Starting on a new project
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 @Rowwwsdower 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 everythingfairly 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.
