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Post by crunchysaviour on Mar 14, 2007 12:02:12 GMT 1
Good-day to you, everyone! I'm new here, and this is my first post. I have built a model (well, it's a bit rough for a model, so I suppose it's more of a sculpture) of my impression of what a fighting-machine might look like. Here's a photo:  The machine is made of wood, stuck together with glue-gun glue, and also screwed together where necessary. The knees and leg braces are push-fits into drilled holes, as are where the legs join to the body. The heat-ray generator is a funnel of sheet aluminium, the windscreen is aluminium, and the tentacles, arms and the basis of the "baskets" (which I haven't fully made yet) are all copper wire of various thicknesses. I suppose the machine is most accurately described as being a cross between those of Spielberg and Jeff Wayne. I had originally intended it to be more true to the book, with the leg joints being attached entirely to the bottom part so that the "hood" could swivel if it wanted to, but as I was building it I ended up doing it wrong. I'm more a fan of the "metallic" and "industrial" looking tripod designs, and not so much the organic ones, which suits my construction methods fairly well (I mean, it's easier to make something look industrial than it is to make it look organic!). It is an approximation to some sketches I'd done previously. Still to come: - Coat of "glittering metal" paint - Black smoke launcher - More detail to various parts inc. baskets and heat-ray - Knees and bent legs I may attempt to smooth the top over somehow before painting it, as it does look quite Lego at the moment. Here are the rest of the images:              Wow, this Photobucket thing is actually quite powerful! Here are my original sketches:   Hope you like them. I'm open to criticism. I've seen some really impressive tripod artwork on this site! Thanks for taking the time to look. - Anthony |
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Post by Scifishocks on Mar 14, 2007 19:01:43 GMT 1
Welcome to our forum, Anthony!  That's ace! Keep us posted with progress! We love to see W.I.P things like this... Poyks had quite a hit with his 'Jeff Wayne Fighting Machine from scratch' projects (one of which I am lucky enough to own) on the old Wotwonline board, so keep it coming! |
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Post by steann on Mar 14, 2007 22:53:30 GMT 1
excellent work there i'm just wondering if your planning to use a " tail light " cover for the eye or leaving it bare ? |
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Methos
Trainee
[NO MONSTERS]
Posts: 79
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Post by Methos on Mar 14, 2007 23:27:59 GMT 1
Kewl!
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Post by Anim8tr on Mar 15, 2007 3:14:53 GMT 1
Welcome to the board, Crunchy! Nice model you got going! I really like the sketches!
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Post by crunchysaviour on Mar 15, 2007 21:31:37 GMT 1
ENH - Thanks for the swift welcome! I checked out Poyks's fighting-machine model on the old forum. It's AWESOME! He put a LOT of work into it and the end result demonstrates this. I bet he's shown it to Jeff Wayne, and I bet JW was bloody well impressed with it too. Steann - I don't know! I might spray or paint the body black and apply aluminium sheet body panels over the top, so I'll need some sort of other covering for the "eye" (or windscreen as I'd probably call it). Maybe I'll use some clear plastic or something. The alternative is just to cover the body with some sort of stretchy material, giving it a semi-angular finish, and spray it all silver. That way, though, it won't be "glittering metal", but more sort of sparkly and maybe pearlescent. Who am I trying to fool?! I'll cover it in aluminium panels! Huzzah! Methos - thanks! Anim8tr - thank you very much! I like your avatar, by the way, and your FM model. Thanks again, everyone, for welcoming me. I'll post you some updates as they come. I should be able to work on the FM a bit more on Saturday... |
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Post by rusti on Mar 15, 2007 21:41:02 GMT 1
Thats cool work, also quite 'to the book' too. nice work. |
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Post by steann on Mar 16, 2007 0:04:36 GMT 1
Steann - I don't know! I might spray or paint the body black and apply aluminium sheet body panels over the top, so I'll need some sort of other covering for the "eye" (or windscreen as I'd probably call it). Maybe I'll use some clear plastic or something. The alternative is just to cover the body with some sort of stretchy material, giving it a semi-angular finish, and spray it all silver. That way, though, it won't be "glittering metal", but more sort of sparkly and maybe pearlescent. Who am I trying to fool?! I'll cover it in aluminium panels! Huzzah! cool...will you post a pic of the finished model ? please |
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Post by Scifishocks on Mar 16, 2007 1:17:50 GMT 1
ENH - Thanks for the swift welcome! I checked out Poyks's fighting-machine model on the old forum. It's AWESOME! He put a LOT of work into it and the end result demonstrates this. I bet he's shown it to Jeff Wayne, and I bet JW was bloody well impressed with it too. Yes Poyks' FM is amazing and it has pride of place in my bedroom, I know I'm extremely lucky to have such a cool thing! Poyks, if you don't know, works on Jeff's official site with me... and Jeff has seen it. I believe he was very impressed! |
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Post by richardburton on Mar 16, 2007 15:26:52 GMT 1
Nice work there, Crunchy and welcome aboard.
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Post by krakatoa on Mar 17, 2007 5:20:22 GMT 1
Hey welcome aboard, crunchysavior, i like your model very very much. Because it as the puch of SS, and the beauty of Jeff waynes mixed with it, and elements of the original book. H.G. wells.
That would be a model i would like for my book!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for this good work keep it up, and anxious to see more. Chantale.
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Post by Luperis on Mar 18, 2007 4:16:43 GMT 1
Hello and welcome, Anthony! That's a very nice model you've constructed there! It's interesting to see the original concept sketches too. Please do let us know what it looks like when it's done. ^^ |
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Post by crunchysaviour on Mar 18, 2007 12:38:10 GMT 1
Thanks for the further comments and welcomes, folks!
Yesterday I began to apply the aluminium "armour" to the body of the machine, starting with the underside.
I smoothed the corners of the machine with a rasp (but not the bit that the legs attach to - I will call this the thorax) and cut a sheet of Al to fit the flat teardrop-shape of the underside of the "head". Then I made a covering for the front and sides of the thorax using another piece of Al, hammered and bent into shape with pliers. This piece, I reckon, doesn't look as good as it should, and I'm considering another method of armour-plating the thorax:
- Paint the head and thorax black
- Cut separate aluminium panels to fit the front, sides and back of the thorax
- Screw or glue them into place.
This method will make it easier to retain the leg attachments: deciding where to drill a hole in a piece of aluminium is harder than not having to drill it in the first place! It will also retain most of the squareness of the thorax, and there could also be a nice contrast between the black and aluminium.
The top of the machine will still be covered in one or more panels. This depends on how easy it is to cut and bend one sheet into a kind of carapace to fit.
The question, then, remains: how can I represent the windscreen? Maybe using a sheet of coloured or uncoloured transparent plastic?
Excitement!
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Post by Anim8tr on Mar 18, 2007 17:33:00 GMT 1
Sounds like your on quite a roll! I hope we'll see some more pictures of your work as it progresses. |
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Post by poyks on Mar 19, 2007 11:17:44 GMT 1
Looking good Anthony!! Re. the windscreen part, maybe try making a stiff wire surround, glued carefully onto a pre-cut piece of transparent Plasticard. One tip though, don't glue it with superglue, as it creates a 'mist' on transparent parts. Good luck! :-)
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