121 replies to this topic

[BLaaR]

Hi every one.

I have always been a mech head playing just about all mech games on PC ranging from the first BattleTech Crescent Hawks Inception till MechWarrior 4 mercs.

My obsession for mechs lead me to the mechwarrior3.org forum where I found a new hobby and best thing it included mechs.

There I learned from the masters such as shiftdel, zecks, vlmarshall and cantaris on how to make and build these paper models.

So now, 4 years later I am going strong releasing model after model along with a new bread of great community members such as monkeyrum, YogSolthan and a few others.

I saw one or two posts here of members requesting paper models. Currently I am working on releasing mostly MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries Mektek mechs but I have also released some retail mechs from the original MW4 Mercs. Oh yes, I have made some Star Wars walkers and droids and even models from Star Siege Tribes.

Last thing before I start posting where you can see updates and download the models :

1. Thank you to Piranha for making and rebooting the MechWarrior franchise.
2. Hello to all the people I know, I see some familiar faces even though they are posting under other names. Especially those who are making the resin models
3. I am always open to suggestion and requests if you want a paper model that has not yet been released.

Oky so now onto the where and how.

I usually update my works in progress and releases at either :

MechWarrior 3

My next Mektek Mech

or

Paper Modelers

Mechwarrior 4 Mechs

All my models are available at either :

My MediaFire page

or

Paper Modelers download page - > You will need to register and post before you are able to download from their download section.

So there you go. If you want to build a paper model, then simply download, print, score, cut glue and build.

Please post pics of your built paper mechs.

Enjoy.

BLaaR

Below is a small You Tube vid I made showing some of the mechs that I have built.

BLaaRs Paper Mechs

[GaussDragon]

These look awesome. Any chance you got a bigger resolution photo of your mechs? Lovin the Nova and the Highlander (though they're all good).

[BLaaR]

Hey thanks.

I will have to take another pic for you. You could check the Youtube vid. Shows them pretty good there.

Some of the models was made by shiftdel and cantaris.

Those you can download from the mechwar3.org web site.

My mech models are :

Argus
Mektek BlackHeart - > being beta built not yet released but soon
Cauldron Born - > Being beta built not yet released
Mektek Deimos
Fafnir
Flea
Highlander
Hunchback
Mektek Kanazuchi
Kodiak
Longbow
Owens
Mektek Ursus

I have also made some turrets and vehicles and one drop ship. Grab them from my page.

Edited by BLaaR, 08 December 2011 - 10:52 PM.

[Taliesin]

That's a terrific collection. It's a shame my Locust probably isn't the same scale

There are a heck of a lot of these on the intertubes. Am I right in thinking that a lot of them are simply extracted from the Mechwarrior games and run through Pepakura? I downloaded the Vulture/MadDog by (I think ShiftDel) and it appeared to have a low res game texture and fairly economic mapping - as if it were designed as a game model rather than a paper model project.

Tal

[Grafix TM]

Taliesin, on 09 December 2011 - 04:16 AM, said:

Am I right in thinking that a lot of them are simply extracted from the Mechwarrior games and run through Pepakura? I downloaded the Vulture/MadDog by (I think ShiftDel) and it appeared to have a low res game texture and fairly economic mapping - as if it were designed as a game model rather than a paper model project.

Tal

Yes, if you look closely at the Hylander, Awsome, Catapult, Nova Cat, Mauler, Uziel, Shadow Cat, and even the BattleField 2142 Walker on his shelf, you can tell that these models were extracted from the game itself and ran through the Pepakura program to be created.

Your Locust is Unique because it was an Original made model not a low resolution extracted model from a game.

[BLaaR]

Indeed they are all the actual in game models extracted from the resource file. If you read my readme.txt file within the .RAR archive you will see that I did mention it

Also it is not as simple as just extracting the model, importing it into pepakura and then hitting the unfold button and presto you have a build 'able paper model.

When I first starting making mechs I focused on the one's done by Mektek. My first two the Kanazuchi and Ursus was done by taking screen shots and after re-modeling the mech, re-map the texture before exporting to pepakura. Later on I managed to figure out how to extract the models I started making use of the actual in game model.

I found both methods had its advantages / disadvantages.

Modeling from screen shots meant you can make each part fit as you model it, but the downfall is making the in game texture fit.

Using the in game models had all the UV's so no need to sit and re-map, but the downfall with this was that the in game models had lots of overlapping , intersecting and sometimes parts floating by itself that needed fixing up.

The whole project is focused on bringing the mechs from MechWarrior 4 to the community to enjoy and build and is not an attempt to bring BattleTech paper models.

That is why your Locust is so awesome. It is a true rendition of the Locust we all know and love. The texture is amazing, pity Pepakura does not support above 1024x1024.

As for the other models, they are all an attempt to bring models from game to people so they can enjoy the game in real life too having a model sitting on their shelves. I was amazed how much there are and that is also what attracted my attention. Bring those game models alive by converting them to paper. But like I said. Cleaning / fixing the mesh is sometimes harder work than modeling.

As for your Locust scale. Yours is prob in line with the scales used by BattleTech. We are making use of the MechWarrior 4 reference scales 1/40. So at that scale your Locust would be 17cm. Thank you for leaving the PDO unlocked, we can now easily scale it to 1/40 MW4 if we want to keep it on the same scale as the other MechWarrior 4 mechs.

I really hope / beg / plea you will bring us more of your models. There are loads of MechWarrior 3 / 4 models bit to be honest, non true BattleTech style mechs like the Locust you made. Please continue the great work you are doing.

BLaaR

[Taliesin]

Sorry, BLaaR I didn't mean my question to be a criticism or in any way dismissivie of your work or any of the other mech modelers. I do appreciate that there's more work to creating paper models than simply hitting 'unfold' - indeed, I think tidying the 'unfold' is where the real skill lies. I'm sorry if it came across that way at all. I was just curious. They looked like game models and I just wondered if they were. The answer, of course is, yes!

The locust constructed is actually not far off. It's 15cm tall. As for not locking the PDO - well, I didn't realise you could! Well, I wouldn't have anyway. I'm cool with folks doing what they like with it, as long as it's not for profit.

I, too am frustrated at Pepakura being limited to 1024. Apparently there's an extension for Pepakura 3 that registered users can download that allows you to use textures up to 50,000 pixels square (more than you could possibly ever need) - but I really REALLY don't like version 3

You mentioned re-modelling from screenshots. That's actually exactly what I'm doing with ShiftDel's Vulture model right now. I got the LuftShark skin for it but it was, as you say super low-res and tiled oddly in places. So I decided to remap it. But in order to do that, I had to remodel it. Pepakura 3 now has the option to export the mesh as an OBJ (which I think is a bad thing) but I've already remodelled the mesh and besides, it's allowed me to add some curves and extra details in.

Actually, it's kind of on hold at the moment because I'm modelling a Clone Wars ATTE!
I really fancy having a crack at the Fafnir too (and the Unseen Marauder and Rifleman).

Tal

Edited by Taliesin, 13 December 2011 - 02:25 AM.

[maxx2504]

Hi !

I noticed all those fine mechs but one mech i dont know. The one in the bottom row on the left side. What mech is that ?


maxx

[Taliesin]

I believe that's the BattleField 2142 Walker.

[Taliesin]

Actually, I'm going to take it back (as I knew I would) having spent some time this evening learning Pepakura 3 properly - I absolutely Frakkin' LOVE IT!

[BLaaR]

Indeed that is the BattleField 2142, I modeled that one too from screen shots and used the in game texture. I found that that model had way to much detail / polys to successfully convert to paper with my limited skills. It was also one of my first models. I think it took me close to 2 years to complete ........ lol.

@ Taliesin , no problem. Just thought I explain to the others that making paper models is not as easy as rip and unfold. The step in between the cleaning of the mesh is where the skill is and how you plan on splitting up the parts.

I have played a bit with the pepakura high res version and its downfall is that others will also need the high res version if you plan on sharing the PDO with them. But the up side is you can export the project to bitmap, so that means you can export with high res texture.

I also love pepakura, I have no idea how other modelers is making models without it, I suppose the make use of a UV unfold or something, still way to hard work IMO.

In your case exporting the model to OBJ is a great feature but you loose the UV's but since you plan on making a new skin doesn't really matter. One thing there is a way to get the model out with UV and texture, but I am not going to post the how here.

I am so happy you are working on some of the mech models, your textures are superb and are 10x no 100x better than those in game textures. Can't wait to see what you do with the Vulture. I hope you loose the MW4 style arms and put on the BattleTech twin laser arms. You may wanna take a look at Zecks Vulture here, he also is in the process of making one

http://www.mechwarri...opic.php?t=4972

As for Fafnir, that is my fav mech, I hope you make a new skin / mesh for it since I will most def rebuild it again. If you need the model or anything let me know, I will gladly send it to you. Same goes for any mech in the Mechwarrior 4 / Mektek expansion. If you need anything let me know.

Last but not least, thank you once again for all you work and sharing it with us ........

and

I know you take no requests ..........

But

Please.

Axeman / Hatcherman

Pretty please.

You will make a lot of members very happy.

[Taliesin]

That really is a stunning Vulture model. Too detailed and fiddly for my tastes, but I can't wait to see it built.
I'm afraid that on mine, I'm keeping the Mechwarrior arms because I much prefer them. I am making them a tad more detailed though. I prefer the position of the missile launchers too.

I too, can't imagine how folks would create paper models without Pepakura. Saying that, for a while I used a combination of Pepakura and Photoshop. I really liked Pepakura 2 and I initially found version 3 really annoyingly different but having used it properly last night, I absolutely love it, especially the ability to drag-select flaps to alter them. Makes things much faster.

Regarding the high-res version, well, you can print to PDF too - which is what I'd prefer to do. I didn't do it with the Locust so that it was possible to change the texture maps but certainly, if I publish my Clone Wars ATTE, it'll probably be as a PDF.

As for the Axeman/Hatchetman, well, it's not high on my list, I'm afraid. It's one fo the goofier Battletech designs
and I've never really liked it. Certainly I've never understood the logic behind giving a mech hands so that it can hold a weapon shaped like an axe. Why not just build the chopping blades into the forearm? Saying that, I've never really understood why Mechs need intricately articulated hands instead of simple pincers.

Tal

[BLaaR]

I know it is goofy, only reason why people like it, was IMO because of the Battle Tech cartoon series way back then.

Anyway. Moving on then.

Have you always been around creating paper models, your work is so good I can't believe I have never seen any of your work before. Or did you release your models under another name ?

I see you mention you might be working on the Rifleman too, now that is great news. I tried to make Rifleman way back then, think it looked oky but the texture was ,er ...... awe-full. I actually used the Maulers Mw4 texture on it ....... lol

[Taliesin]

Well, I might still be persuaded to make it, especially if it's in demand

Whilst I've dabbled before (TARDIS, Enterprise Bridge, Elder Thing, Aphid Gunship), I think the Locust is my first proper paper model produced solely in Pepakura and actually released.

I'm a video game artist and I go way back to Quake 2 and Half Life 1 when models really were LOW poly (600 polys was considered 'pushing it') and also models only had a colour map on them and, aside from some rudimentary lighting, it did all the work. All of this has proven excellent grounding for making paper models. I'm not entirely happy with the Locust (I don't think it reads very well because of the camo) but I've learned a lot from it and the ATTE and future models should be better).

I would like to do a Rifleman. It's one of my favourites as is the Longbow. Still, these things take time and I have a notoriously short attention span

Tal

[BLaaR]

Taliesin, on 14 December 2011 - 03:16 AM, said:

Well, I might still be persuaded to make it, especially if it's in demand

Oh really. So how many votes do you need ?

But I can understand, making models that no one builds makes one feel that it was a waste of time. Strange how the model that you think no one will build, ends up being built the most.

I will run a request over at papermodels.com and mechwar3.org and see if I can get some votes.

As for releasing it only in PDF, I hope you can supply it with the PDO again. It is nice to be able to play around with the flaps or unfolding or changing the scale etc.

Edited by BLaaR, 14 December 2011 - 08:57 PM.

[Scirocco]

That Hauptmann: do want.

Downloaded a model already - going to see if I can build over Christmas. Who knows, if all goes well I may even look at trying to modify the model so I can do my RAC-beast from MW4.

[TheTeacher]

Good to see ya here Blaar! I think Cokefiend and I have another place to show off our plastic/resin builds.

TimFusco (The Teacher)

[Belldandy Morisato]

Good to see you here Blaar! Wondering if someone will take a crack at the MWO Hunchback now This is Luciora BTW.

Edited by belldandy morisato, 25 December 2011 - 06:46 PM.

[Draelren]

I'm looking for a MW4 Conjurer (Hellhound).

[BLaaR]

Good to see you guys here too. Anyway. Both the Hauptmann and Hellhound was released by shiftdel. They can be found over at mechwar3.org under the 3D Craft section. There is a topic there containing the download links.