Black Knight's

[Son of Santa]

more as they develop

[Son of Santa]

rear of alpha chassis and front of beta chassis

[son of santa]

[son of santa]

head kinda sorta right. not there yet though

[son of santa]

MkII head, using Victors for scale reference

[Son of Santa]

[Son of Santa]

strips of plastic from hobby shop are quick and easy way to add detail



funnily enough the mech hoist prop actually comes in handy when building two of same type, allows me to measure legs and height etc





better shot of the detail that the plastic strips created

[tacops]

The Star League Army introduced the Black Knight into service in 2578, designing the mech to primarily serve the role of a company or battalion command unit. Its heavy armor gives the Black Knight the staying power needed to make it an ideal command mech for front-line units, and its ample arsenal of weapons allows the mech to effectively fill more aggressive combat assignments.

The communications system originally installed in the Black Knight was state-of-the-art even by Star League standards. It effortlessly coordinated communications for an entire company at once, and could link together the command frequencies of a whole regiment if necessary. Because its targeting computer was directly tied into the Black Knight's sensors, the mech's on-board computers were able to identify targets before the unit established line of sight.

Today, Kong Interstellar uses the readily available Tek suite of electronics. Though far less advanced than the original communications, command, and targeting gear, the Tek suite is the best available for new BattleMechs.

To provide the greatest possible protection for the commander, Kong originally built the Knight with a lighter chassis and armor, enabling the BattleMech to carry more armor at less tonnage. When the complex orbital facilities that supplied Kong Interstellar with those advanced building materials were destroyed in 2802, the company had to choose between redesigning the Black Knight or shutting down its assembly lines. The flagging sales of their other BattleMechs, the Ostsol and the Ostscout, gave Kong no real choice but to retool.

Fortunately, the company's gamble paid off. The redesigned Black Knight began production in 2809, and demand for the mech almost immediately outstripped production. The BL7-KNT Black Knight supports only 11 tons of armor, slightly under the norm for a 75-ton BattleMech. This minor disadvantage is handsomely offset by the truly impressive amount of firepower the Black Knight makes available to the pilot.

The centerpiece of the Black Knight's arsenal is the Magna Hellstar II particle projection cannon mounted on the outside of the right arm. The positioning of the weapon creates the impression that the Black Knight is wielding an immense sword made of lightning in the hundredths of a second it takes for the weapon to fully discharge.

Complementing the Hellstar are two Tronel II large lasers, mounted one each in the left and right torsos. This is the same model large laser as found on the Ostsol, enabling both mechs to share the same repair and replacement parts for these important weapons.

For close combat, the Black Knight carries four Tronel II medium lasers, one mounted in each arm and the left and right torsos, and a head-mounted Tronel I small laser. The MechWarrior piloting the Black Knight must manage the mech's weapon use carefully in order to avoid overheating, a constant concern in a unit carrying this much firepower.
MECHWARRIOR SUMMARY
The Black Knight can mount ECM, BAP, Jump Jets, has good weapons distribution, and has a special arm shield. Like the Loki it is an ideal Command mech. This mech has a sparrow's chest. Be careful when facing accurate direct fire. Most shots will hit your center torso.
CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
The Black Knight is very difficult to disarm. Safe shots are at the side torso sections, where you will almost always find a primary weapon. Because of the difficulty disarming many pilots just shoot for the center torso for the quickest kill.

[Son of Santa]

fluke shot, the Knight on the left has its "spurs"

the dark highlights the look im after.
i could cut every peice from styrene plastic and perspex, absolutly straight and every angle clean,But the balsa and x-ray film combo gives me a not quite organic look, more the battered industrial look im after in a machine that could well be 300 years old, seeing action for a good deal of that 300 years

[Son of Santa]

shoulder actuators made from styrene tube and strip, the heatsink clamp is handy here, each actuator has 12 seperate pieces in its assembly, the going is slow here.
the "spurs" at the rear of the feet have 9 sep parts per assembly.
again slow and repititious, but thats the nature of fine detail.



the right arm gun and sheild assembly for the alpha Chassis is installed, the beta chassis is getting its shoulder actuators assembled while i forge ahead with the alpha chassis arms

[Son of Santa]

the beta chassis catches up

[Son Of Santa]

Alpha Chassis is built structure wise, a weeks worth of detailing to go.
the beta chassis needs only to have the head assembly cloned from alpha's to be complete
modeled on the manual that came with the MS MW4 black knight computer game and the box cover. im tempted to add the detail and weathering to the silver finish, but i do love doing the cammo as per the victors, hauptmann etc

[son of santa]

The beta chassis gets its head.


more or less finished structurally, but plenty of detailing to do.



still debating the choice between giving them a camo scheme, or detailing and weathering the silver finish.
compliments of the mechwarrior mercs "mechlab" i can try out plenty of schemes, but i keep coming back to the cover of the black knight game and its silver livery.

[SpectralWolf]

Well, you could do one silver weathered finish and the other camo possibly. I'm sure it would be nice to have a change in color though.

[son of santa]

and being fully articulated, one is shown kneeling



and from above


i like the shadow in this pic