First build: Daishi Mech!

Greetings everyone!

After lurking on these forums for over a year admiring the amazing skill shown here, I decided to give scratchbuilding a try myself. The subject that caught my imagination is the Daishi/Dire Wolf 'Mech design from the Battletech Universe. I like giant robots with big guns. These 'Mechs have reconfigurable weapons loadouts, and I will configure the guns differently than in the image below, with fewer and bigger guns. :cool



The mech is about 12m high, so I decided to build it in 1/32 scale, giving the finished model a respectable height of 37,5cm/15". Lucky for me, decent blueprints were available, so the image below will give you an idea of the size. The square is 30cm/12" on the inside.




It is going to be a styrene build with some metal and plexiglass parts. I have decided to have the rounded parts of which I need multiples (leg side panels, arm side panels) laser cut and those parts should be arriving this weekend.

Being a construction designer by trade the design for building this beast is as near finished as I could get it. I am curious to see how much of the (theoretical) design is actually practical to build, and how much will change in the course of the build. In AutoCAD things always fit...

The only thing I have not decided about yet how to do them is the three big "bulged" bits, being the head and the two blisters on the lower legs. If anyone has any good suggestions I would love to hear them. Any other tips anyone might have are also greatly appreciated!

Time to get building!

Sweet. Looking forward to how you do this. I love me some mechs. I used to play the mechwarrior series obsessively and loved the mech designs. Good luck!

Hello again all,

Some progress! Got home early from work today to start, concentration wasn't there anyway :rolleyes

I've decided to block the beast out completely before doing any detailing. The only details I'm putting in now will be the ones affecting the geometry, like recessions and such. The experience gained from this process will only make the detailing go smoother and look better. First up, the torso. The blocking out is mostly finished except for the armored "hood" that covers it.That geometry is more complicated and I will tackle that next. I must say I'm quite pleased with where it stands now.

The biggest issue I have encountered yet is that, even with an engineer's square, straight angles are not a given. Measuring both diagonals of a piece is the easiest way to determine if something is square. If they're not equal, it's not square. But hey, practice makes perfect I guess...

Pictures!



Any tips, comments or criticisms are highly appreciated! thanks!

Off to a good start. I always liked the big mech models from Armorcast back in the day. They are about in the same scale, with the Atlas being the biggest.

Are you using styrene for everything? How thick is it?

Thanks for the reply Davard74! The styrene I am using for the torso is 1 mm thick (0.04"). I also have some 0.5 mm (0.02") for cladding the curved bits and some 2 mm (0.08") for the legs for added strength.

The armorcast models are 1/60 scale, so this model will be significantly bigger.

Looks like a good start! I used to use that mech in Mechwarrior 4 all the time. The only thing that keeps me from doing mech models is a stack of SW model ideas.

I can't wait to see this one built. I think the Mad Cat was the only Clan mech I liked more.

Hello again all,

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll try not to shame your trust

Finally, yesterday the laser cut parts arriverd! So when I finish with the torso, I can start with the arms and legs!



Also some progress during the weekend! I finished most of the thorso (minus one back panel) and finished the shoulder weapon mounting pod (minus the weapon). When placing the final two panels of the torso you could see the measuring differences adding up here and there, resulting in some seams that will require some putty and sanding.



Thanks for watching, any tips, comments and criticisms are highly appreciated!

Hey, any updates on this. I always loved Btech stuff. I wish there more novels coming out.

Have you posted this on Lords of the Battlefield? I bet people over there would love to see it.

Nice. So many Mech builds popping up lately. Loving em!

Hey guys, thanks for the comments!

I have been on holiday the last few weeks and am ready to get back to building. I will have some updates during the coming week!

Great work!

Any news?