Centurion Mecha

[mangozac]

[mangozac]

[Barn]

It really does look great. Fits the scale i was thinking at this stage too!

[Munkey Joe]

those vents DO look sweet.... Its coming together nicely....

[mangozac]

OK brass etch results: failure but positive outlook.

So I grabbed the fresh ferric chloride from work and tried it out tonight. Unfortunately I think the dead stuff I used last night may have degraded the toner on the brass as it seemed to have dried out and started peeling off in areas before I started tonight.

Here's the brass etch pattern:

And here are the results:

Centurion_WIP_18.jpg (48.84 KiB) Viewed 12763 times

Centurion_WIP_19.jpg (45.38 KiB) Viewed 12763 times

As you can see, there was definite correct etching. It's a little zealous in spots where the toner has lifted, even though I probably could have left it etching for a bit longer to get a deeper relief. You can see that it etched all the way through behind some of the big logo with the wreath - this is because I had damaged the coating sprayed on the back to prevent it etching from that side.

So like I said, I feel confident enough to give it one more try. I think I've almost for the ironing the toner onto the brass technique sorted (could do with a little longer heating this time). The green stuff you see is the leftover toner.

[Barn]

So this was the piece you had already tried on?

Yeah i definitely think you should have a crack with a fresh piece

I think the rough look also looks good, and could have its place in modeling too, especially for chaos/well worn type tanks and equipment.

[mangozac]

Yes this was the previous piece of brass - I'll try a fresh piece tomorrow

Very true about the suitability for chaos! They just need to etch a bit more - at the moment even just the primer coat would obscure a lot of the detail.

[mangozac]

Hey guys I made some progress over the weekend - the lower leg is very close to finished (I'll be able to make moulds for some of the parts very soon) but I haven't taken any pics to show. Also had another failure with the brass etch but I've confirmed that the transfer paper I'm using is still no good so I have decided to stop stuffing around and get the .

Anyway the reason for the post is that I was doing some thinking and I'm not so sure about doing the "banded" armour plates anymore. That style lends itself a little too much too 90's GW for my tastes and I'm not happy with the banding on the thigh armour. I'm thinking of taking the armour more in the direction of something like (from which I've been drawing a lot of inspiration).

What do you guys think?

[blind pig]

The leg without the banding would certainly be easier to cast.

I do like that mecha that you linked to.

Bloody hell that metal etch paper is expensive.

[Vaaish]

I think the banding makes them fit in better with the admech mars pattern but would need to be applied to more rounded forms. Luscius pattern tends to avoid the banding for flatter, more geometric plates. It seems that practically anything the imperials see as ancient and venerated somehow ends up with the banding on it somewhere. You have it on the terminator legs, marine shoulders and other accents, venerable dreadnoughts, and all the titans. Banding is also nice for painting an accent color since it tends to outline areas nicely.

[mangozac]

[Vaaish]

I think you will be fine mixing them, but perhaps add some areas that are more rounded like the shoulder region and torso. really depends on how the rest of the model looks which is a bit difficult to see right now

[blind pig]

[mangozac]

OK I have it some thought and I'm going to go with some 0.5mm banding on the thigh armour. The 1mm was just too much and looked a bit silly. The banding will be about 2mm wide. I'm not too worried about the banding catching air bubbles as the vacuum then pressure technique prevents much of that.

Indeed I'm trying to avoid the WWGWD syndrome, and go for WWZD (What Would Zac Do)

I haven't been doing much on this since my SAW kit arrived as I've felt like I needed a break while I sort out the banding aesthetic.

An update on the brass etch front: I got the Press-N-Peel film but have had such awful results I didn't even bother etching! I think it's quite possible the problem comes down to my use of a Brother printer - everything I read says that they produce inferior results due to the high temperature toner they use. Great we just bought a new printer a couple of months ago and I specced the Brother because it had the best cost vs performance vs reviews!

I'll try a friend with a different brand laser printer to see if there's any improvement...

[Barn]

It's really poor quality, but i saw the leaked photo's of the Grey Knights Dread Knight and today, and thought of this project.