Sculpting The Black Max, Part 4

Part 4 in a digital sculpting series for a large-ish mecha called The Black Max.

Here's the link back to part 3.

Onward and upward...

If you remember where we left off last time, we had six barrels floating in mid-air, without support, all acting as a cage around a hollow space that would never cast.
I make a large cylinder and extend it down the axis of the center line, filling the void.

Using the Revolve technique, I make an end cap for the gatling cannon.
 

Here is the profile line.
I make the line a solid, and it turns out well.

Actually, it turns out so well that I resize it, and copy it to make up the
rotary barrels’ braces.

I then start in on the muzzles. A truncated cone has some additional details
welded on to it for the primary muzzle.
 

Using the polar array command again, one becomes six. The barrel
assembly is now complete for the initial bulk-out.

Continuing the bulk-out, I extrude, chop, and loft the other lines from the
initial line-out. I space and extract the shapes so that they make up the regular
parts of a large mecha weapon.

The large ammo drum, underslung sensor/targeting pod, side armor panels, and the attachment for the elbow joint.
 

I then revolve a line, and it will become the upper arm.

I then extruded the two circular rings into a rudimentary shoulder joint.

Then the armor panel is extruded into a solid shape, forming a large
shoulder pad.

I make an angled rectancle, and subtract that from the shoulder armor,
just to reduce the bulkiness.

I then make a large hinge. This is just a stand-in for the detailing what will
occur later, just like most of the bulk-out. Articulation and/or attachment points
will be part of the final detailing.

The upper arm and hinge body are aligned, and rotated into position to
match the source art. I’m not sure if this angle will be kept in the final product, as
new ideas emerge concurrently with the sculpt.

A standing Waldo is placed on top of the shoulder, like a parrot, just for a
final look to see if everything passes “the Waldo test”.
If anything looks out of place, strangely proportioned, or unrealistic, Waldo will sniff it out, guaranteed.

That’s why I’ve kept him around so long.

The Waldo test successfully completed, I quickly use the “Mirror”
command in Rhino. Mirror enables me to make opposite copies of a selected
item.

These two cannons will definitely look fierce on the model.

The rest of the bulk-out and future waves of detailing will now occur a little faster, but you can see the gist of my design and sculpting process.

I’m far from the best (that honor, in my opinion, is reserved for the man known as Neil ‘Blitz’
Nowatzki), but I can hold my own.

Best,
JBR

PS, here's the follow-on link to Part Five.