Steampunk armoured car

[andonio64]

Hallo friends,
I know I am not too often on BTS, but from time to time I take a break from my WW1 world and try to model something good for our forum.

Some time ago I bought from e-bay three Testors "Salt flat racers":


As many of you could know the series is made up of 4 cars, but the fourth car

(Red Alky Saltzer, as can be seen from the back of the box) is not available around the web at least at a price worth the quality of these ultra basic kits.

Here some details:

The three instructions leaflets

Zoom on one (the others are exactly the same)


Here is the content of the three boxes:



As you can see there are a few pieces and more than kits, this reminds me a "blank page" on which everything is possible...

Antonio

[andonio64]

As the title of this thread suggests I decided to use this material to make a Steam Punk "armoured car"...
 

In a flea market I found this broken toy car for 3 Euros, here I sectioned it on my surgical table:



Then I started working on the wheels, those supplied by the kit are too thin and are empty on their inner face, so I decided to glue 2 wheels "back-to-back" to make a full wheel, also I removed the center of the wheel rim to replace it with some buttons I found on an online shop:



Painted the inner part of the tire and the inner face of the wheel rim, then I painted gold the external rim...


After in my spares box I found these different cogwheels:


and here is the final results, the wheels are approved!



I want the wheels to be seen and to come out of the car profile, so I traced the path to cut:


In the last picture you can see the windshield I obtained from a decoration of the toy car shown above, I pierced the squares and will fill them with "glass"

End of post 2...

Thanks for watching

Antonio

[andonio64]

Post 3!


Here is a rough sketch of what I have in mind
and below is an idea I had today of a mechanism  to move 2 wings I decided to put on the car:


Well they won't ove actually but in my fantasy they can...

Here is the (provisional) location of the wings:


To arm the rear part of the vehicle I imagined a spring mechanism to launch arrows



On the front of the car two cannons:

On the purple disc between the cannons there will be a face decal :


An aileron will stabilize the car and a lamp will light the dark!



Last but not least there will be an engine just behind the purple disc and many other decorations... exhaust tubes, golden ornaments...

That's all for now!!!

Thanks for your attention

Antonio

[Buzzbomb]

Ta daaa... fantastic work so far

[Old Wombat]

This looks like it's going to be good!

[LemonJello]

Those kits seem like a great blank canvas for creativity! I'll be checking in on this to see how it all develops. Looking good so far!

[andonio64]

Thanks guys, I hope to be able to meet your expectations! 

[andonio64]

@Brian, maybe I was wrong putting this build in "Land" and maybe it should go under "Scifi and Fantasy"?
If so feel free to move it...

Thanks

Antonio

[Brian da Basher]

This is fantastic and fits right in under Land if you ask me.

Great to see you posting again and please feel free to post your other work, reality based or not (we welcome all!).

Brian da Basher

[andonio64]

This is fantastic and fits right in under Land if you ask me.

Great to see you posting again and please feel free to post your other work, reality based or not (we welcome all!).

Brian da Basher

Thank you Brian, yes I was asking your advice about the right place for my WIP... it's OK to leave it here.

Thanks also for the invitation to post the other builds here, I will do it from my next "real" project. As said above my preferred subjects are WW1 planes, floatplanes (especially the Schneider Cup period) and anything fantasy suggests to my mind... 

[Brian da Basher]

W.W. I is one of my areas of interest and there's others here that share it too.

Will be most interested in seeing more of your work, especially if you build an Ansaldo S.VA. Would like to see it done right before I muck up the ones in my stash.
 
Brian da Basher

[35th-scale]

Great job on the wheels. Will be interesting to see this come together. 

[andonio64]

Thanks guys, your comments are much appreciated.
Brian, I have built 2 SVA 5 up to now, I can show the results somewhere, would the Physical Models / Aero-space section be OK even if they are not imaginary works?
My projects and built planes bythe way can be found on Scalemates just search for my nickname.

Here are a few new things on this project:

After cutting the body to make room for the wheels I worked on the axle shafts (the yellow one is one original piece):




I applied some plasticard pipes on the pins to glue the axles in a lower position and have the wheels someway centered in the side openings I just created:





Looking at these photos I realize the the body should be lowered a bit towards the wheels and I need to ad some plastic under the body to lower the profile towards the road level.

Thanks for watching!

Antonio

[jcf]

Lovely Antonio.  :)

Yes, real world projects are as welcome here as imaginary, so feel free to post
your Ansaldos, I look forward to seeing them, long one of my favourite aircraft.

 

[andonio64]

Thanks jcf, I will post some pics in the next days or later today...

By the way... what's the story behind this model?

Gunilla: a dystopian tale

OK guys, as everybody knows, in a not too distant future, a more a more individualist mankind hailed violent sports letting down usual, fair-played competitions.
Races where everything was allowed, even killing, or seriously hurting the opponents became more and more popular and special areas were designed to host those competitions, where people could safely watch their counterparts killing each other just to win.

The bleachers were safe from risks coming from the track but people supporting different competitors used to attack each other often losing interest in the races they were watching.
Even the media broadcasting the competitions often had a parallel channel where clashes between opposite supporters were shown and commented.

Police was there just to ensure those fights did not cause any damage to the sport facility or to VIPS and politicians watching the event.

This sport was organized in Associations:
NLRSA - No Limits Rollerball Sporting Association (races among armed skaters on roller skates shooting or kniving each other)
NLCRA - No Limits Car Racing Association (races among any kind of terrestrial armed vehicle with 4  wheels or more)
MNLRA - Motorcycle No Limits Race Association (races among armed motorbikes of any kind)
ANLRA - Aircraft No Limits Race Association (armed aircraft races)
NLSRA -  No Limits Sea Race Association (sea vehicles)

In all those sports there are no categories, no distinction in either age or sex, the player can use anything s/he is able to put on the track.

All the Associations but the RGSA organize two kinds of competitions, races in closed circuits and "geographical" races, where a start point, some check points and a final point are defined, anything can happen in between.

The Global No Limit Racing Federation (the federation gathering all the single disciplines) is studying the possibility to organize a Space No Limit Race Association for space crafts.

The vehicle I am building is the "Gunilla" Teslamobile of the famous pilot Arrhenius (it's a pseudonym, nobody knows his real identity), one of the most victorious NLCRA champions.

[andonio64]

Hallo, some new plastic has been shaped, sanded and glued to the Gunilla Project:

I have shortened the axle supports to get the wheels a bit closer to the car body, just a couple of millimetres.




I then tok an old piece of a Mercedes model I found somewhere in the scrap box and used it to lower the profile of the car body on the forward side. The yellow piece is from the Testor's kit and I cut the air intake from it:

The gray piece had to be sectioned to adapt it to the car width...

I used 2 small photoetched parts to simulate a couple of small lights.
Here is how the front part looks now




The central section is not glued, it looks like a hatch, so I'll decide later if I'll leave it open but I still don't know which weapon could come out of it, maybe some squid tentacles??? I'll think about it while working on other pieces ...

I glued a transparent red plastic behind the photoetched parts


Here is the bottom view


This is the back


That's all the work I have done so far!

Thanks for your attention guys!

AnDonio

[Old Wombat]

 :)

[Brian da Basher]

That's coming along very nicely!

Your mods look like a million bucks!

Brian da Basher

[andonio64]

Thanks Brian and OW.

Yesterday I started shaping a piece to complete the shape of the body on the back end. I found a small plastic box in my scrap pieces repository and started to cut away two corners that seem to fit well enough beneath the car, but it is a _very_ hard plastic and was so hard to cut the first corner.
Will try to cut the opposite corner tonight.

Antonio

[andonio64]

A new step on the Gunilla:
to complete the lowered profile of the car body I found this plastic box in my scrap pieces repository :


Yes, one of the shorter sides is curved, but once cut and put in place nothing will show of this difference.


I marked in red the part to remove to create the right joint

To glue those two pieces I had to glue also the tube that will support the spiral with the twin arrows


left side


right side


back view







Thanks for the attention

AnDonio

[andonio64]

Hallo mates, yesterday I built the front compartment:





Then I found some tentacles in my scrap box, coming from some gift found in some mini Easter egg... and I fastened them on the back wall of the compartment:



Here is how it should look in the end, the back wall with tentacles and the hatch were not glued.
I need to get rid of the extractor marks visible on the hatch.







Thanks for looking

AnDonio

[Old Wombat]

OK, so there's an alien under the bonnet!

[andonio64]

OK, so there's an alien under the bonnet!

@OW... nobody knows, probably it's a mechanic simulation, maybe it's a real living creature... it grasps the car preceeding Gunilla during the race and gets dragged for a while, slowing down the competitor so that Arrhenius has time to decide what to do with him / her.

But let's advance a bit:
at the end of the afternoon session (today is holiday in my town) this is te state of the art:

All the pieces are only laid at their places, they are too many now and it's as difficult as a house of cards to keep everything in the right position while putting another piece...

Of course everything will be duly painted using a lot of copper and brass...





The cannons are not glued but their support is fixed to the car body.



The front hatch was hold in place by low tack adhesive tape but in the end the tack was too low and it fell while putting on the cannons
The lights are totally scratch built and a couple of red beads plays the role oft the bulbs.





I added fishnet stockings to the tentacles compartment...







A few electric wires...

And for today that's really all!

Thanks for watching

AnDonio

[Brian da Basher]

I'm very much enjoying the play-by-play and your additions/modifications are a pure delight!

Brian da Basher

[andonio64]

Thank you Brian, I noticed one of the cannons has lost the "ball" on the breech, so I ordered 2 new cannons, a bit smaller, I will show them later during the weekend.

I am now working at the cockpit.

Thanks

Antonio

[jcf]

Nice Andonio.  :)

BTW the "ball" is called a cascabel.

[andonio64]

Nice Andonio.  :)

BTW the "ball" is called a cascabel.

Thanks JCF, I'll take note of the "cascabel" !
I went a little forward, I hope to show something this weekend...

Antonio

[Camthalion]

looking cool

[andonio64]

looking cool

Thank you Camthalion !

[andonio64]

Hallo friends,
before going on with the most recent developments on the Gunilla Car, I show you an experiment I did with this "tool":



I bought it from Green Stuff World

It's a set of two rubber moulds to make rivets and studs



I filled it with DAS Modeling clay and after a few hours I had this:




It produces 4 different kinds of objects in 5 different sizes, the smaller is less than 1 mm wide...

I already used them on some detail of the car.

More pictures later

Antonio

[andonio64]

While drinking a cocktail I had an idea: to use the straw bend...



...to make some kind of flexible tubes, and made this



Here is the way it will look like on the back of the car.



The line marked on this piece is where I will cut the plastic to make it fit to the back top of the car.

Antonio

[andonio64]

The main advance on the work was to create a cockpit.
I took an old cordless phone and cut it to make this sort of bathtub where the pilot will operate.





The white cylinder is where the seat will be glued.

Then I made a dashboard, the steering wheel and a board where the pedals will be glued.
The seat is an Albatros DV seat with leather cushion. I plan to make some improvement on this also.




In this view you can see also the new cannons, about 1 cm shorter than the previous ones and both proudly showing their "cascabels".




Antonio

[andonio64]

In the initial design I imagined to put a couple of wings on the back of the car, moved by a system of cogwheels and pulleys. So I purchased a stock of mixed mechanic elements



And with the help of some plasticard I started building the mechanism



This is how (more or less) they'll look like.



The square space in the middle will be covered by the element hosting the straw bend tube. In that element I will put the cogs and pulleys driving the opening of the wings.

Also the wings are part of a wings mix purchased online.
Most of the metal parts you'll see on this build were purchased by the Green Stuff shop quoted above, many pieces (such as the pulleys) are remains from my previous (wooden boats) modeling life.

Thanks for watching!

Antonio

[andonio64]

Hallo, here is a small step ahead I made on the model: the dashboard


Inside the central circle there will be an instrument decal, all the other things were in the packet with cogwheels and instruments.
The central instrument rimming is from an aeroclub setand the red lamp was the on / off indicator from a dismissed portable radio.

The panel will be painted woodgrain and the pedas with their cowling will be in flat aluminum.

The things were just laid on the plastic panel, to see how it ill look like.

This is the real piece:


This is a detail of the steering wheel that will fit in the central holes close to the pedal floor.


Thanks for watching

Antonio

[Old Wombat]

Small indeed! In fact, tiny! :) :)

[andonio64]

Thanks OW, yes it's tiny, although it is more or less in 1/32... by the way here's another piece created for the cockpit and laid provisionally at its place...


I am creating the pieces and shaping the body of the car, then I will prime everything and paint then assemble all the part.

I am imagining other details for the cockpit and then I'll finish the wing mechanism and a sort of Tesla engine. Last thing will be detailing the aileron at the back of the car and then I'll start painting and assembling the mani parts.
Before completing the details I will then need to create some pieces under the body to close it where necessary.

There's still a long way stretching ahead... Now I'll go out with my wife for a beer 

Thanks for watching!

Antonio

[Buzzbomb]

boodiful.. loving this

[andonio64]

boodiful.. loving this

Thanks Buzzbomb!

[andonio64]

Hallo!
During the weekend I worked on the engine, I selected some electrical relicsI have in my huge scrapbox, don't remember from which devices they come from...

After mounting the engine (along with its exhausts - or maybe they are air intakes?) I noticed the pieces I had adopted as windshield was not useful any more so I have to change and create a different one.

Some tubing and other small details were added to the dashboard.

A fantastic copper wire spiral in its glass tube was added to the front of the car.

In these pictures you see also the way the back piece fits in the whole design.

Now I think the cockpit is finished and the forward half as well.

Next I will take care of the wing movement mechanisms and then the aileron with its lamp.

To you the pics:











Thanks for watching

Antonio

[Brian da Basher]

I really like your details and am most impressed by your use of flexi-straws (those things have many uses)!

Those pipes sure look every bit the business too!

Brian da Basher

[andonio64]

Thank you Brian!
I am now working on the windshield and a couple more of details to be put in the cockpit, they'll be glued after the cockpit will be painted.

I have also selected cogwheels to build the mechanism to move the wings, I think I'll sort them out in the weekend.

Pictures will come in the weekend....

Sorry for being so slow!!!

Antonio

PS: How would you glue metal pieces to plastic? Do you think CA Glue is OK?

[Old Wombat]

CA is OK but a 2-part epoxy might be a better long term solution.

[andonio64]

CA is OK but a 2-part epoxy might be a better long term solution.

Thanks OW, I will look for a 2-part epoxy in a near hardware shop...

Antonio

[jcf]

Note that epoxy when cured will have a tendency to 'pop-off' of smooth plastic parts,
so be sure to rough up where you want to attach the metal bits to give the surface
a 'tooth', ditto the metal bits.

[andonio64]

Note that epoxy when cured will have a tendency to 'pop-off' of smooth plastic parts,
so be sure to rough up where you want to attach the metal bits to give the surface
a 'tooth', ditto the metal bits.

Oh, thanks jcf, that may be a problem, the plastic surface is very smooth and I should paint it glossy black so the rough would appear very much.

I will post a photo to show what the metal piece looks like... maybe it could help!

Antonio

[andonio64]

This is the metal decoration:


And it should go where the white belt is on the sides of the car


Thanks

Antonio

[jcf]

For something that intricate and light-weight I'd been inclined to use a good quality spray-adhesive.
Lay the filigree face down on a piece of cardboard, spray on a light coat of the adhesive, let it
dry slightly/go tacky and apply it to the painted surface.

[andonio64]

Thank you jcf, this is a great tip!

[Old Wombat]

For something like that I've gotta agree with Jon. :)

[andonio64]

Today I worked on the wings movement mechanism:




Two vertical cogwheels come out from the body and engage two horizontal cogwheels bound to pulleys.
On the pulleys there will be cables connecting to the pulleys bound to the wings, see red marks on this photo:


I also glued some ribs on the aileron:


This is the new windshield


Two new details to be put in the cockpit (done in the last days):



Thanks for watching

Antonio

[andonio64]

I just finished an afternoon session: I created the struts to hold the aileron, I reused a piece of a toy chair I found many years ago in a chocolate egg, and used three different brass tubes  having decreasing diameters to make a hollow support to insert in it the stem of the red lamp:




the pieces are not glued...

I will rig the aileron as the red lines show in these last two pictures:



For today I think it's all !!!

Thanks as usual for your attention...

Antonio

[Old Wombat]

Mobile Red-Light establishment?

[andonio64]

Mobile Red-Light establishment?

Maybe  an advertisement for that kind of Business?
Maybe Gunilla is the name of the "Maitresse" ?
 

[Brian da Basher]

Your builds always have that extra bit of class, Antonio!

The details look great!

Brian da Basher

[Dr. YoKai]

Coming along wonderfully!

[Old Wombat]

Your builds always have that extra bit of class, Antonio!

That'd be a blue light (officers, don'tcha know, what!?)

[andonio64]

Thanks everybody!!!!
 

[andonio64]

Due to hot and real world engagements lately I dedicated less time to my beloved Gunilla...

Anyway I have added some detail and today I sprayed everything with gray primer.

In this case the primer was important to uniform the base colour as I have used many different pieces in plastic of many different colours...

Here you see everything "primered" but other small pieces that did not need to be sprayed.



Here is the "shell" with some added rivets



the two carved rectangles on the two sides of the cockpit were done to host the two tanks... (ehr... gas... petrol... other weird fuel... well I don't know what was the fuel for a Tesla engine  ...)



Some nuts and bolts on the windscreen:




Ciao and thanks for your attention!

AnDonio

[AXOR]

Nice project, we are waiting for the next steps  :)

[Brian da Basher]

Those tanks really look every bit the business!

Brian da Basher

[Buzzbomb]

Ahhh cherub parts holders... how Steampunk of you

Loving this

[andonio64]

Nice project, we are waiting for the next steps  :)

Thank you AXOR , me too!!! Ha ha ha... 

OK now that I have primered everything, I can proceed with colouring and glueing the parts, the road has now started going downhill...

AnDonio



 

[andonio64]

Those tanks really look every bit the business!

Brian da Basher

Thanks for appreciating the tanks Brian!

:-)

AnDonio

[andonio64]

Ahhh cherub parts holders... how Steampunk of you

Loving this

Buzzbomb, they are my heavenly helpers... lowcost "man"power... 

[jcf]

Cool.  :)

As to the fuel, well it converted phlogiston to aether by a process of reverse-catalysis,
the still secret aspect is the magnetic and electrical processes used.
 

[andonio64]

Cool.  :)

As to the fuel, well it converted phlogiston to aether by a process of reverse-catalysis,
the still secret aspect is the magnetic and electrical processes used.
 

 

Thanks jcf!!!

[andonio64]

Hallo everybody, while working on the Tricyclone I took some time to spray and paint the several pieces of the Gunilla car.

Today I started assembling the pieces, here is the state of the art

General view:

engine and cockpit in place.
The cockpit is not yet finished.

Underside view:


A view of the Gunilla face and of the engine:



Top view of the cockpit (without the seat) with a toolbox


Better views of the control panel:



left side of the cockpit


the seat:


the tanks:


Other pieces:



Thanks for looking!

Antonio

[Brian da Basher]

I find the large face both disturbing yet oddly mesmerizing at the same time...

I really like how you've represented the different types of metals, the copper, steel and brass. That to me is very advanced work as I always find metallic finishes challenging.

Nice update, looking forward to more,
Brian da Basher

[andonio64]

Thanks Brian, I'm glad you liked it, I agree that the face is too big, but mesmerizing is the right term.
Apart from the size, I find those kind of representation very "esoteric" and would like to find more. If anyone knows of sites or books with those kind of engraving I would be grateful to have that info.

I found that face on the wall of a shop near where I live, here are the others:



should anyone be needing any of those drawings I have high resolution jpgs to share.

Thanks

Antonio

[andonio64]

Hallo everybody, I finished the Gunilla car yesterday evening.

Here are the final photos:



Walkaround










Detail of the forward part



Detail of the rear part



Views of the cockpit







Engine


Photos of the bottom (taken before the completion of the top part)





Thanks for watching, I had a lot of fun imagining, designing and building Gunilla.

A friend of mine who saw the model yesterday suggested to have a look at the Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (search for it on Youtube!!!) a truly fantastic Norwegian stop motion movie by Ivo Caprino where the main character has built a big racing car (Tempo Gigante) very similar to the Gunilla vehicle.

CLICK HERE

CLICK ALSO HERE

Someone later on has built a real size fully functioning replica of that car.
SEE HERE

Wow it's a beauty!!!

Antonio

[Old Wombat]

It's weird, wacky & wonderful!


It'd look right at home in a Steam Punk Wacky Races driven by, given the pinkish hue to the bronze, Penelope Pitstop!

[andonio64]

It's weird, wacky & wonderful!


It'd look right at home in a Steam Punk Wacky Races driven by, given the pinkish hue to the bronze, Penelope Pitstop!

Thank you OW!!!


About Penelope Pitstop, well she's too much a positive heroine to drive this deadly armed monster ( ), but it could happen, due to the hues as you said, never say never!!!!
 

[jcf]

Very cool. 

As to free graphics of that sort, Dover Publishing in the US has published a huge range of books of
old advertising "cuts" for art purposes for several decades, and other types of design illustrations,
they started adding an accompanying CD of all the images back in the '90s. They generally show
up really cheap on the used book market.

Search result on used.addall.com, copies start at .99¢ US.
http://used.addall.com/SuperRare/RefineRare.fcgi?id=170807102918344526

Here's a link to one category:
http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-clip-art-fine-art--advertising--more.html

You can also sign up with them for free clip-art via email, new stuff from their archive every wednesday.
http://www.doverpublications.com/dspa117/index.html

[Jacques Deguerre]

Holy cow, that's just awesome! What works so well about it is that, while it has the Steampunk grandiosity, it still looks purposeful. Very nice work!

[Antonio Sobral]

Gunilla Rules!!!

Loved the concept and the subsequent implementation. Extravagant q.b., with all those gorgeous details.

Sent me back memory lane a few decades, and all of a sudden the name Dastardly comes to mind :)

Thanks for sharing!

[andonio64]

Obrigado, @Antonio!
I'm glad you liked it! Dastardly and Penelope Pitstop are the links everybody follows looking at it, but I feel much closer to the animation movie I quoted above, although I had never heard of it before releasing this model, I think it is very close to my idea, well there is a lot to learn there for me!


@jcf, thanks a lot for the useful references, those books are a motherload of ideas!!!


@ Jacques Deguerre: Thanks my friend, I think it is "Baroquesquely Steampunkish" ...