Catapult from MechWarrior

dnalor

Well-Known Member
Wauw that looks great....and scary that lot detail in such a small cockpit.
What kind of paper do you use?
when i cut that small the carton deforms and becomes fluffy
 

Tirick

Member
That is frakkin incredible! I love the Cat, and picked it for my founder 'Mech. I have the beginnings of a 3d model of one sitting idle in my projects folder on this, but WOW. I cannot believe the amount of detail you put into this. I would never have considered a scratchbuild. From what I can see, you've nailed the model exactly.

Very much looking forward to your progress on this!

Tirick
 

leofirebrand

New Member
Thanks for all the kind words it really means alot. I was honestly worried when I started this project it would fail horribly and there are definately some inconsitencies and asymetrical issues that I wish I could have resolved but ultimately I got the body done and the rest of the model should be much easier.

Wauw that looks great....and scary that lot detail in such a small cockpit.
What kind of paper do you use?
when i cut that small the carton deforms and becomes fluffy

I actually use 110pd 8.5X11 computer paper. Not sure what standard Belgium uses but its very similar in size to A4 and the thickness is slightly less than a typical business card. Nothing special and it cuts really easily, though I have to change out blades about every 6 hours. One trick that helps me keep my edges from deforming is to start my cuts on the cutting mat and continue onto the paper in one long fluid motion. Of course a metal ruler as a guide is also really helpful.

Started work on the missle pods last night. Which proved to be a problem b/c I realized I had no reference showing them from a side view and the in game model does not match the concept art exactly. Ultimately I just had to draw it out using the front and back orthographics for reference and hand drawing the side profile. Luckily the front ortho also had the profile of the circular pieces so I was able to determine it's circumference and use that as an anchor point for spatial reference.
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Next I used the front pieces and hole punched in the missle launchers. I then glued this to a backing. Finally I wraped a strip of paper around this to make it a box. It did not need to bee the full length of the launcher as there would be a bunch of accent pieces glued to the outside.
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Using the side profile I created, I cut out several duplicates and glued them to the sides of the launcher.
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Z

Zathros

One of the new artists on the forum showing how it's done. I think you have quite the audience!! It's good getting edumacated like this :)
 

leofirebrand

New Member
Thanks zathros that means alot.

I ended up having alot of free time this weekend so I managed to make alot of progress. Sadly I got really in the zone and did not take as many making of photos as I shoud have.

Also want to give a huge thank yout to Blaar for providing me a PDO of the Catapult model that I could use for reference. It is proving very useful.

First I started building the missle pod doors. I was able to use the template I drew as reference along with the front profile and cut these out:
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I wanted to created a hinge but found that the game model did not work in reality so I had to make the call and go with just a folded piece of card to act like a hinge. Sadly this means if I open it too many times the hinge will eventually deteriorate and break.
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I then wraped some cardboard around the missle pods leaving an opening where the vents will go.
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Next I lamenated paper 3 layers thick and cut out the vents which I glued in place. I also glued small accent pieces to the sides.
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Lastly I cut out all the little accent pieces and shapes and glued them onthe pods to complete them.
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I also started work on the lower torso. Thanks again to Blaar for the PDO file as it proved infintely useful in drawing all the templates for this.
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blaar

Member
Glad I could be of some help to you. Solving some of those 2D to 3D conversions should be a bit easier now. :)
 
this looks very good, I especially like the cockpit, I am ashamed of what I did in my talon, I should really have added an inside once I made the glass transparent
 

silveroxide

Senior Member
Ok, Leofirebrand. I do not like to build too many sailing ship since Doris posted her HMS Bounty. Her building skills are way too intimidating. And now! here comes Leofirebrand and so far, your work is also intimidating but in a good way. Since I love to build Sci-Fi stuff and scratch build as well, I will look in now and then and learn some tips from you as well. Great job so far, I can't wait to see you paint that baby.
 

blaar

Member
Those look awesome!

:eek: Did I read that right; Blaar, do you have a pdo of the MWO model?

LoL yeah. I can get you any of the MWO models that is in the beta. :)

Keep in mind the PDO is just the imported game model. Hardly buildable as paper in its current form. Those models are high in detail, and way above my 3D mesh to paper conversion skills.
 

Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
You are doing a PHENAMINAL job on this model. The amount of detail and work that you are putting into this model, is mind blowing. Your work is also very inspiring as well.

In your last post you showed missile pod doors and the hinge that you made (out of paper) for such. Here is a link to my DETAILED THUNDER FIGHTER PROJECT that shows a hinge that I made from clear (scotch) tape for the canopy: http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172433&page=11
Here is a thread that I did for making Functioning cockpit canopies: http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=171782
I hope these will help in future builds,

I will be following this thread.
 

leofirebrand

New Member
Thats really ingenious Raven, I wish I had seen that prior to my problem and I will definately be using that method going forward.

I finished the torso last night. First i started by cutting out the upper torso shape from the orthographic and then I wraped it to make a box. After that I cut ot the little accent shapes and made them into boxes as well. Once all this was done I attached the upper and lower torso
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Next I glued on some accent pieces to the front and back based on the PDO I had.
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Then I glued some strips of cardboard to the front underside with little pieces of wire to make the dangling chain pieces seen in the concept art....I have no idea what these are for but they look cool.
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Next I rolled some paper bars to make the rails on the backside of the torso. I ultimately opted for paper over wire b/c paper would glue better than the wire and be more likely to hold together. I cut the rails to shape, using the orthographic as a template and then glued it to the lower torso.
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I have been a little worried with as much hand drawing and scaling as I did with the torso and misslie pods that something would not be to scale or in allignment so I decided to test fit the parts. Keep in mind nothing in the shot below is glued in place so the alighment may be a little off, but it did give me some confidence that the model is working out and I have been scaling parts correctly.
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Tirick

Member
LoL yeah. I can get you any of the MWO models that is in the beta. :)

Keep in mind the PDO is just the imported game model. Hardly buildable as paper in its current form. Those models are high in detail, and way above my 3D mesh to paper conversion skills.

Can you get them in any format? I'd love to pull one into Blender and have a go, or at the least use it as a base to build a usable one.

PM me if you can, I would be very grateful.

Thank you,
Tirick
 

Tirick

Member
Double post - sorry! That model is really, really coming along. Unbelievable amount of skill/detail in that beauty.
 

Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Thats really ingenious Raven, I wish I had seen that prior to my problem and I will definately be using that method going forward.

I finished the torso last night. First i started by cutting out the upper torso shape from the orthographic and then I wraped it to make a box. After that I cut ot the little accent shapes and made them into boxes as well. Once all this was done I attached the upper and lower torso
attachment.php

Next I glued on some accent pieces to the front and back based on the PDO I had.
attachment.php

Then I glued some strips of cardboard to the front underside with little pieces of wire to make the dangling chain pieces seen in the concept art....I have no idea what these are for but they look cool.
attachment.php

Next I rolled some paper bars to make the rails on the backside of the torso. I ultimately opted for paper over wire b/c paper would glue better than the wire and be more likely to hold together. I cut the rails to shape, using the orthographic as a template and then glued it to the lower torso.
attachment.php


I have been a little worried with as much hand drawing and scaling as I did with the torso and misslie pods that something would not be to scale or in allignment so I decided to test fit the parts. Keep in mind nothing in the shot below is glued in place so the alighment may be a little off, but it did give me some confidence that the model is working out and I have been scaling parts correctly.
attachment.php

I am glad you like the technique for the hinge.
Your project is really coming together beautifully.

I was wondering though, how is it that you are double posting your photos?
 

leofirebrand

New Member
The picture trick is something I learned a while back using other forums that use the same software. The problem with the picture upload is it puts all the pictures at the end and I can't insert a picture without a link. So I upload the photos and the right click and copy the link on the upload page to use as the location for the insert picture function. Hopefully that is okay. I don't really like that they show up twice but I don't have another way of talking about each step before a photo.
 

silveroxide

Senior Member
In reference to placing the comments and double posting, I ran in to the same problem. What I do now, is that when I edit the photos, I place a comments section into the photo itself and it seems to come out rather well.
 

leofirebrand

New Member
Well it was a holiday weekend here in the states and I got the build done. The legs were pretty easy and I have been using the same method I did with the main body. I built a basic shape and then attached boxes to them. Once that is done I can use strips of card to fill in the gaps between the two and make the beveled edges. I ended up using some wire for the ladders on the back of the knee and the front of the foot. I have 12 pictures so I will have to make two posts. Over the next week I will be painting the whole model so I should have finished pictures next weekend.
 

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