Guns. We need more guns.

So…
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Yeah, finally got around to building the guns. Relatively quick build as I already have a mental image of how it should come together.
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Still need to actually glue the guns in but that I can do at my leisure now that the bulk is done. Besides, I’m thinking if I want the barrels to be retractable or even swappable… Looks to be good as a rocket pod. Hmmm…

An up close look:
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The guns themselves are detachable from the turntable and mount. This means I can swap them into static mounts, which will be useful for other projects.

Still need to add detailing plus cover ups, but the major components are built. Finally!

The Lack of Updates has ended! Well…

I’m still alive. Mostly, I think.

Mechwarrior Online is really sucking my life up. Not a good sign I presume… Still, like a friend would say, pew pew is fun. 🙂

o2 April will have a patch, to remove the sales and 2XP weekend effect, but the lack of patch information thus far is a bit worrisome. Hopefully, the missiles rework is done and the LRMs and SRMs can go back to being a wee bit more useful.

Also looking forward to seeing the April Creative Director’s update. Should be due today or tomorrow.

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Final-f**king-ly.

I got to admit, this Storm Talon to Dark Talon conversion is a long and bloody painful journey. I’ve learnt many new things and new ways to build old things, but more than anything else it’s a bloody frustrating trip.

The cheek support took ages to finalize, and the gun mounts — not the guns themselves — took forever to crystallize into reality. For example:
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This was Mount Mk. I, from another earlier post. Turns out the ammo feed was simply too big and was unsuitable. So I broke the parts down and rebuild for Mk. II.
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Practical Problems

So, I’m now working on the weapon mounts for the Dark Talon. Specifically, the Hurricane bolter mounts, the intent being to mount them on a turntable with at least a 90 degrees elevation.

So that wasn’t too bad…
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I’m actually quite pleased with the mounts, due to their simple assembly and clean lines. The ammo feed was put together quite quickly — I wonder how many who read this would remember a similar discussion in… happier… times — and actually wasn’t too much of a hassle.

I did make a mistake and that was to go with 180 degrees elevation. That on its own is trivial to achieve but the problem lay with the ammo feed; if you try to go 180 degrees, the ammo feed will sort of block itself. Try it sometimes, it’s just one of those things that doesn’t make sense to do.

So I’m happy with the ammo feed and the elevation, so I can move on to work on the turntable right? Well, let’s do a parts fit:
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It could fit, but the structure needed to hide the ammo feed is now so large that it overwhelms the miniature. The conventional feed system just takes up too much space. So, back to the drawing board,

The best way I can think of to solve the oversized structure problem is to rotate the feed through 90 degrees to lay the feed flat against the axle of the elevating arm. That should compact the amount of space needed down to something much more manageable. But that’s also going to be quite interesting to try to pull off…

Little Steps – Hinges

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Small steps to the next phase of the build. Ended up building hinges — this will eventually become the lifting/ elevating arm for my turret/ gun mount. The turntable will go underneath the hinge, and the lifting arm will be magnetized to accept different weapons. The hinge itself would be hidden by some detailing.

Right now though I have a poor idea of the size and length that is required and constrained, so it’s a bit oversized. Nothing a bit of filing and cutting can’t fix. Just time consuming.

These hinges are fairly custom, there’s very few aftermarket parts that sells these or are of the correction dimensions. One of the fundamental sis to know how to build these, and the forces/ mechanics involved. Range of play and motion must be understood to build a better hinge; my experiences with the Ork Bomma gave me some ideas how to better construct a hinge, and I used some of the lessons here.

Back to Work: Dark Talon

Last few weeks have been hectic with CNY and work. Not much time for hobby, plus MWO is doing unhealthy things to my sleep cycle.

So it is with some relief hat this got so what back on track:
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Work on the cheek mounts is progressing, just trying them out to see the effect. A more conventional layout:
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So now what’s left is to detail up and work on the Hurricane Bolters. That’s for another post.

Kickstarter: Eisenkern Stormtroopers

Well look what came in the mail the other day…
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I took part in Dreamforge‘s second Kickstarter for their Leviathans.. well it was for their Leviathans, but I think the Eisenkern models got more of the attention. And no, I didn’t just get these, in fact I consolidated a number of sprues into these two boxes so that I bring them around and do the photoshoot when it’s convenient for me. I got two more support weapons set plus Wave III coming.

At any rate, this is a box opening review, I hadn’t the opportunity to put any Eisenkern together yet so I can only make limited comments on the assembly aspect. But off the cuff, it’s quite an impressive set. I’ll also be very honest here. I got these to use as renegade Imperial Guard in 40k. So, I’m not as yet interested in the game system that is to come out, but I can always make some provisions for them. Still, the main focus is to organize the miniatures according to GW ruleset.

Moving on…

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Bit of a Rant

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A bit of a different post today. And long, you have been warned.

The intricacies of making a futuristic weapon look workable has always intrigued me. The thinking behind the form and function of successful military hardware is usually very sharp and to the point; if it didn’t have a purpose, a design point would quickly become redundant and likely disappear in the next iteration. Good military hardware must function, must function well in difficult environments (including stupid users), and must be built cheaply in both initial cost and ongoing maintenance cost.
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