Dagobah Spider

Blimey, blast from the past or what?????
Was having a rummage through the attic this morning and stumbled on a box of long-forgotten projects.
Including this "Dagobah Spider" that i'd made back in '93/'94 and based directly off of a painting by Ralph McQuarrie from the "Art Of the Empire Strikes Back" book.
Still quite pleased with it, so plan on giving it a suitably swampy base and sell on as part of my Mr E Models side-line.

Ma.K Tank - turret redone

Okay, this is me just about done here.
I've used the much thinner piping, but kept the length the same - so instead of a tank with a unfeasibly thick barrel, its now got an unfeasibly long one.
I've done the same as before with wrapping Plasticard strips round it to attach things to, I've put on another Plasticard strip with holes in, and I've used the same sort of rod along the length of the barrel for detail and, again, small detail all over.
And with this take I've also used my trusty Go-Fasta strips for added detail and some sticky jewels for stud detail.
And I've attached it to the turret.
Next job here is to source a canopy to go over the upper area. I'm thinking something akin to a crab or turtle shell, and have to have a think as to just what I can use.

Squig Gobba

Just started a new project, and its another one of those where's its going to be easier to get across on video rather than still pic things.
So:

Toothy Rancor & Green Devil

Having a tidy up of my drawers (so to speak), I came across a pack of rapidly going off Das Pronto.
Rather than just chuck it, I decided to try and make a couple of things with it.
First up, the "Toothy Rancor", which will be a fridge magnet and inspiration is totally from the Rancor, albeit with much more pronounced teeth, made from cocktail sticks:



And the "Green Devil" - main body from the Das, horns, from the Das wrapped round coat hanger wire, and beads for eyes:



I've called him "Green Devil" as that's the colour he'll be - a contrast to the open wounds and either red or blue eyes i'm planning on:

From The Back Of The Cabinet - Cowboy Bebop

Having a bit of a clearout, I stumbled my very dusty kits of the two craft from the 1998 Anime, Cowboy Bebop.
I'd totally forgotten about them, and the show too, but I thought i'd dust them off and have a share with you.
The Anime they're from is great tale, a tale of a bunch of bounty hunters in the far flung future - action packed, witty and stylish and still holds up well now - I put a few episodes on to refresh.
The show also has some terrific hardware and, for a short time, IP kits were available.
This one is our hero Spike's craft, the Swordfish II:



A lovely design and a lovely, intricate, model - a lot of the craft in the show can jettison the cockpit as an escape pod and that's been replicated here. Once the ball come out, it even hinges open to allow Spike to get out:



My favourite ship though is the brilliant Red Tail, Faye's craft:



A superb design which too has a detachable ball:



As I say, a great show that's not aged much at all. Heartily recommend tracking it down for a viewing, the opening credits give an indication of how stylish it is:

Back To Basics - The Trollenberg Terror/ The Crawling Eye

Thought i'd start up another of my ever-infrequent subjects and this one a reaction to the pretty much now total use of CGI for effects in film - a look back on days when some fantastic effects were achieved with nothing more than sellotape, glue and a tub of plaster.
First up, The Trollenberg Terror (in the US: The Crawling Eye), a terribly over-looked piece of horror, very unfairly so, what with its depiction of the aliens.
Their design and execution was down to the UK effects God Les Bowie, who achieved the startling, even to this day, aliens.
There's no actual documentation on how his crew did it but the close-ups of the eye look very natural, along with the sliminess over them. There's some thought that they may have used rubber for the body, with either a false eye, or even a real one - not so unlikely, given that he'd used animal entrails for The Quatermass Experiment.
There#s even some speculation that he used the stomach of a cow for the main bulk, and an actual animal eye in the centre, using a balloon underneath the surface to give the undulating effect.
Personally, don't give a tinkers cuss - it looks fantastic up there on-screen all these years later -and that's all that matters.

Gonk Droid - almost done

Just the strapping inside and the feet to be done and that's the Gonk Droid pretty much done. Apologies for the pesky interloper.

Jawa Blaster - top half done.

Almost good to go on the upper section now. I've added a thick band of Plasticard near the front (which I darn near received second degrees burns making flexible enough to wrap by holding over the hob) and a wee widget at the very rear. It looks like there's something there in pics of the original, some control I guess, and mine is a nod to that.

New Project

Works been real busy of late, so not much has been done in the way of making.
One thing that I did manage to do before things got hectic was to make a start on a project i'm thrilled to be involved in.
I'm not giving too much away just now, as i'm unsure at the moment just how much i'm supposed to reveal during the build, but I will say its a charity project, involving over 50 folk creating linked pieces and i'm hugely honoured and chuffed to be asked to take part in.
I've seen some folks have put up teeny teaser pics of the start of there's, so here's mine.
"Can you tell what it is yet?"

Jawa Blaster - progress

I love my wife.
There's been quite a delay as I search for the next shape to go alongside the tub of conditioner i'd attached to the cut-down vase i'd bought.
Trawling through the shelves of the supermarkets, hardware stores and pound shops were turning up zilch - until my Wife suddenly pipes up with "can you use this?"
Use it? Its absolutely perfect.
After finding a few spacers between it and the conditioner tub a la the original, it was attached. Then I wrapped a strip of mesh from Halfords to try and replicate the diamond grip pattern on the still-unidentified original.
All I've got to do now is add some ribbing detail (thinking cable ties) to the new shape, and this upper section is done.