Friday, May 18, 2012

Scratchbuilding a 'Cutta

     With the chances of getting a real GW  'cutta at almost exactly zero I have once again decided to scratchbuild one (ebay has one badly built Big Lugga for almost $100USD and no cuttas at all). I had decided to strictly limit myself as far as size goes (I already have two rather large ones) and aimed for a normal crew of two to four Grotz. This would ,it was hoped, give me an incentive to keep the platform small.
I got out "box 'o stuff" and started poking aroung in it looking for things that might belong on a 'cutta (I fancied that this was the method that the Grot "mechs would use) and came up with a pile of useful looking things.

  
Next I consulted with the "user group" to see what features they desired in the final product.
Frankly they were less than helpful but I garnered some impression of what it was they
were looking for. Thus edified I sketched out an idea in my head.

  
  I grabbed a couple of bits of wood and set the frame together. At first the Head Honcho was unconfortable with the diminutive size of the vehicle but he came 'round
(after I pointed out that he wouldn't be riding in it!).

 
   After a little trial-and-error, OK a lot of error,
I found what looked to be an adequate crew platform.

I attached the platforms to the frame and waited for a while for the glue to set

'Da Boss and 'da gang seems to like it

the bead is the point at which the mast will be stepped

I then added the front wheel

none of my earlier 'cuttas have dashboards or steering wheels,
hopefully this will improve turning

it was then carefully mounted in the back,
where the veiw is the worst

the rear wheels were then glued on and the vehicle propped up so the wheels could dry

'Da Boss couldn't resist giving the steering gear a try

'da boys borrowed the mast from the Sand Skate to take the new ride for a drive

they seemed happy with the ride

there was, however, a feeling that "sumfing wuz missin"

but they took it for another lap anyways

show-room shots, side

front

3/4 above

top

to make the boyz happy and to prevent them falling off I added corrugated armor

Snargrag likes it!

"keeps 'da sand offa yer face, it does"

"might even stop a bullet or two"

      Next step is detailing it out and then painting to match the rest of the fleet. 

3 comments:

  1. Will not be able to play this Saturday. Going to be at an IPMS Contest in Toledo.

    Gary

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  2. Why did you make the rear axle so wide? From the pics it looks like you could lose 2" of width if you cut them down to fit to the edge of the crew platform.

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  3. Poo on you Gary, you love them more than us?

    Dan, I was just trying to stay true to the illustrations in the books. They show very wide vehicles, and -in a pinch- I can stand guys on the axle-shafts if I need to (like when my Big Lugga gets utterly destroyed in the first game, as happened last campaign). As it is it is nearlt 4" narrower than the other one.

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