T-51b Power Armor build (Fallout) [FINISHED]

daishi

Well-Known Member
Yeah the re-breather hoses and pipes were an absolute nightmare. The big hoses looked really bad no matter how I tried them, so I ended up getting out some paint and and painted it over thickly :p I'm not very good at painting stuff and this is not my greatest work but a definite improvement over how it looked before. Sorry I can't find the pictures of for some reason :(

The brown hoses are made using a wire base with a layer of paper padding and the printed paper glued on top of that without using any flaps. Now those came out lovely.

And with this the helmet is finished. Took me most of my vacation (...and playing trought the new Deus Ex ...) but now only the Gatling laser and the hands remain... So many many small parts my eyes hurt just from thinking about it :D
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daishi

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Started on the Gatling laser in earnest now. The barrels were done some time ago when I had to take a break from building the torso ... you know... to prevent me from "accidentally" setting the thing on fire :p
That motor/transformer thingy took a LOT of time, lots of heatsinks and other gizmos on it.
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zathros

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Excellent work, that Helmet is a work of beauty. :)
 

daishi

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I got really busy lately with work and some other stuff, but this weekend I finally could continue with my build.
I worked on the Gatling laser main body and the handle. It has a lot of tiny boxes and it's a bit annoying to build with the many screws and bolts, so progress is slow.
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zathros

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Daishi, I so look forward to seeing it's completion. The parts are excellent! :)
 

Gandolf50

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Very VERY nice!!! the addition of the mirror sticker really made a difference! I am impressed with your ability to corral all of the "tiny bits" that are produced when using Pepakura, so was wondering..do you first modify the 3d file to help eliminate as much as possible, breaking the 3d file into parts and the like? I have worked with it for a long time and still have to fight with it to gather all the parts back together " as much as possible" so that they are not a ton of tiny triangles scattered all over the pages!!
 

daishi

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Very VERY nice!!! the addition of the mirror sticker really made a difference! I am impressed with your ability to corral all of the "tiny bits" that are produced when using Pepakura, so was wondering..do you first modify the 3d file to help eliminate as much as possible, breaking the 3d file into parts and the like? I have worked with it for a long time and still have to fight with it to gather all the parts back together " as much as possible" so that they are not a ton of tiny triangles scattered all over the pages!!
Thx! I actually do all of that when making a template:
- First I load up the model in a 3D editor and simplify as much as I can. If needed I also pose the model during this.
- I usually move the separate parts like pauldrons, pipes hands, armor plates, whatnot to the sides so I can get at the things underneath later.
- Do an automatic quadrapulate on the model, because Pepakura usually freaks out if a polygon has more than 4 sides.
- Transfer the model to Pepakura. If the model is high on the polycount, I usually put separate parts to separate files. (If I made any internal/cross section parts those go to a separate file as well)
- I set up cutting edges on most the parts beforehand using the cut tool in Pepakura, but don't bother with some of the small details ... at least not before unfolding. This is why I move separate parts to the side otherwise it's hard to set the cuts, or see what you are doing in general. (Also CTRL+W is my most used hotkey in Pepakura, as it changes the camera focus point)
- When I'm satisfied the cuts I let Pepakura unfold. The part layout is ofc. horrible so I usually dump the whole thing outside the pages (top left corner).
- After that I go through the model and rearrange the parts more or less in the build order I imagine would work. I pick a random part move it to the page area and using join/separate edges tool to "pull in" all parts that will be needed. (You know clicking on an edge with the tool will pull in the part and join the 2, another click and they will separate but both remain in more or less the same place. Also the red line will help you determine which part will be pulled, so if its already on the pages area somewhere you can skip it.)
- Final step is arranging the glue flaps, because it's very rare that me and Pepakura are in an agreement where they should be :p

Yeah that's about my template making workflow. (I'm also experimenting with retopologizing parts/models instead of simplifying existing ones but haven't built anything from such a template to date. Pepakura bits should stay the same, but I expect I'd have to do some map transfers to the new geometry before transferring the models to Pepakura)
 
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zathros

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Normally, I'm not a fan of Pepakura models, but you have really brought this one to life. Excellent!
 

Gandolf50

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I follow you..will have to try that on something simple..as at the moment I have one I may try it on...kind of avoided quad in the past as the poly count would sky-rocket..never really thought or rather/ avoided breaking the file into various chunks...but since I see it can be done, as you manage it...then I will give it a try!!:)
 

zathros

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That's why I work with Rhino, not polygons!! No Triangles!! Also, if you need too, you can design a real Barn, like I did when I made mine, a real boat, car parts, real ones. Most of what I do with Rhino is in the real world. Rhino3d will print 1:1 and give you alignment marks to align the pages, so you can build full size templates for shipbuilding, etc. The learning curve always makes learning new design/CAD programs seem not worth it, something I understand well.
 

daishi

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Another update on the Gatling laser, finally its starting to look like the "real" thing. The piping will be the main weight-bearer for the weapon once the model will grip it, so I made sure it will stay in shape by using a wire base for it.
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The wires were just placed in their places without gluing and after putting them in position I used paper strips impregnated with superglue to harden the joins. After that I detached the whole "side" and applied 2 layers of plain paper and some paint. The side parts were only glued in their places after the red side panels were attached.
 
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daishi

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Installed the guts of the Gatling laser inside it's cage. some small stuff still remains, but I'm getting there. Also did some dry brushing with silver paint. It looks good on the GLaser but I think I won't be doing it on the armor itself after all. (Sorry. I forgot to take pics during the assembly T_T )
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daishi

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Hello! I'm baaack :)

Had been busy with other stuff for a while again but it was time to continue the build:
I have (finally!) finished the Gatling Laser with the yellow wires, some rivets, and the fusion core receiver assembled.
Also put together one of the hands. Looks really good IMHO.
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Oh and also did the silver dry brushing on the armor came out really well on some places, and so-so on others. but overall I'm quite satisfied with the results.
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daishi

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It's done !!! Finally!

I'm quite satisfied with this one to be honest. Had some hairy moments this last stretch. Mainly because the weapon was really heavy: First the magnets couldn't hold it up, aaand after I operated some more iron and magnets into the wrists the whole model was front heavy, and the foot assembly started to give out. So some impregnating + reinforcing was much needed. Also had to amputate the right heel part and put some lead into it. but after that no probs to maintain stability. So you know ... the usual. :)

The Gatling laser is detachable (together with the hands), so is the helmet. Both are held in place with magnets.
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OK the pictures are really bad ... like really really bad, so I'll shoot some decent ones tomorrow, or the day after. .... So stay tuned for a decent(ish) gallery later. :p
 
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