Saturday 18 February 2012

Movie Time...

I also do animation, perhaps not well, but I do it;)

First up is the Sasquatch Rover, A rugged ATV/Monster truck for realtime 3D - video games etc. This model has been around for a while now and is being put into Orbiter (thanks to my good friend Abhi) and other things.


And finally for now, a short experimental video from a few years back of a dogfight in space, gone wrong - the dogfight, not the animation...

Monday 13 February 2012

Microworldgames.com TEF 6mm Sci fi mini's

Here are the existing models for Microworlds TEF collection, apparently the last few vehicles are nearly ready to be added. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw them because i think they look great, better than I had expected... I would also like to share the wonderful paint jobs that Aaron Dickey applied to them.

I designed the vehicles and infantry myself, and although I'm biased, I think they turned out just great and will be one of the best 6mm fleets out there, thanks of course to Steve Salotti of Microworld who has patiently assembled the people required for production and got the designs out there, I hope they do him proud.

I've reposted my poster image of the fleet so you can see how they turned out compared to the 3d renderings, I think with the great paint job the production mini's look even better than the renderings.

(I'm extra pleased that Aaron chose similar colour scheme for the real models, as it makes it easy to compare)

Alright, I'll stop gushing now... Check them out and buy a set:) 


All the vehicles seen here will shortly be available, currently you can get the jet gunship, the 4 wheel car, the 6 wheel APC, 10 wheel IFV, the motorbike and the infantry guys, click the link below!

Sunday 12 February 2012

El Diablo de la Carretera

The following information is classified and has been leaked from a government insider....


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Currently in use with a black budget task force on the late night highways of the US and Mexico; it's existence is denied by the US Government, it's mission, classified beyond top secret. Never normally seen during daylight, the dark hunched form seen speeding around the border areas has become known as "The Devil of the Highway" and is associated with many burned out car wrecks (which appear to have been pummelled by high powered explosive tipped rounds) and mysterious deaths found in areas where the vehicle is sighted. 


Based on the XMT-168 advanced APC prototype this vehicle is modified for use at high speed on paved roads: It features 6 wheel drive and 6 wheel steering, powered by twin turbo-shaft engines outputting a combined 2000 shaft horsepower. Aerodynamically arranged armour and double rear wheels help keep it on the road, along with a vacuum system (inspired by outlawed Chaparral race cars) that create low pressure areas under the hull around the front and side skirts allowing manuvering that belies its mass - which is minimal through use of composites and high tech materials. The turret has a faceted lenticular shape - similar to an AWACS radar that allows the turret to rotate and cause minimal wind deflection at high speeds. 


To tackle rougher terrain, the vehicle can raise up on its double wishbone suspension and / or detach skirt sections for added clearance, it is also able to fit inside a C-130 transport and compact enough to be practical on a modern road network. The side effect of this is reduced carrying capacity for troops or cargo of its own. Effective Crew is a minimum of 2, typically 3 and provision for carrying a small number of passengers. 

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The model itself is built to be 3D printable and while it's also a scifi concept model its also an experimental test bed for very real world technologies that allow the printing of miniaturised working suspension components, or of course any type of working mechanism.