Steampunked Martian War Machine

I build variations of existing creations such as the Seaview ( Russian Seaview) and Disney Nautilus but am not a scratch builder. As to where you put an 81" version...have no idea.
I did a Custom Replicas 66" but sold it after several years because of space. Now have a 48" that I cobbled together from a Scott Brodeen test pull nstead and still have room for the Christmas tree.
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I build variations of existing creations such as the Seaview ( Russian Seaview) and Disney Nautilus but am not a scratch builder. As to where you put an 81" version...have no idea.
I did a Custom Replicas 66" but sold it after several years because of space. Now have a 48" that I cobbled together from a Scott Brodeen test pull nstead and still have room for the Christmas tree.
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I am well aware of your Nautilus re-designs and love your Irwin Allen take on Red October! My personal favourite has to be the two Nautilus lower hulls welded together, simple, spectacular, obvious ( after you did it, not obvious before! ), and it nearly resulted in me throwing out my Nautilus design ( version 6 of MANY redesigns..) and running with a variant of yours..good job my huge ego got in the way!
The 81" model will be split somewhere midships for transport, I think I am making progress on it at last..
 
Most appreciate the accolades! The design you pointed to is my favorite Nautilus redesign as well.
She is one of the two 31" Brodeens that are still in my personal collection.
Tommie
 
As with many projects, this one has been revisited. As a fictional scratchbuild, I am not constrained by the model having to match this or that original. This also means that while staring at the assembled model ( when it is allowed out of its box! ), I find my mind considering mods to the original design. As these accumulated, I reached a point where something had to be done. So War Machine Mod 2 was born.
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The main modification involved turning the main body upside down and re-mounting it with all the 'up' stuff now facing down, and all the 'down' stuff pointing up! In my humble opinion, this improved the look of the beast greatly. Introducing a hunched look, which benefited its pose, staring down at the potential victim on the ground.
The other plus resulting from this mod involved the heat ray, now in the more traditional position, above the main body. I had received some amount of gently ribbing from my fellow modellers regarding the rather 'anatomical' nature of the heat ray in its previous position! This also allowed me to modify the Martians various 'arms'. The 3mm Aluminium ones were shortened and a heavy duty arm with the remnants of a Sonic Screwdriver as grabber, fitted. This arm is in fact two lengths of chair spring, suitably and invisibly joined in the middle, and posed via a 3.3mm length of steel wire running through the middle of the springs. These springs, along with the upholstery nails seen adorning the top of the body, were supplied by my friendly neighbourhood upholsterer, John. Cheers Mate!
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My happiest acquisition came via one of the UKs finest outlets of quality merchandise, Poundland...anything for a pound! Including cheap Christmas lights, which this year had a touch of the Steampunk about some of them. I purchased cheap lightbulb looky likey Christmas tree lights, which provided me with copper finished threaded fittings, low voltage warm white LEDs and finally, clear acrylic bulb things, destined for the next project of this type. The copper bases were fitted to the model, using M5 nylon wing bolts for model aircraft. The body being drilled and tapped to suit. The copper parts simply being threaded into position. Decoration was finished off with copper wire routed into the 'collector' under the main hull.

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I am also working on a ruined building to pose my priest alongside. This is being constructed from blue foam 3/8" thick, mounted on a plywood base, much rubble to follow!
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Another cylinder has crash landed, levelling the building...I am still working on the style of the 'cylinder', having replaced this version with one from two flower vases glued together!
 
The model had its first outing in its Mk2 guise a couple of weeks ago at a local SciFi fair. Displayed with some notes and a display piece mounted on wood, showing some of the parts used in the construction of the model.
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The final few photos from the event.
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Work is ongoing...my main happy discovery was long springs, thank you Herr Doktor! Returning the favour..while wandering round the local Range store, musing as to what I could use the displayed tat to create, I came across 3m length drain clearing springs. About 4mm diameter and able to take 2mm wire through the centre, for posing in typical aggressive stance. Watch this space for updates...
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Scary stuff! Nicely done!

Thank you sir, much appreciated. I am now working on the little diorama part of the model. Currently making the faintly ridiculous Two Flowerpots Cylinder look good. I have bonded it together with solvent glue.This has just been backed up with hot glue internally ( after I dropped it on the floor! Rather than fracturing into bits, it failed around the join line. So, I re-bonded it and beefed it up as described...) and a filler/weld line run around the join. Those Martians had perfected welding, as well as the use of giant, oversized rivets, thousands of years ago...A series of Evergreen plastic strips and aluminium duct tape panels, plus a bit of scribing using Lion Roar etched shapes, have finished its minimal surface detailing. I have added a threaded hatch, just right for unscrewing and falling off abruptly! It currently has an etched primer coat in grey. I now have to decide how to proceed, I would like the cylinder faintly glowing, but do not want to go to the trouble of some sort of internal lighting, so a paint option might be the way to go. Alternatively, a burnt and burnished re-entry look might be a better option.
It is nice not to be constrained by anything during this build, colour schemes, detailing etc etc. Wont last forever though!!

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The first coat of paint on the building was roughly applied then a rough application of a mortar colour between the stones. No need for finesse at the moment, this is all going to be dry brushed, washed and generally abused to get the final finish. The Cylinder was sprayed with a mix of colours with no master plan in place. Just dark at its impact point and retaining its original metallic finish toward the back, where the screw hatch is placed.
One concern which I did not anticipate, once I had placed the oversize rivets and screw hatch to the top of the cylinder, and applied the first metal coat of paint to it, it looked like something Cleopatra would keep her Asp in!! Possibly useful for next time??

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The Martian was build using Polymorph, a low heat moldable material similar to nylon. It becomes workable once immersed in water above 60 degrees Celsius. Being as strong as nylon makes it ideal for tentacles! It can also be re-purposed, just by re-warming old projects, in this case, the original 'hands' built for the big tripod.
The Martian has a crustacean look about him, then painted with a mix of clear yellow and metallic blue, dry brushed and washed over the surfaces. The naturally 'blobby' nature of the material, has produced a fairly disgusting looking beast, happy noises!
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The base detailing consisted of mahogany floor boards suitably broken, then placed in suitable positions, indicating the impact through the floor of the cylinder. Foam bricks and small pieces of gravel and rubble, were then hot glued around the model, infilling detail where gaps were evident. All this ground debris was then painted and weathered to match the main wall details. Painted mid grey, dry brushed with a light warm grey, then washed over with a dark blue grey wash.
The red weed was made up from pieces of string ripped down to look like fronds of alien weed. These were dipped into a PVA/red acrylic paint mix. Then dragged out with two pairs of tweezers and draped over the model and left to dry.
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The cylinder had Volkswagen Fire Orange sprayed around the 'hot' parts, this was then over coated with a fluorescent orange, to give it the hot glow..I think I am happy with the result.
 
Lovely work, good to see you hold on to the same 'nothing is ever finished' motto that I do.

Like the cylinder and the dio, especially the martian creature!

Look forward to more progress.

:)
 
That is the little diorama finished with. The Tripod is getting a few minor tweaks and that will be the pair complete. I have enjoyed this side step into Steampunk and may still have a Martian Collecting Machine in me yet. The problem being the size of these things, the Tripod is over 50" tall to the top of the heat ray, a Collecting Machine could easily end up over 30" long and wide. They come apart for storage, but still take up some space. We shall see.
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Lovely work, good to see you hold on to the same 'nothing is ever finished' motto that I do.

Like the cylinder and the dio, especially the martian creature!

Look forward to more progress.

:)

Thank you. It is very true that a project can rarely be called finished, merely on hold awaiting further inspiration. Inspiration usually being found wandering round the local DIY or discount superstore, looking at decorative door knobs or flower pots...such is fine scale modelling!!
 
More mods to the Martian. It has had some modifications forced upon it. The tentacles protruding horizontally out of the front of the body have proved to be almost impossible to secure with pinch bolts. Threads stripped on two out of the four mounting points, so I decided to go with hanging below the model, Industry Standard Martian! Also, a colour change is mid-flow, with a silver steel finish currently adorning the model.
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Now officially my second tallest model! Boilerplate coming in at 68" tall excluding his base!!
 
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