gorb's paint & putty pony show

[gorb]

If GW is searching for new mini-designers, you should apply!!!

Why thank you Graishak, that is a very kind thing to say. I'd love to do this hobby full-time and get a salary for it. One can only dream...

Everything looks good. I especially like the guns.

Cheers Dexter, yeah I get a kick out of them too! Can't wait to cast up enough so I can kitbash the hell out of 'em

That boys got talent!!!!! Plain and simple !!!!!! Massive skill too but his gene pool is filled with Dltsldnt DNA(tigers blood) :-)

Thanks BaM!


An update on the base toppers: I went into full yak-shaving mode, all the way down and decided to make my own bases. I'm going to need them when I get to casting up some of my minis,
and while I can buy a 100 of them for about threefiddy why would I want to make my life easier



I made them from a paper template that I bulked out with sculpey. The bottoms are rough, but I don't need to look at them.

The base toppers fit these bases (and the GW ones) very well:




I think I can get a seamless join with a bit of sanding and some Tamiya putty applied here and there. So I'm stoked!



Here is a genestealer mounted on a diy base + base topper. Time to paint him up.



But wait. I want more projects. So here is a dsplay base, put together using various bits of printers, casettes, some cheap elbow pipes, a couple of insulin vials, bits of ikea boxes, and
of course some of my own greeblies + space hulk tiles. I knocked this up last night, like they say 80% of the work takes 20% of the time

[Dexter0015]

This new space hulk display base looks amazing. I'm looking forward to see more of it.

[Milkflavour]

This is madness haha.. love that base with the computer parts and stuff.. super good imagination that and will look brilliant painted up! Can't wait to see it finished :-)

[Darthmarsh]

Awesome stuff man, I can’t wait to see this come together

[ekipage]

uhmm, so you are building a pocket sized computer, you know you can buy a Raspberry Pi for like $60 . Seriously though, great use of a mishmash of stuff to build the awesome looking base, are you actually going to have liquid flowing through the tube, I mean all you are missing is a mini pump and besides, that would be really cool if you got the UV coolant for liquid cooled computers and a small UV light.

[SaintToad]

Glad to see the mad scientist so hard at work at his desk!

[gorb]

This new space hulk display base looks amazing. I'm looking forward to see more of it.

Thanks Dexter! It was a bit of a quick experiment. I think it is a bit busy, and the paintjob will have to be subdued if I want to keep it as a photography background, but I kinda like it. It is garage as all hell

This is madness haha.. love that base with the computer parts and stuff.. super good imagination that and will look brilliant painted up! Can't wait to see it finished :-)

Thanks Milkflavour, yeah this was a deep dive into my greeblie box I work with lots of electronics, and when the company I work for throws away stuff I always dip into the "trash" pile.

Awesome stuff man, I can’t wait to see this come together

Thanks Tim, glad you like it!

uhmm, so you are building a pocket sized computer, you know you can buy a Raspberry Pi for like $60 . Seriously though, great use of a mishmash of stuff to build the awesome looking base, are you actually going to have liquid flowing through the tube, I mean all you are missing is a mini pump and besides, that would be really cool if you got the UV coolant for liquid cooled computers and a small UV light.

Dude, you are giving me *way* too many ideas here lol. This was supposed to be a quick afternoon build and now you want to liquid cool an RPi? haha!
That said, it would be cool to make an animated display base at some point... Mmmm...

Glad to see the mad scientist so hard at work at his desk!

Thanks man!



We've been away for a week, getting out of the city and clearing our heads, so I haven't been hobbying too much.
However, I started on something that has been in the back of my head for quite a while now, after someone asked me whether the tracks on my scratchbuilt Sabre Strik tank actually moved.

So here are some tracks I am building for a scratchbuild Stormblade. As usual, I am using a Patoroch template, which I am *cough* modifying.
I've made 8 tracks, and once I attach the links to them I will make a mold and cast the required number of tracks from there, in resin.
I plan to drill out the links, and link them up with wire, so that I can have a fully rotating track tread set.

Along the way, I of course need a way to make straight cuts into plastic tubing, so I had to yak shave a chopper tool together











In order to make the wheels movable (in the original template, they are simply glued on), I had to think about the track housing interiors, and how to make them accessible but also keep everything
fairly rigid. I also need as much space inside the hull as I can get, in case I want to add, you know, *motors*.

So I redesigned the hull layout, and cut holes into the front and rear of the track housings where the tracks will enter and exit, and also added some re-inforcing struts that go through the hull.
I am building almost everything from index card glued onto cereal box, since this gives me a 1mm thick building material that is still easy enough to cut, yet rigid enough after I apply some wood hardener.










Next up, I need to make wheels. The wheels need to run on axels, and they need enough clearance so that the tracks can pass underneath them. So I designed a center strut for each track housing,
which will hold the axel for each wheel. Each wheel has two tires, and there are two sizes of tires. To make my life easier, I designed the two sets of wheels so that they have the same style of hub,
and built a designed and built a template for each of them. I now need to make a mold and cast them.





Last, but not least, my daughter got very inspired after seeing some of Dented Armor's (https://www.instagram.com/dentedarmor/) work on instagram, where he builds these fantastic
fantasy style buildings, so I spent some time on Sunday working with my kids to build a forest cottage for them.
Of course, they want to play with their Lego people inside the building, so I opted for leaving the back of the cottage exposed.
It is not yet complete: I still need to add some bricks around the chimney for example, but they are super amped about it and now want an entire city lol.

A quick sketch before we got started:









Finally, the workbench after all the chaos

[metalasmedium]

Gee wiz... some one is busy! I like that cottage! Nice to see that you can pass on your crazy skills to your kids.

[Milkflavour]

You're absolutely relentless man.. and super skillful also.. more fantastic work :-)

[ekipage]

Love the cardboard/paper models you make!

[gorb]

Gee wiz... some one is busy! I like that cottage! Nice to see that you can pass on your crazy skills to your kids.

Thanks man, glad you like it. Yeah, the kids are super inspired by all sorts of craft, and while I have to keep the sharp blades away from them for now, they do give a lot of input, especially in how the design should work.
They'll have much more to do when it comes to painting though

You're absolutely relentless man.. and super skillful also.. more fantastic work :-)

Thank you, I appreciate it!

Love the cardboard/paper models you make!

Thank you my friend!



A small update on the wheels/tracks/chasis of the Stormblade: because I want movable tracks, I have created lots of small problems to solve
The first is how to keep the side sponsons accessible without compromising the strength and rigidity of the chasis. So I am opting for a semi-open approach, with some internal supports which will also act as
track guides inside the sponsons. The round interior supports will have a gap in the middle so that the "tooth" of the tracks can run over them smoothly.

Before I seal this up, I'll have to give it a black coat.






Next up, the tracks masters are done and ready to be molded:





Lastly, I made an initial cast of the wheels & hub. The hub fits both wheels, so I will need a total of 8 large wheels, 32 small wheels and (at least) 20 hubs:






But before I make the final mold, I have to make sure the wheels are
(a) symmetrical (ie. round), and
(b) have the central hole for the axel cut out.

To solve this in one step, I used my homemade rotary tool to drill out the central hole, and then mount each wheel template on the tool and use it as a type of lathe with some sandpaper
while the wheel is spinning.





Here is the result: nicely smooth and symmetrical wheels + hub, ready to for a final mold

[BloodASmedium]

I come back to the forums to find many incredible projects. I love the house- the space hill dio is out of this world!!’your brilliant !!!

[Dexter0015]

I'm always amazed by you talent to build minis from cardboard. And now you're going to create a functional one... I'm looking forward to see more.

[Darthmarsh]

Well shit, last time i checked in there was a cool Space Hulk base taking form. Now there’s a small house and a massive tank made from a cereal box! That’s just epic

[gorb]

I come back to the forums to find many incredible projects. I love the house- the space hill dio is out of this world!!’your brilliant !!!

Thanks John, I'm super happy you like them!

I'm always amazed by you talent to build minis from cardboard. And now you're going to create a functional one... I'm looking forward to see more.

Thanks Dexter! I think I may have bitten off a bit more than I can chew this time lol. But we don't grow unless we challenge ourselves, right?

Well shit, last time i checked in there was a cool Space Hulk base taking form. Now there’s a small house and a massive tank made from a cereal box! That’s just epic

Thanks Tim, haha! My biggest problem has always been not finishing what I started. I have a lot of stuff that I've finished building, but that needs paint.
Right now I have a dreadnought diorama, an aliens diorama, the little space hulk base, and of course a bunch of space marines, terminators and tyranid. Oh and some terrain, etc.
This is definitely my weak spot: painting. So all this extra building I'm doing is basically just procastination lol



Speaking of building and procastinating. I've finally figured out how to make the sides of the tank strong yet accessible, so I started painting the insides (especially the recesses, where it will be hard to
get into later black).





Here is a frontal shot, with the wheel mounts kinda taped into place, to get an idea of what it will finally look like:




So I'm doing a bunch of casting, because I will need something like 100 track links, 32 small wheels, 20 hubs and 8 large wheels




Also started working on the main turret. This gets a large washer epoxied on the inside, so that I can stick the main cannon in using a magnet and potentially make it swappable, if I ever get to building
other cannon BTW because I am edge-gluing, I have to adjust the pieces by trimming off about 1mm every now and then, so that the pieces actually fit flush.
Don't try this at home kids, we are making more work for ourselves here. But I think it is worth it...




Here is the mockup with a straw + magnet attached stuck to the main turret:




Here is a test fit of the wheels, so you can see how they will be mounted inside the hull:





Of course, the entire tank is studded with greeblies, so I am trying to kill two birds with one stone, by building the greeblies separately, and later making molds of them.
That way I expand my greeblie library, and I don't have to build more than one set of, for example, these headlights, which are a pain in the butt lol

[Milkflavour]

Man, this is really something to see.. fantastic skill and creativity. Can't wait to see your progress :-)
Can't believe you've done so much already considering you're making this up as you go along.

[BloodASmedium]

I live watching you work !!! You have an enormous amount of talent.

[ekipage]

Awesome work here buddy! It looks amazing, especially with all the extra work you put into it casting the additional pieces to make it look even better then the template.

[gorb]

Man, this is really something to see.. fantastic skill and creativity. Can't wait to see your progress :-)
Can't believe you've done so much already considering you're making this up as you go along.

Thanks man! I am working from a great template by Eli Patoroch, who has pretty much recreated the entire GW line in paper templates.
I am embellishing it a tad though

I live watching you work !!! You have an enormous amount of talent.

Thank you my friend, I am stoked that you like it!

Awesome work here buddy! It looks amazing, especially with all the extra work you put into it casting the additional pieces to make it look even better then the template.

Thanks ekipage, I appreciate your kind words! I am having a ball, it is slow going but super satisfying.



I took an evening and built myself a little display turn table, using a stepper motor ripped from an old printer, hooked up to an Arduino running grbl (software for controlling a CNC machine) and a motor control circuit
that I built ages ago.

The electronics is overkill, but it works great and I will at some point shrink it down to just a simple motor controller and an on/off button or something






On the Storm Blade front, here are some of the finished greeblies I built:

The finished headlights:


Some hull plates:


The top of the turret:


A cog mechanicum for the rear end:



Next up I laid them on a piece of cereal box card, to prepare them for priming and mold making:


Here are the prepared greeblies, ready for mold making:

[gorb]

So far so good: the tracks can link up and flex:





The jig I built around my little homemade dremelclone, so that I can line up the holes.
It is not perfect, but good enough:



Now we just have to see whether they are strong enough to pull the tank along, whether the wheels will properly grip them, etc.... a long way to go still