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Sorry, some terminology issues. The individual 'track plates' are called 'Shoes'.

I was basically talking about doing with paper, what Sebastion was doing with thin plasticard.

oh... i sometimes get the end of my english know how^^
i wondered about the possibilities of doing the t-shaped or as you use the term shoes in paper or rather cardboard...the thing i cant really put the cardboard away in my mind is:
first its dead cheap... my son recently brought bulks of those artpaperblock carboardbacks with him...said his teacher doens´t need these anymore...
and second : the cardboard already has a tiny texture i originally wanted to use to my benefit to create rust and such things as other weathering issues...

well...test phases are still open^^

Sorry, some terminology issues. The individual 'track plates' are called 'Shoes'.

thanks brahim, I don't claim to know everything there is to know about tanks, so i just used what terms i could to clarify what i was talking about, but now i know the correct term. so, can you tell us what the name of the tread part is that the shoe is attached to? i'd like to know.

@vik it can still be done using the cardboard you have, what you may have to do is to cut several pieces the same size and layer them on each other in order to get a decent thickness. then you can add in the ridges to the shoe. but if your going to do this then i definately suggest either a fully closed side plating, or going over each shoe with some kind of filler, because the layered cardboard will show as layers and you will lose the effect of a solid plate.

because the layered cardboard will show as layers and you will lose the effect of a solid plate.

tell you what sebastionsynn, i really apreciate your ability to make negative but constructive criticism, a virtue all to seldom be seen here on this board... to much praise and sometimes so hurting criticism that some peeps lay totally down their tools... i really like that, it is important to hear something like that as all too often we lie to ourselves and say: oh it will work that way...

as for it will work that way... i have made a rather crude attempt with some styrofoam... this is a special kind very thin and a bit textured... i cut it half way through and bended it so that some form of caterpillarlike look emerged...see for yourself and don´t hold back^^ *makes serious face*






we see here it is crude and uneven and not really where it should be... i know that...what i learnded from that is that i have to work more acurately...really i am such a bad constructer...

then i applied nevertheless some black paint as a primer on the thing... not to eagerly but it was all the effort it was worth for...^^


then i drybrushed metal paint over it...the painteffect is rather not to shabby but all in all you will agree with me that the try is better stored in a deep cavern under the sea with big doors that got shut by an even bigger stone^^




so now is the question again... do/ could the used materials work as a base for making treads? if i was working better and more accuratly could this serve as a means to an end? or am i fooling myself if i continue?
be honest with me...this crappy work after all took me nevertheless the better part of nearly two hours all in all... too muchvaluable time that could have otherwise spent better?^^


vik

You may want to get into casting, there are a few good threads on here about how to cast things and you could make a very nice tread and cast up several copies. that would be resilient and you would save yourself the repetitive work of making each individual tread.

Vik: it does look a tad uneven. Like Orinoc said, maybe a cast track length could make it work?

as you stated what you have there is merely a will this work or not and you yourself can see that it has the potential, even that piece itself has the potential to make for a decent model. After all Orks don't exactly build in straight lines like Imperial Guard and Space Marine do. so you could take that piece and slap some scewed armor on it and it would work. The main problem is going to be that unless your very careful, and pay a lot of attention to detail, it's still going to look like styrofoam. Now don't get me wrong, Styrofoam works, hell i made several ruined buildings out styrofoam coolers, and they look great. Imade an Ork fort for gorkamorka from foamboard, spice bottles, cardboard, pen tubes, and styrofoam packing material, and the fort is awesome. so styrofoam can be used, but if you really want a piece that jumps out at people and says look at me, then you need to use something else. Orinoco and Shaso have a point, you could cast your treads rather easily. there's some stuff called instant mold that works really well with press casting of greenstuff. You could also make your tread design, and then use alumilite to make a mold of the read and then resin cast as many of those treads as you wished.

here's the links for both of those items:
http://www.alumilite.com/
http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/tools-and-misc/instant-mold.html

if your not comfortable doing this kind of stuff yourself, then just talk to me via PM and let me know just what you want the treads to look like and i can do it for you, for less than $50, because i myself am soon going to be in need of a bunch of treads as well, so it wouldn't hurt me to cast some for you and ship them to you along with a mold for your own use.

Edit: forgot to paste in the links

well first of all many thanks for your thoughts and helpful comments to this most recent project of mine, orinoco, shaso and sebastiansynn. i totally see your point, casting would be a good way to get the job done and be individual in the same time... i could create literally my own look of treads as i see fit. unfortunatly i am living at a not so big flat with my kids and wife so extra room for going into castings even on small scale i don´t see happening in the nearer future. doing small runs of pressmoulding might be an option i will look into tho as i have still a suply of some sculpting materials and this could then lead to a solution or maybe not... i will try myself out^^ after all i see the hobby as a learningprocess mostly^^
also i really apreciate your offer sebastian but even more unfortunatly at the current time i am well ahaead of my budgetplans (justified they should be about 0 as i am uneployed...but i have already spent to much on minis...: ( ).

your links will be helpful tho maybe in the future...a friend here on thsi board did some rough castings with a resinproduct he bought in a car DIY shop... i should investigate in this direction i think a bit further...

i still have a small amount of plasticcard and i have to see if i can manage to come up with your suggested caterpillarlooking treads...be sure that i will show you all my efforts^^

thanks again for all your interrest and helpfull comments...^^

vik

The other method will be the making pieces of tread with the stocks you have on hand, more labor intense, but worth it to get your tank done Vik.

well if i don´t win in a lottery or something of another happy strike of luck in the next days...i will resort to my stock materials...this will be tidieous but in the end i might get a feeling of satifaction and even not outdoing my wallet from doing it that way...the main thing is that i have to really concentrate harder and get the work done in a more acutate way then as of now... my cuts into styrofoam are too much wobbley...really i have to get to get the hang of it...or loose the surpluss left thumb^^

Yeah, be careful as you cut the materials!

any major injuries have escaped me for now... but i ruined perfectly good tools and some desks too because of carelss cuttings or even painting^^

Understood.

so, what's been happening?

well, whatever you decide to do, best of luck to you. being unemployed sucks ass, i know this becuase i was unemployed for almost a year and half not long ago. It's in this last year that i have had a job. fortunately, I have only myself to take care of. take a look at this to inspire you, it's not a tank but it is a ghetto project winner:


and here's the gallery link so you can zoom in
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-39343-15309_Commissions%20Work.html
this thing is made from cardboard, straight pins, pentubes, excess sprue, paper, and elmer's glue. so just because itsomething is made from scrap material doesn't mean it can't look good.

I picked up 2 boxes of the red blok machines to use as sentinels in my own praetorian army yesterday, really looking forward to getting them painted up!

ah, stuff it, I'm getting some!

If you're looking for small-scale casting in a small area, you might want to look at some keine Blei Hartzinn. You can get all the materials you need for fairly cheap (for a Schmelztiegel, you could just use a small ceramic flowerpot and some heat-resistant mold material) and you can melt it in an oven.

at sebastiansynn:
that looks sweet! and it is it made from cardboard? cool stuff ! and i like the fact that it is workable! this shows what can be achieved when working precise! i will take that as a means to inspire me further^^

at orinoco: cool, i really like those models and i look forward to see your take on the models! be sure to post your efforts, i would love to see some areas as to how you interpret them^^

at shrike: about time mate, they are really worth it... only issue might be that they are not from GW and are a half length shorter than the GW sentinels...but that issue depends as to where you want to play...

at anvildude:
the heat resistant material would be clay then? i wouldn´t know any other as of now... the tin is someting that might actually work...and in an oven you say it works even? hmmm...

I'll buy them sometime this holiday...

Yah. Or find a foundry website that does small-scale casting supplies. I got a good deal from the company Rotometal. Something that is a sort of heat-resistant clay, but it never gets hard, even in high heat. That's where I got my Hartzinn, too.

But yeah, you could actually just use a bit of clay dug up from your back garden if you were careful enough.

at sebastiansynn:
that looks sweet! and it is it made from cardboard? cool stuff ! and i like the fact that it is workable! this shows what can be achieved when working precise! i will take that as a means to inspire me further^^

thanks for the compliment. yeah it's made from Cereal boxes, macaroni and cheese, and other types of boxes like that. the first pod i made, the doors wouldn't open, but in the process of building it i figured out a way to have the doors work. In making the second one with the working doors, i figured out a way to make the interior open a bit. in making the one in the pic, the third one, i have figured out a way to actually have the interior completely open, and add in some of the details like the command console and the autogun/missile launcher system.

what i really need to do is come up with my own design altogether and start producing it instead of making GW knock offs, but i'll keep doing these for now until i have everything worked out for the doors, the interior, and so on, and THEN i'll start making my own unique design for an "E.V.I.L. = Extreme Velocity Insertion Lander" for lack of a better name.

at anvildude:

But yeah, you could actually just use a bit of clay dug up from your back garden if you were careful enough

i more like thought i could use my suply of air dry clay in such ways... the stuff is really easy to handle and it serves me well if i wnat to work with fimo for instance...i actually pressmoulded once a guardsman torso with fimo and in some aspects produces rather acceptable results...

at shrike: same to you good sir, when you´ve done i would particularly want to know the bargain details as i wnat to know how the box is stuffed...what weaponsoutload they have and such things... remeber mine are already in parts converted and via ebay... one lucky day i might want me some more of those small joytoys..^^

at sebastiansynn:

yeah it's made from Cereal boxes, macaroni and cheese, and other types of boxes like that

speaks volumes about your eating habbits

hobby is as i said before mostly learning... i have made other works in my hobby life that are not "alive" anymore... once i wanted to make a fantasy fortress and made more then ten installemnts of the fortress to test all possible ways to get that stony feeling of a bricked up wall... in the end i hadn´t realöly completed the project but the idea to try and try anew is the core for me as i like to try myself out in the hobby... it is nice to go ballistic on your creative talents^^

"E.V.I.L. = Extreme Velocity Insertion Lander"

...hope you have a fitting CSM army to go for this nice idea... if you currently are working at this very idea you could open up a thread and i could post some findings of alternative design for this project... i have been too thinking that when i would be about to do a droppod for my army i wanted to go a different route... the GW one is overpriced and not really my style... asa it looks yet again too small to fit in all the promised marines or heavens forbidd a dread^^


vik

...hope you have a fitting CSM army to go for this nice idea... if you currently are working at this very idea you could open up a thread and i could post some findings of alternative design for this project... i have been too thinking that when i would be about to do a droppod for my army i wanted to go a different route... the GW one is overpriced and not really my style... asa it looks yet again too small to fit in all the promised marines or heavens forbidd a dread^^

Nope, I hate space marines. Doesn't matter if their Chaos or not, their still marines. However, my idea above is basically because yeah, GW is overpriced, and i know that i can produce a model that is just as nice as theirs, but cheaper. there's enough people out there that if GW folded up and closed shop right now, the game would still never die as a lot of people who are afraid of GW and their lawyer dept, would jump on the bandwagon and begin producing their own stuff for our use.
also, if i can get my hobby to support me so that i don't have to go and work for some moron who has big bucks, then it's all the better for me, the way it stands now is that i spend a good 8+ hrs a day handloading trucks for their delivery routes, 5 days a week, $9.50 hr, so that health insurance and the government gets to keep most of it, but by the end of the day i leave work limping, and by the time i have gotten home which is a 10 minute drive to the house, i've stiffened up to the point that i can barely walk. so i need to find a way to generate income that won't kill me, and if my hobby can do that, all the better.

ouch...this is to some extent the reason why i cant get into work these days... i am really alergic as to give my life, time and power so some jerks that treat their employees like dirt and live of their work...the very essence of a parasite life...

the CSM idea was just for the for now name of your idea^^
off market should be more open, but i think GW is holding onto their stuff as if they are a bunch of old men that hold onto life as if they were about to die... it is really most ridiculous...

if you need a comment or a hint on your design idea drop me a note^^ would be nice to help you with some of my brainythoughts^^

Same boat, I am no longer able to stand more than a few minutes at best. I am considering the life work of using my voice or writing to make money since I seem less worthy of employment being out for 2 yrs now.

Hence why I rely on disbursements from Pell Grant or making scrap vehicles

well currently only my wife provides money for the five of us...the governement thinks we are too rich.... so no help from them...
but the longer i am away from work the farther i get to a mindframe from ever starting anew...

One must maintain the most positive outlook to stay healthy and sane. ^^

One must maintain the most positive outlook to stay healthy and sane. ^^

well i've already lost on half of that score then, speaking of which it's time I went down to the basement and had another heart to heart with my psychologist.

so when did this thread turn out to be a mental care institution?^^
well some might argue from the very beginning... but there you go ^^