Ok time for an update. Below you'll see the current set of items that we'll be working with. I have pictures of the FW kits but we'll worry about them later when we actually need them.
Working InventoryLet's start by creating the interior panels of the Exterminus. Now the inside of a normal Land Raider has two access points through which troops or an internal panel can be displayed. To easily make the Exterminus larger, we're going to cut and combine the interior panels of the Land Raider such that we will have four panels on side instead of just two.
One thing to keep in mind is that we want to ensure that the spacing between the all of the access points is the same. As will be shown later, we want the two inner access points to line up just as if it were the original internal internal panel. This way, we can combine the elongated track structure and an external standard Land Raider panel. I know it's confusing now but believe me it's really hard to explain. Just bear with me while I create the basic structure.
For easier identification, let's designate the two left panels of the Land Raider kits the left front panel and the left rear panel. Below the cut details for the left rear Exterminus interior panel. You can see that it's made just aft of the divider on the front ramp. The cut is made all the way through and is the easier of the internal panel cuts. Save any left over internal panel material. We'll be using it later elsewhere on the model.
Left Rear Panel Interior Cut Location Left Rear Panel Interior End ResultBe sure to save the front ramp structure that we cut from this panel. We'll need it later...
Left Rear Panel Interior Left Over BitNow that we have the back panel cut, let's go ahead and cut the left front interior panel. This cut is more complicated as it goes through one of the posts that previously connected the internal and external Land Raider panels. We don't want to cut through the post all the way; let's save the post for a later point that we can use to connect panels to together.
Left Front Panel Cut LocationBelow you see the depth to which we want to make our cut. It's just past the rail structure used to hold the sliding Land Raider doors. At this point you want to stop cutting.
Left Front Panel Vertical Cut DepthNow you want to cut horizontally into the cut that you previously made. Again you just want to cut through the post to the point where your previous cut finished.
Left Front Panel Horizontal Cut DepthAll the cuts for the left panel are now complete. The effect is we've cut out a rectangular chunk separating the back portion where the engine would have attached from the remainder of the interior panel.
Left Front Panel End ResultYou want to perform the same process on both sets of interior panels for the right side as well. When you have everything cut, you can assemble the two pieces into one interior panel shown below. These two panels will form the basis of the chassis that we're building.
Interior PanelsInterior Panel DetailHere you can see the one the Exterminus interior panel's that we created alongside a regular Land Raider and Leman Russ track structure.
Panel Size ComparisonRemember back when we were cutting the panels and how we wanted to make sure that all the access points lined up correctly? We'll because of the locations of the cuts, everything is lined up perfectly. This will allow us to connect the external and internal access points together.
Access Point AlignmentWe'll this wraps up this update. We've made some real good progress for this week. Next week we'll look into cutting the external panels. At that point the whole Land Raider Exterminus structure should be much more recognizable and defined. As always questions and comments are welcome!