Centurion Mecha

[mangozac]

Well for the sake of posting an update I figured I'd throw up a sketch of my plans for the seating arrangement in the cockpit. The pilot will be sitting in a weird bent-leg position; for no other reason than I thought it was something different

As usual, nothing about the sketch is concrete: I simply use it to confirm graphically the direction of how things are forming in my mind. Note that the cockpit itself will be cylindrical (or probably more polygonal) in shape. I cut out the seat frame tonight and hopefully will start fleshing out the rest of the cockpit over the rest of the week (I'm still pretty sidetracked with progress on my SAW buildup).

[Kennui]

I can imagine blood flow being a problem for their legs. Why not cut off their legs?

Anything with the sculpt? you said a week to go about 2 weeks ago.

[mangozac]

The basic form sculpt is done and I moulded it on the weekend. I've done a couple of casts and have mutilated one into the pose required for the cockpit, so I guess you'll see it when I start taking pics of the actual cockpit progress. Being not much more than an armature with a face there's really not that much to see...

As for cutting off circulation, the legs aren't actually supporting the body; they're just relaxed in that position

[Arkangel]

I've posted in the kit finds but here it is an update from me, Scibor commonly know as the Polish Casting Sculpting Guys who are beating FW at their own game have come up with this:


http://sciborminiatures.com/en_,shop.ph ... din_01.jpg

So Zac there's clearly market out their mate

[mangozac]

Sure is! I'd better pull my finger out and get on with it then!


... so I guess now is as good a time as any for an update!

As you can see from the following pics, the pilot's seat is slowly taking shape. I had a go at the padding last night and while it looks OK, I feel like I can do a better job (including doing the "sewing" seam a different way). As is the whole padding is still a bit chunky looking.

The pilot is a resin cast of a blank sculpted by Wereweevil on WAU. Once the cockpit is done he will pose a new blank and then sculpt the clothing and detail to suit.

For detailing the cockpit I will need to do a heap of brass etch parts, including some mesh grating for the floor, tread grip (not checkerplate) for the pieces that the feet will rest on, and a heap of gauges and control buttons. I'm going for a similar feel to a fighter jet cockpit in terms of the control styling. So tonight I'll draw up the various brass etch bits and then hopefully get them etched the following night.

[Vaaish]

this seems rather painful for long operations the way the pilot is situated.

[mangozac]

Yeah maybe, I'm just going for something different. I figured it would be similar to this kind of thing:



Of course I'm open to alternative suggestions...

[Vaaish]

perhaps allowing the legs to bend a bit rather than locking the up in that position? Having a bit of freedom would help with cutting off the blood flow and cramping up the feet I think. Comfort and having the feet in a position to operate controls might be part of the driving force behind why most cockpits feature couches with the feet extended rather than bent back.

[mangozac]

You know I really can't argue with you and the more I look at it the more I'm unhappy with how it has turned out. So I'll be starting again on the cockpit, with a more conventional seating style

[blind pig]

Cool.
I don't like that pose a more conventional pose will recieve a better reception from potential buyers.

[Deadmeat30]

What about like riding a super bike? That kind of position. And also the pilot loads from the rear of torso.

[mangozac]

[blind pig]

[mangozac]

All good points (particularly about bitchy gamers)

What do you think about going with the motorbike style so the pilot would be leaning forward then? The reason I didn't initially do it that way is because there's nothing to strap the pilot in. Then again, in Evangelion the Evas do some pretty wild acrobatics with absolutely nothing holding the pilots in place!

Ultimately though to suit the overall style of the mecha so far I think the more conventional cockpit is going to be most appropriate.

[geomod]

Hi Mangozac,

As another fan of the eva units, remember that the cocpits of the EVAs are filled with fluid which acts as a shock absorber and oxygen source.

I was reading this thread and thinking that the pilot would need a belt/strap to prevent them falling forward if the mech stops suddenly and their legs are behind them.

In a regular seated position, they could brace with their legs.

Just my 2c

Cheers,

Geomod