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Neck:

The coupling being PVC is not compatible with styrene so I applied a veneer of 0.015 sheet styrene so parts and detail can be added.

http://i.imgur.com/ijcMkcJ.jpg


I then roughed in the cutout coordinates for the head to neck connection.

http://i.imgur.com/fI28OOL.jpg


The large round cylinder just below the helmet where the ears would be I am assuming is the neck/skull joint to allow the head to tilt down. Likewise the flexible conduits on either side of the chin.

Why not call these by their anatomical names. The so-called "Command Bridge is very skull-like.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Jaw Cut Out:

Using my vibrating saw it was a simple matter cutting out the jaw recess in the coupling.

http://i.imgur.com/V33rgGl.jpg


The neck is now ready for shaping and detailing.

http://i.imgur.com/KoJVjmG.jpg


Incidentally my Chicago Electric vibrating saw is a must have tool for hobbying;

http://www.harborfreight.com/variable-speed-oscillating-multi-tool-62867.html

This cut would be really difficult with virtually any other device other than a hand tool and my $25 dollar saw was a tremendous time saver. It took about five minutes to make this cut including the blade swap.

Looks promising. Where will that kitchen sink fit in?

So what type of glue are you using n the styrene to pvc? And do you use any heat with it as well or just glue and rubber bands?

And so it begins...

 Theophony wrote:
So what type of glue are you using n the styrene to pvc? And do you use any heat with it as well or just glue and rubber bands?

Right now I am using the mastic properties of normal Testors styrene glue ((red Label) probably unavailable in nanny state CA) to adhere the materials together. From here on in I shall be using the dissolving properties of Plastruct solvent cement to complete the structure.

Just a few more preliminaries before we begin the basic construction. I want to get this out of the way so I can refer queries to the beginning of the thread on basic construction techniques, not that I think I have all the answers but I do know what works for me and that I am willing to share so bear with me the construction is coming forthwith............

Tools of the Trade:

There has been a few questions regarding the amount of tools necessary to build my projects. I do have a lot of special tools that I need for work. I have been a mechanic all my adult life but to work on styrene models the material being so soft and malleable I find the most basic hand tools are sufficient to perform any of the work you see here.

Aside from the tools pictured here I would add an X-acto razor saw and the small diameter X-acto knife with a goodly supply of the # 11 blades.

When I get into the fine detail work I will break out my Jeweler's files as well but aside from that this is all I have used so far on the Thunderhawk.



You can see that:

A good quality combination square is essential.

A good quality utility knife with a supply of sharp blades.

A medium sized X-acto knife handle with #18 X-acto chisel blade. chisel.

A wooden cutting board is essential as opposed to one of those plastic self healing cutting mats. That's just my preference but I'm a creature of habit.

A 8" sized single cut file.

Home made sanding blocks with coarse and 80 grit sandpaper adhered with double back tape

A 6" scale graded in 1/64th inch and millimeters.

A calculator

Sharp Pencils

I use 'Plastruct Bondene' Plastic Solvent Cement but as the brush is so clunky and thick and the bottle so easy to tip over I refill the Tamiya thin plastic cement bottle; it has a much more stable bottle and a very fine tipped brush. When the fluid level in the bottle gets too low I drop in a few glass marbles to raise the level.

Hey, if you wanna live forever, get out of the modeling game.

Good to know

Living forever would suck. I look at the mountain of figures I have unpainted and just try to imagine living another 100-200 years . Plus how many editions of Warhammer would there be?

Snow Bound:

So to while away the weather front I did some work on the neck which I have to admit is coming out better than expected. I sheathed the coupling on 0.040 thousandths styrene to three layers and then proceeded to bevel the rear edges 45° as in the drawing.
http://i.imgur.com/Z9duybo.jpg


As you can see below there is quite a bit of cutting to get the 45° bevel in the front edge ............


http://i.imgur.com/gZQcNh6.jpg



but my 'Farmers file' was up to the task.

http://i.imgur.com/BTujlxG.jpg


The forward bevel needs to be refined but is okay for the moment while I make the inner neck mechanism so the head can be tilted down. My previous Warlord has this capability but the mechanism is very clunky and I am hoping to refine it on this model.

http://i.imgur.com/TbMVdfC.jpg


Finally I found this collar that will work very well in the scheme I have in mind for the side to side movement of the head and fits into the Emperor design quite well.

http://i.imgur.com/Ofba1Op.jpg


Can anyone guess the source of this wondrous bit of sculpting?

 The_Blackadder wrote:
Can anyone guess the source of this wondrousl bit of sculpting?

My guess is a piece of a light fixture of some kind?

I am so following this. I want to see how this turns out!

Good luck!

Top of a noodle tub

Good luck with this, looking forward to seeing the project develop

 CURNOW wrote:
Top of a noodle tub

Close, a 5.3 ounce Shoprite yogurt container. I plan to use a lot of recyclable plastic in the manufacture of this model.How well I succeed remains to be seen.

 The_Blackadder wrote:

 CURNOW wrote:
Top of a noodle tub

Close, a 5.3 ounce Shoprite yogurt container. I plan to use a lot of recyclable plastic in the manufacture of this model.How well I succeed remains to be seen.

Well in true Admech fashion, use everything at your disposal to build the great godmachine .

2D vs 3D

I'm getting way ahead of myself with this head assembly so I put the brakes on to pitch an update. After scraping my initial idea of how the head assembly can tip forward on the neck I came up with this solution which will give me a lot more cockpit room for the crew. There also is a poetic license taken by the artist who drew the front and side reliefs of the Command Bridge. The huge ear discs that contain the head tilting mechanism cannot function as drawn and are of different sizes in the drawing. Never mind though, I have a solution.

I'll start with cutting the forward neck ring to allow the discs to mount flat to the sides of the neck.

http://i.imgur.com/mvwGHMu.jpg


Carving out an outer race for the gimbal head mount pad and gluing on the gimbal bases is what is shown here. The two 0.040th inch discs are 71 MM apart and 56 MM in diameter.

http://i.imgur.com/gkvcxbH.jpg


The bridge truss maintains the distance and keeps the gimbals square to each other and stabilizes the bases

http://i.imgur.com/uFbVKve.jpg


Bottom view showing the forward ring carved out to accommodate the gimbal bases.

http://i.imgur.com/ZpFupBN.jpg


Next, the manufacture of the gimbals mounts. (The area left black in the 2D drawing.)

Finding this all very interesting. Keep at it blacky.

This is epic! I love the drawing of the head, will make this really cool to follow.

Thanks for the replies,

Gimbals:

Or Trunnions whatever, These truncated discs will support the head on the neck to allow it to look down in a purely theatrical way as a downward pointing camera would be just as effective but the menace of this skull staring down at it's victim is too good to pass up.

http://i.imgur.com/TxBpE0G.jpg


Above; the disc is a simple truncated construct featuring two circles 45,0 and 54,0 MM separated by 2,0 MM by 4,8 MM styrene spacers.

http://i.imgur.com/fIfj5Yf.jpg


Unfortunately I got the angle wrong so I have to re-sheath the bevel but that's not a big deal.

http://i.imgur.com/J7JtoOQ.jpg


Tomorrow I hope to be working on the cockpit.

Tomorrow I look forward to killing more auto-appends , and watching this develop further. I totally agree that a camera would give as good of a function, but the shear awesomeness of the titan looking down eye to eye with the person(s) it's about to curbstomp is too good to pass up.

If you are going to build a giant stompy robot with a head, it should be able to look around. Otherwise, don't give it a head.

 Dr H wrote:
If you are going to build a giant stompy robot with a head, it should be able to look around. Otherwise, don't give it a head.

All my giant stompy robots with a head can look around.

Even the FW resin ones.

 The_Blackadder wrote:

 Dr H wrote:
If you are going to build a giant stompy robot with a head, it should be able to look around. Otherwise, don't give it a head.

All my giant stompy robots with a head can look around.

Even the FW resin ones.

Yes, but try and have an old armor cast beetleback titan look up

That is as it should be. Good work Blacky.

The Visor:

Allowing for the helmet I mounted the gimbals with extended visor mounts made of 0.015 thousandths sheet styrene. As I don't really have a plan for the cockpit, chin or gullet piece all this is subject to change but at least now I understand how the cheek pieces work with the gimbals.

http://i.imgur.com/dybKoJX.jpg


I suppose the best thing is to cut the helmet to see where it falls in relation to the ears (gimbals) and the amount of clearance required to allow the head to lower and raise.

http://i.imgur.com/LEecGev.jpg


Somehow I managed to guess right which moving part eclipses which and for that I am grateful.

http://i.imgur.com/a8ra21q.jpg


Later on this evening I'll cut the helmet but I need to relax a bit after this thoroughly draining exercise in design. Martini Time!!!!!

Are clothespin acceptable Admech tools???

Great progress . At this point my ADD would kick in and I'd make it into a cup holder or something . But since you are in charge I know it will come to completion.

That's pretty ingenuous

Following intently.

As a side note, in the plumbing section you should find a solvent glue for PVC pipe, it works with styrene also.

 Camkierhi wrote:
Following intently.

As a side note, in the plumbing section you should find a solvent glue for PVC pipe, it works with styrene also.

Good to know, thanks.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Helmet:

My initial thought was to use a suitably shaped bottle to form the helmet but after experimentation I found that was unsatisfactory for my obsessive compulsive mindset. I opted instead for building up the helmet out of stratified layers of styrene and cutting the helmet out of the resulting block in much the same manner as I did for my Warlord Titan

http://i.imgur.com/gxEB51B.jpg


This also relieves me of the necessity of finding a suitable glue for mating the different sources of plastic......

http://i.imgur.com/uAIDHK3l.jpg


It's bad enough that I had already go through the identical thought processes in making my Warlord but to have not learned for my previous effort defies logic. :(

Amazing work so far! Subbed for sure!

Also, death to auto appends..

Looks impressive so far-and this head piece is going to look amazing!

Thanks for the replies,

Ready To Begin Shaping:

The layering is complete and all needs be done is the shaping

http://i.imgur.com/aK44D0O.jpg


I made the helmet about an eighth inch over sized per inch to allow for carving and sanding

http://i.imgur.com/axEuWUo.jpg


Tomorrow I should be well along on the paring down to the rough dimensions.

http://i.imgur.com/l0WOVlJ.jpg

I'm looking forward to see the result! Keep up the good work