Don't Tread on Me: Tank Tracks for Super-heavies and War Machines

[cthorpe]

Love the look of your road wheels.. and anticpating your 'imperial' ones..

Hope it wont be too long befor eyou offer these up for sale.. I know I will certainly buy them..

Best wishes,

Carl

[bigbauske]

Great idea and nice effect on those treads, as others have said you have quite a unique idea and should think about mass producing them for sale. another option is you could consider selling the molds, you might be able to get a little more and save your self the hassle of doing all the casting yourself!

I do have a question though, are the white panels on the baneblade another example of your casting work?

[Machinator]

OK, as promised- The "modern" 40K-ish road wheels:



With any luck I'll be pouring the first half of the mold tonight along with another of the 2 inch wide treads.

Yes my plan is mass produce these as best I can and sell them in packs of 50 and 100. My ultimate goal is to offer a line of products for people who want to scratch build their own tanks and war machines but don't want to waste the time making all the repetitive bits. I never thought about selling the molds but that's an idea.

The other bits on that tank are also cast by me. Just see the tread below for that project:


http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179236

[Machinator]

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've updated this thread. But trust me, I've been busy with it.

I now have hundreds of tracks casted that just need to be sorted and bagged in bunches of 50 and 100 for the small ones and 40 and 80 for the two larger ones. Next week casting continues with the road wheels in groups of 8 and 16. With any luck I'll have an eBay store opened next weekend and the sales can begin!

But with all that going on I did find time to fit in a new piece that a few of you requested. Namely a wheel and tire for a light vehicle. Overall it's just a bit over an inch in diameter and a little more then a 1/4 of an inch in width with a hole in the back for mounting on a 1/4 inch axle.

I have to admit, I cheated a bit with this one. It's based on one of my road wheels that has a bunch of treads glued on it. I actually made one master of the tread and stuck it multiple times into a piece of oil based clay which were then cast in resin. It's quick but effective. I then mounted the thing on my drill and careful sanded it until I had something resembling a tire. All and all I think it looks pretty good. Now I just need to cast several dozen of them

[PariahZero]

Wheel looks amazing lad

[Machinator]

Well my friends it's nearly time. It's been a long journey but the molds are done, production has started, and I now have a large enough quanity to begin distribution. The last step is for me to establish an eBay store and open my virtual doors to the public. I've painted up some samples for the product pics. So without further ado, I give you....

The Liberator Track Pattern 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0:


The Oppressor Track Pattern 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0:


The Chancellor Road Wheels Type A, B, C, and D:


The Tsar Road Wheels Type A, B, C, and D:


and finally the Rampager Tire:


The Pattern 1.0 treads will be sold in packs of 50 and the other treads in packs of 40. All road wheel will come in packs of 8.

Depending on how these go I may make a smaller track set, probably 5/8 so that it can fit a Landraider, and a larger one with the appopriate road wheels for those that want to tackle big projects like an Imperial Leviathan, Capitol Imperalis, or the like.

If anyone else has ideas for things they'd like to see just let me know.

[can't_decide]

They look great! I'm excited to see them finished and going up on ebay.

[Machinator]

OK guys, I'm open for business!

http://stores.ebay.com/Blood-and-Skulls-Industry?_rdc=1

[Lord of Worms]

Could you make these into Land Raider sized treads, please?

[D3V!L]

That would be really great.

Another set of tracks for Chaos and Imperial Landraiders!
As the FW ones are not that great

[Machinator]

Well given the interest I just might have to

What kind of look would you guys want for a good guy/bad guy 5/8 inch wide track?

[D3V!L]

I think especially for Chaos such a tank track should consist of track links with different designs:
track link with chaos star
track link with one or two skulls
track link with chaos arrows

stuff like this.

And the loyalists (Chaos damn them) surely will be most happy if they were to get track links with the imperial eagle all over. Or even a version for the Inquisition with the =I= on each and every track link. Such a tank would exorcise the ground it rolls over with every inch.

[Lord of Worms]

Theres something strange that I'm going to have to look into regarding the Chaos Star. Apparently GW claims the symbol as a trademark but I know for a fact that people used that symbol far before GW ever made anything. Occultists involved in what is sometimes known as "the Chaos Current" and other names (I'm not making this up) have been using this symbol since the late 70s IIRC. They call it the "Caltrop of Chaos". Look up names like Phil Hine, Peter Carroll and the Illuminates of Thanateros. I suppose it's possible that GW did infact buy the (tm) rights to it, but this whole trademark business smacks of dissembling. To put it short, they blatantly stole an idea and are passing it off as their own. I would have no problem with this, they did it before with Battletech/Mechwarrior and Alien, but if they act like "we borrowed an artistic concept, that makes it ours and you can't use it", that's childish.

Edit: There's no specific design that I want, per se. I just don't want the Aquila on my T.Sons Land Raider's tread. It pisses me off and I heard the overpriced Forgeworld ones were crappy.

[Machinator]

I too have been curious who owns the rights to the Star of Chaos. According to Wikipedia:

"The Symbol of Chaos originates from Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories. In them, the Symbol of Chaos comprises eight arrows in a radial pattern. In contrast, the symbol of Law is a single upright arrow. It is also called the Arms of Chaos, the Arrows of Chaos, the Chaos Star or the Symbol of Eight.

Moorcock contends that he conceived this symbol while writing the first Elric of Melniboné stories in the early 1960s. It was subsequently adopted into the pop-cultural mainstream, turning up in such diverse places as modern occult traditions and even role-playing games."

Therefore I would argue if GW claims to own the rights to this symbol and I would guess that no one owns the rights to it now because everyone uses it. As such I have no problem using it in my works. However, things like the Imperial Aquila or Inquisitor "I" are definitely off limits as it could rightfully bring the wrath of GW upon my head.

But if I were to say make a set of tracks embossed with skulls or spikes that, quite coincidently, also fits a Landraider....

[Lord of Worms]

I find exception to them considering a two-headed eagle their trademark. Looks like somebody needs to tell Albania they need to change their flag

[GomezAddams]

Is there any chance we can get a shot of the other side of the tracks? I've got some pig iron tanks coming in the post and there tracks are woefully poor when it comes to detail but these might not fit. Cheers.

[Machinator]

Ask and you shall receive. These treads are 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 inches wide:

[Lord of Worms]

BAM! (you just kicked it up a notch...just letting you know)

[Machinator]

Does that mean I'm the Emeril of Resin?

[Lord of Worms]

Yeah. I`m chef Pasquale.