1/100 Hangar Lift Truck

Since this is my blog, I can start a sentence as if we were having a conversation you were a part of (even though that's not the case) and you can do nothing about it but read it and choke on my grammar!  Hahaha!  This was a project of mine from a few months ago, and it's a to scale hangar lift truck for my Dio-Ready Hangar.  I am in the process of casting it right now, or at least making a cast of it right now.  I may have to re-tool the resin cast to get a smoother one, since the prototype I had 3D printed isn't the best material for casting.  I first made this design on Sketchup a few months ago like I said, and I had it printed by www.shapeways.com in a their White Detail UV Curable Plastic.  Here is my 3D design and some pics of the print.

I didn't add the lift arm onto this part as I wanted to make that by hand because it's really supposed to be able to move for my movie production, and
I can always cast the arm in a static pose to sell as part of the kit.  I have since made the lift arm, but it still needs a few tweaks to make it good enough for me, but it is basically done.  Here is the actual truck after I got it back from Shapeways.

 

 

By the way the part cost me about $65 I think, I can't really remember, but I think it was worth it.  The problem with all the models I get printed is that there is usually a rough texture to certain parts of the piece where I don't want them, usually because the printers can't clean and smooth the whole model due to the details.  Not their fault, but mine to clean up.  Also the wheels were somewhat flattened in the model because I shrunk the model down vertically.  I shrunk the wheels unintentionally, but it does just kinda make them look like tires that are bearing a heavy load.  I cleaned them up some also with an Xacto blade.  The circular platform in the back is where the lift arm goes.  It looks like this with the arm on.

Forgive the somewhat old photo, the mecha in the photo that the lift is next to is the Drehksturm in an early phase, it has since been much updated and almost finished.  I cut it out of the photo because of this and it's distracting.  Yeah this Lift Truck project has been on hold for a little while, and since I couldn't think of what to do while waiting for my silicone for the Dio-Ready Hangar, and my Drehkstrum Rifle is being printed, I needed to do something with my time. 

The mold is curing right now for the Lift Truck, and should be ready by tomorrow morning, though I won't be able to make a cast until later tomorrow night after work.  I will also try out something new when I make the first cast; adding pigment to the urethane resin.  I'm using a hair of black pigment, adding it to the white resin to make a gray part.  I think it's neat and if I learn to use the pigment quickly and efficiently, I may add it to all my casts I sell, to help give people an idea of suggested color schemes.  Although this is just gray, it's mainly to just try coloring the resin.  My lift truck will be yellow when it's done.  I'm really hoping that this mold I made will turn out good models, but there is a chance I will have to make another mold just because the 3D printed prototype gave me a ton of trouble with the painting process.  Probably just because I used lacquer gloss coat instead of just continuing to use prime coat, but it did make some parts of the model a bit messier than I wanted.  So again I may have to take a resin copy and smooth it out and make another mold to make the part worthy to be sold.  I will make a mold of the lift arm soon, after I clean it up and add a little more detail.  If you have read this far, you are a trooper and I salute you!  I just wanted to post this so that I can do a follow up after the mold is done.  Wish me luck!