Merlin Models AT-At build and mods

[Flyscriber]

HI folks. I seem to be having issues uploading on this site at the moment, so please bear with me.

Well its been a while since i posted anything on here. Ive had projects coming out of my ears these last few months, some of them have been real long term painting jobs which im glad to say are coming to an end now. So as ever, not being one to have a gap between projects i'm starting the Merlin At-At.

On inspection it looks to be very good. I must say they did a great job on the casting. Some air holes in the belly surface cast but nothing to bother a resin model enthusiast/masochist like me.

So i started a trial assembly and noticed a few things which no one seems to mention !.
So being nice and quiet, not wanting to make the model look bad or upset anyone, heres a quick recap on my findings.

Firstly the leg joints are splined together, great if you know which pose you want, not good if you fancy posing it without taking each joint apart every time you adjust them, especially the neck joints which are hidden inside the flexible tube.
But the main elephant in the room is, the legs are not the correct length, both in relation top top bottom and overall length !. Did someone drop the ball here, that can’t be right, right!

I took my favourite reference of the original hero model and overlayed the lengths from my Master Replicas version to check if it was in the ballpark. Relative sizes of top and lower legs are pretty much spot on. It seems the MR version is pretty good for comparison. Next I measured up the Merlin version and overlayed that onto the same image, and they are well out in both proportion and length. Heres a quick image to hopefully show the differences to the filming miniature.

Whats up with the feet !. All the feet have been cast in the unweighted position, ie, not compressed down as seen on the original. Why someone would mould these as an "in flight" all feet off the ground option is beyond me, so im now thinking about redoing those as well !!

Next is the somewhat unspoken but very important issue of longevity. In my humble opinion there simply isn’t enough reinforcement in the legs for the model to last over the years. Most collectors of studio scale models keep them for over 10 years+, I have some here which are much older ! Sad I know LOL. My reasoning is the resin is so very soft that I believe it cannot be straight and true in those areas for any length of time. Im guessing/ hoping I'm wrong, and everyone who's built one so far has a nice straight AT-AT in 5 years time, but i would wager against it.

On inspection the legs were already suffering from misalignment/deflection due to curing issues in the resin where the thick meets the thin (as normal for most resin kits and curable using hot water and some careful bending) and also slightly bent. This really infuriates me as a model maker. If anything is supposed to be straight, it takes minimal deflection to make it look “wonky” and I hate that. So it didn’t take me long to realise that I needed to start again and completely re-make the legs. Such is my life of obsession.

Big C has the crown for the best looking set of legs on this forum and was a great inspiration to get me started on this Cheers Big C. Nice legs man !!!

So I sat and measured away to get the files I needed.

Starting from scratch with a multi layered Perspex build in mind, I decided I would like moving pistons, infinite adjustability on each joint with no splines. I knew there is simply too much micro sized internal engineering to add using a laser cutter and perspex as a build medium, but I could definitely add some functionality to the details. So I took advantage of the original screws visible on the inside surface of the legs and used them as fulcrums for the internal piston actuator arm. I know the pistons wont move with the joints, but they add bit of "playability" for posing. Main joints are simply locked using Allen keys with a magnetic cover on each joint. All very simple like.
So far i have these.

 

[Bjorn]

As usual Andy, keen to see how you go about this mate.

Was discussing this model with Junkpilot on here only the other day after seeing one.

Castings are exceptional. I have no doubt this will interest many others.

Cheers,

 

[Junk Pilot]

I know this kit isn't 100% and I will probably find things I don't like about it but I've been waiting literally decades for a large scale kit like this.

I received my order just this morning but also picked up a second one locally several weeks ago (huge shout out to PL) and was able to quickly compare the ankle of a MM leg to a MR leg and noticed the MM was slightly larger. The details aren't exact to the actual kit parts but I've managed to get a number of kits and parts to think about replacing them.

There are definitely areas that can be improved (if they decide to continue with the molds) in particular the upper part of the foot which are in their extended position as though there is no weight on them when they should be compressed as well as the chin guns should be molded in two parts to allow for one of the guns to be posed in a "firing position".

Regardless of the above I think these are minor issues if you're not going for accuracy.

 

[Flyscriber]

So heres what i have for the 4 legs, minus a couple of parts. I simply truncated the foot "horseshoe" holders and designed the lower perspex to align over the already molded gear pivots. I recon this should keep them nicely inline and square to the perspex parts.
The rest of the model is impecable in detail as you say, some of the 3d designed greeblies hiding underneath are a little impressionistic, but not far off the originals. I certainly wont be redoing any of those. I did think about replacing the Harrier parts with originals, but they seemed a bit tight. On final assembly i will see if it's possible to replace them whilst keeping the articulation.
heres the overview of the trial assembly parts.

 

[Junk Pilot]

Wow. That's up there with Big C's armature. Looks amazing.

 

[joberg]

Excellent beginnings...will follow for sure

 

[Flyscriber]

Wow. That's up there with Big C's armature. Looks amazing.

Thanks, but this is just a facsimile, his is the real deal . Hopefully it will look the part.

 

[Flyscriber]

So once i had the main leg bits sorted i turned to replacing the main metal shafts which run vertically into the body with 10mm bolts. I taped the part supplied with the kit and left a nice shank length to them, the same thing as Adam Savage did on his. I tried them in the original resin sockets, but they are slack and the resin cannot stand the force of the grub screw without deforming. So i drilled out the main collars and added a 10mm id x 14mm od tube, with the 3mm grub screw in there, and they work perfectly. No slack and a nice engineered feel. So thats the ticket for those bits.

next up was getting the legs on there for a quick test. The legs are all rough built with much more work to go at this stage.

So i thought i would check out the possibilities of my favourite pose for an ATAT, just to see if i could get somewhere close

Im very happy with the articulation and the locking ability of the joints. so it's now time to get a set finished off and on with the build.

 

[JediMichael]

Looking really good so far.
Ankles look like they are frozen like like....lol.

 

[Junk Pilot]

I'm loving what you're doing. I'm also thinking about doing something similar to what you and Adam Savage did with regards to replacing the metal rod with a bolt. I just have to think about how I want to do it.

 

[joberg]

^^
What he said; makes it better and stronger for sure. The stance will develop naturally once the legs/feet are completed

 

[Jedi Dade]

This is SUPER Nice! Your AT-AT will be a stunner for sure.

Jedi Dade

 

[Scott Graham]

I noticed something seemed odd about the MM kit builds. The legs did look long. Interesting how out of proportion the legs are. Hopefully they fix it in the future. Thanks for sharing your build.

 

[Junk Pilot]

I noticed something seemed odd about the MM kit builds. The legs did look long. Interesting how out of proportion the legs are. Hopefully they fix it in the future. Thanks for sharing your build.

That will depend on the cost of making new molds for it and whether they intend on maintaining the kit in its product range.

 

[Scott Graham]

That will depend on the cost of making new molds for it and whether they intend on maintaining the kit in its product range.

Yes, I follow them. They intend to make yearly runs. They will probably update based on the new info.

 

[Junk Pilot]

Yes, I follow them. They intend to make yearly runs. They will probably update based on the new info.

If they did and offered the new one's for sale separately I'd get them

 

[Jediseth]

I noticed something seemed odd about the MM kit builds. The legs did look long. Interesting how out of proportion the legs are. Hopefully they fix it in the future. Thanks for sharing your build.

Before you all jump on the band wagon of the Merlin Model's kit's legs look too long. I would like to point out a few possible over looked details.
It's my understanding that there were at least 5 studio scale AT AT models originally made and several other sizes with differences between them for ESP. I believe MM used scans from the Star Wars Chronicles Vehicles book as reference for painting, but I'm uncertain if that was the only reference they used when building the model for cast. I have come to the conclusion that the Merlin Models kit could be accurately in proportion to the screen used model depending on which model of reference your looking at. They did an immaculate job getting all the details which is way more difficult in my opinion then getting the length of the legs right which would be more noticeable. I have finally seen this model in hand and can say it's probably the best most accurate model ever produced for public purchase in my opinion and I wouldn't hesitate to buy it if on the fence.

 

[Flyscriber]

I totally agree with what you're saying jediseth. It is by far the best model of this iconic design ever released, no doubt. I also checked against the large scale AT AT version as well, and i agree there are differences depending on which version is chosen and the large scale is the closest. I am in the sometimes confusing position of building for clients, and as such i need to upgrade most of the models i get for longevity and accuracy. So i tend to be a little obsessive on the accuracy of each model im making. This particular build is intended to be as close as i can get to the main stop motion model seen on screen (the image i overlayed the design onto). So thats my challenge for these upgrades. Even if i built this kit without doing any upgrades it would obviously still look amazing as you say. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the work and passion which has gone into this model kit, and hats off to Merlin for getting it produced in the first place. But, i do need to match the model required by the client as best i can. So this is my journey trying to reach that goal. It's not meant to offend, or upset, just to be truthful about what i find, and how i try to sort it out.

 

[Junk Pilot]

The Merlin Models AT-AT may not 100% but it's close enough for me.

Ever since I first saw them on screen I thought these machines were incredible and I always wanted a model that was detailed, articulated and BIG. Merlin Models has been the only one to make my dream come true and I knew when I first saw their model I just HAD to have it. And when I first saw it in person (BIG shout out to Peter Lawrence) it was even more impressive than I imagined. I found it hard to believe it could all fit in such a small box.

Suffice to say I love it and am so grateful to Ethan and Justin for filling the void with a great product.

In saying that though I have been picking up some kit parts from vintage kits that ILM used on the AT-AT and decided to take some pics of them to compare them to the AT-AT kit.

 

[christrom]

Rather than remaking the legs, wouldn't it be easier to cut the top part of the legs down just above the knee joint? Then the knees and feet would align with the MR version?