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s.j.mccartney wrote:Sorry if it was listed above, but what did you make the pistons from? Is it two sizes of plasticard straws/rod?

If so, where do you get it, I have no decent hobby shop nearby and need some plasticard!

Basically, the small diameter piece is 1/8" diameter styrene tube and the top portion is actually two tubes nested a 3/16" diameter with a 1/4" diameter over the top. I was afraid it didn't look substantial enough with just the 3/16" tube. It still seems a little on the small side, if I did it again I would probably bump everything up a 1/16".

I have a hobby shop that carries a little bit of evergreen plastics(http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/) and plastruct products rack(http://www.plastruct.com/) that I got them from.

They both seem to have some international distribution listed on their websites. Evergreen is a slightly higher quality, but plastruct has more variety.

Shadow Nugz wrote:I smell a falling titan. Nice job, the custom joints are cool and even cooler since they can actually move and what-not. Very very cool

Yeah I have to say that concerns me a bit but the drop pod base really carries the load. Eventually I will make a custom base that this will attach to. I would like to make the base removable so that I could pull it off and change its position if I wanted to. I was originally planning to pose it and glue it but the mechanisms are work so well it would be a shame to do it if I can avoid it.

Here are the sketches for the legs. Basically they are all PVC. It took a little trial and error to find the combination to sizes that seem like the right scale. The nice thing is that PVC is easy to work with and try different things out with.

Here is the overall plan with sizes. I have labeled the pieces that were cut.



So now on to the details starting at the bottom, the red areas are where cuts were made:



Nothing too tricky on this one. By adjusting how much is taken off the end cap it is possible to limit the maximum motion of the ankle joint.

And the knee joint:

OK, this one is a bit tougher. The upper part will nest inside the lower knee joint and will have a range of motion about 90 degrees through that open slot. I think I actually
had to use two couplers due to loss of material when making cuts. The 1 1/4" inner piece is just a little smaller than the 1 1/2" coupler piece so some thin plasticard is wrapped around to keep it tight, as long as the body doesn't weigh 20 pounds it should easily support the weight without shifting.

Oh yeah the piece below the knee is more art than science. A 2" hole bit was drilled more or less perpendicular to the pipe to produce a 2" rounded surface. I then wrap sand paper around the piece it will be glued to and shape the mating surface to a very close match. A little PVC cement and it is done.

Finally the hip:


Super easy, basically just trimmed it down to match the width of th eouter part of the Knee joint below.

I will get some pictures of the real pieces up here shortly.

Most impressive

Awesome schizzle

Impressive. You use autocad?

Dude, what program did you use to do those drawings, awesome!

wow thats amazin and i bet itll be better than the proper titan

Google Sketchup - Free and super easy to use if you have any CAD experience whatsoever. I have been playing around with the different styles.

http://sketchup.google.com/

I think after I finish this I may try to write up a guide with more detailed pictures/dimensions etc.

Here is a pic of the knees in progress:



Here are all the pieces laid out prior to assembly:



And finally fitting everything together, with a dread for scale:



I also wanted to mention my primary tool on this part of the build.


Miter saw is pretty much essential. At first I was trying to cut too fast and shreading the PVC. If you slow your cuts down you get super clean edges. Some of the more complicated cuts such as the knees have to be cleaned up with a hobby knife and file.

So next will be finishing up the knee and adding the hydraulics to the thigh.

looks promising. Look forward to the finished project.

I use google sketchup all the time, I still don't know how you got that look. Seems like a pro feature. Is it Piranesi export?

jabbakahut wrote:I use google sketchup all the time, I still don't know how you got that look. Seems like a pro feature. Is it Piranesi export?

No it is the free version. You might make sure you have the latest version, mine is version 7.0.10247. You have to select styles under the "Window" menu:



There are tons of options and each of those can be further modified. I presume you could import other styles from other sources as well. Which I may have to look for now that I think of it.

Thanks. Have you already figured how you will do the greaves?

Jabba, I think that will leave that till later. I am somewhat hesitant to do it because I want the pistons to still be visible to a degree.

The idea I am currently thinking about is to have vertical supports between the pistons on the lower shin and then to place flat or curved pieces of styrene sheet (1/16" or 1/8") thick between the vertical pieces to cover most of the pistons. I may only do the front three toes and leave the backside open or at least lighter armored.

I also need a knee shield which I haven't even thought about yet. Any ideas?

Upper legs are basically done.

Straight on view:


Inside and outside, side views:

The ends of the knee joints are a 1" gear from an old VCR and a metal valve piece. The Hip is capped by a Brita pitcher filter. I am not sure if I like the knobby end on it though.

Closeup of the upper leg pistons:


Detail of the Piston mechanism:


So this was overly complicated to make it work but basically I had to bore out a slot in the bottom of the Hip joint insert the top of both pistons and then put a brass rod through to pin them so they can rotate forward and aft. Basically I made a rod end bearing. It works but I had to shave the pper parts down to prevent them from interfering with each other. There is probably a better wat to do this but this works and looks kinda cool too.

I thought a bit more about the greaves:


This is a little off center, but it gives the idea. The greaves are 10 pieces and cover the front three pistons. The aft 2 pistons will be left exposed. I will probably add some other decorative details to break up the flat areas (Eagles, skulls, all that jazz.)

I almost forgot:


It is blurry because of movement in the ankle. You get the idea.

Wow, you really got a range of options with the leg positions now, great job. I liked the Britta filter, noticed it instantly-I love finding stuff like that in everyday life which works perfect for a model.

Impressive work so far!

Wow.. thats pretty impressive..

Dude, you are awesome.

I wasn't too sure with your previous posts of just the feet, but now that I see the legs I'm a believer!! This is gonna be an awesome titan. I see that you have an idea for the greaves, but have you considered lengthening them above the knee? then you wouldn't need another knee guard piece.

But hey, you don't need my advice! Its looking fantastic, keep the good work coming!

Here are a couple of quick images of the Hips up to the engineering deck:

Hips , reactor containment and Engineering Deck:


Here is the general layout, the fwd end is at the bottom. The bump out at the top is going to have an access ladder to get into the reactor vessel.


And here is a pic of what we have so far on top of the legs:


I expect that the head will be one of the last things I will do, but if anyone has any ideas on what it should/could look like I am open to ideas. I haven't come up with anything good. All that I really intend to have in there is drivers.

How much is this costing for you to build? If its cheaper than buying a revaer I might grab my hacksaw!!! I joke, but I am intriged at how much the materials and machinery are costing for this big, little project.

Holy freaking crap! That's awsome! There's talanted model makers then there's you dude. Kudos on the brilliant work and I look forward to following this thread to the finished article.

I love it. I'll draw you a picture of what the head could look like. I'd be interested to know a total tally of how much the raw materials cost too!

keep on trucking

Are you talking about what to do for the interior of the head, or what the exterior should look like? I would presume you are going with the standard Reaver squished head. Also, if you need any reference photos for ideas, I have a FW reaver I've yet to assemble-just tell me what you want a photo of and I can provide it.

theocd wrote:How much is this costing for you to build? If its cheaper than buying a reaver I might grab my hacksaw!!! I joke, but I am intrigued at how much the materials and machinery are costing for this big, little project.

I have actually been tracking the styrene that I have purchased but I normally have to buy much more in a package than I need so far. PVC is pretty cheap. I had the droppod bases left over from another project and for the top I will be sacrificing the better part of a Land Raider. I will see if I can put together a detailed materials list but I am going to guess I will spend $300 but it will consume less than $200 of materials leaving me with a bunch of extra bits and styrene (there will have to be a few more smaller titans in the future). There is a good chance I will be spending some cash on some titan crew. I figure I may need almost a dozen crew to drive this thing.

Tools... those I already have. The only tools I have purchased so far are #11 exacto blades (and lots of them).

So if I don't count my time, then it will definitely be cheaper than FW, and hopefully it will look as good, not to mention the moving parts and hopefully fully detailed interior.
Of course I don't count my time because:
1 - This is my hobby
2 - I am having alot of fun learning how to do this

I will see what I can do about refining that cost.

s.j.mccartney wrote:I love it. I'll draw you a picture of what the head could look like. I'd be interested to know a total tally of how much the raw materials cost too!

keep on trucking

Cool I'd love to see some ideas. I am not stuck on the standard or conventional head designs.

jabbakahut wrote:Are you talking about what to do for the interior of the head, or what the exterior should look like? I would presume you are going with the standard Reaver squished head. Also, if you need any reference photos for ideas, I have a FW reaver I've yet to assemble-just tell me what you want a photo of and I can provide it.

Mostly exterior. For the interior I am planning on basically 2 drivers side by side, and some type of supervisor type behind them. Exterior, I keep thinking some sort of animal head, maybe a double headed aquila, just kidding. I keep thinking maybe a Lion (this will be supporting my Dark Angels afterall) but I can't think of a way to do it and make it look cool. I would like to see whatever pictures you have.