SEG 888 Hornet

[kat69]

Finally finished the Hornet. Sorry for not posting any pictures of the build so far. Next is the diorama setting. I'm setting it in a North Africa with lots of sand and rubble, a palm tree and some bits from the parts bin. I'm thinking maybe a skull and some old ammo under the palm. I'll see how it 'feels' during the build.

SEG 888 Hornet

I hope the picture worked. I'm new to this so if you can only see text, my bad.... I'll try to fix it.

Thanks for looking,
Scott.

[Major Williams]

Looks great so far!  Can't wait to see the dio progress.

[Grail]

Nice. I like you colors a lot.

[kat69]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm waiting on some parts for the diorama so it might take a few days 
I just had a look at some other Hornets on the site and they are mind blowing for such a small scale. Fichtenfoo's and Francesco's are really inspiring. I actually bought two Hornets as I was going to make the diorama as a patrol but I received them at different times and Icouldn'tt wait to start painting! Replicating the paint job on the second one might be a bit tricky so I will finish this one on his own and then make another further down the line using two. I did think of making the second Hornet with a pristine paint job so it would look like a veteran showing the newbie the ropes and that way I could get around the paint problem. Maybe..... Don't know......
I've got some other projects that are vying for my time, namely a Falke, Taco-34, Gladiator, Panzer Aufcalarungs, etc, etc......... Not.............................Enough......................Time......................
Anyway, thanks again for your inspiring comments. I'm kind of new to this type of kit as I've always stuck to cars, bikes, Star Wars and figures but these Ma.k. and Junk kits have got me hooked. Are there many other series of kits out there that resemble these? I like the Weird Wars 2 kind of look like a futuristic war but mecha style world war 2.
Thanks,
Scott.

[kat69]

I just received the palm tree so I can get on with the diorama. I'll post some pic's tomorrow.
Initial inspection of the tree looks good, though there is a bit of correction required where the two halves of the mold did not line up quite right. All up I am very happy with it and I hope it come up well.

[kat69]

This is the layout so far. There will be sparse vegetation around the base of the tree and in the foreground. There will be a track running diagonally across the dio but the display will mostly be sand so it won't be a clear track, just a few wheel tracks through where previous riders have been. I have positioned the palm tree where it will stay and I have included two palm leaves to show their scale. At the base of the palm tree will be a skull, an old rusty machine gun and an ammo box with some old, spilled rusty rounds.

SEG 888 Hornet

[Grail]

Nice. I like your idea.  
I do have an observation/suggestion. It seems like the Hornet may get a little lost in a dio that scale and become more like a background piece.

If your goal is the dio as a whole, then this might be a great way to go, but if you want the Hornet as your main subject, maybe save some materials for other builds, scale down the dio much smaller and make it highlight the Hornet as the key subject that way.
Notice how Foo's build makes use of a ground plane but doesn't steal thunder from the kit. http://fichtenfoo.net/blog/tag/seg-888-hornet

Looks great anyhow, just thinking you may like some feedback.  I'm sure you'll do something cool.
Cheers!

[kat69]

Well, here is the palm tree so far.

SEG 888 Hornet

SEG 888 Hornet

I have used three different shade of green merging into yellow for the leaves. I have not added any satin to the new fronds yet but that should make them look a bit more 'fresh'. I also have to add grey tones the the ends of the lower leaves and full grey to the hanging leaf and the ones on the ground. I noticed on some pictures that the leaves have a small change of color from green to brown to yellow and then grey. That will be interesting.
The trunk look a bit lighter in the photo's due to the flash on the camera but that seems to look ok now. I think it's have two different base coat's, two washes and two applications of dry brushing. That's not including the top where it merges to green. I still have to add some cotton around the trunk at the top where the leaves sprout from. The only way I can see of doing that at the moment is to spray some cotton wool that been pulled apart and then apply it between the fronds.

The base is probably a bit too dark but I will merge it with dust and sand to lighten it up a little. I want it a bit raised like Greebler suggested but the cast stops abruptly so I will have to be a bit creative with the merge.

So far, so good. I look forward to finishing off the palm tree so I can get stuck into the dio again.

Thanks heaps for the comments grail. I completely see what you mean about loosing the subject, especially as the bike might be a little obscured by the palm. When I started the bike, I was just going to mount it on a 4' x 4' piece of wood with some sand. Then the base turned into a picture frame, then there were blank areas on the base that needed something to fill them...... That's when the bug hit. I saw the Falke dio from Greebler Elf and I was amazed. This will in no way compare to his work but I thought I could introduce other items around my subject so people can relate to it a little more. I guess what I'm trying to do is create an atmosphere where people will look at it and instead of thinking its a fantasy bike on a fantasy planet, I hoped people will think its how things could look on our planet during the war. I want the Hornet to merge instead of stand out. I hope that makes sense. I admit I could of pulled back on the reins a bit, but I'm hoping things pan out. If not, I can always remount the Hornet on a more simple base and use the tree for something else.
I really appreciate all of the feedback so please keep it coming. I value everyones comments greatly.

[kat69]

I am after tips if anyone could help me out. I'm trying to create a desert sand texture for this dio and I'm having a bit of trouble. I have laid out 'snakes' of putty to create the random shapes caused by the wind against the sand, but the scale was too big and getting it smaller was a nightmare. I tried resin and pushed it around with a hairdryer, but that would just settle before it cured. It looked good while it was being blown around but once I took the air away, it settled down flat. I want to use a technique that would be used to create ripples for a water effect, and then adhere fine sand to it. I was thinking of using some glue from the hot glue gun and smear that over the surface, then hit it with a heat gun followed by cooling it quickly with a spray of water. I'm sure there is an easier method! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Scott.

[Grail]

Still luvin that palm 

Really there is a lot of ways to do what you want. Real sand and elmers glue, Gel or Matte mediums from Liquitex, Milliput, Super Sculpey, paper mache, etc.. basically all you need to do is get the shape, use one of these mediums to finesse the shape, then you could even just cover it in a coating of slightly diluted elmers glue and real  sand. Then paint it for shading, color, or whatever you like. There's probably about a hundred other ways too, but off the top of my head, I would explore one of these. Luca's Schnabel has a great subtle sand base effect too. http://www.kallamity.com/products/view/SG0021

You can even get this coating stuff at home depot in a spray can that when tamped down, it looks like desert ground almost with no effort.

Anyhow, hope these can give you some ideas.

[kat69]

Hi Grail.
Thanks heaps for your input. I have not had a chance to try some of those techniques you mentioned but I think I'll try the sand and Elmers glue first. To get the ripples, I might try to get the Elmers to stand up with the hair dryer and hope it cures fast due to the heat and air. If I'm lucky, it will keep the ripples in it from the forced air. I've got some really fine sand put aside ready for the finish. I'm off to have a look at some of those effects in Luca's link you sent me. Thanks again.
Scott.

[Grail]

Glad it will help you. Generally to get shapes without fail, I would recommend :
Milliput (Milliput dries rock hard)
http://www.amazon.com/MILWHITE-Superfine-White-Epoxy-Putty/dp/B002CNEWAM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323307185&sr=8-1
or Super Sculpey.
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Sculpey-Ceramic-Like-Sculpturing-Compound/dp/B0026C1T8C
(sculpey can be broken when dry,but when coated with future is pretty solid and hard. See my Trygon wip for an example.)
http://fichtenfoo.net/forum/index.php?topic=5591.0

Like I mentioned, there are a ton of ways to build shapes, but Just thinking a little more about it, as I was rushed before and could only give you a quick response before. I use elmers as a cheap fix a lot too. Never forget about the magic of paper mache either :)
Cheers man, good luck.

[kat69]

Well, I finally found some time to get back into this project. I ended up sculpting the sand 'waves' by drawing the pattern I wanted, then sticking down some solder wire and banking up some sculpting putty on one side of the wire with a little on the back side. I then lightly applied resin to it and dropped real sand (as fine as I could find) onto the resin. Thanks for the tip Greebler Elf. Painting was next with varying shades, lighter on one side of the wave than the other and some darker shades under the palm and where the riders tear up the sand. I scattered some fine foliage around the base of the palm to look like it's continuously dropping bits of junk. That's about all. Grail mentioned that too much detail might swallow up the bike so I took his advice on that one and left the terrain pretty barron. I still have to touch up the stand it's on and then take a critical look at it before I make an acrylic box for it.

SEG 888 Hornet

This shows the palm and the track the antigrav bike would take.

SEG 888 Hornet

This shows the finished bike and the finish of the sand.

SEG 888 Hornet

This is to show the lean the rider is taking and the scale for those who have not seen this kit before.

Any comments on how to make the diorama better are always welcome.
Thanks for reading this post,
Scott.

[Sharkdog]

Only the second picture is working for me right now, it says the others aren't currently available.

That said, stellar job on the sand! The waves in the sand look spot on, just like in an actual desert, and the extra dirt and stuff around the tree is also very good (and quite subtle). Nothing detracts from the Hornet racing through, but it does all fit quite well together :)

[kat69]

Thanks very much for the comments Sharkdog. Really appreciated!!
Sorry for the missing photo's. Imgur has been loosing my pictures left, right and center lately so I have switched to Flickr. Here goes wih some photos in the same order as they should of been in my previous post.

[IMG]http://www.flickr.com/photos/75150161@N03/6759977633/[IMG]

[IMG]http://www.flickr.com/photos/75150161@N03/6759999547/[IMG]

[IMG]http://www.flickr.com/photos/75150161@N03/6760005127/[IMG]

I'll get off the post and back on to see if the picture worked. New to Flackr so I'll cross my fingers.

[kat69]

Well, that was useless. I'll go and play on the Flickr site to see if I can get the string I need.

[kat69]

How about this?

SEG 888 Hornet

SEG 888 showing scale. by karbonwerx, on Flickr

[kat69]

Yay!

That was the pic with the SD card in it to show the scale.
Just one more from above to show off the palm tree and the layout of the dio.

SEG 888 Hornet

SEG 888 Diorama by karbonwerx, on Flickr

[kat69]

Hmmmmm. I don't think I like Flickr as much as Imgur when it was working. I cant seem to click on the picture and have it zoom for me. I might try to persevere with Imgur.

[Sharkdog]

The new pictures work, so that's good at least :)

I hadn't realized that it was that small, so the SD card definitely put that into perspective for me. Also nice to see a good overall shot!