Steampunk Rodney - based

As i'm planning on having the fella rusty as hell, i've based him in my colour of choice to really show rust off well - Tamiya JA Grey.

Mean Machine

Never bought one of these when they first came out as 1/9th scale is pretty small and i don't really like the pose. But one came up on eBay boxed and pretty cheap so i got it, thinking i could change it by lowering the arm right down.
And paint him following Chris Halls' preproduction art for the Stallone film.
But, problem. It can't be just a case of lowering the arm as his whole torso is arched upwards to allow him to raise up the massive arm (great, well thought out sculpting there) and if i wanted to do that it'd mean cutting out the shoulder and a lot of the waist and rebuilding.
Don't wanna do that so the arms staying as is.
So thought i'd build as is, have it as a movie version and this much bigger 1/6th one as my comic version.
But its bugging me that there's no bionic eye. So have bunged one in.
So i've now got a comic version head but a movie version arm.
Leave it as is?
Sculpt a waistcoat to make it more comicy?
Realistic gory bits or not?

Steampunk Rodney

Enjoyed the "Robots" film a lot, main attraction being the quirky robot designs. My favourite was this here Rodney, who i always thought had a real steampunk look to him.
Just stumbled across this action figure going for pennies, so bought him up and will be giving him the M.a.K treatment methinks

Producing - 1 - bugger

So, topcoat him in a lighter grey, give it a nice black wash to bring out the detail, drybrush him, pastel him, seal him and then get to thinking it looks a bit bland. So maybe a colour band would look ok?
Decided to go with a matt red nose, so masked it up, splodged the paint on, removed the masking tape...
and a chunk of paint lifts right off - varnish and two coats of paint.
Hmmmm...
Know that there's no way i can repaint that area and make it blend in, so have decided to overpaint it with metallics, along with other areas.
It'll just now be more beat-up than i had intended.

Biog - all done

Here he is then. Tried for a bit of moody lighting - which flared right up 'cause of all he gloss...

B7 Hairdryer Ship - in top coat

Very pleased to find that Halfords sell the exact colour Mat used - "Rover Orange Blaze". And you can see i've sprayed toe two R2D2 domes gold. So now it'll be just a case of sticking them togther. Am umming and ahhing whther to go with the hand drawn grey lettering as on the original. Which is rather naff IMO

Producing - 1 - grey

Okay, bunged some wings on the side, put part of the Millenium Falcon's gun turret area by the underside inlet thingy and primed her up.
I was going to put a wee lil' vertical wing on the top to make for a shark fin type affair but it'd looked rubbish.

Peter Elson website

FANTASTIC site here, superbly showing why Peter was such a genius and very indpeth on the paintings.
He inspired me SO much its untrue.

http://www.peterelson.co.uk/

Producing - 1

Been a bit hard up just lately so put some of my built kits up on eBay. Also thought i'd try and sell a couple of my scratchbuilds and it was quite a suprise to see them sell.
So, thinking maybe i should try and make a few things with a view to seeling rather than just putting up on the shelf. They'd have to be quite small to keep the P&P down and not too delicate so has to survive the trip to its new owner.
With that in mind, i've started on my first one - some sort of underwater craft. The two main parts are an old cream bottle that i put in the bits box because of its shape and the engine block from an old truck kit.
To that i've added the usual panel lines, various kit bits and a tiddlywink. Think all i need to finish it off are a couple of fins either side.
The curvy front with the busy rear is screaming M.a.K to me, so that's the way i'll go for the colour scheme.

B7 Hairdryer Ship - It stands! It stands!..

... Well, just about. Its incredibly shaky and unstable - but upright. Can see it was a big mistake to use the upright part of the Airfix stands to join them to the body. I should've thought about this. Mat used some quite thick tubes to attach his and i reckon they STILL pinged off, hence no sign of them in later shots.
Mine don't stand (haha) a chance.
But she's in Red Primer now, so quite an advancement after such a long time.

B7 Hairdyer Ship - landing gear

Okay, i can breath out. Mangaed to glue on the Airfix stands for the legs of the ship. Was real worried about this as they're VERY flimsy and the ship si now quite heavy. To try and stack things in my favour, i glued them using Araldite Rapid and put cut down Cable Ties either side of it to try and give them more stability. Haven't dared turning it over yet to see if it'll stand. Will be pouring Superglue over the joins next and leaving it a day to set.

A Biog - goring up

With the "Rotting Flesh" applied, i've gone at it with my tried and trusted "Tamiya Clear Red/Green Mixed In Different Quantities Each Time" route.
Its left me with something looking more like a bag of offal than the zombie look i was after, but at least its away from the odd blue/white scheme of their 2000AD apperance.

Postgate & Firmin exhibition

Went to Canterbury this morning to take our youngest to the Rupert Bear Musuem. That's lovely as it is, having the chance to study the beautiful original painting up close.
But, main draw is the permanent exhibit of the genius of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. Original Noggin The Nog animation characters (made of card, but you can't tell), original Clangers, the whole Bagpuss shopfront and, oddly as Noggin was a true 2D animation, a lovely model of Noggin's Flying Ship.
Well worth a visit if you're down that way, and only a couple of quid to see.

A Biog

There has been another thing i've been working on but have held back on showing you in case it went wrong and i wouldn't want to waste your time chronicling something i'd not finish.
And i had real reason to doubt as i tried once before (have a trawl back here to see the nightmare i had).
Anyway, over at the 2000ADonline Forum there's an art competition for folk to produce something that shows why you like the title so much.
Decided to go with a Biog as they were the source of Maximum Thrill Power for me when the Prog first started.
But, as i found out 4 years ago, Belardinelli's stunning creatures are real difficult to make flesh.
And i've found it out again. First thing i did was to make a rough head shape from "Plastirok", a superior form of Das Pronto. That's nice and cheap and quick drying but not very good for detail work.
Onto this crude head i added the eyes. For them i used a couple of clear plastic shapes from some sort of packaging that i'd stored away. Figured, with them shaped properly, they could pass for the odd elliptical shapes Massimo had for their eyes.
To make that shape i used Green Stuff, rolling it out nice and thin and making the eye shape first, then building outwards from there.
I first planned on having the "brains" made of the same stuff and set about making small shapes, pressed up against each other. That looked rubbish, so overlaid it with more of the brown stuff.
Carried on building things up, struggling to make what i saw on the page appear in front of me.
Which didn't really work and i only got an approximation. But felt a bit better once i'd put on a basecoat of Rotten Flesh.
I have it in mind to have him in very pale zombie-like tones. Definetly not the blue/white as seen in the comic.

The Thing From Another World sculpt

Having just done a Q&A with artist John Higgins over on my "Aieeee!" Blog, i was reminded how he did the Thing From Another World sequel comics back in the late 80's/early 90's.
And how i was so inspired by one of his covers i straight away went and made one.
Still got it and, crude as it is (electrical cables for tentacles!), i still quite like it.
Here it is with the cover that inspired it.

Catching up

Sorry i've been away a while but work being busy and home being decorating has meant i've had no time to sit down in the Den.
Done a tad more here and there though and this is the progress i've made.
The Ore Ship has had a few new bits added but, really, i need the tank shape for the front and the smaller one at rear before i can go further.
Not much more to report on the Joker - just adding plain purple at the mo.
And nearly there with the Hairdryer Ship. Next step is to add the three Airfix stands on the underside and i've got to figure out how to attach them strongly enough that the ship will rest on these inverted things. Not too well methinks - which is why i reckon they are missing from a lot of shots of the original.

The Joker - getting him clothed

Head is just about done - just building up some highlights in his hair. Sirts now done, ditto the waistcoat and just blocking in the tie