by George Leone

This is the 2 meter tall Arca Industries C-4 Series Biped Workbot designed for 1.1 to 4 Gee applications. Utilized in moderate to deep gravity well situations such as massive planet surfaces and maintenance of Hi-Gee unmanned transports or long distance probes. Limb accessories can be changed by the unit itself for various jobs.

It stands a little over 2 meters (6ft. 8 in.) tall and has the upgraded 4-finger right side effector and factory optional left side boring auger.

I made this model in 1/20th scale from an Aoshima kit of a 3-legged robot(?) in 1/600th scale. English name of kit unknown. It appears that it flew, too. The model is 10cm (4 inches) tall.

I changed the legs from 3 to 2 by bending the hip joints forward. I used the "fingers" from the kit to make the feet. The 4-digit effector ("hand" for non-robotics types) was made from annealed sewing pins. They were heated red-hot and allowed to air-cool, thus making the metal soft. Then they were bent and inserted into small plastic tubes. The tubes were subsequently super-glued to the arm and everything was coated with glazing 'spot putty' used for auto body touch-up. I thinned the 'spot putty' with rubbing alcohol and brushed it on the pins, building up 'joints' and 'finger tips' in multiple coats. I made 'fingerprints' by pressing a fine mesh screen against the finger tips while the putty was soft, but nobody ever sees them!

The 'eye' in the front was a depression that I glued aluminum foil into, filled with 5-minute epoxy colored with some enamel paint mixed in. Then the border was made with fine solid core solder super-glued on. I sanded the diamond shapes off the front and rear of the 'head', but left the diamond shapes over the arms.

It was first painted with silver Floquil, then a layer of red metallic without the silver in it (I let it stand and used an eyedropper to pull off the color from the top of the bottle). It came out a disappointing brown--almost dull copper. I weathered it, after clear-coating it with Future floor wax, using grayish and earth-tones in enamel. A final coat of alcohol-based flat clear finished it off.

The base is a sample piece from a local "cold-cast marble" manufacturer.

Image: Back

Image: High view

Image: Low view