OK so I already had lots going but when I was going through my scraps I happened across these Indiana Jones blades. I thought to myself "those would be awesome on a Zombie Apocalypse rig". A couple of days passed and then I remembered that the convention exclusive is Zombie this year, so I got inspired to make a Zombie Apocalypse truck.

I figure I will make it be a Dreadnok rig since they are probably extreme preppers by nature and when they find out that CC is playing with Zombie viruses they probably assume the worse and just figure it is a matter of time before he loses control of it and the world has a full blown Zombie apocalypse.

So I started it.
It will feature a cattle guard type bumper to push aside dead bodies so they do not block the path, spinning decapitation cutters, a flame thrower deck with two flame throwers directly behind the cab, a gun platform on top of the cab for picking off zombies and when it is done it will also have a trailer for hauling motorcycles and quads.

You can barely tell now but the base vehicle is a Thunder Machine buried under all of that styrene.

A long way to go but here are a couple of WIP pictures.

Here is Wednesday night



And then put a couple more hours in on it Thursday and it is starting to take shape.




Still a long way from being done but what I need opinions on is how clean or gory to make the zombie truck. My original plan was to do raw steel with a grungy blue ARBCO Industries cab. That much I think I can pull off but weathering is my weakness. Should I attempt to muddy it up around the wheels and on top of that it has spinning zombie cutting blades should I make them blood coated and attempt to have them splatter blood like they would when they were spinning. My two worries is #1 weathering is my weakness and #2 I am curious if making it realistic like a zombie sawing truck would be is going to be too hardcore and gory.

I'm not sure it would need the blood if not part of a dio and actively mowing down a mob of zombies. I personally would leave the blood off, especially if you have never done it before. If I was going do that, I would practice on multiple other pieces of junk plastic first as I think that is probably a tricky skill to master and make it look right..

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I've never done blood splatters, but I think using a toothbrush and flicking the bristles would be the best way to apply it.

But practice first. Decide how the blades would turn and then how/where the splatters would end up.

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If I did blood splatters I was thinking just thin some paint down and take a large brush. Fill the brush and start spinning the blades at top speed and hold the brush up against them while they spin. Should be easy and perfectly accurate. My problem is if I bloody this thing up the way it would be after mowing a path through a crowd of zombies, that it will be too gory.

I like the idea of this vehicle a lot, but I wonder if. The configuration of the blades above the cow-catcher is practical? It seems like anything struck by the cow catcher that wasn't cleaved to either side would be driven up into the blade armature or the flats of the blades and possibly damage or get stuck in that apparatus.

What if you moved the saw blades out to the sides to deal with the issue of flankage and installed some more vertically oriented straight blades above the cow catcher (to effectively dice anytging that gets kicked up toward the viewport)?

I'm all for making it blood-spattered. You have to assume the Noks would've tested it on something or someone while building and they don't seem likely to wash it down after.

I get what you are saying but I do not think it would cause an issue. So on the odd chance that something got pushed upwards rather then out to the side the way it should then the spin of the blades would sling it towards the sides. The blades should get to the zombies first and then as the decapitated bodies fall the bumper should push them to the sides so they do not block the path.

The real answer on top of that of why I do not change the the blades is this is the way they fit for being attached. I was originally going to have them out to the sides more but when attaching them to the front of the Thunder Machine this is the way they fit the best and could be secured best.

This is one of the things that really bothers me about The Walking Dead. I love the show but they never A-Team up any for their vehicles to make them more practical for driving through the crowds of zombies.

How can they when they don't have electricity or welding equiptment ect...ect...ect...

Sure they "should " come up with something, but the major issue is GAS for the vehicles.

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That prison would have had all both electricity generator and a maintenance shop with tools including a welder.

The gas problem really bothers me they are driving (sometimes) some high performance vehicles on 3 year old gas which they do not seem to have any problem finding but it would not work well. They should be making moonshine, biodiesel and building wood gasifiers.

This is so true. Working with vehicles, a lot of times, the parts decide where they want to be. Most of my vehicle mods end up different than I planned them based on interference with another part that I did not anticipate or limited attachment points.

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LOL, I solved that problem I just dont make plans. Seriously though I only make very vague mental designs. It allows me to be very flexible and fluid as the vehicle comes together. It often means the finished project is totally different then the original idea because the idea changed and improved as the construction happened.

I have commented on awe and how impressed I am by the scratch model builders before. They have little to no flexibility because they are replicating a real life item. I could never operate that way.

This shows so much promise bro
Loving the design

Probably last update I will do on this one. It is just so close to being paint ready, still have a few details to put on it but it will be ready to prep for paint real soon. Will probably test splatter before I start prepping to paint. I also wanted to take an inside shot while I was at it to prove that there is a Thunder Machine buried in there somewhere before I seal it together.

My concern is that it is too top heavy and will have a difficult turning radius.

It would defeat the purpose of this truck if it tipped over and the zombies were able to get to the occupants.

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No worries there The platform on the top would weigh less then 500 pounds in real life. And everything below that would be lighter and lower then a large fiberglass sleeper.


As far as the turning radius. It is an semi tractor it is not going to be able to make a U-turn. LOL