Please talk me out of this...

[Beekster]

Talk me out of this because I need to put this on the "build it" list like a need another hole in my head. These three illustrate what would be involved:

All in something like $130, and that's just for starters. Add another $35 or so for sagged resin tires.  What ties these things together? A movie...Mad Max: Fury Road. More or less, these items are the materials to build the Excavator Death. Also required would be etched brass sheet with open circles, lots of styrene stock and scratchbuilding, and a trip to Home Depot or the like to get the two saw blades mounted on the backhoe arm...This could easily top $200 in materials alone.

[JCON]

Interesting concept but you need to put this on hold until you have researched more and completed some of the other shelf queens or you'll never get anything accomplished... lol!!! How's that???

[Wes]

Im going to go the other way and suggest you build it. I mean how frikkin cool will that look on the shelf.

You only live once bro.

[Mence]

I can't talk you out of something I would dearly love to see you build, I'm with Wes, crack on!

[Beekster]

Nov 13, 2017 12:05:15 GMT -6 JCON said:

Interesting concept but you need to put this on hold until you have researched more and completed some of the other shelf queens or you'll never get anything accomplished... lol!!! How's that???

Oh, I quite agree!  Some degree of inaccuracy is inevitable with a project like this, I'm afraid.  While it's easy to identify the MAN 6x6, the make of the excavator is unknown and there's really only that one Hasegawa kit of one in 1/35 anyway. I've got the book on the art direction for the movie, but it only has one photo...and interestingly, that one doesn't have the spikes all over it. The thing was demolished during filming, so internet images are all we've got and there aren't a huge number of those.

Still wish someone had done a kit of Furiosa's War Rig in 1/32 or even 1/25. I'd have bought it regardless of price. Two of the three built still survive, so the reference is out there...

[JED]

Now why would we talk you out of this!!? 😂😂

[BUCKY]

Now that we've seen it.........ya gotta do it!! LoL
That would be perfect for a Mad Max group build!!

[Beekster]

Nov 13, 2017 13:36:01 GMT -6 BUCKY said:

Now that we've seen it.........ya gotta do it!! LoL
That would be perfect for a Mad Max group build!!

Indeed it would, though I rather doubt that I could do it on the typical time frame of a group build. The general theme, though, is a good one, and I would recommend expanding it beyond just the vehicles seen in the films to anything that would fit in that world. From the background information on Fury Road, the mileu is a post-apocalyptic world in which pollution (chemical and radiological) has ravaged the planet and society has broken down completely.  It's set roughly 45 years after the collapse. Mobility is still important for survival, but electronic technology is nearly impossible to keep functional since it is impossible to find spares. That's why you don't see late model cars & trucks in the movies; older technology like carburetors are easier to repair. With diesels, older engines without emissions controls or computer-controlled injection would be preferred, or converted to run without the fancy stuff. Power would suffer, but nonessential weight like air conditioning, stereos, and most of any interior all get removed.  The background (per the book "The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road" also postulates a shopping mall that is buried beneath the sands that is the source for some of the vehicles and other stuff seen in the films; a source of raw materials.

Hmmm...this gives me an idea.  I'll flesh it out on the Group Build Suggestions board.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Why don't you leave the time frame Open Ended. That way people can join it at their leasure and maybe even build a few.

[BUCKY]

Nov 13, 2017 14:22:01 GMT -6 dogfish7 (R.I.P.) said:

Why don't you leave the time frame Open Ended. That way people can join it at their leasure and maybe even build a few.

We have that Open Ended time frame on the LeMans Group Build.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

That's correct and it works quite well.

[Wes]

So have you started yet??

[Dukemaddog]

That looks great. I think you can do it. I saw someone building the War Rig in 1/72 scale on another Forums. That was so incredible! I wish I could do it myself, but I haven't the skills or resources myself.

So, bring it on man!

[MARCO]

Man, that is a really challenging and interesting project!

[Beekster]

Nov 14, 2017 9:34:52 GMT -6 Wes said:

So have you started yet??

Negative. The cost on this one is really steep since it needs an expensive and rare truck kit, an average-kit-cost excavator, and a die-cast backhoe that would have to be disassembled. Those three alone would be about $150, and right now I'd rather save that for one of the two M911 C-HET combinations recently announced.

If we proceed with an open-ended group build with a Mad Max theme, I'll snag another Revellogram Mack R700 tanker kit and go to town. I've got two tanker trailers in stock already, having used the tractors for conversion to Mack DM895s (see the thread on my tank transporter fetish).  I've got the remains to the two R700 chassis frames, parts of a Volvo tractor, parts of two Chevy/GMC tractors, and parts for two 40' box trailers.  So I'm good to modify a tanker into a three-axle variant with fifth wheel so that I can create a B-train, perhaps using a box trailer frame to make a flatbed...maybe do something gun-truck-ish with an M113 bolted on?  I've also got what I need to extend the tractor frame and add a tag axle, though I might have to scrounge springs.  It's wheels that really concern me, since all those 1/32 snap-fit wheels have wretched tread and are actually a little undersized.  I've got a solution, or at least masters for them...but the cost of getting them cast might be prohibitive, especially if I want to do a three-axle tanker and two-axle flatbed with duals and a two-axle tractor with duals along with tag axle and front axle with singles.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Looks like you talked yourself out of it ............ for the time being.

[JCON]

That's what I was thinking also Bruce!!!

[Beekster]

Yes, for the time being...but I'll keep my eyes open for that MAN 6x6 and grab one if the price is reasonable.

[BUCKY]

Always be looking.....ya never know what might pop up!!

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

True Dat!