The making of my Martian War Machine.

[Lonesome Crow]

Thanks Mr G. Here's a bit more.

I know it's been a while but there were some major reworks to do.
After assembling the foot I decided the toes were too big and I spent a couple of weeks worth of lunchtimes re-carving several sets of toes in different positions.
When I assembled it again and I was happy with the feet I then discovered the knee shields were too small.



So I spent another couple of days re-carving them. I also took the opportunity to improve the design of them a bit, on the original knee shields the back of the shield was left open so I could slide it onto the leg when the model was finished, now the knee shield is a complete loop, this encloses the knee joint entirely and hides a multitude of sins (hides any of my sloppy work )

MAKING THE LOWER LEG SECTION



I have been puzzling over how to do this part of the model for a while now. A bicycle spoke will run down the full length of the lower leg section, but it is important that the spoke does not erupt through the surface of the plastic leg, otherwise the finished surface would look uneven and lumpy.



So I came up with the idea of suspending the spoke in the silicone mould by making short sections of plastic tube that will act as spacers, holding the spoke in the middle of the mould.



And it worked.



Once the leg is removed from the mould and trimmed up it looked like this. (next time I'll make the plastic tube at the foot end a bit thinner, this one was too close to the surface).



So I'm happy with the feet now.



And the new knee shields.




And this is how the model looks to date. Main supporting leg is ready to go on tomorrow and then I work on the rear leg.

[poyks]

That's looking so good now!

[Lonesome Crow]

I'm happy with it so far.
It's surprisingly robust due in part to its light weight. once I get the rear leg on it should be rock solid.

[Lonesome Crow]

Getting close now.



The basket on the machine's back is far too small to make as a mesh, so I've created the illusion of a mesh by making it out of clear acrylic with a pimpled surface, I shall apply silver/black enamel paint over the entire basket and when it's dry I'll wipe the paint off the top of the pimples. this gives quite a good mesh effect.



The construction of the legs is finished and the model is assembled but not glued together yet, I want to be able to disassemble the model for ease of painting.



The feet are the most time consuming part of the build but when I make the base for the model, two of the feet will actually be moulded into the base, this will save a lot of time and effort.



Of course I still have to make the Heat Ray and the tentacles but I think it's time to do a bit of painting.

[Lonesome Crow]

Out with the paints and brushes today.
To start with I mixed black and silver paint together and applied it to the entire model except the green screen of the hood of course.

When that had dried I assembled the model, gluing as I did so.
I then dry brushed silver paint over the high points of the model.

DRY BRUSH?
Dry Brushing is a technique for adding a thin layer of paint on the high spots of a model to enhance them. Using a large, soft brush, wet the tips of the bristles with white - or in this case - silver paint, then wipe the brush almost dry on a tissue, lightly brush over the high points of the model, depositing a very thin layer of silver paint.








I was quite pleased with how the basket turned out.


From this angle the basket effect worked really well.
Still a bit more black painting to do in the deeper parts of the legs and the body and also add some runnels of rust coloured oil from the leg joints.



Still have the Heat Ray, tentacles and also the base to work on.

[Bagnew]

Looking great!

[Lonesome Crow]

Thanks Bagnew.

[poyks]

Looks absolutely amazing!!

[Lonesome Crow]

Thanks Poyks.

Size comparison.
Below is a picture that compares the size of the hood of my new model to the hood of the old model. The old model was way too big and too heavy, it couldn't even stand on it's own and had to be suspended from the ceiling by nylon fishing line.



But that's nothing compared to the model I originally planned. The body of which was a bit bigger than my head, I stopped work on it after I worked out it would end up standing over 7ft tall.

[Commandingtripod]

Now that looks very nice indeed! What's wrong with having a 7ft model though? Next thing you'll be telling us that you're unhappy you gave it a working heat ray. ;D

[Deleted]

Ii's looking good!

[Lonesome Crow]

May 28, 2011 8:40:04 GMT 1 Commandingtripod said:

Now that looks very nice indeed! What's wrong with having a 7ft model though? Next thing you'll be telling us that you're unhappy you gave it a working heat ray. ;D

Ahhh! you heard about the working Heat Ray? I thought I'd managed to hush that up.... Anyway the authorities can't prove anything. I hope.

[Lonesome Crow]

Thanks Stargazer.

[mrgrotey]

Can we have something for a visual size comparison? like a can of coke next to it or something like that? I was imagining this thing as maybe 12" tall but from your old-new comparison and saying the old would have been 7feet tall I'm all confused.

[Lonesome Crow]

;D Can do Mr G.

This model, (in the picture Below) was 18 or 20 inches high
(Depending on whether the machine was in walking position or standing fully upright).


This model, (Below) the one I am currently building is about 10 or 11 inches high,
It's body is about the size of a large hen's egg.


But before either of these models were built, I started work on a much bigger model, which I scrapped when I realized the finished model would have been over 7 feet tall (Sorry no pictures of the scrapped model).

I shall take a photo of the new model alongside a familiar object to give a comparison tomorrow.