LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - cargo net with barrels WIP

 As I'm not 100% sure about the first crago for the crane I'm still looking to finetune that. But time is also short, so I looked for a easy printable barrel  and tested that. Too small. Gave it another try. Too big. Printed that off at 80% and perfect.

Now to do a test with various gauzes I have in my First Aid practice kits (expired stuff so no worries) to see how many barrels I need to get the look I am after, and then glue the barrels into a blob and paint that, then cover it with the net. What I don't need can go into my spares box for later scenery. 

The file for the barrel can be found here: Rocket Pig Games Barrel

It comes with or without studs, and 1 inch (the big ones) or half inch (the small ones). The small ones will make nice gunpowder barrels, the large ones are just a tad too big for me. 

LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - Crane done. Now comes the rest.....

 Calling the crane done. Johann standing as a size reference. Yes, she is a big girl!

My dinner table is a disaster zone, so tomorrow clean up so I can do the next set of drawings and vacume a gazillion small bits of wood from the floor. 

 My estimated time for the crane build was 3 weeks, same for the cargoes. I'm actually 1 week ahead which is nice for a change. 1 week per cargo is doable, and then paint all of them combined so I'm ready ahead of time.....cause I have a lot of other things to do, like take a ton of photo's of all of the 20mm stuff I need to sell. Ugh. 

LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - Wheely good now

I managed to add extra support inside so it now turns as it should, without a wobble or magnets. Pressure fitting wood for the win. Used scrap MDF rounds from the scrap box for the rollers, then used lollypop sticks for the guides. 

Keeping parts seperate for now will help with painting.

Tomorrow fine-tuning of the angle of the wheel and adding most of the iron banding.

Extra strength, but these will trimmed back to about 1-2 mm before painting.

Justifying the reason whey I have a MDF scraps box.

Lollypot sticks added, and those got sanded down so it sits flush with the crane beam.

Slowly getting there...

LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - Wood gets longer and stronger

 After a long hard day installing another cabinet and prepping my display cases for pick up tomorrow (as I sold them) I fell asleep on the couch till SJors rang the doorbell for hobby night. Oops.

Tonight I used up all of the fireworks wood I had left, so I need to search my attic for the remaining stash to finish this. The balsa I have won't cut it as they are way too thin.

But progress is good.

LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - Wood gets nailed

 I've been spending a bit of time every day snipping the heads off of dress pins. This is very taxing on my hands so I do about 20 or so and then call it a day and insert them in the desired places.

Right now I have made a platform and nailed that and got the main beam glued up, as well ad the crane arm laminated but not yet stripped or sanded. Need to do some more eyeballing to see how tall I really want it to be. 

 Recycle kids! The future crane arm, double thickness wood now. 

LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - More Wood

 Glued and pinned more wood together to get the basic frame together and started adding the iron bands (aka card and pins) and that will take a bit. Once that is done I'll work on the platform and the top of the crane, and after that tie in the wheel. 

It's a real bodgejob but it works. 

Old Fireworks for the win. And yes, I can't cut a straight edge to save my life....

....but we are getting there. Ignore the wheel. It thought it was Obi Wan and wanted to have the high ground. 

LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - Get Wood

 Stripped the last tape from the roll and used my trusty The Chopper to cut swizzle sticks to size. Clad the roll with it, inside and out, and after drying sanded the sides smooth-ish. Made 2 crosses for the axle to go through and glued those on by 1,5 eye. It sorta works, but I never intended this to be a working crane anyway so no problem. 

Making the cross in the most high tech way possible

 

Mega Hamster Death Wheel!

With the side trim added.

Next up is putting pencil to paper to get the measurements for the support frame, and check how I can make it a turntable if I ever want to put it on the top of a building. Ok, I will need to build a building for it, but it is the thought that counts...

LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - Let's get it on!

 First thing to build is the wheel. I've looked at scratchbuilding the wheen, 3D printing it and what not. , then took a step back and looked at how others did it. 

The humble beginnings. A roll of pretty useless sticky tape with the right width, a wooden rod for the center and a thicker bit of balsa for the support. I'll use coffee stirrers for the outside and inside planks, glue those in place, sand the sides and then work on the sides of the wheel. 

Well, that is the plan anyway.

LAF BSC 2026 "Wheel" - The Idea

 And we have another competition. Theme is "wheel"

Timelines (all times are midnight Pacific Standard Time of that day stated - yes my timezone means you get an extra 8 hours you lucky European sods)

• Start Time - Feb 1st
• Last Registration Day - March 1st NEW Extended registration limit
• Construction Completed - March 31st
• Painted Photos Due - April 7th
• Voting Begins - April 15th(ish)

Perfectly doable I say. Well, at least if I don't get sicker then I already am that is. But let's be positive :)

After going over my options I think it is time I make something for Mordheim again, it's been a while. As Mordheim is also a port, I think one of these is in order.

That way I can make a nice dent in my Balsa collection as well, and it is easy to plan into sections. The wheel, the frame and the crane part. And now to put that idea to paper.