Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: Daeothar on January 10, 2022, 05:44:07 PM
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This idea had been brewing for the longest of times; build a completely period correct Rogue Trader Space Marine army. But for the life of me, I couldn't decide on which chapter to paint.
Dark Angels? I already have a 3rd/4th edition force in dark green. My very first RTB01 army was a black Dark Angels one (in glorious monotone enamel), which I sold off when I went to uni. Painting another black army sounded pretty easy, but to have two separate Dark Angel forces would be overdoing it a bit I felt.
Blood Angels? I loved the more orangy look the White Dwarf RTB01 army had, but those were a large inspiration for my own 5th edition own chapter, the Fiery Lions, with their orange armour and blue helmets (and shoulderpads; a slight deviation ;) ), and again, two of the same was a bit much.
I already have a Rogue Trader 1.5 (just before 2nd ed.) Imperial Fists army, so yellow was out too. A shame really, because I liked the idea of doing a Lamenters army.
Looking at the spectrum, only blue and purple were left unused. Purple was out, because it's just too evil a colour, and I still have Emperor's Children ambitions for my Renegade miniatures.
Which left blue, which meant Ultramarines. Luckily not the posterboy variety yet, but the more grim and feral Rogue Trader variant. I liked the thought of this, but wasn't really stoked for some reason.
And then it hit me; white!
And then combined with my favourite colour; green (the Mantis Warriors also didn't make the cut because of the green Dark Angels, but they too were pretty enticing).
In other words: the Mentor Legion.
Luckily Mason decided to Space Shark with his project, so we don't have two similar forces growing on the LAF simultaneously.
So, with the chapter settled on, I took to selecting a first squad of marines, cleaning them up, removing mouldlines, basing them and priming them in grey.
Which is where this picture has captured them:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion01.jpg)
Since then, I've applied the green, using a dark grey undercoat and about 3 layers of Coat d'Arms Dark Green. I chose this because it has just the right hue (it has some very slight blueish tint to it) to match the Mentor Legion artwork in White Dwarf 98.
Here, I am in the middle of applying Wolf Grey to the (to be) white parts of the armour, leaving the primer as shading in the recesses. The three on the right have been done, but in the picture the effect is really subtle...
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion02.jpg)
The face on the unhelmeted plasma marine reminds me of Dolph Lundgren for some reason btw... lol
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion03.jpg)
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Mentor Legion are completely RT old school 8)
Looking forward to this :)
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Thumbs up from me :-*
Knowledge is power ;)
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Which left blue, which meant Ultramarines. Luckily not the posterboy variety yet, but the more grim and feral Rogue Trader variant. I liked the thought of this, but wasn't really stoked for some reason.
Crimson Fists? Rainbow Warriors? I guessed you were going to mention Ultramarines, but I'm shocked these two didn't get a mention given the subject! ;D
Anyway, good choice on the Mentor Legion, and it looks like a good start too. I'll be watching with interest! :)
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I also think the Mentor Legion colour scheme served as the inspiration for Buzz Lightyears colour scheme?? lol
(https://i.imgur.com/gAri0wh.jpg)
and
(https://i.imgur.com/pxQCCXa.jpg)
??? ;)
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Cheers guys :)
Crimson Fists? Rainbow Warriors? I guessed you were going to mention Ultramarines, but I'm shocked these two didn't get a mention given the subject! ;D
Oh, you're so right. I did think of them, but both had a few things going against them. Crimson Fists would be a Fists successor, and I already have a force of the Imperial variant. But to me, they are the OG Space Marine chapter, due to the Rogue Trader cover art. Rainbow Warriors were only mentioned in a black and white illustration in Rogue Trader if I recall correctly, and there they had an issue with the Sisters, so they would not sit well together in the display cabinet ;D Also; I didn't fancy having to paint those elaborate helmet stripes on each and every single marine... :D
Speaking of which: I was going to paint my version of the Mentor Legion with the rank markings, as seen in the little red Space Marine Painting Guide:
(https://images.dakkadakka.com/s/i/gallery/img/2020/5/14/1060147.JPG)
But most other incarnations and RT period marines, I see with the helmet stripe system.
So what to do? I'm pretty partial to the red booklet (it's been my bible when it comes to iconography on space marines pretty much since it came out), but the stripe system seems to be even older, and it's even depicted in the White Dwarf 98 Mentor Legion artwork...
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Crimson Fists would be a Fists successor, and I already have a force of the Imperial variant. But to me, they are the OG Space Marine chapter, due to the Rogue Trader cover art.
Yeah, for me too really, followed stupidly closely by the Blood Angels since they seemed to feature in every other piece of Space Marine art from the period. Mind you, as I have some modern CF and BT, I did consider making my "Codex: Ultramarines" force IF instead, to complete the trifecta; I chose to stick with UM in the end though, as I have sooooo many characters for them!
I totally get doing another "Fist Successor" chapter though (and I why I didn't raise the Executioners from the Badab War as another "blue" schemed chapter, since they are founded from the Fists' lineage too).
Rainbow Warriors were only mentioned in a black and white illustration in Rogue Trader if I recall correctly, and there they had an issue with the Sisters, so they would not sit well together in the display cabinet ;D Also; I didn't fancy having to paint those elaborate helmet stripes on each and every single marine... :D
Yeah, it was only a tongue-in-cheek suggestion! lol That said, I'd get some custom decals made professionally for the prismatic stripes if I were ever to do them (...which I won't, since I've never felt any inclination to do their chapter).
Speaking of which: I was going to paint my version of the Mentor Legion with the rank markings, as seen in the little red Space Marine Painting Guide:
But most other incarnations and RT period marines, I see with the helmet stripe system.
So what to do? I'm pretty partial to the red booklet (it's been my bible when it comes to iconography on space marines pretty much since it came out), but the stripe system seems to be even older, and it's even depicted in the White Dwarf 98 Mentor Legion artwork...
Hmm, why not do both? Veteran squads in the older markings, regular squads with the newer ones. Custom decals, or perhaps very thin custom 3D-printed rank plates glued on might make this a bit easier than doing it with a brush?
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Thanks Major :)
I'm glad to report that the first squad is ready. Well... I call it ready, but I know I still have to tidy up the base rims and those tactical arrows on the shoulderpads are pretty bad, so they'll require a redo, but overall, I'm calling it for these guys.
I've caved, and I've gone with the Rogue Trader book style of helmet stripe rank system. That means no Lieutenants or Lieutenant Commanders, but it is the OG way of marking Space Marines, so I went with it.
As you can tell, I'm not using the WD98 article's Mentor Legion shoulderpad design, which incorporated the owl's head design with a flag design, in a black circle, with or without veteran marking. ANd that was it.
These markings were meant for Mentor Legion sent out to assist others Imperial forces as tutors, instructors and veteran cadre. But since I plan on doing more than just one squad, I've gone with a bit of an amalgation of WD98 and the Painting Space Marines booklet.
Meaning my Space Marines will sport the Mentor Legion symbol, with the role symbol underneath or behind it. Those being Tactical, Assault and Devastator. This also means no weapon badges (luckily, as those are tiny! ).
I'm also adapting the practice of reversing a shoulderpad's colours for veterans, as displayed on the Veteran Sergeant. I will also probably give him a back-banner later on, once I've decided on the style...
A groupshot:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion10.jpg)
Sergeant:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion04.jpg)
Marine 1:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion05.jpg)
Marine 2, with Heavy Bolter:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion06.jpg)
Marine 3:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion07.jpg)
Marine 4:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion08.jpg)
Marine 5, with Plasmagun:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion09.jpg)
And finally, for kicks, a shot of the entire squad being deployed outside of an Imperial outpost:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion11.jpg)
And I suppose some of you might be wondering why I painted 6 Marines in this first squad, instead of going with 5 or 10. This has to with their transport, which, going by the numbers, should then be a Razorback, right?
Well kind of.
It'll be a Rogue Trader classic, but I need to work on some stuff first before I can actually show it off. But this is the very next thing on the workbench!
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Excellent work!
I am on something of a 3rd edition/RT kick myself at the moment, but nothing like as fancy as yours.
Keep up the good work
Glen
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Love ‘em 8)
Resisting the temptation to toddle off to eBay and get some lol
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Those look great mate!
I don't think the helmet stripes and the rank badges from the painting guide are mutually exclusive, I've been working on a RT Space Wolves army myself and I decided to do both the helmet stripes and rank badges though not necessarily at the same time. And you can always do the rankbadge on the shoulderpad or arms or legs. I'm also mixing several types of helmet stripe, from the full stripe to just a stripe on the nose, so I will probably do one with just a stripe on the nose and a rank badge on the brow at some point.
Have you thought of doing the weapon markings on the shoulderpads? I've only painted one squad so far, but all my bolter marines have the bolter marking from p169 of the RT book. Think that's something that would fit right in with your marines, but I can understand not doing it, because it's fiddly as fuck to do.
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Tidy work, well done.
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Cracking!
My Space Sharks do without rank identification,it’s whose got the biggest sword lol
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These are lovely, especially as white is such an unforgiving colour, and never mind on old models with so-so casting. Very well done! :-*
Resisting the temptation to toddle off to eBay and get some lol
...Same! :D
Especially after seeing these, Mason's, Curis', stone-cold-lead's...
Yeah, I've been good and resisted so far! lol
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Mentor Legion (the proper, original one) is the best legion.
The original fluff, lore and game rules were freakin' outstanding and then GW did nothing with them...made their logo a lame red eagle head...and they faded into obscurity. Their rules (in that White Dwarf the picture was clipped from) are very cool. They have access to all kinds of crazy tech, and their cadre go out and train and study war in every aspect.
You could take Mentor Legion cadre to lead other marine squads, etc....even from different chapters. Loads of really cool fluff and ideas that were just binned.
PS: The bolter targeting web and the slow-motion time freeze wargear were kinda nuts... :D
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Thanks all, guys; your replies are much appreciated :)
@ Storm Wolf: 3rd ed is my personal favourite of all editions. Mostly because that's when I actually started playing 40K actively. I consider 4th to be a refinement of 3rd, with all additional Chapter Approved and Index Astartes articles hardbaked into the basic rules. I have several 3rd/4th ed armies myself.
@ Mr Tought Guy: I already have 2 Space Marine armies where I've used the Painting Guide rank system, which I why I decided to go with the stripes this time.
However, the WD98 article only mentions the Tutor squads sent out to assist other Imperials. I've created some head canon where those markings are only used for those Tutor squads, and regular rank markings are according to those in the Rogue Trader book, in combination with the special markings, such as veteran, dedication, seeking glorious death, etc, are taken from the ubiquous little red booklet.
I find the shoulderpads a bit empty right now though, so I might go for weapon badges after all. Problem is, not all weapons are included in the RT illustration, and there's no further mention of them anywhere (at least as far as I could find). So I'll have to invent several myself.
That's not too arduous though, and I will probably make them into tiny little waterslide transfers, to make my life a little easier.
Also, I feel some squad numbering ought to be in order, as right now, apart from the sergeant (once he gets his banner), no squad identification is possible.
@ Blackwolf: That always is an option, yes lol
@ Elbows: I absolutely feel you there; the test annex instructor chapter take on them was pretty sweet. I suppose I can always still detach a squad for that purpose. In this regard they were a bit like the Legion of the Damned, who you could also add to an existing force with a single squad.
Personally, I always loved the whole testbed platform aspect of the fluff. They're basically asking for all kind of esotheric tech to fieldtest.
And even though I must regretfully admit to never have actually played Rogue Trader, I've read all the books, so I can see that the abilities those technologies granted were pretty cool 8)
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As a teaser, because I could no longer contain myself after last night's succesful printing of my first ever 3D design, here are all the components required for the first of my Mentor Legion vehicles.
A 100 internets for the first who can identify the vehicle... :D
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion13.jpg)
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As a teaser, because I could no longer contain myself after last night's succesful printing of my first ever 3D design, here are all the components required for the first of my Mentor Legion vehicles.
A 100 internets for the first who can identify the vehicle... :D
Well, I mean, if you're going to make the deodorant hover tank, you're going to need two plastic spoons as well... ::)
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You're obviously correct. I suppose it wasn't too much of a challenge, considering the topic of the thread anyway lol
And they're on their way. I found the exact double medicine spoon required, but they are apparently only sold in the UK. So I had to shell out for 5 of them to be shipped over here... ::)
For some reason I found myself having the sudden urge to recreate Rick Priestley's Grav Attack vehicle last October. And I not only wanted to make one, I wanted to do a tribute to the original by replicating it.
There are plenty of really nice examples of vehicles inspired by the original, but none that faithfully reproduce it. Now, I'd like to state beforehand that the original was meant to inspire, and was never intended to be an actual standard. I believe mr. Priestley wanted to show what could be done with a bit of inspiration (and anti-transpiration, obviously) in a time when GW didn't have any vehicles in their product line, and didn't have the capacity to either.
But this thing has become such an icon of the Rogue Trader era, that I thought an actual tribute to the original was in order.
So the first thing I did was pour over the few available pictures of the vehicle, to try and identify each and every part. I pretty soon identified that most of the parts used were actually from a Zoids kit called the Guysack (yeah; I know... lol ). But the launcher and other small boxy part were a bit more of a challenge to locate.
Eventually I found that they came from a larger Zoids kit, called a Redhorn. And while searching for the required parts, I came across a local Zoids collector who happened to have a huge bitsbox, and he was able to sell me everything I was still missing (I had, in the meantime already bought me a broken copy of that Guysack kit).
So that was the Zoids bits sorted, but the deodorant bottle was more of a challenge. Preferences have changed and most brands have long since changed over to either spray cans or roller type dispensers. The stick variant has gone completely out of fashion.
But then I discovered that there is a whole community of people who make their own deodorant. Who knew? And Amazon actually offers batches of 10 or more empty deodorant stick containers! So I found the correctly shaped ones and ordered them.
Big disappointment though when they arrived; they were only 8cm tall, so only a little of half the required length. They did not completely go to waste though, since the wheel on the bottom came in handy later on, and my wife, having heard of the whole DIY deodorant scene is now curious to see how that works, so she has claimed dibs on the remaining bottles :D
So, seeing that it was nigh on impossible to find the correctly shaped bottle, I suddenly realized: I recently got a resin 3D printer, so why not print one instead?
But to accomplish that, I would need to first learn how to 3D draw. Now, I have done some work with Sketchup in the past, painstakingly recreating a room at work (long story; let's just say that it was required at the time), but I also realized that it was not the perfect tool for what I wanted.
So a digital artist friend of mine suggested to go with Blender. It's free and almost an industry standard. But that learning curve... :o
I realized that if I wanted to get the result I was after within a reasonable timeframe, I'd need something simpler. So I went back to the web based free Sketchup version and started to tinker around with that.
In the end, the whole bottle is just a couple of really basic geometric shapes, and I managed to get it all done, in two parts, in only two afternoons of work. The most difficult part was the opening for the bottom wheel and the curved corners at the top (or front of course).
The entire model was built with 2mm thick walls, which had to be done manually because of the simplicity of the application. But it worked.
Sort of.
Because somewhere in the process of converting the proprietary Sketchup files to STL format (done by exporting the files to STL from Sketchup), or the slicing process in Chitubox, almost the entire hollowed sections of the shapes were changed into solid blocks. Something I only noticed when checking on the actual printing.
Not a big problem, since it's not visible on the outside. It does add quite a bit of weight to the model though.
Also, the bottom and top surfaces were originally closed off, and there was a hole for the wheel axle to fit through on the bottom. None of those features transfered to the physical print though. Also, a strange recess appeared on the front part (on both top and bottom sides). It's just a shallow indent that was not in the orginal design at all (see picture in my previous post).
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion12.jpg)
But I'm not an expert on these things by far, so I wouldn't know how all of these things came to be.
One feature that did survive is the recesses I put in to accomodate two magnets in the bottom to meet up with a flying stand. However, with the added weight, it remains to be seen if the envisioned magnets will be up to the task now.
And yes; the curved surfaces are facetted. This is due to the limitations of Sketchup and the amount of polygons it can add (maybe the paid version could; I don't know). But I anticipated this and added some extra thickness to the walls to accomodate sanding the curves smooth.
Because in the end, I just wanted a replica of the original deodorant stick; everything else would have been manual work anyway. Would I have been able to source the original sticks, I would have gone with those. The 3D print is simply there to fill in a gap in the parts list that appeared impossible to fill.
I'm aware that the print is nowhere near perfect, but it'll probably work for my purposes.
Now I'll print another pair of these, because I had been planning two vehicles (I also have the parts for two), so when the medicine spoons arrive, I'll have everything required to create two iconic Grav Attack vehicles, that'll count as Razorbacks in this army :)
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If it makes you feel any better, I saw somebody on eBay a few months ago trying to sell one for a ridiculous amount of money, and somebody else who was selling the components to make one yourself for not much less.
As an aside, it tickled me to see that the recent/current FW Custodes tank is an obvious nod to that original home-made Grav Attack Tank. :P
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There are still some stick deodrants out there. Gillette Endurance is one such - link (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gillette-Endurance-Antiperspirant-Clear-70ml/dp/B07SJ6HY3B)
They're 65mm wide, 25mm deep and 110mm tall. The end cap is shaped differently, though.
I always meant to make one, so curious to see how this turns out.
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There are still some stick deodrants out there. Gillette Endurance is one such - link (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gillette-Endurance-Antiperspirant-Clear-70ml/dp/B07SJ6HY3B)
They're 65mm wide, 25mm deep and 110mm tall. The end cap is shaped differently, though.
I always meant to make one, so curious to see how this turns out.
Cheers.
And yes; I did find several. But in order to make a faithful representation, exactly the same (or nearly exactly the same) bottle is required.
The ones I did find were all off in size, dimensions or shape. Loads had curved surfaces, while I was looking for flat sizes instead. Or the tops were flat instead of rounded. None matched the shape as used by mr. Priestley.
It absolutely was the style of the era, and it changed over the years. I asked around at a renowned pharmacy here, and the woman knew exactly what I meant. They used to carry them too. About 30 years ago...
And since I'm a stickler for detail (which one has to be if one wants to build a replica after all), it was either up to months of searching and loads of luck, or to have a go at it myself. So I went for the 3D challenge instead :)
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Old school with a modern twist. I like it 8)
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You will be the envy of many of us who write here.
Those of us who like oldhammer have always wanted to build a grav tank exactly like Rick Priestley's.
Congratulations!
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Daeothar has a resin printer now? oh no what madness this way lies.
I love that your using it to recreate a classic scratch build to replace missing parts, that's just an absolute perfect marriage of new and traditional there.
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Thanks guys :)
Daeothar has a resin printer now? oh no what madness this way lies.
lol Oh, you don't know half of it :D
BUt I'm only a well meaning absolute beginner; I bow down to your 3D skills; I've got a long way to go before I can create stuff even half as good as yours...
I've wet-sanded the two hull halves to get rid of the polygons and this worked perfectly. It's hell on standard sanding paper though, so halfway I switched over to belt-sander paper, and that's rugged as F, so I'll use that from the start next time.
Added advantage is that the whole shape has been keyed for primer at the same time.
Funny though how back in the day Rick Priestley did his utmost best to get rid of the smoothness of the surface of his bottle by rought sanding it and adding VIM to his basecoat to add more texture, while I'm trying to get it as smooth as possible lol
I will be going over it with a fine grit sandpaper later on (also wet, obviously), to get rid of the obvious sanding traces.
Now I'm repairing some of the areas where the print went off from the design. I mentioned the solid blocks inside, which will at least give me a good base to attach everything to.
But my design originally contained closed off walls on the front and rear surfaces as well (for the rear hull) and a closed off rear surface for the front portion.
The idea was to sand the front wall of the rear portion to the correct angle (the original has the front sloped downwards ever so slightly. It took a second good look at the available pictures to realize this, and of course I need to incorporate this in my replica).
But since the front is now open, I needed to improvise.
I first sanded the remaining edges at the correct angle, and then added a plasticard spacer by layering pieces until I was the correct hight. I then superglued this in place.
This will give a solid surface for the glue to take when attaching the front. However; I will also be pinning both pieces together, right through that spacer, into the solid resin for added strength.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion15.jpg)
I then turned my attention to the rear.
This was supposed to be closed off too, as you can see in the Sketchup picture up in the thread. So I made a couple of filler pieces, which will be supported by the solid resin block in the center of the hull. I even made it so the pieces will be slightly recessed, just like I designed them :)
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion16.jpg)
Finally, I have filled in the two mysterious slots in the nose section (top and bottom) with some strips of plasticard. They've been textured by scribing a diamond pattern in them, so they will give more purchase for the Apoxy Sculpt I will be using to fill the gaps and make everything as smooth as intended.
Then there is a repair required on the side of the nose. This occurred when I Used too much force in the wrong place when prying the print off the build plate. The resin was still uncured and soft, and therefore gave in when I tried to lever the print off ::)
Another lesson learned, that...
Anyway; I'll be using Apoxy Sculpt here as well, but to limit the amount of material required, I put in a simple plasticard filler base.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion14.jpg).
That's it for now, but stay tuned for more progress... :)
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Thanks guys :)
lol Oh, you don't know half of it :D
BUt I'm only a well meaning absolute beginner; I bow down to your 3D skills; I've got a long way to go before I can create stuff even half as good as yours...
Oh the fun of understanding the weird idiosyncrasies of your cad program of choice, cause they never work the way you want them to. I think I've heard people say they design stuff in ketchup at x10 size so you get a finer mesh output, and then shrink it in the slicing software so you have less visible polygons to sand off.
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Not to diminish your efforts or learning, but out of curiosity I had a quick search for "stick deodorants for men", and here in the UK at least they still seem to sell that kind of product.
Mitchum Advanced Powder Fresh Anti-Perspirant Deodorant Stick is just about a perfect match, for anybody else who might fancy making one, and they seem to retail around £3.5-5.0 each. There are other brands too, some of which have slight contours or textured sections that would probably make the final vehicle a bit more interesting.
Anyway, just thought I'd mention it for interest. :)
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Major, thanks for looking, but I have to disagree there :)
Yes; there are still sticks being sold, even though the majority of non-spray on deodorant is rollers these days. I did find plenty of them, but all the shapes I've encountered to date (including the ones you pointed out) are off.
The Mitchum ones you found for instance do not have flat sides, but rather curved surfaces. And I've seen people make interesting fascilisms of the original with them, but exactly the same they're not.
It's like I said; the flat shape as used in the original was a product of its time, and taste and design language have changed over the three decades since then.
And just because I can be absolutely analy retentive when it comes to details at times, it irked me that I could not source the exact shape anymore, while I was attempting to make an exact replica of the original. And that's why I went for the designing and printing option.
Which is proving to be an interesting learning experience as well :D
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Ah, you mean these an elliptical oval cross-section, rather than a round-ended flat oval? I see - I couldn't tell that from the images of the products I found, but I'll take your word for it.
Also, nothing wrong with being fastidious! ;)
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I'm really loving this. I've been itching to get my old Warzone stuff out of storage, and those models share a case with my RT marine collection.
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Ah, you mean these an elliptical oval cross-section, rather than a round-ended flat oval? I see - I couldn't tell that from the images of the products I found, but I'll take your word for it.
Also, nothing wrong with being fastidious! ;)
Your wording is a lot better than mine, but yes; it's all about the cross section! :)
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While still waiting for the spoons to arrive, I've taken to slowly prepping the bottle/vehicle for the final placing of the rest of the bits.
This means that I've now finished sanding the surface smooth and ironing out any faceting on the curves. Remaining is the rounding off of the bottom/rear edge, which I will probably do today.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion19.jpg)
I've placed the rear/bottom gapfillers, and puttied over the gaps in the hull sections, and sanded those flush with the surface as well. Some I had to do twice, since the Apoxy Sculpt did not grip the underlying surface as well as it should. I did the second attempt with ProCreate, heavy on the dark component, and this took much better. And because it was harder due to me going heavy on the gray, it cut and sanded just as well as the Apoxy.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion17.jpg)
Then I drilled holes for the pins to hold both hull halves together, so they can now be dryfitted.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion18.jpg)
A good thing, because I had to go in and file/sand down one part of the recessed area between the two halves because it almost sat flush with the front part of the hull there. But this too worked out pretty well in the end.
A lot of effort just to reproduce what in essence was just a piece of trash, but here we are... :D
Then I started on the decals, but for some reason Photoshop crashed just as I was finishing up (of course without saving progress along the way). Three hours of work down the drain, and I've not built up the courage and motivation to start on that chore again... :?
So the only thing still left to do before I can proceed with assembly was the prepping of the Zoids bits by removing the mould lines from all components and filling several hollow areas, which were probably moulded like that to save some material/weight.
I have not bothered with the parts that get glued flush to the hull, but the two tanks(?) flanking the turret did have those unsightly gaps on the undersides, so those were filled and shaped. Just like a couple of attachment holes (for pegs on other parts on the Zoids constructs) on the other parts.
The magnets for the bottom are also still en-route, so until I receive those, I will have to be patient now. Luckily, the mail man dropped off another couple of Marines just now, so I might perhaps start on the second squad :)
Then again; I start a new job next Monday, so hobby time might end up to be so limited that there won't even be time for that... ::)
And just because I can, here's a shot of the assembled hull. The slanted nose section can now be seen well:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion20.jpg)
Oh, and then there's this thing I've been pondering on for quite some time: the original has panel lines painted on, but I have the opportunity to actually scribe them. Should I go that route, or should I stay 100% true to the original? I'm leaning towards scribing them, as it will look better, and I've already gone ahead and drilled the main gun's barrel and filled holes and gaps in the Zoids parts. Both things Rick did not do on his original... :-X
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As it’s an updated version, I’d scribe them on (it’ll make it easier to paint as well).
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Definitely scribe them on if you have the patience- a homage can be better (thought out and executed) than the original.
BALM
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I'm watching this with eager eyes! Your dedication to the right type of spoon, and gathering up the Zoid parts is inspirational.
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Cheers :)
The project is a bit on hiatus at the moment because of starting a new job, getting hit with COVID Delta and also because I'm pondering what to do with my (first) grav vehicle after a series of mishaps during scribing the panel lines.
See; I'm used to the relative softness of polystyrene when scribing, and the ABS-like resin I used for the print is rock hard. So there were many, many slips and other accidents during the scribing process, which stalled halfway through, disgusted as I was with the very sub-par results.
Also, because it's harder, I broke one of my finer scriber points, so I took to using a more heavy duty one. This worked (bar the slippage), but I fear the resulting lines are way too broad now.
So I'm contemplating re-doing the entire design, scaled up quite a bit (according to YPU's suggestion), and then adding the panel lines into the design. This way they will be uniform on both vehicles (I'm still planning to do two), and I can control just how deep and wide they get. Also; making them across complex curves may be a bit less difficult this way (this is where I struggled the most).
But I'm still gathering up courage to restart the entire design from scratch (no pun intended lol ).
As an aside; the spoons have finally arrived :D I've already prepped/split one to be used as both the turret and the cockpit.
In the meantime though, I've started painting the second squad of six and having fun with them. Pics to follow shortly.
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Not that I'm delighting in your misery, but I saw you were going to scribe and felt envious because I don't have any of the tools to do that. So secretly glad that reworking the 3D model is the way you're going there.
And get well soon!
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Cool project :)
Always liked the Mentors.
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So I finally got myself together and went on to finish the next Mentor Legion squad that had been on my desk since January.
It's another squad of six, to fit in their Razorback Grav Attack Vehicle, just like the first one. But of course the grav vehicles are up for a redesign, and are not available just yet...
This time I chose a bit more wisely than I did with the first squad, to get some marines together that would work well as a team. And this squad is all about close range firepower and vehicle destruction, where the first squad will adopt a more standoff-ish role.
This is very evident by the Veteran Sergeant toting a Powerfist:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion21.jpg)
Second is a medic. It just seemed prudent to bring someone along who can dole out some band-aids and battlefield blood transfusions (the blood drops on his leg armour signify 'battlefield transfusions that left him near death, but from which he subsequently recovered', as per the little red book ;) ):
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion22.jpg)
Then we have a veteran marine who is sporting some extra targeting equipment to help out his brethren with their aim:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion26.jpg)
The next marine is carrying an experimental Needler Rifle, which will count as a standard Bolter for gaming purposes. Exotic weaponry is one of the things the Mentor Legion is known for. After all, they're the test bed chapter for recovered, new and alien technology before the Admech approves it for general use with mainstream Imperial forces:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion25.jpg)
Then we get to the meat of the squad, when talking about firepower; the two Melta weapons. They have a Meltagun and a Multimelta respectively; enough to slag even the largest of tanks:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion23.jpg)
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion24.jpg)
And here's a group shot of the new additions to my 888th chapter:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion27.jpg)
But then I figured that the composition of the squads should change a bit, to better emphasise their roles. So I moved the calculation veteran and the Needler to the long range squad, and moved two of the earlier marines to the new squad. One of which is into taking heads, so obviously he likes to get up close and personal...
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion28.jpg)
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion29.jpg)
With the small caveat that I might eventually move the calculation veteran to a Devastator squad, once I get around to painting one of those. But he's right at home where he is for now I reckon.
And I will conclude with a shot of the force as it stands now, although 'force' might still be a bit of an overstatement at this point:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion30.jpg)
Next up is something a bit more juicy; either a Dreadnought a Terminator squad or maybe something a lot more exotic, such as a Field Police bike! :)
Oh; and I have been thinking about adding a squad number to each marine's right greave, to better discern them on the battlefield. But Rogue Trader marines don't sport those at all; that's more of a 1.5th or 2nd edition addition. Do you think it would suit them?
Also; since the Mentor Legion would appear to have been the epitome of discipline and an example to all Imperial forces they were attached to as Tutors, I'm still on the fence about the ubiquitous 'kil kil kil' markings and the like.
Those are classic RT, but might not quite suit the super correct Mentor Legion. What do you reckon?
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Those are so cool. What a great project.
I'd leave off the 'Kil' on Mentor armor.
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They look tip top 8)
I'd leave off the 'kil' and squad markings to be honest, I think they look better unadorned.
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How the hell did I miss this thread!??!
:o :o :o
Top drawer all around, mate.
Absolutely gorgeous and meticulous painting (as I have come to expect, to be honest).
Huge amounts of kudos for doing the Mentors justice, one of the reasons I chose the Space Sharks scheme as it was more forgiving over a large number of figures.
Your Mentors look pristine and so crisp.
:-* :-*
I'd leave off the 'Kil' on Mentor armor.
I'd leave off the 'kil' and squad markings to be honest, I think they look better unadorned.
I would leave off posting any more pictures as you are putting me to shame!
;)
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Yeah, these are RT perfection. Great work.
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Excellent Chapter 888 Sir!
Yes I think also that the Mentors would be above such things as kill markings.
Very, very nicely done :D
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What a blast! The Mentor Legion has awesome fluff but that white is so unforgiving….I really admire what you did here.
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Many thanks for al the suggestions and comments guys; much appreciated! 8)
And so the dreadnought is becoming the next unit to be painted up... Mostly because it's just the one model, but also because I simply like these hilariously wonky models.
I previously painted (and reposed) one for my Imperial Fists, so I'm already quite familiar with just how asymmetrical these bois really are ::)
I accidentally found a depiction of a Mentor Legion Dreadnought in the red Warhammer 40K Compendium (no; that's not the little red book ;) ). It's in an article about, yes, dreadnoughts, and coincidentally also contains depictions of dreads belonging to Imperial Army units and even Rogue Traders!
However, I will probably not copy that particular scheme, although the colours will obviously be similar, because the chapter logo is depicted as being on a black disk as a background, while I've done all of mine on a white background.
And this means swapping some white and green panels around to maintain a good contrast with the chapter badge.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion31.jpg)
But until then, he's now drying his base-cover and after that it's off to the garage for a grey primer coat.
I will probably not be finishing him in the next couple of weeks, as we'll be off on vacation in a couple of days, but he'll be waiting for me when we return... :D
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Take him and your paints with you :D
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I have three of those beasts (two tall, one short) to finish at some point. I've had them for decades, and dug them out last year. They were glued, but nothing more, and the glue fell apart at the lightest touch (some sort of Bostik thing from the last millenium).
I decided I didn't like the arms, especially the "plug in" weapons, so modelled some new ones in 3d. The problem now is that I can't bring myself to defile the old models with the new arms, so they're still sitting unfinished o_o
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Take him and your paints with you :D
Tempting, but I don't think sweltering heat, tents and miniature painting are a great match... lol
...I decided I didn't like the arms, especially the "plug in" weapons...
Yeah, I had the same sentiments on my IF one. The DCCW arms are OK, but the ranged weapons do not match anything else in the 40K ranges. Especially the 'lascannon' looks as if it originally was part of something else.
So I made an assault/autocannon and a twinlinked lascannon using Space Crusade Dreadnought and Tarantula weapons, as well as some plastic tubing, gubbinz and other bits.
This definitely made them more recognizably 40K, but I am now lamenting the loss of some critical equipment from my Space Crusade copy... ::)
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And to add some visuals to the above story, here's some pics of said Dread.
Bear with me; this was painted about 18 years ago or so...
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/ImperialFists/ImperialFists01.jpg)
Looking at the model again, I can tell that I used a SpaceCrusade Dreadnought Lascannon for the auto/assaultcannon, with some plastic pipe of different diameters for the barrel and some gubbins to dress the whole thing up.
For the Twinlinked Lascannon, I used the Lascanons from a Space Crusade Tarantula and some gubbins from the Tarantula Control Panel.
All bits which I need to source again, and these bits are not getting cheaper you know... ::)
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Wow!!! Fantastic stuff love the mentor legion badges too really well done !
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I love the pose on that IF Dread, very dynamic!
:-* :-*
I share your feelings on those old cans.
I have one but it is far too small to used with my Sharks, my resin ones would dwarf it.
It will be used in my Inquisition Force, probably as an exo-suit (as they were originally back in the day!) for my not-Sisters contingent.
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I have three of those beasts (two tall, one short) to finish at some point. I've had them for decades, and dug them out last year. They were glued, but nothing more, and the glue fell apart at the lightest touch (some sort of Bostik thing from the last millenium).
The problem now is that I can't bring myself to defile the old models with the new arms, so they're still sitting unfinished o_o
You can find the old bodies online to 3d print. Problem solved.
Grimm
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You can find the old bodies online to 3d print. Problem solved.
Grimm
Thanks, that's good to know :D I was thinking about making my own and updating them a bit, but if someone has done the work for me, even better
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Started just before the drought and heatwave began scouring the European mainland, today I finally managed to finish this guy (just before the heat picks up again as I understand it ::) ).
It took a while, as I've been off on vacation and the oppressing heat basically blocked any attempt at painting when I was home. That, and this guy fought me till the end! :?
It's a wonky sculpt to say the least and even though I've painted one of them up before, I can't recall the previous one (same variant) being such an absolute mule...
However; he's finished now and even though, as usual, there are some glaring mistakes here and there, I'm calling it; I'm glad he's finally off the desk to be honest.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion32.jpg)
Funny thing; I had also totally forgotten about the sculpted 'A' and 'B' on the right and left inside ankles respectively. I have no idea why those are there to be honest; the fit of the legs is pretty obvious. I filed them off on the IF dread, but decided to leave them on on this one. Hey; it's authentic at least! :D
During painting, I did some test fitting of the arms and I discovered that the pins I had attached were not suitable for attaching the arms, even when I would fill the holes on the torso with greenstuff. Besides that, I suddenly had this idea that I might need modularity. After all, a loadout of a DCCW and a ML is not the best of combo's, and since I do have a couple of other arms, I figured I might swap them around at some point. So halfway through painting, magnets it was!
I reamed the arm holes on the torso to fit a set of magnets and repaired the damage done on the paintjob. Then after painting of the arms was done, I varnished them thoroughly, and only then did I drill the holes (carefully!) for the matching magnets.
This worked remarkably well though, but for the potential other arms, I will do the surgery before the painting starts, obviously...
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion33.jpg)
The banner is made from aluminum sheet (from a soda can), and originally was intended for the Imperial Fists dread I showed earlier. But it never actually got painted back then, and always lingered in the IF project box (yes; I'm not done with those either...).
So, as it was already made to fit an RT dread, I simply created a bannerpole from a piece of brass rod and a spare ork skull.
I used home-printed decals for the symbol and letters, and tried something new with the stipling highlight technique. It may not look like much this up close, but from a distance, it actually gives the impression of texture to the 'cloth'.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion34.jpg)
And finally, a shot of the dread next to its brethren; this is the whole Mentor Legion force as it stands today:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion35.jpg)
(I was too lazy to fetch all the marines from the cabinet for the picture, so I simply took one of them on their shelf ;) ).
Next on the table is something completely unrelated; a Militia starter force for the skirmish game The Drowned Earth. But I am planning to return to the ML once those are done. Maybe with a squad of terminators, or a flight of jetbikes, or...
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Nicely done :-*
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Superb work, as always.
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Very cool! I especially like the banner, but the whole model is great.
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He’s turned out great 8)
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The bittersweet taste of nostalgia…. great work mate! 👍
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He looks great!
Love the banner, and the orange accents work really well.
A beautiful looking force coming together nicely.
:-* :-*
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Very nice! Love the banner
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It's been a while, but I've finally found my mojo and the time again to put some more effort into my budding Mentor Legion force.
Sometime last year I received a Rogue Trader Space Marine bike in a lot buy. Now, I was never a fan of these, and had never sought them out, but now I suddenly had one. I knew it had to be part of my Mentor Legion, but in what capacity was still unclear and I was not chomping at the bit to get enough of them to form a unit.
But then I saw the Field Police marine in Rogue Trader again whilst browsing the old book, and inspiration struck; I would do the bike as a Field Police one!
So for the better part of a year (maybe even more?) I had this idea percolating in my head. I didn't want him to just straight up ride his bike; that would be dull, so I decided to convert/repose the bike, so it looked like it was parked, with the front wheel at an angle.
At first he'd be suveying the battlefield, casually holding his powermaul/baton/cudgel. But then I bought a second Space Marine tank commander torso from Mason here on the LAF, and it morphed into the officer scanning the battlefield with his binoculars.
But in the end, I also wanted himn to hold his handlebars with one hand, like an actual biker would. And this meant a substantial conversion of a long OOP miniature. But I figured; as long as I'm cutting up this bike, what's one more (half) Space Marine, right? Right.
So I began with gathering some parts which might be useful. Such as RTB01 parts, an ample supply of paperclips, a backpack, plasticard and -rod, and plenty of greenstuff. Oh; and a base of course. I decided on a round 50mm base in the end over different types of cavalry bases, as the pose required it. ANd in the end he looks pretty balanced on it too.
The first act consisted mostly out of sawing, drilling, cutting and filing, till I had a whole pile of loose Space Marine body parts. And then I broke out the drill and the paperclips in order to pin everything together.
Here's the torso, with the right arm and hand removed and a plastic RTB01 shoulderpad temporarily attached. Some damage was inevitable, but everything would be sculpted back in due time:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion36.jpg).
In the end, the belt also had to go, in order for the torso to fit the pose, which would later also be resculpted.
Pre-greenstuff, you can see the lower body and the bike test-fitted together. I lived in constant fear that the left thigh and the right upper arm would end up way too long, but this proved to be not an issue at all in the end...
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion37.jpg) (http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion38.jpg)
And these pics show the project in its current state. All the greenstuff sculpting has been done (I think ::) ), and what remains is the possible attachment of a banner pole to the rear of the bike, with a small banner attached showing the Field Police logo.
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion39.jpg) (http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion40.jpg)
I also still need to find a place to put his powermaul. I was thinking of an attachment ring or something like that behind the saddle on the right side, but I'm undecided yet. Here it is:
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion41.jpg)
He really needs the weapon though, as I am planning on fielding him as a chaplain on bike. The powermaul can then be a Crozius and this seems to be a good fit for the Mentor Legion who seem very rational and not into the deification of the Emperor.
What do you think? Any ideas on where to put that powerweapon?
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That looks really good already, I really like what you’ve done so far! Power maul wise, maybe stowed across the back of his seat, so he can reach back with one hand and whip it out and across in time to whack some fleeing varmint?
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Very cool pose 8)
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Cool conversion work.
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Very cool pose 8)
^^^
What he said!
The pose looks very natural.
Top conversion.
8) 8)
As for the Power Maul: Maybe a small mag-locked attachment somewhere on the bike, keeping it within easy reach??
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Thanks guys :)
I added the bannerpole; a simple piece of brass rod with an aluminum banner and some plastic embellishments such as the topper (a plastic GW skull) and the base of the rod (drilled out plastic tubing).
Also, the basing material is on, so after drying, he'll be ready for paint!
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion42.jpg)
I decided to leave the backpack and the powermaul off for now, for ease of painting. As for the powermaul; I think I'll go with it hanging from his belt on the left side. I had already selected several pouches to go there, as it is a bit of a visual blank spot, but the weapon is just the right length to hang from the belt and simultaneuosly not scratch the ground or his armpit. He probably uses a cavalry draw when he needs it ;)
Thanks for the suggestions though; they're appreciated 8)
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Great stuff. That is RT for me. I can easily imagine staring in rapt awe at it in my much loved copy of RT or the pages of WD - starting years of obsession.
Looking forwards to seeing it painted,
Balm
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very nice biker :-*
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Well, that took a while, but he's finally done.
June is traditionally a very, very busy month for me, because as fate would have it, virtually all birthdays in the family (and a fair few in my circle of friends) are in that month. This includes my own and that of my daughter, so with prepping, parties and aftermaths, there is usually very little hobby time left.
Or none, as this year would have it.
But in the last couple of weeks, I've been able to squeeze in enough time to finally get this lad off my painting table.
It's not my best paintjob ever, but I was not aiming for that; just a decent enough table top standard, and I think I succeeded there.
Obviously my (lack of) photography skills has not been kind here either. The blue highlights on the black are not at all as stark in real life, but the light does point out a whole busload of mistakes, which I'm just going to have to live with :D
All in all, it has become a unique miniature, and I'll be happy to field him as a Chaplain in my Mentor Legion army. In fact, there is a very small Mentor Legion badge over his Field Police badge on his right shoulderpad, but once assembled, the backpack's exhaust almost completely hides it ::)
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion43.jpg)
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion44.jpg)
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion45.jpg)
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion46.jpg)
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/MentorLegion/MentorLegion47.jpg)
Onto the next unit, which is already on my desk. But first I'll be doing up my first Frostgrave warband, in a very appropriate theme...
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Love it! 8)
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:-*Love it, I've always loved that scheme and have been meaning to paint up at least a half squad myself one of these days. great conversion too.
As a side note, anyone know why none of the pics load into the page, but load fine when I right-click and open image in new tab. Anyone else have this problem? and it's only this thread, everywhere else pics seem to load just fine
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It's the outdates SSL certificate of my website. I've asked the service provider to upgrade it several times already, but...
Using Firefox helps and sometimes also opening the pics in a new tab. It's really annoying and I apologize for the inconvenience, but I'm not tech savvy enough to fix this on my own... :(
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Lovely paint job mate and a great build :)
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Very slick conversion and nice paint all around. It is always nice to see a paint job inspired out of the RT book.
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Very nice, mate.
It is always good to have a completely unique character in a force.
8) 8)
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I like him, the pose is very natural, well executed.
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So, any updates on this? Honestly, I came here for the grav-tank build, but like many others have always had a soft spot for the Mentors. I will not, however, be doing anything silly with my own little stash of RT Beakie-Marines in a box upstairs.
I will however definitely be building some 'inauthentically-modern oval-cross-sectioned' grav tanks... ooh, any decade now... and would love to see how your classic 'flat-top' turns out...
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Well you've got me there... :-X
I kind of abandoned my first effort due to several mishaps during the scribing of panel lines. The errors were so difficult to repair and also, the scribing itself was a total mess (read: fiasco) and I couldn't see myself doing it twice (I was planning on making two of them; I've got the Zoids parts and all ::) ). Also; lessons learned; this was my first 3D design and a lot could have been better.
So I decided to redo the entire vehicle from scratch, and also redesign the whole thing digitally.
And that's where the project ended up in limbo. Because I need to teach myself a new 3D-design program other than Sketchup (which I used the first time around) and I just can't find the time for that.
Well, I could, but the task is a daunting one, and I'd rather paint in the few hours a week I can dedicate to the hobby these days.
And that's where we're at right now. The project is surely not dead, as I still want to do the hovertank tribute(s), but until I am able to, it's on a sort of hold, sorry... :?
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No worries from me, I decided to look up 'deodorant' in the search function to check when the idea of the deodorant grav-tank had been mentioned as a modelling idea on LAF, and came across a thread from 2010 where I said I'd thrown away a deodorant-stick that I'd kept from 1987 (one of the ones you were looking for, ironically), and since then I've collected at least 6 of the new type and have done absolutely nothing with them.
So it's 36 years and counting of me not getting round to this. I applaud anyone making any attempt towards it at all and am not at all worried about it taking a very long time.
If you come up with something before 2058, I'll consider that you've done it faster than me.
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And that's where the project ended up in limbo. Because I need to teach myself a new 3D-design program other than Sketchup (which I used the first time around) and I just can't find the time for that.
Well, I could, but the task is a daunting one, and I'd rather paint in the few hours a week I can dedicate to the hobby these days.
I'm assuming you mean something like Blender o_o. Big polygon packages are, indeed, time consuming.
If you're looking for something smaller, that runs on a tablet, have a look at Nomad Sculpt (https://nomadsculpt.com/). It's zbrush/3d-coat-lite, but still incredibly powerful. Its hard-surface stuff is still rudimentary, but it can be done.
One advantage is that, because it's tablet based, it's easier to keep beside you, to work on things in spare moments.
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I was not particularly thinking of Blender, as I have dabbled with it a bit and without hours upon hours of tutorials the learning curve is simply too steep to even contemplate at this stage.
I did some research into the matter after Red Orc's post, and considering the very simple geometry of the design, I might give TinkerCad a try. I was also advized to try out Onshape, which is beefier.
But considering I've become rather familiar with Sketchup Free, I might simply opt for the full version, even though it'll imply a subscription(?)
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Love the pose! That too half was always my favourite one in the rhino riders lot of figures
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So, any updates on this? Honestly, I came here for the grav-tank build...
Well, despair no more! I've finally made a 180, and have gone back to the Grav Attack Vehicles :D
Last week I was downed by flu/corona, had a couple of rough nights and with nothing better to do at night, I got to thinking about my hobby projects. And it then came to me that I still had to redesign that dang deodorant bottle after my less than ideal first attempt at 3D design.
I also remembered that I had seen some kids doing stuff with Tinkercad at my daughter's new school, and I decided to have at it. I expected another learning curve, more frustration and loads of time spent. But I was pleasantly surprised, as I had the entire thing done in under an hour, including hollowing out, holing and slicing! :o
So when I felt a bit better, I ventured into the garage and fired up the printer to make the design physical. It took several tries though, to find the right way to position the design so the print would not fail. But after 3 fails, I finally ended up with a prefectly fine specimen of the hull.
I then went through the (abbreviated, due to experience) same process with the nose section, kept on printing, and I now have two complete bottles/sticks ready for the physical modeling work to commence.
The design was greatly simplified: I did the hollowing out in my slicer program (Chitubox) and this eliminated the problem with the solid resin block in the middle of the first design.
Several holes were also added for the liquid resin to flow out of during the printing process, and I was able to add the angle to the collar for the nose to be positioned correctly as well. After the fiasco that was the scribing of the first iteration, I've decided to not scribe my models and adding them in Tinkercad proved to be both fiddly and not uniform (enough). So I will add the panel lines either by painting them or by creating waterslide decals.
What's next? I now need to prep the second set of bits for vehicle number two. I previously already did the cleaning and filling of the Zoids parts of first set, and obviously the second one needs to be every bit as good.
I need to gut another one of the empty/blank deodorant bottles for the bottom wheel (which fits like a glove on the new design), I need to think about the filling of the turrets, magnetizing them and the (flying) bases, attaching the nose sections to the hulls, attaching the cockpits, and I need to source the correct screws for the turrets!
Yeah; I found out that there is a screw inserted into the side of the plastic spoon of the original turret. It was very hard to spot (I previously completely missed it), but now I'll have to tip over my jar of loose screws, bolts and nuts to find two that match the one in the few grainy pictures I have of the original...
Very little will get done over the coming weekend though, as it's Carnaval over here and for four days, life will come to a virtual standstill like it does every year :)
So for now, here's a picture of the two 'sticks' as they lie in wait on my desk...
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I have the compendium, so I can take a couple of pictures of the screw if that would help.
It is a round-headed crosspoint, but there's no mention of its size. Other screw sizes mentioned are 1/2" and 3/4", but they're for securing the turret to the body
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Cheers Zemjw, but I have the compendium as well. It's just that I had failed to notice it before. Which is kind of weird, considering I've spent loads of time studying all the existing pictures.
One thing I noticed is that later pics show that the antenna dish is missing. The tank must have taken some damage throughout the years I reckon...
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This is a brilliant project and I'm really curious to see how like the original you can get it.
I'm afraid I went the lazy route though...
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1595261880/deoderant-bottle-hover-tank-28mm-scale