It's so tiny! OM NOM NOM NOM NOM...
Showing posts with label Team Fortress 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Team Fortress 2. Show all posts
Friday, November 27, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
This Weekend's Project: The Ambassador
Still trying to procure parts for another project, but in the meanwhile, here's something that's been on the drafting stage since late August: The Ambassador revolver. With the revolver, I bring forth some additions to the G-43 standard I've been using.
I had to re-scale the original draft done in August down by 85% in order to comply with the G-43 standard. The widths depicted on the upper right are still applicable.
Here's some diagrams of the finalized structure, and some idea of how it was assembled. Pretty sure if you're going to make your own, you'll buy a toy revolver, paint it silver and extend the front anyways. Otherwise, the dimensions aren't too relevant for you for this project.
With the size comparison, the revolver is quite massive. It's about 6.5 cm long, making it a monstrous 39 cm long at 1:1 scale.
This piece implements some small components that I was skeptical on successfully implementing. The cylinder swings out and spins. This is made possible by ample Loc-Tite to plastinate the paper and using paper clips to function as axles.
The cylinder is made of seven hollow tubes. Drilling holes into a semi-solid cylinder laminate was not an option. Making pivoting mechanisms using paper clips as an axle requires a bit of knowledge that is easily overlooked: paper clips are rarely round. The smaller ones usually have rectangular cross sections around a 16:19 aspect ratio. This results in a inner cylinder diameter that doesn't fit as tightly around the axle as a cylinder does, and if it does fit tightly, it doesn't spin easily. Also, paper clips are not always uniform in dimensions across multiple brands, so you may need to specially use one supplier source.
I took advantage of the size difference to make cylinders using smaller rods, resulting in a tighter fit when using a slightly larger rod. The bottom of the cylinder arm uses this to prevent it from swinging out freely.
Here's a detail of the individual components. The frame, held together with Loc-Tite, is a bit more sturdy than using regular Elmer's alone. The thin nature of the frame makes it vulnerable to deformation.
Here is the completed Ambassador revolver. Engraving was not a feasible option due to the fine width needed and lack of a solid substrate to implement it on. Printer paper doesn't quite work. The next best thing was to use a 0.30mm art pen and draw lightly. The small size allowed me to approximate the details since it would look quite dark and cluttered if every detail and line was inked in.
- The distance from the trigger to the rear of the stock is 55+/- 1 mm.
- The trigger guard is around 10mm long from front to back.
- The handle width (in the plane of the barrel hole) is a nominal 5mm wide.
- The grip thickness (in the plane of a side profile) is around 7mm to be "wieldable" by a 1:6 scale figure. Larger sizes render the model un-wieldable, and smaller ones necessitate special features from the user's hand (spring loaded fingers) or extra tooling (rounding of the grip) of the handle.
- Rifle grip firearm distance from middle of trigger curvature to inner grip shall be 10mm.
- Pistol grip firearm distance from middle of trigger curvature to the back of pistol grip (where the web of the hand sits) shall be 12±0.5mm
I had to re-scale the original draft done in August down by 85% in order to comply with the G-43 standard. The widths depicted on the upper right are still applicable.
Here's some diagrams of the finalized structure, and some idea of how it was assembled. Pretty sure if you're going to make your own, you'll buy a toy revolver, paint it silver and extend the front anyways. Otherwise, the dimensions aren't too relevant for you for this project.
With the size comparison, the revolver is quite massive. It's about 6.5 cm long, making it a monstrous 39 cm long at 1:1 scale.
This piece implements some small components that I was skeptical on successfully implementing. The cylinder swings out and spins. This is made possible by ample Loc-Tite to plastinate the paper and using paper clips to function as axles.
The cylinder is made of seven hollow tubes. Drilling holes into a semi-solid cylinder laminate was not an option. Making pivoting mechanisms using paper clips as an axle requires a bit of knowledge that is easily overlooked: paper clips are rarely round. The smaller ones usually have rectangular cross sections around a 16:19 aspect ratio. This results in a inner cylinder diameter that doesn't fit as tightly around the axle as a cylinder does, and if it does fit tightly, it doesn't spin easily. Also, paper clips are not always uniform in dimensions across multiple brands, so you may need to specially use one supplier source.I took advantage of the size difference to make cylinders using smaller rods, resulting in a tighter fit when using a slightly larger rod. The bottom of the cylinder arm uses this to prevent it from swinging out freely.
Here's a detail of the individual components. The frame, held together with Loc-Tite, is a bit more sturdy than using regular Elmer's alone. The thin nature of the frame makes it vulnerable to deformation.Here is the completed Ambassador revolver. Engraving was not a feasible option due to the fine width needed and lack of a solid substrate to implement it on. Printer paper doesn't quite work. The next best thing was to use a 0.30mm art pen and draw lightly. The small size allowed me to approximate the details since it would look quite dark and cluttered if every detail and line was inked in.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
This Weekend's Project: Sniper Rifle V2
Decided to redo the TF2 Sniper Rifle. It's not August 1st, but we'll have to settle for a late celebration. I'm building this rifle to the G-43 standard, and adding an addendum to the standard:
**Rifle grip firearms will have a distance from middle of trigger curvature to grip of 10mm. **
The rifle is larger by a small margin compared to the older model. We'll see how those compare in a bit. First, it's time to show you how the rifle gets made.
The rifle can be broken up into two part types: revolves and extrudes. Revolves are objects that can be made by rotating a 2D view around an axis of rotation to form a solid. In this case, the scope, laser aiming module (LAM) and barrel are revolves. These are made from using the Excel sheet mentioned in this explanation. Extrudes are 2D objects that are made 3D by making them thicker by adding the 3rd dimension, the width. Extrudes in this model include the frame, scope cover, and scope mount. Preparing Magic: the Gathering cards for making extruded solids is covered here.
From the schematic, I've scaled it 1:1 in relation to the final object, and traced out patterns of the frame. I've traced this pattern onto four copies of laminated magic cards, four layers thick. This gives us 16 layers, approximately 5mm thick. The four layers can be seen on the left of the above image.
The scope will be made of several tubes linked together to form the scope. I went for as exact of dimensions as possible for a good fit. The barrel was made from rolling printer paper around a 3.175mm diameter bamboo rod. I suggest using printer paper for rolled objects of little consequential structural stiffness and small wall thicknesses since the final part will have less of a noticeable seam to need to sand down.
This is the scope, assembled. The cylinders connect by overlapping anywhere from 3 to 5mm. I made the cylinders as thin as possible (1mm thick walls) so I could have a hollow, unobstructed scope. I cut some discs out of a CD jewel case for lenses and inserted them into the cylinders.
The scope mount was made in a similar manner to the frame: tracing a 1:1 scale final part pattern, then cutting out the appropriate number of layers to get the desired thickness. When making curved elements, you need to glue the layers together as they're in the desired final curvature. Bending a laminate is not suggested.
The two parts of the scope mount were connected by a small 2mm diameter rod. I decided to enhance the structural stiffness by running a paperclip rod through the tube and the scope mounts.
The frame needs a 3mm deep recess to accept the barrel. I made one prior to gluing the laminates together, so I have less machining to do.
One of this model's gimmicks is the moving bolt/receiver mechanism. I cut out a slot in the barrel for the bullet ejection port. I carved a 1mm deep groove into the side of a bamboo stick and bent a paper clip into the appropriate shape of the bolt handle. The handle was glued in place with Loc-tite. Things glued to metal using Loc-tite shears easily, but the level of shearing needed is much higher than what this part will see. I'll be using a bead for the handle knob. This part was glued into place.
Bolt completed. Next item of action: heavy Dremel action. Since I've made the frame from multiple cards' worth of length due to it exceeding the length of one card, I have an unsightly gap between cards. I covered the sides with one sheet of 110lb cardstock before proceeding to the sanding sequence. I gave all the lower parts a gentle 1mm radius round, then hacked off more material at the stock and handle regions.
Here's the result of some merciless Dremel action, followed by some light hand sanding.
The second functional part of this model is the front lens cap. I've glued a "U" shaped strip around a circular plate, 3 cards thick. The U part will rotate around the hinge, made of a paper clip. The holes were made from a 1/16" hand drill. I drilled the holes first, then cut the material around it. Otherwise, the material will deform and twist during drilling.
This is the scope lens, attached. The gun is largely completed at this stage.
Here's the final result. The top rifle is the newly crafted "high poly" model of the sniper rifle. It improves from the previous model featured below with added structural stiffness, enhanced scope features and rounder frame edges.
Here's a photo of the bolt action lever. Much better than the previous model which used just a tube.
**Rifle grip firearms will have a distance from middle of trigger curvature to grip of 10mm. **
The rifle is larger by a small margin compared to the older model. We'll see how those compare in a bit. First, it's time to show you how the rifle gets made.The rifle can be broken up into two part types: revolves and extrudes. Revolves are objects that can be made by rotating a 2D view around an axis of rotation to form a solid. In this case, the scope, laser aiming module (LAM) and barrel are revolves. These are made from using the Excel sheet mentioned in this explanation. Extrudes are 2D objects that are made 3D by making them thicker by adding the 3rd dimension, the width. Extrudes in this model include the frame, scope cover, and scope mount. Preparing Magic: the Gathering cards for making extruded solids is covered here.
From the schematic, I've scaled it 1:1 in relation to the final object, and traced out patterns of the frame. I've traced this pattern onto four copies of laminated magic cards, four layers thick. This gives us 16 layers, approximately 5mm thick. The four layers can be seen on the left of the above image.The scope will be made of several tubes linked together to form the scope. I went for as exact of dimensions as possible for a good fit. The barrel was made from rolling printer paper around a 3.175mm diameter bamboo rod. I suggest using printer paper for rolled objects of little consequential structural stiffness and small wall thicknesses since the final part will have less of a noticeable seam to need to sand down.
This is the scope, assembled. The cylinders connect by overlapping anywhere from 3 to 5mm. I made the cylinders as thin as possible (1mm thick walls) so I could have a hollow, unobstructed scope. I cut some discs out of a CD jewel case for lenses and inserted them into the cylinders.
The scope mount was made in a similar manner to the frame: tracing a 1:1 scale final part pattern, then cutting out the appropriate number of layers to get the desired thickness. When making curved elements, you need to glue the layers together as they're in the desired final curvature. Bending a laminate is not suggested.
The two parts of the scope mount were connected by a small 2mm diameter rod. I decided to enhance the structural stiffness by running a paperclip rod through the tube and the scope mounts.
The frame needs a 3mm deep recess to accept the barrel. I made one prior to gluing the laminates together, so I have less machining to do.
One of this model's gimmicks is the moving bolt/receiver mechanism. I cut out a slot in the barrel for the bullet ejection port. I carved a 1mm deep groove into the side of a bamboo stick and bent a paper clip into the appropriate shape of the bolt handle. The handle was glued in place with Loc-tite. Things glued to metal using Loc-tite shears easily, but the level of shearing needed is much higher than what this part will see. I'll be using a bead for the handle knob. This part was glued into place.
Bolt completed. Next item of action: heavy Dremel action. Since I've made the frame from multiple cards' worth of length due to it exceeding the length of one card, I have an unsightly gap between cards. I covered the sides with one sheet of 110lb cardstock before proceeding to the sanding sequence. I gave all the lower parts a gentle 1mm radius round, then hacked off more material at the stock and handle regions.
Here's the result of some merciless Dremel action, followed by some light hand sanding.
The second functional part of this model is the front lens cap. I've glued a "U" shaped strip around a circular plate, 3 cards thick. The U part will rotate around the hinge, made of a paper clip. The holes were made from a 1/16" hand drill. I drilled the holes first, then cut the material around it. Otherwise, the material will deform and twist during drilling.
This is the scope lens, attached. The gun is largely completed at this stage.
Here's the final result. The top rifle is the newly crafted "high poly" model of the sniper rifle. It improves from the previous model featured below with added structural stiffness, enhanced scope features and rounder frame edges.
Here's a photo of the bolt action lever. Much better than the previous model which used just a tube.
Friday, September 18, 2009
This Fortnight's Project: Telemax Teleporter
In my attempts to fix some of the remaining issues with my TF2 dolls/figures/minions, I needed to actually build a toolbox for the Engineer. As it stands, it's currently a shoddy hollow one piece box painted red with no details on it. Surprised no one said anything about that publicly yet. Anyways, since I now have better skills and tools to work with, I can put the old toolbox of the past behind me and roll out a newer shinier toolbox with actual features!
The toolbox might be a bit bigger than I remember it was supposed to be. Oh well. The Engineer won't be holding it all the time. It'll mostly be stood or sat on by the Engineer. Or used to actually hold items.
Since I'm now building to a higher standard than what I used to settle with last year, I've decided to make the toolbox house a teleporter that can be unfolded from inside the box. That involves making sure the toolbox has enough space internally while being structurally sound to fold open and closed. The toolbox has no perpendicular faces to the floor, so some simple geometric calculations were needed. I went about establishing the angles the faces made with the floor for each side, then using some trigonometry to figure how much to elongate the sides.
The toolbox would be formed out of two single sheets to form the bottom and lid.
Once the halves were defined, I reinforced the thickness with three layers of X-men cards. These were done in separate panels. I cut out a V shaped groove along the seams to allow the panels to fold together.
Now that I have the envelope for the teleporter constructed, I determined the final dimensions of the folded up teleporter and scaled some screencaps to size. The above image highlights the various methods to get the teleporter to fold out and lock together. The folding arms use a sliding pin mechanism to restrict angular movement, accessible underneath the arms where it's not easily noticeable, but still accessible during the transformation sequence.
To make the arms, I decided it was easier to form the solid arm out of a single sheet, then reinforce individual sections with more X-Men cards. The sliding pin locking assembly involved a series of double hole plates around 2mm thick. These would interface together where the arms break apart.
A lot of the next stage is making filler to hold the components together. This involves making guide plates and empty boxes and stuffing them in the arm envelope. The outer part of the arm is just a hollow box with some reinforcement to keep the top surface from warping under additional weight.
Here's a few views of the sliding pin locking mechanism, with the top removed. The pins can come out 2mm and interface with the outer plate without interfering. Sliding the pin out engages the outer plate 5-6mm and restricts movement fully. For the mechanism, I ended up using 5.7mm diameter rods with a 5.9mm diameter hole. Odd, since the hole punch I used should have made 6.35mm diameter holes. I suggest ensuring your holes do not deviate more than 0.5mm apart when building all three plates. You want some wiggle to slide them freely and any large offset will likely cause seizure.
The center spindle involves two cylinders. The outer is made of two more complex shaped half circles with an array of tubes. The smaller ones allow for hinge movement for the arms. The larger one interfaces with the smaller center tube. A 5.9mm diameter rod (or equivalent clearance) eventually goes through the smaller center tube and connects the two outer halves. It needs to fit securely but loose enough to provide movement with a layer of paint on it. The rod will also interface with a hole on the base of each arm to lock them level once assembled.
Here, you can see the hole positions. Note the hole in the right arm's base and the alignment with the outer spindle halves.
To attach the arms, I used 3.175mm diameter bamboo sticks. The sticks do not run through the spindle halves. This allows the main connecting shaft to run unobstructed. From this stage, it's mostly decorative.
Here's the full sequence of building the teleporter from the toolbox. All the major components are now in place.
Right now, I have almost a full set of Engineer crap. However, highwaychile's dispenser is still a loaner and needs some improvement. Mostly needs to be rescaled, and done the proper J.Norad way. If I can figure out how to make it collapse into the toolbox, I'll make that the next TF2 figure update project. Until then, time to enjoy the glory of having a kick ass toolbox.
The toolbox might be a bit bigger than I remember it was supposed to be. Oh well. The Engineer won't be holding it all the time. It'll mostly be stood or sat on by the Engineer. Or used to actually hold items.
Since I'm now building to a higher standard than what I used to settle with last year, I've decided to make the toolbox house a teleporter that can be unfolded from inside the box. That involves making sure the toolbox has enough space internally while being structurally sound to fold open and closed. The toolbox has no perpendicular faces to the floor, so some simple geometric calculations were needed. I went about establishing the angles the faces made with the floor for each side, then using some trigonometry to figure how much to elongate the sides.
The toolbox would be formed out of two single sheets to form the bottom and lid.
Once the halves were defined, I reinforced the thickness with three layers of X-men cards. These were done in separate panels. I cut out a V shaped groove along the seams to allow the panels to fold together.
Now that I have the envelope for the teleporter constructed, I determined the final dimensions of the folded up teleporter and scaled some screencaps to size. The above image highlights the various methods to get the teleporter to fold out and lock together. The folding arms use a sliding pin mechanism to restrict angular movement, accessible underneath the arms where it's not easily noticeable, but still accessible during the transformation sequence.
To make the arms, I decided it was easier to form the solid arm out of a single sheet, then reinforce individual sections with more X-Men cards. The sliding pin locking assembly involved a series of double hole plates around 2mm thick. These would interface together where the arms break apart.
A lot of the next stage is making filler to hold the components together. This involves making guide plates and empty boxes and stuffing them in the arm envelope. The outer part of the arm is just a hollow box with some reinforcement to keep the top surface from warping under additional weight.
Here's a few views of the sliding pin locking mechanism, with the top removed. The pins can come out 2mm and interface with the outer plate without interfering. Sliding the pin out engages the outer plate 5-6mm and restricts movement fully. For the mechanism, I ended up using 5.7mm diameter rods with a 5.9mm diameter hole. Odd, since the hole punch I used should have made 6.35mm diameter holes. I suggest ensuring your holes do not deviate more than 0.5mm apart when building all three plates. You want some wiggle to slide them freely and any large offset will likely cause seizure.
The center spindle involves two cylinders. The outer is made of two more complex shaped half circles with an array of tubes. The smaller ones allow for hinge movement for the arms. The larger one interfaces with the smaller center tube. A 5.9mm diameter rod (or equivalent clearance) eventually goes through the smaller center tube and connects the two outer halves. It needs to fit securely but loose enough to provide movement with a layer of paint on it. The rod will also interface with a hole on the base of each arm to lock them level once assembled.
Here, you can see the hole positions. Note the hole in the right arm's base and the alignment with the outer spindle halves.
To attach the arms, I used 3.175mm diameter bamboo sticks. The sticks do not run through the spindle halves. This allows the main connecting shaft to run unobstructed. From this stage, it's mostly decorative.
Here's the full sequence of building the teleporter from the toolbox. All the major components are now in place.
Right now, I have almost a full set of Engineer crap. However, highwaychile's dispenser is still a loaner and needs some improvement. Mostly needs to be rescaled, and done the proper J.Norad way. If I can figure out how to make it collapse into the toolbox, I'll make that the next TF2 figure update project. Until then, time to enjoy the glory of having a kick ass toolbox.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
About The Vortex: The Circle of Suck
I normally try to keep day-to-day issues off this blog, but I'll take an exception for today.
"Wow! You're on Kotaku!""Wow. They used the worst picture ever."
If you've managed to find this blog/page, I thank you for visiting. Seems that I've been linked on kotaku.com, and with the most unsightly progress image ever. Fugly medic with a sad looking pyro and with a demoman with Michael Jackson issues. At least they got a shot of my minigun.
About this Blog:
I originally intended this blog to document random things I built. More for me than you, actually. Seems like it's leaning towards you now. The main intent was to:
About me:
This blog's about what I make. I don't care for drama, nor should you be subjected to it. Jacob Norad's not even my real name, if you're wondering.
About the Goods:
You probably have come here looking for my Team Fortress 2 related crafts. I don't blame you, I've been making them for a year. I do make other things, but they're not as popular. If you're wondering, I have no intent of selling them, simply because I feel that they could be a lot better in quality. I'm never happy with what I have and always feel that I could have done better. And also, it's a pain in the ass to build this:
I primarily use Magic: the Gathering cards to make my stuff, simply because I have a lot of them and they're quite easy to work with. And you kinda need some sort of shtick these days...
About the Fugly Medic
The Medic was my first doll head attempt. Really bad. So bad I made a new one and mailed the old one to Canada. Unfortunately, I'll forever be known as the guy who sucks at sculpting the "Medic with the giant Jew nose." I don't mind nor care about criticism. Shows that, just like me, YOU will not settle for any old crap. I like people who know what they want. It also shows me that I really need to get better at doing this sort of thing.
I could easily edit all my old posts and photos so they all look nice and presentable, but that's like lying. Lying about your past, and what you could do. Doesn't show people that your early work sucked hard. I'd rather keep those around to remind myself that I'm getting a lot better, and to never settle for crap.
Other issues:
Demoman's racial identity crisis has since been fixed. Pyro's in a state where my technology is too subpar to make better. Going to stay horrible for a while longer. I'm trying to shift off TF2 for a bit and try other things, so it'll be some time before I fix the lingering problems. The main reason is that by doing other things, I'll pick up some more techniques that I can use. You can't get better if you're afraid to try doing other things.
About this Blog:
I originally intended this blog to document random things I built. More for me than you, actually. Seems like it's leaning towards you now. The main intent was to:
- Highlight some building techniques I discovered or learned or found useful
- Show off what those techniques could build
About me:
This blog's about what I make. I don't care for drama, nor should you be subjected to it. Jacob Norad's not even my real name, if you're wondering.
About the Goods:
You probably have come here looking for my Team Fortress 2 related crafts. I don't blame you, I've been making them for a year. I do make other things, but they're not as popular. If you're wondering, I have no intent of selling them, simply because I feel that they could be a lot better in quality. I'm never happy with what I have and always feel that I could have done better. And also, it's a pain in the ass to build this:
I primarily use Magic: the Gathering cards to make my stuff, simply because I have a lot of them and they're quite easy to work with. And you kinda need some sort of shtick these days...About the Fugly Medic
The Medic was my first doll head attempt. Really bad. So bad I made a new one and mailed the old one to Canada. Unfortunately, I'll forever be known as the guy who sucks at sculpting the "Medic with the giant Jew nose." I don't mind nor care about criticism. Shows that, just like me, YOU will not settle for any old crap. I like people who know what they want. It also shows me that I really need to get better at doing this sort of thing.
I could easily edit all my old posts and photos so they all look nice and presentable, but that's like lying. Lying about your past, and what you could do. Doesn't show people that your early work sucked hard. I'd rather keep those around to remind myself that I'm getting a lot better, and to never settle for crap.
Other issues:
Demoman's racial identity crisis has since been fixed. Pyro's in a state where my technology is too subpar to make better. Going to stay horrible for a while longer. I'm trying to shift off TF2 for a bit and try other things, so it'll be some time before I fix the lingering problems. The main reason is that by doing other things, I'll pick up some more techniques that I can use. You can't get better if you're afraid to try doing other things.
Anyways, thanks again for visiting. If you've at least laughed your ass off at my past failures, or liked my better works, then I think it was worth the click.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
J.Norad's Tutorial for Making a 1:6 scale Shotgun
Time to bust out those junk Centaur Veterans, Rock Jockeys, and Mudholes! It's gun making time! Today's agenda: I'm going to try to show you how to make a shotgun out of 110lb cardstock, bamboo sticks and Magic: the Gathering cards. Refer to this guide if you want to work with Magic cards as building material. This is going to use a few techniques most paper model makers might find handy, but it's mostly going to be knifing, bonesawing and Dremel-ing.
First, we need a stock image.
This is the shotgun from Team Fortress 2. Simple model, compared to other things I've built. I'm going to show you how to get from this deceptively simple image to a solid model. For your convenience, this full size image is the exact size of the finished model.
Once you've obtained an image of your weapon in question, preferably a side view, you now need to formulate a plan.
From the above image, we can find three main components:
I've taken care of the hard work of figuring out how to measure things with a ruler for you. All dimensions specified are in millimeters, and are basic: meaning no tolerances attached to the dimensions. On the top right, that's my original plans for the shotgun. If you haven't caught on by now, I'm going to make the pump move. Static models are boring!
For part 1: the grip/receiver, you simply need to trace that section onto paper, cut that out, then trace it onto some 4-card stacks until you have 4 parts. This will be approximately 5mm wide, which is the width of our shotgun.
This will form the upper part of the pump and also serves to hold the pump together from the top. I suggest using two layers of Magic card for this part. For those of you who added the notches into the handle, you can stick some bamboo sticks in there to hold the barrel to the receiver together.
Now all you need to do is add details. The trigger is made from a 3mm wide strip of Magic card, three layers thick. I simply curved the part to fit the drawing and glued it in place with some Loc-tite for extra quick adhesion. To smooth out the pump, I sanded mine down until it was relatively flush. I then used the cone maker formulas to create some cover parts to wrap around the pump sections. This took care of the major surface irregularities.
All you need to do now is add the little details, which should be easy compared to the pump. For the side ejector port on the left, simply cut out a 12mm x 3mm rectangle on the side as depicted on this screenshot:
Screencaps are great for video game model replicas. I took several in the course of making every item from Team Fortress 2. Use these to figure out what details you need to add. If you do a part analysis, they should be easy to make once you figure out of you need a block, tube or a strip of material to make it. when you're done with your model, coat it with some paint primer and finish it off with some nice paint. Then assemble your model, since it's easier to paint parts that move before assembly.
Remember: if you managed to get as far as a rough form, you've done pretty well. A static model was perhaps what my capabilities were limited to a year ago. If you managed to pull off this model and get the pump working, or even understand the schematics, you've done quite a good job. You deserve a medal, if they weren't all gone.
First, we need a stock image.
This is the shotgun from Team Fortress 2. Simple model, compared to other things I've built. I'm going to show you how to get from this deceptively simple image to a solid model. For your convenience, this full size image is the exact size of the finished model.Once you've obtained an image of your weapon in question, preferably a side view, you now need to formulate a plan.
From the above image, we can find three main components:- The grip/receiver assembly : This is largely an extruded object: the part we need to make looks exactly like this from the side view, but pulled out so it's thicker. Think of what a cube is compared to a square. You'll be making it like a block shaped like this section.
- The Barrel: This is going to be one of the easiest, yet annoying parts to make. It's just a hollow tube, followed by a shorter, hollow tube, connected with some small rectangular spacers. Not to mention, some bracket thing on the front.
- The Pump: You're going to hate this part with a passion. Especially if you have the tooling capability of an Amish man with a metal allergy. Look no farther, ye of little machinery.
I've taken care of the hard work of figuring out how to measure things with a ruler for you. All dimensions specified are in millimeters, and are basic: meaning no tolerances attached to the dimensions. On the top right, that's my original plans for the shotgun. If you haven't caught on by now, I'm going to make the pump move. Static models are boring!For part 1: the grip/receiver, you simply need to trace that section onto paper, cut that out, then trace it onto some 4-card stacks until you have 4 parts. This will be approximately 5mm wide, which is the width of our shotgun.
You can simply glue these four pieces together now and sand down the edges flush. Advanced methods involve notching two 5mmx3.175 notches to receive a 3.175mm diameter bamboo stick, as indicated in the lower image:
For the barrel tubes, you'll need to use this reference on making tubes, or this Excel file for making tubes and cones out of paper. That is, if you want to precisely make 4.5mm outer diameter/3.175mm inner diameter tubes. I like my tubes to be as close as possible to the desired dimensions. Cut them to length, and make some 1mm spacer blocks to hold the two tubes together.
Now for the hard part: the pump. This part involves the lower half of the schematic. The lower left covers the dimensions in third angle projection. The lower right covers the concept and upper assembly to hold the pump in place.
If you draw the leftmost figure in the above image to the specified dimensions in 110lb cardstock,then roll around a 5mm diameter rod, you'll get the shape of the shotgun pump. the dimensions were calculated using my cone frustum calculator. It uses the same principles listed in the tube making reference, but with some fun tricks. If you roll up a triangular sheet, you'll form a cone. If you roll up a sheet that has a lot of triangular sections like the one I drew up, you'll form a shape that looks like the shotgun pump, if revolved around the magazine tube axis.
After you've made this solid, you'll need to use your cutting tool of choice to cut out a V shaped notch on one side of the pump. This is shown in the bottom right of the schematic. I'd suggest cutting 2mm wide and flaring out to 5mm. Next, you'll need to cut out that U shaped rectangular piece shown below and fold it to form a U shaped trough.
For the barrel tubes, you'll need to use this reference on making tubes, or this Excel file for making tubes and cones out of paper. That is, if you want to precisely make 4.5mm outer diameter/3.175mm inner diameter tubes. I like my tubes to be as close as possible to the desired dimensions. Cut them to length, and make some 1mm spacer blocks to hold the two tubes together.
Now for the hard part: the pump. This part involves the lower half of the schematic. The lower left covers the dimensions in third angle projection. The lower right covers the concept and upper assembly to hold the pump in place.
If you draw the leftmost figure in the above image to the specified dimensions in 110lb cardstock,then roll around a 5mm diameter rod, you'll get the shape of the shotgun pump. the dimensions were calculated using my cone frustum calculator. It uses the same principles listed in the tube making reference, but with some fun tricks. If you roll up a triangular sheet, you'll form a cone. If you roll up a sheet that has a lot of triangular sections like the one I drew up, you'll form a shape that looks like the shotgun pump, if revolved around the magazine tube axis.
After you've made this solid, you'll need to use your cutting tool of choice to cut out a V shaped notch on one side of the pump. This is shown in the bottom right of the schematic. I'd suggest cutting 2mm wide and flaring out to 5mm. Next, you'll need to cut out that U shaped rectangular piece shown below and fold it to form a U shaped trough.
This will form the upper part of the pump and also serves to hold the pump together from the top. I suggest using two layers of Magic card for this part. For those of you who added the notches into the handle, you can stick some bamboo sticks in there to hold the barrel to the receiver together.
Now all you need to do is add details. The trigger is made from a 3mm wide strip of Magic card, three layers thick. I simply curved the part to fit the drawing and glued it in place with some Loc-tite for extra quick adhesion. To smooth out the pump, I sanded mine down until it was relatively flush. I then used the cone maker formulas to create some cover parts to wrap around the pump sections. This took care of the major surface irregularities.
All you need to do now is add the little details, which should be easy compared to the pump. For the side ejector port on the left, simply cut out a 12mm x 3mm rectangle on the side as depicted on this screenshot:
Screencaps are great for video game model replicas. I took several in the course of making every item from Team Fortress 2. Use these to figure out what details you need to add. If you do a part analysis, they should be easy to make once you figure out of you need a block, tube or a strip of material to make it. when you're done with your model, coat it with some paint primer and finish it off with some nice paint. Then assemble your model, since it's easier to paint parts that move before assembly.
Remember: if you managed to get as far as a rough form, you've done pretty well. A static model was perhaps what my capabilities were limited to a year ago. If you managed to pull off this model and get the pump working, or even understand the schematics, you've done quite a good job. You deserve a medal, if they weren't all gone.
Monday, August 24, 2009
HELL YEAH! It's August 24!
It's August 24! You know what that means! It's National "Build A Grenade Launcher Day!"
I've managed to conveniently time this post a bit too well...
Anyways, I've been working on an upgraded Team Fortress 2 Demoman grenade launcher. Needless to say, I've put myself into a bind now. I'm sure all of you are expecting everything I make to either have moving parts or be somehow awesome in another way. Of course, moving parts are always awesome. (Does that make an awesome thing with moving parts, doubly awesome?) Today's a two-fold post: showing off my new toy and showing what a year of doing this results with.
There's some instructables.com site with a build it yourself model grenade launcher that is certainly less resource and labor intensive than mine, but Magic: the Gathering has always required a bit of resource and time commitment. Of course, theirs isn't as fun as mine is now.
First off, a comparison of what happened last year on "Build A Grenade Launcher Day" (top) and this year's fruitful efforts (bottom). You may first notice the disparity in scale. The first one was made by rudimentary methods and non-existent standards. I'm not even sure how I made that, actually. I sure half-assed it. With the new "G-43 Standard" in effect, I have the capability to scale any weapon based on several key characteristics. In this case, it's the stock-to-trigger distance.
Now for the juicy parts: the schematics. I've elected to improve on the previous grenade launcher by making this model have moving components, much like the Force-a-Nature has with the break action mechanism. Sadly, after this model, I'll be out of Team Fortress 2 weapons that have complex actions that are buildable on 1:6 scale. At least I think I will be. All the major components can be built from the above schematic. The stock thickness is 5mm, constructed in my case of 16 layers of Magic: the Plywood.
This is the break action mechanism. It uses a small slide lever with a "J" shaped paperclip lever arm to lock the front in place. Moving the switch forwards slides the "J" upwards and into a box shaped recess in the top, locking it into place. Moving the lever back lowers the "J" out of the recess, allowing the front to break open.
Here is the template I used for constructing my grenade launcher stock. I've kept a bit of paper around the part where the pin slides in order to keep track of the part itself. Assuming you're brave enough to build this using my methods and schematics, you'll need to cut off the trapezoidal part and make room for the pin to slide up and down.
Here's the completed model, with obligatory card for scale. Love those ZACCA display boards.
The revolver chamber is removable, and spins freely. A bamboo stick serves as the shaft, and a separate bushing holds the chamber into place. Unfortunately, I have no grenades, and the chamber is not completely hollow, meaning that you can see through all six chambers. For simplicity and the fact that no tool ideally makes 8mm diameter holes easily, I chose to not make them. Interesting note: the barrel is a larger diameter than the grenades, according to the game model, and it is not in line with the revolver chamber.
After a year's worth of developing techniques, I've managed to upgrade from crappy static models made of boxes to solid models machined with tools. The level of progress is quite pleasing, I must say. Of course, now I'm going to be hard pressed to top this level next year. I guess it's time to give in and make something less impressive...
I've managed to conveniently time this post a bit too well...
Anyways, I've been working on an upgraded Team Fortress 2 Demoman grenade launcher. Needless to say, I've put myself into a bind now. I'm sure all of you are expecting everything I make to either have moving parts or be somehow awesome in another way. Of course, moving parts are always awesome. (Does that make an awesome thing with moving parts, doubly awesome?) Today's a two-fold post: showing off my new toy and showing what a year of doing this results with.There's some instructables.com site with a build it yourself model grenade launcher that is certainly less resource and labor intensive than mine, but Magic: the Gathering has always required a bit of resource and time commitment. Of course, theirs isn't as fun as mine is now.
First off, a comparison of what happened last year on "Build A Grenade Launcher Day" (top) and this year's fruitful efforts (bottom). You may first notice the disparity in scale. The first one was made by rudimentary methods and non-existent standards. I'm not even sure how I made that, actually. I sure half-assed it. With the new "G-43 Standard" in effect, I have the capability to scale any weapon based on several key characteristics. In this case, it's the stock-to-trigger distance.
Now for the juicy parts: the schematics. I've elected to improve on the previous grenade launcher by making this model have moving components, much like the Force-a-Nature has with the break action mechanism. Sadly, after this model, I'll be out of Team Fortress 2 weapons that have complex actions that are buildable on 1:6 scale. At least I think I will be. All the major components can be built from the above schematic. The stock thickness is 5mm, constructed in my case of 16 layers of Magic: the Plywood.
This is the break action mechanism. It uses a small slide lever with a "J" shaped paperclip lever arm to lock the front in place. Moving the switch forwards slides the "J" upwards and into a box shaped recess in the top, locking it into place. Moving the lever back lowers the "J" out of the recess, allowing the front to break open.
Here is the template I used for constructing my grenade launcher stock. I've kept a bit of paper around the part where the pin slides in order to keep track of the part itself. Assuming you're brave enough to build this using my methods and schematics, you'll need to cut off the trapezoidal part and make room for the pin to slide up and down.
Here's the completed model, with obligatory card for scale. Love those ZACCA display boards.
The revolver chamber is removable, and spins freely. A bamboo stick serves as the shaft, and a separate bushing holds the chamber into place. Unfortunately, I have no grenades, and the chamber is not completely hollow, meaning that you can see through all six chambers. For simplicity and the fact that no tool ideally makes 8mm diameter holes easily, I chose to not make them. Interesting note: the barrel is a larger diameter than the grenades, according to the game model, and it is not in line with the revolver chamber.After a year's worth of developing techniques, I've managed to upgrade from crappy static models made of boxes to solid models machined with tools. The level of progress is quite pleasing, I must say. Of course, now I'm going to be hard pressed to top this level next year. I guess it's time to give in and make something less impressive...
Sunday, August 09, 2009
The Soldier Reviews 1:6 Scale ZACCA M-72A2
At ease maggots! J.Norad deserted his post here to go to associate in the girly activity called "shopping". Meanwhile, he left me here to defend the post solo, but that's O.K. since I'm a hard blooded killing machine! J.Norad left me this M-72A2 Light Antitank Weapon issued by ZACCA, series 1. It is an outstanding weapon, worthy enough of being held and used by yours truely.
Unfortunately, this LAW comes pre-extended and has less moving parts than the bodies of my dead enemies. If you're looking for a M-72 LAW with full moving parts, extending rear, closable cover and actual missile, you should look elsewhere. ZACCA isn't the best for stuff with moving parts, unless they're falling off. That's movement, isn't it? Fortunately, this fine specimen doesn't have any issues with loose components. Nothing has fallen off so far, and the parts all fit snugly. J.Norad mentioned to me that a company called "Hot Toys" makes a 1:6 scale M-72 that has collapsible sights and the whole she-bang! Not bad from a company whose name suggests some purveyor of gentlemen's literature. Soldiers get lonely in the trenches sometimes, but , AHEM, that's not the point here. What was I going on about? Ah yes. How to use the thing!
Like all good Soldiers, we don't have time for reading. If you're too busy reading, you're too busy being DEAD. That's why it's a good thing that this M-72A2 has a picture showing you numb-nuts how to hold and fire the LAW. Unlike last time, those Japanese at ZACCA finally learned how to write the proper language of the world, English! I bet they knew I was going to be using one of these, so they buckered up and learned to write English, lest I come for them like I did for the Nazis in WWII. Never mind that my amazing killing spree was a bit late, but I showed them who was boss anyways.
I heard that BLU had more secret weapons built since the last time I went patrolling. They may have fooled me once by disguising their weapon as a toy car last time, but that trick won't fool me again. The intel I received that their weapon was codenamed "Mirage". Something about a robotic version of a Spy. Told me that it was capable of being better than the Spy, able to hide and make projections of itself. Such cowardly antics will not work against me, for I am the master of combat!
Well, I'll be. Looks like the intel was right all along. A BLU robot spy.
Fortunately, this weapon unlike last week, is capable of being utilized to the fullest in the hands of even maggots like you. Unfortunately the cameraman didn't get to live long enough to photograph a shot of me beating the living crap out of that BLU robot. But I can offer you the following tip if you want to be as great of a Soldier as I am. If you want to buy this M-72, it will set you back just $5 MSRP, but inflation and shipping charges can easily inflate that to around $10-12. I would suggest that if you want the best one out there, be prepared to pay $30-40 for it alone. I saw photos of the Hot Toys version from J.Norad's intel files, and I can say it looks very impressive and is superior in every way with extra markings and the removable missile. But I don't know how many of you pansies are going to need to buy that exact LAW in the highest detail possible, so if you're on a budget, the ZACCA one is not a bad buy.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
J.Norad Reviews 1:6 scale ZACCA M202A1
Welcome back to the 4th installment of the ZACCA rockets'n'grenades-fest. Today, we have one of the lesser known rocket launchers, the M202A1. This grenade launcher is particularly fitting for the TF2 soldier due to the fact that it fires four rockets, much like the Soldier's rocket launcher. A bit of interest of this weapon is that it's also a flamethrower, by firing incendiary rockets. It seems to be rear loaded with a clip of four rockets at a time. Pretty awesome sounding weapon, eh?This rocket is by far the worst rocket from series 1 I've reviewed.
First, let's look at the blatant problems.
The Japanese don't speak English for a reason.
Oh boy. I'm pretty stuck up when it comes to proper grammar and spelling. This thing infuriates me so much by existing."WARNING
IF TRGGER MALFUNCTION
REMOVE MECHANISM
PROTECTNE"
IF TRGGER MALFUNCTION
REMOVE MECHANISM
PROTECTNE"
ZACCA is known for their model detail. Apparently, that's "physical" detail and not their decals. How hard can it be to copy letters off a stock image? Seems like the Japanese can't copy these odd blocky pictograms and squiggles correctly. What's with the "protectne"? Protecting Acne? Pyrotechnic?
The weapon is unusable.
There's a reason why I don't have more than one photograph of the Soldier using the M202A1. It's an absolute nightmare to pose any figure with it properly. First off, you absolutely need to glue the parts together if you must use this for actual posing. As a display model, it's not an issue. The front and rear covers come off fairly easily. Normally this is a problem, but the rear cover is the main culprit in making this grenade launcher terrible. It obstructs your figure's arm from being able to hold the firing handle with his right hand, and limits the ability of your figure to hold the foregrip with the left.
Why is that a problem? Why can't you have your figure hold the M202A1 with one hand?
The model is virtually a giant box of plastic. The handles are thin and unless your figure has spring loaded hands, it will fall out of his hand quickly. You'll have problems trying to pose your figures with this. Only figures I can possibly make this work with is the Scout/Shia Lebeouf and the girls.
The upsides
This is perhaps the only model out there of the M202A1 in 1:6 scale. In terms of workmanship, it's fairly good. There's no cheaply done weathering or odd paint schemes/problems on it this time. If you can ignore the bad decals, it's a good model. Maybe some of you with good painting skills can touch up that problem and make it tolerable. Or alternatively, add wear that conveniently obscures the typos. For $5, it's reasonable to not expect too much from it.
Anyways, as is the tradition with these reviews, time to feature more "Let's attack blue things with rockets".
The weapon is unusable.
There's a reason why I don't have more than one photograph of the Soldier using the M202A1. It's an absolute nightmare to pose any figure with it properly. First off, you absolutely need to glue the parts together if you must use this for actual posing. As a display model, it's not an issue. The front and rear covers come off fairly easily. Normally this is a problem, but the rear cover is the main culprit in making this grenade launcher terrible. It obstructs your figure's arm from being able to hold the firing handle with his right hand, and limits the ability of your figure to hold the foregrip with the left.
Why is that a problem? Why can't you have your figure hold the M202A1 with one hand?
The model is virtually a giant box of plastic. The handles are thin and unless your figure has spring loaded hands, it will fall out of his hand quickly. You'll have problems trying to pose your figures with this. Only figures I can possibly make this work with is the Scout/Shia Lebeouf and the girls.
The upsides
This is perhaps the only model out there of the M202A1 in 1:6 scale. In terms of workmanship, it's fairly good. There's no cheaply done weathering or odd paint schemes/problems on it this time. If you can ignore the bad decals, it's a good model. Maybe some of you with good painting skills can touch up that problem and make it tolerable. Or alternatively, add wear that conveniently obscures the typos. For $5, it's reasonable to not expect too much from it.
Anyways, as is the tradition with these reviews, time to feature more "Let's attack blue things with rockets".
The Soldier looks to find out where BLU is hiding the intel for their new secret weapon.
We must scour every possible hiding place for the new weapon. They may have put it in places where you'd never think. Like in...HERE!
Negatory! They have not hidden the intelligence inside this blue vehicle.
I do recall them saying that the new weapon was located around here somewhere.
Oh.
I do believe I have found the weapon. Yes, I HAVE found the weapon. Or has the weapon found me?Sunday, July 12, 2009
Why No One Built a 1:1 Scale Sentry Gun
Only half a year, and I've figured out all the issues that anyone trying to make a 1:1 scale exact copy of the Team fortress 2 sentry gun would have. I would like to point out first that if you do for some reason decide to build a 1:1 scale model, you're going to enjoy all the problems I've had, but on a larger scale.
This is the TF2 sentry gun in its current repaired state. I've completed all six legs and corrected for the bending issue caused by the inherent design flaw of placing a massive weight on a thin moment arm.
Figure 1: A Force Analysis
Figure 2: Support arm
I still feel that the sentry gun's legs are ridiculous. The rear legs with the large circular feet are almost purely cosmetic. They cannot bear a load well, due to the fact that they are not bearing loads axially with the leg supports, but actually causing a bending moment around their attachment point. This causes a great potential for shearing at that region. The middle two legs are actually the most important legs of the 6. They bear the greatest load being near the base of the support column, and don't have a tendency to split away from the other legs like a ladder without the center folding bracket.
What of the sentry gun's front legs? They're slightly worse than the rear legs, since they are actually held onto the main column with pin supports that are actually not rigid in position. Their structural strength lies in the support struts connecting the base of the front legs to the bottom of the support column. I would advise anyone making a 1:1 scale model to put extra consideration into the strength of the strut brackets and to actually convert the pin connections at the top of the front legs to fixed joints.
This is the TF2 sentry gun in its current repaired state. I've completed all six legs and corrected for the bending issue caused by the inherent design flaw of placing a massive weight on a thin moment arm.
Figure 1: A Force AnalysisFigure 1 illustrates the crux of the problem with the design. What looks aesthetically pleasing in the virtual world doesn't necessarily correlate to a practical design in reality. Left, we have the side profile of the sentry gun. The middle shows what the model essentially looks like from a force analysis: two "real" ground supports, one distributed load, and one concentrated load with a pivot at the intersection of both leg supports. The right shows the resulting problem: the rear assembly starts to deflect if the support isn't properly reinforced.
Figure 2: Support armFigure 2 demonstrates all the key points of interest in making the arm that supports the ammunition housing for the sentry gun. Due to the angled shape of the arm, there are multiple points of interest where the builder will need to take into account material shear and deflection. The bottom pivot pin takes on a substantial lateral load and not much concern for axial loading. Threading a rod through a circular ring solves the problem of shear located where the pin meets the support arm.
At a small scale, there are not many ways to reinforce a series of thin rods connected to cylinders. I've resorted to Loc-tite glue to be a pseudo welding compound. Works fine, but for larger versions of this model, the rods would need to be solid components with the cylindrical sections. The right half of figure 2 illustrates the only method of corrective action taken to counter the lean: reinforcing the arm base with a wooden rod. The component in that region had begun to deteriorate and delaminate. The rod strengthened the region.
At a small scale, there are not many ways to reinforce a series of thin rods connected to cylinders. I've resorted to Loc-tite glue to be a pseudo welding compound. Works fine, but for larger versions of this model, the rods would need to be solid components with the cylindrical sections. The right half of figure 2 illustrates the only method of corrective action taken to counter the lean: reinforcing the arm base with a wooden rod. The component in that region had begun to deteriorate and delaminate. The rod strengthened the region.
I still feel that the sentry gun's legs are ridiculous. The rear legs with the large circular feet are almost purely cosmetic. They cannot bear a load well, due to the fact that they are not bearing loads axially with the leg supports, but actually causing a bending moment around their attachment point. This causes a great potential for shearing at that region. The middle two legs are actually the most important legs of the 6. They bear the greatest load being near the base of the support column, and don't have a tendency to split away from the other legs like a ladder without the center folding bracket.
What of the sentry gun's front legs? They're slightly worse than the rear legs, since they are actually held onto the main column with pin supports that are actually not rigid in position. Their structural strength lies in the support struts connecting the base of the front legs to the bottom of the support column. I would advise anyone making a 1:1 scale model to put extra consideration into the strength of the strut brackets and to actually convert the pin connections at the top of the front legs to fixed joints. Friday, July 10, 2009
J.Norad Reviews ZACCA 1:6 Scale RPG-7
Welcome to part 3 of 11 of J.Norad's "we've got money, so let's buy small fascimiles of illegal arms" series. Today, we'll be looking at the RPG-7, one of the blind boxed models in Series 2.
The model comes in four pieces and measures 24.5cm long. There are no moving components, and the rocket unfortunately is molded with the front half of the rocket propelled grenade launcher. Not too great if you're childish and love being able to launch your ordinance at things.
The model is fairly detailed, with what constitutes "aging technique" for the aluminum colored parts. The grenade part looks like someone went overboard with the black paint for the crevices. Heavy lining that helps you find the details easily, but looks like it's been drawn with a black sharpie than painted. The wooden rear section isn't really made to look like anything except extruded orange plastic. For $5, it's not a bad model.
The Soldier's rocket launcher in Team Fortress 2 somewhat resembles the RPG-7. The elements are mostly there: two hand grips, wooden rear section, and a conical rear black exhaust port. Unfortunately, no optical sight (the front dust cap is NOT rubber and should not be moved) for the TF2 rocket launcher.
If you're looking for an RPG-7, there's a version out there packaged with the Resident Evil 5 Chris Redfield figure. Haven't seen it in person, but I'm certain it's probably sturdier for play than this one would be. Product images so far show a lot better quality in terms of paint, and similar build quality. The ZACCA version needs some adhesive to keep the rear part on securely. I had to apply Loc-tite around the circumference of the interface to thicken the part.
Overall Meaningless Scores and Stats
Price per unit:
MSRP: $5
Price shipped: ~$10
Competing prices: Hot Toys' Chris Redfield figure, ~$140. Expect figure scalpers to be selling the RPG-7 separately for somewhere around $12-$16, if they for some reason decide to.
Build quality:
If you're looking for an RPG-7, there's a version out there packaged with the Resident Evil 5 Chris Redfield figure. Haven't seen it in person, but I'm certain it's probably sturdier for play than this one would be. Product images so far show a lot better quality in terms of paint, and similar build quality. The ZACCA version needs some adhesive to keep the rear part on securely. I had to apply Loc-tite around the circumference of the interface to thicken the part.
I would be confident dropping this off a bookcase, since there's very few delicate components. 7/10.
Overall:
You have two options for getting a 1:6 scale RPG-7: ZACCA or Hot Toys. You're not going to be buying the Hot Toys version en-masse at the price of $140+. You're forced to buy the ZACCA model, but it's pretty good and sturdy for posing and play. How sturdy is it? Enough to go outside and do some shooting.
"Boys, I see the signs of a BLU base! We must attack at once and crush the enemy!"
"A Pepsi plant? Sweet! Now that's what I'm talking about!"
"Charge!"
"We must stop that BLU cart from getting past this point, boys!"
"This is my street! You are not welcome in my street... Hmmm. Maybe you are welcome in my street. I'm going to get going now."
The model comes in four pieces and measures 24.5cm long. There are no moving components, and the rocket unfortunately is molded with the front half of the rocket propelled grenade launcher. Not too great if you're childish and love being able to launch your ordinance at things.
The model is fairly detailed, with what constitutes "aging technique" for the aluminum colored parts. The grenade part looks like someone went overboard with the black paint for the crevices. Heavy lining that helps you find the details easily, but looks like it's been drawn with a black sharpie than painted. The wooden rear section isn't really made to look like anything except extruded orange plastic. For $5, it's not a bad model.
The Soldier's rocket launcher in Team Fortress 2 somewhat resembles the RPG-7. The elements are mostly there: two hand grips, wooden rear section, and a conical rear black exhaust port. Unfortunately, no optical sight (the front dust cap is NOT rubber and should not be moved) for the TF2 rocket launcher.If you're looking for an RPG-7, there's a version out there packaged with the Resident Evil 5 Chris Redfield figure. Haven't seen it in person, but I'm certain it's probably sturdier for play than this one would be. Product images so far show a lot better quality in terms of paint, and similar build quality. The ZACCA version needs some adhesive to keep the rear part on securely. I had to apply Loc-tite around the circumference of the interface to thicken the part.
Overall Meaningless Scores and Stats
Price per unit:
MSRP: $5
Price shipped: ~$10
Competing prices: Hot Toys' Chris Redfield figure, ~$140. Expect figure scalpers to be selling the RPG-7 separately for somewhere around $12-$16, if they for some reason decide to.
Build quality:
If you're looking for an RPG-7, there's a version out there packaged with the Resident Evil 5 Chris Redfield figure. Haven't seen it in person, but I'm certain it's probably sturdier for play than this one would be. Product images so far show a lot better quality in terms of paint, and similar build quality. The ZACCA version needs some adhesive to keep the rear part on securely. I had to apply Loc-tite around the circumference of the interface to thicken the part.
I would be confident dropping this off a bookcase, since there's very few delicate components. 7/10.
Overall:
You have two options for getting a 1:6 scale RPG-7: ZACCA or Hot Toys. You're not going to be buying the Hot Toys version en-masse at the price of $140+. You're forced to buy the ZACCA model, but it's pretty good and sturdy for posing and play. How sturdy is it? Enough to go outside and do some shooting.
"Boys, I see the signs of a BLU base! We must attack at once and crush the enemy!"
"A Pepsi plant? Sweet! Now that's what I'm talking about!"
"Charge!"
"We must stop that BLU cart from getting past this point, boys!"
"This is my street! You are not welcome in my street... Hmmm. Maybe you are welcome in my street. I'm going to get going now."Sunday, June 14, 2009
RED Team Goes Treasure Hunting
J.Norad presents: RED team goes treasure hunting: because I can't be bothered to.
RED team had set up camp near the local garden. Just to be safe, they've put up a sentry to protect their haul.
Sniper sets up shop. "I think his mate saw me..."
"EUUUAHHHH..." BOOM. Headshot.
I crush puny little men at local store and steal their itty bitty treasure!
"With this, we can fire Sasha for 2 seconds!"
RED team had set up camp near the local garden. Just to be safe, they've put up a sentry to protect their haul.
Sniper sets up shop. "I think his mate saw me..."
"EUUUAHHHH..." BOOM. Headshot.
I crush puny little men at local store and steal their itty bitty treasure!
"With this, we can fire Sasha for 2 seconds!"Thursday, May 07, 2009
J.Norad Is The Worst Doctor Ever
You've probably seen enough Team Fortress 2 Medic Etiquette posts on miscellaneous blogs. You've seen the usual stuff like:
Someone's got to teach your team some manners.
But you probably weren't warned about this happening to you if you violated those rules:
Medic is traitor to team!
- Don't spam for "medic!" over and over and over...
- Don't steal a burning medic's health kit
- Don't monopolize the medic's time
- Don't lead the medic to certain death and expect him to come after you
- Don't microphone spam because J.Norad's too busy listening to Bee Gees to hear you, etc. etc.
Someone's got to teach your team some manners.But you probably weren't warned about this happening to you if you violated those rules:
Medic is traitor to team!For those of you who are staring at this pic for five minutes not seeing what's wrong, here's a summary:
(Medic + enemy spy + voice chat teamwork + assisted backstab on same teammate)x4 = domination on your own teammate.
J.Norad will be back with the regular post content next week. Until then, happy griefing!
(Medic + enemy spy + voice chat teamwork + assisted backstab on same teammate)x4 = domination on your own teammate.
(Yes, dominations also work on your own team. They'll be VERY unhappy 0nce they find out what you're doing.)
That'll teach that heavy to steal your medkit. And as a bonus, healing your spy friend makes him look more legitimate, thereby making it easier to lead him to your target. Remember kids, just because you and your friend are on opposite teams, it doesn't mean you can't help each other out.J.Norad will be back with the regular post content next week. Until then, happy griefing!
Monday, January 19, 2009
A Long Overdue Medic Update
When you do something for the first time, usually it tends to suck. Most of the people who look at the stuff I make tend to not have the capability to do what I can do, and I think they are afraid to point out the flaws for two main reasons:
1) They can't challenge the result, fearing the dreaded, childish reply of "let's see YOU do better".
2) They don't know what to compare it to.
Personally, I welcome criticism, as I tend to not see some flaws right away, and like to know others actually see what I see as "obvious problems". Positive feedback doesn't do a lot of good when you're trying to improve. Anyways, to get back on point, the first Team Fortress 2 doll I created was the Medic. I've made a total of 6 head sculpts in my entire life out of clay before this:
Man, it looked terrible to me after I noticed what I did wrong. I've wanted to redo the head now that I have a better idea on doing these sculpts and what I did wrong. Let's look at the old head, and the new and improved replacement Medic head!
First off, the replacement one gets the glasses since he's now the "official" head I'll be using. It'll help for you to validate point #2 I made previously about not being able to compare it with the reference later. As you can tell, the new head is smaller, as I made the first one at roughly 120% the size. We have a reduced nose, more of a scowl, less beady eyes, and thicker eyebrows.
What the second one really improves on is the little details. The hair isn't flat anymore, but has a little curl as it should be. There's more pronounced cheekbones and facial lines. The main goal for me was to scale the head down to the right size; all these other changes resulted from reanalyzing the source material. Speaking of such, sculpting a head requires more than the basic three views needed for an engineering drawing. It needs quite a lot of views, actually.
This image compiles as many relevant shots of the head as I needed to complete the head sculpt. Side, front, top, along with some angled shots. The problem with sculpting the head for me was the fact that I can't easily see the flaws til after I paint the head. The shadows become more pronounced, and I can see what parts were done badly (eyes, nose, and those ridiculously pain do to ears...). Maybe the 11th time around, I'll figure out how to resolve that issue. Until then, I'll have to figure out where to store these extra heads. The wine glass on my desk is very crowded.
We're going to need a bigger glass.
1) They can't challenge the result, fearing the dreaded, childish reply of "let's see YOU do better".
2) They don't know what to compare it to.
Personally, I welcome criticism, as I tend to not see some flaws right away, and like to know others actually see what I see as "obvious problems". Positive feedback doesn't do a lot of good when you're trying to improve. Anyways, to get back on point, the first Team Fortress 2 doll I created was the Medic. I've made a total of 6 head sculpts in my entire life out of clay before this:
- My BC Calculus teacher, done with kneaded eraser (done during the class period)
- My AP Physics teacher, also done with kneaded eraser (also done during the class period)
- Two characters from the TV series "South Park" in grade school
- Two characters from the Japanese anime "Dragonball Z" out of some really weird clay during grade school
Man, it looked terrible to me after I noticed what I did wrong. I've wanted to redo the head now that I have a better idea on doing these sculpts and what I did wrong. Let's look at the old head, and the new and improved replacement Medic head!
First off, the replacement one gets the glasses since he's now the "official" head I'll be using. It'll help for you to validate point #2 I made previously about not being able to compare it with the reference later. As you can tell, the new head is smaller, as I made the first one at roughly 120% the size. We have a reduced nose, more of a scowl, less beady eyes, and thicker eyebrows.
What the second one really improves on is the little details. The hair isn't flat anymore, but has a little curl as it should be. There's more pronounced cheekbones and facial lines. The main goal for me was to scale the head down to the right size; all these other changes resulted from reanalyzing the source material. Speaking of such, sculpting a head requires more than the basic three views needed for an engineering drawing. It needs quite a lot of views, actually.
This image compiles as many relevant shots of the head as I needed to complete the head sculpt. Side, front, top, along with some angled shots. The problem with sculpting the head for me was the fact that I can't easily see the flaws til after I paint the head. The shadows become more pronounced, and I can see what parts were done badly (eyes, nose, and those ridiculously pain do to ears...). Maybe the 11th time around, I'll figure out how to resolve that issue. Until then, I'll have to figure out where to store these extra heads. The wine glass on my desk is very crowded.
We're going to need a bigger glass.Tuesday, December 30, 2008
TF2 Level 3 Sentry Gun Paper Model Reference Dump
Behold the glory that is my handiwork. I present the unpainted Team Fortress 2 Level 3 Sentry Gun paper model. It's not papercraft, since that involves a simpler method of cutting and gluing tabs and whatnot to form the object. I've taken liberties of utilizing unorthodox methods and materials to achieve this.I do, however, have the eight sheets of plans and diagrams I used to construct this. Here they are, presented in no special order. These eight sheets, along with a few images of the sentry gun, are all I used to build this. No CAD or game model rips involved.
Page 1 (References the construction of the rear, angled leg struts)
Page 2 (References the parts borrowed from the two source sentry models)
Page 3 (Calculations of strut length, angle of attachment, and angle of orientation)
Page 4 (Minigun assembly)
Page 5 (Preliminary draft of part dimensions)
Page 6 (Turret design and support shaft)
Page 7 (Ammo housing and support struts)
Page 8 (Preliminary draft for front and rear leg; rocket cross section)
There's a few parts that I have not documented since they were made on the fly. The front leg struts to the center shaft, wires, electrical plate, and miscellaneous decorative fasteners are unknown. These can be provided on request.
I'll be documenting individual components in detail over the course of the next few weeks, highlighting various construction decisions used. Many of the applications here can be useful for future project reference.
Monday, December 29, 2008
This (last) Week(end)'s Project: Building a Sentry Gun
It has been about 5-6 days after starting construction of the Team Fortress 2 Level 3 Sentry Gun. I've consumed a total of 38 Magic: the Gathering cards (which I've finished all the structural aspects with) and about 10-20 sheets of 110lb Cardstock (I've lost count). I've also used about 17 bamboo skewers. I have reached 8 pages of documentation covering the design and construction of various components. This paper model outclasses the minigun "Sasha" in terms of complexity and weight and outnumbers it in unique components needed for construction. I dare say, it uses more Magic: the Gathering cards to construct than Lia.
This stage currently is missing the following details:
Electrical wires
End caps for holding the rotating minigun barrel assemblies to the housings
Middle redundant feet supports
Rockets (x4)
Ammunition feed belts
Misc decorative fasteners and bolt heads
I'll elaborate on the finer details of the construction after I finish this task. So far, in order to properly assemble the sentry support, I had to glue down parts now. Unfortunately, if I do that now, painting would be difficult to do due to the crevices and small clearances. Therefore, my original plan of leaving it unpainted to show off the materials used in the construction fizzled. Right now, there's a blue wire holding the front legs/support column to the frame. There's a very logical reason for this: the design I've based this off of isn't feasible in real life.
The center support column is composed of a cross shaped piping piece, with two ends feeding into the frame. These parts also conveniently form the pivot for the front legs, which are attached to the middle post by the lower struts. There's nothing holding them to the curved frame, so when weight is applied to the post, it creates a moment on a non fully constrained support, causing slip. Think of a board resting on wall. Apply a load to the top, and the bottom will slide out, causing the ladder to fall. I'll do a proper over-analysis of the sentry design later as well, once the zeal of completing this monstrosity ends.
This stage currently is missing the following details:Electrical wires
End caps for holding the rotating minigun barrel assemblies to the housings
Middle redundant feet supports
Rockets (x4)
Ammunition feed belts
Misc decorative fasteners and bolt heads
I'll elaborate on the finer details of the construction after I finish this task. So far, in order to properly assemble the sentry support, I had to glue down parts now. Unfortunately, if I do that now, painting would be difficult to do due to the crevices and small clearances. Therefore, my original plan of leaving it unpainted to show off the materials used in the construction fizzled. Right now, there's a blue wire holding the front legs/support column to the frame. There's a very logical reason for this: the design I've based this off of isn't feasible in real life.
The center support column is composed of a cross shaped piping piece, with two ends feeding into the frame. These parts also conveniently form the pivot for the front legs, which are attached to the middle post by the lower struts. There's nothing holding them to the curved frame, so when weight is applied to the post, it creates a moment on a non fully constrained support, causing slip. Think of a board resting on wall. Apply a load to the top, and the bottom will slide out, causing the ladder to fall. I'll do a proper over-analysis of the sentry design later as well, once the zeal of completing this monstrosity ends.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
This Week's Project: Buildin' A Sentry!
So far, there have been two papercraft Team Fortress 2 sentry gun models. However, both are level 1 sentries. highwaychile.net's model can be found floating around other sites. raven-age.org's can be found here.
EDIT: highwaychile.net's model is no longer available. -J.Norad
I'll be using both as a reference for the support structure for my level 3 sentry gun model. In theory, it's merely an addition to the pre-existing models, so it'll be easy, no?
I personally liked highwaychile's version more, but both are quite lacking in the extra legs department. For reference, I'm making them in 1:6 scale to the best of my ability, and the other two can be used at 1:6 scale if scaled to 119% of the original size.
For this attempt, I'll be using my staple, the Magic: the Gathering card. I'm attempting some new methods this time that I'd like to comment on. Typically, I've been cutting and gluing each layer one at a time for the sole reason of not being able to cut through eight layers of cards glued together with the consistency of a thin wood board. However, I now have a Dremel rotary cutting tool.
My experiences have mixed results. Using a Dremel's circular cutting disc on a laminated stack of cards causes two severe health hazards. It first off, burns part of the card, creating some smoke and fumes. Second, paper is made from wood, and well, cutting wood makes a lot of sawdust. I ended up with a nice cloud of brown powder everywhere. Cutting the cards works best on the max setting, otherwise, the cutting disc grabs onto the material and starts slowing down.
Finer details were also problematic. I don't have the luxury of having the 1/4" drill accessory, so I had to improvise using the 1/8" drill bit, an X-acto knife, and a lot of stabbing. However, after about eight hours of apathy, here's the results.
Eight layers of Magic cards creates a thickness of roughly 3mm, a fact that I will exploit in designing and constructing individual elements. More progress pictures as they come, and eventually the diagrams for each part will follow.
EDIT: highwaychile.net's model is no longer available. -J.Norad
I'll be using both as a reference for the support structure for my level 3 sentry gun model. In theory, it's merely an addition to the pre-existing models, so it'll be easy, no?I personally liked highwaychile's version more, but both are quite lacking in the extra legs department. For reference, I'm making them in 1:6 scale to the best of my ability, and the other two can be used at 1:6 scale if scaled to 119% of the original size.
For this attempt, I'll be using my staple, the Magic: the Gathering card. I'm attempting some new methods this time that I'd like to comment on. Typically, I've been cutting and gluing each layer one at a time for the sole reason of not being able to cut through eight layers of cards glued together with the consistency of a thin wood board. However, I now have a Dremel rotary cutting tool.
My experiences have mixed results. Using a Dremel's circular cutting disc on a laminated stack of cards causes two severe health hazards. It first off, burns part of the card, creating some smoke and fumes. Second, paper is made from wood, and well, cutting wood makes a lot of sawdust. I ended up with a nice cloud of brown powder everywhere. Cutting the cards works best on the max setting, otherwise, the cutting disc grabs onto the material and starts slowing down.
Finer details were also problematic. I don't have the luxury of having the 1/4" drill accessory, so I had to improvise using the 1/8" drill bit, an X-acto knife, and a lot of stabbing. However, after about eight hours of apathy, here's the results.
Eight layers of Magic cards creates a thickness of roughly 3mm, a fact that I will exploit in designing and constructing individual elements. More progress pictures as they come, and eventually the diagrams for each part will follow.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Meet the Heavy... and Sasha
Amidst all the fun and joy of destroying my hands and lungs making the minigun in one week, I didn't get any pics of the Heavy with the newly painted minigun. I now appreciate keeping this translucent runner I saved from these GUNDAM stands to use as a posing support. Speaking of which, I don't recall ever saying how awesome these things are.
First off, here's the product in question: an "Action Base" made by Ban Dai for displaying GUNDAMs in fun poses. ($9 at my local toy shop, probably $5 online) Why buy these if I have no GUNDAMs? For the ability to do things like this!
What a random sidetrack. Now back to the main purpose of today. Enjoy the Heavy Weapons Guy and his glory.
"We make good team!"
"All of you are babies!"
"Cry some more!"
First off, here's the product in question: an "Action Base" made by Ban Dai for displaying GUNDAMs in fun poses. ($9 at my local toy shop, probably $5 online) Why buy these if I have no GUNDAMs? For the ability to do things like this!
What a random sidetrack. Now back to the main purpose of today. Enjoy the Heavy Weapons Guy and his glory.
"We make good team!"
"All of you are babies!"
"Cry some more!"Sunday, November 09, 2008
1:6 scale Minigun "Sasha" from Team Fortress 2
One paint job and 4 hours of paint thinner fume exposure later, I have the minigun completed. Total time: a little over a week from start to finish.
The Team Fortress 2 minigun, or "Sasha" as it's referred to by the Heavy Weapons Guy, is the most pain in the ass object to make in terms of weapons. The flamethrower had nowhere near as many components as this had. The sheer weight of Sasha rivals that of anything a 12" figure is capable of supporting without forcibly moving their limbs or tipping it over. I'll likely need a special stand for assisting Sasha in poses.
I used a bottle of Flat Black Testors Enamel paint that I had lying around for about four years. Still decent! The quality was a bit thicker than I'd like, and a bit of thinner was needed. The Gunmetal Grey was a bit better despite also being unused for four years. I used some of the Aluminum paint for the silvery part. A recommendation to anyone who decides to try building something like this: paint your parts first. There were way too many small crevices that required a bit of effort to paint when most of it was built.
Here's a sketch of the front profile of the minigun, as traced from the Valve poster. A very handy image to have to work with. I'll finish off with a few more shots of the minigun from different angles to get a sense of the details.
The Team Fortress 2 minigun, or "Sasha" as it's referred to by the Heavy Weapons Guy, is the most pain in the ass object to make in terms of weapons. The flamethrower had nowhere near as many components as this had. The sheer weight of Sasha rivals that of anything a 12" figure is capable of supporting without forcibly moving their limbs or tipping it over. I'll likely need a special stand for assisting Sasha in poses.
I used a bottle of Flat Black Testors Enamel paint that I had lying around for about four years. Still decent! The quality was a bit thicker than I'd like, and a bit of thinner was needed. The Gunmetal Grey was a bit better despite also being unused for four years. I used some of the Aluminum paint for the silvery part. A recommendation to anyone who decides to try building something like this: paint your parts first. There were way too many small crevices that required a bit of effort to paint when most of it was built.
Here's a sketch of the front profile of the minigun, as traced from the Valve poster. A very handy image to have to work with. I'll finish off with a few more shots of the minigun from different angles to get a sense of the details.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
This Week's Project: Re-engineering the Minigun out of cardstock
Following up on a project long abandoned since September, I've decided to try redoing Sasha, the Heavy's minigun. Not quite papercraft, this paper model is properly scaled to the best of my ability this time to be 1:6. Unfortunately, I did not document this model step by step. I however have an archive of sketches and drawings of what was used to get this going. These will be filed away unless people here request them.
First, the reference image used to do this project, taken from VALVe's store.
I'd like to point out a few issues with this image. First, it's really small. Scaling it up to a 1:6 model causes a lot of pixelation problems, thereby making accurate measurements hard. Second, the lower silhouettes are WRONG. The gun is pictured larger than it is relative to the Heavy, thereby causing the 1:5 scale on the first attempt.
Now, with the reference image established, here's a near completion progress image of what has been going on in the past week.
As always, it helps to have some perspective to the size of this thing. Just the job for Hotaru to handle.
Always a sucker for big guns. Now, for some details behind the model itself. The gun is largely 90% 110lb cardstock with Magic: the Gathering cards for the ejection port cover. The barrel also rotates like the predecessor, but has been radically redesigned in construction. How? Let's look at the barrel.
The barrel has been partially separated to reveal the 6mm tube "core" and the 8mm diameter sleeves and array discs. Why use a compound tube system when a single 8mm tube would have been sufficient and lighter, you ask. The answer lies in the ability to align the array discs uniformly and to add structural rigidity to the assembly, as there are more surfaces to contact with glue. Also, the design relied on uniform hole sizes. Rather than make 8mm holes by cutting manually, I made use of a 6.35mm (0.25 in) hole punch. Simpler and uniform results.
Here are the main components for the minigun. The handle was made from laminating 16-20 layers of 110lb cardstock and mitering them to fit at angles. It's a solid piece that weighs as much as a plastic 1:6 scale rifle. The washer element holds the barrel assembly into place, and allows it to rotate. The ammo drum assembly/ barrel housing is largely tubes and little else.
Aside from two box objects made of Magic cards, it's almost all 110lb cardstock tubes. The large drum has a diameter of 64mm. There's a few structural cardboard elements inside to prevent it from collapsing upon improper handling.
First, the reference image used to do this project, taken from VALVe's store.
I'd like to point out a few issues with this image. First, it's really small. Scaling it up to a 1:6 model causes a lot of pixelation problems, thereby making accurate measurements hard. Second, the lower silhouettes are WRONG. The gun is pictured larger than it is relative to the Heavy, thereby causing the 1:5 scale on the first attempt.Now, with the reference image established, here's a near completion progress image of what has been going on in the past week.
As always, it helps to have some perspective to the size of this thing. Just the job for Hotaru to handle.
Always a sucker for big guns. Now, for some details behind the model itself. The gun is largely 90% 110lb cardstock with Magic: the Gathering cards for the ejection port cover. The barrel also rotates like the predecessor, but has been radically redesigned in construction. How? Let's look at the barrel.
The barrel has been partially separated to reveal the 6mm tube "core" and the 8mm diameter sleeves and array discs. Why use a compound tube system when a single 8mm tube would have been sufficient and lighter, you ask. The answer lies in the ability to align the array discs uniformly and to add structural rigidity to the assembly, as there are more surfaces to contact with glue. Also, the design relied on uniform hole sizes. Rather than make 8mm holes by cutting manually, I made use of a 6.35mm (0.25 in) hole punch. Simpler and uniform results.
Here are the main components for the minigun. The handle was made from laminating 16-20 layers of 110lb cardstock and mitering them to fit at angles. It's a solid piece that weighs as much as a plastic 1:6 scale rifle. The washer element holds the barrel assembly into place, and allows it to rotate. The ammo drum assembly/ barrel housing is largely tubes and little else.
Aside from two box objects made of Magic cards, it's almost all 110lb cardstock tubes. The large drum has a diameter of 64mm. There's a few structural cardboard elements inside to prevent it from collapsing upon improper handling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
