RRT Scale (1/285) Cyclones!

[Bad_Syntax]

So I am *really* into Robotech, probably more than most folks. Well, sorta, I loathe all the singing, hate pretty much all the character interaction except early Max/Miriya stuff, but anyway. I love the mecha, always have. It got me obsessed with Battletech, and though I've always bought all the Palladium RPG Robotech stuff, I never liked that game system at all, and found the books apparently absent any form of QA or consistency.

But anyway, so I pledged a kidney to the Kickstarter, BUT, Robotech isn't just Macross to me. I want hover tanks, I want Alphas and Betas, I want Cyclones........ ooooo, cyclones...

I found somebody to make me a Cyclone model that I could get 3D printed at 7.3mm, its proper height in 1/285. Though its just a proof of concept, and it was done on a $140K 16 micron printer, and each one cost me about $3 (I can get them down to about $0.60 each), I now have 10 cyclones in exact scale.

Here is one of the Cyclones, unpainted of course, next to a Battletech Fa Shih battle armor:
http://www.battletechengineer.com/misc/cyclone/Cyclone_FaShih.jpg
This picture essentially proves just how poor the Battletech scale is. I'm now convinced that Battletech battle armor is at least 10mm.

And all of them, next to the Max Gencon Valkyrie and a small ruler:
http://www.battletechengineer.com/misc/ ... ne_Max.jpg
This picture show not only how small the Cyclones are, but kinda how small the Valkyrie is. Now, remember that Alphas/Logan's come up to the waste on that Valkyrie, but a Battle pod is 50% taller, and it gives you some idea of just how crazy varied the Robotech scales are.

These were printed on an Objet Eden 260V 3D printer, which does about 16 micron vertically, and about 20 micron horizontally. Shapeways is about 25-50 microns, as is the 3D printer I have on order.

At 16 microns, they actually look good. I mean, you can see the details you need to, and you can tell even unpainted they *are* cyclones. The bad news is that they are freaking SMALL and since I had LASIK I can't focus on things that close up (they don't tell you that in the brochures!) so me painting them will have to be with a lot of luck and a magnifying glass. However, its windy here in Dallas today, and they could blow away.

I think 5 would mount very well on a penny or bingo chip, though any basing would have to be smaller than sand, as the cyclone foot is the size of a grain of sand.

Bit pricey for these though, $3 each, but I wanted to see if I was on the right track. I can get 450 of them, or in my estimates 90 bases, for $270. Not cheap, but acceptable. A can of light blue spray paint (or dark blue, or red, or a green) and barely touch the front helmet, then some black on the gun/tires, and that'd do it.

I really hope, in spite of all the negativity pretty much everywhere on this Kickstarter, that RRT ends up becoming a success. I want miniatures like this, I want the other generations, hell, I want to see Rifts stuff too.

The Rifts SAMAS would be about this size as well. However, with Rifts I think 10mm or even 15mm may be a better idea, even though some things will be quite large.

I'll post more pics once I get them painted, but wanted to show off these little boogers (ok, I've had larger boogers, but that is beside the point).

[glitterboy2098]

actually an alpha is more chest high on a valk.. 36ft vs 50ft.

and the Fa Shih armor is slightly over sized compared to normal battletech scale (8mm scale instead of the 6mmish scale used on the mechs.. IWM chose to make the infantry and BA slightly bigger for sculpting purposes. still looks fine.)

[Asterios]

Pity you can't sell or give those away since it would break the trademark/copyright laws.

[The Beast]

Now make a 1/285 SDF-1.

[Kryptt]

Very nice stuff u have there.

[Jorel]

It is a start. I'd like more detail.

[jaymz]

Paint would likely bring the detail out better. That material is a bit...reflective from what I can see so it hides the detail in pics like this.

[Jorel]

he mentioned there could be better detail with a better printer

[jaymz]

There is that too but paint can mean a lot.

Just looks that in those images the detail is lost due more to light reflection than actually lacking detail.

[Jorel]

they don't look like smooth flat surfaces to me, they look bubbly.

[Scott Gibbons]

I wish I still lived in DFW, I'd be begging to come over to your place Bad_Syntax! The Cyclones has always been my favorite mecha from the first time I read about it. To this day every time I'm on a freeway I'll daydream about morphing the bike and running mad-dash over the traffic.

Bad_Syntax, you rock! (And thanks for the pics.)

[Bad_Syntax]

Well the cyclones are 7mm, instead of 7.3, so they are like 6% too small (and could go up to 7.5mm-8mm and still be in scale I think), and though they are very hard to see I *think* they look ok.

I will be spray painting some heroscape in the next few days, and will throw them in the bunch. Once I put a few minor details on them I'll take new pictures and see if they still look good.

With a magnifying glass, I can see the small square holes in the chest pieces. They are very detailed, but its very hard to focus on them. I would NOT want to paint hundreds of them, that is for sure.

I was having all the models done, but after looking, I think I'll just do a motorcycle mode and be done with it. They are too small to notice the difference in a VR-052 and VR-038, so there is no point in doing a dozen models of each (maybe later, for 15mm scale).

Not sure what to do next, maybe start with all the invid, or do some macross things like the cat's eye or comanchero.

[The Beast]

I already told you what to do next.

[Bad_Syntax]

A 14' long SDF-1 wouldn't fit in my HUGE 2005 Impala, so sorry, next model

[Kryptt]

A spartan that's less pieces with the no seams in the front. Minus the awkward walking pose.

[Bad_Syntax]

A spartan that's less pieces with the no seams in the front. Minus the awkward walking pose.

It's called an "Archer", and has been around for years. You can get them on ebay.

[glitterboy2098]

funny.. most battletech players are all "RTT has Archer's that look way better than the crap FASA put out"

[Forar]

Citation Needed.

Like, let's see some links to posts praising the glories of the Archer/Spartan.



But more seriously, even if there are a few people out there like that, it doesn't change the concerns being leveled towards the project/models here, on the comments and other places. Because as someone who has been active in at least 3 places, very few people will actually praise the designs. The highest praise is generally a wary "Eh... I'll wait to see it in person to make the final call", and going downhill from there.

I'm not saying it's impossible for someone to love them. Hell, I'll even bet there's one person who heard there would be three dozen pieces in the kit and simply cheered for joy, doesn't mean it'll be an aspect that appeals to the majority of the community.

Late edit: also keep in mind that a Battletech player probably wants 1 or 2 of a given figure, in that (at least it's my understanding) a 4-12 mech game could take hours or an entire afternoon. Assembly issues become much bigger concerns when you're building dozens or hundreds of figures to play out 300+ point games and have some force variety to account for various terrain choices/objectives/etc.

[Jorel]

maybe they were admiring the detail at such a small scale which is not what I see when I see a BattleTech piece. Least not the old ones.

[Alpha 11]

Nice pictures and designs.

[Bad_Syntax]

Thanks. I'll *try* to get these painted this weekend.

btw, here is my version of rules for Robotech, though I have NOT included stats for the units yet (I have them, but need to make out little cards)

http://www.battletechengineer.com/misc/cyclone/Bad_Robotech_v005.docx

[Kryptt]

BS how about having the alpha made? It would be awesome to see one next to Max. Go with the battloid version first of coarse.

[Bad_Syntax]

Well I have plans for getting *everything* made, at last count over 150 units, so an Alpha *will* get made, but probably after the invid, a veritech hover tank, and some missing macross stuff like the Cat's Eye and Comanchero.

[Jerell]

Cat's Eye, that's a good call! Oh how many times I died on the escort the Cat's Eye mission on the PS2 game.

[Bad_Syntax]

Just a bit of an update. Here are some new pics of my received 7mm tall (should be 7.3mm to be 1/285, but close enough) and 18mm (for 15mm games) versions, including primed blue ones:
http://www.battletechengineer.com/misc/cyclone/15mm.png
http://www.battletechengineer.com/misc/ ... /15mm2.png

The other metal thing is a battletech battle armor.

Still working on getting all the cyclones done, and determining what system I will use to get them printed. I can get like 450 of the little ones for $270, which is $0.60 each and feels very expensive based on their size, but that was just 1 vendor (they need at least 15 micron resolution to 3D print those, but 10 would be better if I could find somebody).

I think I started with the hardest model, I probably should have done a Comanchero or Cat's Eye first

[Kryptt]

@BS Go with the cats eye next time. I'm getting ready to wash the minis you sent me. What spray paint did you use to primer the models? I have white tamiya spray which worked fine with the max mini. I'm just curious what u use.

[Bad_Syntax]

Rust-Oleum
Painter's Touch
2X
Ultra Cover
Paint+Primer
Satin
Wildflower Blue
*Also Bonds to Plastic!

Basically, its the closest color of spray paint I could find at home depot

Still waiting on a price quote for the rest of the Cyclone collection before I move on, though I'd rather find me a new modeler that understands skeletons and can extrapolate better. It may end up costing me about $1k to just get the models done, plus printing

[Mechghost]

Look good, Bad_Syntax, be very cool to see some of the other mini's once they're done. On the subject, a 15mm set of Rifts mini's would be great for following battles
As to painting LOL I had 5 very large Epic WH40K armies (6mm) so yeah pain in the butt doing shoulder pad trim for SM bases etc, not sure I could do it anymore.

[Bad_Syntax]

I have somebody painting one of the 6mm versions, and one of the 15mm versions. I also have somebody working on the Mini-Monster from Book 8 (or maybe it was the REF Tomahawk, I forgot), and the Cat's Eye Recon plane.

As for Rifts, I *really* wanted to do everything in 1/285, HOWEVER. Just about everything about Rifts is power armor and smaller troops. I think 10mm will work ok as there is some pretty big stuff (like tanks) and 15mm is really pushing the size and would be prohibitively expensive.

Since these are just 3D models, I can print them in any size I want. The limits now are the details. I can get TINY 7mm tall miniatures in lots of 450 for about $270 here in Dallas with a 15 micron printer (the bare minimum). Shapeways.com will be a dollar or so each at 15mm with 25 micron details. I'll have my own 3D printer soon at 50 micron, but that probably isn't good enough for anything but really big stuff, though it was cheap and will teach me.

There two significant issues I have to deal with though:
#1. Not all mecha has full 3d views, so often the data will have to be extrapolated.
#2. Finding a 3D modeler for a reasonable price ($100-$150 per mecha), who can extrapolate, who also knows 3D printing, who can break apart models when required for printing

Since I'm doing it on the cheap, with 100% of my own funds, I'll be hard pressed to get more than a couple models done a month, and that doesn't include printing costs. Maybe I should try for a Rifts license to do a 10 or 15mm game on Kickstarter, as that would give me the funds to get high quality models done, printed, and injection molding done for them, much like Robotech, but without all the licensing issues with HG. Not sure I'm the best candidate though, nor if I could ever be trusted by PB to do such a thing.

[Mechghost]

Well maybe 10mm would be best, would make bigger pieces a little easier LOL, haven't really thought about it too much. I'll try and see what I can do 3D model wise but I'd be starting (literally) from ground zero, but would be worth trying. A kickstarter for CS (or NG, etc) vs Xiticixs as a start or something would be fun, plus usable for actual RPG play too.

[Chronicler]

this is really cool stuff Bad_Syntax. I like the 15mm version of the cyclone though the smaller ones are alright too. Been thinking of drumming up interest for a 15mm version of RTT for the new generation era. I think that scale would be perfect for that setting considering the scale of battles seen in the show (well except for the last bit). Don't know if PB would go for that or even HG for that matter.