"BOLO Continental Siege Unit (3mm-ish)" Topic

Just for kicks, I Sketchup'ed a fairly largish BOLO CSU to go alongside my 3mm sci-fi vehicles. I haven't even tried to upload it to Shapeways for printing yet… For sake of reference, the red man-sized silhouettes are 3mm tall.

Just thought I'd share!

Thanks,
jav98

that is really cool!

I'm not sure if there are enough weapons on that. There is at least enough space for a few cupola weapons and maybe a few turrets between the medium sized ones…

I don't think the designer has heard of the 'too many guns' concept ;)

Dinochrome Brigade 32,000-tonne Mark XXXIII ? very cool

Great model Jav. I hope you upload it to Shapeways. I could use a couple.

Are your other 3mm sets including the other Bolo available?

Al

Insomniac, I don't know if you have ever read any of Laumer's BOLO books, but that's how they are described.

For a BOLO, I think I prefer ball mounts for the secondary infinite repeater turrets, and the main hellbore battery should look like it's capable of 90 degree elevation – one of its roles is blowing invading spaceships out of orbit. The missiles probably should be entirely internal carries, with just the launch tube covers showing. And the tertiary autocannon turrets make the model look a bit too busy for my tastes, as well as creating some unneeded shell traps and reducing armor slope – having fewer of them in "hull MG" blister mounts might look better. Not like the 30cm guns aren't perfectly viable for antipersonnel work anyway – the only reason to mount light ACs would be to have a "low force" option to limit collateral damage. Late-series BOLOS just don't get put in situations where that capability is needed very often – riot control is not a job for continental siege units. :)

Other than that, spiffy model. I like the proportions of the hull and the tread layout. Realistically something that big might need an articulated hull design like an Ogre, but Laumer never mentions it so that's out of canon – and given that they can flatten most small hills and grav-lift over the others, maybe articulation isn't called for anyway.

I love it!

Very sharp.

I'd buy a few of those, depending on price.

Very nice. I like some of the suggestions ofChief Lackey Rich. But everyone pictures them their own way when reading the stories.

Thanks for the comments! I do realize that it looks really busy, but I was intentionally shooting for something over-the-top looking. Since Laumer often mentions the presence of antipersonnel batteries, I knew I needed something smaller and more numerous than the infinite repeaters. On the VLS missiles, I originally had silo covers instead, but it made the model look like it had the mumps or something, so I just stuck the missiles themselves out the top. Easily changed for different tastes, though.

I do have another model I made about a year ago that includes an articulated hull, ball-turret infinite repeaters, and a different style of turret that I actually prefer to this one. I'll dive into the dark recesses of my hard drive and find that file so I can post up some pictures.

@Allen: I've had to retool a few of the other 3mm sets, but they'll all be available again soon. Of course, if I can work out the printing issues, then there is a manufacturer that may be willing to add those to his product lines in metal, and that would be vastly preferrable to paying Shapeways prices!

You need to make a 6mm version too. :)

Nice, but I tend to agree with Chief Lackey.

Particularly the missiles – too vulnerable.

P.S. Been too long, but didn't on at least one occasion Laumer write of 'covered gunports' for the AP weapons?

Love it

Here is the previous one. It's about a quarter of the size of the one above.

And here are some other variants:

Those are great!! I'd use 'em if they were in 6mm!!

I love the BOLO series!! . Nice to see someone doing them in my scale LOL. Robert

Sorry to ask, but are you selling these on Shapeways, and do you have a link?

I am loving all of these – The last one particularly, but they are all brilliant.

I've said it before, if these were in 6mm, I would buy them in a shot, like most of Javelins work.

OGREs! Super!

Looking sweet! Depending on price, I would buy one or two!

So any word on these?

@javelin98 – curious if you were going to do anything with these? They are cool models and it seams more than a few of us would be interested in buying them?

Andreas!

How did I miss these. These are great.

-Eli

Those could work in 6mm at their current size I would think, minus a few of the smaller guns, if you ignore hatches.

Sorry, I've been trying to get several other projects wrapped up and out the door! However, these are still on my radar, so once I'm done with the things currently at the top of my list, I'll show these some love.

Always nice to see the Old School of sci fi still inspires…

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net