Wrapping up the #CMC

6-leg mech finalized

I wrapped up my build for Andy Mecha’s Community Mech Challenge on Instagram. I scratch built a 6-leg, mech tow truck from styrene and the body of a hot Wheels Unimog. There were a few wires and some odd bits of plastic that went into the build as well. But, it was about 90 percent scratch built.

I intended to do a much simpler build, but as I started working on the concept sketch it started to evolve into a bigger project. Like most scratch builds, it didn’t end up looking very much like the concept sketch. As I started putting pieces together, fitting things and balancing the vehicle so it would stand on its own … well at that point it pretty much became a build-as-you-go project.

The #CMC lasted about six weeks or so and Andy Mecha mentioned my build a few times in his YouTube live streams. There were a lot of cool builds in the #CMC and they’re all archived under the Instagram #CommunityMechChallenge hashtag. It was a great experience taking part in the #CMC from a build standpoint. But, it was also interesting and informative to see how other people approached their builds as well as heir concepts for the challenge. Anybody interested in scratch building robots should definitely check out the #CMC page. I’d like to see another of these challenges somewhere down the road.

During the course of the build, I developed an idea for a project I’m calling Whiskey River. I’ve been planning to build several 1:64 scale dioramas that can be used as backgrounds for photographing die cast cars. I decided to set the dioramas in a post apocalyptic, slightly cyberpunk, setting.

Stay tuned for more on the Whiskey River Project.