72 Bumblebee Junkcraft

Build 13/8-13/10 2006

The core is a large flash-shaped "girder" supposedly salvaged from a huge craft

Intro: Build for the Junkcraft contest on CSF

Goals:

• Build a craft looking like it has been made out of parts salvaged from other crafts.
• Make it look slightly messy, but still coherent and realistic.
• Build it around a large lightning-shaped structural element from SHIP-sized craft to achieve
  1) grittyness and
  2) coherence.

Everything is clasped or pinned to the flash shaped core

Process:

• 13/8-06: Started, framework designed, reactor ball mounted.
• 14/8-06: Cockpit started and armored
• 20/8-06: 1st version of engine pod
• 21/8-06: 2nd version of engine pod, 1st version of large beam for engine pods, landing gear and hoses updated.
• 30/9-06: Cockpit finished, gun finished
• 13/10-06: Cockpit interiour

Open reactor area made slightly messy with hoses to achieve a nice "scrapyard"-feel.

Links/background:

A craft by Mike Yoder (mryoder) starts the whole junker-inspiration (unfortunately taken down later), Bekr suggest a Reaver-contest, but the idea develops towards the more generic “Junk”-contest:

26/10 2006: Contest rules on Flickr.

27/10 2006: Contest announced on CSF. 

17/12 2006: Discussion about what makes a good junkship on CSF.

23/12 2006: The Bumblebee get announced in this thread on CSF.

2/1 2007: Deadline

Extra armor added to the wimpy Jack Stone windshield to enhance the badass-feel so it'll look like it can take quite a beating when defending the scrapyard.
Notice the slightly asymmetric configuration: the cockpit is moved a bit to the left, and the opposite podbeam is lengthened slightly to move the gun closer to the center of the flight vector.

Extra large engines and solid beam to lift the whole lot: the gritty feel...

"Clamps" added to both cockpit and reactor to enhance the home-made look

The feeding tube for the gun is mounted on the other side of the reactor and turned all the way round to allow for some movement and poseablity of the gun.

It's really hard to make a good landing gear when you have no interiour, still it folds up quite nicely in front of the reactor.
The ball stays in place despite it having no lateral support.

The armour plating can move aside so the "soft" cockpit inside can be reached... unfortunately the next picture with the cockpit open were really fuzzy :-(

Another shot of the central beam... and no more pictures

Wait... there's another one.
I really like these engines - am working on the "real" craft they're coming from.