It was time to take it up a notch! So far, SteamBot was powerless and looked unbelievably bare. I was unable to decide on whether it should be Steam or Clock-work powered... so settled on both, and decided to create a hybrid (Unrealistic... but that said, it's a robot!). The left-side would be its Steam-powered side.
The first step was the create the Steam Tank on its back. In essence, the power part of the engine. This was simply made from a lot of boxes stacked on top of eachother, with a quick, helpful blast of TurboSmooth for good measure.
Next step was the all-important Steam chimney (What steam-powered locomotive would not have this stereotypical object?). Created from a cylinder, with a cone acting as the base. The top of the chimney (The spiky opening) was created from another cone (Only upside down). In 'Edit Poly' mode, every other vertex of the rim was pulled downward, creating the all-important serrated edge.
The pipe on the side of the chassis was formerly a torus ring. However, in the 'Edit Poly' mode, it was creully pulled into the shape of a large pipe. The nuts were easy to make. (Little handy trick for anyone reading this) Take a cylinder, and in the object properties, switch 'Sides' down to 6, and switch off 'smooth'. There you go, one basic nut shape.
A few more nuts were created, and a smaller version of the main wheels was also built onto them, to create a valve for the pipe. (Pure eye candy... but very tasty eye candy if I do say so myself)
The pipe-work for the pump was all built using similar methods to those covered. All the pipes were former torus rings (Stretched out and with faces deleted) unless straight, in which case a cylinder sufficed. More nuts and connectors were added for greater authenticity (And to make it look even nicer)
The pump was originally housed (and planned) on the side of the lower chassis. However, when the model was incorporated, the pump was too close to the chassis to realistically be able to push the wheel (It stuck out too far!). The drive shaft would end up going through the wheel, to realistically move it...
As a result, the pump was moved a lot higher up, and at an angle to the wheel (The idea was inspired by 'The Rocket', seen below and snapped from the Museum of Power). At this point, the pump was in a stronger location, and the drive shaft was subsequently added to it
The finishing touch was to create a pivot for the drive shaft (As it would have to rotate slightly as it travels around the wheel), and the result is what you see directly above! Now SteamBot is finally starting to look the part! Onto the next side...
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