Bronco WIP

I have been making a lot of progress with my Bronco lately. Since I last posted I have upgraded motor, servo, and wheels/tires. After a few outings I have got the suspension pretty stable with the stock shocks. I Put small springs on the shaft inside of the shock to keep them from unloading on inclines and sending it over backwards. This also helped with the center of gravity a bit as it lowered the ride height. I weighted the front wheels with lead which also helps with inclines and side-hilling.

With the truck driving great I decided to start this project down the road to a "scale" truck. I found some great photos at ClassicBroncos.com and came up with a plan.
I am doing a factory half cab, detailed bed, and a full interior. I started with the bed and half cab. I am almost finished with the bed and the half cab turned out great.

From Wheely King

Once I finish the bed I am going to start on the cab. I am looking forward to getting the seats in so I can start sculpting a driver. I have added a lot of pictures to the web album, check it out!

Bronco Crawling, Sheep Cave

I took my WK Bronco with me camping this weekend and had a chance to drive it at Meremac State Park. I only got to drive it through one battery pack but I had a blast! I will definitely be putting some new shoes on it, the stock tires are great for mud but when it comes to crawling they don't have what it takes. I will also be upgrading to stronger shocks, you'll see why in the pics.

First up I have a short video, it is short because I broke a rear lock-out about 5 mins into the battery pack. The lock outs keep the rear wheels parallel. Near the end of the video the passenger side rear wheel starts turning... which makes it hard to go straight.



I fixed the lock out and ran it until I destroyed the rear end... Here are pictures of the carnage.
















All in all I had a lot of fun, I have put it back together and the body is mounted with velcro now. While I save for shocks and tires I will be working on the interior and bed. I am also going to make a roll cage from steel brake line tubing.

STAY TUNED!!!

Test Drive Photos

The title says it all.

From Wheely King

Click The Link! New Photos!

Ready for Meramec State Park

I have been trying to get the truck drivable and the paint finished by the weekend and I, yes I Dratch have completed a project ahead of schedule! I have even done some test runs on some rocks near my apartment. I had to make some collars for the rear shock bodies, to stiffen the springs. This helps with body roll a lot. I may weight down the front wheels before the trip, other than that I'm ready to scout new trails and take some awesome video/photos of the truck in action!

He's a couple bench shots, hopefully the wont be too much carnage this weekend.

Dratch's Garage

Here are some photos of my current project. It is a 1/10 scale rc rock crawler. The truck started as a HPI Wheely King, I have extended the wheelbase, reversed the chassis( for better weight balance) and am currently working on the body. I am making a bed and under body from sheet aluminum and will soon build a scale chassis/tube frame for it. If you click on the photos it will take you to my web album for this project.


This is the paint about half way through the paint job. The body is clear lexan.I masked the windows, grill and fenders and it was ready for paint. I painted the inside with Parma Beige and used a q-tip to wipe the paint off the high spots and side panels, once I had a well worn look to the "primer" I took off the grill masking and sprayed the whole inside with Parma Faspearl Silver. With the fenders unmasked I sprayed the whole inside with Fasblack. The next step is to lay down a few coats of Pactra Competition Orange on the outside, paint the roof white, and the fenders flat black then beat the hell out of it. Once it gets some good scratches and wear spots on it the worn primer and bare metal will show through the damaged areas.

Here are some photos of the parts I am fabricating. Clicking on the photos will take you to full sized images.

The bed

Steering servo mount

Floor Pan/Under body

Moria Revisited

With the progress on my prowlers coming along nicely (I'll have new pics up soon) I have decided to give a little tlc to my Moria army. Most of these figures have been in my army since first edition, and they show the scars of years of battle. I am going to repaint the army as well as sculpt new bases for a lot of the figures. I have started with one of the most important pieces of the army, the Moria Goblin Drum.

I am almost finished with the bases, and will be repainting the figures soon. I used the resin skull pieces from a Warhammer Hero basing kit, Apoxie Sculpt, a few pieces of slate, and fine slate rubble to create the bases. The drum sits on a base covered with skulls and the drummers have bone piles on their bases. The resin bone piles have a orc skull on them that is rather large and out of place on a Lord of the Rings base. I filed the skull down and plan to sculpt it into a cave troll skull.

WIP: Goblin Prowlers

I am blending the skin on my prowlers tonight, here is a pic of the progress on one.

From Goblin Prowler

WIP: Moria Prowlers

I made good progress tonight, I sculpted 3 more prowlers tonight and got paint on all 4. I have updated the web album, check it out!

From Goblin Prowler

Well Met, Thorhak

Dratch's Workshop welcomes Thorhak Oakenshield to the team. Thorhak is a good friend of mine, we have been pushing these toy soldiers for a long time now. He is a book when it comes to LOTR history and he can hold his own on the battle field. I have had the honor of playing along side him at Adepticon '07 and '08, and against him in countless battles. Thorhak, this Bud's for you man, have fun in the shop.

WIP: Goblin Prowler

I put a layer of paint on my Alpha Prowler tonight, he is coming along nicely. The web album has been updated, check it out.

From Goblin Prowler

WIP: Saruman Revisited

Here's my progress so far tonight. I have been working on the face and hands, and have almost finished the robes. I still have to do the hair and staff.

From Sarumon Revis...

Whats On The Bench?

Tonight I am paying some much needed attention to my old Saruman figure. He is beaten and worn from years of play and the time has come to repaint him. I decided not to strip the old paint off, I just washed the figure and started blending. In this photo I have blended his robes on the left side, I will be updating this web album as I go.

From Sarumon Revis...

Samwise and Bill the Pony

This is one of my earlier figures. I painted Sam and Bill in '04, it was one of my best works at the time. I keep this one on my desk for inspiration.

From Samwise and Bill

WIP: Easterling Battle Company

From Easterling Ba...

WIP: Moria Goblin Prowler

I learned one thing at Adepticon this year, I like throwing weapons. Every Goblin I fielded came armed with one, and they did as much damage with them as they did in hand to hand combat. GW currently only offers Prowlers with 2 handed weapons, so if you want to field them with shield or bow you have to convert the normal goblins or use them as a proxy. I decided to convert mine. Here are some pics of my progress so far, I call him Alpha.I have sculpted a hood and mask on the figure using apoxie sculpt.
4/19 Painting Base coats, album update later this evening.

From Goblin Prowler