Superheavy Assault Walker

[mangozac]

This is a placeholder post introducing the project. Normally collaborative projects will only have sneak peaks posted in the laboratory but seeing as this project has always been very public on ATT and Wargamerau and that it's nearly finished I figured I might as well dump it in a thread here

I'll write some more description here later...

[mangozac]

Just some quick shots showing the result of last night's puttying. I'm loving how the little discs on the side of the chassis turned out!

[Warhound]

Sweet!

That works really well mate! I assume the rest is to be filled in between the disks as a second stage?

The underside shot is nice, as this is not an angle much seen. I would proffer that the ball/ torso needs some random panel lines, just to break up the expanse, possibly the odd recessed vent or bit of tech also?

The side shot also really highlights the difference on the hatch sensor pack- very nice sillouhette now!

The engine block and rotators are still my favourite areas, and these under shots back that up- its so smooth and tight! I am sure the main hull will be to these same exacting standards and can't wait to see it finished!;-p

Cheers
Warhound

[mangozac]

Actually there is no second stage - I wanted to leave a recessed area like that. That's why when I sent you the concept sketch it had the piping in those spots.

Yes, the underside needs a bit more sanding before it gets panel lines and final details. That will likely be one of the last things to be done.

Getting the joins between the rotator ends, front and rear chassis to be snug has taken a lot of work but is certainly paying off.

Oh BTW note that I've made a new bbcode tag called rimg. Use it instead of the img tag and it will resize your pictures to fit in the forum and provide a link to the big image. The images must have a 4:3 width to height ratio though.

[Warhound]

AH- I wondered why the piping had been added.

I think that at the moment, the disks are left hanging- and would actually benefit from being fully 'enclosed'... by puttying up to, but leaving a recessed ring around them, it will fully describe (fuel?) casks that have been inserted into the relevant air tight containers and then twisted to lock in place...
Think the scene from Star Trek v BORG film (cant remember the title) and Captain Picard is on the dish, trying to free up the magnetic clamps- they have a twist and plunge cask type feel to them?;-)

I hope that makes sense?

cheers
Warhound

[mangozac]

Yes, I think I will enclose the discs, mainly because if I were to leave as is there would need to be a lot of fiddly cleanup of the straight edge. If I putty right up to the discs all I have to do it run the scriber around them (before the putty sets) and the panel line is perfect

[Warhound]

Thats's the one! Ease and a crisp finish all in one go!;-)

cheers
W

[mangozac]

Hi guys, this is a really quick update, only because I promised Warhound I would

I didn't actually do any modelling today - the weather is too nice so I ended up down the beach instead! the main thing I had to show is what the right side of the chassis is looking like. I have a sneaking suspicion that Warhound won't be happy with it but I really don't want to play with this area much more.

I've also done a lot of miscellaneous puttying around the place but none of it is exciting enough to take a picture of. the rear of the chassis is now ready for final detailing.



You saw it here first!

[CMDante]

Looking good mate!

It certainly has the Tau aethetic to it. Looking forward to seeing the rest so I can get a better idea of the final look your going for.

Cheers,

Dante

[mangozac]

Hey Dante, here's the thread over on ATT where I recently posted the overall shots:

http://www.advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=8367&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=433

[CMDante]

Awesome!

Can't wait to see the finished cast versions!

[mangozac]

Hey, no update but a quick reminder for Warhound to give me some feedback on this, seeing as the latest progress shot was just for him :p

I've got exams over the next fortnight, which means study/modelling time! The rear of the chassis is very close to done so the plan is to finish that off, then finish the forward chassis. I'll probably do a heap of priming with the Mr Surfacer as soon as the rear chassis is done. I have in fact done an initial priming of the foot and pistons but it has revealed some flaws that I need to clean up before I prime them again

[Warhound]

Sorry man- tardy of me!

I think best is to break down each plane and give my comments on each- to bring our conversation up to date (seems like ages we talked about this beast!)

Rear (generator block and missle pod): There seems to be a little discrepancy with the symetry looking down on the raised trapezium area of the MP and vent areas. One side looks shorter and and a slightly different angle to the other.
Looking up at the underneath, the only things that I can mention are adding obvious panel lines to the plain areas- they all look symetrical and very smooth, so just some sublte detailing will suffice.

Curious- the burst cannon mount- that can fit the front socket too?

I didn't actually do any modelling today - the weather is too nice so I ended up down the beach instead! the main thing I had to show is what the right side of the chassis is looking like. I have a sneaking suspicion that Warhound won't be happy with it but I really don't want to play with this area much more

.

Ha! You thought I had missed this? And my friend- you are right:-) This is no where near as finished as you would have it? In fact, I would be tempted to rip the disks off- dig the putty out and re-place them so that there is a 2-3 mm gap between each disk. This will allow for easier scribing and a sharper finish- you know this is the truth;-)

The area behind the hull hatch obviously needs finishing (no vents!) but the sensor suite now really looks at home!

brutal work still mate!

cheers
WARHOUND

[mangozac]

You know, Mark, buddy, sometimes you're not my favourite person in the world ..... ....... ......

So as much as I don't want to redo the discs on the side of the chassis, I admit it needs to be done, so I submit the following 3 options:



All to scale - the large discs are 8mm and the smaller ones/fan are 7mm diameter. I'm particularly interested in the right hand side one as I'm dying to use one of those fans from the P-129 koto sprue!

I don't like the idea of having little buttons to the side of each disc (if going for the left hand side version) like we had discussed before, but it otherwise does need some further detailing.

In other news the rear of the chassis is 99% done - I did the final major puttying, detailing and panel line scribing today. All that's left is some quick gap filling puttying and she's ready for priming. I wasn't going to post pics until it's primed but I might do so tomorrow and get feedback to make sure I don't need more panel lines before the priming.

[Xeones]

To me, the thing that bothers me most about the discs is that they are completely vertical rather than the design. If I had to choose an option from the above selections, I'd probably go with the the second option because I think it would make the smallest visual impact on the design as a whole. I think the vertical orientation bothers me because most of the other lines in that area are flowing toward the front sensor. In my mind, these three discs halt that nice sleek flow for no apparent reason. Sorry to be harsh, but those are my thoughts. I think you'd be better off to do only one or two discs or to lay them out in a more horizontal layout.

Other than that, I'm liking the look. Thumbs up from me.