Scratchbuilt mixed-media Patoroch Land Raider

[g0rb]

Hi all,
I started working on a scratchbuilt mixed-media Land Raider a couple of months ago, using Eli Patoroch's "Land_Raider II 2009" template.
It is built using paper, cardboard, plastic tubes (from popsicles and cotton swabs), perfect cast, sculpy, apoxie sculpt and a couple of other things.

I've taken some liberties with the build: for example, the sponson-mounted meltas and thunderfire cannon designs are my own.
The build is complete; at this stage I am painting it. The original forum build log is over at papermodelers.com [0],
but I want to post a slightly cleaned up and condensed log on this and other sites.

In the attached photos you can see the internal construction of the track housings, the plating on the sides, and the main body.

[0] http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/alternate-dimensions/41645-mixed-media-patoroch-land-raider.html

- - - Updated - - -

To make the tacks, I decided to build a couple of track masters out of card and plastic rod.

I then made a mold of these with caulking silicone.

- - - Updated - - -

Next I cast a bunch of tracks using Skullduggery Perfect Cast, and attached them to the track housings.

 

[shokk]

Impressive scratch building my friend [emoji106]

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[g0rb]

Engines & Headlights

I built some iconography using Apoxie Sculpt, added the engine, cowling and smoke stacks, and added the headlights.
The cages around the headlights were made with some thin-gauge electric wire.

 

[g0rb]

Hatches etc.

Built the hatches (a slight deviation from the Patoroch design) and added the Mechanicus symbol on the engine cowling.
Added the radar dish.

 

[g0rb]

Sponson multi-meltas

I decided to forgo the original design's lascannons, in favour of multi-meltas, but I had to build these from scratch.

So I designed the body in OpenSCAD and unfolded it with Pepakura. The barrels are from popsicle sticks, I added some
vinyl tubing, and the skulls are Apoxie Sculpt, made from a press mold I constructed from a master.

The plating armour covering over the meltas were also designed in OpenSCAD and Pepakura.

 

[g0rb]

Main gun

The Thunderfire cannon is next; I made a housing for it, built the barrels from rolled up paper and added the barrel spacers.
There are some auxillary tubing around the barrels, I added cotton swab tubes for these.

All the rivets on the model are made from either cardboard punchouts or Sculpey, which I press fit into a piece of board with punched out holes and then bake.

 

[g0rb]

Rear engine vents

The rear engine vents are made from pieces of index card and cardboard, which I glued to a printout of the pattern, and then cut the construction out and glued that to the top of the rear body.

- - - Updated - - -

Next I applied some wood hardener to the entire model. This adds some strength to the softer pieces of the model, and smooths the surfaces a bit. It goes all shiny, but this will be covered by the primer and paint job.

 

[g0rb]

Primer and basecoat

I primed the model with gray spray paint, then pre-shaded it with airbrushed black, followed by a basecoat of layered reds.
The tracks got a brushed-on coating of black.

 

[shokk]

Nice mate, really nice

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[g0rb]

Nice mate, really nice

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Cheers Shokk, appreciate it!

 

[FolkyPatrol]

I love your thread

 

[g0rb]

I love your thread

Happy to entertain!

 

[g0rb]

Painting time

I realized that the paper was visible in the crevasses between the tracks and the body, so I masked the tracks off
and airbrushed them black (making sure to hit the crevasses), then brushed on gunmetal, and washed it with several coats
of dark and strong tone wash.

I then went and painted a bunch of detail, and gave it all a clear coat of varnish.
This is where I am at now, the next steps will be to paint all the doors (masking, airbrushing, etc), and the smaller details.
Then some weathering, and finally a dull coat.

Stay tuned!

 

[Daeothar]

I'm always amazed at what people can achieve with just paper.

When I think of the time involved in making this, compared to just buying a plastic one, I can only gasp in wonder. It must all be about the journey and not the destination I reckon.

The result is nothing short of spectacular, from what I can see in the pictures; hats off to you, sir...

 

[shokk]

Excellent mate

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[g0rb]

shokk & Daeothar

!Thanks guys!

> When I think of the time involved in making this, compared to just buying a plastic one, I can only gasp in wonder.
> It must all be about the journey and not the destination I reckon.

I figure I've spent around 300 hours on this, so yes considering the time and energy, it is definitely "cheaper" to just fork out $100 and start slapping paint at it.
But the journey is so much better than that. And when I get comments like these it makes it all worth it.

We tend to build in isolation, but having someone tell you that you've done a good job is awesome.

 

[Axlotl]

This is wicked! Nice work, man!

 

[g0rb]

Cheers Axlotl!

 

[g0rb]

Painting update

Slowly getting somewhere on the painting. I want to post this update otherwise it feels like I'm stagnating

Some of the fine details (the aquilla/twin-headed eagle, sensors and windows) are done, as well as the burnt-metal on the side guns,
and the blood gem on the main gun's raven. I've started on (a beginner's attempt at) OSL on the front headlights, these will have a bluish tint to them.
I still need to do a bunch of highlighting on the main body, and a bit of weathering. And of course the whole thing is still shiny from the
gloss coat I put on before this step - it'll get a good matte varnish coat after.

The main sore-thumb however is the two doors on the side. I got sick of the bleached bone / orangey color, so I re-based them
dark blue, and then added a brushed-on pre-shade. I'm layering this with lighter coats of grey-white now, Then I have to
do the details...

 

[g0rb]

Finished paint job

Here's the finished model. I have to call it finished, otherwise I'd just go in and "redo" things a million times.