Colonial Landram from Battlestar Galactica

Revell-Fan

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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.

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silveroxide

Senior Member
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

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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.
 

pulsar

New Member
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!!! :thumb:

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

New Member
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

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:wave: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. :twisted:
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! :wave:
 

Patron_zero

Member
Armor Scale

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

New Member
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. :thumb:

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

Rhaven Blaack

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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.sign1
 

Revell-Fan

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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..! sign1

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)!! wall1

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

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!

landram-wheels&tracks.jpglandsketch1.jpglandsketch2.jpglandsketch3.jpglandsketch4.jpg
 
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ThunderChild

Active Member
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

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

LeeAnne

New Member
I have the Landram and Snowram that have been out for a while. Just built the Shado vehicle, which is similar in overall design. My goal is to combine and modify to get a suitably believable 1/35 Antarctic research vehicle that can be posed for photos outside in our next snowstorm!
 

Revell-Fan

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Hello, again!

My SketchUp abilities are increasing rapidly. I am concentrating on completing the Colonial Warrior Blaster now, so updates on the Landram may take a while. Today I can give you a short glimpse of the back compartment of the Landram (everything measured "by eye"). You will notice that the opening for the turret is missing. This is intentional because this is the basic structure from which every other compartment derives. I call this the "Tramram" compartment (an unarmed Landram designed for transportation only). The Tramram was inspired by an RC model by Jörg Herbst ( http://www.phoxim.de/joerg_herbst_landram/joerg_herbst_landram.html ). Stay tuned! :wave:

landram-back.jpg
 
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Revell-Fan

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Yesterday I had some time to continue work on the Landram. The back compartment is ready and I have added nearly all surface structures. For some odd reason the textures of the sides of the compartment don't stay where I put them; I'll deal with that problem later. Now I'm concentrating on the turret, the wheel block and the two bubbles on the "nose". I was curious to see how it would look like in the end. So I put together what I already have and made some preview pics. It starts to look like a Landram, doesn't it?

Meanwhile I have estimated the approximate size of the vehicle, too. According to a screenshot from the pilot which shows Dirk Benedict jumping off the Ram it must be about 4,375 m / 14.4' long. If there are no objections I'll design the final model(s) according to this length. :wave:

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Rhaven Blaack

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It looks really good. I like what you are doing with it. I think that the measurements are OK. I definitely want to add this to my collection. I am looking forward to builing it.
 
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