Messages

1

Model In-Progress / Re: 1/9 Groot and Rocket Raccoon by Dragon

« on: March 04, 2015, 04:56:52 PM »

Looking very good, I think the colours for Groot are spot on.

Can I convince either of you chaps to come and join in the sci-fi group build at Britmodeller? It's just started, runs for nigh-on three months. There's some cool stuff in there :)

Cheers,

Will

2

Model In-Progress / Re: 1/9 Groot and Rocket Raccoon by Dragon

« on: February 16, 2015, 07:22:44 PM »

Sorry for the lack of comments - this is coming on beautifully! Love Rocket's face.

I have the non-scale kit of just Rocket, but I think maybe the small one is better.

3

Model Gallery / MiG and a Mark IV

« on: January 06, 2015, 01:34:57 PM »

Hi folks,

I've been a bit slack at posting stuff on this forum lately, but here are a couple of things I finished towards the end of last year:




Eduard's MiG-15SB in 1/72, which is a neat little kit and (in the version I bought) came with nice etch for the cockpit and a few other spots, plus some resin rockets.



More pictures




Tamiya's long-awaited (by me, anyway) Mark IV tank in 1/35. Great kit, everything fits, it runs well and can climb over reasonable obstacles, and the big sides are a perfect canvas for weathering. I added a little bit of stowage and re-worked the plastic unditching beam to show the wood grain.



I also slightly re-posed and painted up on of the British infantry figures in the box as an inaccurate tank crew member. My first figure in this scale, it's quite tricky compared to the fantasy stuff.



More pictures

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Will

4

Model In-Progress / Re: Toy Biz Spiderman Diorama

« on: January 06, 2015, 01:06:27 AM »

Happy New Year, sorry this has gone so long without a comment. I love the ingenuity going into the whole thing, lots of clever material choices and neat touches.

The new wiggly web line looks very good.

Will

5

Model Gallery / Re: MG Shin Matsunaga Zaku

« on: January 06, 2015, 01:03:11 AM »

That's gorgeous! Manages to look clean and dirty at the same time which is a pretty neat trick.

I like the blend on the heat hawk too.

Will

6

Model In-Progress / Re: Toy Biz Spiderman Diorama

« on: October 29, 2014, 03:38:57 PM »

I like that bit of concrete, very nice! I don't think JJ appreciates it though.

Will

7

Model In-Progress / Re: Toy Biz Spiderman Diorama

« on: October 22, 2014, 11:29:32 PM »

Looks good, I really like seeing your "any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic" masking. The chipping and dirt on the tower looks great as well.

Will

8

Model Gallery / Re: MG Sazabi Ver Ka metallic finish

« on: October 15, 2014, 03:06:18 AM »

Looks amazing, and the photography is stunning too. What do you use for your black backgrounds?

Will

9

Model Gallery / Re: Stealth fighter

« on: October 15, 2014, 03:05:36 AM »

Thanks, I'm glad you like it.

10

Model Gallery / A host of spirits

« on: October 15, 2014, 03:04:21 AM »

Hi folks,

I've been flitting around between projects recently and as well as the spaceship I have a Tamiya Mark IV tank nearly finished, and a little MIG almost at the paint stage. So of course I started something new...

These are some recently-released Games Workshop ghosts. I painted them because I liked all the movement, and I wanted to try some ideas for painting glowing ethereal stuff which I could try on some of their larger undead models. These "Spirit Hosts" are on 40mm bases and each base is supposed to represent a swarm of ghostly foes.


Click for bigger

The basic colours are an airbrushed mix of Tamiya Acrylics, going for a sort of glow-in-the-dark look. I started with a mid green and worked up to pure yellow on the insides of the ghosts, and where they emerge from the skeletons.

My initial plan was to paint them inside-out, and put shadows on all the raised parts, but when I tried it I didn't like the look. I repainted the test model and went with edge highlights over the airbrushed base, and then glazes over everything to tie it together. The highlights are a bit sloppy (done in front of the telly) but the glazes help smooth them out.

I also varied the glazes from yellow in the bright spots, through green in the middles, to blue on the thin bits like hands and faces.

All the gravestones were painted with Citadel paints under a magnifier. I sealed everything with Alclad Klear Flat (so great!) and then treated the blades with various metallics, a teal-black wash, and a rub with AK Dark Steel graphite.





I think they've come up quite well, and they made a nice break from other things I've been working on. Better get on and finish that tank now!

Cheers,

Will

11

Model In-Progress / Re: Toy Biz Spiderman Diorama

« on: October 15, 2014, 03:01:33 AM »

Some US buildings have smaller water towers on the roof - not sure how small or if they come in standard sizes but you might have a handwaving justification there :)

I like the wire/web wrapping, that's very nice.

Will

12

Model In-Progress / Re: Toy Biz Spiderman Diorama

« on: September 22, 2014, 08:18:13 PM »

Sorry to hear you've been ill, I was just going to add that you're a genius with the putty. I had no idea it was possible to get such a clean result from such a dodgy-looking kit :)

13

Model Gallery / Re: Colonial Viper Mark One (with lights)

« on: September 06, 2014, 08:08:42 PM »

Thanks guys! It was a lot of fun to do, I'm now slightly worried that all the things I build are expected to light up though :)

Will

14

Model In-Progress / Re: '70s starship scratchbuild

« on: September 04, 2014, 06:50:34 PM »

Thanks! I'm a bit stuck (though making slow progress in my head) with the rest of the back end so I turned my attention to the underneath for a bit. I wasn't going to have much relief on the surface but couldn't resist using these excellent parts as low-profile intakes.


bigger pic[/img]

I still don't think this is an atmospheric ship, although I can feel myself being tempted to add some lift thrusters underneath, so at the moment these are labelled as cloudscoops for skimming fuel.

I have since pried off the two flat parts between the intakes since I thought they didn't agree with enough of the existing structural lines.

Cheers,

Will

15

Model In-Progress / Re: '70s starship scratchbuild

« on: September 01, 2014, 04:38:03 AM »

Thanks for the kind comments, I have gone and added a load more so it may well now be overdone :)



Flickr link

Need to leave this bit alone now, and figure out how to build out the rest of the back end.

Will

16

Model In-Progress / Re: '70s starship scratchbuild

« on: August 26, 2014, 05:25:28 AM »

Thanks, so am I! I finally got to do some nurnies, I'm surprised how difficult and time-consuming it is, but it's still quite entertaining seeing it go from small model to big thing as the finer detail appears;.

I did one of the jobs I'd been putting off and made a stand mount (of sorts) so I could close up the back of the inner hull. That was two lengths of K&S tube, I'm thinking the stand will either be a tuning fork shape, or just have two prongs? These are wired for power inside the ship.


(embiggen)

and here's the view from the inside. I've now sanded, filled, primed and sanded the hull so hopefully I can think more about the details and less about the shape from hereon in.



I also did a bit more on the engine mount - first of all it got a backing plate so I can get it glued nicely onto that, and then have a nice easy job to fit it to the hull later. Then I added various AFV bits including some track links as mounting points for the engine bell.



and some grab-handles because the bare rib ends were a bit unfinished-looking:



I boxed in the recess at the bottom where the gun would've been, in future it would be easier to do this before fitting all the details rather than afterward, oh well :)

Total number of different AFVs which have donated parts to this build so far: 4 (or maybe 5?)

Cheers,

Will

17

Model In-Progress / Re: Toy Biz Spiderman Diorama

« on: August 22, 2014, 02:23:50 AM »

Speedy spidey! The figure looks a bit rough but I'm sure you'll work your magic on it, I like the dio idea too.

Will

18

Model In-Progress / Re: '70s starship scratchbuild

« on: August 22, 2014, 02:22:58 AM »

Thanks mate! I suspect it will get grungier as things go on, but keeping the pointy bit :)

I put some primer on the hull to get a look at it. It appears I have a clean (ish) hull to work on. There are some pits in the outer edges which need filling with something a bit softer than CA, but they aren't really visible from this angle.


(Click for bigger)

The seam on the bottom is clearly not in line, I'll probably have to slice a bit off at the stern and make sure the outer skin pieces do line up and cover the mistake.



I also bought some more junk for possible engine parts - a hose coupler, some Japanese novelty sausage extruders, and the back bit of a suction cup hook.



I was thinking about two engines, but that's a terrible design - if either one fails I don't think the ship can fly. There'd be no way (assuming that the main engines are a lot more powerful than the maneuvering system) to thrust without spinning. If there were three engines you could have one fail and always get thrust through the CoG.

I some glue tests and got seriously fed up with things that didn't stick to other things. The best parts are the pipe coupler rings which appear to be ABS. I tried using a slice of ping-pong ball as an insert to make the engine bell, and it looked great but I don't like the idea that it's made of celluloid, so removed it again. Instead I used an internet tool for metalworkers to lay out a frustum touching the ID of the ring at the back and again at the narrow point. I extended this a bit further since I found a nice piece for the "flame holder" or whatever spacey equivalent it is:



The frustum (truncated cone, fact fans) insert is from 0.5mm styrene sheet, cut with a compass cutter and formed around a wooden spoon handle with boiling water. I didn't brace the back of the cone join except for the narrow end, since it would have fouled the ring. I think it would have been a lot easier to brace it and trim or file away the bracing where it touches the ring, since I had to do a fair bit of filling and sanding to remove a dip and seam where the edges wanted to pull apart.

Given the sanding, I thought I'd better fit some ribs to disguise the smoothness (or not!) of the inside.



The mounting is a 1/72 AFV part (AS-90 casemate IIRC.) I might raise the bell up a little bit with some tubes and such, not sure yet.

Cheers,

Will

19

Model In-Progress / '70s starship scratchbuild

« on: August 14, 2014, 05:24:28 AM »

Hi all,

This is a bit delayed since I was having trouble posting, but I've been working on a new thing this week. I'd been messing around assembling some GW stuff since I finished the Viper but haven't really got my teeth into anything. And then I spotted an interesting part in a kit, turned it upside down, and went and got my big Chris Foss book out...

I've wanted to build some '70s or '80s sci-fi for a while and this should scratch that itch. The part I found (can you spot what it is?) looks great when inverted as an under-slung bridge. I did a couple of designs around this - one as a tug or recovery vehicle, with a hexagonal body and arms sticking out the front, and one as a more conventional starship with a pyramidal body.


Bigger pictures

I taught myself to use Sketchup (very basically) at the weekend and worked out the dimensions, so I was able to cut some parts and tape them



The core is a plate of 2mm styrene, and the rest is 1mm. I laid it out with a ruler and dividers, taking the dimensions from the Sketchup model, and cut the parts out with a Tamiya scriber. Amazingly, it fits quite well despite the model not accounting for thickness. I did have to build a second version of the rear plate though since my first attempt had the angles very slightly out.

I braced the inside and made bulkheads to support the hull, and also cut out some holes which I can fill with recessed nurnies later. I think maybe the big one will house some kind of retractable comms dish?



And catching up with progress, I've put it all together. There should be enough access through the main plate to install some lights inside the hull. I don't want/need lots of tiny windows because the scale isn't right for that.



At the back I cut a recess in the plate for the engines, now I need to fill all the hull joints and figure out what to use for the thruster cones.



Cheers,

Will

20

Model In-Progress / Re: Astray Team Project

« on: August 13, 2014, 01:11:11 AM »

Nice to see an update on this, your masking is looking really sharp especially on the weapons.

With the photos, see if your camera has a white balance setting which will take the W/B by photographing a sheet of white paper. The last pic looks quite close to the right balance, but I'm guessing the others are taken under an incandescent or halogen bulb?

Will