Made a 1:1 mock up of grav tank

As ever, spending time on my work placement productively:

Ok, this shot isn't exactly bathed with glory, but:


Ptchoo! Ptchoo!


Exploiting articulated design!

Note the auspicious use of pennies and coins. Now I have a tangible guide, I'm going to start making the front bit tonight. Ptchoo!!!


EDIT:

It's coming together! Read More......

More design work.

Will I ever get to actually making this thing? Front chassis, rear chassis, mid chassis, turret, barrel/muzzle. 5 pieces so far. As far as I can tell, my limited skills can make masters for all pieces, and all should be able to be cast from a one-directional mould. Now just transferring the images to reality. The basic shapes are OK, but need more details so they don't look so boring when they are cast. Doors, hatches, armour plates, etc. So, time to start making masters!

EDIT:
This is as much drawing as I'm willing to do. I'll wing it from here.
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Final design?

This may be what I end up making. Instead of copying tanks that I can buy from a toyshop I might as well try to make something I haven't seen before. So, GRAV TANK TO THE RESCUE!

What I have in mind is an articulated tank, that is, 3 main body pieces that can be positioned however one chooses. This would be how the tank steers. On 2 grav pads, the tank would have a turning circle of 0 metres. I think 20-30 of them would look pretty good on a battle field.

The turret needs to be bigger. I may change the middle section to be a thin support for a larger turret/crew section. TBC.

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Sketch-up 3 - everything's changed

This is the new design for the tank:

I like it more than the other one, which looked a bit like a buggy or a dodgem car. Still may make it later on, but not as a tank and not that big.

The new one is flatter, which I like. I've also gone for treads over wheels to give it a tankish look.

I'm beginning to realise that I may not currently have all the tool (sanding disc, drop saw) that I would need to make the model I want. I may have to compromise on some things depending on what I have lying around. dammit.

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Sketch-up part 2

Whilst well and truly still in the planning stages, I'd thought I'd knock up some CAD drawings to help me visualise what it is I want the tank to look like.

As you can see, I haven't yet decided what I want the turret to look like. Who knows, I may decide I just want lots of little buggies. That's allowed, right?

I'm thinking that it is a bit tall for a tank. Modern tanks (e.g. Abrams) are about 8 feet high, where as this is 12 feet to scale already, not including turret. I may reduce the size of the upper chassis from 15mm to 8-9mm, reduce the wheels and the lower chassis, and make any turret wide and flat. It will still be larger than a modern tank but that's the future for you.

I've thought about how I will cast it. Rather than have a 2-piece mould and all the problems that come with it, I'm thinking about doing two 1-piece moulds and pinning the castings together. The top half of the chassis will be one, the bottom the other. The front guards and wheels I can sort out afterwards:

This leaves the issue of how I want the turret to look like. I may need to be a bit creative with it if I only want to use 1-piece moulds.

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Casting project time!

I'd thought I'd start a new blog with a new project. Basically, I've been very inspired by these two blogs. I want to make and cast my own tanks for 15mm Sci-Fi (in a word, Stargrunt) in resin and make hundreds of them and zoom around the table top with a unique battalion of tanks.

Having been MANY years since I've done anything with resin, I'm gearing myself up for some mistakes along the way.

Sketching!

Fail to prepare and prepare to fail. I thought I might draw a 1:1 plan of what I think the tank should look like. I haven't drawn a turret on it, namely because I'm not sure what I want it to look like yet. Read More......