±±S.A.W. Unit active..... Combat status: Authorised ±±

[Warhound]

Hello my fellow Fio!

The moment has at last arrived for Mangozac's Superheavy Assault walker to be showcased to the world!

Over the coming week or 2, I will be running through a stage by stage how to build, pose and paint this truly awesome model!

I have to say that after following the progress of Zac for the last 2 years and now owning Unit 000000 (The first production model) my enthusiasm for it has only grown after seeing it in the flesh!

The bizarre thing is that there are aspects of the kit that I had either totally forgotten about, or not even comprehended, so lots of little surprises along the way! :biggrin:

SO, while no shots today, I will be blogging on a very regular basis, how the kit was received, a full break down of what you get and also how I go about making the most of this model! Expect photos tomorrow night!

You will not be disappointed

cheers
WARHOUND

[mangozac]

I've got to say, I reckon I'm even more excited than Warhound to see this done!

Bring on the pictures!

[Yannoo]

I'm also very excited to see what you'll do with your kit ! (and it will help me waiting my own kit!)

[Arkangel]

Havin hooked up with Warhound over the weekend, I've seen this baby in the flesh. Just wish I'd bought one!!! Although not being a tau player, I LOVE IT!!

Can't wait to see the pics he puts up

[mangozac]

[Warhound]

Nice one!- Cheers Zac;-)

so as not to forget again, I will post here first and then copy in the other forums;-)

SO, been a few days since an update, and loads has been done! I had forgotten how long it takes to clean up a model this size (imagine having to clean all the Warhound pistons!) and even with this being a relatively simple model, the prep work is essential to making the most out of the kit.

The main issue that I have had to tackle, is how to pose this beast... how does it walk, what gait etc... as Zac knows, my housemate is convinced that it can't walk, but I believe that I have proven him wrong!!;-)

The first stage was to 'bluetack' the legs into a rough position to try and understand how the weight it distrubuted... this is where Zac is a GENIUS! Baring in mind he has never put this model together himself, he has inadvertantly created a perfect centre of gravity within the hip unit and so posing it is far easier!


Here you can see that I wanted to get some form or insinuation of movement without compromising the models stability on the table.

The next stage is to pin the legs in place- this is the tricky part folks! I have used some square brass beam to create some extra strength, but to be fair, the really large paperclips would do- anything a minimum of 1mm wide. Double pinning like this takes some good eye co-ordination and lots of dry fitting to ensure that the ball makes as much contact with the socket surface.



One thing to mention here and this really will help you- I forgot to photo graph it, but hopefully this will make sense: the knee joint has a rod going through it that secures the rotation of the lower leg. Imagine a pin, coming out of the end of the knee and going into the back of the knee socket, this prevents the rotation around the knee anchor- if that makes sense?

While pinning the legs etc, I also tidied up the other parts in preparation for painting the parts in batches. Some of you may wonder why not paint the legs and then attach them? The simple reason being that with that amount of force being used to hold the parts together with the volume of superglue (and you will need about 6 tubes all in), means trouble in Acrylic city



There are some problem areas for some reason, and neither Zac or I can figure it out. They are not major, but will need some filling:

Big (equal) gap between power core and the main hull

Mould slip which creates a shelf that will need to be filled...

I will be puttying everything in the next hour or so, and in green stuff to show all the little niggles and also to prove that green stuff can be used for all purposes!

Just to show that areas are pinned. It must be highlighted also that the toes are poseable muchg like the FW equivelants, and some care must be used when deciding how the toe angle will affect the leg position and pose!

All in all, though, I am really happy with the final posing... the BC mounts are all cleaned up also, and so after the filling and fine detailing, It will be off to the spray booth tomorrow!

BOOM!


EXTREME MODELLING! (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS!)












oh AND TONIGHT.. 3 other projects to be posted!!!


cheers
WARHOUND

[Yannoo]

!!! Oh My God !!!

In fact, it's really impressive. Nice job. The prep job seems to be essential, but we must remember it is an experimental model. That's probably why it's so cool.

[mangozac]

I have to admit the pose is much different to that which I had intended and does seem a bit odd.

Otherwise awesome work assembling! You're using pins in places that I probably wouldn't have, but I think that is definitely a wise move!

[Warhound]

Hey guys,

the pose has been the hot topic and debate in this house for the last 48 hours and I suspect will never have a resolution... however, I hope that the following pictures will answer the question;)

There are a few things to consider with the leg arrangement:
1: The physical weight vs strength aspect- by arching the upper legs too much (to create a more spider like aspect) the weight is distributed further and puts more stress on the ball joints (not just vertical forces, but horizontal forces, which makes pinning the hips all the more difficult.
2: The legs are all independantly capable of rotation and locomotion. This means that the legs while having to always have 3 in contact with the ground at any one time, it does ensure that the gait is not too crab like;)
The way that I see this is; the leg that is raised at the moment, swings around on its axis, moving forward and then plants. As it plants, the front left leg then raises and does the same, swinging forward, as it plants, the rear left leg lifts and so on, rotating around the legs. The effect would actually be quite spider like, but at the end of the day, it is only 'make believe'

The following shots are the final stages of the build and clean down! I have spent approx 20 hours on this now, and am happy that all spots are filled, mould lines removed and it is all ready for painting in segments. While the shots, I think show that the pose is better than perhaps is being portrayed, when it is sat in front of me, I am more than happy with it .. too late to do anything about it now













Final stages of cleaning up and gap filling. I start by applying super glue over the areas that have some surface bubbling. It is self levelling and so when it is dry, it is easily sanded over, leaving the bubbles filled



The other parts are filled and skimmed with Green stuff. I use GS 90% of the time as I find it sands and carves well, given the right tools. Anyway, as you can see here, I have filled all the problem areas and completed the basics...







SO, this is where some people would call me a heathen, I have made some minor additions to my kit, after consultation with Zac of course;) I just felt that they needed some extra detailing


Original:

ALTERED:


AND finally, some further shots to show the underside detailing, and then into its final undercoated stages...















SO, while I think that she could be known as the black widow right now, colour scheme to be decided... some thing like this:



or stick with the darker colour scheme with orange and white accents?

AIrgunning to be started today, so answers now would be appreciated!

cheers
WARHOUND

[mangozac]

Fret not, dear Warhound, you have my blessings

I'll admit, when I first saw the pose I was a little underwhelmed. I had always envisioned a more spider like pose, rather than the legs being so perpendicular.

But your latest batch of photos provide a better exhibition of the pose, and I can understand where you were going with it. So it's now growing on me! All of the modifications are fair game and make sense. Actually, a couple are "Why didn't I do that?"!

The while colour scheme will be awesome, although I find it fascinating that you did a black undercoat for it! I suppose when airbrushing it's not quite as big a deal to do white over black?

Power on buddy! I was crazy to ever doubt you!

[Yannoo]

In fact the "non-spider pose" is quite disturbing at the beginning, but seems ok afterall.

Good luck for the last part !

[Warhound]

Hey Guys,

right, 7, yes, thats 7 coats of various shades of grey, blue and white have been applied now Some may say, "why didn't you just stick with a white undercoat?"

2 reasons... White undercoat is not true white, also it has a very bizarre texture to it, that is really hard to paint over when doing so by hand. Secondly, by starting with black and working through:

Astronomican Grey
Fortress grey
Off white
Skull white
Mid tones in between

The tonal quality is now enough to separate the huge areas of white, create shade and all leave panel lines the original darker shade. Admittedly it is hard to photograph, but hopefully these shots will show this and I have started to black certain areas back in.

The BIG questions now (and I am looking for all the wonderful photoshoppers out there!) is where to apply the black and orange panels... I have some ideas like the 'hub caps' and the top of the main hull... but what do you guys think? can anyone mock some images up by tonight (8pm GMT)... I really want to be doing some serious masking off tonight to start to pull the piece together, so fingers on the buttons chaps!

Thoughts?








cheers
WARHOUND

[Warhound]

Hell I have been busy!

6 hours on carefully blocking the black (well grey at the moment) back in- and still 2 legs to go!

Hopefully this will give people a better idea of the contrasts that I am aiming for?

ANY ideas folks?







cheers
WARHOUND

[mangozac]

It's bringing tears of joy to my eyes! The white is beautiful and not all of the subtle colour toning is lost in the photography.

Are you planning to use a bright orange or one with a more reddy tone? I don't have any specifics for you, but I think you need to be careful not to go overboard with it - keep the orange panels sparse and deliberate.

Will you do any "painted on" style markings? If so will they be in orange also or another colour?

[Warhound]

3RD UPDATE in one day!

So, all the black is done, which leaves quite a lot of white area still. Hence the shout out for lovers and haters of the orange

I think unless anyone comes up with somthing different, I will be going with the orange (look at shadow suns weapons- thats all I am chatting ) banding I was talking about a couple of threads up.. warning bands, some asymetrical tribal banding akin to Fil Dunns walker.. that sort of thing.

Anyway, I have spent 9 hours on this today, no spraying tonight, so you have another 12 hours to get your ideas out there! :crafty:

What are your thoughts?











cheers
WARHOUND