Project: Centurion Rebuild – Completed

Part 1 :: Building the Pose

This was supposed to be a simple build & ship commission. I’ve felt really guilty that it has sat so long waiting for me to free up the time in between semesters. I decided to do a bit of extra work on this Centurion. Rather than just build a stock model I’m going to make it unique.

When you mention the Centurion model, everyone thinks “short spear” or something similar. While yes, that is true. It does have a stubby spear, it’s also got another big weakness: the hunched over pose. It’s always bothered me. This should be a proud fighting machine, not something trying to hide behind it’s sparking shield. Let’s do something about that. Just a note: there’s going to be a few gaps in the pics early on. I didn’t have the camera when I started working so I’ll have to explain a few things.

Step 1

There’s actually quite a bit of work done here. The foreleg was easy to reposition due to the attachment setup. The stock peg position is marked in red. The new peg position is marked in green. This brings the leg forward and raises the foot. (The block is there to hold the model up while I work on it, the client will be doing his own basing so he can decide what the Centurion will be stomping on.) The waist peg has been completely cut off flush and a hole for a pin drilled down nearly perpendicular to the base in it’s place.

Step 2

The Centurion is actually using the Hammersmith torso to get the molded Cygnus on the hull. It’s hard to make out, but I inserted a length of 1/8″ plastic tubing into the hole for the waist peg and filled it with Apoxie Sculpt. Once that hardened I drilled a hole through it and up into the solid torso for the pin. Just hanging the torso on that single pin shows just how much better the pose is already. That’s pretty fragile looking though so it needs to be bulked up a bit before it’s believable that it could bear that much weight.

Step 3

I’ve slid a length of aluminum tubing over the brass rod and countersunk it above and below. That looks sturdy enough for a central weight-bearing “spine.” It needs additional support though, both physically and visually.

Step 4

I’ve added two actuators, one on each side of the spine. These can work in a push/pull relationship to rotate the torso in relation to the hips. (The human body has muscles that do similar work.)

Just a couple of brass rods deliberately cut long. One the torso was lowered down I could see how far to cut back. I’m not actually attaching the upper ends, although I could. These are more for show and to keep the body from twisting on the central pin.

Step 5

A pair of short lengths of aluminum tubing on the ends for housings and the waist is ready to go. Here’s an extreme closeup so you can see what all is going on.

Standing Tall

Looking pretty good so far if I do say so myself. Not bad for taking 3 months off from building models. Now to get the arms positioned and that stubby spear fixed.