Tiberian Sun is my second favourite RTS computer game of all time. I thought what better way to honour it than to build one of the units from that game. (I won't go into the history of the game or the back story, but its from the golden years of Westwood Studios before its unfortunate demise.) It has endured 10 years and is still quite popular with mods still being created today. This Hover Multi-Launch Rocket System is designed to attack both ground and air units. It is quick and can traverse both land and sea, but lightly armoured. It is also affected by ion storms which cause it to be immobilized.

For this model I turned to the "dark side". Using many images and references available online, I drew up the model first in AutoCAD. It was scaled to roughly 1/72 (based on several images from one of the original artists, Eric Gooch). Once satisfied with the orthographic views, I then "built" the model in a 3D program called Solidworks. (see image). It was then off to the Stereo-Lithography machine where a lazer slowy builds up the model layer by layer in a vat of resin. The resulting model is about 4.5 inches (114mm) long.

What follows was the most tedious part of the project, the cleaning. When the model is "grown" there is a lot of support material. This has to be carefully removed and then sanded and filed. Smaller details had a habit of being lost, broken, or distorted. It was a learning experience and if there is a next time, the models will be grown differently.

After cleaning, it was time to paint and detail. Here the more familiar and traditional methods were used. Pastels again for weathering, decals from the big box, and basic scenery techniques. The green Tiberium crystals are shards of glass beads.

If time permits, (and there is never enough time to build all the models you want to!), I would like to try other units from this game and from my many other favourites like Total Annihilation, Homeworld, and Supreme Commander. If I could only stop playing long enough....

Front Right

Rear Left