Star Wars Kitbash AT-ST of the Battlemech variety.
Feb 18, 2020 19:35:04 GMT
Paul B and Snipersmudge like this
Post by alexb on Feb 18, 2020 19:35:04 GMT
I built this for a Bandai Campaign over on Model Geek. I love me some BattleMechs and would love to see some Mech kits from the BattleTech/Mechwarrior setting. I'd eat my veggies for a good Battletech movie franchise. Anyway, kitbash time....and no Ewoks were harmed in the making of this Mech....well maybe a few.
As mentioned, I'll be building Bandai's 1/48 AT-ST...but I'll be converting it to a 1/35 Light Battlemech influenced by the Flea from BattleTech.
The legs are being built OOB and any changes can be made later. I won't describe the leg assembly so I'll jump ahead with the legs assembled and posed next to a 1/35 figure for size comparison. I hate to do that, but it saves from posting 25-30 assembly pics of a kit that should be pretty familiar on these boards (ie. Model Geek). That said, assembly went well. The fit was nice and instructions top knotch...blah, blah, blah. About all I'll change are the prongy foot extensions and remove alot of those hoses.
Now we get to the cockpit, where the bulk of the work takes place. The body tub looks to be good to changeover to accommodate a larger 1/35 figure. I have to admit that I took a gamble of this being able to work in 1/35 scale. I've been lucky on a few builds and things have worked out.
The idea was to place a seat centrally and use the floor pans as foot areas for the left and right feet. The seat is made from styrene stock. I tried to preserve as much of the interior detail as possible. There's a good bit of instrumentation that can be used. The picture probably illustrates it better than I can describe it.
Painted the interior. Even though I'll be hacking it up, I think it would be easier to prepaint now than later. And believe me, alot of this vanishes.
So now the hacking begins. There was a lot of trial and error to work through these cuts. Being snap-together, it was really easy to test stuff and reassemble as needed. Also, the kit is pretty solid and stood up well to all the cutting. The main goal was to change the profile so it didn't look like a Star Wars AT-ST. To me the flat grasshopper face is the biggest stand-out feature. I cut off the chin. There was a large gap between the body and pelvis to begin with and it looked alot worse with the chin removed. So I cut down the mount so the body sits lower to the pelvis.
Another stand-out detail is the pair of cheek mounts. I decided to move those back. I covered over the cheek areas with sheet styrene.
It still needed something else to change that profile so I cut back the body front. The windscreen will be right in front of the pilot. A bit of styrene sheets enclosed the "hood" and tidied up things.
I played with the idea of adding "arms" to mount weapons. Ironically, that was one of the reasons to move the cheek mounts back to the sides. The mock-ups didn't look right proportionally. Being a light mech I shifted to a lighter weapons loadout. The guns are 2cm cannons from Tamiya. I had to tweak one so it was mirrored. Rocket pods are a standard for a mech. The original plan was to have two...one on each side. I couldn't find a second one so I worked up a missile pod from stuff in the spares.
Oh yeah...another thing I added was an extension to the rear. The kit is flat with alot of exposed mechanisms. The extension will stretch the body and cover the rear. I still have to cover the lower section.
You cannot really see him, but the pilot is from the spares. I think it's from a Heller LeClerc kit...which is their usual tanker but with a different helmet. I had to adjust his legs and cut down his rear to fit in the cockpit.
It looks the part and I am generally happy with it. I still have to finish the body rear, make the windscreen, and do the base. I'll use the kit base and maybe add a figure or two to show relative size. I'll have to convert some to look all futuristic. And of course the paint...which I'm still debating on.
It should all be wrapped-up in the next update and include the background story.
As mentioned, I'll be building Bandai's 1/48 AT-ST...but I'll be converting it to a 1/35 Light Battlemech influenced by the Flea from BattleTech.
The legs are being built OOB and any changes can be made later. I won't describe the leg assembly so I'll jump ahead with the legs assembled and posed next to a 1/35 figure for size comparison. I hate to do that, but it saves from posting 25-30 assembly pics of a kit that should be pretty familiar on these boards (ie. Model Geek). That said, assembly went well. The fit was nice and instructions top knotch...blah, blah, blah. About all I'll change are the prongy foot extensions and remove alot of those hoses.
Painted the interior. Even though I'll be hacking it up, I think it would be easier to prepaint now than later. And believe me, alot of this vanishes.
So now the hacking begins. There was a lot of trial and error to work through these cuts. Being snap-together, it was really easy to test stuff and reassemble as needed. Also, the kit is pretty solid and stood up well to all the cutting. The main goal was to change the profile so it didn't look like a Star Wars AT-ST. To me the flat grasshopper face is the biggest stand-out feature. I cut off the chin. There was a large gap between the body and pelvis to begin with and it looked alot worse with the chin removed. So I cut down the mount so the body sits lower to the pelvis.
Another stand-out detail is the pair of cheek mounts. I decided to move those back. I covered over the cheek areas with sheet styrene.
It still needed something else to change that profile so I cut back the body front. The windscreen will be right in front of the pilot. A bit of styrene sheets enclosed the "hood" and tidied up things.
I played with the idea of adding "arms" to mount weapons. Ironically, that was one of the reasons to move the cheek mounts back to the sides. The mock-ups didn't look right proportionally. Being a light mech I shifted to a lighter weapons loadout. The guns are 2cm cannons from Tamiya. I had to tweak one so it was mirrored. Rocket pods are a standard for a mech. The original plan was to have two...one on each side. I couldn't find a second one so I worked up a missile pod from stuff in the spares.
Oh yeah...another thing I added was an extension to the rear. The kit is flat with alot of exposed mechanisms. The extension will stretch the body and cover the rear. I still have to cover the lower section.
You cannot really see him, but the pilot is from the spares. I think it's from a Heller LeClerc kit...which is their usual tanker but with a different helmet. I had to adjust his legs and cut down his rear to fit in the cockpit.
It looks the part and I am generally happy with it. I still have to finish the body rear, make the windscreen, and do the base. I'll use the kit base and maybe add a figure or two to show relative size. I'll have to convert some to look all futuristic. And of course the paint...which I'm still debating on.
It should all be wrapped-up in the next update and include the background story.
.
, still very much on my to-do list..........just getting hold of them is the prob 
