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HI! I'm trying to create a kustom battle fortress much like Howl's moving castle from the movie 'Howl's moving castle'
The problem is I have no idea how to do it. I'm trying to do it with Cardboard as that is easily available and I don't have a ton of money to spend on other things.
So could anyone give me an idea on how to do the spherical shape of the thing?

Here's a picture


Thanks
Overlord Thraka

First of all, great idea. Studio Ghibli has great ideas for orks/steampunk
For the half spheres, go look for styrofoam spheres from a decor store (Michaels, possibly Wal-Mart). Thats the easiest. Cheaper? Paper mache on a balloon.

hey mate, howls was a cool movie from what I recall!

hopefully this helps:

WIRE HANGERS.

You have em, you hate em, They always pushed to back of closet in lieu of plastic ones.. find a use for em!!! Untwist the neck/hook and unbend it, then use dikes/clippers to bend metal back and forth and cut/break it at appropriate lengths. use pliers to bend them to shape... pin those into the base you want to use, or the foot, or whatever, and the pin to the hip socket...

then you can bulk them out with hot glue/tin foil, cover it with milliput mixed with greenstuff , then add plates and gubbins?

Could wrap the legs in pipe of various sizes telescoping into eachother?

I would not advise cardboard. I would look for plastic material used for packaging if you must. I have seen yogurt containers, pop bottles etc all cut apart into flat "sheets" of raw material to work with... doesn't warp like cardboard either, just see if material is finicky with super glue before dedicating a bunch of time to it.

aeroroot gave you sage advice with the half sphere foam balls from wal mart/michaels/hobby lobby etc.. not sure about wal mart, dont quote me on that one.

The baloon + paper machete will be cheaper but... styrofoam is the way the truth and the light!

do not underestimate the WEIGHT of this thing on those chicken sticks. So be sure to appropriately support them. Some hangers are stronger than others, I pick the sturdiest of ones for this type of job... (hell i have some what appear to be stainless steel or some gak, but haven't tried messing with those.. I only use brass colored ones myself)

if ya check my gallery lots of WIP photos of collosal squigs that have chicken legs, can see how some lean from weight. I had to put support poles up the rear of some, mushroom under the feet of others, so be sure to plan ahead and forego the extra work correcting mistakes

Thanks for your advice friends! I like the Coat-hanger/Tinfoil idea! As far as legs go I was going to make more than what is shown in the pic. I said LIKE Howl's moving castle, not exactly the same.
I also like the styrofoam half- sphere idea
How would I make those plastic material from bottles and such?

My main question though was how to make the body. Thanks again

Overlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka

Tried the Ballon/papermache thing. Didn't like it. Still need help with the main body of the thing

plastic bowl maybe?

 WillyBRags wrote:
plastic bowl maybe?

Nah. That'd be to smooth and even. Thanks anyway

Lots of plumbing drains are made from Styrene now look for the 6 inside the recycle symbol on the plastic containers you are thinking of using (then you know regular model cement will work) note many of the following are styrene: Red Solo Cups, most disposable plastic plates, some cd cases, some carry out containers, most plastic silverware, school rulers, single serving juice containers (like the kids get at school) etc..

Avoid ABS containers as neither super glue nor regular model glue work with them nor do they take paint well (ie coffee cans etc) (code 9 or ABS) ..these make great wet pallets ..or mixing containers as paint does not adhere well ..

Would type 2 work well?

How big are you going to make this thing?


The legs seems like it will take A LOT of strain with or without a base.

Probably good to start with a styrene base (make a house) then add onto it.

You can find paper spheres at Michael (big hobby stores) use for making bobbles or something (in the back near the pre made wood stuff.

I've got some spheres I sawed in half for the domes on top.
I was thinking maybe 2 ft tall including the legs but not the smoke stacks.
I was going to make either 5 or 7 legs with 3/8ths baling wire.
I want it to be HUGE, not like the Forgeworld kustom battle fortress. (dat ting iz so tiny!) What I want now is advice on body structure.

Thank you. Please drive home safely.

For the body, maybe look for a toy boat? The front looks like the prow of a ship to me.

 Overlord Thraka wrote:
Would type 2 work well?

Not sure how ell Milk Jugs take Paint..
Number 1 works well

morfydd wrote:

 Overlord Thraka wrote:
Would type 2 work well?

Not sure how ell Milk Jugs take Paint..
Number 1 works well

Even with primer?
I ask be cause milk jugs have large flat surfaces and we go through LOTZ of them here. Almost 2 a day

Milk jugs are polypropylene(?) which are fairly resistant to most chemicals and glues. I think that krylon fusion stuff for plastics can work on it as a primer but not 100% sure. but gluing with be a pain in the bum

Ah well. I'm going to try and start construction within the week. I'll start a thread in P&M blogs when I do

can always test it out! glue some sprue to a piece of milkjjug and see if it takes! if it does, then prime paint that junk you just glued together and try brushing some paint on & stuff. could save yourself a big headache!

posterboard (like kids use for science fair boards) works well too. Lucius troll just did a scratch built dakkajet out of one. hopefully give you some ideas on how to utilize the material. ill post a link here



Automatically Appended Next Post:
linky for ya thraka, hope it helps buddy

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/90/469636.page

I am working on a custom vehicle sized model that started with a plastic salad dressing bottle. I never tried to prime it so i can't help in that regard. But glueing is a pain. Superglue doesn't stick very well and started breaking away all the time. If the Glue is to hard an brittle it will flake off. Paint depeding on thickness might do the same.

What i settled with is fill the thing with metal foil and useing GS instead of glue. A hot glue gun would probably work too. Then i covered the whole thing with a layer of milliput and sanded it smooth.

Another alternative to plastic bottles are hard foams. You can cut and sand them into the basic shape and then just cover them up with a cheap filler like the milliput i used. The milliput provides a hard surface to work on and the foam in the middle does reduce the weight but will provide stability so that the hard shell doesn't break that easily.

Thank you all!
btldoomhammer. That foam idea sound EXACTLY like the kind of help I was looking for! Thank you so much! This'll make the torso MUCH easier to construct. BUT, where do I find it? Thanks again.

Overlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka