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Wheelies in Valhalla! The GigaM38

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(Warning: if you’re not familiar with MadMax Fury Road, a lot this might sound like gibberish.)

(Umm, also: You really should be familiar with that movie.) :blink:

Add me to the list of those obsessed with the vehicles of MadMax… And after seeing some of the awesome recent post-apocalyptic builds (Wasteland Rover!!! Knight Customs Mad Max Scorcher!!! and OMG: War Rig!!!), I went ahead and built Willy one of those horse-mouth sleep apnea masks like Immortan Joe wears in the movie.

img42077_13092015214553_3.jpg
:o hmmm. I may have gone overboard with the teeth. Yep... that's a lot of teeth.

After Willy got his new look and started stomping around demanding things in a deeply filtered voice, I felt a serious need to make him a ride to fit his new ventilator.

So, Immortan Willy is getting his own post-apocalyptic rig: the GigaM38.

Here’s the inspiration for the build:

img42077_13092015214553_2.jpg
Gigahorse: A very practical ride for the post-apocalypse fuel crunch.
(I would so drive this to work every day if I could)

I have a beater M38 chassis that I love to use as a runner that I've mentioned here. I use a couple of different wrecked bodies on it when it runs, but there was one in particular that was my biggest basket case.

It was barely a body to start with – no front left fender, hood completely cracked front-to-back, all roll-cage mount points broken out, foot wells fractured across, and right-side door sill snapped top-to-bottom. A well abused used M38 to say the least…

img42077_13092015213406_1.jpg
all in all, the perfect donor body ;)

Of course, I don’t have any as-purchased pics (it came with a chassis I scavenged for parts), but I do have some pics from right after Immortan Willy's Black Thumb War-Boys went wild with a rivet gun...

Witness these repairs:

img42077_13092015213406_3.jpg
sawed off brads and superglue make for great rivets!

img42077_13092015213406_2.jpg
who needs a passing grade in metal shop?

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quality engineering, done right.

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Oooooh. that one looks good if you kinda squint your eyes.

img42077_13092015213406_6.jpg
I'm running out of rivets...

img42077_13092015214553_1.jpg

in any post-apocalypse welding class, that would be considered a well-formed bead.

Ahhh. This promises to be a total hack job, but it is so refreshingly therapeutic. If you consider that this build would take place in a dimly lit cave somewhere in the side of a mountain Citadel, the work is mediocre!!!... and it is for a basher/runner :D

Next up, Thinking about Immortan Willy's grotesque body and dreaming of tires and wheels in the wasteland...

img42077_31052015033338_6.jpg

Stuart

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This should be fun! Very cool work with the rivets, loving it already!

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Great effort so far...subscribed!

This should be fun! Very cool work with the rivets, loving it already!

Thanks guys!

Hearing you go through the list of problems with the body reminded me of something...

Thanks for the Wasteland Rover shout-out... I'll finish that build at some point... Hopefully.

Dorvack.

Ha! That's absolutely perfect! And - I'm anxiously waiting to see how those mutant heads work in your ride...

So, busy few days, but I got some time to do some design work in FreeCAD...

Immortan Willy is definitely going to need a custom steering wheel for this ride.

I've designed two - one in white and one clear. Both are the same size and have the same mount collar as the stock Willy wheel. The clear one allows for more detail, but costs more to print. I'll likely do the white one, and just carve some detail into it when it arrives. Any opinions?

img42077_13092015214553_5.jpg

Basic skull wheel in white... jaw/other details to be added manually later...

OR

img42077_13092015214553_4.jpg

The clear material allows more detail...

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Clear looks great, much of a cost difference?

Clear is about 3X the cost. approx $5 for the white one, $15 for the clear...

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A clear one would look awesome lighted with A small LED

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In another build style, I'd agree. I'm thinking more metal and leather

Whoa - you hit on something here. I was thinking of how I was going to finish it, paint-wise... but - wrapping it in a "leather" fabric might be just the thing!

If I went all out, though... I could do that and keep the center skull portion clear and back-light it with a red LED like Shodog's idea... hmmm....

img42077_31052015033338_6.jpg

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Whoa - you hit on something here. I was thinking of how I was going to finish it, paint-wise... but - wrapping it in a "leather" fabric might be just the thing!

If I went all out, though... I could do that and keep the center skull portion clear and back-light it with a red LED like Shodog's idea... hmmm....

img42077_31052015033338_6.jpg

Me likely!! That would look awesome!

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It was muscle-building time in the wasteland this weekend.

Immortan Willy needs some weight over and above the typical Willy driver's frame. So, little Willy get a few layers of bulk. Tamiya putty provided the muscle tissue in multiple applications:

img42077_21092015013432_1.jpg
bulking up...

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pumping putty...

img42077_21092015013432_2.jpg

...and more putty...

img42077_21092015013432_4.jpg

getting some color... (unintended wasteland skin scars actually might work...)

img42077_21092015013432_5.jpg

still a ways to go, but may as well connect the headbone to see how things look...

Next is a pink wash for the skin, then wiping some red into the skin blemishes. Immortan has gotta be gross, right? Nuclear war will do that to you...

I also started making Immortan Willy's clear armor. A couple of old dremel tool blister packs worked well for the shoulders, and a plastic jar got cut down for the chest-plate.

img42077_21092015013432_6.jpg
meanwhile in the armory...

Now I just need to find some tiny medals...

img42077_13092015214553_6.jpg

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Great work.

I can't really see if you have already but some red blood shot veins in the whites of his eyes maybe?

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Needs a Tamiya tattoo :-)

I like that idea! :D

I can't really see if you have already but some red blood shot veins in the whites of his eyes maybe?

That one too! :)

More progress...

So... here are the steps I followed to distress the GigaM38's body (after reading so many good write-ups on this forum)

1. Paint the body with a rust-colored primer, dampen some areas and salt them with a coarse grain salt.

img42077_21092015164131_1.jpg

Like a really bad pretzel.

2. Agitate some salt off, but mostly paint over with a gray primer coat, dampen spots, and salt again.

img42077_21092015164131_2.jpg

Tamiya brand seasoning salt works best.

3. Paint over with the final coat (in this case black) and then agitate salt off of the multiple layers until desired effect is achieved.

img42077_21092015164131_3.jpg

there's something sticky on that plate... So, concentrate on the awesome rust effect, please.

4. I also burnished the riveted plates with a dremel wire brush.

img42077_21092015164131_4.jpg

Starting to look pretty gross.

  • I'm pretty happy with how the body is progressing...
  • The chassis is as-is (finished) and is used almost daily as a runner...
  • Immortan Willy is relaxing while I find some medals for his armor...

And - Now I've found the rear tires that will get mounted on dually wheels in the back. So, I ordered 4 of them.

img42077_24092015030357_1.jpg

RC4WD Mud Basher 1.9 Scale Tractor Tire Z-T0115's

Something smaller will go up front.

I also picked up an extra fuel tank for all the guzzoline Immortan will burn doing wheelies in the wasteland:

img42077_24092015030357_2.jpg

Guzzoline or Aqua-cola?

I have an idea to mount the oil drum horizontal on the rear with a hose running into the on-board fuel tank/cell.

Oh! I still have to detail my ideas for wheels too.... next post...

img42077_31052015033338_6.jpg

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...yours is looking nice and terrible. :)

Dorvack.

High praise! Thank you :D

That rust effect is awesome, haven't seen that before.

Great stuff...

Thanks Nitomor!

...

I had some time tonight while I was waiting for my son at his chess club... so, I played around in FreeCAD and I have two more items that I think Immortan will need for his rig:

img42077_25092015033828_2.jpg

1. A blower. (Just have to figure out how to rework the hood body-mount)

and

img42077_25092015033828_1.jpg

2. An evil GigaBumper.

The bumper might need a little more detail...

I got an email today that my skull steering wheel (I ordered the white one) and a couple of other items (beast-mode steering components and wheel adapters to fit cheapie 1.9 rims on the M38) are on their way from Shapeways.

I'll be waiting by the mailbox....

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Imho, I'd think it would look great with those RC4WD in a 2.2 on the back (as a dually of course) and the 1.9 up front, for a killer "rubber rake"

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Can you get a scale beer keg as a fuel tank?

There' will be many tanks on this rig for many purposes... I like this idea! Immortan might need a "camelback" for hauling mothers' milk too...

Imho, I'd think it would look great with those RC4WD in a 2.2 on the back (as a dually of course) and the 1.9 up front, for a killer "rubber rake"

Yes yes! I may even go down to 1.5's on the front. I've been playing with some FAV rear tires on the front. I gotta get some pics of the mocked-up tire setups. The adapter I have coming from Shapeways will let me run the dual RC4WD tractors on the back.

In the mean time, I did some more distress work to the floorboard welded panel.

img42077_25092015033828_5.jpg

I also added supports for the rear fuel drum. I fabbed metal brackets to mount the drum holders. The drum holders were originally an inner-ring I had printed at Shapeways to lock tires on a rim I designed. The ring didn't work out, so I cut it in half to use it for this. I then covered the brackets with plastic wire-conduit that is used to hide electrical wires along base boards in the house. I covered the conduit with Tamiya putty and sanded and etched it before painting...

The drum will feed into the on board fuel-cell with a nice thick fuel hose. Then, I gotta make a stencil so I can spray a white "screaming skull" onto the back of it. I dirtied up and distressed the tank itself too...

img42077_25092015033828_6.jpg

I spent a little time distressing the grille - which was previously broken. I did some armored headlight guards and then dirtied everything up with a black paint wash. Here's how things stand at the moment:

img42077_25092015033828_4.jpg

img42077_25092015033828_3.jpg

img42077_31052015033338_6.jpg

Stuart

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So far, so awesome

Thanks!

That rust effect is awesome, haven't seen that before.

Great stuff...

BTW - Nitomor - check out JennyMo's STUMPKamper build -> http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=73857&hl=jennymo&page=3.

That's where I first saw this rust technique. Her work really shows what you can do with the salt applications. So much detail!

Played around tonight with some medals for Immortan's clear armor...

img42077_28092015035619_1.jpg

img42077_28092015035619_2.jpg

img42077_28092015035619_3.jpg

I still might ink him in an old fashioned tattoo too... (Tattootoo... heh. Like what a biker ballerina wears)

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