Glimse into my workshop

New bench built. Allot of stuff to get into a small space still in the process of tidying every thing up. The walls are crooked and two brick piers each corner which complicates things. The car when its in the garage comes within 30cm of the bench.

I didn't want to loose any of my big items which meant moving my drill press and ditching my old bench to make something that would fit it and house my compressor underneath. I also didn't want anything to trip/catch my knees or feet so no central legs. Everything I importance was scaled into a 3D model for a cm perfect fit because I need to maximise the use of this modest space.

4.5x4.5cm framing with hidden bracing, screwed/glued and secured to both walls
2.5cm MDF top cut to fit flush
Frames is set back 2cm from the top
Shelf set back 4.5cm into the frame

I plan to revisit the middle shelf and partition it adding a set of 2 draws to the right side. Draws juts take a long time to make so its a project for a less hectic time. Also going to go back and smooth edges to save catching myself on them. I need to add a MDF top the the drill press cabinet, it needs to come out any way to have the draws cleaned (metal shavings from previous owner) and come concrete snots chip off the floor wall that's stopping the cabinet from butting up flush

If you're wondering what I do for bigger projects, the car goes outside and I use this Folding Table. It packs away nicely, light weight but strong, not too bouncy and you can screw into it. Cheap enough to not cry if it gets wrecked. Had mine 2 years great for casting, spray painting, can put my chop saw on it and outside messy jobs.

MWO Hunchback 1/60 scale

As Austin Geiger guessed correctly I'm working on the Hunchback from MWO most of making it solid has been done. Then its a case of making it work as an articulated real world model this includes adding joints fixing clipping issues.

The hunchback is fairly rare in how much varieted it looks I considering the best way to design the model and how swapping the humps will work. I think I will run into issues with hitting the articulation in the shoulder while getting a clean fit I can't really see how until all the parts are cleaned and solid to see the common shared elements. The SRM6 variant posed a 2nd issue with the mirrored hump it has to be able to affix without leaving a trace and the game model keeps the rear barrel at the back clips the vents. It might be the case that I make a torso solely for the SRM6 variant otherwise I'll be too many compromises but will see there might be a way I haven't seen.

Above the model broken down into its sub sections (scale version on the right hand side for reference). Everything has been made 'a solid' bar the humps and the forearm. Odd lines, broken mesh and such referencing marks for fit I add/leave them when I start and they get deleted once everything is finalized.

I haven't really shared any pictures of my workshop its a dual purpose space where I cast and also keep my classic car. The space isn't the greatness but it has to do till my house extensions is built and I'll gain a good deal of space and be able to divide the shop from the garage. Any way for the time being with the arrival of new machine I have to optimize the garages lay out which means ditching my current workbench and build a bespoke solution that houses the new machine, keeps as main of my other items (compressor, drill press, under bench storage) my dust extractor and bench sander will have to find new place to live for now. Below is a scale mock up to help me make 100% use of the space.

Going keep playing with it see if I can steal a bit more space some where. As you can see its a small space and the marked rectangle on the floor is where the car comes too (I move it outside when I need the shop space and its rented out over the winter). Either way I have to make it by this Thursday.

Something new

So I thought I would bring you guys up to speed. I sank a lot of time into the leopard and it was almost there but it required a huge amount of effort more than I imagined to surface finish it. It started me thinking there's got to be a better way to get parts perfect parts and not priced to volume. So I did some digging and long story short I found something went and had a demo and bought it (it should arrived Thursday).


It should produce ready to cast parts but requires careful design which some times become mind boggling. What does this mean well I'm going to scrap the SLS printed leopard and remake it on this machine (plus a little bigger and redesigned some parts. There's work to be done on the 3d model to get it fit for this machine to make but until I get the software its hard to know where the changes need to be made. I'll bring you some updated when its up and running (I have to build a bench for it and move some stuff from the workshop)

What I don't want to sit idle so I've used this down time t crack on with the next model below is the biceps made solid with some added details to the cylinders (cylinders are easier to finish now before everything is made into a solid) 




Any experts want to hazard a guess what mech this is from?

A little extra

I don't always have time to get stuck into some of the jobs, so in one of those lulls I decided to put the Air strike aerospace fighter, gave it a quick once over to make it printable.

There we have the Lighting G15 aerospace fighter. It not super detailed but at TT scale there's enough there to make it worthy. Which will means the dropship comes with a lance of MWO mechs and a Wing of MWO aerospace fighters

Bay lighting Mk2 - LED

The LED's arrived they work with the controller I bought for the EL wire #joy.

Sorry the picture is a bit Heath Robinson. Lack of connectors arriving (pet hate 'direct from china' sellers on eBay circumventing 'uk only' filter) meant I had to hold the wires with my fingers whilst operating the camera in low light.

The LED's weren't over bright in fact on the dim side for just one to light each side. I'll probably run 4 LEDs one each end that should give enough light the bays in the day light. I think I will also incorporate the cables as part fo the detailing (add brass bindings, draped from the roof and painted with the bay.)

Work getting the the dropship ready for casting is progressing. I've finished cleaning up 95% of the rough edges (I'm sure I'll find a few more as I continue). I'm on to the snag list of items, things that either need to be added or patched (missing window frames, re-enforcing bits that are too thin for casting, door jams etc)

Once that's done it'll give it a good clean, a coat of primer (to check for faults) and then a final seal coat. Then its on to making mould boxes, moulds and casting.

EL wire was a bust :/ back to LED's

I had high hopes for EL wire but it seems its a bust its orange wire but it glows white and emits only a dim light ho hum (as you can see from the photo) Bonus Atlas for mech bay scale a couple of mm to spare but with the door on he'll have to duck

I bought some orange LED's (I believe they will work with the EL wire controller) they were a few quid we'll see tomorrow how they turn out. If not them I'll have to pum for the more expensive kits from the model shops.

lost Jan some of Feb, But have a plan for lighting the Mechbay!

Blah blah poor me realworld hickups skip of you like 

tl:dr "got sick, did dick (all)";

So due to catching flu, then flu again turning into chest infection then a headcold basically had me in bed ridden with fever for the majority of the new year #joy. So zero progress made which really galls me because its this time of year the garage is empty (because I lone my car out to an events company) and turn the whole space into a workshop but it (should there be an Sh in front of that?) happens when you have young children.

Baring any more plague progress will continue from today.

Back to the model. I found a new way of doing something i was humming and erring about. I really like the idea of atmospheric lighting in the bay that you see in the MWO intro and alien movies the classic orange flashing lights when the bay doors open.

As a model painting purest I believe if you going to paint a model its cutting corners and say use plastic/glass say for a lens if kinda like painting portrait and then because eyes are hard cutting a pair out of a photo and stick them on. Some times it looks great but I look at the best model painters and they are so well accomplished they can fool you eyes into believe some is really when its just a clever application of paint and that's something I aspire too.

So its something I try to avoid. That said the leopard is and interesting case it has an internal space that's dark so it actually needs to be lit with light so you can see inside. Now to the point I was looking at using 2 orange LEDs (one for each side), single battery, and switch you can buy LEDs that flash

The plan was:

• to solder all these together 
• drill a deep compartment into the underneath bow of the ship to house the battery 
• Mount the switch to a plate 
• Use the plate to cover the hole with 2 small screws
• do something to diffuse the LED

But all this cost a bit i didn't know how often the battery would need to be changed and electrical soldering isn't something I've done a lot off and lasting LED's tend to emit focused spots of light but I wanted ambient glow.

Now the other day a friend liked a lego space ship and what was most interesting to me was the way the guy lit his hanger bay using Electroluminescent wire. This stuff seems it will deliver the same leap forward as LED did 10years ago for lighting

Most people seem to be using it for fashion and the tron look. For me its hopefully a great way to light my mech bay. EL wire comes as a far moreplug and play package;

• Prewired connectors
• Controller battery in one, and offered in different sizes and choice of lighting modes 
• best of all you can cut the EL wire down (this means i can adjust the light out)

I bought this x2 set up and I'm waiting for it arrive hopefully it lives up to the hype.

 The controller is tiny 4.3cm x 2.1cm x 0.9cm the wire is 10cm of EL + the cable bit.

 With this I plan to;

• Drill a cable hole to the mech bay from the underside of the bow to the top of the bay
• Since the controller is so mirco small I will just make a recess deep enough for it to nestle out of sight underside of the bow.
• Feed the cables up and into the bay
• Cut channel for the cables so they sit flush in the roof
• Seat the EL wire and cut to a length where the light emitted is just enough to light the bay softly not dazzle.

This should leave me with a controller that I can easily swap the battery on or replace if it breaks. A choice of off, constant or flashing. Diffused soft light that fills the bay but still lets you see all the details inside.

bah-a-la-la-la

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