Occupy Space Station - oooh, shiny shiny Stanford Torus!

[Westfalia Chris]

Hi all,

yesterday, I went to see "Elysium", and what a beautiful movie that was. Liked it tremendously better than District 9, not in the least because of the more plausible scenario and setting, and of course the beautiful mechanical design - that space station sooo pushed my 1970s space art sensibilities button.

And of course those robots. And the Boat People shuttles. And the Bugatti SSTO. And the Raven VTOL. Curse you, Neil Bloomkamp and your production design department! Curse you!

Anyhow, coming home I sat about building some stuff to use with our revitalized cyberpunk group interest. Specifically, I wanted a VTOL (as I wanted to build something in that vein anyway, but didn't find a suitable design), and some robots, since I had a couple of Copplestone terminators lying around which could do with a repaint.

Piccies now!

The VTOL is more or less loosely based on the Oryx Raven, but uses engine gondolas from the Pardulon Dragonfly which I had lying around. It incorporates some design points from the MAU-20 robot tank which I built in 2012 to tie it in with existing models. The engine pods swivel on rare earth magnets. I may add some more detailing at a later point.





And with two Armadyne robots in Homeland Defence colours:



Said robots are converted Copplestone robots. I added a tiny faceplate and a side detail using plasticard and plastic rod, plus an antenna from plasticoated steel wire. I've got three more, of which I will paint two as police bots if I can find a pic of them online; for the last one, I am torn between the Armadyne black-and gold and a hypothetical olive drab for mercenary/CCB operative use.





For mercenaries/CCB operatives, I'll be looking into Copplestone troopers of which I have a couple somewhere, but unfortunately all with rolled-up sleeves. Until then, I'll be using these which used to be made by Playwar (now defunct AFAIK). Will be repainting the base rims to match my other near-future/cyberpunk stuff, though.



Some more robots coming up in the next few days, some more better-lit pics of the VTOL, and possibly a Max conversion if I find a suitable base model in my lead mountain. Also planning for most of the characters and those rigged cars, but will space these out pending research, archeological digs and maybe some purchases (not too much, though, to avoid losing interest en route).

Thanks for looking!

[Dewbakuk]

That changes the look of the Copplestone robots immensely, I like it. Don't suppose you have a pic pre-paint?

[Prof.Witchheimer]

another lovely project, Chris, like the idea!

[Braz]

   I agree damn those designers.

Awesome conversion on the robots which I am totally copying. Copplestone or possibly em4 robots seem like the best base models for conversion which I have a few in the pile somewhere. I vote for the black/gold bodyguard version.

Like the VTOL also.

[Westfalia Chris]

That changes the look of the Copplestone robots immensely, I like it. Don't suppose you have a pic pre-paint?

I've got three still at the conversion stage, so here you go:



A shot showing all the conversion work involved. I guess you could also add tiny circular plating to the sides of the chin, but I didn't have the required diameter of plastic rod handy, so I left it off. Please ignore the blue metallic, the figs were originally painted for a Terminator project many many moons ago (although it helps to see the detail in the shot). As said, maybe 30 seconds per robot. Possibly quicker if you have a suitable size of plastic strip handy (had to cut a strip from sheet first, then lengths).

Copplestone or possibly em4 robots seem like the best base models for conversion which I have a few in the pile somewhere.

It might be prudent to note that the EM-4 (ex Grenadier) robots have a very different head which will require more conversion work. Much-maligned as the box-head Copplestone Castings figures are, they are extremely close to the film figure and merely require a minimum of work if you are so inclined (i.e. shiny shiny must have yesterday) as I am.

[AKULA]

Love the robots - great work Chris

 

[OSHIROmodels]

Cracking project Chris and this a film that I definately want to see 

MATT DAMON

 

cheers

James

[hubbabubba]

Wait, you saw the film yesterday and you've churned this stuff out in 24 hours!!!
Fantastic stuff.
Any Wip pics of the VTOL?

[Elbows]

That's...awesome. 

[Dewbakuk]

A simple conversion that really turns those figures around. Might have to steal that, cheers.

[The Somnambulist]

A simple conversion that really turns those figures around. Might have to steal that, cheers.

That, is bloody genius!

[manatic]

I'll join in on the robot praise, great idea and the paint job does wonders!

[Westfalia Chris]

Wait, you saw the film yesterday and you've churned this stuff out in 24 hours!!!
Fantastic stuff.
Any Wip pics of the VTOL?

Unfortunately not, got carried away a bit with that one. There isn't that much to see, anyway, as it merely consists of layers of plasticard on a 3mm PVC spar core. Basically, build the basic shape of the hull and cover it in plastic until it looks like a VTOL.

[Fates Fickle Finger]

Fantastic! I love "simple" conversions that have such a great effect. Whats next!

FFF

[von Lucky]

Add my voice ot the chorus - beautiful work Chris.