Blackadder's Lucius Pattern Reaver

[Blackadder]

Thanks God For the IMGUR View Counter:

300 hit in one day, that's not too bad............

So someone's looking at my work anyway.

Now we'll see if lightning can strike twice; I spent the early morning making up the second belly armour and it should be dried enough this after noon to see if it will fit as well as the first one did. Yes and before someone asks ; YES I am making conversion kits for two Lucius Reavers.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/sMmBUaU.jpg[/url]


Yes! It Fits!

[url]http://i.imgur.com/dUOU5uP.jpg[/url]


And even better than the first one.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/vKoiqb2.jpg[/url]


That's a welcome surprise.

40015

[Blackadder]

As Alike as Two:

vaguely similar things in a pod to coin a Blackadderism.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/esn9GbV.jpg[/url]


The belly armour went rather smoothly and the two Reavers are pretty much in the same state of assembly

And I feel like celebrating with a well deserved Vodka Martini shaken not stirred.

My father-law once told me that one doesn't shake a Martini as it dilutes the Vodka too much. I proceeded to demonstrate that that was hogwash by mixing four Martinis in the same batch stirring two and shaking two. He had to admit the shaken ones were better. Of course the trick is chilling the ingredients because if you get a Martini in a bar the Vodka is room temperature and does dilute more when shaken.. I keep my Vodka in the 'fridge

Now for simpler things..........

[url]http://i.imgur.com/Gck2LnI.jpg[/url]


This is pretty much similar to what I posted before but at that time only one Reaver had the breast plate installed.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/SiZYS3o.jpg[/url]


Now both beasties are ready for the next phase....

[url]http://i.imgur.com/zI0Fn6S.jpg[/url]


Mounting the weapons; Goorn!

[Blackadder]

Screw It:

I'm a firm believer in screwing so anytime I can I use screws instead of glue especially since all the Lucius parts have to line up properly each time the model is converted from Mars to Lucius or back.

I use 8-32 countersunk screws and tap the hole into the resin casting which is sufficiently strong to hold a thread. If for some reason down the line the thread strips out you can always go to the next size screw or fill and retap the stripped out hole.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/HbUKFNx.jpg[/url]


Number 6 arm mount is already installed

[url]http://i.imgur.com/nReibxp.jpg[/url]


and the screw is yet to be tightened on the #2 mount..........

[url]http://i.imgur.com/pgkQl8n.jpg[/url]

[Wolfshade]

I had never considered doing that, curious.

[Blackadder]

First Assembly:

Well this is the first attempt at assembly; I actually just drilled the weapons mount holes just this morning so you are seeing this just as I am seeing it.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/V2ss37o.jpg[/url]


In all the weapons mounts are doable, they swivel in their sockets and the rocket pod shafts nest relatively neatly in their wells (I need a bit of sanding here and there to increase the tolerances. everything fits too tight.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/OghNRye.jpg[/url]



The Lucius armour fits much better than I expected; again my tolerances are too tight and the left side rocket pod won't slide out of its housing.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/DOcLGlE.jpg[/url]


The Lucius carapace needs to be screwed down to the weapons arm mounts as the arms have a tendency to pop out of the carapace receptacles.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/ochKrBL.jpg[/url]


But for a first go everything works amazingly well.

[Blackadder]

Thanks for the reply......

Up Date:

I'm brimming with new ideas on how to proceed with this custom build and made a few cursory advances in fine detail.

[url=http://i.imgur.com/NYlpAOf.jpg]http://i.imgur.com/NYlpAOf.jpg[/url]


It pays to take some time off from the project as it allows new concepts to come to the fore.

[url=http://i.imgur.com/2KGHs67.jpg]http://i.imgur.com/2KGHs67.jpg[/url]


I have a lot of respect for legitimate artist/engineers that work for FW, I think it would be hard to work on a schedule cranking these things out day in and out.

[url=http://i.imgur.com/bJQZmcP.jpg]http://i.imgur.com/bJQZmcP.jpg[/url]


I'm rater pleased at the overall look of the Lucius Pattern Reaver.......

[url=http://i.imgur.com/76lCg1e.jpg]http://i.imgur.com/76lCg1e.jpg[/url]


It has just the degree of angularity I was looking for.

[Kirsten]

very impressive

[Psychosplodge]

Yep.

[Blackadder]

Thanks for the replies.....

Counterweight:

Now that my models have the weapons mounted it's time to add weight to the Void Generator housings since mine are light sheet styrene and the FW model's are solid Resin.

The FW Void Generators weigh eleven ounces with most of the weigh in the rear of the housings so I added 15 ounces of sheet lead to the center bay and about four ounces of dry sand to the lower rear bay. That should compensate for the arm/moment of the counterweight.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/mblrWzb.jpg[/url]


The sand will be of use to fine tune the balance if necessary by the simple expedient of drilling a small hole and pouring out the excessive sand so the model is not rear heavy which is also a consideration to be accounted for.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/dEVhJ1V.jpg[/url]

[Psychosplodge]

That's an interesting way of solving balance issues.

Do you think there'll be much difference in the balance of the two patterns? Or will most of the balance be through the frame anyway?