Re: [GZG] QUESTION Re: Walkers in 15mm

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http://vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lJon
,

Maybe you could make them available with pre-cast legs in different pose
ranges such as: Kneeling, Prone, normal height stationary, normal height
moving.

Having tried to assemble over the years a few of the more fidly casts
(B5
Carrier, I'm looking at you!), that can be a real annoyance to most
folks.
There are those that like to build models from the raw materials, and
obviously they like maximum adaptability, but realistically if we could
get
the poses above, that would probably cover most. Or sell the leg kits
separately and let people order a few of each and build their own
combos.

In Reply to Other Folks:

Re: HG 25mm - The newer HG are about 20mm scale I think. The older
25-28mm
ones are OOP and can be hard to find (I think I might have 25-30, but I
got
a huge set off E-bay in box).

My Own Opinion:

I'd still love to see the 'tank turret on legs' (BF1942). That's what is
missing from most big walkers - they have guns and legs, but they miss
the
'turret' part and they often have a canopy that makes them look
comically
vulnerable (vs a nice, fairly sloped turret that could be peeked over
building tops or hills hull down or turret down). Most of the time I
legged
tanks (ignoring that ridiculous Clone Trooper thing), they are assault
guns
with the gun fixed in a hull that requires leg movement to align (Shades
of
the S-Tank!) rather than having a heft turret on top. BT got it right
with
the idea of a torso and head you could counter rotate, but none of them
could hold the weapons a real tank turret could and most of the time,
the
figs were all made with head, torso and legs pointing in the same
direction
so the idea was lost in the manufacturing.

The BF1942 design does use thick legs. I think there is a logic there -
if
you have to support a tank turret, a thick leg gives you a bit more
ground
pressure dispersion, allows you to handle the stresses of kneeling, and
if
you are bipedal especially, gives you some resistance to damage (more
critical as a bipedal unit). To my mind, a unit like that should stand
about
50mm at the cupola. These legged tanks look like they can manage a 'fast
walk' or 'hussle' rather than an outright run (at no point does the
whole
vehicle leave the ground!), but they aren't sprinters. Star Wars chicken
walkers may look faster, but they can be taken out by ARBOREAL TREE
BEARS.
Where I come from, we call that a DESIGN FLAW, even in a recce unit.
(And
all leg units should come with an auto-actuated cable and vine cutter
that
deploys like a blade or chainsaw from the front surface of the leg -
doesn't
need to be visible on model).

The armaments packages could vary for the tank turret part from main
tank
gun (one big honking mid to long barrel for an HVC or HEL to a shorter
one
of your 'plasma gun' barrels for DFFC), AT (GMS systems along with a
30mm
chain-gun style RFAC for soft skins), Arty (howitzer or MRLS), AA (GMS
and
rotary cannon) and lastly AP (multiple rotary cannons and perhaps a
couple
of barrels that could be for vehicular flamers). I know Jon usually
casts up
multiple turrets if and when he does a tank-ish vehicle.

Another Under Represented Class:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ferrisdp/NSF/Exoskeleton_fm_Aliens.jpg
http://www.6patlar.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/alien.jpg
This would make for a sort of iconic 'generic figure' of a starship
crewperson in a load-lifter. An alternative variant would be the same
thing
with all open panels sealed in by glass, so you could work in a vacuum.

Lastly, if you want to see the most futuristic single person
transportation
I've seen that would make for a crazy miniature to put on for civilians
or
maybe some police in a game:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/wearable-motorb.html

Tom

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