Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

[Hunter Rose]

Okay more work has been done, started on the bucket which will be falling off the platform with a fish spilling out of it.

First off I cut the bits for the handles to pop into off of the PE fret and glued them to the sides of the bucket

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Then sprayed down the alclad black gloss primer

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

And then sprayed down some alclad aluminium

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Once the metal coat had dried I sponged on some red brown as rust showing through

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Gave the bucket a matte coat next so I could use some rust mig pigments to just enhance the rust and add variation, did the same to the handle and then glued it in position with some z poxy

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

I then primed some other details for the fisherman and the fish for the bucket.  I found a bag for the fisherman and an ammunition box which is being used as a tackle box, both items were from a 1/35 SAS jeep resin detail upgrade kit from Legend.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Both were given a quick blast of the basic colour they were going to be

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

And then some details were brushed on with some humbrol enamels

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Then I used some mig pigments to add shading and grime

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

The fish for the bucket was primed

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

and then I just used some humbrol enamels to paint it

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Only other thing I've done today is made a start on the fishing rod, just painted the main rod shaft first with the black base, then chrome so as to be a nice bright undercaot for the alclad hot metal violet I sprayed on last

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Next I'm going to start on making the reel, and I'm going to use some very thin fuse wire to make the eyelets on it.  I've also started putting some gloss gel medium over my base where the water will go just to seal down all the bits of dirt, so none of it floats into the clear resin when I pour it.

More updates soon, thanks for looking 

[Major Williams]

Wow, simply stunning with the amount of work you've put into the diorama for this!  Looks simply phenomenal!  Where did you find the bucket at?

[Hunter Rose]

Thanks major! After being so pleased with how the hornethopter turned out, I just wanted a diorama that did it justice.

I didn't get the bucket from anywhere specific, it was purchased off of ebay, I think it came from Poland, the guys ebay shop was called 'accuramodelkits'.

Today I have completed the fishing rod!

I'd sprayed the shaft hot metal purple, now I dipped the end of the rod in tamiya black acrylic to give the impression of a padded handle. I also made the eyelets by wrapping some fuse wire around a pin a couple of times and the cutting the hoops off to look like the eylets you get on fishing rods.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

These were then glued on with some CA glue, very fiddly work!!

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Last thing I did was to make the reel, it was a random part from a resin sprue that looked very 'reel' like, although I've no idea what it actuall is! I think its the sun compass from an SAS jeep, anyway this was painted black and then glued to the handle

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

I love it when you have an idea, think of how best to do it, and then it just works out exactly as you'd hoped! I thought this was going to be a real fiddly nightmare but it was actually pretty straight forward.

Well, the fisherman and all details including the fish and bucket are done which means (gulp!) time to pour some resin! I'm going to do some more research and will then do some practice pours.

More updates soon guys 

[Hunter Rose]

Well I bought some resin, its a polyester resin from a company called 'ariba'

Did a test pour for colour and also to check the resin was okay and that it would harden alright without being tacky.  I've never done this before so I'm following the instructions to the letter.

Poured some in a small tub I had, the mix of this is 100g with 1ml of hardener. I used some humbrol enamels to colour it brown (26) and a greeny blue (31)

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

After around 42 hours, it was solid and had no tackyness, which I was pleased about because I was hoping it would be as straight forward as possible! I was happy with the colour although it wasn't quite as opaque as I'd hoped, so I'll adjust that in the first pour.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Mixed up my cup of resin with the same hardener ratio as the test, I've been using electric scales to be as accurate as possible, the resin came with a syringe for the hardener so I've been able to be accurate with that too.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Then I mixed in my colours, doing it very gradually one small drop at a time to get the exact opacity I require, as this is the first pour it will be the darkest to help create the look of depth to the water when the lighter layers are added  next.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

This is my base, as I mentioned earlier I have sealed all the groundwork where the water will be going with gloss gel medium, thats why it looks shiny.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Now its time to hold my breath and pour it onto the base!

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Well my first pour is in and I'm really happy with it, the colour is exactly as I wanted, the river water has started! Now I just have to wait another 40 hours for it to dry for the next pour, man I'd heard it gives off fumes and boy they weren't kidding it stinks!

Its currently sitting in the shed with clingfilm over it just to keep the dust off, more soon, when its ready for the next pour

[nico]

My god polyester  I used that once to recast a part from a kit. Oh god it stinks. Your first pour is perfect, this gonna be a very nice dio.

[Sharkdog]

That looks great, it'll be cool to see how the different layers of opacity turn out :)

[JohnLogan]

That water detail look really good!

[Hunter Rose]

Thanks guys! 

I'm pleased with the water, I just hope all the pours go as smoothly!

Have now poured the next layer, mixed up another batch using the same colours but in less quantity so its not as coloured as layer 1.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

I've now tucked it back under its clingfilm to keep all the dust off!

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Now we play the waiting game    Next pour in another 40 hours! This resin doesn't actually seem to take that long to harden, I'd say it hardens in around 15-20 hours, but then it takes a while for the surface to lose its tackyness.

More soon guys 

[Hunter Rose]

Okay the second pour seems to have dryed a lot quicker, I can only assume thats because the heating has been on full blast over the weekend!

Mixed up what will be the final pour, added just a single small drop of the brown and green enamel paint to the water, it almost looks like I haven't added anything at all

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Poured it in until the resin is level with the side of my diorama base wall

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Now its just a matter of letting it dry and then I can start to put the water effects on using the gloss gel medium and will start final assembly, which includes doing the fish and water spilling out of the bucket

More soon thanks for looking 

[Hunter Rose]

Riiight, update time!! Finally got a chance to do some more, what with house hunting and Skyrim on my xbox and to be fair waiting for gloss medium and resin to dry its been a while since I've done anything!

Have now pulled my finger out! 

Okay, the rod and the fishermens gear is now glued in place on the platform. Have to say I'm really pleased with the rod, and seeing it in place is even better!

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

For the waves cause by the water disturbance I used gloss gel medium for most of it, but did use some liquitex gloss super heavy gel for some larger waves as its thicker, which does of course mean it takes much longer to dry the more you slap it on.

Started off my using the gloss medium gel, the hornethopter is going to be over the platform so the waves are centered from there

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Then I layed down some heavier waves with the heavy gel and started to create more disturbed water at the edge of the bank and more sweeping waves

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Once it was dry I was pretty amazed by the results, especially as its my first time using this technique, it looks exactly how I'd hoped if no better!

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

There is still a bit of cloudiness in the larger waves, but to me that just adds to the disturbed look of the water, especially at the edge against the bank.

Next step is going to be the bucket and water pouring out and attaching the fisherman to the platform.

Thanks for looking, more soon, no more slacking! 

[Ezechiel]

So cool! The result looks really great, can't wait to see it done!

[FichtenFoo]

Looks good. My only concern is with the thicker patches of gel. For some reason, those don't always cure fully and can remain frosted as seen in your last pic. I hope that doesn't happen here as it's looking really good!

[Joa]

For some reason, those don't always cure fully and can remain frosted as seen in your last pic.

Really? I've been using the heavy gel for thicker uses than this and it always dries totally transparent whatever the thickness, you just have to give it some now drying time. I wasn't aware the medium gel was different. ^^

Nevertheless, looks fantastic! :)

[natter]

Gulp! beautiful work! Extremely realistic ambiance!
I will follow with enthusiasm!

[nico]

The final look is very realistic. I used Gel not for water it's a very nice product. IMO you could have made bigger waves againts the pillars of your dock but its a detail.

[Grail]

Just getting better every time man.. sickness!   

[Sharkdog]

That water is amazing! On the first pictures I was a bit iffy with all the whiteness, not really realizing what it'd look like after it cures. Good work!

[Hunter Rose]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys!

I'm having a frustrating time with it at the moment, all the water has cleared okay now its had time to dry, BUT, there was a gap between the bank and the water so I put some of the gloss gell down there to sort that out, and that has remained white! 

So now I have 3 choices: 1) Leave it and just say its churned water 2) Put some brown paint o the worst of it at the edge and put more choppy waves over the top 3) mix up some more groundwork and cover the edge with a bit more and then add more waves over that to create a new edge for the bank

Think I'm leaning towards option 2, run a line of some brown paint along the edge and put some more waves over to help cover it and blend it in. Annoying thing is everything is essentially done, fisherman just needs gluing  and the fish coming out of the bucket, both of which wont take half an hour to sort.

Any thoughts would be appreciated guys more soon

[FichtenFoo]

That sucks! It probably cannot dry fully down there. try using a pin and opening up some holes to allow it to air-cure.

[Hunter Rose]

Yeah its a pain! Oh well lesson learned. Think I've kind of remedied it, the stuff underneath isn't too bad, some of the heavy gel stayed white at the edge on top, so I've painted some vallejo mud, and tamiya red brown over it to cover the worst parts, and have put some of the gloss gel medium (which was fine) over the top in a really spiky messy sort of way to look like more disturbed water which will also distort the view of the whiteness underneath.

IMO you could have made bigger waves againts the pillars of your dock but its a detail.

Agreed and done! Was putting more waves in anyway so I added these yesterday so they are nearly clear as they are nearly dry and so dont stand out at the moment, but it was done.

The good news is, the bucket and the fisherman are done and in place!

With the bucket I had a length of clear sprue that I carved to shape and used a lighter to heat polish away the whiteness caused by cutting. This was stuck to the bottom of the bucket, and the other end was glued to the water (all with 5 minute epoxy). Once dry I glued the fish in position on the clear sprue.
You can also see the new choppy waves which are still drying, and as such still white.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

The fish and piece of clear sprue were then covered in gloss gel medium to look like sloshy water, and I started the beginning of some splashing at the base, this will be enhanced more gel once the first lot has dried.

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Fichtenfoo's Hornethopter - The Red Hornet

Right so this is nearly done, and I think the water will look okay once the new waves have dried, there may be some whiteness showing through from the bottom but screw it I can live with that, I'm still really pleased with how its looking. And more than anything I'm excited about getting the Hornethopter in place, which is the next step.

So the next update, will probably be the last!

More soon guys, thanks for looking