4 weeks by cncdivi

Project Collossus in focus…

In my youth I spent hours building precision scale models of various military fighting vehicles from kits made by Tamiya.  They were intricately detailed and I would do everything I could to make them look realistic–right down to weathering them with fancy airbrushed paint jobs. Even so, I was limited to what kits were available to me at the local hobby store.  Today’s modelers not only have the vastly greater selection offered by the Internet, they also have the option to modify or even scratch build kits using 3D printing to create the plastic parts.  The ultimate conclusion of this capability, as realized by a professional miniatures designer, can be found in the Collosus giant miniature tank made by Michael Sng’s Machination Studio.  Sng had been chief product designer of STIFKAS, which has a real cult following, so he knows all about creating miniatures.

This crazy thing is choc-full of details and animation.  It walks with the help of servos, and is fully 3D printed.  Here is a time lapse of it being assembled:

[youtube width=”800″ height=”540″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1QKhqv1dgg[/youtube]

Time lapse of the Colossus assembly…

And here is an overview of the project:

[youtube width=”800″ height=”540″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImHawTtY67o[/youtube]

Project overview…

Over 400 parts had to be 3D printed to create this miniature.  We all know that 3D printed parts typically require a fair amount of post processing before they’re acceptible for a project like this.  Here’s a video Sng made to show his post processing steps.  You can clear see some of the layering on the parts.

[youtube width=”800″ height=”540″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dnPYJw0nTA[/youtube]

Every part gets a “rattle can” base grey coat of paint.  Further painting is done via airbrush with some dry brushing for highlights.

What an amazing project.  I can’t imagine how many hours must have gone into it.

 

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