MR AT-AT vs. ILM AT-AT...differences?

[swpropmaker]

Don,

thanks for the head's up...Awesome first hand info!!! makes sence then of the "proud poppa" photo of Jon with the at-at in the chronicals... I love that picture... probally a shot of the paint master.... seems not only text credits Phil but photo's as well.... hardley see any pictures of Jon working close up with the AT-AT but Tippett is everywhere in the photos...

Guys checkout this photo... man the foot has some serious spring tension.. lower foot has four main parts...

#1 Main foot pad and spring housing has connectors/tabs for individual toe manipulations... essembly does not move locked in position.

#2 Upper Foot spring housing free floating moves up and down with the housing (shock obsorber) under spring pressure held in place by #3 locked into #1 (maybe?) thoughts?

#2a Not marked in the picture.. but the cap can be seen behind #2 that goes on top of #2 also looks like the top of the spring may actually go around the cap insert.

#3 Outer foot rim retainer.. Attaches to #1 and top of #2 resin detail outer shell. Holds #2 in postion.. looks like it screws into the top of #1 (maybe?) thoughts?


#4 Resin detail cladding. Slides down over #1 held in place by toe cut outs and #3

Should be easy enough to replicate this feature...

Steve

 

[Guy Cowen]

Thanks for the truth there Don, Its good to know who should actually get the credit for the hard work. Its pretty shocking that MR did this, even worse that Phil T actually signed them. I suppose now we know we can give credit where its due.

I have a question for you if you dont mind me Pm'n it, its re a certain R2 Dome and a certain Norman Harrison and Son. I nearly bought the Dome that got pulled from the PIH Auction a few years back, it all got very tense. Would love your opinion on something about the dome? All light hearted and interesting

Thanks Guy

 

[artoo77]

PM away.

--Don

Thanks for the truth there Don, Its good to know who should actually get the credit for the hard work. Its pretty shocking that MR did this, even worse that Phil T actually signed them. I suppose now we know we can give credit where its due.

I have a question for you if you dont mind me Pm'n it, its re a certain R2 Dome and a certain Norman Harrison and Son. I nearly bought the Dome that got pulled from the PIH Auction a few years back, it all got very tense. Would love your opinion on something about the dome? All light hearted and interesting

Thanks Guy

 

[stonky]

It's funny, it never occurred to me that the texture on the hull would have been intentional - it always struck me as a paint cure gone bad either over time or under the hot stage lights. Shows you how much I know.

 

[MonsieurTox]

Dont worry a lot of guys know who designed and machined the AT-AT armatures ! Those 2 guys are heroes !

Steve, there is one more part that goes on top of part #2 (machined aluminium), that makes 16 parts only for the feet, not counting the springs nor the toes !

Yeah i was thinking that too about the texture, but after looking at several ref pics of the different ATATs, the texture is exactly the same and they took care to not apply it on the hatches.

 

[swpropmaker]

As far as the texture goes.... I'm gonna leave that up to the builder... looks like the black paint they used to prime some of the master parts sputtered.. I can see what Juilien is talking about.. problem is.. it's not uniform through out all the castings.. so I'm thinking a thickened primer coat could create the texture as seen... this could be done after the fact I think...

Thanks Don!

Steve

 

[swpropmaker]

Juilien.. yeah I posted the info on the pic... Do you have the spatter pattern drawn out? Would like to see better what you are seeing between the diferent at-at's. Can you circle a pic for me... the areas that is..

Steve

 

[MonsieurTox]

I remember i get a similar effect as a kid on one of model, oil ran for whatever reason on the paint and i get this kind of result, the bad thing is that the paint was very fragile after that...

 

[moffeaton]

Except that MR rejected Berg's paint master for being "great for film, but not for up-close scrutiny", and they deemed it too "tan" with visible sponge marks... I was asked to paint it for "replica standards" which I guess meant idealized, and let me tell you, repriming the Berg paint job made my stomach churn. At that time I was under a severe deadline, and they only had the two test shots. Oof.

Here's what Berg did:

 

[STEVE THE SWEDE]

Json, thanks for posting that! I never seen that pic before! That's just amazing, not putting down anybody else's hard work but that's got to be best SS matching paint job I've ever seen on a walker.

Thanks again, cool of you to post it giving some well deserved credit to Jon.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[north3]

Ill see what i can do for you about the armature, no promess, i need to know first how long it takes to get all the parts CNC'ed. First I need to find someone to convert my plans into cnc readable files, I dont know how much it will cost me.

hi julien
"cnc readable files" does that mean you need cad or cnc toolpaths generated ? what software do you have to program your mill? 2d or 3d ? i dont know what program you draw with but if you want i may be able to help you out

jon

 

[moffeaton]

Yeah, it was a case of "the normal fan isn't going to like an Imperial vehicle being so grimy and tan" I guess? Nutty.

 

[MonsieurTox]

Yeah Kevin, that's the pic !! Thank you !

hi julien
"cnc readable files" does that mean you need cad or cnc toolpaths generated ? what software do you have to program your mill? 2d or 3d ? i dont know what program you draw with but if you want i may be able to help you out

jon

Jon,
I guess yes that's what I mean, but TBH it's all new for me so I'm not sure lol :lol

My drawings are .ai files, but the software used to program the mill is Mach3, do you know it ? I'm not sure if I can convert my .ai file directly into this software, I'm lost lol I'll probably have some questions... and one of them is in my head for months now... : how can I mill the side of a part then the backside without being misaligned ? (I need to mill both sides of the lower part of the legs and of some other parts...).

I bought the CNC, cant go backward now lol I hope the learning curve will be quite quick... :behave

 

[Flixen]

Hey there i hope u dont mind me trying to answere the question.
Is that the software u are useing? LINK
If so than it can import DXF files.
and the good news are illustrator can create DXF files.
That might be a solution.

My drawings are .ai files, but the software used to program the mill is Mach3, do you know it ?

I'm lost lol I'll probably have some questions... and one of them is in my head for months now... : how can I mill the side of a part then the backside without being misaligned ? (I need to mill both sides of the lower part of the legs and of some other parts...).

one way of doing that is,to mill a holder for the part.

In theory u mill one side of the part.
then u mill the holder (or tool) to hold you part.
Then the other side.
But all that varies, depending on how the millinsystem looks and all that.

Hope that helped a bit.

Felix

 

[north3]

be carefull converting .ai files to dxf as all lines and arcs have to line up exactly. ( lots of lines not touching means alot of wasted machine time and poor results ,that means alot more sanding which kind of defeats the point of maching it in the first place) Also curves and arcs that seem smooth as an .ai file can turn faceted (ie lots of straight lines , which again means alot more sanding) when converted..... I always end up redrawing everything because of these problems .

Machine flat things from 2 sides like Flixen said.....after youve machined the first side , machine the female shape in some material ( i use chemiwood) this will locate your part in exactly the right place.

hope this is helpful , feel free to get in touch if you need any more help...

 

[ralphee]

Julien, totally cool on the armature, i understand, im just eager to see it done period really, just watching one come together would be a blast!

lee

 

[Flixen]

be carefull converting .ai files to dxf as all lines and arcs have to line up exactly. ( lots of lines not touching means alot of wasted machine time and poor results ,that means alot more sanding which kind of defeats the point of maching it in the first place) Also curves and arcs that seem smooth as an .ai file can turn faceted (ie lots of straight lines , which again means alot more sanding) when converted..... I always end up redrawing everything because of these

Oh yea, i forgot to say that.
If u need help drawing the files, i would Love to help u.
Im pretty comfortable with Auto CAD. If u Need help let me know.
Felix

 

[MonsieurTox]

Yes Felix that's the software I have, is it a good one ?

Thank you both Felix and Jon for the tip to mill the backside of a part, that's brilliant !
Thank you also for your help, I may need some for sure !

Felix, I can see you're also a R2 builder, I took the styrene way though (), your aluminium astromech looks awesome ! Someday I could build an all aluminium one too !

 

[Flixen]

Yes Felix that's the software I have, is it a good one ?

I don´t know the software just looked it up to see what u are working with.
But as fare as i understand it, it´s a cnc controller software.
From witch company is you cnc machine?

Thank you both Felix and Jon for the tip to mill the backside of a part, that's brilliant !
Thank you also for your help, I may need some for sure !

You are welcome, just send me a PM if need help.

Felix, I can see you're also a R2 builder, I took the styrene way though (), your aluminium astromech looks awesome ! Someday I could build an all aluminium one too !

Styrene is cool, aluminium is just to heavy, once u start with it.
If i would restart my build i think i would got with a hybrid alu wood plexyglas version.

But any way let me know when u need help.

 

[MonsieurTox]

I don´t know the software just looked it up to see what u are working with.
But as fare as i understand it, it´s a cnc controller software.
From witch company is you cnc machine?

Yeah it's a cnc controller software.

You are welcome, just send me a PM if need help.

Thank you !

Styrene is cool, aluminium is just to heavy, once u start with it.
If i would restart my build i think i would got with a hybrid alu wood plexyglas version.

But any way let me know when u need help.

Yeah weight is the bad point, but well... I still have in mind the pic of Lucas with the unpainted all alu R2 prototype... it's an awesome piece of work !

I dont like very much wooden droid, and plexi seems OK only for details not for structural purpose ?