Bandai release schedule

[Bob Solo]

The AT-AT foot (not the toes or the half-circle arc piece) is made of a smaller drum stacked on top of a larger drum. On the ILM models, the drums are two separate pieces, with the smaller top drum compressing into the lower drum with each step -- like a shock absorber. The old AMT AT-AT model molded the two drums as one piece, and every model since then has gotten this detail wrong. The Cross section book even gets it wrong. But watch the movie, especially when the walker stomps on Luke's snowspeeder. The two drums clearly compress.

Oh yeah how cool is that, thank you for explaining that so well :thumbsup Hopefully Bandai will get it right on the 1/48. Good luck with modifying your 1/144 :cool

 

[Matte Painter]

Oh yeah how cool is that, thank you for explaining that so well :thumbsup Hopefully Bandai will get it right on the 1/48. Good luck with modifying your 1/144 :cool

They get this detail right in Star Wars: Battlefront video game too.

 

[Hunk a Junk]

No, it's not really modified, it's only a little bit cleaned (the mold was awful) and primed. But for the size it's good enough for me.

You made it look good!

 

[Too Much Garlic]

The AT-AT foot (not the toes or the half-circle arc piece) is made of a smaller drum stacked on top of a larger drum. On the ILM models, the drums are two separate pieces, with the smaller top drum compressing into the lower drum with each step -- like a shock absorber. The old AMT AT-AT model molded the two drums as one piece, and every model since then has gotten this detail wrong. The Cross section book even gets it wrong. But watch the movie, especially when the walker stomps on Luke's snowspeeder. The two drums clearly compress.
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Cool info. Alert Bandai. Maybe they'll add in that feature for any future release or when doing other scales.

 

[tengel07]

The AT-AT foot (not the toes or the half-circle arc piece) is made of a smaller drum stacked on top of a larger drum. On the ILM models, the drums are two separate pieces, with the smaller top drum compressing into the lower drum with each step -- like a shock absorber. The old AMT AT-AT model molded the two drums as one piece, and every model since then has gotten this detail wrong. The Cross section book even gets it wrong. But watch the movie, especially when the walker stomps on Luke's snowspeeder. The two drums clearly compress.

ILM has changed the Foot-Drums before the use the Minatures for the final Stop-Motion filiming.
The movabe top drum was supported by a spring, this works not well for stop motions.
The Foot was changed to a one piece drum afterwards. I must search in my large foto archive, i have some pics and a drawing about.
Only the large Foot, used for the snowspeeder hiting sequence has an movable top drum.

 

[Hunk a Junk]

I think the modification for the foot itself is relatively easy. Cut the two drums apart at the join line between the two drums. Use sheet styrene to extend the upper drum so the drum has an additional height equal to the thickness of the walls of the lower drum. Add a styrene disk that's larger in diameter than the drum to the bottom of the new extension (acting as a stop to keep the drums from coming completely apart). Then add another styrene disk inside the lower drum that the stop disk will sit on when the foot is compressed and in contact with the ground. There's no need for springs because the two drums only move when the foot is raised to take a step. Doing this, however, will also require a modification of the vertical piston in the inside of each foot connecting to the ankle joint. If Bandai hasn't made the piston able to telescope (which I doubt) then the piston will have to be replaced with telescoping brass tube. I'll have to have the kit in my hand to know for sure how to proceed on that part.

 

[Hunk a Junk]

Only the large Foot, used for the snowspeeder hiting sequence has an movable top drum.

Unfortunately, this is not true. All the AT-AT minatures in the snow battle had the compressing feet. Check out this clip: Snow Battle. Two good examples: The first POV shot through the macrobinoculars where the rebel soldier sees the foot -- there is clear foot compression. Then look specifically at the shot at 1:23. Even in the wide shots you can see the feet compress.

 

[Poakwoods]

ILM has changed the Foot-Drums before the use the Minatures for the final Stop-Motion filiming.
The movabe top drum was supported by a spring, this works not well for stop motions.
The Foot was changed to a one piece drum afterwards. I must search in my large foto archive, i have some pics and a drawing about.
Only the large Foot, used for the snowspeeder hiting sequence has an movable top drum.

I have carefully watched now the Hoth battle sequence, and the AT-AT feet, in every clip, have the movable drums.

 

[astroboy]

I just walked into my lhs and walked out with an a-wing.

It was a bit more than from Japan, but not much

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[Jun Austria]

I have carefully watched now the Hoth battle sequence, and the AT-AT feet, in every clip, have the movable drums.

Yes. All the walker miniatures have a foot compression feature. If I will add this to the Bandai version, I have to find a thin aluminum tubing to replace the piston plus a small spring.But looking at my supply. the wall of the aluminum tube looks too thick for 144 scale.

 

[robn1]

...the wall of the aluminum tube looks too thick for 144 scale.

Try brass or steel.

 

[kamandi]

I have carefully watched now the Hoth battle sequence, and the AT-AT feet, in every clip, have the movable drums.

Mind. Blown.

I've seen TESB more times than I could ever guess and never picked up on this. The craft and dedication of the people who made this sequence is astounding.

 

[Hunk a Junk]

Don't feel bad. I didn't notice it until about five years or so ago when I was upgrading the AMT kit. I was clicking through frames looking at weathering and missing details and suddenly thought, "Hey, look at THAT! How did I never see that before!"

 

[Toadmeister]

Don't feel bad. I didn't notice it until about five years or so ago when I was upgrading the AMT kit. I was clicking through frames looking at weathering and missing details and suddenly thought, "Hey, look at THAT! How did I never see that before!"

Totally hear you. Was just looking at my 25-year old AMT Falcon build and the detail is a joke compared to my smaller, modern 1/144 Bandai Falcon! I have better refrence pictures today also that I didn't have 25 years ago.

 

[Jun Austria]

The only inaccurate part I can see is the patterns on the side wall of the foot. On the studio model. This are scribed lines. But due to the limitation in the molding process. Bandai opted for a raise panels.

 

[edge10]

Here is a close-up of the AT-AT main guns, showing off the movement available:

https://twitter.com/HobbySite/status/830011670755897344/photo/1

 

[Hunk a Junk]

Way better detail on those guns than on the old AMT kit. I should know. I spent a lifetime scratch building new ones not that long ago.

 

[joez2391]

speaking of movement...

https://twitter.com/HobbySite/status/829545318098178049

it's absolutely insane the amount of articulation they're putting into this model.

 

[Richard Baker]

It looks to me that Bandai engineered this kit for people to film with animation, not just pose. I think in about a month YouTube is going to be flooded with short films of Walker battles.

 

[Galactican]

I'm just curious. There were a lot of different AT-AT models in various sizes used in the movie. The tiniest ones look very close to the 1/350 scale F-Toys miniatures. Could it be that Bandai's is somewhat studio-scale, too?