Author Topic: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread  (Read 23053 times)

Offline Goonie

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Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« on: May 24, 2014, 03:51:32 AM »
Because I've got quite a lot of unfinished or planned to do Sci-Fi models, I would like to create a single thread for them.

First one would be Martian HEMMT escort truck, as I have mentioned in this topic http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4280.0 I'm going to build escort truck for convoys transporting supplies from space port to the mining facilities on Mars.

As a base I'm using Italeri "HEMMT Gun Truck", with AFV Club "Remote Weapon System" on roof gun port. Original tires will be replace with Lego balloon wheels (they are more than 2x wider than the original + only 3 mm bigger in diameter than original one) and finally on the back of truck I'm going to scratch build some sort of autonomic rail gun (similar to Phalanx CIWS).

Whole idea for the model is the result of visiting this site: http://www.ga.com/railgun-systems and large disappointment when I had discovered that HEMMT with Phalanx system already exists ;)
After all I have also red somewhere, that Oshkosh is trying to adapt HEMMT design to almost any possible task, so why not use it on Mars?  :D
After a lot of reading on problem of adequate propulsion system for vehicles on Mars I've decided to ad some containers for liquid O2 and other gases required for effective burn of methane in engine. Next problem would be an adequate amount of power which rail gun will use during combat (as I've noticed its quite unpractical at the moment: http://www.janes.com/article/28774/ausa-2013-general-atomics-unveils-blitzer-land-based-railgun it looks like that most space is used by energy generators/fuel cells), so I've decided to scratchbuild some sort of fission battery. About 2 years ago I've red in "Focus" that some corporations are trying to create nuclear batteries for developing cities, so why not decrease it in size an implement on vehicle in future, especially that on Mars there is almost nothing (except possible Human settlers  ;) ) that could be harmed in any case of radiation leak.

and here are some photos:

1. Ingredients:

models:


Lego tires:


rail gun:


2. building process:

original poorly detailed engine


same engine after adding a few more details:


few photos of scratchbuilding the rail gun:





^ this basis was one of the foots from mecha build some time ago by Artoor_K

size comparison of original and Lego wheels:


modifying Lego wheels:



3. building progress so far:


next update should be quite soon
« Last Edit: May 27, 2014, 07:59:34 AM by Goonie »
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Offline Weaver

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Re: Goonie's Sci Fi thread
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2014, 05:01:45 AM »
Excellent - love the use of found objects!  8)
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Offline Queeg

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Re: Goonie's Sci Fi thread
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2014, 05:28:50 AM »
Those lego wheels with the inserted hubs look awesome! They'd work for many projects, post apoc and sci-fi.

Offline Weaver

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Re: Goonie's Sci Fi thread
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2014, 05:38:03 AM »
The wheels do look great, but I bet it costs a fortune to buy a set if you can't pick some up 2nd hand.
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

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Offline Goonie

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Re: Goonie's Sci Fi thread
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2014, 07:28:09 AM »
Excellent - love the use of found objects!  8)
Thanks  :)

Those lego wheels with the inserted hubs look awesome! They'd work for many projects, post apoc and sci-fi.
The wheels do look great, but I bet it costs a fortune to buy a set if you can't pick some up 2nd hand.
To be honest i bought all of them for equivalent of 10 USD on some ebay like polish portal (yellow are much cheaper than white od dark grey).
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Offline taiidantomcat

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Re: Goonie's Sci Fi thread
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2014, 08:10:39 AM »
Brilliant use of the hubs on those wheels  :-* Can't wait to see more!

The wheels do look great, but I bet it costs a fortune to buy a set if you can't pick some up 2nd hand.



http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=3&itemID=65410

Bricklink.com, where you can buy one piece at a time  :)
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Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: Goonie's Sci Fi thread
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2014, 03:36:10 PM »
Oh goody , this is great so far.

I really like those wheels as well

Offline Goonie

  • When the guy does a red tank, he does a RED tank!
Re: Goonie's Sci Fi thread
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2014, 04:41:58 PM »
I really like those wheels as well
Brilliant use of the hubs on those wheels  :-* Can't wait to see more!
Once again thanks for kind words :D
Anyway I will have to find some way to get rid of "Lego Group" markings on tires. It looks to strange even for my standards  ;)

Oh and I've got one importatnt question about some element of HEMMT. Is it an air filter (part marked red on photo below)?
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Offline Weaver

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Re: Goonie's Sci Fi thread
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2014, 08:23:54 PM »
Brilliant use of the hubs on those wheels  :-* Can't wait to see more!

The wheels do look great, but I bet it costs a fortune to buy a set if you can't pick some up 2nd hand.



http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=3&itemID=65410

Bricklink.com, where you can buy one piece at a time  :)


Wow - never heard of that: cheers!  8)

"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
Minds.com: @HaroldWeaverSmith

Offline Goonie

  • When the guy does a red tank, he does a RED tank!
Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2014, 07:46:19 PM »
Finally I've made some progress with the model so here are few photos of it:

1. Early attempts to fix the whells:

I turns out that original suspension is a bit too small for them, distance between whells was minimal + pivots was to fragile and they tend to bend somewhat when I had mounted the wheels. Later I've decided to modify the suspension in a manner that whells are mounted now on Lego pins instead of original pivots:


Still it's not perfect, but in my opinion it looks much better now and way more solid.

2. In mean time I've thought that the asymmetric position of main armament would be much more interesting than the previous one:

That black part behind gun platform is some protection cap from old CPU and works perfect as socket for nuclear battery, speaking of which:

(original petrol tank is under modification to resemble a bit more the gas tank)

3. Progress so far:

« Last Edit: June 07, 2014, 07:48:33 PM by Goonie »
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Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2014, 10:14:37 PM »
Looking more interesting as you progress, Goonie. :)
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Offline taiidantomcat

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2014, 12:59:13 AM »
Loving the update!! please continue  :)
















Not a request  >:(
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Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2014, 04:56:19 AM »
Looking good!
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Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2014, 11:10:07 PM »
Wow is that fantastic!

I like how intimidating yet space-age that gun looks!

Brian da Basher

Offline Goonie

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2014, 04:58:49 PM »
Thank's a lot for kind words, its like like having strong wind in the wings :)

Wow is that fantastic!

I like how intimidating yet space-age that gun looks!

Brian da Basher
good to hear that, my goal was to made something in a manner of hard Sci-Fi

Loving the update!! please continue  :)
















Not a request  >:(
I'll do my best ;)
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Offline Goonie

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #15 on: June 28, 2014, 06:37:24 AM »
It's been a while since last update of topic but I have stuck with painting the suspension of Hemmt. Normally I'm using Vallejo acrylic paints but recently I was forced to bought 2 model master acrylic paints. Initially everything goes well (Fe. cannon in last update), but after  putting down first layer of paint it starts to split up for two colours + adding another layers of paint doesn't change anything except that some ugly stains appeared :icon_sueno:
So I'll just need to remove the paint and finally buy air brush together with air compressor but, well, I just don't have mood for first part of it and don't have funds for second one at the moment...

But thanks to taiidantomcat thread 'TTomcat's Tomcats' ( http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4386.0 ), especially to last updates I've started another project - Avro Arcturus, heavy space fighter.
In a few words I'll try to make an old school looking space fighter with cameo similar to that from 'TTomcat's Tomcats'  8)

The donor kit was 'Gloster Javelin FAW. Mk 7/FAW. Mk 9' made by 'Plastyk' but, to be honest, moulds cames from Novo or Frog and are totally worn out (I've remember that about 20 years ago when I was sticking together my first or second model, which happend to be the same Gloster Javelin kit, details on model were definitely less blurry ;) ).


In-box (model itself with resin pilot seats):


After two days and nights of scratch jutsu, ta dam ;D :








At moment being model contains tail wings from F-16 together with vertical stabilizer, two bolters from Wh40k, analog TV antenna cable connectors (converted to jets) + lots more modeling junk.

About two hours ago I've added basic colours (ultramarine + gun metal):

(paint has a much darker hue; this intriguing colour is a result of my photo skills and a bit obsolete camera)

Now I'm waiting for paint to dry and will add later a few more colours 8)
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 06:52:31 AM by Goonie »
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Offline Artoor_K

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #16 on: June 28, 2014, 07:04:56 AM »
So...cleaning of model and primer proved to be a perfect solution. Layer of paint is marvelous :)
Your mods are kind of refreshing change for a bit old model. I really like where this one going :) Very starcraft-ish look :) Maybe upper verticals could be little bigger but this is only my opinion. You can call it Avro Arcturus , for me it's Gloster Wraith still:)
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Offline Goonie

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #17 on: June 28, 2014, 08:03:46 AM »
So...cleaning of model and primer proved to be a perfect solution.
he, he, the two most basic things and the difference is huge ;)

Layer of paint is marvelous :)
Your mods are kind of refreshing change for a bit old model. I really like where this one going :) Very starcraft-ish look :) Maybe upper verticals could be little bigger but this is only my opinion. You can call it Avro Arcturus , for me it's Gloster Wraith still:)
Thanks for kind words :)

According to that upper verticals - well I've got some salvaged Su-27 tail wings, but that small from F-16 looks just more exotic there + side view is more intriguing.

Gloster Wraith - hmm... Who knows ;)
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 09:11:27 AM by Goonie »
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Offline Artoor_K

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #18 on: June 28, 2014, 10:22:19 PM »
May I suggest to put it on something like launcher arm from Macross?
http://www.macross2.net/m3/macrossdyrl/vf-1a-fastpack/vf-1a-fastpack-launcharm.gif
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 10:24:17 PM by Artoor_K »
Sickening, weakening
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You need strengthening, toughening
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Ignite the fire within you

Offline Goonie

  • When the guy does a red tank, he does a RED tank!
Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #19 on: June 29, 2014, 02:26:22 AM »
May I suggest to put it on something like launcher arm from Macross?
http://www.macross2.net/m3/macrossdyrl/vf-1a-fastpack/vf-1a-fastpack-launcharm.gif


Thanks, I was thinking about some kind of launching platform, but dosen't have any particular idea in mind, so this could speed up the process when some diorama will be needed  ;)

Meanwhile some progress on cameo (vallejo grey blue + green sky):



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Offline taiidantomcat

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #20 on: June 29, 2014, 08:19:10 AM »
Oh this is super cool!! I had some Sci Fi Ideas for the Meteor as well,  the mods you have done here are way better than what I had in mind though.

Looks great! Happy to have had a (very small) part in it  ;)
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Offline Goonie

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #21 on: June 29, 2014, 09:28:30 AM »
Thanks very much and I can't wait to see that Meteor after mods 8) , maybe this time I'll be happy to participate a bit in your project  ;)

Happy to have had a (very small) part in it  ;)
Honestly it wasn't such a small part - that Javelin would probably still lie in box and wait for some better time if I hadn't stumbled upon your thread ;)
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Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #22 on: June 29, 2014, 12:10:58 PM »
For some very strange reason that I can not explain, the first thing that comes to mind with your creation is a cuttlefish.  Mind you, I mean this in a good way since the cuttlefish is a creature that can change colors to help it hide from predators or from prey until it is too late.  Very imaginative model you have created and the paint scheme really makes it stand out in a crowd ;)
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Offline Goonie

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #23 on: June 29, 2014, 10:56:32 PM »
Well, you got the point with that cuttlefish, cameo looks somehow similar. Anyway thanks for idea for the story when the model will be ready ;)
At the moment being I have to finish 4 anti frigate rockets, make some wethering and start to scratchbuild stand for it. Some photo update should be around evening.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 07:25:17 AM by Goonie »
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Offline Goonie

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Re: Goonie's Sci-Fi thread
« Reply #24 on: July 01, 2014, 07:25:45 AM »
Update:

Still haven't finished rockets and diorama, but at least I'll put some photos of model with stencils and a bit of weathering:








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