Hoth Diorama in 1/48

[FichtenFoo]

Thanks. Yeah, I've always been a fan of them as well and love the design. The FM kits are very nicely done except for the tangerine-orange of the decals. Now personally I think orange is a great color for a non-cannon marked SS, but not for this. The red-orange seems to work based on the studio models.

http://www.m-moeslund.dk/Snow/Tumbs/SnowSP.html

[FichtenFoo]

Thanks guys! I've added more progress as well as stills of the snowspeeders in ESB here:

http://fichtenfoo.net/blog/tag/hoth-diorama/

Hoth Diorama in 1/48

I took some screen shots as I wasn't sureif there was a gray one shown. You can see that there's no orange set-pieces, (no stripes at all actually) but only one gray model flying about. In fact all the orange ones seem to be the exact same model based on the damage.

[PetarB]

Wow, that weathering is spot on! Those T-47 look 'banged-up good!'
Do you plan to put in the transparent windscreens? I know some people don't do that for a 'screen accurate' look, but I'm not really a fan of that.
Nice scratchbuilding work on the turret too...

[FichtenFoo]

Thanks! For the panel discolorations I was going with the box art which is pretty nice. I've still got some weathering to add, but not much more... it's too easy to overdo it, especially on 'white'.

Yeah, I'll put the windows in after these are all done with flat coats and weathering. No sense masking or mucking them up. That's why the rear gun and mount parts aren't added yet. The hole you see back there is one I made to hold the speeders with skewers. Made airbrushing much easier

[FichtenFoo]

Another part of my client's Hoth diorama... This time a running Tauntaun in 1/48 scale. This is much smaller than I thought it'd be which makes sculpting a little harder, but I like how it's turning out so far. I adjusted the standard tail-dragging pose to make it more dynamic in the scene.

I still need to add a few things, like the raised leg and saddle, (not to mention a rider) but need to bake it first. That way I can add the other leg and easily remove it for molding.

pics: http://fichtenfoo.net/blog/tag/hoth-diorama/

Hoth Diorama in 1/48

[FichtenFoo]

Having thought about it more I decided to add the saddle and half the left leg now before the first bake. Here's the pic of that:

Hoth Diorama in 1/48

[SSickboy]

SWEET!!! The Tauntaun looks like Falckor from The Never Ending Story.

[FichtenFoo]

Yeah, it does have a similar head eh?

[Ezechiel]

Great sculpt on such a small scale!
Are you still using a brush to make the hairy texture?

[FichtenFoo]

Thanks! Yeah... a brush with turpenoid does wonders! Smooth brush for smoothing and stiff brush for textures.

[mtomczek]

Wow Mike! The tauntaun looks fantastic. Can't wait to see the base started!

[Tinman]

Outstanding work as always FF!  I've been putting some stuff together to try a sculpt project myself.  One of my hobbies is collecting toy spacemen from the 40's and 50's and I was thinking of trying my hand at one, just a basic one.  I was wondering if you could tell us how you layered the saddle, equipment, and straps, is it simply set into place with a little pressure?  I'm concerned things like that would fall off when baked.  My thought is to punch a few holes through the object, say the saddle, into the main body and fill in the holes -- if that makes sense.  Are drastic actions like that required?

[FichtenFoo]

Thanks!

Are drastic actions like that required?

Not at all... As long as those thin items are added to wet clay they'll stay just fine. What I do is roll out VERY thin "snakes" and then lay them onto the sculpt. Then I use whatever tool is appropriate to press it in, thus flattening the roundness into something resembling a strap. Note: for larger, thicker straps I actually flatten first. After that some odorless turpenoid brushed on softens/melts the clay slightly and acts like a glue holding the parts together as if they were one.

Turpenoid and Rubbing Alcohol (91%) are great thinners/smoothers for Sculpey and both are used often by me for various apps. Alcohol works for sommthing quickly and evaporates fast for lighter textures. For hairy textures or more severe blending the Turpenoid is the answer. Blends great, but will take a few hours (6-8) to fully evaporate if applied thickly. I actually dip my tools in the turp when flattening straps or blending. A little goes a long way.

For example with the turp...

Veins on the naked Eva: Roll out thin snakes and lay them onto sculpt. Brush snakes with turp, wait a few secs then dab with make-up sponge. This will press and blend the veins in and make them look like merely raised areas.

Hair: Stuff brush wet with turp. brush onto sculpt till desired effect achieved.

[Tinman]

Sweet, thanks for the info.  I guess what I need to do is actually work with the stuff instead of thinking about it!  I used your suggestion of mixing some Sculpy III into the Super Sculpy, giving it a gray color.  Thanks for that tip too!

[FichtenFoo]

Sweet, thanks for the info.  I guess what I need to do is actually work with the stuff instead of thinking about it!  I used your suggestion of mixing some Sculpy III into the Super Sculpy, giving it a gray color.  Thanks for that tip too!

Read this tutorial by Smellybug. Seriously... it's a must read for anyone wanting to sculpt with Super Sculpey! I got sooo much out of it.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18287

[FichtenFoo]

back on it!

[mvm3897]

SWEET!!!! I was just thinking of this yesterday.  Where did you get the AT-AT kits?

[FichtenFoo]

Just one kit and my client got it on ebay under the listing of "ATATRON". Probably to avoid the wrath of mtomczek's employers. This should be really fun to paint and weather.

[mvm3897]

It looks like a nice kit from the pic.  Resin I am assuming.  How is the cast on it and do you know the final demensions?

[Ezechiel]

That thing is insane!!