RC Sand Crawler build.

CutThumb · 10-16-2009, 10:43 AM

Sometimes you look at all the work you've done and you think "That wasn't worth all the effort."
And then that first coat goes on.
Well pleased.
I've just done the engines, mainly to stop me messing with them any more.

knightdriver2001 · 10-16-2009, 11:23 AM

Looking really great!

Silly me thought RC stood for remote controlled.

Then I saw the other thread and went..... Doh!

vaderdarth · 10-16-2009, 10:47 PM

Dang dude, I am so jealous and that looks phenomenal. Well done!

CutThumb · 10-17-2009, 03:02 AM

Cheers Dave- if you or anyone is looking to replicate the parts here, well, the list is as follows;
Barrels at the top- two cut sections from a gell pen.
Black ropes on either side of the top , 1 mm electrical wire from Maplin (or any electrical store)
The two four pipe structures attatched to the round engine tops - four way audio cable again from Maplin.
The total cost of that lot is about £3.

The bulk of the rest is cut sheeting, brass pipes (bending covered by Dave!) ,some very old kit parts and alot of patient looking around. Its taken me about a week to find close fit parts and I tore off and chucked as much as I built on when I found better fits. Really the bits that still annoy me are the pipes attatched to the engines at the back. They are the exhausts from something but are both different and very difficult to replicate. I tore them all off when it was pointed out to me they looked the worst bits on it, so I did them in brass again!!! Thank God for fair critisism for he was dead right and these look miles bettter.
The wire ropes took very little time to do once I'd got the wire and I just superglued them on. What I should have done is glued them on AFTER I'd painted it as this would have saved me redoing them. Less haste ,more speed.
Hope this helps cram a little bit more on to your build Dave. Your SD was a bit of an inspiration to me when it came to building mine (which is probably why it is STILL not finished, I hate drilling all those bloody holes!).
I am going to rescribe some panel lines if I get the time today as on a test spray they looked a bit weak. Keep on going!!!

MooCriket · 10-17-2009, 11:04 AM

Thanks for the detailed info CutThumb

PhoenixVader · 10-17-2009, 12:24 PM

That is VERY cool. Nice job, looking forward to seeing this completed.

thomas

BrundelFly · 10-18-2009, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaderdarth

If you have a choice at your hobby store, choose solid brass rod instead of tubing. It bends so much better and holds it's shape. If you bend tubing you need the little coil spring bending tubes. You slide the tube into the spring and bend it all.........has to be snug, but it bends without crimping. Most of this micro tubing also has corresponding rods so it's just easier to use the rods.

Silver Solder works GREAT also!

CutThumb · 10-18-2009, 01:16 PM

Well, I got her hull finished!! No more detailing to do and the first base coat on. I added some panelling to the sides to give it a sense of depth and rescibed alot of the lines more deeply so it looks a little more plated but it is hard to tell.
Inserts to be finished and lights done then the tracks attatched. And then the really fun part starts.

vaderdarth · 10-19-2009, 01:28 AM

Extremely nice work!

CutThumb · 10-20-2009, 11:15 AM

After a couple of days away from the build I thought I'd shoot ahead today but unfortunately that was not the case.
When it came to gluing the whole of the tread assembly together the wheel cover which is the last thing to fix on left a gap of about 3 to 4 ml from the top two wheels edge which did not look right.

So I've tried two ways of fixing it.

One is the simple way, which is just to add "inner tubing" ( that gel pen came in handy again!) which looked better. Its also pretty quick as a fix. I did two complete treads like this, then had a better idea.

The only way to get the pieces to line up is to cut off the wheels and reattatch them , but a few millimetres down. I cut the star wheel off first, put on a tread, superglued the back of the wheel, then put it back in whilst and pushed it against the tread so it remained nice and tight.I then did the same with the back wheel. Once I was happy I pinned both of them then added the tread back on.

This looks much better, but it takes a lot longer and as you really don't want to do this with eight sets of tracks I suggest choosing the four best looking sides , mark them as " Outward Facing " then just do those.

Infact as most of the inner wheel units are hidden I'd suggest having a really play about with the treads and units to get the best fit as I found a subtle variation in casting not really visible to the eye made a hell of a difference when all glued together. And if you can put the least good pieces on the inside it will save you a lot of effort.

Outtter facing sides.

Inner (hidden) facing sides.

This is how its looking tonight. It doesn't seem to look like a great deal of difference, but it bugged me alot. I may add small detail into the gaps as well to make it more like the screen shots.
You may also have to file some resin off the top back of the cover to get the tread to sit properly but its not difficult to do , just don't take much off.
I'll not glue the tread units or door structure on until I've finished the bulk of the hull painting. I'll try and do the inserts and lighting tomorrow, as I am thinking of adding just a few fibre optics to the control cabin. Until I see how bright the cabin will be with the LEDs in I'll not know if its worth the effort or not.

vaderdarth · 10-20-2009, 11:18 AM

Sweet man! You are more of a perfectionist than I. I started to do the same thing.......except I was just gonna remake the outer sections on the wheel covers.......finally just said, to heck with it, I'm too lazy for that. LOL

CutThumb · 10-20-2009, 11:35 AM

"You are more of a perfectionist " Cheers Dave, yep, unfortunately, its the curse of my life.
It takes me twice as long to do things sometimes because I spend so much time trying to get them "just right". But if I don't I just get p***ed off with myself and I'll never forget that I could have done it a bit better.
On the plus side it means I strive to be accurate but on the largely down side it means I am very rarely totally happy with anything I do. Alot of people don't understand it (including me half the time) , but its the way I'm wired. I just live with it now.
Just seen your build next to your Jawa! I've said it before but if I had that room of yours with all the great pieces you've got in there that might put a smile on my face alot more !!!

vaderdarth · 10-20-2009, 11:39 AM

you are too kind sir.

Dai Bendu · 10-20-2009, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CutThumb

It takes me twice as long to do things sometimes because I spend so much time trying to get them "just right". But if I don't I just get p***ed off with myself and I'll never forget that I could have done it a bit better.
On the plus side it means I strive to be accurate but on the largely down side it means I am very rarely totally happy with anything I do. Alot of people don't understand it (including me half the time) , but its the way I'm wired. I just live with it now.

I am the same way. It's a real pain.

Sand crawler looks great!

CutThumb · 10-23-2009, 03:07 PM

Plenty done this week but not much of it modeling I'm afraid!I managed to solder and wire up most of the LEDs, but I didn't like the first lot that looked a bit weak, so I went for some stronger ones! The headlight effect is much more as I wanted. I'll probably finish the lighting altogether this weekend, and then start to paint next week.
Heres the latest anyway. There is some lightl eakage around the headlights that will be filled latter.

Getoninja · 10-23-2009, 03:12 PM

omg, thats so sexy as hell, awesome job so far!!

hollywoodhardware · 10-23-2009, 05:24 PM

Lookin' really good!

Thomas

Guy Cowen · 10-23-2009, 09:40 PM

Gorgeous.

CutThumb · 10-25-2009, 02:37 PM

Finished off the lighting- I used holders to fix in the LEDs and they help throw more light out. Just means a little bit more effort! But the effect is worth it.

Thanks for all the possitive comments guys. Shes now all glued together and I'll start to paint it this week.

CutThumb · 10-27-2009, 07:55 AM

Well, after the lighting the really good bit. Painting the SC. in terms of weathering I think there is only the Crawler that is more hammered than Radient and its taken me a little while mixing colours to get a match to all the layers of rust and dirt on the hull.
But I've done one side nearly, though it will require more weathering and some masking to put more definition into it but on the whole I'm pleased. The righthand side is the most difficult to nail because that was the only one completed for filming. I can do what I want with the left!
Anyway, the pics.

vaderdarth · 10-27-2009, 08:15 AM

That rust color is perfect. Nice job man.

Guy Cowen · 10-28-2009, 08:01 AM

Awesome mate, looks fantastic.

Firespray · 10-28-2009, 08:49 PM

Awesome job on the Sand Crawler. I want one!

royal vader · 10-28-2009, 09:40 PM

Looks fantastic!
Glad to see the old harvester had such a good influence!

CutThumb · 10-29-2009, 02:20 AM

Done with the left side. Thanks for all the comments. I have to say the harvester was a big influence on the way I have painted this one. Whilst I haven't done anything wildly different , I underpainted the rusting so there is a more subtle effect, see the photo. Tracks ,top ,engines and then a black and sand overspray to finish off the weathering to do. Then I may rub it back with fine sandpaper to get a roughened sandblased finish.

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10-16-2009, 10:43 AM	#26
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Sometimes you look at all the work you've done and you think "That wasn't worth all the effort." And then that first coat goes on. Well pleased. I've just done the engines, mainly to stop me messing with them any more.

10-16-2009, 11:23 AM	#27
knightdriver2001 Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Connecticut Posts: 1,167 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Looking really great! Silly me thought RC stood for remote controlled. Then I saw the other thread and went..... Doh!

10-16-2009, 10:47 PM	#28
vaderdarth Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: South Carolina Posts: 9,571 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Dang dude, I am so jealous and that looks phenomenal. Well done!

10-17-2009, 03:02 AM	#29
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Cheers Dave- if you or anyone is looking to replicate the parts here, well, the list is as follows; Barrels at the top- two cut sections from a gell pen. Black ropes on either side of the top , 1 mm electrical wire from Maplin (or any electrical store) The two four pipe structures attatched to the round engine tops - four way audio cable again from Maplin. The total cost of that lot is about £3. The bulk of the rest is cut sheeting, brass pipes (bending covered by Dave!) ,some very old kit parts and alot of patient looking around. Its taken me about a week to find close fit parts and I tore off and chucked as much as I built on when I found better fits. Really the bits that still annoy me are the pipes attatched to the engines at the back. They are the exhausts from something but are both different and very difficult to replicate. I tore them all off when it was pointed out to me they looked the worst bits on it, so I did them in brass again!!! Thank God for fair critisism for he was dead right and these look miles bettter. The wire ropes took very little time to do once I'd got the wire and I just superglued them on. What I should have done is glued them on AFTER I'd painted it as this would have saved me redoing them. Less haste ,more speed. Hope this helps cram a little bit more on to your build Dave. Your SD was a bit of an inspiration to me when it came to building mine (which is probably why it is STILL not finished, I hate drilling all those bloody holes!). I am going to rescribe some panel lines if I get the time today as on a test spray they looked a bit weak. Keep on going!!!

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10-17-2009, 11:04 AM	#30
MooCriket Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Baltimore MD Posts: 5,161 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Thanks for the detailed info CutThumb

10-17-2009, 12:24 PM	#31
PhoenixVader Doesn't matter Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Rio Rancho, NM Posts: 1,388 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. That is VERY cool. Nice job, looking forward to seeing this completed. thomas

10-18-2009, 01:16 PM	#33
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Well, I got her hull finished!! No more detailing to do and the first base coat on. I added some panelling to the sides to give it a sense of depth and rescibed alot of the lines more deeply so it looks a little more plated but it is hard to tell. Inserts to be finished and lights done then the tracks attatched. And then the really fun part starts.

10-19-2009, 01:28 AM	#34
vaderdarth Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: South Carolina Posts: 9,571 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Extremely nice work!

10-20-2009, 11:15 AM	#35
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. After a couple of days away from the build I thought I'd shoot ahead today but unfortunately that was not the case. When it came to gluing the whole of the tread assembly together the wheel cover which is the last thing to fix on left a gap of about 3 to 4 ml from the top two wheels edge which did not look right. So I've tried two ways of fixing it. One is the simple way, which is just to add "inner tubing" ( that gel pen came in handy again!) which looked better. Its also pretty quick as a fix. I did two complete treads like this, then had a better idea. The only way to get the pieces to line up is to cut off the wheels and reattatch them , but a few millimetres down. I cut the star wheel off first, put on a tread, superglued the back of the wheel, then put it back in whilst and pushed it against the tread so it remained nice and tight.I then did the same with the back wheel. Once I was happy I pinned both of them then added the tread back on. This looks much better, but it takes a lot longer and as you really don't want to do this with eight sets of tracks I suggest choosing the four best looking sides , mark them as " Outward Facing " then just do those. Infact as most of the inner wheel units are hidden I'd suggest having a really play about with the treads and units to get the best fit as I found a subtle variation in casting not really visible to the eye made a hell of a difference when all glued together. And if you can put the least good pieces on the inside it will save you a lot of effort. Outtter facing sides. Inner (hidden) facing sides. This is how its looking tonight. It doesn't seem to look like a great deal of difference, but it bugged me alot. I may add small detail into the gaps as well to make it more like the screen shots. You may also have to file some resin off the top back of the cover to get the tread to sit properly but its not difficult to do , just don't take much off. I'll not glue the tread units or door structure on until I've finished the bulk of the hull painting. I'll try and do the inserts and lighting tomorrow, as I am thinking of adding just a few fibre optics to the control cabin. Until I see how bright the cabin will be with the LEDs in I'll not know if its worth the effort or not.

10-20-2009, 11:18 AM	#36
vaderdarth Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: South Carolina Posts: 9,571 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Sweet man! You are more of a perfectionist than I. I started to do the same thing.......except I was just gonna remake the outer sections on the wheel covers.......finally just said, to heck with it, I'm too lazy for that. LOL

10-20-2009, 11:35 AM	#37
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. "You are more of a perfectionist " Cheers Dave, yep, unfortunately, its the curse of my life. It takes me twice as long to do things sometimes because I spend so much time trying to get them "just right". But if I don't I just get p***ed off with myself and I'll never forget that I could have done it a bit better. On the plus side it means I strive to be accurate but on the largely down side it means I am very rarely totally happy with anything I do. Alot of people don't understand it (including me half the time) , but its the way I'm wired. I just live with it now. Just seen your build next to your Jawa! I've said it before but if I had that room of yours with all the great pieces you've got in there that might put a smile on my face alot more !!!

10-20-2009, 11:39 AM	#38
vaderdarth Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: South Carolina Posts: 9,571 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. you are too kind sir.

10-23-2009, 03:07 PM	#40
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Plenty done this week but not much of it modeling I'm afraid!I managed to solder and wire up most of the LEDs, but I didn't like the first lot that looked a bit weak, so I went for some stronger ones! The headlight effect is much more as I wanted. I'll probably finish the lighting altogether this weekend, and then start to paint next week. Heres the latest anyway. There is some lightl eakage around the headlights that will be filled latter.

10-23-2009, 03:12 PM	#41
Getoninja Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: wetwetwtwet Posts: 188 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. omg, thats so sexy as hell, awesome job so far!!

10-23-2009, 05:24 PM	#42
hollywoodhardware Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 1,540 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Lookin' really good! Thomas

10-23-2009, 09:40 PM	#43
Guy Cowen Guy Staff Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 2,362 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Gorgeous.

10-25-2009, 02:37 PM	#44
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Finished off the lighting- I used holders to fix in the LEDs and they help throw more light out. Just means a little bit more effort! But the effect is worth it. Thanks for all the possitive comments guys. Shes now all glued together and I'll start to paint it this week. Last edited by CutThumb; 10-25-2009 at 02:39 PM.

10-27-2009, 07:55 AM	#45
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Well, after the lighting the really good bit. Painting the SC. in terms of weathering I think there is only the Crawler that is more hammered than Radient and its taken me a little while mixing colours to get a match to all the layers of rust and dirt on the hull. But I've done one side nearly, though it will require more weathering and some masking to put more definition into it but on the whole I'm pleased. The righthand side is the most difficult to nail because that was the only one completed for filming. I can do what I want with the left! Anyway, the pics.

10-27-2009, 08:15 AM	#46
vaderdarth Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: South Carolina Posts: 9,571 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. That rust color is perfect. Nice job man.

10-28-2009, 08:01 AM	#47
Guy Cowen Guy Staff Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 2,362 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Awesome mate, looks fantastic.

10-28-2009, 08:49 PM	#48
Firespray Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kansas City Posts: 204 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Awesome job on the Sand Crawler. I want one!

10-28-2009, 09:40 PM	#49
royal vader Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Peoria, IL Posts: 95 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Looks fantastic! Glad to see the old harvester had such a good influence!

10-29-2009, 02:20 AM	#50
CutThumb Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern England,UK Posts: 203 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: RC Sand Crawler build. Done with the left side. Thanks for all the comments. I have to say the harvester was a big influence on the way I have painted this one. Whilst I haven't done anything wildly different , I underpainted the rusting so there is a more subtle effect, see the photo. Tracks ,top ,engines and then a black and sand overspray to finish off the weathering to do. Then I may rub it back with fine sandpaper to get a roughened sandblased finish. [