make a SS sandcrawler!

thawn_es

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
first, I send a greeting to all the members of the forum and thankful to be able become a member.

then,
Anyone have a list of kits used to make the ILM sandcrawler?
I have a short list that includes the AV-8 harrier in 1/24 for the rear engines, sherman boggies for the track sistem(i think in 1/35 scale),revell saturn V parts,etc...
But,I would like to have a full list of kits,if is posible!
any help???

Thanks!
 
Well if someone would take the reigns and produce a kit, it would be cheaper and we could all pitch in to pay for the kits in the long run. I know I'm in for one. :)

Dave
 
I'm under the imperssion that the tracks, or at least the extra-wide pads on the bottom, were made on a small injection molding machine at ILM (I think that was either in "Sculpting a Galaxy" or the new "Making of" book). I don't know if the track links are all-new or bits glued on to the Sherman kit tracks. Either way, you'll probably need to make a master and cast those. If you're planning on making it an RC model (which would be boss), the standard garage-kit type resins are probably too brittle.
 
I saw one go thru this forum about 1-2 years back and it absolutely rocked. He did just one and sold it on ebay if I recall. I wanted that sandcrawler so bad I could taste it, but it was at the wrong time for my finances. :(

Dave


I'm in for one if someone wants to take the reigns. :) :thumbsup
 
Here's a link to the thread I started a year ago but I didn't get far with it...

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=5000&highlight=sandcrawler

I might have the binder still but I'll have to check. If it has parts listed then I'll try to post them. Here's another great link:

http://www.starwarz.com/modelshop/bench/sandcrawler.htm

I would love to build one of these but man talk about a daunting project. It would be an expensive engineering feat weighing a ton. When I was doing my research I found the most expensive and difficult part being the tank/drive mechanism and trying to figure that out. Mostly how was I going to get the money to do it. We now know how that ended.

But hey, the good news is you only have to build one side!:thumbsup
 
I think grabbing one 1/16 sherman and casting them would be the way to go.

The problem is most of the chasis parts are metal to handle the torque of the motors. I believe the bogie wheels are too:thumbsdown BTW I just check I no longer have the parts list but hey it's ILM. So count on the usual foray of Tamiya kits in there. I do remember that the back engine part is from either a Hawker Harrier or a Phantom. Pretty sure it was a Harrier. Don't know the scale but that should be easy to figure out.
 
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It is the Harrier engine yep, they are also accompanied by the F4 engine halves mounted over a Saturn V body along with the Saturn V main thrusters.
The drive units (Shermans) are heavily modded, they dont appear to be using there std 380 motors and opted for something a little beefier, maybe 540?
As for the tracks, they were cast, but from what i dont know, it doesnt seem to state, but they do appear to be attached to there own chain drive system...all very custom.
I think with todays advances in RC, the drive system could be very well done, and weight saved in this area by Lipo batteries etc.

lee
 
It is the Harrier engine yep, they are also accompanied by the F4 engine halves mounted over a Saturn V body along with the Saturn V main thrusters.
The drive units (Shermans) are heavily modded, they dont appear to be using there std 380 motors and opted for something a little beefier, maybe 540?
As for the tracks, they were cast, but from what i dont know, it doesnt seem to state, but they do appear to be attached to there own chain drive system...all very custom.
I think with todays advances in RC, the drive system could be very well done, and weight saved in this area by Lipo batteries etc.

lee

On the DVD video that came with the high end version of the Sulpting a Galaxy book they talked about this model for a few minutes. The frame was made of mainly wood, but it was solid as a rock. They upgraded pretty much everything in the drive train.

Heavy duty motors, 4 motorcycle batteries etc... They beefed it up so much it could do a wheelie if they went full throttle. They also took turns riding it out in the california desert during filming of the sandcrawler scenes.

They overengineered the hell out of it so I doubt there was ANY plastic left on this baby on the insides by the time they were done.

That section of the DVD is one of the best parts of the whole DVD, well worth it.

Greg
 
Well, the fundamental question that HAS to be answered before tackling this project is - functional or static? The RC aspect of this one elevates the complexity of this project immensely. For me, and I have considered it, a static model is just fine.

The thing is huge - 3+ feet. The motorcycle batteries added a lot to the weight and required reinforcing. The basic framing was done out of (I believe) aircraft plywood and clad in sheet styrene. The tread system did indeed use a modified (heavily modified) 1/16th Sherman bogie system. They used the initial offering of the kit which has a different track system than the one currently available. (The bogies may have changed a bit too - I only have the new version.) They injection molded the actual treads and secured them to the Tamiya tracks. I think you need something like 400 of those little buggers. The Tamiya motors were replaced with something with better torque and they had some sort of chain drive. The bogies had a custom mount that they milled.

With the technologies and talents of some of the people here, I think creating one master (or series of masters) and casting them - a static version could be done. You might not be able see the mechanism in there, but you will look at it and say, "Yep, that's a Sandcrawler." (Actually, I think there would be an (expletive deleted) in that statement too!)

The body is essentially a box. A series of boxes, actually. Not square, but a series of basic shapes nonetheless. All the parts mentioned are on the back end and top. There's also some parts from an old Airfix Hovercraft kit that's somewhat rare these days. The "Sculpting" DVD has a few shots of the back end and top before all of the weathering that will help with the kit ID'ing. You'll need some good shop space to build this and a LOT of shelf space to display it.

Gene
 
Id have to say static Gene, i cant imagine throwing a lot of money at something like this and wanting to drive it lol.
The drive system is very technical, something that would be very hard to nail down spot on.

lee
 
I think the real problem with this subject, along with things like the Star Destroyer, is people wanting a "kit." It would be far easier to just build a one-off (and that wouldn't be easy by a long shot!). Even then, you have to 1) figure out all the kit parts, 2) figure out the correct proportions/structure, 3) FIND the darned parts, and only then can you 4) start building. Now, add on top of all this trying to find a way to reproduce/cast the finished result. Yikes! That might end up being the biggest part of the challenge IMO.

I know there are ways to do it. But, when something has a lot of thin, flat panels, isn't the finished result just bound to warp? Unless you want to use a huge, heavy hunk of resin, but that has its problems as well (this thing is BIG!). Then, of course, there's the multiple layers of embedded kit parts. Sure, some can be molded. But, to get it right, you really need to mold a lot of individual parts, vs piling them on and molding a bunch at once, which again kind of defeats the idea of a kit. This beast has some amazing detail and, the more you look at it, it just keeps on coming. I think it might be a lot harder to replicate than it looks.

If I were asked to produce a kit of something like this (which is purely hypothetical, 'cause I don't make kits), I'd be thinking in terms of making a series of pre-cut and engraved acrylic and styrene panels that could then be assembled over some sort of sturdy structure or armature. I'd probably try to create assemblies of whatever kit parts could be molded and supply those as resin plant-ons. Then, it would be up to each builder to layer it all on and detail the rest of it out.

No matter what, I know the talented folks here can figure it out. It's just going to be a lot of work! :)
 
I was thinking of something like the major flat portions moulded in larger pieces and assembled later. Then the majority of details moulded separately. Kind of like the SS Escape Pod kit. Although I realize the flat sections will be more numerous. It would make the kit more or less hollow with thicker resin walls. This would allow people to go crazy later on if they wanted it to be Radio Controlled. Personally I want mine under glass. I'm willing to help out with the logistics and even the assembly and decoration of the prototype if it will help the project out. My gut tells me that someone would save tons of work if they pattern out the panels, and have them laser cut out of styrene. It will raise the price a bit, but the kits would be incredible. Most of these laser cutters can produce all these flat panels in one big sheet. So basically the supporting armature would be thicker plexi which goes together first........then the styrene bits could be glued in place onto these.............then the resin details of the kit added last. Finally the thing is painted and lighted or whatever is desired. I spoke with a guy doing styrene skins for an R2 once........I believe the laser cutter will even engrave all these insane panel lines too.

I watched that video on the sculpting a galaxy DVD and it just seems like it could be a pretty cool project. :)

Dave
 
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