Hovercraft M.A.R.C. Z-360 - FINISHED

[CANSO]

Bicycle spoke.....what a great idea !

They are such nice piece of technology! The thread is very fine, the materials are usually very good and their size makes them very useful for supporting or stiffening small objects. And I have so many of them for free (from old, trashed bikes)!

[CANSO]

I didn't have much time to make photos of the latest development, but here are older photos of the elements I've been using to attach the booms to the body (described earlier as "bulbous").
2 diecast choppers from "Dollarama" for $1.25 (both):

I cut the tails/rotors and attached the bodies to tubes from plastic pens:

Because of the sideways positioning the tops of the 2 choppers will be the sides of the 2 "bulbous joints":

The booms described in the previous posts have been attached to the shortened pens and the completed parts are to be attached to the body/fuselage as described.
P.S.
And one of the important details being finalized: The Guns
I started with some toy automatic guns - don't know from what toy exactly (one of the dozens of greebles I keep ):

The metal barrels are tips from ballpoint pens: the tip is glued to the plastic and the back, which is a tube with very thin walls is at the front - they match the scale:

Some fake pearls to represent ball joints (or whatever it could be) on the bottom side:

And at the end black primer+dry metalizer give the gun-metal look. The last photo is approx. 3:1 compared to the original size:

The plan is to attach the paired guns to the belly of the hovercraft so they can be used against enemy AAA.
T.B.C.

[CANSO]

When attaching the booms to the body last night and trying to have the model ready for paint this morning, disaster struck!
I obviously overdid it with the modeling glue. It simply melted the rear ends of the booms. I saved the rest of them by amputating 1/3 of each boom, but some damage still shows:

My immediate action was to create new connection points using some tubes from plastic pens:

Now I must do some "reconstructive plastic surgery" to restore the booms (using bondo, putty etc.), but this will take me more time than I have left. I'm still trying to finish (maybe no sleep tonigh? ), but I need to minimize all remaining operations. Eventually using 1 tone-camo ....

[jalles]

I'm so excited to see how this turns out.  I have a vague idea where you're going, but it's still kind of fuzzy in my head.  I have a feeling it's going to be awesome.

[CANSO]

I have a vague idea where you're going, but it's still kind of fuzzy in my head.

Ha, you're not alone! After the "accident" it's even fuzzier in my head!
But....
I covered the damage!
Decided not to go the "plastic reconstruction" way - no damn' time for waiting the putty to cure and than to sand 1001 times!
Did some emergency Greeblization of the booms, trying to cover as many damaged areas as possible. This came out:


The damage was mostly on the interior side and the exterior faces look so:

P.S.
Have added some more dieselpunk-ish elements to the booms, but that's the end. I have some 25 hours until the end of the GB and the parts are only partially primed!


T.B.C.

[CANSO]

It's 2:30 A.M. here (8:30 GMT I guess). I managed to put almost all parts together and primed them. Main parts (booms and fuselage) are not attached yet. Sprayed the nose cones, cowlings and identification band. Wanted to preshade the whole thing, but need to "refuel" - I can't do it with no sleep. If I finish it tomorrow will be good. If not - there are more days and weeks to come.



T.B.C.

[zenrat]

Don't rush it and spoil it.
It looks pretty amazing and it'd be a shame for it to not achieve it's full potential because of a deadline.

[CANSO]

Don't rush it and spoil it.
It looks pretty amazing and it'd be a shame for it to not achieve it's full potential because of a deadline.

Thank you, Zenrat!
I have absolutely no illusions that I can finish everything in the remaining few hours. Normally such painting alone will take a week maybe. But I want the end product to look completed, even if not all of the finalizing steps (e.g. complete  weathering) were done.
It's 8:40 A.M. Eastern Time here (UTC - 5.00 hr).
T.B.C.

[Weaver]

Don't rush it and spoil it.
It looks pretty amazing and it'd be a shame for it to not achieve it's full potential because of a deadline.

I agree - it's an amazing piece of work (I love 'found object' modelling) and deserves to be done right. 

[Captain Canada]

Is that ever....very inspirational to see all of these bits come together ! Love the metal look of gun.

[CANSO]

Thanks, guys!
Pre-shading (top and bottom) done! A little bit on the speedy side (some drips and irregularities visible), but this all must be covered by the main colours.



T.B.C.

[proditor]

Wow, that is amazing!

The helicopter pods are especially great.

[CANSO]

Model finished 15 min before the end of the time!




3 more hours and I could make some weathering or panel-lining . This is still to come...
More photos in the FINISHED MODELS section.
THE END.

[jalles]

Wow, that's awesome!    It's amazing how such random looking parts can be combined into such a cohesive piece.

[AXU]

Congrats  this is my kind of modeling and I love what you did,great job !!!