Project log: Warhound Titan

[Munkey Joe]

[mangozac]

Thanks guys. Yeah I'm well chuffed with how it's turned out. I've been doing some more cleanup this morning and am painfully close! Just gotta go find a heat gun so I can bend these resin hoses (that go between the head and weapons and the body)...

[Vaaish]

In mt experience, hair dryers on warm settings work wonders for bending resin.

[mangozac]

Thanks Vaaish. I just tried boiling water but ended up snapping one of them

Will give the heat gun (on medium) a go next!

[Commissar-Krad]

You could always try and replace them with a suitable alternative. Hope whatever you get going works.

[Munkey Joe]

[mangozac]

[Munkey Joe]

Too small you say?? OK!

I was doing some thinking and MAYBE something from a big box homw inprovement store?? In the plumbing and/or electrical section the have reinforced hoses and such. I think its called conduit cover or something. Also being a techy guy like yourself maybe something like this??




dunno what all you have but its something to keep in mind even if not for this project.

[Joey]

[Joey]

Zac; could I persuade you to sell me 4 sets of those grilles? Got some 'hounds that could do with some pimpin'

[mangozac]

Wow guys some awesome discussion here!

First, MJ's suggestions. The only corrugated tube like in your second picture that I've ever seen that might be small enough is from Lego Technic sets. I'm sure I've got some around but from my Lego building days I still have a disagreeance to butchering Lego

The woven tube at the top is an interesting one, and similar to something I have always intended to use on a model. The material pictured looks like a woven tinned copper, however you get a similar texture in fibreglass insulating sleeves (used in electric stoves and such where you need an insulation that won't melt):



The problem is that it won't make for the kind of tight radii we need for hobby work without kinking, so my idea was to fill the tube with clay, mould it in silicone and then duplicate it in flexible polyurethane tinted black.

Joey; that's really interesting to know regarding tempering the guitar/bass strings. I have a mini blowtorch at work so it would do the job quite well. The absolute thickest available bass string would probably actually be approaching the right diameter.

But the thing is that this is all a lot of extra work that I feel is a bit unnecessary: why does the mega bolter need big power cables? It should barely need any power at all - all that is needed are to run the gattling and feed motors. The plasma blast gun obviously needs lots of power because it's not firing a solid projectile. So I think I'm just going to mod the rear of the mega bolter to hide the cable entries.

Joey I can definitely make you up some grilles - I'll swing you a PM

[mangozac]

OK in the end I decided that the Mega Bolter needed one power cable. I set to work bending up the last cable that came with the kit, only to get a bit overzealous and snap it in half. The heat gun works well but you still have to be careful of bending too tight a radius!

I had still mentally committed to the idea so I threw together this solution:

Yes, those are the fantastic Dragon Forge pewter power cables bundled together. Such a dream to use! I probably should have used a couple more but I didn't want to waste my stash. Ignore the crudeness of the procreate bands I sculpted onto it (they will be cleaned up with a file once the putty cures). No it's not absolutely perfect, but it is more than adequate

I washed all of the sub assemblies tonight and have started mounting things atop skewers for painting. I'll take a pic of the current overall progress tomorrow night for you!

[Munkey Joe]

Looks Nice Zac. I like your solution.

And to comment....

Absolutely NO on hacking Lego. I got a shiver just from reading.

look into the "water fountain (bubbler)" section for some small diameter corrugated tube. I saw some on a clearance rack one time and thought I should get it but passed and days later it was gone. I have regretted it every day since. it was approx 3.5 MM Diam and perfect for projects like this.

Good plan on the Woven fibre. you can find tiny woven fibre in the coax section as well as electronics and Auto stores. I dont know if its cost effective to cast other than to make it a material more ready for modeling though. Now Casting legos..... there is an Idea Good Sir....

And Joey, Thanks for the tip!! I like Bass strings but its a PITA to bend them right. Now I know how and will try it out.

[mangozac]

Good to know about the small diameter corrugated tube. Will take a look next time I'm in the hardware

[mangozac]

So I'm getting excited at the idea of creating a bit of cityscape for the Warhound diorama. I go rummaging through my supplies to find the box of leftover Cities of Death bits I had. Then I remembered: I sold them

Idiot! I have no idea why I thought it was a good idea to sell them but I did a fair while back. Dammit!

I might have to hit up some people to see if they have any CoD leftovers I can scavenge. I'm planning to use one of the as the base building - it's just all of the little detail bits from the CoD sprues that I want to detail them with...

I picked up a piece of perspex to use for the diorama base today. It's only 8mm thick but feels extremely rigid. By the time I glue some sheet styrene to it and build it up in sections I'm confident that it will be more than sturdy enough!

Didn't have a chance to take some photos tonight as I'm home late - had to help a friend finish cleaning the rental house she's moving out of after the bond cleaners did a terrible job!