Progress Report - 30/8

Ahoy everyone,
Running a bit late this month with the report, but some exciting things are happening that I wanted to be 100% were sure things before I start running my mouth. Without any further ado, let's start getting everything up to speed. 

Starting off, drum roll 

XM8 Family

Starting off with the family of fish, with the core of the family done, we're going off into the weeds and getting all the extra gear you'd want.. and the AMO. Let's start with that yeah? Yeah.

So a thing you might notice if you're a bit of an HK-phile- that's not the AMO as most commonly seen (the unfinalised version). It's the final pattern and the one that probably would have gone into service, the one that is super elusive from photography. Was a bit of a hell to reconstruct, but it looks good, so hurrah. 

Also, it's a prismatic optic, which means the Objective and Viewing lenses are not in a straight line- they're offset (think: SUIT scope or 1p29). Just a tidbit. So it's a SUIT with an ACOG reticle. 

Next, Two new stocks. First is the Collapsible Stock (Most commonly associated with the Compact variant)

The other is the MWSF, Final version of the solid stock. It's literally just a change to the reinforcing of the retaining pin, just had to cover it.

Speaking of the MSWF trials, We've got the first iteration of the Picatinny-railed version of the main furniture. Thee's a Second version of this thing that goes FULL pic rail, with a fore-grip, bu~ut I don't know if I want to hit that. 

Lastly we have the XM320, the stepping stone from the AG36 to the AG-C. Not really much to say on this, I just imported the AG-C that I made for the HK416s and altered it as neccesary. 

Whew! Onward - 

FN SCAR Family

So, like with the XM8's we're rounding on cleaning up the ephemera of the system. Which means things like the newly-launched SCAR-SC/PDW.

So, New Upper Reciever, New Rail Lengths, new Bolt Carrier,Charging Handle, Stock. I'm limiting myself to 1 of the 4 stocks they're offering because I've not seen a single shot of any of the others outside press kit, so F that. Oh, yeah, the PDW bolt is non-reciprocating, and I managed to get some cheeky shots of the disassembly, so you can see here, the whole Sled system is in. 

So for the next piece- the SCAR-H SV (Precursor to the SSR/Mk20/TPR), which mostly involves this weird gooseneck rail extension. It's actually tough to find shots of it, but this thing is definitely out there in the wild.

Next, I guess, is the SSR/TPR iteration. New Upper reciever, new Stock. 

The Stock especially, like all skeletonised precision stocks was a pain in the ass. So yeah, it's got it's own dedicated reciever too, As I joked on Twitter, this thing was made by taking the existing Heavy reciever, extending the front-end, and just absolutely ruining the loop flow. But it works. 

So that basically rounds out main-line variants, we're now going full into accessorising. Start with some of the IUR equipment. So, the SCAR-H and SCAR-L (Mk17/16 respectively) aren't actually parts interchangable- you can't just fit L parts to the H to quick caliber change, they're all different proportions. So, that was a small issue for SOCOM, so they have on commission this program called the Integrated Upper Reciever system - IUR. The most commonly known part of it is the 5.56mm lower.

That might look like just the SCAR-L, but it's not, it's the 5.56mm IUR group. It's literally just a SCAR-L lower that has been made to fit the SCAR-H profile. Not really that revelatory. However....

.. this might. This is the IUR 7.62x39mm group. It's only a relatively freshly revealed piece of it, but sure as eggs I'm covering it.Takes AK Mags.

So here's the last piece of SCAR I've done - the SRX extension rail. I'm not doing every SCAR rail on the market,no every piece of other custom gear, but this one seems the most copacetic to me, so in it goes. Might do one more, but erh. considering how much I already have to cover to completion, I'm kind not in a huge rush to make that call. 

So that completes the modelling, on to -

M1941 Johnson LMG

So, It's UV mapped. 

 And I've Started animating. Need to Complete the prone reload and I need to at least do one complete set for Clip-loading. Because you can do that.  

XM29 System

Same deal as the Johnson - UV mapped and on to animating. 

Video of the Launcher Module Reload 

And That's.. that's it for content I think. I don't think I've forgotten anything. But, there's Still more things to come SO.

THINGS 

So there's at least a couple of you whom might remember way back when I kicked this Patreon thing off that one of the things was that I'd be doing streams? and how that quietly got dropped with nay a mention? Yeah as it turns out, regular grade Australian Internet was just not up to the task of delivering that. Throughput too low, signal issues, et cetera. So, That's all changing and coming-I want to say mid-to-late September- Streaming will be a thing I do again. If you want to prep follows ahead of time - twitch.tv/nia2k 

The next thing is that there's a little collab going on that's working on improving some stuff within NIArms as a whole, and I don't want to spoil the whom or why yet (I want that money shot reveal, you all love that sort of thing and you know it), but I'm excited.

The last thing, and probably the biggest thing- I erm.. I get to do animation work on a commercial game project. Again, won't say whom or what just yet, but I'm excited for the opportunity. It's also an opportunity I would not have had if I wasn't doing this Patreon thing either, so firstly I want to thank you all for facilitating that connection by keeping me afloat and always being in the zone for as long as you have.

The question you're probably all asking is "so does that mean that the NIArms project is over?" To that I say HELL NO. Work continues,and will continue until I finally dry myself of interest in doing so. It will mean though, that I'm done doing commission works, so after the XM29, Johnson, XM8 and SCAR are complete I'll be down to doing one tasking at a time.(.... which paradoxically should speed up the development process... because A lot of my time right now is just spent jumping between projects to keep plates spinning. )

So yeah, uh, The future is full of things to be excited for. 

Thank you all again for keeping this busy gal mostly out of trouble for as long as you have.

Have a Good one,

Toadie Out.