Mammoths remote control monstrosities - gunman for hire

[Bullshott]

My willpower failed and I bought a couple of hexbugs, as I can see the potential of these for a project I've had lurking at the back of my head for ages.

Do you have any hints and tips for converting these and painting the bug (as opposed to the stuff you build on top)?

[Hobgoblin]

What a fantastic thread!

[Mammoth miniatures]

My willpower failed and I bought a couple of hexbugs, as I can see the potential of these for a project I've had lurking at the back of my head for ages.

Do you have any hints and tips for converting these and painting the bug (as opposed to the stuff you build on top)?

Excellent, that means I don't have to say "Go on, you know you want too!"

I tend to take the entire top of the body off, use a dremel to cut the battery holder out so that's floating and can be glued to whatever i build the new body from.

As for painting,Just spray primer  - Poundland grey car primer is good. spray the bug with it turned on, then just sit and play with it while it dries so that all the joints are moving.this seems to stop the paint from clogging anything.haven't had any major issues yet, so that's my best tip.

as for what you put on top - aerosol lids,plastic packaging, novely pencil sharpeners - you preferably want hollow things to keep the centre of gravity low. adding some washers to the inner body as low down as possible can also help - i have since done that to the nautilus for safety as people like to play with the robots when they visit. 

[Mammoth miniatures]

I realized I never put up a video of the walking mine - so here it is.


I've also been developing the world of ramble a bit more, trying to get across the kind of post-post-apocalyptic/romantic landscape vibe i'm going for.



this is a world that was mined to the crust in order to fuel a now long gone empire - the people left are the descendants of those miners and workers who were left behind, not that they know that. the world has been regrowing over the last few centuries - slowly. although it's now a world of great grass tundras and rugged highlands, it's still fragile - the world is not strong enough to support large settlements yet, so people make their homes in the old mining walkers that once swarmed over the planets surface like lice. these walkers, hermetically sealed and powered by hot air engines that can run simple on the body heat of their pilot, can be found buried across the planet - lined up in neat rows in moss covered workshops, alone and overgrown in the grass sea like great steel burial mounds.

[OSHIROmodels]

That fluff has a lot of potential 

[Macrossmartin]

The power source is a brilliant idea, although I wonder if it is even possible. I get a strong Miyazaki vibe from the setting, and the theme of an exploited world slowly recovering.

Are there aircraft in Ramble?

[Mammoth miniatures]

The power source is a brilliant idea, although I wonder if it is even possible. I get a strong Miyazaki vibe from the setting, and the theme of an exploited world slowly recovering.

Are there aircraft in Ramble?

I was thinking small balloons and maybe powered gliders.
But I do have a small rc drone sitting disassembled on the workbench...

[Macrossmartin]

I was thinking small balloons and maybe powered gliders.
But I do have a small rc drone sitting disassembled on the workbench...

Hmm, powered gliders bring Nausicca to mind... no bad thing.

Have you sketched out a map of the world yet?

Also, I spent the commute to work this morning trying to decide the best way to model seas of grass... I think I foresee teddybear fur and a lot of hairspray in my future...

[Easy E]

For some reason, I image seas of grass but hard, rock outcroppings sticking up all over.  I actually imagine a very craggy landscape as "islands" in a sea of tall grass.  Like a Rock Savannah.

In game terms that also gives some hard cover and a reason for your Rigs to maneuver around a bit.

[Mammoth miniatures]

For some reason, I image seas of grass but hard, rock outcroppings sticking up all over.  I actually imagine a very craggy landscape as "islands" in a sea of tall grass.  Like a Rock Savannah.

In game terms that also gives some hard cover and a reason for your Rigs to maneuver around a bit.

Teddybear fur is my go to.

I need to put together a map, Maybe several cus I imagine the residents of ramble have no conclusive model the world, and each home has their own maps.

In terms of the landscape, I imagine amix between the Scottish highlands, yorkshire moores, the lake district, northern arctic tundra and the american great planes. As you head south you each a more broken coast line made up of smaller islands - more rocky with shallow seas between, like an entire coastline of small japans.

there are certainly moutains and rocky hills, they tend to be where static settlements or stop off locations are built.

At the very north are the reamins of the only pre collapse settlement, A vast city of tenements and storage areas built for the miners centuries ago.it's mostly buried now but if you're careful you can still find neat stuff around.

[Macrossmartin]

That provides food for thought. I'm rather enamoured with the image of the Rig 'fleets' of two city-states / coalitions of the plains facing off in a confrontation. Such forces are probably quite small in reality; a few dozen Rigs at most, with little or no standardisation of design.

Towards that end, I've finally buckled, and just bought one of the big VEX Spiders to be the basis for one fleet's 'Rig Battleship'.
(I found my selection of acrylic Xmas baubles, so that put paid to excuses for not building a Rig!) 



I'm also tempted to model a walking village or at least a homestead, as a centrepiece. Although I think it'll have to be a static model. Lasercut legs and other bits should do the job.

Easy E - I like that image of the rocky outcrops. As you say, adds cover and reason to maneuver.

Mammoth - I'd love to contribute to the creation of this world. PM me if you'd be interested in having me draw up a map or maps to your specifications. I'm an old hand at that sort of stuff. Here's a slightly silly map I made of my Lego-themed Imagi-nation, just as an example:

[warlord frod]

wonderful work. I love your imaginative vision 

[Mammoth miniatures]

That provides food for thought. I'm rather enamoured with the image of the Rig 'fleets' of two city-states / coalitions of the plains facing off in a confrontation. Such forces are probably quite small in reality; a few dozen Rigs at most, with little or no standardisation of design.

Towards that end, I've finally buckled, and just bought one of the big VEX Spiders to be the basis for one fleet's 'Rig Battleship'.
(I found my selection of acrylic Xmas baubles, so that put paid to excuses for not building a Rig!) 



I'm also tempted to model a walking village or at least a homestead, as a centrepiece. Although I think it'll have to be a static model. Lasercut legs and other bits should do the job.

Easy E - I like that image of the rocky outcrops. As you say, adds cover and reason to maneuver.

Mammoth - I'd love to contribute to the creation of this world. PM me if you'd be interested in having me draw up a map or maps to your specifications. I'm an old hand at that sort of stuff. Here's a slightly silly map I made of my Lego-themed Imagi-nation, just as an example:

I love that map, very scarfolk council! 

thanks to it being mentioned in this thread I have started a few maps - A rough world map for a kind of gods eye view and a few more local navigation maps with things like small townships, settlements etc.

[Macrossmartin]

I love that map, very scarfolk council! 

thanks to it being mentioned in this thread I have started a few maps - A rough world map for a kind of gods eye view and a few more local navigation maps with things like small townships, settlements etc.

Will be looking forward to the maps!

[Bullshott]

I've now stripped down a standard Hexbug spider and am in the process of adding the main body section, from which I can then build out. I might get round to more work on it over the next few days before Christmas.