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So maybe the wires give good sensations to the one doing the killing and a gentle(not so much) jolt to the one not doing the killing to get them to hustle more.

 Theophony wrote:
So maybe the wires give good sensations to the one doing the killing and a gentle(not so much) jolt to the one not doing the killing to get them to hustle more.

Not that either of them really need encouragement to attack things, but that is likely after the bit of fluff I wrote for the WS pilot (the one that is only a head, but is wired up to feel happiness/pleasure).

Right... Gunner. I was ready to say that I wasn't too pleased with how the paint-job has come out at present... But... looking at the photos, I quite like the effect on the carapace;

The soft recesses have had a couple of washes of reds and a highlight of pink.
The blues were done in three stages; Dark blue over most edges, a medium blue to start adding the details (covering less area than the dark blue), and then a light blue to pick out the fine detail. Also, just because, I added small flecks of pink to the blue areas and I think this really helps the look.

I like the "blue flame" look of the carapace so much, that I think I'll add it to the other areas that I just highlighted...

Not touched the claws yet.

Thoughts?

Looks brilliant and perfect to me. Any chance of a dry run on the view when the lid is on the nid.

Red claws. Well, burgundy anyway. Something to contrast with the blue without being garish.

Looks so amusing, a 'nid using non-biotech devices.

Camkierhi wrote:Looks brilliant and perfect to me. Any chance of a dry run on the view when the lid is on the nid.

Thanks Cam.
You mean like this?

Red Harvest wrote:Red claws. Well, burgundy anyway. Something to contrast with the blue without being garish.

It's a possibility.

Looks so amusing, a 'nid using non-biotech devices.

That's how we like it round here.

Yup, looks great, contrast is spot on, gives you the right look. Spot on.

Thanks Cam.

It's a go then!
So, I'm calling the Gunner done. I added the flecks to the arms and legs, the teeth are done and the claws were gloss black with flecks of crimson (just for you RH ).
Many angles in the hope that all the details are shown somewhere.



In celebration of the crew being completed, here's some music (bonus points for spotting the film reference)



And with that, the interior of the Predator is complete.
Here's many photos of all the angles I could think of (as this will be the last opportunity to photograph most of this).



Thanks for all your help and suggestions and baring with me as I obsess over tiny details that probably won't be seen.
I hope you will stick with me as I progress to the exterior of the tank. Much more work to do.

Looking good! I love all the little details.

Nice Dr. Octagon toss-in. The 'nid looks awesome, as does his control panel.

It really looks great all together! Awesome assemblage of details, and a motley crew indeed.

Almost a pity to think it will be closed up now... Maybe more hinges ?

Looking forward to the next stage

Co'tor Shas: Thank you, and I enjoyed adding all those little details.

Thanks Moltar.
But what film was that music used in? It's a very relevant scene.

Littletower: Thanks.
Well the hatch on top of the turret will also be hinged, but that whole piece will be left removable so doesn't really help.

I think the turret may well be the next thing to do. I think I may do the next commission piece before moving on though, so keep an eye out for updates over in that blog.

Nice work doc

Also digging Dr Octagon....not sure as I still haven't seen it, but I believe some of his tracks appeared in Buffalo Soldier, and I remember a scene in the book which involved a tank joyride.....so I'd guess that would make sense....

 monkeytroll wrote:
Nice work doc

Thanks MT.

Also digging Dr Octagon....not sure as I still haven't seen it, but I believe some of his tracks appeared in Buffalo Soldier, and I remember a scene in the book which involved a tank joyride.....so I'd guess that would make sense....

Many internet points to you good sir.
That is what I was thinking about.
It's worth watching for that scene in itself... or you could just take a moment below;

This build and now the resulting painting is really quite nice. I wish I had something more constructive to contribute, but I'm just so amazed at how good it looks. The hinge tutorial is really helpful, too.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
This build and now the resulting painting is really quite nice. I wish I had something more constructive to contribute, but I'm just so amazed at how good it looks. The hinge tutorial is really helpful, too.

Thanks Waaazag. It's nice to know that people like what they see and it's good to know that I've not missed something that should/could be added.

While I can't take credit for the technique, I find it useful to share (and read) experiences with techniques. Many times, what doesn't work is more useful to know, than what does.

In other news: I've just cleaned up some cultists ready to start painting them tomorrow. Although the mould lines on the DV kit are minimal, I still have to eradicate all traces...

I've also been sucked back into making test chambers for Portal 2... My problem-solving heaven... Excuse me if I go quiet for a bit.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
This build and now the resulting painting is really quite nice. I wish I had something more constructive to contribute, but I'm just so amazed at how good it looks. The hinge tutorial is really helpful, too.

Sometimes, it is enough just to say, "great work". So, great work!

Thanks Red.

Had a long conversation about this (with Skalk and a couple of others, I believe) a long way back in this thread.

Personally, I do like to say more than "just" good work, when I post in someone's blog.
But sometimes it's all you can say, and all that is needed.

Give someone a little warm fuzzy feeling, say "good job" to them today.

Like how the nid shaped up.

Thanks Shas.
I was concerned about the Gunner's scheme for quite a while, but I just relaxed into it and let it take it's own path to completion. He is unique in my army and that is all that is necessary.

 Dr H wrote:
Thanks Shas.
I was concerned about the Gunner's scheme for quite a while, but I just relaxed into it and let it take it's own path to completion. He is unique in my army and that is all that is necessary.

Exactly!

Now that the Cultists are finished and ready to go up on ebay, it's time to return here and continue the tank.

Next job I have decided is going to be the turret.
This is technically the last of the interior jobs as I intend to build the inside of the turret. This will involve a few little details (boxes, dials, surface details), and the rear of the main gun and it's ammo feed...

Due to the construction of the models turret; where the pivot for the gun is, the height of the turret (not a lot) and the stated elevation for this tank (-15 to 28deg, which I intend to get close to but probably not to the exact degree), this looks like it will be tricky. But I'm not one for backing away from tricky problems (more often quite the opposite).

So, the working parts of the gun (breach, recoil dampers, etc..) will have to be miniaturized using The Scientists best technology.
I'm not sure how I will do the ammo feed yet. It will have to look functional, but probably won't move with the gun.

I'm also considering adding a co-axial machine-gun alike in place of the usual pintle-mounted storm bolter.

And I'm also intending on adding spaced armour around the sides and back of the turret, just to give it a unique look and will also bulk up the turret so it doesn't look tiny on top of the (quite wide) tank with my (quite large) sponsons.

Watch this space.

Are you using the stock pred turret or one of the IG ones as the base?

 monkeytroll wrote:
Are you using the stock pred turret or one of the IG ones as the base?

The stock turret. Don't want confusion of whether this is a Predator or an IG tank (the sponsons are quite close as it is).
Also, I have a Predator turret and don't have any IG (or any others for that matter) turrets.

Good job on the cultists!

for the genestealer, the touches of red are a really nice subtle addition.

Really interested to see you try and pull all that off within the tiny predator tank turret, or are you going to enlarge it a bit?

cool stuff

 OneManNoodles wrote:
Good job on the cultists!

for the genestealer, the touches of red are a really nice subtle addition.

Thanks on both counts.

Really interested to see you try and pull all that off within the tiny predator tank turret, or are you going to enlarge it a bit?

cool stuff

I'm also interested in how I'm going to do this... Still planning an angle of attack. Need to find a way of fixing the droop issue the turret has with the gun (will probably involve washers), so it stays at the angle I put it at.
I'm going to try and keep it with the original dimensions. I'll only expand it if I have to.

Most of the details will have to be just around the edges as there needs to be enough space for the hatch to be accessible. Some of the interior walls of the turret will need to be made to look like interior walls and not like a bit of model that weren't designed to be seen... But doing this on the two halves of the turret in a way that looks natural when they are stuck together is the biggest problem I can see at the moment.

Good luck with the turret. And get some good tweezers. You'll need them. I'd try making everything as panels and them just gluing them in, rather than fiddle about with the inside of the thing.

Turrets on the vehicles in this game are way too small really. In tank design, you want a big turret. Look at the MBTs these days. (except the Soviet stuff)

 Red Harvest wrote:
Good luck with the turret. And get some good tweezers. You'll need them. I'd try making everything as panels and them just gluing them in, rather than fiddle about with the inside of the thing.

Turrets on the vehicles in this game are way too small really. In tank design, you want a big turret. Look at the MBTs these days. (except the Soviet stuff)

Ta. Yes, I have plenty of tweezers of all kinds of shapes and sizes.
Yeah, that's not a bad idea for some of the details. It's still all open at the moment and I'll try and do most of the work like this (and the painting...).

You're not wrong about the turret size too. In the future, things will either be bigger (current trend in phones) or smaller (previous trend in phones)...

I'm just making some more shells (like those in the ammo dispenser) for the auto-loader that I've yet to design...

Also, I've added the co-axial machine-gun to the turret:


I've found some tubes of the right diameter for the gun and will see what happens with them as I start to throw glue about...

Oooh, shiny.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ooh, shiny.

Thanks Co'tor. So shiny you had to say it twice

So, even with a minimal addition to the rear of the gun piece inside the turret, I can only manage a -10deg elevation instead of -15deg, but with a little modification (I'll show next time) I have kept the +30deg elevation. That's the important one really.

I've selected a few bits to make the loading mechanism. I'm aiming for a kind of cradle and plunger with robot arms affair... Will have to see how it turns out...

Damn double posts .
That secondary barrel is a eldar vehicle sensor bit right?