A Bit More Leg Work

Hi, All.

Well, it finally happened. I was sitting in my room, looking at the walker, with no intention of working on it tonight, when I suddenly thought to myself, "I know! I'll glue the first leg on!"

Of course, this was not as simple a matter as it might sound... And so began a few hours' work...

The main 'thigh' piston takes shape. The inner cylinder is temporarilyleft unglued so that I can adjust it to fit the pose of the leg.

I had already mostly made the first leg (the others are presently cunningly disguised as a pile of assorted components) but now came the time to build the pistons and associated parts to drive the legs. This, I admit, was something I had been putting off.

The 'thigh' piston loosely dropped into place on two of the three leg parts.

I am hoping that HMSW Gargantua will be free-standing, with no need for a base or supports, other than her own legs. With the spindly design of the legs, I had my doubts.

Thigh piece and driving piston in place.

In order to make the join as strong as I could, one part of the thigh was pinned and glued in place, along with its driving piston, before the rest of the leg was attached to it.

Left: round plates and rivets are added. Right: feed valves and pipes in place (as yet unpainted.)

I also added a couple of plates on which to mount feed valves for the legs. These incorporated the only rivets of the evening - a paltry 12! And little ones at that! Nevertheless, that brings the rivet-count to 2,349!

Then the leg pieces, pistons, et al, were joined together... Much breath was held...

Left: underbelly and drive piston. Right: knee and thigh piston.

Of course, there is still work to do just to finish this one leg, but it's getting near beddy-bye time.

Scale-shot. Sergeant Tetley, anticipating a bumpy ride...

So there you go: So far, so good. Hope you're enjoying this somewhat time-consuming project!

More soon...

All The Best!

The Belly Of The Beast

Hi, All.

It occurred to me that given the sheer size of HMSW Gargantua, much of the time when playing games or taking photographs from a model's-eye point-of-view, I would be looking up at her. And I had so far done nothing regarding the detailing of her underside.

This had to remedied, and quick-sharpish, Sir!

So, in a rush of enthusiasm, I attacked the problem from underneath. Just as any self-respecting Englishman always does.

Fortunately, I still haven't glued-on the engine, so I was able to remove this, flip the model upside-down and balance it on its wine glass.

Step One was to outline the underbelly. Adding raised strips to surround an area, and then rivets, you can very quickly achieve an impression of bulk.

(click pics to enlarge)

Above, left: The plain, unadorned belly. Above, right: Plastic strips create a frame. Below, left: An ugly gap at the front of the model is filled with Green Stuff. Below, right: Positions are marked for where the pistons will emerge.

Next, using the walker's uncompleted legs as a guide, I marked where recesses needed to be. These will eventually form the openings for huge pistons that will protrude from the body to drive the legs. These, too, were outlined, framed, rivetted, etc.

Left: Piston recesses are framed. Right: Panels are gradually added.

Once the recesses were in place, panels were added in the gaps. Again, the aim here was to create a feeling of bulk. I also decided to add a linear feature along the length of the model. This took the form of a strip of corrugated plastic, over (under?) which pipes were suspended. These may prove to be vulnerable in battle, but who cares? They look good!

Pipes, hatches and 191 rivets complete the detail.

While working on all of this, I was also adding detail to the underside of the head - but more on that later. (It's not finished, painted and pretty yet!)

The pipes as viewed from the sides. (And upside-down, of course!)

Finally, after a total of 191 rivets were added, the underbelly was painted.

The final painted product, ready for pistons and legs!

Rivet count so far: 2,337!

Not bad for a few hours' work. Time for some grub and a glass or six of port, methinks!

All The Best!

Here's the church, here's the... Oh, hang on!

Hi, All.

Steeple and bell, lying smashed in the graveyard. Haven't we all had days like this?

It's repairs day Chez O'Truth.

Over the course of a few games and then the Call To Arms convention in Wellington, Leadwood Chapel's spire has received a knock or two.

(click on pics to view larger)

Before removal. As you can see, my original design was not very strong.

Given that this evening the model is going to be photographed for an as-yet-to-be-announced reason (ooh! What a tease!) I decided I ought to conduct a bit of a fix-up.

Left above and below: A broken plank is carefully cut out. Right: Plank glued back into place.

The steeple had to be cut from the church, cleaned up, repaired, modified and put back in place. This was actually far simpler than it sounds, but I thought, "What the Hell, Old Chap! Put it on yer blog!" So I did.

Hope you find it informative.

New supports are cut from stained balsa. Pieces of dressmaker's pins are inserted.

Left: The new supports are glued to the canopy. Right: Additional reinforcing planks are placed between the supports.

Anchor holes are punched using a pin. The steeple will then be firmly but carefully put in place.

The final new-and-improved steeple.

Et, Voila!

I'm happy with the result. The repaired steeple is much stronger than it was. I have thought about replacing it completely with a closed-in louvred design, but we'll see how it goes.

All the Best!

So Many Projects, So Little Time...

Hi, All.

The problem with detailing-work is that it's so S..L..O..W..!

I mean, you spend hours and hours doing tiny little intricate things, sit back and... it's like you've done practically nothing!

Close-up of the neck detailing on HMSW Gargantua, incorporating chain-bridge, valves and pipes.

This week, I've been thinking about necks and legs. And chains.

So, pretty much a normal week for me...

I've had a clear image in my mind throughout this project as to what I wanted the 'neck' area should look like. This was seriously fiddly work and many expletives were uttered! Thank God I found my pliers!

I'm happy with the results - but yet another weekend has gone (Monday is my Sunday) and there is still so much to do!

From the left side...

...and the right...

Anyway, judge for yourselves...

...and from above.

As for HMSW Gargantua's legs, they are starting to look rather shapely. The first is almost finished, incorporating 174 rivets! And there's gonna be four of 'em, folks... You do the maths!

Private Porter, on guard at a secret construction site...

So: with the bridge in place and ONE leg rivetted, my count is now up to 2,146!

Also this week, I have been working on my first commission from an overseas wargaming colleague: A Wild West Undertakers, based on the premises of Creepy Pete Haldezos, Main St., Leadwood...

The original...

The new building in progress...

If all goes well (i.e: the thing doesn't get crushed in the mail!) I'll be starting to take requests for custom-built Western buildings. And maybe other stuff, too. Anyone who would like to express an interest can contact me at: ordersforthecolonel@gmail.com

I'm also working on concept sketches for a new BIG Victorian Science-Fiction set-piece, which I expect to take a year... More on that soon...

Anyway, that's all for now. I have a lot of stuff to get on with! A chap just can't spend all his time blogging away!

All the Best!

An hour or two fiddlin' with me dangly bits...

Hi, All.

Today I have begun construction of the chain bridge that will link HMSW Gargantua's head to her body.

The bridge will hang between the head and body, surrounded by pistons, cables, tubes...

This is fiddly work.

Chain and pins bought cheap by the hundred. Such things are invaluable for adding special little details. (see also the hoist on the Hooper's Lumbermill in Leadwood)

I'm working with cheap jewelery chain, bought from Spotlight (a craft store here in NZ). It's fairly soft and therefore the links are easy to open and close (and break!) but with each link being 2mm long, and my fingers being rather large, I'm finding it something of a challenge - hence my break right now to post this blog.

Left: four chains cut to length and added to anchor pins. These will form the horizontals. Right: parts laid out as an "exploded" diagram of the bridge construction.

What you see before you is about two hours' work so far. I imagine painting the bridge, applying the walk-boards and attaching it to the walker itself will be equally frustrating! Anyway, I'll keep you posted.

Chains and pins are suspended on small knitting needles for support as I'm not wearing my spare arms today. It took an hour to get this far.

This sort of detailing has to be completed before I start attaching the legs to the model, as otherwise I would risk damaging the whole thing - picking it up and turning it upside down, for example, will be very difficult once the legs are attached.

All chains and pins finally linked together. This will need to be painted and attached to the walker before further detailing can be applied.

Oh, well. Better get back to it!

All the Best!