl.jpg

Below is the front top and bottom sections connected with the two styrene pins

http://i.imgur.com/HNbJcjn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HNbJcjnl.jpg

And the front assembly with the forward bulkhead in place

http://i.imgur.com/PjS661X.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PjS661Xl.jpg

Whew!

[Morgrim]

Now that you've finished the superstructure, are you planning to detail the rest of the titan using similar techniques? Well, excluding the lifesaving flat armour bits, I mean.

[Blackadder]

The rest of the titan is done; the leg armour, greaves, toes, pistons, weapons, &etc.........

I took a page from the FW Warhound model and rationalized the actual legs, waist/pelvis, and foot pads were the same on both the Lucius and Mars patterns; it's only the armour that defines the difference in the patterns.

[Blackadder]

Greaves and Lower Legs:

I was never satisfied how the greaves and lower legs swapped out, the whole assembly was too flimsy and looked amateurish.

http://i.imgur.com/zNxT8pX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zNxT8pXl.jpg

Whilst finishing up the greave armour I came up with a better solution that will allow the lower leg to be build up completely as a Mars pattern and the new Lucius lower leg and greave likewise.

Below is the greave as a single self contained lower leg assembly albeit without the upper shank/knee joint installed

http://i.imgur.com/llJfnqh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/llJfnqhl.jpg

The image below shows where the ankle hemisphere will attach.

The asymmetry is because of how the Reaver legs are constructed. I have studied the anatomy of the Reaver and found it ill conceived as far as functionality. That is why the classic Reaver stance is with the legs sprawled; it cannot do otherwise.

The Reaver actually as designed could never walk so much as waddle like a toddler the top hamper weaving side to side in a severe dead man's roll rocking motion like a boat broadside to the waves as the legs spraddle and are incapable of being put one behind the other in a true biped gait. On the whole, Reavers moving across a battlefield would be a comical sight.

http://i.imgur.com/YmudIJY.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/YmudIJYl.jpg

Finally the shank of the upper leg being built up

http://i.imgur.com/Y53Iik9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Y53Iik9l.jpg

Right the core is in fact a one inch section of a broomstick.

[Blackadder]

Dementia:

Probably this titan will never see completion as I keep finding things with which to be to be dissatisfied. The latest is the lower legs which while somewhat workable with the FW model need modification for a Lucius Reaver especially since I want them at least engineeringly feasible dynamically as well as satisfactory in a static pose.

Below is the reconstruction as of this morning demonstrating the stages needed to effect the modification.

http://i.imgur.com/JxZGdD9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JxZGdD9l.jpg

As usual I underestimated the time involved in the repair as I keep adding unnecessary details such as beveled edges and rivets and reinforcement strip decorations on pieces that will barely be seen or appreciated for their complexity.

http://i.imgur.com/9OgyJkMl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/9OgyJkMl.jpg

My goal today is to duplicate the detail on these drum shaped objects to match their FW counterparts, the resin piece on the right.

[Blackadder]

How To Make Drums and Cylinders:

With the images in the above post sturdy cylinders for use as legs &etc compatible with styrene is simple an quick.

Evergreen Styrene makes tubes up to 13 MM (1/2 inch ) but sometimes you need a larger diameter.

Start with a wooden dowel slightly less than the requisite diameter of the part you want to make; in this case a leg so we'll say leg but it can be any cylindrical object.

If the part has flat ends that you want to glue to more styrene parts as I need to you'll want to glue on endcaps as well so use 0.020 inch ( 0.5 MM ) styrene sheets; cut the sheet slightly longer than the dowel and wide enough to wrap around the dowel slightly more than twice which will give you sufficient gluing surface to attach your end caps.

Wrap the plastic around the dowel and glue and clamp the seam. For larger diameters wrap wide widths of styrene sheet or use bigger dowels.

When the glue is dried bevel the edge you glued so the seam in relatively flat.

Sand off the ends flush with the wood dowel, put a drop of cyanoacrylate on the end of the dowel and glue on a sheet of 0.040 inch styrene for end caps. The cyliner is done, encased in styrene and strong enough to support any reasonable weight.

Next; installing bands and details........

[Blackadder]

No 45° beveled stock!

What this country needs is a good supply of styrene beveled stock.

Now making beveled stock is fairly easy if you're doing short straight pieces but if you want 2 inch pieces to wrap around a drum it's gonna require a bit of work.

http://i.imgur.com/JH0thb9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JH0thb9l.jpg

I started with strips of 0.060 inch styrene strips and wrapped a layer around the drum and glued with Styrene thinset cement.

Holding the piece in place for a minute or two is sufficient.

Drawing the styrene strip between your thumbnail and the inner knuckle of your index finger will impart a nice curve to the strip so you won't have to fight with it to hold the curve.

Next I install 0.030 inch strips around the drum on top of the previous strips creating a shallow stepped appearance

http://i.imgur.com/JH0thb9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JH0thb9l.jpg

[Morgrim]

Huh. I never realised it was possible to get the plasticard to curve so tightly and nicely as that. Maybe I've been using the wrong sort, it's always been 'keep this as flat as possible unless candle flames are applied' material to me. I may have to experiment with it more.

[Blackadder]

Huh. I never realised it was possible to get the plasticard to curve so tightly and nicely as that. Maybe I've been using the wrong sort, it's always been 'keep this as flat as possible unless candle flames are applied' material to me. I may have to experiment with it more.

Well I don't buy the best plasticard; I get mine at the local industrial park in two foot by four sheets for about $11 bucks a sheet. They stock 0.020, 0.030, and 0.040 industrial grade styrene which is a trifle softer than the hobby grade.. but before I started using industrial styrene I used Evergreen, Plastruct, and Midwest, all of which can be tightly curled without heating. incidentally if you do heat styrene use a hairdryer or heat gun; not an open flame.

The trick is to anchor glue one edge before you curl it that saves you having to fight both edges while trying to draw the sheet tight to the rod. Also draw the sheet over the sharp edge of a desktop or drawer while applying pressure with the palm of your hand to the styrene as you draw it over the sharp corner of the top or drawer angled down perpendicular to the strip. The heat of the friction will impart a curve to the material in a few passes.

Strips are easier; Position the strip in the crook of your fore finger joint and press your thumbnail into the strip as you draw the strip at a right angle to the strip between your fingers. The mild heat and friction will impart a curve to the strip. Do that as many times as necessary to get close to the curve you want. I'll take pictures if you need them........

[Blackadder]

Knee Prosthesis?

My wife who had to have her knee replaced (Time for a newer model?) says this looks remarkably like the one she had installed.........
The initial stages I used the upper leg knee joint for a moulding guide.....

http://i.imgur.com/PWH0LoX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PWH0LoXl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/LeZ3bN6.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/LeZ3bN6l.jpg

Built up of strips of plastic instead of casting required a bit if work especially since I want these to position in any reasonable pose although flexing will be out of the question given the nature of the resin model. I should have opted for doing the entire model from scratch.

http://i.imgur.com/769PueT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/769PueTl.jpg

The knee joint sits perfectly in the lower knuckle guides.

http://i.imgur.com/tjzFlpO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tjzFlpOl.jpg

Side view shows that it is a go to fabricate the other three

http://i.imgur.com/0xQynQ0.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0xQynQ0l.jpg

[Blackadder]

Not Too Shoddy:

It was a week ago I decided that the lower legs and greaves were substandard and decided to rebuild them.

I was never happy with the greaves, everything was too flimsy and required too much fiddling to set up.

Here it is a week later; the reinforced greaves with thicker armour with an integral leg assembly and the new legs and foot pad attach point are re-designed, fabricated, and installed.

Not too shoddy if I do say so myself.

http://i.imgur.com/q5koQIq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/q5koQIql.jpg

The abomination on the right of these images is the way the old design looked, rather like a house of cards compared to these new very substantial pedal appendages.

http://i.imgur.com/RicWB5K.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/RicWB5Kl.jpg

This thing just might fly after all .

[Morgrim]

I am now kind of curious what you're going to do with 2 spare titan shins, honestly.

[Houghten]

Make 'em into grot tanks!

[Blackadder]

I am now kind of curious what you're going to do with 2 spare titan shins, honestly.

You're not pay'n attention, :D this is a convertible titan with either the Mars or Lucius pattern armour option.

The beauty of having separate greaves is I can build up the Mars legs and greaves completely now and quick change them out for the completely built up Lucius legs and greaves.

[Houghten]

I assumed he meant the ones you weren't happy with.

[Blackadder]

OIC'

Then I am building two convertible Reavers and at this time only one set of greaves has been remanufactured so I used the unremanufactured greaves as a side by side demo. The reason I didn't repair the two sets at once is I wasn't sure how the first set would turn out...

I did however cut out all the conversion parts so the next set will be a piece 'o' cake.

[Morgrim]

Ah, that makes more sense. I didn't realise the 'original' greave-covers were being incorporated into the new Lucius legs.