Sunday, February 16, 2014

Scratch Built Goblin Chariot Part 2

More work on the gobbo chariot. As I worked, I learned the repercussions of going about a project in an ad-hoc fashion as I tend to do. While I made sketches and designs and pondered long for many hours, once the glue and blades meet plastic, one finds that things just aren't as easy as expected.



The old saying that goes "No plan survives contact with the enemy" is pretty much the rule to keep in mind when you're scratch building. I read lots of blogs with exhaustive pictures and plans, and while I'm sure some people are far more organized than I am, I expect that they also had much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands that happened off-camera. Some of my favorite blogs are those that go into detail about not only what they did, but what they did wrong. I find that just as valuable - perhaps more so. 

Anyway, on with the progress.

I spent a good long while trying to figure out the best way to glue the sides and front to the base of the chariot. I had cut guide channels and used some plastic strip to provide a surface on which to glue, but it didn't all line up quite as well as I'd hoped. I considered flipping the panels around and putting them on backwards, but then I didn't think it would leave enough space for the crew. I ended up just going with it as planned, and I will add various bits and gubbins to cover up the gaps (like maybe a banner pole and extra shields.



I assembled the chariot axle and I thought it was a good length that gave me a little slack when I mocked everything up with white-tac. But once I got it all together, I found that the axle was a little short, if anything. Now that the side panels were glued on, they stuck out farther than expected and hit the wheels. This gave me an opportunity to play with my new rod stock cutting jig, about which I will post later in the week. I cut an extra bit of round tube to compensate, which made the wheels match each other anyway. I also used some orc spear tips as wheel blades. Looks great, I think and very orcy (gobliny?).


So with it all assembled, I couldn't wait to stick some wolf riders in it to get a sense for how it will look (see above). I am really quite pleased with it so far. The next step will be to work on the yoke for the wolves, so I placed it on a chariot base to get an idea of how long that needed to be and I found this situation.


Bah. No plan survives contact with the chariot base. The way I see it, I have two options. I can put some rocks or something on the base that stick out and the wheels can perch on that. Or, I could expand the base and make it a three wolf chariot. That has a certain appeal, although it will require modifying my original idea for the wolves. However, I think if what I have in mind works, it will look very unique. Maybe I can even use the model for a character as it will be quite large at that point.

I'm going out today to get the wolves (hopefully - the local GW store has been out for a while) so if I can get them, that should help me decide.


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