Alternate MOC: AT-AT

[ApophisV]

Hi folks,

just wanna show you my latest project: An alternate AT-AT design for Darkkazmo's contest at FBTB:

Its made from several SW sets. The whole body is finished, but currently it still lacks of details (greeblies, cockpit interior, guns,...)

I'll show more pics as soon as it's finished!

[xwingyoda]

Really great Moc as usual Apo ;) Are you one of the 3 Mocateers :-D

I really like what you did with the legs and the body of this walker. Too bad that we don't have a better viewof the head though.

I cannot wait to see the details there ;)

Continue building like this my friend ;)

[ApophisV]

More pictures:

Hmmmm.... Food!!!!!!!!!

Head details, I'm not completely satisfied with the head, so I am currently thinking about a redesign... Am not sure though.

Open window

Gunner 1

Gunner 2

Comments and critics as always appreciated!

[snefroe]

apo, this looks like a dog to me :P that's your camouflage, isn't it? :P

1) what's inside the body?

2) how do these guys get all the way up to the guns and cockpit?

3) i'm surprised that the hinge that attaches the head to the body holds.

4) it seems you're making the same tactical mistake as the AT-AT designers: your extremely vulnarable to fast ground troops. they can easily attack you from your left or right, in other words, you need a gunner on the underside; i don't think you'd survive a coordinated attack on both areas between head and first leg. you need to come up with a mechanism that allows the head to turn left/right

5) what the leg mechanism of the upper arm?

6) why don't you use plates instead of the xwing cockpit? it is supposed to be an armoured vehicle, is it not? you can either use technic plates with holes in them, or build a larger plate with a hole in it. then use the new hinge plates to suggest heavy armoured protection for the windows... in any case, i'd use the AT-AT head design because it's the ideal design, i mean, suppose they're using a fluid to attack the head of your machine. with the AT-AT head, the fluid will almost immediately fall to the ground, your cockpit has so many different angles, it would form puddles...

7) i like the 2nd gunner. i'd probably get seasick if i were in it in the middle of a fight, but it looks cool...

8) your machine needs lights, Apo; suppose it's dark and you're walking on difficult terrain? asking for trouble, that is...

9) it seems to me you need a communications unit as well. suppose this guy is walking on a planet the size of jupiter and needs to contact home base? then wot?

10) i'm afraid i'm going to make your cockpit redesign even more difficult, apo; you need a second man in there. one man to control the entire machine, the other to control the cockpit guns; you can do with some cockpit lights as well... this poor pilot is sitting in the dark... :P

[MattZitron]

THAT IS FRICKING FANTASTIC!!!!!!

[ApophisV]

Thanks for your comments!

apo, this looks like a dog to me  that's your camouflage, isn't it? 

It was based on a wild cat, but somehow it now has the shape of a dog.

1) what's inside the body?

Lol, 30 trooper, weaponary, several speeder bikes and also the most important replacement parts if some damage has to be repaired immediatelly. But somehow nobody will ever see this because there was just no space to include those fantastic details at system scale! :P

2) how do these guys get all the way up to the guns and cockpit?

They have rocket boots. All hail the imperial scientists!

3) i'm surprised that the hinge that attaches the head to the body holds.

Me too :$ Its not 100 % stable, but if you articulate this thing one time and don't touch it it works.

4) it seems you're making the same tactical mistake as the AT-AT designers: your extremely vulnarable to fast ground troops. they can easily attack you from your left or right, in other words, you need a gunner on the underside; i don't think you'd survive a coordinated attack on both areas between head and first leg. you need to come up with a mechanism that allows the head to turn left/right

For the head turn mechanism: It was planned (and actually build), but I needed the joints for stabilizing the legs, so I had to remove it from its original placement. But I have ordered 24 of those hinges from Bricklink, so I will add the head-rotation mechanism again.

Oh, and I have added a automatic gun at the "chest" of the walker, so single troopers or speederbikes beneath the walker and out of the range of the top gunner can be shot now!

5) what the leg mechanism of the upper arm?

Clicky clicky hinges! But they aren't stable so they will be replaced by the ordered technic hinges!

6) why don't you use plates instead of the xwing cockpit? it is supposed to be an armoured vehicle, is it not? you can either use technic plates with holes in them, or build a larger plate with a hole in it. then use the new hinge plates to suggest heavy armoured protection for the windows... in any case, i'd use the AT-AT head design because it's the ideal design, i mean, suppose they're using a fluid to attack the head of your machine. with the AT-AT head, the fluid will almost immediately fall to the ground, your cockpit has so many different angles, it would form puddles...

Erm... I like the eye'ish look of the X-Wing cockpits. So no argument here! :P And who knows, probably the whole head has a round bubble energy shield around it! |:|

(And why should somebody attack me with blancmange or whatever? The gungans? Spidey's web??? *wacko*

7) i like the 2nd gunner. i'd probably get seasick if i were in it in the middle of a fight, but it looks cool...

Eh... No critics here??? :P ;) Actually I have changed the guns a bit, now they look similar and fit better to the overall style.

8) your machine needs lights, Apo; suppose it's dark and you're walking on difficult terrain? asking for trouble, that is...

Hm, I added two small headlights at the front, but there are simply just no parts I could make a good head light (I thought about this alread before you mentioned it)

9) it seems to me you need a communications unit as well. suppose this guy is walking on a planet the size of jupiter and needs to contact home base? then wot?

No. If the engineers haven't included this unit into the body it's their faul! :P

10) i'm afraid i'm going to make your cockpit redesign even more difficult, apo; you need a second man in there. one man to control the entire machine, the other to control the cockpit guns; you can do with some cockpit lights as well... this poor pilot is sitting in the dark... 

Nah, one pilot is enough. Think of any mecha games: You control the mecha and the guns as well! Or what about the X-Wing pilots? Have they a special gunner on board? Why shouldn't well educated imperial mecha pilots be able to do the same? And the guns could be controled by a computer if the pilot isn't able to do it!

[bigfatslob]

Excellent Moc. Detail throughout. I'm glad its a quad walker or it would kill us all for sure in Darkazzmo's bi-walker contest :^^D . I love the main cockpit as well as the gunner atop. Nice uniform colored pattern on the legs. It should be in the movie *wub* .

bfs

[TheQ]

Rather nice MOC you got. But because I know that every builders wants to hear so contrustive critism (yeah, they do. They just don't say it ;) )

1: Color-scape of this creation is bit "thrown". I don't mind that greys, bleys and stuff like that have been put together, but it could make much better look for this MOC. IMHO, great colorscape <=> stand out of the mass.

2: Greebles? Were are they? I just cant seem to find them.

3: Many of the weapons don't look or feel "Star Wars-ish" which is kinda sad because this is alternate model of AT-AT. Bigger weapons. You know the deal.

4: Your driver's seat is very great. That is major plus from my side

5: Legs do work. Although I don't really like click-hinges, I am very impressed how you made legs. Keep it the good work.

[ApophisV]

But because I know that every builders wants to hear so contrustive critism (yeah, they do. They just don't say it  )

Lol, I appreciate this!

1: Color-scape of this creation is bit "thrown". I don't mind that greys, bleys and stuff like that have been put together, but it could make much better look for this MOC. IMHO, great colorscape <=> stand out of the mass.

There's much truth in your words, but for this special case I decided to go with a more chaotic coloring, because the vehicle isn't used in any friendly Star Trek'ish ambassador thing, it's much more a wild and evil machine to hunt down poor rebels!

Oh and for the grey/bley thing: When the changes were noticed the first time I was really angry. But nowadays I like more and more to build with both shades of grey (in a random placement way), especially for space MOCs it is working just fine! (for me)

2: Greebles? Were are they? I just cant seem to find them.

That may result from the fact that I haven't uploaded any recent pictures of the vehicle :P

3: Many of the weapons don't look or feel "Star Wars-ish" which is kinda sad because this is alternate model of AT-AT. Bigger weapons. You know the deal.

Yeah, I noticed this too. I already changed the weapons at the rear. And probably when I was able to strenghten all the joints I'll be able to put more material to the whole model and make the guns bigger! *twisted*

4: Your driver's seat is very great. That is major plus from my side

Thanks! :) Here are some better shots with the cockpit roof removed:

Pic 1 | Pic 2 | Pic 3

5: Legs do work. Although I don't really like click-hinges, I am very impressed how you made legs. Keep it the good work.

The click hinges will be removed later to strengthen the legs. I hope than the whole set will be even more articulable!

Thanks alot for your comments! :)

[sithcookie]

that's pretty cool. reminds me of a cat.

[ApophisV]

Dudes, finally got my ordererd technic hinges a few days ago, so I might proudly present the most recent prototype of my alternate AT-AT!

What has been changed?

- The leg part that connects has been changed completely, mostly because I replaced the clicky hinges with technic hinges (from the AT-AT and AT-TE sets) and thats why I had to modifie the whole part. Now the walker finally can stand on its own without of fearing every little movement which led to a crash before.

- The joint that connected the head with the body was changed too. Before it was a simple clicky hinge construction that allowed the head only to move up and down. Now it can also move to the sides so it has a kinda natural movement range. Also the technic hinges give much more stability to it.

The rear of the head has been changed slightly to make the neck joints fit. Nothing special though.

- I added lots of greeblies and other detailing to the hull. The parts I had to use weren't that good for greebling, not many small parts, so the "greeblies" are a bit larger than usually. Nonetheless I hope they give some nice mechanical touch to the vehicle.

- Forgot to add the gun at the bottom, if there is still enough space I'll think about adding a whole gunner place (otherwise an computer controled gun).

- I strengthened the knee joint with a second technic hinge.

That's it ;)

Gallery when moderated:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=130311

Pics:

Pic 1 | Pic 2 | Pic 3 | Pic 4 | Pic 5 | Pic 6 | Pic 7 | Pic 8

Note:

This probably isn't the finished version, I'll try to use your input to modifie it. (Oh, snefroe, sorry for the missing headlights, but I removed them because they looked somehow silly. The driver uses IR instead now :P)

Comments as always welcome!!!

[Ras 74]

That

[jonfett]

Looking good Apo! ;)

I really like what you have done with this, the head particularly is well designed and built.

Hope you do well in the contest! :)

Jon.

[xwingyoda]

Mean doggie, mean doggie, sit, sit !!!!!!!

G Apo, it looks really fantastic :oD

The amount of details is just astounding !!!! my ships look really crappy compared to your details attention !!!!!!!!!

Please could you make a closer pic of the up gun turret, and the back one - they look way cool !!!!

I have two minor comments if i may: you could add details to:

1) the blueish square behind the head

2) the X3 between the legs

Apart from that nada!!

Once again congrats for such a fantastic Moc !!!!!!!!!

[Mister Phes]

apo, this looks like a dog to me  that's your camouflage, isn't it? 

It was based on a wild cat, but somehow it now has the shape of a dog.

This is the first thing I related it to when I saw it. Which cat in particular did it originate from?

Also, could you make it actually walk?

[ApophisV]

This is the first thing I related it to when I saw it. Which cat in particular did it originate from?

It wasn't based on a particular wild cat, just the overall shope was supposed to look like one. But it's more a strong lion or tiger than a slim panther ;) I added my basic concept sketch, so maybe you get the idea I had in mind.

Also, could you make it actually walk?

You mean some kind of articulation? With the stronger joints it finally should be able to be set in different positions, although I haven't tried it yet. (Will do this at the final foto session ;))

[Mister Phes]

Yes, but to an even further extent as to make it walk like one of those robotic dogs. Obviously you'd have a lot of design challenges implementing such a system, but I do not doubt that it could be done.

[Akkhraziel]

...like a puma ?

(Yes, its a one line comment, and a reference most people probably won't get, but I couldn't resist.)

Akkh

[Mister Phes]

You mean some kind of articulation? With the stronger joints it finally should be able to be set in different positions, although I haven't tried it yet. (Will do this at the final foto session ;))

Obviously this is not to be. Yet I still have a question. Did you sketch that design in pen yourself or is it something you found on the Internet?

[ApophisV]

I did this myself. If I make a sketch in advance it is usually as wishy-washy as the one shown. I just use it for the general shape, all details of the model are added directly within the progress of building.

[Mister Phes]

Wishy washy is good. They love wishy washy sketches at Art School. It shows the development of ideas. They're real big on that kind of stuff.