15mm Martian Tripod

[FifteensAway]

I believe that posable wire is what I was thinking of - and it looks rather like the old cables used in phone booths to keep the hand sets from disappearing. (?)

[Enakan]

Gotcha!

I know exactly what you are talking about!  Sorry about the delays, I've been on "honey-doo" duty around the estate here, working inside and out.  Well, back to the Tripod!

Saw this deviled egg tray from the grocery store, I never did l like the cupola top I had built, this is a more oval egg shaped top dome, with a small upraised portion too.  I used plumbers putty too, for the solid dome top piece.  It can be sanded to fit, and pushed into shape for a short while before it hardens.

[Enakan]

The only bad thing about the putty is though, you have to have a mold release of some kind so it doesn't stick to the mold.  Maybe some vaseline or oil of some kind next time.  Or, I could use another type of filler, maybe kneadtite or green stuff. 

So had a time pulling it loose, messed up the one egg oval mold.....

[FreakyFenton]

Maybe cover the mold with clingfilm and then push the putty in. You can just pull the clingfilm out then and have yourself the putty ovals once they're less malleable?

[Enakan]

Good call there, I know they have non-stick foil, I assume they must have the same thing for plastic?

I've used a mold release liquid for my rubber molds, so they don't stick together.  I thought maybe I could use something similar here too.  Will give the plastic a shot first though!

[FifteensAway]

Glad to see you're back at it.  Another thought: embed your plastic mold in carefully compressed sand - sort of like you'd do for a drop casting.  That will give better purchase when removing items from your mold. 

[Enakan]

Here's the tripod with his "headpiece".

I was playing around with some things to use as the heat beams, some door knobs, but they look too big for this model.  I had one where it was on the headpiece, but darn if it didn't look like a doctor and his stethoscope!  Tried it under the upper body, between the two front legs, but the doorknob was just too big and unwieldy.

[Enakan]

When at my local store the other day, I saw some short cable lengths there by the rolls of cable.  They almost look like the ones you'd lock up your bike with.  Sound just what you guys recommended too.

Now just have to cut them without too many frayed ends!

[FreakyFenton]

Oh! That looks promising!  Good choice!

[Enakan]

What do you think?

Should I sculpt some three way claws/hooks for the ends?  Or maybe just a lone claw tip for them?  I happen to have a big pile of crab claws from Red Lobster that I've saved over the years.

I've used them on many a project in the past! 

Claws!!!

 

[FreakyFenton]

Hrm. Claws seem nice, and if you have them, why not. Though, not sure what the book mentions. There's one scene where the narrator hides whilst another man is grabbed by a tripod.

As said, good advice would be, go with what you feel works best! So claws in this case! 

[Storm Wolf]

Claws sound fine to me, the handling machine had claws that gripped and dragged away the parson

Glen

[Enakan]

Trying to stay away from the later days Cruise movie with the tripods popping out of the earth.  They definitely had "rope" style long tentacles, I'd like to keep more of the Victorian style "grabbers". 

Tell you what, time to brush off the cobwebs, back to the book to brush up!