{"id":1648,"date":"2008-03-27T16:49:45","date_gmt":"2008-03-28T00:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fichtenfoo.net\/blog\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2009-02-12T21:18:17","modified_gmt":"2009-02-13T05:18:17","slug":"in-progress-%c2%bb-armored-dune-hopper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fichtenfoo.net\/blog\/in-progress-%c2%bb-armored-dune-hopper\/","title":{"rendered":"In Progress \u00c2\u00bb Armored Dune Hopper"},"content":{"rendered":"

11.19.07\u00c2\u00bb Source, Concepts &
\nInitial Scratchbuilding<\/p>\n

And I said to myself… well, how did I get
\nhere? I started this project out mentally as another Martian
\nHovertan<\/a>k like my prior one… gathered all the parts
\nI’ve been stashing for it then somehow used none of those
\nparts and decided to add wheels and a suspension and a lack
\nof curves. Seriously… I am not sure how this came about.
\nHAHAHA! But I’m all for going down the opposite path if the
\nend result is something interesting.<\/p>\n

The Armored Dune Hopper (ADH) is an armored
\nrecon vehicle for use in desert environments. I haven’t decided
\nyet whether this will be martian, lunar, or terrestrial. It
\nstarted out martian with the large enclosed cabin and large
\nwheels. The size of the cabin is so that the driver can get
\nin and out easily and fit into it with a bulky space suit.
\nI still plan on having a large, double hatch opening to allow
\nfor a bulky suited driver, be it armored bulk or space suit
\nbulk. I’m also added a couple of large storage compartments
\non the sides. The insides of those have the diamond-plate
\ntexture since it’s fun to weather and I saw it used in fire
\ntruck storage compartments.<\/p>\n

First I constructed a frame using square tubing.
\nOn this frame will sit the cabin, engine, suspension, etc…
\nEverything so far has been scratchbuilt from styrene sheet
\nand styrene tubing. I have a lot to clean-up and do yet like
\nfigure out the front shape, do the rest of the suspension,
\nmake stabilizers for long booster-assisted hops, and make\/add
\nthe engine. I’m waiting for an Anikins Podracer kit to use
\nparts of for the two booters on the upper rear of the engine.
\nThe engine will sit behind the cabin and will be somewhat
\nexposed. Impractical to be sure, but it’ll look much more
\ninteresting that way. It’ll have lots of greeblies tubes,
\nwires, etc….<\/p>\n

Here’s some initial pics of it sitting up on
\na scrap of 2×4. That’s actually the height it will sit off
\nof the ground once the tires are attached. The hood and roof
\nwill be somewhat squat and won’t add too much more height
\nto the profile.<\/p>\n

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11.26.07 \u00c2\u00bb More body-work<\/p>\n

Still plugging along on the chassis and body
\nof this beastie. I’ve been doing mostly clean-up on the body
\nbefore adding any finer details. I did manage to make the
\n“hood” of the vehicle as well as the hatches. I
\ngot the low cabin profile I wanted with plenty of room for
\nthe driver inside. The front of the “car” will have
\na small laser mounted inside the left “tube”. The
\nright 2 tubes will have optical equipment. A sheet of armor
\nwill hang below those like on my Martian Hovertank and in
\nfront of that will be a nice big roll-bar-looking bumper.
\nStill waiting on the pod-racer kit so that I can begin work
\non the rear 1\/3 of the vehicle. Looks like an odd Snowspeeder
\nat the moment, but after I add the engine\/wheels it’ll change.<\/p>\n

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Below is a shot of the tires I took from an
\nold RC car. Unfortunately 2 of the tires are in horrid shape
\nso I’ll have to make resin casts of these 2. They’re 3″
\ntall and shown next to a 1\/20 scale figure.<\/p>\n

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11.29.07 \u00c2\u00bb Start Your Engines<\/p>\n

Got a little further on this, but there’s still
\na very long way to go. The Pod-Racer kit came so I built-up
\nand sliced off the parts of that engine that I wanted. The
\nrest of the kit is great for little greeblie details. I made
\na radiator grille for the back of the engine and used parts
\nof prior scratch-builds that I started, but never finished,
\nto make the mount for the rockets and engines. I also made
\nmy “air break” flaps for the rear of the craft.
\nThese will help steady and level the vehicle when doing a
\nbooster-assisted jump.<\/p>\n

Next I need to work on the suspension some more,
\ninterior, exterior details, and create a nifty overly detailed
\nengine.<\/p>\n

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12.02.07 \u00c2\u00bb More Engine<\/p>\n

Here’s a shot of some more work I did on the
\nengine. Started making the engine block shape then added some
\nmisc detail parts to it. Later I’ll add some more details,
\npipes, tubes, etc… The exhaust pipes were made by measuring
\nthe circumference of the tube (1.625″) and laying out
\nthe dot pattern in illustrator to that size. Then I printed
\nit out, taped it to the tube and used the printout as a template
\nas to where to drill holes. Took me an hour to do the two
\nlarge holed pipes. More details and pics in a few days.<\/p>\n

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12.05.07 \u00c2\u00bb Guns A-blazin’!<\/p>\n

Here’s the gun that some of you have been asking
\nabout. It’s a belt-fed mounted gatling made from misc bits
\nand scratchbuilt parts. The ammo box was especially fun to
\ndo. I’ve also included a shot with a large Tamiya paint bottle
\nto give a sense of size.<\/p>\n

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12.08.07 \u00c2\u00bb Cabin Pressure<\/p>\n

\"\"One
\nof the good parts about a project such as this is that if
\nyou start to get burned out on one part, such as the suspension,
\nyou can work on another such as the interior which is what
\nI’ve done since the last update.<\/p>\n

I started out by making an interior roll-cage
\nusing styrene rod. For the bends I simply heated that part
\nover a candle until slightly pliable, then I bent it into
\nposition and held a minute until cool. For the cross-bars,
\nsome Ambroid Pro-weld (styrene glue) did the trick. I just
\nneed to sand the glue-connections now to remove the melted
\nout styrene.<\/p>\n

Next-up was the seat which was made from scrap-styrene
\nthen covered in half-round. An indentation was made where
\nthe drivers back-pack containing life-support would fit. That
\nway there’s no need to remove it to sit in the car.<\/p>\n

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The gauges and main view-screen were made from
\nleftover parts from the parts bin and option parts. The main
\nsteering and gun-aiming sticks were made from thick styrene
\nstrip which had the narrow part dremmeled in to create that
\nshape.<\/p>\n

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Shifting knobs were made by placing the end
\nof styrene rod close to the heat of a candle flame. This causes
\nthe end to expand and form the mushroom shape. They were then
\ncut-off and had a hole drilled in for the wire\/shaft.<\/p>\n

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Another piece of wire was bent to create some
\nsort of emergency pull-handle. This won’t be for an ejection
\nseat, and quite frankly I’m not sure what it’d do… but it’ll
\nlook cool with it’s black\/yellow striping and that’s why I
\nadded it.<\/p>\n

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Overall I’m glad that I left as much space for
\nthe cabin as I did. Once everything was created and added
\nin it’s made for a cramped and busy-looking space and a great
\nreason to leave the hatches open in the display case.<\/p>\n

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12.10.07 \u00c2\u00bb Suspended<\/p>\n

Lots more pics and info for todays update. First
\noff you can see the smoke dischargers that I finished yesterday.
\nThey’re made from aluminum and styrene tubing and steel bearings.
\nNext for those I need to make caps\/chains. I also made a jerry
\ncan weeks ago for this build. When I was making the mounts
\nyesterday I thought… “wouldn’t a jerry can full of
\nwater externally on Mars just freeze solid? So what’s the
\npoint?” Well… it’s now a Jerry can full of… ANTIFREEZE!
\nProbably useful.<\/p>\n

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The front suspension I roughed out last week
\nbut forgot to take pics of. It still needs details added but
\nthe basics are there and it works!<\/p>\n

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Here’s a small shot of my new wheels. Nice treads
\nand about as big as the hard plastic ones I would have had
\nto cast before. What I like about these are that they’ll have
\na nice realistic sag from the weight of the Dune Hopper. The
\nremovable rims makes for nice painting and all 4 wheels with
\nrims only cost $12.<\/p>\n

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Next is the main hatch. I made some working
\npistons, a padded foor-top (for rough landings) and a pull-bar
\nfor opening it or something.<\/p>\n

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12.11.07 \u00c2\u00bb Roll Call<\/p>\n

Here’s a shot of almost everything I have done
\nput together. I finished the front and rear bumper which are
\nmade from heat bent styrene rod. Grills were added on the
\narmor to protect the headlights. The grills were “dented”
\nusing heat from a candle. Headlights will be made using T-Flat
\naluminum thrusters from Mechaskunk.com. They’re the perfect
\nshape for this… just need to make lenses and mounts. The
\npenciled stripes are where I’ll add non-slip texture.<\/p>\n

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The bottom grill on the front bumper is damaged
\nso badly that a piece of diamond plate will be retrofitted
\nthere to keet rocks from hitting the steering box. This was
\na frequent modification to this type of vehicle. (in my alternate
\nuniverse)<\/p>\n

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Like your car hood, a thin bar holds up the
\ncargo hatches. I also added the fuel entry hatches seen in
\nthis pic.<\/p>\n

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Here you can see the rear bumper\/grill and some
\nmore braided tubing mounts behind the cargo hatches.<\/p>\n

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Next Page
\n\u00c2\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n

12.15.07 \u00c2\u00bb Detail-up<\/p>\n

So many pics that a page 2 is necessary! I’m
\nstarting to feel like this projects construction phase is
\nnearing it’s end. Whew! I still have a lot to do before I
\ncan start priming and painting, but now it’s just the wheels
\nand minor things. I decided to put everything that I have
\ndone together and double check it’s fit.<\/p>\n

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First up is the engine. You can see in this
\nfirst pic the brass brackets I made to hold the long gas-tanks
\nthat sit on the frame on either side of the cabin. You can
\nalso see one of the bent-styrene d-rings I added.<\/p>\n

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Here you can see the many pieces of wire and
\nspring I added to the boosters. The engines have a lot of
\nthis detail molded in, but layering it like this really adds
\nto the busy and detailed effect. You can see the small brass
\nturn-handles on the smaller braided tube couplings and all
\nof the mountings for the various braided tubes.<\/p>\n

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Here you can see a close-up of the wiring.<\/p>\n

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In this pic you can see the small hinges and
\npistons I made for the airbreaks.<\/p>\n

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I finished up the smoke dischargers by adding
\ncaps and chains. Straight-pins were inserted through the chains
\nand into the caps and tubes to connect the really small chain.
\nThis is the same chain I used on my Gelgoog
\nNT<\/a>. Small stuff! Another chain was added to prevent the
\nmaintenance crew from losing the gas-cap. I’ll properly align
\nthe tubes when I go to glue them in after painting.<\/p>\n

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Lastly is the complicated 3-point mount for
\nthe lights. Much flame and bending required to get these just
\nright!<\/p>\n

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03.08.2008 \u00c2\u00bb Back on it…<\/p>\n

After a brief hiatus from this project for my
\nown mental health I’ve returned to it. I started doing the
\nfinal clean-up of parts and work on the figure. Nothing new
\nto show for the parts, but I can show progress of the pilot
\nfigure. The head is from an MG Dom figure which I’ll be modifying
\na bit with some head-gear. The rest is all sprue\/wire-frame
\ncovered in Magic Sculpt and Aves Apoxie Sculpt. The clear
\ndome is a cap from one of my daughters dried-up stamps. Perfect
\nsize and fit! The gun is just from my own imagination.<\/p>\n

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03.09.2008 \u00c2\u00bb Non-Slip<\/p>\n

More bulk has been added to the figure so that
\nhis basic shape is being formed. After I bulk the arms I’ll
\nstart adding wrinkles\/folds to the suit, details, armor, equip,
\netc… My Magic Sculpt has gotten old and the hardener part
\nis well… hard. So I’m only using it for build-up. Over that
\nI’ve been adding the Aves which is very very nice to use for
\nthe details.<\/p>\n

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I also added the non-slip texture to the hull
\ntoday. For this I masked off where I wanted the texture to
\nbe and then sprayed those areas with Krylon Fusion texture
\nspray paint. Afterwards I reprimed those spots. The only odd
\nthing, and I’m glad I tested it on scrap first is that the
\nKrylon Texture paint sprays REALLY HARD and forceful. It blasts
\nout of the can so be sure to hold your parts at least 12-18
\ninches away from the nozzel. No joke.<\/p>\n

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03.13.2008 \u00c2\u00bb Bulking Up<\/p>\n

More figure progress. The gun is about done
\nand the Mars-suit is coming along rather well. Still a lot
\nof detail to add though such as finishing the feet and headgear.<\/p>\n

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03.15.2008 \u00c2\u00bb Martian Blend<\/p>\n

Now that the figure is done, primed and base-coated
\n(no pic yet) I’ve started painting the ‘Hopper. Last night
\nI did some research on Mars images from the various rovers.
\nI picked some colors I thought would work right, but wasn’t
\nsure about a pattern. I decided to look up WWII German tank
\ncamo patterns and found several that I liked so what else
\nwas there to do but blend them together. What I like about
\nthis pattern and colors is that from a distance the squiggly
\ngray would look like waves of Martian regolith. The dots simulate
\nrock highlights, but mostly just look cool.<\/p>\n

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Looking at my references the color should be
\na little more yellow-orange and slightly less saturated. However
\nthere’s three reasons for my not doing that exactly. 1: the
\ncolors will blend better once filters, washes, and such is
\nadded. 2: Mars dust colors in the wash and pigments won’t
\nshow up if the base colors are exactly the same as them, and
\n3: making it off will visually seperate it from the groundwork
\nmaking it more visually interesting. Otherwise you end up
\nwith a very monochromatic piece. In this first pic you can
\nsee what the various weathering effects will do to the base
\ncamo to blend it in.<\/p>\n

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03.20.2008 \u00c2\u00bb Paint and Chips…<\/p>\n

Here’s a little teaser of the paint so far.
\nDecided to paint the frame in semi-gloss black instead of
\nred. Added rusty chips to those parts as well. I made a stencil
\nfor the unit numbers and mainted them on sloppily leaving
\nsome overspray for that quick and dirty look. Also added a
\nfew decals. Painting the details and accessories in various
\ncolors breaks up the rust montony. Sheet-metal covered sections
\nof the repaired hull are being painted using Adam Wilders
\nmild steel technique. I’m up to the oil-paint portions there
\nand will add rust pigments to them later after washes and
\nsuch.<\/p>\n

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03.22.2008 \u00c2\u00bb Engines<\/p>\n

Here’s a shot of the engines so far. This is
\njust the construction phase. Next up will ne weathering the
\nwhole kit.<\/p>\n

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03.27.2008 \u00c2\u00bb Near Complete<\/p>\n

Here’s some shot’s of the ADH near completion.
\nI still have some dusting and weathering to do, straps to
\nadd to the jerry cans, and need to make a base and paint the
\nfigure.<\/p>\n

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