Blackadder's Lucius Pattern Reaver

[Kirsten]

an amazing job

[Wolfshade]

That is immense.

[Blackadder]

Yeah it looks pretty big for that angle....

Detachable Details:

While I'm making the Void Generator exhaust louvers i figure I should show how I built up the Gatling gun.

I wanted to be able to rework the Gatling gun and I didn't have time to sand the barrels smooth and clean the casting properly plus it seems a royal PITA to get the barrel aligned properly considering the casting anomalies so I opted to use screws instead of glue to hold the parts together.

Seen in the image below are the barrels drilled and tapped for 8-32 screws with the 12 o'clock position barrel drilled and tapped towards the gun base so it can be attached to the body of the gun.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/Oq3wdwv.jpg[/url]


Once I get the gun armour finished I will install a center aligning pin so the barrel assembly stays centered on the base.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/Af7JRuU.jpg[/url]


The 12:00 barrel will be tack glued in place for ease of removal along with the barrel yoke making the whole assembly dis-mountable for Lucius/Mars conversion.

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


To the left of the gun is the rear louvers for the generators.

[Blackadder]

Louvers:

I hate doing louvers just about more than any other part of scratchbuilding even more than rivets.

The problem is if not spaced properly or straight or the degree of opening is not homogeneous they look like crap.

So how to make the Void Generator exhaust louvers?

I hit upon the idea yesterday, checking out the moulded Mars resin castings..........

[url]http://i.imgur.com/Oq3wdwv.jpg[/url]


...........I found similar strips in my stock of Evergreen styrene; nothing new there, but also I got some 1,0 X 1,0 MM strips for the slat spacing.

I glued the square stock to the strip stock leaving a half MM margin from the edge.

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


I marked the face side of the slat with pencil for even straight spacing.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/g7ZC6Cb.jpg[/url]


Once I got the procedure down pat with the first louver as an experiment; the subsequent three remaining are going quite quickly.

more to follow..........

[Blackadder]

Generator Vents

I spent quite a lot of time on these Reavers this past week and there is darn little to show for it, mainly cleaning up some of the recent work and duplicating parts for the other beastie.

So mainly all I have to display is the installed Vents which didn't turn out too shabby but I can see by the photo one of the slates is askew which should be hard to adjust.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/SEB4vJH.jpg[/url]



Now that the vents are installed I can fill the gap under the generator housings so the upper and lower louvers form a continuous line.

Next on the to-do list is to finish off the center rocket pod housing and the rear of the adjacent superstructure housings...........

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

[Blackadder]

You're running outta ideas Blackadder.

I put this together this morning when it dawned on me it looks reminiscent of a Cylon Raider.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/IUw6Knz.jpg[/url]


[url]http://i.imgur.com/Wai1JAI.jpg[/url]


[url]http://i.imgur.com/Aodm14X.jpg[/url]


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


What's a Cylon Raider you ask?

That's what google is for...........

[Blackadder]

Done:

God knows how many bits and pieces of styrene went into replicating the interior framework of the Mars Reaver so the parts fit to a paper's thickness tolerance but it's finally done.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/eULUl0c.jpg[/url]


All the pieces fit exactly and the front upper and lower components lock together with just two pins.

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


Below is the front top and bottom sections connected with the two styrene pins

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


And the front assembly with the forward bulkhead in place

[url]http://i.imgur.com/PjS661X.jpg[/url]


Whew!

[Morgrim]

Now that you've finished the superstructure, are you planning to detail the rest of the titan using similar techniques? Well, excluding the lifesaving flat armour bits, I mean.

[Blackadder]

The rest of the titan is done; the leg armour, greaves, toes, pistons, weapons, &etc.........

I took a page from the FW Warhound model and rationalized the actual legs, waist/pelvis, and foot pads were the same on both the Lucius and Mars patterns; it's only the armour that defines the difference in the patterns.

[Blackadder]

Greaves and Lower Legs:

I was never satisfied how the greaves and lower legs swapped out, the whole assembly was too flimsy and looked amateurish.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/zNxT8pX.jpg[/url]


Whilst finishing up the greave armour I came up with a better solution that will allow the lower leg to be build up completely as a Mars pattern and the new Lucius lower leg and greave likewise.

Below is the greave as a single self contained lower leg assembly albeit without the upper shank/knee joint installed

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


The image below shows where the ankle hemisphere will attach.

The asymmetry is because of how the Reaver legs are constructed. I have studied the anatomy of the Reaver and found it ill conceived as far as functionality. That is why the classic Reaver stance is with the legs sprawled; it cannot do otherwise.

The Reaver actually as designed could never walk so much as waddle like a toddler the top hamper weaving side to side in a severe dead man's roll rocking motion like a boat broadside to the waves as the legs spraddle and are incapable of being put one behind the other in a true biped gait. On the whole, Reavers moving across a battlefield would be a comical sight.

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


Finally the shank of the upper leg being built up

[url]http://i.imgur.com/Y53Iik9.jpg[/url]


Right the core is in fact a one inch section of a broomstick.