Venom Completes Meshbase 4's For M-42 Comparison Between Mesh and 'H' Sticks

Today, construction of two Meshbase 4's was completed. These will underpin 2 Venom M-42s. There is more to these cars than simple production however: each use the same fragmented backbone damping attachment system as was found on the Cheetah High Voltage AWE, but one was built using (Class A) Meshsticks and the other was built using experimental NNV H-Sticks. Aside from colour, the M-42s will be identical, having been assembled from the same 'batch' of Mesh 2 parts, which can make a difference. This will allow different damping effects, if any, to be clearly seen between Mesh 1 material and H material (which stands for 'hedge' leaves).











Posted 01/21/06

WikiOTO is Launched

It is hard to cover 6 years of the complex history that is OTO, and so a new site has been launched to help document everything, like a giant online library. The new site will keep a record of all cars, teams, technologies, ideas, systems, etc. in a vast web of a similar style to Wikipedia.

The members of OTO have always desperately tried to remember details or keep track of various documents in the ever-mobile OTO boxes, but it would seem that all the data will finally have a home accessible to both teams.

So far online, some of the basic structure and the Shuttle site have been completed, but OTO has high hopes for this new site that may finally store all there is to know, accessible for future reference.

Posted 01/09/06

Gran Turismo Hits the Streets

At 1:21 AM, the last panel on the roof of the Granulite Turismo was finally applied, and the car was complete.

When the car's production hit the panelling phase, much of the styling was kept under wraps until its release today. Among the surprises is a black hood, not the envisioned gold hood seen in the computer-manipulated prediction.

Also, most importantly, was the headlights problem. Gran gave the message before that the original headlight idea with shiners inside and hard plastic cover would not work, and Gran had to think of something different. Gran has now unveiled its alternate plan, which it feels is actually a better fit for the car. The shiners, which could not fit in the designed spaces, were replaced with small balls of aluminum foil, giving the lights an even more shimmery effect with the krinkle paper behind them. Finally, the hard plastic was replaced with panelling tape that went over the existing panels across from the lights to anchor itself down.

The lights were obviously a hard issue, totalling over an hour for the front and back lights. The cost of the car with these style lights is 5 DLA. However, an alternate style of lights is available. Gran talked to Cheetah about being able to use its trademark 'blacklights' on the car, and so now you can order a Gran Turismo CH for 4.5 DLA, with 4 DLA going to Gran and 0.5 DLA going to Cheetah.

Granulite is very proud of its new car, and considers it the turning point of the company towards its new image of well-built muscle cars. Gran also plans to release a commercial soon to show the Turismo on video. Gran leader said, "There is no way you can fully appreciate the Turismo until you see it in action, and that's what we hope to deliver." Gran is also fond of the car's strength, the car feels like it can be absolutely pushed to the limit. For now, you'll have to rely on the photos below.



Posted 01/07/06

Revised Meshbase 1 Profile Completed

Venom has now finished tracing out the modernized shape of the classic Meshbase 1, featured on cars such as the NASA Hellfire, Cheetah High Voltage, Stairclimber Exellis, and Pitz Paper Wasp. Easily the most potent racing platform ever developped, this base is still in high demand; the NNV Carver and Pitz Wasp are to be built on it soon.

Updating the base was necessary, since its last use was when it had evolved into a squared-off, computer-based design and these profiles have since been lost (and also fallen out of fashion). The new look is designed to capture the stylistic flare the original base infused into the Hellfire and High Voltage. The arches are once again curved, but more smoothly than previously. The inside arches have a radius of curvature of 9mm, which is the same as that of a dime, providing ample wheel clearance and promoting a curvy, dramatic styling for cars built using it.

Venom is moving forward to build 8 copies of the profile (pictured in sketch form below) out of Mesh 2 material in order to complete the 2 finished bases for NNV and Pitz. Updates on production progess will be posted.

Posted 01/06/06

Turismo Panelling Update

Granulite has announced that it has overcome the headlight problem mentioned earlier, but no details about how it was done will be announced before the release, suspected to be on January 6th, when the first photos of the completed car come out.

What Gran will tell the public is a styling change: the roof of the Turismo, originally thought to be gold like the rest of the car, will be black instead, complementing the black border on the bottom of the car, and giving the vehicle what Gran refers to as a "Mini Cooper"ish look.

The rest of the details will have to wait until the release.

Posted 01/06/06

Turismo's Lights Causing Problems

Gran started panelling the Turismo today, but quickly ran in to a problem regarding the lights. The sections left for the shiners are not large enough to hold the shiners, and they can't get hard plastic to stay attached to the car.

The problem has not been a complete block for production, as the Gran Turismo got black panels going across the whole bottom of the car, as well as the very beginning of gold panelling on the front.

Regarding the problem, Gran hopes to find some sort of shiner to put inside the headlights, and plans to use the panelling tape over the lights instead of the originally planned hard plastic.



Posted 01/06/06

Turismo Cardboard Construction Complete

At 11 PM, the highly-anticipated Gran Turismo's styling was completed. While there were some rougher parts, Granulite considers the car's first layer a huge success, and claims that the Turismo may be the strongest car in OTO, strengthened wherever possible with meshsticks under the cardboard.

Two final images of the car, as well as a video (that Gran is working on displaying soon), were made. Also, Gran processed one of the photos to show what the car may look like when it is complete. Tomorrow, work starts on this panelling job.



Posted 01/04/06

Gran Finishes Cardboard Roof

Work continued today on what Granulite has considered the hardest part of the Turismo. The roof was hard to style as well as hard to construct, requiring a tough balancing act.

When Gran was making the roof, they had an idea to make the car more stylish; slanting the side structures of the roof. This will have an immediate impact on the diagonal side-panelling, but Gran thinks it can handle to transition.

Worth noting is the continued emphasis Gran has put on dexterity in this car. The first shot shows the bottom of the hood reinforced with 2 horizontal mesh-sticks, and then a vertical meshstick meeting the center of the front v-structure. Also, the roof is constructed with 2 vertical mesh-sticks and 3 horizontal, to help strengthen the weakest part of any car. The center of the back of the roof is also attached down on to the meshbase with a mesh-stick.

Construction continues today; expect an update once the cardboard construction is finished.



Posted 01/04/06

Gran Releases Early Front Shots

Granulite continued production late in to the night, similar to the work schedule on the meshbases earlier in the week.

The front has been finished in terms of the pre-panelling, cardboard layer, and Gran is pleased with the quality of the Meshbase 4 that Venom provided them with. There were very few problems in creating the front, one of which being that the bottom part of the wheelhouse required sanding so that the bottom-center panel had a flat surface.

Gran was excited when the shape of the lights was formed, and considers the lights to be very similar to the original layout, but better. They're best described as a hybrid of the Venom M41 and the Saber Predator.

The continued effort on the part of Gran is a sign that productivity may remain high for the first time after GT and AMC part ways ever. The Parts Christmas seems to have been a complete success for morale, even if not all the parts were made.




Posted 01/04/06

Granulite Unveils Early Shots of Turismo

Granulite has released some very early shots in the progress of the Turismo, as well as the original sketch the car is being modelled afterwards. Gran will likely release more photos very soon of the cardboard-modelled front as well.

The progress on the car has been going on well, and Gran envisions the Turismo as the new pride of OTO: a very solidly built car with few or no hollow spots under the panels. While cardboard base panels are being layed down, any possible space underneath them is being filled with mesh-sticks. As racing goes, expect the Gran Turismo to be a car you can push to the max.



Posted 01/04/06

Gran Turismo Styling Plans

Granulite has been attempting to solidify the image they want for their new car, the Turismo. The car will be the first of what Gran hopes will be a new image for the company. While it is true that Gran has always focused on strength in its models, the new car will be in direct competition with the Venom M41, released last summer.

To strengthen the idea of competition, the Turismo will be racing on a base that rivals that of the M41. The Meshbase 4 in question contains more weight in its sides than any of the others in production during the winter session, and also holds the same damping mechanism and fragmented backbone found on the famous NASA-owned Cheetah High Voltage AWE.

Gran has already decided on the muscle car format for the Turismo, but there are still options on the construction. They have decided that the car will most likely be a light orange, or tan, printed from the computer to eliminate streaks caused by markers.

Also, Gran wants to tackle the problem of strength in the panels of a car. They plan to have the styling done primarily with cardboard, reinforced where necessary with mesh-sticks. For the most part, no panels will go over anything except their exact shapes in cardboard. This idea will become clearer when Gran releases photos of the Turismo's construction.

Expect up-to-date information and photos on the construction of the Gran Turismo. Granulite plans to upload photos of many stages of the car as well as the original drawing of the model.

Posted 01/03/06

OTO Building Online Guidelines

The purpose of this site is to help the flow of information in OTO, making it saved and accessible to both GT and AMC. We may, therefore, be able to keep a better record of ideas, plans, etc.

Entries should be informative and professional, similar to the old CLL binder format. It would be best if we update consistently, with general plans, and changes of ideas; those that we would not generally note otherwise. Occasionally write on the state of a team, or image change, because these are the details that will be more likely to forget in the future.

Posted 01/03/06