ALIENS Caterpillar P-5000 PWL-exo (WIP Scratch build)

[SludgeMunkey]

So this started as an experiment. I wanted to try my hand at papercraft using styrene sheeting instead of cardstock.

Next thing I know a month has gone by, all my other projects are collecting dust, and I have found this awesome callus on my Xacto knife holding finger...

The original experimental test build was done in 0.020" styrene at the "stock" scale the plans came in. This proved to be too much like work and far too small to have any real impact as a scale model. Using the stock plans a leg was about 1.25 inches tall and I had headaches for days afterwards.

Anyway here are some shots of the project which is based off Piotr Koper's fantastic paper model plans. I blew them up 129% for the actual build. Mostly because this allows me to use standard diameter drinking straws for the tube stuctures on the hips and off the shelf plastruct tubes for the safety cage and hydraulic cylinders...

The rest of it is all hand cut styrene sheet, "laminated" into various thicknesses with Bondedne. Come to think of it, pretty much all of it is Bondene welded...


It ain't perfect, but it is on interesting experiment. I have had to re-engineer many of the parts on the fly as there is stuff you can do with styrene that just doesn't work with paper.

The cylinder shapes that make up the joints are particularly fun as I found a hot air gun and a sharpie marker makes it easy to get them perfect.

 

[RageWORTH]

Subbded. Looks awesome, man

 

[Chaank]

I'm gonna be watching this. Nice work so far SludgeMunkey.:thumbsup

 

[LeoFirebrand]

Excellent work, This is one of my favorite props from any movie and yours is coming along beautifully.

I dont know how people build with styrene. I tried it once and kept having to stop because of the strain it puts on my hands. Plus you can't beat the price of a ream of paper vs Styrene.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Thanks for the encouragement, all. I admit this will be a long, slow project.
Updates will show up eventually. Right now I am stopped on it as I ran out of Bondene and haven't been able to drive the 17 miles to Hobby Town USA to get more. I could buy it online, but it is one of the few items I get cheaper by driving to the store.

Also, the callus that formed on my knife finger was actually pretty painful. It has been weeks since I worked on this and that finger still hurts. :facepalm

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I dont know how people build with styrene. I tried it once and kept having to stop because of the strain it puts on my hands. Plus you can't beat the price of a ream of paper vs Styrene.

Strain, yes!
Cost- cheaper!

As I learned from folks on here, I was able to get a tube that was actually four 4x8 sheets online, delivered to my house for a third of what the cheapest printer friendly cardstock costs.


I also learned from this project that the beauty of styrene is one shouldn't actually try to cut it. Just scoring it with the knife and snapping off the trimmings is the way to go. For rounded shapes, if you plan ahead and leave a little extra on that edge, a bit of fine sand paper or my wife's emery boards make it a snap to get clean perfectly round shapes. If you look closely at some of the uglier parts of the model so far, you can tell what was actually cut and what was scored and sanded.


(I did the legs first and they are sloppy. By the time I got to the arms I had my technique down and they look machine made in comparison.)

 

[dropshipbob]

So this looks to be roughly 1:18th in scale?

 

[SludgeMunkey]

So this looks to be roughly 1:18th in scale?

Therabouts. With no scale reference on the original plans, I enlarged during printing so that the model will fit a 1980's GI Joe or Star Wars action figure.

SO, whatever that scale is, is roughly what the model is.

Sadly, I am swamped with my Thesis for school for the next few months so I am not certain when I can get back to working on this and my other projects.