unbuiltnautilus
Active Member
Our local radio control model boat club were invited to a steampunk event, due to be held at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport, Hampshire in late September. I decided to dust off a long gestating build project, with a twist. My big Martian War Machine would now get a steampunk twist. The only problem, apart from a set of ill conceived piano wire legs, I had nothing else planned or designed!
This changed with one of those junk pile finds that can set the mind racing. In this case, a reservoir for a Vax Carpet Cleaner! This had a look to it that offered me a main body for my war machine. The problem, of course, were the legs...my piano wire legs had lost all their strength when being silver soldered together, and would not support any meaningful weight. I considered many options, brass rod, carbon tube and rod, old gazebo legs, until coming upon the answer with copper plumbing pipe and fixings. I went with a mix of 15mm diameter copper tube, tee sections, U sections, 45 degree and straight joiners. Followed by some serious gas torch work.
Just to cap off the early part of the build, a face cream ball would make up the cockpit, while a mash up of a flexible screwdriver attachment, the guts of a brushless motor, plastic tube, a compression fitting and a rifle casing made a half decent heat ray!
This changed with one of those junk pile finds that can set the mind racing. In this case, a reservoir for a Vax Carpet Cleaner! This had a look to it that offered me a main body for my war machine. The problem, of course, were the legs...my piano wire legs had lost all their strength when being silver soldered together, and would not support any meaningful weight. I considered many options, brass rod, carbon tube and rod, old gazebo legs, until coming upon the answer with copper plumbing pipe and fixings. I went with a mix of 15mm diameter copper tube, tee sections, U sections, 45 degree and straight joiners. Followed by some serious gas torch work.
Just to cap off the early part of the build, a face cream ball would make up the cockpit, while a mash up of a flexible screwdriver attachment, the guts of a brushless motor, plastic tube, a compression fitting and a rifle casing made a half decent heat ray!
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