Scout Tripods WIP - Now Complete

[Sinewgrab]

Hmm, that makes these usable as craft for a fallne Cephalopod civilization, alongside the ones I made from the Black Manta toys...

[Ray Rivers]

I've had 55 views on the Robot Peanut Studies forums and not a single response.   

Guess my tutorial is a bit basic, but from what I've seen from a number of members, they need a basic tutorial.

So I shall continue... undaunted! 

[Ray Rivers]

BTW... I forgot to mention...

The moving leg on the tripod is quite easy to assemble. You just press the pieces together and they hold quite firmly. Good enough for government work! The problem, however is it leaves a fairly large gap in the joints and this can be easy fixed by merely cutting the pegs down by a little less than half. They won't fit as snugly, but you will significantly reduce the gap where the joints meet. If you really want to "do the business" as I noted before, fill the gap with milliput, let dry and then sand it a bit.

Now... to new business. Putting together the bodies of my tripods. The bodies are quite easy to assemble, basically glue and mate. I wanted one body to have a ray gun and normal arm and the other to have a ray gun and spotter.

In putting together the bodies, there is only one real problem and that concerns the left arm with nothing in the claw. If you just pop it in there the way it was designed, that arm will stick upwards. To correct this problem, you just need to shave off a part of the joint.

Here is a photo of the body from underneath with a red circle showing what I'm on about:

[Ray Rivers]

The other body has a spotter attached to the left arm slot. The spotter looks kinda cool, but not menacing enough for me. I added a bit of rod to it and now it looks like it came out of a dentist's office! 

 

[Ray Rivers]

With the legs and body now complete, the next step was to add some texture to my base. I use a fine scatter material which I bought in bulk. All it takes is painting the base with a bit of water diluted white glue and then dump sprinkle it over top.

Here is the textured base:

[Ray Rivers]

FINALLY!  Finished with construction.

Now it's time to start painting.

Normally I first start by priming my models, but in this case, I have a silver oil base spray, which really doesn't need any primer.

So... off I went spraying like mad. Oh... I choose not to glue the body to the legs because I want to be able to manipulate the body later when I start painting on details.

Here is a picture of the legs sprayed with my silver paint:

[Ray Rivers]

And here is a photo of the bodies:

[Ray Rivers]

Since I didn't use a primer I now slap some paint on the base scatter to keep it from falling off. I used to use GW Graveyard Earth, but I used so much of it, in the end I bought a 80 ml craft paint and mixed myself up a reasonably close alternative.

Here is the base with a bunch of paint glopped onto the scatter to prevent it from coming off:

[Ray Rivers]

So that is the basic job done. Here is a photo of where I stand now with the head placed on top:

Next I'll start painting on the details.

Until then... ta ta!

[Ray Rivers]

I'm back!

So our next step after spray painting the tripod dude all silver, is to add some depth. There are a couple of ways to do this, but adding depth to the model really makes a huge difference, so I encourage everyone to give it a swing. One way is to use use ink or a product like Quickshade from $Army Painter$. The other way is by just painting it on with a ... wait for... brush,  and that is the way I will proceed.

To add shade to my model I take silver and add a bit of black. This color is normally referred to as Chainmail. I go to all the joints and the recessed areas and give them a good going over to break up the incredibly bright silver and pop out the details of the model. If you just want a standard silver Tripod, with the exception of some small bits like the ray gun and eye, you are pretty much finished.

I, however, want to add a bit more color to my Martian invaders. So here is a photo after I have completed painting many (but not all) areas with Chainmail.



After adding depth (which I know is not the easiest to see with my poor photo), it's time to block in the colors I want my fashionable tripod to sport. I'm kinda shooting more for a VSF look here, and you will notice with the additional colors (Brass and Blue Steel), the Chainmail I used also is much easier to see.



So... I'm off to finish block painting the rest of the tripod parts and when I finish that, I will then add shade to those areas as well. At that point, my tripod will be very close to finished.

So until then, which may take a bit of time, adios amigos!

[Ray Rivers]

Quick update. Body now block painted with copper and blue steel.



With the block painting done, shading is next and will especially effect the areas painted in blue.

The eye for now is black and will probably stay that way until I get some sort of inspiration.

[Katsuhiko JiNNai]

Interesting! I should consider some of these tripods for my martian invaders in my pulp alley campaign 

[von Lucky]

Looking good, eyes red maybe?

[gamer Mac]

Nice work Ray
Very interesting

[Ray Rivers]

Cheers!

Almost finished now.

If only I can take some reasonable photos...