Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Titan WIP

[The Blackadder]

Yeah that's what my wife says, "My prose is too prolix."

[The Blackadder]

A poor showing this week I'm afraid, my real job workload was staggering but I did manage to rebuild the front of the knee joint (Why does it look like a marshmallow Easter peep?) and add a lot of basic detail.

God this will be detail heavy I'm up over a pound for each leg and half the detail isn't installed.

I'm taking a crash course on fiber optics and will be incorporating it in this and the Thunderhawk


http://i.imgur.com/GLg6l.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/EcUce.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/lFLrX.jpg

[The Blackadder]

It's time to address the most baffling component of this project, namely what the outrageously long hydraulic cylinder is for running down the calf of the leg?

It appears in the epic model as well as the DS construct but I can fathom no applicable purpose. The quadrant gear in the ankle provides the step motion and that is supplemented by the small cylinders attached to the heel which mimic the function of the Achilles tendon. Were the cylinder attached upper leg behind the knee it would serve as the calf muscle but it doesn't attach there anyway it looks very interesting so I am including it in my construct complete with superfluous safety guard rails so people twenty feet off the ground don't lose an arm in the massive hydraulic piston.

As it is right now each of these legs are as complex as anything I have built with the exception of Lucie's pedal appendages and they are about only half detailed. Surprisingly my enthusiasm has not flagged.

http://i.imgur.com/ySHyN.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/opJp9.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/OBj8D.jpg

[minion of the custard god]

spectacular thus far.....more more.

[Eternus]

Is this thing gonna be able to stand up when it's done? I mean due to the fact that it is both top heavy, and it's overall weight?

[The Blackadder]

It will lose a bit in the shock and awe value if it just lies on the battleboard so I'm building it in hopes that it will be able to stand. I have some ideas as to how to make the upper works lightly build but still convey the look of a massive towering vehicle.

Whether I succeed is still a matter of conjecture.

Just another bit before I put this aside for the weekend. The detail is progressing nicely although what these devices actually do is a mystery. but they do look intricate and that is the look I am going for.

http://i.imgur.com/TSHHq.jpg


Tomorrow the main lower leg cylinders; that should be fun.

[The Blackadder]

First let me apologize for such a tawdry post but I figured there are those that might benefit from an image from the beginning of the construction. The waist block is probably the most important structure in the whole model. Not only must it bear the weight of the structure above but it must transfer that weight to the movable legs and sustain that transfer for the conceivable future (At least until The Blackadder has shuffled off this mortal coil.)

You will note that the structure is grossly undersized as it is about 5 cm square. This is intentional. You can always add girth, subtracting is more difficult. tomorrow I shall apply my solution to the articulation problem; i.e. a workable material that will sustain the pressure of the upper works and still be small enough to remain within scale.

In addition the thigh detail is coming along nicely (IMHO)

http://i.imgur.com/ndbbS.jpg

[The Blackadder]

I found these marvelous 'Tee' fittings that are just perfect to supply the fore to aft swing of the hip joint. They take a nice 1/4 -20 thread and are strong enough to support the weight of the model without being too cumbersome. I was going to go with copper tube 'Tee' fittings filled with epoxy and drilled and tapped but these are better as they are machined perfect and the tap self centers when cutting the thread.

Now some readers of this may baulk at the employment of these tools but they are easy to use and readily available at the local 'Home Depot' or 'Lowes' and a cheap 'T' handle and tap set is adequate for modeling purposes. I happen to have a fairly good machinist set but that quality is not necessary.

http://i.imgur.com/X28BG.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/823ZR.jpg

[The Blackadder]

Today I worked on the pelvic mechanism which needs a bit of revising. Even though it works just as I wanted the sphere halves need to be undercut to fit the 'Tee' fittings thereby retreating further into the pelvic block. Therefore I need to mount the 'Tees' further outboard so they will be visible and allow for a great range of motion.

http://i.imgur.com/kiq1U.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/LjIlP.jpg

[The Blackadder]

It strikes me that this model is insufficiently complex.

Just kidding but over the weekend I received a query on another forum as to whether I was going to include an interior to the cockpit. I had alway intended to make the cockpit interior but it got me to thinking about my regrets when building the Lucie Warhound; namely no interior whatsoever. So...........

I threw together a front view of the compartments this weekend just so I could get a feel for how the various areas might be arranged.

Surprisingly it all fits and each compartment has about an 11 ft ceiling.

My dementia is serving me well.

Naturally the cockpit will be forward of the bridge and is not represented in this diagram.

http://i.imgur.com/eJxy0.jpg