A lot going on behind all the scenes, work especially and a big gaming event in which I needed to prepare a lot of new material. I know you are not interested in my paltry excuses, you are here to see models:
I am a big DUNE fan, I recall seeing the 1984 movie three times in the theater...undoubtedly a unique achievement. It wasn't until Waterworld came out that people stopped making fun of me (regarding Dune). I have done some other Dune fanboy things I'm not proud of (and shall not reveal, as they are killing words). And, of course, my last name also is the same of Fransesca, who played Paul's concubine mother. I digress. Did I say I had a stillsuit? Ok, good.
I know, shut up already! This model was built as a sketch, a maquette, or study. I sent these along to Agence Claude Girard which represents Denis Villeneuve in hopes to muscle my way into doing some concepting for the upcoming Dune film.
No phone calls yet, if anyone out there knows Mr. Villeneuve, pass this along. My understanding is that for this new interpretation Mr. Villeneuve will steer far away from the 1984 offering. A wise choice.
The model: It's around 1/200th scale, or around 100 meters in length. In the book they are described as "Factory Crawlers". I read through the book and kept careful notes on characters and tech. Herbert does an amazing job with so little, almost nothing in the book is described by more than a few sentences. Amazing.
This model is made from faom core, paper and wood dowels. I used Illy to create the track and parasol shield patterns.
My sketches are OK, I'd rather build up in 3D. This is the drawing I started from, you can the things I kept and the things that were transformed by going from 2D to 3D. One major change is the elimination of the spice removal proboscis. In the lower part of the drawing you see the carryall that would come down to evac the factory once a worm is spotted. I have the thopter tech here using rotors, not sure I'm in love with that.
The factory is like a big dumb bug, I imagine the tracks to be quite flexible, as shown here. This would also allow it to traverse the deserts of Arrakis.
I don't think the factory crawlers are Fremen, more likely a combination of local Imperial and Ixian construction. Due to the harsh conditions and expense to get any sort of replacement parts, it seemed to me everything should be designed to be as practical as possible. In our world the Russians are the masters of this. Flat surfaces that can be easily repaired, or folded down to use as a repair stands. Off the shelf parts for transmissions, wheels and hinges. On Arrakis being able to make field repairs would be a necessity.
Here are some pics during construction.
You can see how 3D materials affect the design process. Plus you can't cheat as much, like in a drawing.
The segmentation is meant to allow for flexibility (like a steamboat pulling itself over a snag) and cooling. The frame becomes an accessible hard point in which other units can be easily attached.
Notice on the top there is a large slipper tank. I imagined this is where the melange would go, in the event of a close call with a worm, the carryall could collect the spice tank sans crawler.
Here the parasols start to get positioned on the frame. They would be movable and basically shield the factory from the sun. This would also allow for the factory to have an ungainly appearance, depending on the parasols positions relative to the sun. I tried to capture this in the pics of the finished model.
The stark patterning is also purposeful. The alternating black and white ares act as a heat engine and create paths of air movement along the panels for cooling. Like the stripes on a zebra and a Crookes radiometer. It also makes it look more like a beetle.
A quick shot to show scale. Maybe this will turn into a real model. Thinking on it.
Cheers!
