Sandcrawler - 5

More drybrushing here, along with the strange mottling. In the photos they appear white, which seems odd. I'm going to take it they're actually silver and the camera flash whited them out.

Applied Games Workshop Mithril Silver with a severly cut down brush - little more than a stub really.

Also basecoated the metallics in Gunmetal.

Escape Pod - 7

Done the same stripe thing with the lower lid and bunged on a coupla horizontal bands.

The tape's not rigid enough to stop it buckling but i hope to disguise that with kit parts.

Sandcrawler - 4

Sure all of us love the Star Wars craft for the down and dirtiness of them. And they don't get much dirtier than this one.

Had a real blast last night getting to this stage.

First i picked out the various panels in dark grey and orangey brown, putting them on as a wash so they wouldn't be too jarring.

After that was dry, a mucky wash of black was put on - but not wiped off. That pulled the colours together.

When dry it was drybrush time. Some basecoat here and there, sand on the tread assemblies, a lot of black, and what seems to be bird droppings in the photos - although that would be a LOT of birds to cover that much. All of them are in the form of dripping down.

I've just started here blocking some detailed areas in black, ready to pick out the details.

Escape Pod - 6

Oh what a crafty modeller i am.

Anticipating the join between the plasticard and the jar not holding once i start handling it and when i start putting the weight of the "cap" on, i've decided to put on a lot of panelling now.

For panels i find it easier to use go-fasta stripes of different widths as they're already cut straight, self adhesive and easy to follow on a curve.

So what i've done in this case is have the strips go up and over onto the top, thereby holding the lid on a bit better. Sneaky eh?

Sandcrawler - 3

Basecoated in Games Workshops new "Calthan Brown"

Escape Pod - 5

Oh dear... now i'm in trouble.

Cut the screwtop part of this section off and in doing so the plastic label ripped off.

Means everything i stick on is going to be a tenious affair at best.

Put plasticard top and bottom of the section

Sandcrawler - 2

This is as far as i've got - panels covered and primed in grey.

Off to Games Workshop later to get a suitable brown for the basecoat

Jawa Sandcrawler - 1

Still on the Star Wars front, this is another craft that i've always liked but there's never been much in the way of modelling projects.

This here is the Micro Machine version, which is quite small.

But, looking at it and comparing it to the ILM studio model, its INCREDIBLEY accurate. Every panel is there, every greeblie section is represented and EVERY piece of rust is spot on (if you forgive the pun).

I thought i'd have to add bits here and there but its really not needed.

All i had to do was remove the catch near the bottom and cover up its slot and the one above with plasticard.

I'm leaving the silly little wheels on the underside of the tracks as i'm putting it into a diorama and they'll sink in.

Escape Pod - 4

Bit more progress here - after a LOT of swearing.

The usual trouble i have with curved surfaces stuck once again - how the hell do you cut something square that'll look square and not cockeyed once on the hull?

Getting round it by not putting on anything complex, sticking to simple lengths of plasticard.

I'm dotting them randomly around the hull as superglue isn't sticking to the material of the jar, but a bit better to the plastic label.

So bung a load of plasticard to the label, then glue onto the plasticard.

There's a greeblie in the middle of the hatch as this stage is deathly dull and i wanted to do something more productive.

Escape Pod - 3

This was the tricky bit - cutting bendy plastic. Went slow and it didn't turn out TOO bad.

The edge is rather ragged though, so will have to put a trim on it later.

I've followed CFX's lead and actually having the hatch recessed.

Star Wars Escape Pod - 2

So, off i go and get some Ovaltine, then promptly dump the hideous stuff.

My first thought is to use the whole of the jar up to the lid, making it much longer in the body than CFX's or the ILM original.

Then nixed that idea.

Star Wars Escape Pod - 1

For some reason, i'm into Star Wars hardware right now. Mebbe reading the excellent new Making Of Star Wars book has done it.

Anyway, i got all fired up by these pics by CFX over on the SFMUK site of the escape pod from the first Star Wars film.

Always loved the desgin so thought i'd have a go at one - mind made up by the fact that the basis of CFX's version is one Ovaltine jar and 3 styrofoam cups!

Torquemada bust - finished

Here he is then.

Still not happy with the chappy but i had a lot of fun and in all it cost me about 8 quid so that ain't bad.

Torquemada bust - 10

Here he is sprayed in Halfords Mars Red then a coat of matt varnish on top (the varnish is 'cause the red is really glossy and any washes i'll use would just bead up).

Kinda gone off the project a bit as, after posting a pic on the 2000AD site, what should have been apparent to me all along was pointed out - either the mouths not wide enough or from the top lip up its too big.

Gonna crack on though.

Torquemada bust - 9

Primed in Halfords White

Torquemada bust - 8

Finished.

A few more tentacles have gon on and i've used Liquetex Gel Medium splodged on in a few dull flat places.

The cut-down cocktail sticks are used again, this time on the underside of the ear things

Torquemada bust - 7

Feeling better now.

Here i've repaired the Das that had shrunk by glueing with Araldite.

The details going on here. Its Green Stuff bought from my local Games Workshop.

Its really horrible stuff and i'd much rather use Magic Sculpt but i wanted to crack on and not wait for the postman.

This stuff is far, far too sticky - even if i wait the 20 mins or so after mixing - and there was lots of swearing involved.

You may notice the eye that has the membrane across it is on the wrong side, but that had a dodgy socket and it was easier to cover it up this way.

The spikes are the often used cocktail sticks cut down.

Citadel Judge Death 60mm figure

Interlude here from the Torquemada build, i got the whole range of these when they came out in Forbidden Planet back in the early 80's and sold them years back on eBay.

This one just turned up there again so i thought i'd have another go.

It had been painted but the seller had stripped it back to the metal.

Its a real nice pose - creepiest yet in my opinion.

Torquemada bust - 6

Felt even worse when i put the pupils on with a biro - they just looked stupid.

Felt a bit better sticking the "ears" on.

The problem with Das is visible right here - it shrinks as it dries and you can see there's gaps along the upper lip where the new wet Das just doesn't stick to the old dry Das

Torquemada bust - 5

Building upwards, i started with the huge nostrils, detailed the inside and sculpted up.

At this point i started having second doubts to whether i could pull it off. I was really trying to follow the art but it wasn't looking right at all.

It wasn't helped by trying to put all the tiny detail O'Neill is rightly famous for. Works on paper but not for me it weren't.

Torquemada bust - 4

Off we go.

I decided to start at the bottom and work up as that lower chin has a huge mass to it.

I basically lay a large sausage of Das around the base then pulled and carved it into the jaw area.

Then i built a thin upper lip.

The tentacles were made seperate, holes made for them, and blended in.

Torquemada bust - 3

The basic shell of Das Pronto. I use Das as its cheap - a fiver for a kilo - air drying and pretty light.

There's a drawback but we'll come across that real soon

Torquemada bust - 2

So here we go.

A paper cup covered with the sculpting Godsend - bacofoil - into the rough shape

Torquemada bust - 1

So, i've been toying with this idea for sometime - make a bust of the phantom version of the Nemesis of er... Nemesis.

After trawling the back Progs i decided on this cover by Kevin O'Neil - partly because its brilliant, partly its lots of tentacles which i like doing and partly because its the actual size i wanted it.

First job was to make a tracing, copy it to a large piece of card, then draw a profile.