A Metal Elephant -update-page 2

[andrewchase]

Hi
This is my latest project.I've been working on the beast for about three and half months. It's made out of automobile transmission parts, electrical conduit, pipe, rod and sheet steel It's about 36 inches high and 36 inches long and weighs about 80 to 90 pounds. It's definitely the heaviest sculpture I've made so far and it's also the most dangerous. It's almost crushed my hand twice.
I made the elephant to fit into the "Timmy" universe http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=117055
My thinking is that it would act as a forklift, lifting loads with its tusks and holding them in place with it's trunk.
All the joints move and lock in place, turning a gear on the elephant's side winds a cable around a shaft which raises and lowers the trunk and the ears move back and forth and can fan out (to dissipate heat).
I realize the last shot is a bit goofy, I did it to show the elephant's range of motion.
All feedback is good, let me know what you think.

Regards
Andrew

[conceptzaholic10]

dude this is tight! can i ride it? . . lol you do anymore stuff like this? great job!

[ROBOT_TANK]

Damn! that's bad ass dude!! I love the construction of the trunk and the lower part of the feet, awesome job!!
....oh, watch those hands!!

[Leo Ki]

Wow... After the slender giraffes, the weightlifter elephants.
How is the Timmy project going?

[HunterKiller_]

The poseablility is amazing! Wow.

[Phil Moss]

That really is very cool bravo!

[Bai Fan]

I would love to see someone standing next to it to get a sense of scale. Maybe you could photo shop yourself in there so it looks life size! That might be fun.

[Seaport]

wow!!

[El Jeremie]

Woow too. This is phenomenal.
I wild to see some wip pictures if you can.

[banhatin]

wow!!!!super awesome!wooooooooooooooooo!

[teazr]

This is awesome in so many ways. The fact that it works is just one of them.
You're doing a great, inspiring job - keep at it.

[Jorge Gecov]

Super!!!
Love it!

[wclayto]

amazing

[Clochette]

Hehe really nice! It reminds me the Sultan elephant parade there were in London, few years ago. Here is some pictures :

[smokenmirrors]

absolutely amazing! Fantastic work!

[digitalfly]

Just a great job!!!! What size is it?

[TASmith]

I'd love to see these playing robot football at MIT!

[Clochette]

Originally Posted by digitalfly

Just a great job!!!! What size is it?

"It's about 36 inches high and 36 inches long and weighs about 80 to 90 pounds."

[misael]

thats friggin ridiculous! (in a good way) Too cool. I want one.

[Hazart]

I love it!

I wish I could use this for out bands promo cd cover.

[donalfall]

Nice.

[el coro]

wow. thanks for posting. c36

[Lone Wolf]

Really cool sculpt! 5 stars

[andrewchase]

Hi again,

Thanks for all the great comments and feedback.

conceptzaholic10-"lol you do anymore stuff like this" yes I do have more stuff, I wrote and illustrated a book called "Timmy" and posted a bunch of images in this thread
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=117055
I'm starting on a second book and the elephant will be a character in it.

Leo Ki-"How is the Timmy project going?" No luck so far

Bai Fan-"would love to see someone standing next to it to get a sense of scale"Thanks, I'm working on it

spookybabydoll- "I wild to see some wip pictures if you can." sure, I'll post some later today.

Clochette- "It reminds me the Sultan elephant parade" Yes, I've seen them. They were a huge inspiration to me.

Hazart- "I wish I could use this for out bands promo cd cover. " No problem, your welcome to use them for a promo cd cover. If you get signed,send me some money.

Thanks again to everyone who posted, I really appreciate the encouragement and hey, if you hate the thing, I'd like to hear from you too

Regards
Andrew

[andrewchase]

Hi,

Some WIP shots for spookybabydoll

These are a couple pictures of my first try. Bad, very bad. Legs were too tall, the head was too small and poorly shaped and the trunk was too long




Here's my second try, still bad. The body's a bit better but still wrong. As I figured out later, the shoulders and hips should be about halfway up the body, not at the top. Also, the head is still too small and weird looking. Over all, it looks too much like a dog.



I finally swallowed my pride and found some good reference material, this drawing was a huge help in figuring out how an elephant is stuck together.



Third try, it's finally staring to look somewhat pachydermey. Head and hips are too low though



Fixed the head, not happy with the hips, and the ears are starting to look wrong as well.



Fixed most of the issues, overall I'm pretty happy. if I made another one I'd add more bulk above the hips and shoulders. Also, the trunk isn't as flexible as I'd like it to be so I'd change the trunk segment pivot points from the bottom of the trunk to the middle. Also I'd add universal joints to the neck to allow it to rotate and turn from side to side.



Let me know if you want to see anything else

Regards
Andrew

[kab]

Dude! You should do a stop-motion animation of this thing... Fantastic work!

[HunterKiller_]

Kab is right. That would be awesome.

It's always good to try it yourself, get frustrated and then look up the reference.

[chrissommer]

awsome elephant

Chris
http://www.chrissommer.com

[Killingyouguy]

So is it a Metallephant? Sorry, had to.

[psychoboy]

nice work man;

good study of things.