Wooden Wars: Robots, Tesla, and fun with Electricity!

"Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas."

~ Field Marshal I. Rommel

This time around we'll look at the progress on the Queen Victoria's Robot Wars line of models. The prototypes are really great to work / play with.  Prototyping really let's me expand on ideas, see where things fit and don't fit, both aesthetically and from an engineering standpoint. For instance, the evolution of the QVRW arm poses and other options meant the length of the bases had to expand by 5mm so that arms didn't overlap no matter how they were placed. As these troops are more "modern" than my Napoleonic models, having them more spread out made sense.  And, with the amount of fire power in the way of rubber balls,  the butcher's bill will still always be paid in full. 

The Queens own! On this model I glued the goggles to his helmet.

Back view showing off breathing apparatus. I've changed this
In the next rev to have dual hoses going up the middle.

Side by side Robot and Human infantry sprues.

Variations on a theme. Human infantry with Robot parts.

QVRW01 - Human infantry:

The mainstay of Her Majesty's troops are human, as represented by this fellow sporting his Martini-and-Tesla model 1899 repeating rifle.  I've made the goggles and facemask individual parts that can be glued on or not to taste.

After building the two I had, I decided that I did not like the silhouette of the backpack so much with the regulator coming over the left shoulder, so I redesigned it to attach to a piece at the back of the neck, and changed the mask tubes to match. Much cleaner. 

Robot build out variants with Human in the middle.

WIP Robots: left is NMM, right is all metallics.

QVRW03 - Robotic infantry:

Another jewel in the crown of  the Queen is her Automaton arm of the service. Here we have the "robotic" infantry used in hostile places like Venus, as well as the home world colonies. Unfortunately, spies working for Baron Bomburst and nefarious notables of other noble nations have gotten the plans to these metal men and have started producing armies of their own.

These models make me smile. I love the grenadier variation. The prototypes here don't have all the areas between the legs and left arm cut out, which, when done, will really help sell the shape.   So far the biggest challenge with these guys is trying to figure out just how I want to paint them. I'm experimenting with actual metallic paints, and a non-metallic metallic style, or NMM.  

I was hoping metallics would be faster, but so far, not the case.

 The jury is still out, but I am finding that I don't like the way the metallic picks up on the wood grain so much. I also thought it would be faster, but in fact I have to put just as much work into it as it is still just a flat surface and doesn't have the shape or definition to catch the light, as one would find on a regular 28mm figure.

Human for scale purposes only, not food.

The sprue: note center head section and detailed right leg.

Steel dragoon WIP. Doing this guy in NMM.

QVRW05 - Steel Dragoon Mount:

Robot dinosaurs.  "'Nuff said" 

This lad is being worked on with NMM style.  Take a look at the sprue and notice the center piece for the head. The curve matches the "knob" on the neck model and allows for you to have some pivot up and down for variation. I should have the prototype for the rider soon, and hope that the saddle will fit perfectly on this beasty!

Electricity!:

As I prepare for the arrival of my laser cutting machine, my workspace is now wired with 220 lines. I was at first going to go with converters, but after talking with an electrician friend, putting in the 220 lines cost a bit more than the converters but will be a cheaper and cleaner power draw in the long run. The things one learns. 

That's all for this week. Next time  I will have more painted stuff, and (hopefully) art for the Tesla gun crew.