Colonial Landram from Battlestar Galactica

[Revell-Fan]

Greetings, everyone!

This is my first thread (and the first paper model design of my own), and I hope you like it.

First of all, I have to thank all members of zealot for developing and sharing those unique paper artworks. I am a big BSG and Buck Rogers fan and was blown away by your talents. You are great, guys, and I hope that zealot will continue and flourish for may, many years.

Some time ago I was searching the www for Galactica models. I was very impressed by the large number of people "paperizing" the whole rag-tag fleet, however, I was unable to find an accurate version of Galactica's all terrain ground vehicle, the Colonial Landram.

There is a nice landram paper model out there, but its dimensions and proportions are based on wrong schematics. Thus I felt compelled to design my own version and to share it with you.

Since I am (still) unaccustomed to any 3D modeling software, I decided to go the old-fashioned way: pictures, pictures, pictures, ruler, pencil and drawing board.

I have added some pics of the (tiny) white model. The finished model will be much larger and much more detailed. Main construction is almost complete, however, I am very busy at the moment, so please be patient. I will add new content ASAP. Stay tuned! I am looking forward to your comments.

[silveroxide]

Make another copy of the vehicle and cut out the panels and place it on your model. This will give it a raised panel look to it. For example; the doors, access panels and railings. It looks great so far. Will it be to the scale of the Paragon, Jaybats and Murphya vipers?

[Patron_zero]

Applause and kudos ! Nice seeing another party here who works outside the virtual world, really nice job and would much enjoy a download of this clever model.

[ThunderChild]

It looks awesome so far, keep up the good work! I for one will definitely want to build this model!

[pulsar]

Wow, you've done a fantastic job on the model so far and I look forward to seeing it finished... I loves me some TOS BSG!!!

It's always nice to see traditionally designed models, so kudos for that, but you might want to reconsider learning a 3D program, since it cuts down on the trial & error time. Blender is free and fairly easy to learn quickly, so give it a shot.

[DarkAntzMK-II]

prehaps i can model this for you..im ok in modeling but not to hot unfolding and whatnot...PM me some pics and ill try and send you a model in what ever format

[Revell-Fan]

Thank you all for your comments! It is great to have so much support.

The tracks and wheels are as good as finished and I am working on the main turret. If everything proceeds as planned, it will be turnable. As you can see, the final result will feature not only the Landram/Snowram from TOS but also the Razor "ShovelRam" (as I call it) and some versions of my own (see the "Roughnecks" and "Freelancers" plates?).

To silveroxide: The white model you see here is a (very) small version of the final result; I would like to present it in scale with the Revell-Monogram Viper (1/32) and a larger version (maybe 1/24 or 1/12 or even in scale with 3 3/4" action figures). The final model will definitely come with raised panels.
At the moment I concentrate on working with the small model just to be in complete control of the overall shape since I have learned that errors can be detected much easier and faster when your model is small.

To Pulsar: I know Blender, but my first efforts were ... well, not very successful (one crash by another....). I have started learning how to operate it though. In the meantime I have begun unfolding sketchup models with Pepakura. I found a very beautiful Colonial One which I unfolded in three different scales (the largest version is 100 cm long). I haven't built it yet, however I try to get permission to upload the plans on zealot. This taught me a lot and I consider rebuilding the landram in sketchup.

To DarkAntz: Thanks for the offer. I'll tell you if I need assistance.

Meanwhile stay tuned and have a nice day! CU!

[Patron_zero]

Beautiful model, may I suggest scaling such in either 1/48 or 1/35, as both are very common AFV-armor kit sizes, finding figures and other accessories to add to the Land Ram-Snow Ram would be easily achieved.

That said, many might like 1/72 as that is a most popular hobby kit scale in itself, none-the-less, wonderful job and anxiously awaiting the availability of such.

[pulsar]

Originally Posted by Revell-Fan

To Pulsar: I know Blender, but my first efforts were ... well, not very successful (one crash by another....). I have started learning how to operate it though. In the meantime I have begun unfolding sketchup models with Pepakura. I found a very beautiful Colonial One which I unfolded in three different scales (the largest version is 100 cm long). I haven't built it yet, however I try to get permission to upload the plans on zealot. This taught me a lot and I consider rebuilding the landram in sketchup.

I hear ya, Blender takes some getting used to... my current skills with it are pretty pathetic, but proficiency comes with lots of practice. LOL
I used to do everything by hand, but I find using a 3D program is a much easier and cleaner process for me and it kills less trees.

Although, I'm more of a costume builder than a scale model builder, so ymmv.

[Rhaven Blaack]

This is looking really good.
What other BSG models do you have in mind for designing?
At this rate I am going to have to have a seperate bookself for all of my BSG models.

[Revell-Fan]

To pulsar: Thank you very much. You have opened my eyes. I cried the whole day because of the trees my model has killed so far..!

To Rhaven: I replied to you on the Thunderfighter gallery page. Don't worry: More models are to come!

Now then - It works! It works! After one weekend of research I was able to start building a Landram model in Sketchup to manage the curved parts. I was so happy to see all the lines and faces come together - til I noticed that the texture of the front was too big (red arrows)!!

So I had to erase the front, adjust the texture and resculpt it...

You really should not start something you have never done before on a hard day at 10 pm..!

Well, I can give you a sneak preview of the wheels and tracks, too. It is very difficult to get a good look at them on the photographs, but I think they are pretty close to the original (I will make the thin grey stripes a bit wider, though). The wheel in the middle looks a bit different because I am experimenting with two colour schemes.

BTW, did anybody know that the Sketchup manual has 887 pages??? CU!

[ThunderChild]

Looks great so far!
Take a look at how other designers unfold curved shapes like that for some insights on how to, if you get stuck.
Keep up the great work!

[Rhaven Blaack]

This is looking really good. You are doing a great job on it. I am looking forward to building it.

[Revell-Fan]

Thank you all! This weekend I learned a bit more about SketchUp, had to try it on something, and - tada - look what happened: http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthre...399#post913399 . CU!

[Rhaven Blaack]

Any new updates yet?