February 5, 201610 yr So I have made a couple of echidnas (spiny anteaters) and to display them I need to make a bunch of ants. The aim is to make a dozen or so, but I want them all different, using junk items that hopefully, are recognisable in the finished ants. Here's Ant #1 - couple of wheel nuts, nails and a footpeg off my son's old stunt BMX bike. Eleven more to go. Any ideas Das?
February 5, 201610 yr Aus, Love it. could just use some nuts for a body, welded ball bearings. If you want them all to differ, screws for some legs and antennae, thin bolts/machine screws for others. have any small bearings/races? could do with some pincers on some. and a big old queen ant. maybe some winged ones. do you get any winged ants down under? how about an ant hill for the display? I've been wanting to make some ants so i'll keep an eye on this and think on it more.
February 5, 201610 yr Author Yes we do get winged ants here - flying ants that swarm into the house after heavy rain. I made another one this afternoon using a brass doorknob for the abdomen. It has a fearsome set of pincers from a pair of pliers. I won't add the photo till I've done a few more and we'll have a group shot. A lump of termite mound would display them well, or perhaps have them swarming over an interesting log. I have a weathered gidgee log that would do nicely. I'll keep making them and watch out here for yours if you decide to make any.
February 6, 201610 yr After going through a hundred ideas with my limited scrap here is what I came up with. I do get a bunch of ideas rooting through the scrap to make one thing I end up with other creature ideas. This one yielded a wasp idea among parts for other things. Honestly I think the legs could have been better but I'll save that for the next one
February 6, 201610 yr How about an ant carrying something really big like the little real? Say a beer mug sized ant carrying a V8 engine? Cool creepy crawlies. Frosty The Lucky.
February 6, 201610 yr Frosty, I had thought of forging a part of a leaf that was chewed off for the ant to carry but didnt get my forge lit tonight. think that would look cool? or does it have to be an engine? haha How about a coffe mug size ant carrying a coffee mug
February 6, 201610 yr 32 minutes ago, jimmy seale said: ya'll are really starting to worry me.... Why worry!
February 6, 201610 yr Author Yep, that ant's got attitude! Those long wheel nuts are handy, eh? I like the jointed legs... more work, but effective. OK, that holey abdomen has me beat. I can see the cap nut on the tail end but what's the piece with the hole? I made another ant this afternoon (5 now) and one that started to look more like a dragonfly, so I gave it wings and mounted it on a spring for movement.
February 6, 201610 yr 7 hours ago, ausfire said: Yep, that ant's got attitude! Those long wheel nuts are handy, eh? I like the jointed legs... more work, but effective. OK, that holey abdomen has me beat. I can see the cap nut on the tail end but what's the piece with the hole? I made another ant this afternoon (5 now) and one that started to look more like a dragonfly, so I gave it wings and mounted it on a spring for movement. Nice Aus. I'm excited to see em. And the whole display honestly. That abdomen, the end is a recluse nut with a ball bearing welded on. The two pieces with holes are oddball pieces I have. They were end parts off a shaft that held ball bearings and rode in a race like a cv axle. No idea what specific application the had.
February 7, 201610 yr Author 4 hours ago, jukejoint said: 4 hours ago, jukejoint said: Use a spark plug Spark plugs are really handy and they are good because they often have printing on them. I have done dozens of "Champion" scorpions and the dragonfly I just finished is a Bosch. I did a spider once that we named Edison. The only problem with plugs is that they often have a metal coating (cadmium?). Aircraft plugs are bigger but they have a fine gal coating which needs to be removed. They shine up well though. The other problem is that there is very little meat to weld onto on the terminal end, and of course, you have to toss out the brass or aluminium terminal nut. Here's a bunch of 'sparkions'. Easy and quick to make and they sell well.
February 7, 201610 yr On 2/6/2016 at 10:36 PM, jimmy seale said: ya'll are really starting to worry me.... Starting to Jimmy? Where have you been? Frosty The Lucky.
February 7, 201610 yr Author 3 hours ago, Daswulf said: I like the sparkions. What were those spark plugs from? A Cessna. I have a mate who is a LAME (Licensed Aircraft Mechanical Engineer) and he saves me the old plugs. A lot of other bits too, but a lot of aircraft stuff is aluminium.
February 8, 201610 yr I have and can get a bit of aluminum. That's waiting for the day I get used to Tig welding. Like the plugs. I don't know any airplane mechanics tho.
February 8, 201610 yr Author OK, I'm up to six ants now so maybe it's time for a class photo. If I get them in the right order, there are three little guys first. Then two bigger ones, one with some ferocious biting equipment. Then my favourite one which I wanted to look like a honeypot ant with the abdomen made from a brass doorknob. The last pic shows how I would like to display them on a weathered gidgee root. Six might have to do for now, as I have to get on with some other stuff. I can see Frosty shaking his head.
February 8, 201610 yr That's a great way to display them Aus. That will go great with the Anteaters. I like the brass doorknob idea.
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