Phyrox Posted October 17, 2008 Posted October 17, 2008 Yeah baby! You can never have enough ordnance (unless your aircraft can't get off the ground)! I'm still trying to figure out why they put four massive engines on this design. Maybe "Tim the Toolman Taylor" was his inspiration! - MT Maybe so it could doulble as a heavy lifter? That might be cool, have a slung-load cable connection on the underside rather than a weapons bay. Or maybe for super-redundancy. Two engine pods, each capable of supplying enough power for the craft to make it back to ship. Or maybe because it looks cool. Quote
captain america Posted October 17, 2008 Author Posted October 17, 2008 Yeah baby! You can never have enough ordnance (unless your aircraft can't get off the ground)! I'm still trying to figure out why they put four massive engines on this design. Maybe "Tim the Toolman Taylor" was his inspiration! - MT Indeed. What truly boggles my mind is that it has 4 engines for foreward thrust, but only four blades on the main rotor, whereas the Hind has five. It's a mystery wrapped in a dirty lymrick, I tells ya!! Quote
HWR MKII Posted October 17, 2008 Posted October 17, 2008 Thats because the hind rotor system was overdesigned. They tested it on a fully loaded MI-8 Hip during development. the rotor for the hind could structurally support 2 hinds with no problems. Also the Hind is a troop trasport/attack Helo so it does need a certain amount of extra lift and power. Quote
Phyrox Posted October 17, 2008 Posted October 17, 2008 Indeed. What truly boggles my mind is that it has 4 engines for foreward thrust, but only four blades on the main rotor, whereas the Hind has five. It's a mystery wrapped in a dirty lymrick, I tells ya!! None of the engines are for forward thrust, at least not if it's a regular helicopter. It has four engines to provide gobs and gobs of power to the main rotor, which in turn provides thrust and lift. Maybe the blades are particularly thick or long, to better transfer all that power to the surrounding air? Quote
Evil Bones Posted October 18, 2008 Posted October 18, 2008 Thats because the hind rotor system was overdesigned. They tested it on a fully loaded MI-8 Hip during development. the rotor for the hind could structurally support 2 hinds with no problems. Also the Hind is a troop trasport/attack Helo so it does need a certain amount of extra lift and power. I agree with HWR the reason the Hind fuselage being so large is its ability to be a transport. Also, looking at the cobra, huey & super stallion all panels on the belly are antenna or mechanical access panels. THe belly of aircraft are always built strong. the gearbox, rotor system & motors put alot of torque,stress on the airframe. Evil Quote
captain america Posted October 18, 2008 Author Posted October 18, 2008 Guess what? Time for a build progress report! As per my previous projects, this one started by sitting with books to study lineart, followed by approximately a day and a half in front of the computer in order to draft diagrams based on that lineart. Once those are rendered to the point where I feel comfortable, I print them out and get onto the fun stuff. Fun stuff generally consists of getting all my materials together, which you can see in the 1st pic below: the usual suspects are there, as well as the unsung workhorse in my arsenal: my coffee cup. 2nd pic: the diagrams I made and printed are now cut and placed onto slabs of modelling board for cutting. THis is a simple, but very effective way of keeping track of the most important dimensions on a part. 3rd pic: depending on the shape in question, I will either start trimming it on the bandsaw, as seen in this photo, or sometimes directly on the milling machine. Quote
captain america Posted October 18, 2008 Author Posted October 18, 2008 Update continued. Pic 4. Speaking of milling machine, here we can see it in action, as I'm refining the foreward fuselage part. There is also, despite me not photographing it, lots of work done with a Dremel and sanding blocks/files to a given component. Pic 5: here I'm using some scrap modelling moard that came off the lathe, and combined them with other scraps I had laying around. The first two pieces from the left will be combined to form the Commanchero's tail boom, while the part on the right wil be used to create the weapons pods. Pic 6: Finally, after several hours, the main fuselage is starting to take shape. There are a few small milling mistakes that will have to be fixed with putty before proceeding, but no big deal. Quote
captain america Posted October 18, 2008 Author Posted October 18, 2008 Update continued. Pic 7: here we see more milling. This time for the aft fuselage. For what it's worth, the composite material that makes up the modeling board is very hard on my toold, which will need to be sharpened shortly. Pic 8: the round shapes seen in pic 5 have now all been glued together and placed on the lathe. Owing to the fact that the part in question is long and spindly, the dead center was used to keep the part stable as it's being cut. Pic 9 & 10: This is what I have to show after about 2+ days of work. The parts are still quite crude, but it's now starting to look like a helicopter. As per my usual methods, I should have another update about this time next week, so stay tuned Quote
007-vf1 Posted October 18, 2008 Posted October 18, 2008 This is like watching a Centerfold photshoot from start to end. Pure raunchy mecha-build Pron...It makes me feel all fuzzy inside... How exciting... Quote
Ranger565 Posted October 18, 2008 Posted October 18, 2008 Wish I had your tallent. Nice John, Very very nice. Serious question, Now that you are stating to do other things like the this one. Do you think you woudl ever work on some of the other macross Copters and Planes? One idea I think you would sell a million is ground trucks and supply vechicals. Like a set of 5 different trucks and ground support. Quote
Berttt Posted October 18, 2008 Posted October 18, 2008 Nice work John. One thing that comes across in these images is that you seem to be enjoying the creation process of these unique pieces - right on man! Quote
miriya Posted October 18, 2008 Posted October 18, 2008 I was not originally planning on this but it is coming out so nicely. hmmmmm..... I havent started to build my Kamjin yet. Quote
captain america Posted October 18, 2008 Author Posted October 18, 2008 Wish I had your tallent. Nice John, Very very nice. Serious question, Now that you are stating to do other things like the this one. Do you think you woudl ever work on some of the other macross Copters and Planes? One idea I think you would sell a million is ground trucks and supply vechicals. Like a set of 5 different trucks and ground support. Hi Carl. Sure, I don't mind tackling different types of vehicles, so long as the demand is there. One of the ones I want to tackle at some point is the Cat's Eye plane, which I don't think acheived its full potential in the hands of Tanmen, but there will likely be at least one big, phat Zentradi kit before that Quote
007-vf1 Posted October 18, 2008 Posted October 18, 2008 Nope; that would be Kamjim's mighty "Poda Craug" Quote
PetarB Posted October 19, 2008 Posted October 19, 2008 Pic 9 & 10: This is what I have to show after about 2+ days of work. The parts are still quite crude, but it's now starting to look like a helicopter. Fantastic work, John. I can just about hear the 'Whoooooooosh' sound you made as you held the fuselage between your fingers and whizzed it around the room.... Quote
cokefiend Posted October 19, 2008 Posted October 19, 2008 Hmm, not as big as I thought it would be. Is there a ballpark $ yet? Quote
Ranger565 Posted October 19, 2008 Posted October 19, 2008 Hi Carl. Sure, I don't mind tackling different types of vehicles, so long as the demand is there. One of the ones I want to tackle at some point is the Cat's Eye plane, which I don't think acheived its full potential in the hands of Tanmen, but there will likely be at least one big, phat Zentradi kit before that John Did you just say Cats-eye? Oh err ahh that will be 2 please! John I think this board will LIGHT up with requests if you do that! Tanmen has nothing on you! Oh and for the Zentradi kit, yeah I am all over that too!! Quote
THOR Posted October 19, 2008 Posted October 19, 2008 please add me to the list of buyers. thank you again john! -thor Quote
Grayson72 Posted October 19, 2008 Posted October 19, 2008 (edited) Hi Carl. Sure, I don't mind tackling different types of vehicles, so long as the demand is there. One of the ones I want to tackle at some point is the Cat's Eye plane, which I don't think acheived its full potential in the hands of Tanmen, but there will likely be at least one big, phat Zentradi kit before that The ground vehicles like those that came from the 1/100 factory kit are on a lot of peoples long standing "wanted" list I beleive. Thorsten was going to start on some but never actuall finished any of them unfortunately. I'd get like five sets if these came out, there's quite a few vehicle designs in the design books. Here's a link to a two year old thread, check out thorsten's/Honneamise work, it was awesome, too bad he never finished it. http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...ross%20vehicles Edited October 20, 2008 by Grayson72 Quote
MechTech Posted October 20, 2008 Posted October 20, 2008 1) Great work on the fusealage so far. I'm working on my wanted list. Do you have an estimated completion date yet? I'm trying to figure out when to have payment ready. I'm guessing still $120 USD? Also are you cool with US Postal or international money orders? 2) Honnemiease and Valkyrie were BOTH working on ground vehicles last year and dropped the ball for various reasons. YOU WILL sell a lot of them and they're easy to sculpt! I've almost finished mine in 1/200. Of course I'm about to take a night class too. Feed the family or finish the Daedalus...OK I'm thinking... . Keep up the great work (and don't play with the model TOOooo much - MT Quote
cool8or Posted October 20, 2008 Posted October 20, 2008 (edited) That fuselage looks great! Good work Cap. Edited October 20, 2008 by cool8or Quote
captain america Posted October 20, 2008 Author Posted October 20, 2008 1) Great work on the fusealage so far. I'm working on my wanted list. Do you have an estimated completion date yet? I'm trying to figure out when to have payment ready. I'm guessing still $120 USD? Also are you cool with US Postal or international money orders?- MT In all likelyhood, it will be a bit less than $120; I always try to start from a worst-case scenario and whenever possible, charge less. Int'l money orders are fine, but as per my usual procedure, ordering info will likely be posted here or sent privately by PM. I'm hoping to be ready to pour molds in 2-3 weeks, so hve funds handy around the 1st week of November. Quote
Fly4victory Posted October 20, 2008 Posted October 20, 2008 Excellent, Sir! Thankfully, I can afford one. Sadly one but better than none. Quote
PetarB Posted October 27, 2008 Posted October 27, 2008 Eagerly awaiting an update to this post, Captain America... Quote
captain america Posted October 27, 2008 Author Posted October 27, 2008 Ask... And ye shall receive! My foremost apologies for the delayed update; had some emmergency matters that needed my attention. As a result, this'll only be a partial update since I wasn't able to do as much work on the Commanchero as I would have liked. Anyhoo, here are some pics of the chopper as it looked last Friday; a little bit of refining was done to get the shapes looking more like their line-art counterpart. I retained the "bubble canopy" look seen in the frontal view, though this may be rather problematic to vac-for... Anyone interested in doing the canopies as a subcontractor? Quote
captain america Posted October 27, 2008 Author Posted October 27, 2008 Three more pics. Oh, I also narrowed the center fuselage an extra 1mm since the last update. In spite of that, the fuselage doesn't look flimsy at all; quite an impressive sight actually... Quote
Lt. Z0mBe Posted October 27, 2008 Posted October 27, 2008 True craftmanship! It's refreshing to see what I call "The old ways" being used so well. So few people can scratchbuild well anymore. Well done. Kenny Quote
PetarB Posted October 27, 2008 Posted October 27, 2008 Hi John, that simply looks awesome. In my opinion you could get away with reducing the width of the 'bubble' in the canopies if it caused too much of an issue with the vac-forming. Once again, my commendations, this is a beautiful sculpt, especially considering the conflicting lineart issues you've had to deal with so far. Quote
Grayson72 Posted October 27, 2008 Posted October 27, 2008 Hi John, that simply looks awesome. In my opinion you could get away with reducing the width of the 'bubble' in the canopies if it caused too much of an issue with the vac-forming. Once again, my commendations, this is a beautiful sculpt, especially considering the conflicting lineart issues you've had to deal with so far. Yeah I second that, they don't need to be quite so bubbly Quote
Valkyrie Posted October 28, 2008 Posted October 28, 2008 . I retained the "bubble canopy" look seen in the frontal view, though this may be rather problematic to vac-for... Anyone interested in doing the canopies as a subcontractor? Hmm... possibly. I can definitely see how that shape would be problematic to vacuform. But I've got a couple ideas that just might work. Quote
ahiachris Posted October 28, 2008 Posted October 28, 2008 Hmm... possibly. I can definitely see how that shape would be problematic to vacuform. But I've got a couple ideas that just might work. Do you suggest splitting the canopy vacuum mold into three parts? Quote
HWR MKII Posted October 28, 2008 Posted October 28, 2008 Hmm... possibly. I can definitely see how that shape would be problematic to vacuform. But I've got a couple ideas that just might work. A 3 part plug would work. Make it in 3 longitudinal slices. when the form is pulled over it just remove the mliddle slice and the 2 outer ones will have wiggle room to get removed from the part. the end result will be a very nice defined bubble shape Quote
MechTech Posted October 28, 2008 Posted October 28, 2008 (edited) That looks awesome John! I think the windows look a bit more flush in this picture: http://www.new-un-spacy.com/sdfmacross/comanchero.htm That's the only thing I see that looks slightly off. Is it going to have funny looking rotors like these: Keep up the great work! - MT Edited October 28, 2008 by MechTech Quote
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