How To Turn a Tank Into A Mech- The War Wagon Kitbash

H oh hey y'all I'm having a bit of an issue today see I was trying to watch like one of my favorite films the big leasi cuz like when I do commentary and like rewatch my video I like to have something going on the side that I could take a break from and you know me I'm the all into that Nostalgia stuff and uh the warm tape sounds or whatever and um for some reason this tape just won't play like it'll play but the head is spinning like really slow and it won't track and then it doesn't want to eject I'm trying to see if like maybe there's a spring might be or like not really sure I mean you'd think after this many years you know 30 years of life 15 or more of them spent missing with VCRs and watching movies on VCRs that I would have an idea of how to figure this out but it's still a mystery to me how you get video and sound out of a piece of tape like I get it yeah I know how it works like the head's slanted and it reads and it's got trackers on the tape and everything and it transfers that data like analog but like I understand digital way better than I do this but I don't know like okay here let let's just you you come see come see all right here we go so T tape tape's going in and I can see the tape is like a bit cricked oh well and what the heck now now it's playing but it's not tracking very well so maybe it's just a fluke huh okay well let's eject it and see if it is a fluke okay stops what the hell all right hang on okay now I'm just upset so you're telling me that like this whole I mean could it be like the 20-year-old Blockbuster tape I don't know to play is human to rewind is divine all right so hang on to make sure it's not just the VCR it could be the tape it might have just been the tape honestly I it could have just you know been kind of crinkled up or something been off track just a little and every time the head went to like read it it couldn't uh but just to make sure we'll go ahead and throw in one of my other favorite movies and and see if that's the case so uh come on let's let's see tape's going in [Music] all the latest teolog I'm just about we've made living biological attraction so astounding that they capture the imagination of the entire planet so what are you thinking we're out of a job don't you mean extinct I don't know but what I do know is now I just want to sit here and watch Jurassic Park and not do any commentary but anyways whatever let's get on to the [Music] video so I was at the hobby store a couple months ago and I seen this m41 walker bulldog and I was like oh sweet look at that Vietnam era tank I like I would love to build that I've never actually like put a model kit together you know and so I took it home and I was like oh cool I'm going to put this together and like I'm going to try to be like super nice and fine with it and like leave no glue residue or anything anywhere and I'll start with the turret because it looks like the coolest piece of equipment on the entire model and you know and and I should have known better you know I should have known that I wasn't just going to put this simple model kit together and it be a tank all on its own uh I had I had other plans for it I thought well I could easily turn this into like a giant gun on like a walking Mech or something like that but to challenge myself I'll stick to the amount of detail that's already in this model and I'll use as many pieces from the kit that I can along with some scratch bashing and and a little bit of trash bashing to make a Mech like oh yeah that'll work great and honestly I mean look at the amount of precise tiny little details in this turret alone there's no way this will be like a super big job or take a lot of time and unfortunately it was and my first challenge was figuring out how to mount this onto the body and the Second Challenge offside to that was the body itself I figured I would use use the bottom part of the tank and cut it in half and stand it vertical and I would build off that that would at least give me a base and I could go from there now I'm definitely no stranger to cheap Chinese plastic and some of the best Chinese plastic is these little bubbles right here they usually come with a slime hand in them or some kind of fake toy or earring or something like that that gets lost on the way home regardless they make for really good cockpits or domes or see-through glass or anything that you would need round and I've used it as a cockpit before on my junker spaceship so I figured well why not you know it kind of fits the aesthetic of my world but I figured we glue this to the body and we'd move on to maybe sticking a pilot in there now I don't have any fancy resin printer or anything like that I just have an old cheap fdm printer but at super fine quality printing at about 25 minutes It produced this little guy which I got as a free download off of Colts 3D now his posture is not right and he's packing and some heat but I figured with a little bit of modification some super glue this might actually go a long way and considering the fact that it' be inside the cockpit you wouldn't really have to worry about too many of the details anyways and putting a lot of work into tiny little details that won't ever be seen again is literally the highlight of this entire video pretty much the whole build [Music] honestly and with a little bit of grooming and trying to delete some of these layer lines it actually turned out pretty okay all that we need to do is find the correct position to put him in and build him a little seat and I couldn't really find the right bits of trash to throw in here to make a seat so I figured hey the perfect time to pull out some of that good old styrene [Music] now if you're not hard a styrene it comes in all different shapes and sizes it's one of the most allround building materials out there especially when it comes to model makers and you can fuse it together with some weld Bond of course I've heard some Crafters say that but over here we like to use good oldfashioned 99 cent super glue and with a little bit of baking soda and a whole lot of super glue a good bong can go a long way on on a thin piece of styring we'll add a little bit of paneling in the back of the cockpit and throw on some wires underneath to give some form of Illusion like this is some kind of analog control platform a couple little detail pieces from the model kit [Music] itself and let us not forget this display control panel which I completely forgot to film oh and also this little digital display that nobody's ever going to see again and wow we have something that looks like something isn't it incredible for the legs I figured I'd use this piece of Tonka truck crane that my son doesn't play with anymore I mean what do we do with the old toys that our kids don't play with anymore do we throw away and suffocate Plankton and all our friends down at Bikini Bottom when it ends up in the ocean or do we turn it into model kits and pieces of grownup Lego bits that we can stick together with glue and make into something [Music] else personally I feel like my own type of Super Dad when I upcycle old toys instead of giving it to Goodwill in which some other kid might find some joy out of it that' just be insane I braided some Armature wire and then used my hand drill to drill holes through the legs so that I can give it a little bit of rigid structure and then it could stand up on its own this also was the easiest way to get the two bits of legs to go together without trying to find some horrible piece of plastic that wouldn't hold up in the long run then I pulled out some scrapwood and broke out the drill press and then placed this monstrosity on its toes then I used my custom M Hammer to beat the Armature wire flat on the bottom of the basee so that it would stay in place and ain't this Hammer just Nifty I I had this made like requested from a blacksmith how cool is that I mean it's just like perfect in every way shape and form and it's made out of a railroad spike how neat I just love [Music] craftsmanship now another big challenge for me with this build was how to mount the turret to the body and out of a billion different ways that you could probably come up with the mount this I opted to elevate it above the body cuz I thought a shoulder mounted turret would be pretty freaking cool I used this tiny little bulb thing that I don't remember where it came from and Glu some wires on it to carry that auxiliary cable look onward throughout the build and note to self when trying to reinforce hot glue bonds with super glue wait until the hot glue is dried completely and cool down because it releases some kind of toxic gas that burns your eyeballs I learned that the hard way like every time and somehow still forget and as I mount the turret you're going to notice some wires and some weird bits coming off the end of the barrel and that's because I tried to put one of those little LED filaments in it out of like an LED light bulb but I completely fell because I don't think the voltage was right for the LED filament that I had so I to just throw in a tiny little LED in the cockpit and then some later on which you'll see in just a minute now I've been saving these two little Vape containers for a very long time and actually I've used one previously in a build where I made terrain for the same world you know it's the RSG one it was the little control gate thingy um not really sure what you would call that I guess I could Google it but um that would take time away from doing this and definitely don't want to do that but anyways you know we're just looking for shapes people that's pretty much all we're doing and you know with a little bit of sawing and some sanding you can make anything look like anything and then you attach some of these things that people curl their hair with and all of a sudden you have something that looks [Music] Industrial I figured I'd take all these bits and Bobs that you see before you and I attach them all together in some kind of form or fashion to make some details for the inside of the engine which was a complete waste of time because you don't see them and you'll never see them only I will see them but they're there anyways for what I like to call Hidden content or maybe Easter eggs I mean I guess you could call this an Easter egg because it's hidden within the thing you know that's an Easter egg right [Music] regardless it's a lot of fun to put these tiny little details in these pieces together and then you add them to something bigger you do that enough times and then you eventually have something that creates a grand scale or maybe that's not the right word I'm not sure what the word is that I'm looking for but it it's gonna it's G to you know adding a bunch of details to things is going to give it some sort of scale and the smaller the things you add to it the larger your scale is going to [Music] look I'm going to pack some tinf into the bottom of these things so that my LEDs reflect a little bit better and it gives them more life then I'm going to use these little bits of styrene to act as vents on the side after all you know what they say about art it's all about the form where is that dancing I don't know I can't keep up with it anymore all these modern day terms and all these sophisticated scientific things I'm just I'm just going to give [Music] up anyways a little bit of testing of my LEDs to make sure I didn't completely mess it up [Music] somewhere oh wow the circuit actually works and they don't look too bad either I actually hijacked these out those little tea candle lights that you can get it like the dollar store with the little coin batteries in the bottom of them they're really cheap makes for good flickering effects too if you need them for like lamps or fire or whatever then we'll stick it in place and move on to the arm for the arm I really wanted to make an appendage with some bandage so I opted to go the bead bot route now I'm pretty sure there's some English guy across the pond that made this kind of famous and does it a lot better than me and if you honestly need a tutorial go check him out his name is Bill making stuff or something like that but a lot of Crafters have done this so far they kind of adopted it and uh it's a really easy way to make robot parts and uh yeah it's pretty simple just some Armature wire and then slide your beads on and then a little bit of superg glue to keep it in place and then you can use all kinds of bits and Bobs and dangly things to dress it up and make it look like not beads which is kind of the whole goal in the first place and it's really a cheap solution to making like Bots too like you can buy like a whole pack of beads at the dollar store for like a buck or even less sometimes and you can find like Granny's mason jars full of buttons and bits and bobs all day at the yard cell or you know Goodwill or whatever uh those some some reason but like a bunch of mamals like to collect beads and buttons I don't know my mom does it so yeah that's kind of where I get that reference from now I truly love all the details they put into this model I mean honestly it's insane how detailed this thing is and with gbly after we put all the armor plating on that's what we're going to Aspire to do I cut a ping pong ball in half and use some spray foam to adhere this to the bottom of his legs to act as his boots and then I used two halves of that Easter egg I was talking about earlier to make the top half of the boot I used some cheap paper straws that I picked up at the dollar store and some stirring straws to add some details inside the leg that you'd never see again and then I use some EVA foam and some small wires to make a belt to cover that gap between the Torso to kind of transition to the waistline a little bit better this is where you can kind of go nuts with grebles you can use almost anything you can find and make it into something that you want to look at or you want to see you have to really use your imagination and pick out a whole bunch of trash out of the garbage that just has in shapes the tiny bits are always fun to find I use some 2mm EVA foam to make some armor plating cover up these naked noodles he calls legs an EVA foam is really cheap you can find it at like every dollar store around the world it comes in all different colors and sizes it's really fun to work with you you can score it Mar it Scorch it burn it you can melt it you can take a little tool like I have here a little clay tool and you could score into it or you can cut it and you can heat it up with a blow dryer or heat gun and it'll actually open the cells up a little bit more and make that more defined detail but I use my clay sculpting tool to make different panel lines and then I use the needle point on it to make tiny little rivets to kind of go with the little Riv that were on the model [Music] kit now I'll be it adding this much detail to this thing and trying to match the detail that was on the kit is a little bit painstaking and agonizing but it actually gives me time to indulge in my creative thoughts and look at things in different perspectives kind of like their scale and the detail that just random things have in them in general like for the bottom of the waistline I wanted to make like a blast plate to catch flak and other things from hitting sensitive components on the mech and so I used a little bit of EVA foam and this cheap poker chip that I have and I cut it in half and just a little bit more detailing it actually came out looking really [Music] nice I used a bit more EVA foam and did the back side and it almost came out just like a little Samurai like a little little Japanese but I really liked it I wasn't trying to go for that aesthetic but it's just kind of what we came across in The Happening of [Music] it [Music] now originally these pegs were meant for putting the wheels and the tracks on the tank uh but I had a better idea with a little bit of help from some styrene and some bits out of my bit [Music] box then I could probably assemble myself a decent looking rocket pack I used those same paper straws I was talking about earlier and cut those to a portional size and these black bits are the Caps off those cheap super glue containers I get from the dollar store I've kept them around for a long time hoping to use them for something I filled that tube with hot glue and then stuck a bigger tube over top of it and then use these little orange cap thingies that I can't remember where they came from and put them on the back to act as like some kind of radio blast cap or something like that I repeated that a few more times then I adhered them to my piece of styring and then used a couple match sticks to separate the [Music] salvos once I got all the missiles in place I then wrap some EVA foam around the edge of it to act as some straps to hold them in place then I attached them to the main body of the [Music] mech now my mom gave me a whole bag of these thread spoils so I took one and I decided to use it so I added a couple of those cheap poker chips to the side of it and attached it to the back of the mech to cover this big old Gap but also act as a fuel tank then I moved on to detailing the arm I used some more of that EVA foam my clay sculpting tool to add some details and plated it all the way up his arm I added a few more bits out of the model kit including that 50 galiber machine gun to keep that aesthetic going and then I'd found an earring making kit at the hobby store and it was fairly cheap so I figured I'd grab it just in case there was some cool bits in there that I could use and I ended up taking some of those and a little bit of wire and this tiny little chain and making a grappling hook to attach to the side I wrapped the chain around another one of those thread spoils and glued it to the mech and I think it turned out pretty okay considering that the amount of detail I had put into this thing at this point I had to take the crafting hat off for a little bit and put on the painting cap because I had a little bit of painting to do on the interior of this thing before I could add the final details and seal the cockpit so I painted the miniature pilot up real quick and then dry brush the inside of the cockpit even though you wouldn't see it I wanted to have it there just in case a little bit of the light from the LED gleamed off of some of the parts inside [Music] I put our little pet in place and sealed everything up nice and tight and moved on to the final details I'd be adding to the [Music] me I wrapped some EVA foam around the missile pack to cover up the gaps and hide some of the ugly seams and then I made a little tarp out of some EVA foam and rolled it up and glued it to the top of the Torso to cover that ugly seam and then I made this little equipment rack out of some styrene some EVA foam and some wooden stir sticks and I attached it to the other side of the body and then I used a little bit more styrene and made this Hood which I then use the butane torch and my xacto knife to give it a little bit of battle [Music] damage after that I grabbed a few more pieces out of the model Kip and went all the way around the mech adding just a little bit more detail here and there to finish everything up and add the final athetics to the whole thing I turned over to the base one last time where I grabbed some foam core board that you can buy pretty cheap at any Dollar Store Dollar Tree Mighty Dollar anywhere like that it's usually about a buck or so and you get a pretty fair square of it and you can make easy terrain out of it it's also impressionable so you can use like a clay sculpting tool or an xacto knife and make marks in it kind of like I did here I made bricks [Music] I threw on a little bit of broken up sticks and some little gravel and some Basalt to add a little bit more fine detail but before I move on to the painting I figured it pretty smart to give you a little bit of context about my [Music] world I've decided to call it Gemini and it's said about 550 years in the future the short story that I've written for this Mech and what you're about to hear comes from the perspective of one of the last Farmers on the planet before Earth wasn't habitable [Music] anymore journal in April 12th 2053 I stand among the remnants of what was once the Wells Family Farm a desolate Testament to the last decade of Earth the air thick with the scent of Decay and Desperation tells a story of irreversible degradation these hands calloused by years of coax and life from the soul can no longer find purchase in the poison ground there was a time when the skies painted promise and each Breeze whispered Tales of Bountiful Harvest now the Horizon wears scars Ed by our insatiable hunger for power these fields once vibrant with life Li Ashen and baren they reflection of the Decay within my own bones in the distance Starship Gemini looms a colossal Arc destined for the stars I Samy Wells am but a spectator in the Final Act of Earth's tragic play I've witnessed the unchecked pollution The Vanishing water streams the slow Suffocation of our once pure air a narrative unfolding not just in the environment but in the very essence of our Humanity faces past me reflecting a mixture of Hope and sorrow boarding the vessel that marks their Exodus I understand they yearning for a new beginning among the Stars yet for me this land scarred and battered is home I shall bear witness to its last breath a silent Guardian as the Gemini takes flight journal entry June 5th 2053 fear is a bitter companion as I watch The Horizon darken with ominous Silhouettes Union drop ships descend like vultures upon a dying Earth these bring with them colossal walking mechs towering over the scorched landscape at almost 20 ft tall the air trembles with their descent a ballet of Destruction the Union infantry spills out like spilled ink a Relentless tide accompanying these mechanical behemoths their mission whispered among the ruins is as merciless as the machines themselves gather the remnants of sustenance seize control the last droplets of water and leave nothing but ashes in their wake the war wagon a monstrous Mech patrolling this region cast its ominous Shadows over the landscape its pilot known by the call sign gorilla 3 is a faceless enforcer of the Union's will they begun burning homes and executing thousands branding des senters and traitors fear courses through my veins I tear not just for my safety but the fragile existence of my family tonight I locked eyes with the war wagon from the Shadows my heart pounding in sink with the Relentless footsteps that shake the Earth the air is thick with the stench of burning dreams and the metallic taste of imminent Doom my hands that once brought life now tremble with an unsettling awareness journal entry October 18th 2053 the Earth trembles beneath the w of an ominous exchange nuclear warheads lighting the skies and a cataclysmic dance of Destruction a deafening silence follows broken only by The Echoes of a Dying World journal entry December 19th 2053 as my hands falter I I commit these words to paper a testament to the atrocities of the union and Humanity within itself the agony of a Dying planet and the indomitable Spirit of humanity in my final moments I entrust this journal to my daughter Emma who shuttles leaving for Gemini tomorrow tomorrow she is now the bearer of Earth's Echoes Among the Stars now as she reads my words in the cosmic Embrace of the Gemini May she carry with her the story of a farmer who tended to the last crops a witness to the unraveling of Earth's tapestry a legacy woven in the ashes of Stardust a reminder that even in the face of desp spare the human Spirit can't endure signing off Samuel [Music] Wills I'd like to thank everyone that's stuck around with me this long for watching if you haven't yet consider subscribing I'll be adding more to this world and building more diaramas in the future be sure to hit the like button leave a comment tell me what you think about the whole process share it to one of your friends and we'll see y'all on the other end of the trail don't forget to stick around for the Glamour [Music] Shots [Music] oh [Music] a

Channel: End of the Trail Hobby Show

Views: 7,956

Keywords: end of the trail, end of the trail hobby show, how to make, kitbash, kitbashing, making things out of trash, polystyrene, scratch, scratch building, trashbashing, how to make toys into terrain, terrain building, kids toys into playable terrain, tabletop terrain, warhammer 40k, How to Turn a Tank Into A Mech- The War Wagon Kitbash, tabletop miniatures, mechs, mechs for warhammer, how to kitbash a mech, mech kitbash, helldivers 2 patriot mech, helldivers 2 mech style

Id: zX5bsw6XBuo

Length: 34min 56sec (2096 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 05 2023