Under The Influence - 8

Being an occasional series while the paint is drying, the glue is hardening or waiting for enthusiasm to come back, where i have a waffle on the things, films, books and whatnot that had a direct influence on me, getting me into this hobby or the whole SF/fantasy malarky.

This is one of those odd occasions where i was massively affected by something when a child - but never actually saw it until and adult. Back in the 70's, one of the constant staples in the huge amount of books put out of the subject of horror or Sf films (usually by Denis Gifford)were stills from the films of Georges Melies. I'd already been growing up on a diet of Laurel & Hardy and Charlie Chaplin films and part of the appeal, other than the comedy, was the rather disturbing feel to the silent one's - the B&W photography, the sets, the very scratched prints and the strange, strange support casts (typified by Eric Campbell in the Chaplin films) went towards giving the shorts an unsettling feeling of menace throughout. So i was used to that. But these still? Well, i'd never seen anything like them. Far, far more distburing than anything i'd seen up to that point, with incredible ideas making for incredible, iconic imagery. Boy, i was fascinated. When i finally got round to seeing them, they still had that sense of menace wrapped up into the fantasy and they hold up brilliantly well today - something you can't say for CGI films made only a few yaers ago. Georges Melies is rightly acknowldged now as not only a pioneer of special effects, he was the first to use so many of the techniques still in use today, but also for pushing the boundries of film making - realising before many others that scenes could be edited together to create a story. Was so pleased to finally see him and his films up there on the Big Screen in the excellent "Hugo" but, if you're a fan, i urge you to track down the compliation DVD of his works on the Arte Video label, which is just stunning.

Collapsed Crab

Longterm Followers of this here Blog may remember this kit i made years back, a mechanical crab in 1/48th scale, not a M.a.K design, but sure could be from that universe. Anyway, he and his base and his lil' friends have been stuck at the back of a cabinet since finishing and, at the weekend, thought i'd have a sort out and a dust. Pulled him out - and this is what i found. Think what's happened its that a glued the two-part legs together with Araldite and then joined them to the body with the same stuff. Which would be fine normally. But think, over time, the weight of the body has put a constant strain on the joints and some have given way. This is what's revealed once i've lifted off the parts and given them a dusting:

Thinking what i should've done back then - and will do now - is pin each part before adding the glue.

Batman chess set - Hush & Bane done

Here they are then. Dead simple repaints here - Hush's guns and coat, along iwht Bane's mettaly bits:

Starting a new ship

Having a rummage through a bits box, i came across this:

Which goes way to 2008 when i'd signed up to a build challenge of scratchbuilding something that incorperates a spoon somehow. Eventually, i came up with the below craft, using two ladles from Wilkensions for the boom arms:

But the piece up top was before i'd settled on the ladles and was my first idea - get a large plastic slotted spoon, cut the handle off, fill the inside of the slots with Ribbed Plasticard, and seal the bottom with plain Plasticard and have it as cockpit for a fighter. But, as i say, i changed tack and it was consigned to the box. Until now. Thought i'd do something with it and another trawl around for a suitable shape for the body and came up with this:

Another abandoned years ago project which you can see is just a tube with a couple of WW2 Bomber wings laid down horizontally each side. I'd also added a vertical wing as a tail but i've removed that yonks ago to use elsewhere and you can still the stump of it on the tube. So this is roughly how the parts will join:

And here you can see the underside and what i need do - add to the existing Porsche shape, Baco Bricks, SRN4 parts and Airfix Refueling shape to add more detail. And come up with something for the engine:

Updated Jeff Wayne's War Of The World's

Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. Remember when the Star Wars prequels were announced and you go "Hope, they're good - if they're not, then they'll spoil memories of the originals". Then you get to see it. And what you get is a pale rehash of what's gone before, clumsily handled, with all the charm siphoned off, with flashy CGI effects that aren't a patch on what's been seen already. A hollow, waste of time. With Liam Neeson. "Groundhog Day!"

Weirdboy Battle Tower - done

Okay, had a day off today, with my Wife at work and the Sprogs at school, so had time to focus and finish off my Orky build. Here it is just before Primer stage, with final detail added:

Then in Primer stage:

Reason its finished just in the Primer stage, is that i'm hoping to sell it and i figure any buyer would want to paint it to match their army. Its up on eBay now: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scratchbuilt-28mm-scale-Ork-WEIRDBOY-BATTLE-TOWER-/160926839499?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item2577fcb2cb

Nurgle Plague Bearer fridge magnet

Wanna buy a fridge magnet?

Strange sort of journey this - i was thinking about what else i could make to sell, and it dawned on me that no-one makes GW busts anymore. So thought i'd have a go, and decided to plump for a Plague Bearer, figuring its hideous details could be kind to any mistakes i make. So i plomp some air-drying clay down, start moving it around while still on the mat - and it occurs to me that the flatness of the rear of it is sort of like a fridge magnet. Hey, why not do a fridge magnet? Never, ever seen one done from this universe before. So, mind made up, off i went. Sculpting away, i had it in mind to use an opaque hemisphere, half of a ball that toys come out of a disepnser in, for the eye. First plan was to paint it as a regular eye but, when in, the clearness of it combined with the white inside refracting round it, looked kind of neat, so decided to keep it as is, for some sort of etherial, blind look to him

At this point in the build, you can see i've attached the seperate horn and blended it with Green Stuuf, put in the teeth, again with Green Stuff, and started to paint the interior of the mouth, for ease of access. This shot:

Shows the skin well underway and the mouth done. Something kept bothering about that mouth but couldn't decide what. Then i realised - it was too "normal" compared to the rest. So, while poxing him up, i gave that areas loads of icky colours to tone it down:

So there you have it, a guardian for your fridge - as long as he doesn't put you off your food. eBay link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NURGLE-PLAGUE-BEARER-original-unique-fridge-magnet-/160923823952?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item2577ceaf50

Nurgle Titan Head - all done

Very quick this build and here it is all done. As its a Mr E Model project, i'm leaving it at the primer stage and its up on ebay right now.

Weird Boy Battle Tower - progress

In this first shot, i've ripped off the tanky bits, removed the undercarriage, backed the windows with mesh from Halfords, covered up the hole on top with half a ping-pong ball then added sticky gems to it for studded detail, covered up the hole where the turret went with a piece of Plasticard and attached to that a plumbing part that the tower slides tightly on to, and cut a section out of the side that was too darn pronounced to lay parts on to:

Next pic is where i am today - the tower is pretty much done, and i've covered up that whacking great hole with half an external rocket from the Space Shuttle. And did the same on the other side fora bit of balance:

Nurgle Titan head

With redundancy looming and no prospect of a new job to be seen just yet, i've been looking at my Mr E Models venture to potentially bolster my income. I've already decided the Ork Weirdboy Tower Battlewagon and the Stuka Nurgle Fighter are two such projects and i'll be finishing them to primer stage before putting them up for sale. I want to do more - but what? It'd occured to me that gaming terrian might be a way to go - offer folk somethings that's not really available. On holiday last week, i was reading the Titanicus novel by Dan Abnett and got all fired up on all things Titan. Coming back on the Eurostar was kind of dull and i got to thinking: what if i did aruined Titan for a piece of terrian? Obviously not a full-size one in 28mm scale as that becomes a model rather than a piece of terrian. What then? I first thought of maybe a leg of two, blasted apart and standing, just foot and ankle, on the table. But then i remembered the bit in the box where a Titan cockpit actually ejects. Hey, that's an idea - how about a Titan cockpit, ejected and crashed, maybe as an objective or just a bit of scenery? And, if i make it Nurgle, i can have alot of fun with it. Almost straight away on the train, i knew what i'd use for the donor main body - deep in a bits box i had a toy submarine that i'd picked up at a Boot fair yonks ago, liking its curvy shape. Once home, it was up to the attic and down it came:

This is what i found. You can see i'd already in the past i'd attached kit parts to scratchbuild it into something else before giving up. What i'd totally forgotten about was the really rather naff divers googles to the very front of it. I'd initially thought of disguising it with a bunch of weaponry etc but, now i was going the Nurgle route, the easiest way was to bung a bio-mass in there to cover it up, plus a bead for an eye:

After that, i added some side of the head guns, courtesy of the same ARC-170 model i'd nicked the canopy off of for the Nurgle Fighter:

I then went round adding kitbits. Not too many as i knew i was going to be poxing it up. I then had to address the rear of the cockpit, which was pretty blank. I'd had it in mind that the head had been blown off rather than ejecting and would be a mass of couplings and conduits. That was accomplished by and old bearing i had for the main bit, plus various cables i had laying around and kitbits outside the bearing:

Here you can see i've added more bio-mass. You can also see i've painted the cockpit window black from the inside - it did occur to me to build a detailed interior, but this is meant to be a set decoration so i've kept it simple. Next up, more bio-mass, then poxy bits and then done.