Got my hands on an Alfred Wong 1/48 AT-AT. (More like a 1/52 scale. Read on to find out how we came to this conclusion.) First off, this is not going to be a rivet counting build. The kit is not absolutely accurate, and I could find some creative license in some areas. As such, I will also not be making it any more accurate than what the kit is offering, which is mighty good enough for me. So here goes.
These are the parts laid out. The resin casts are pretty crisp and clean, save some bubbles and pits which need to be worked on. The grey pieces on the other hand seem to be a little soft, but still workable. There is no way the legs will support the entire weight of the beast, so there would be some reinforcements planned. I am intending to do a 3-legged pose, with it moving forward with one leg in the air. Will probably do this up as a diorama with a snow speeder circling its legs with a tow cable.
First up, after all the parts and cleaned, I tackled the head. Drilled a hole in the neck to insert a bolt with the adjoining nut inside the head. The bottom of the head is slotted in, and so I will not glue that to gain access to the nut. Why I do not know. Oh yeah. I need to stick a piece of red clear acrylic on the inside of the "eye slot" after painting. That's why.
Next up, the side guns. These are not screen accurate, but like I said, not going to do anything about them, except I'm gonna make the windows for the shields. The kit came with just a flat piece for the shields, so that is pretty obvious.
Here's the finished head. The bottom plate was pretty straightforward. The "eyes" did not fit too well, and needed some filling.
Next, I tackled how the head was going to join to the body. This part was a nightmare. The kit had no good way of attaching that, except for a slot which I had no clue how it was going to hold the heavy head up. So I inserted 2 brass rods into the neck, and drilled 2 corresponding holes in the mid section of the body to hold it in place. Then I added a square styrene strip across to support it up. Works well.
The ducting for the neck is very nice and realistic. Had to fabricate some of the details using sheet styrene, but a nice template was provided so not much issues. Here's the pose that I wanted the head to be in: looking down and to the left, in its final moments before "cable detached!"
The undercarriage was also reinforced with nuts and bolts so that the weight of the legs will be on the baseplate instead of just the "axles".
Last thing I did today was to clean up all the leg joints, joined up the feet, and puttied the seams. Planning ahead, I added brass plates to the 4 teardrop shaped leg things and drilled extra holes where brass rods will go in to support the legs later. This will ensure that the legs can support the whole weight, but the brass plates will be seen on the insides of the legs. I'm ok with that.
Should be able to finish the build part tomorrow. Thanks for viewing!
These are the parts laid out. The resin casts are pretty crisp and clean, save some bubbles and pits which need to be worked on. The grey pieces on the other hand seem to be a little soft, but still workable. There is no way the legs will support the entire weight of the beast, so there would be some reinforcements planned. I am intending to do a 3-legged pose, with it moving forward with one leg in the air. Will probably do this up as a diorama with a snow speeder circling its legs with a tow cable.
First up, after all the parts and cleaned, I tackled the head. Drilled a hole in the neck to insert a bolt with the adjoining nut inside the head. The bottom of the head is slotted in, and so I will not glue that to gain access to the nut. Why I do not know. Oh yeah. I need to stick a piece of red clear acrylic on the inside of the "eye slot" after painting. That's why.
Next up, the side guns. These are not screen accurate, but like I said, not going to do anything about them, except I'm gonna make the windows for the shields. The kit came with just a flat piece for the shields, so that is pretty obvious.
Here's the finished head. The bottom plate was pretty straightforward. The "eyes" did not fit too well, and needed some filling.
Next, I tackled how the head was going to join to the body. This part was a nightmare. The kit had no good way of attaching that, except for a slot which I had no clue how it was going to hold the heavy head up. So I inserted 2 brass rods into the neck, and drilled 2 corresponding holes in the mid section of the body to hold it in place. Then I added a square styrene strip across to support it up. Works well.
The ducting for the neck is very nice and realistic. Had to fabricate some of the details using sheet styrene, but a nice template was provided so not much issues. Here's the pose that I wanted the head to be in: looking down and to the left, in its final moments before "cable detached!"
The undercarriage was also reinforced with nuts and bolts so that the weight of the legs will be on the baseplate instead of just the "axles".
Last thing I did today was to clean up all the leg joints, joined up the feet, and puttied the seams. Planning ahead, I added brass plates to the 4 teardrop shaped leg things and drilled extra holes where brass rods will go in to support the legs later. This will ensure that the legs can support the whole weight, but the brass plates will be seen on the insides of the legs. I'm ok with that.
Should be able to finish the build part tomorrow. Thanks for viewing!
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