Quick updates

Couple of quick updates for you today:
The "eyes" of the Blitzspear are done in a gold, ditto the canopy. I did have it in bronze but it didn't look quite right.
And, to show that i'm not neglecting him, progress on my Mean Machine - next step is put in the teeth, tone back the reds, then do the dial and eye lens.

Seth the Blitzspear - metals

Going through the metallics with the Blitzspear:
Pic (1) - basecoated in Games Workshops Gun Metal
Pic (2) - heavy wash with their Nuln Oil
Pic (3) - drybrushed with the Gun metal, then some silver over that. Going to wait and see how things look when the weatherings done before deciding if it needs more.
Oh, and i've also picked out the "eyes" and canopy in brown ready for the gold and bronze i'll be using on them - have found you get a much better finish with a brown undercoat

Seth the Blitzspear - leaping forward

Pic (1) Right, the Blitzspear is done and has gone through the Grey Primer/White Primer/Yellow basecoat stages.
Thoughts turn now to the what to do next. It obviously has wasp-like black stripes, but what about the rest of it?
Pic (2) Being a B&W strip, colour reference pics are hard to come by but, luckily, that stunning tale that Chris Weston did came to the rescue, with some brilliant reference shots.
And this is becoming my bible for the rest of the project - gunmetal where Chris put it, gold for the "eyes" and a goldy/brassy shade for the canopy.
Oh, no black stripes on the rear section though - i hadn't cut in guide panel lines like i did for the fore section as i was using Kevin O'Neils version for the build, and his doesn't have them.
Pic (3) And here's where i am at today - black stripes on and gunmetal to go on next.

70mm Mean Machine - priming

I can crack right on with Mean as, just like before, clean-up is a bare minimum on these lovely cast pieces - just a wee bit of flashing and that's it.
You can see i've kept the claws for his artificial arm on their for the washing in soapy water - no way would they be found again after a soaking.
Detail is stunning as usual - just llok at that face and detail on the mechanical parts!
Assembly was a doodle, just snip the claws off, superglue them into the perfect fit recesses and, just like Dredd and Fear, i'm only Blu Tacing the rest for the priming stage as i can remove them for ease of painting and then i'll glue them at the very end.
The last photo of the totally armless fella really shows how Dark World Creations have nailed the fella, with the huge wide shoulders and chest on the regular sized legs.

70mm Mean Machine

Apeing (ha!) "20001: A Space Odyssey", Judge Fear welcomes his new display cabinet neighbour

Seth the Blitzspear - nearly there

Nearly at the Primer stage now with the Blitzspear. Had a bit of a set back with the tail stinger thingy - looked fine in my hand, but far too tall when attached.
So i've prised it off, cut the stand back by half and glued back in place.
Nose gun and fins are done too.

I'm not Mean!

Well, colour me a happy bunny - just got back from lovely holiday to find a lovely email from Dark World saying i've come third in their 2000AD painting competition and won their lovely Mean Machine!
Now, which figure shall i get instead with the money i was saving to buy the fella anyway?

Biog Living Spaceship - rethink

Something that's been bugging me from the start with this here Biog Living Spaceship, is that i'd made the "maw" a wee bit too big.
But, i really liked it and decided to leave it as i figured it'd look smaller once i started adding bulk to the main section.
No chance.
It still looks too big and it was starting to niggle me more and more.
So, i've made a smaller one and made it more of a match to the B&W reference pic i'm using.
Next up is to saw off the old one (which i'll set aside for use in something else i'll make. But don't know what yet) add the new one, and blend it in.

Biog Living Spaceship - mushroom

Next part i'm going to turn to on the Biog Living Spaceship is the "mushroom" up top.
When looking at it in B&W, it seems a simple mushroom shape with a clear dome over it, and i'd already started looking round the shops for a suitable lid or somesuch for it.
Pic (1) But it wasn't until i looked closer at this colour spread that i realised it wasn't light bouncing off a dome, but that Massimo had actually drawn tendrils coming off the top of it.
Pic (2) So i set about making the mushroom. And, yet again, i find that something that at first to be a simple design Mr Belardinelli had done, wasn't. In this case, the "stalk" is much thinner than it should be, and there's a strange "nipple" shape up top that the tendrils come out of (HR Giger, eat your heart out). So i knew at this stage i'd have to shave a good amount of the stalk off, and flatten the top ready for the nipple (there's a phrase i've never typed before).
Pic (3). And here we have the stalk slimmed down, with Magic Sculp detail added, the nipple put on and tendrils laid on. Something i wanted to copy was the odd "teardrop" things that hang neatly from the rim. Though i made a template for the things, alas Magic Sculp doesn't like being formed in a uniform way and instead i've gone with what you see here. Not accurate i know, but at least they look alien and gnarly (i keep telling myself).

Seth the Blitzspear - getting to the point

So here i am mocking up the Blitzspears underside blade thing from multiple layers of Plasticard.
Pretty happy with it, i turn to the Nemesis collections to check on the detail needed for it.
And that's when i realised - out of three whackingly great thick graphic novels, this detail only appears in about three places, the rest just doesn't have it, making the Blitzspears profile much more sleeker, very much like the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea."
Prefering that, and the fact that without it i can dispaly it grounded as well as in flight, i've made up my mind not to carry on with this part.
So attention turns to the upper weapon instead, and the head scratching begins anew - just with Kevin O'Neil alone, the appearance of this thing changes quite a bit - sometimes it resembles a blade, sometimes a spike, sometimes a blaster.
Figuring, with that range, i can go my own way here i am with it today.
The upper part has the curved shapes sandwiching and inner core, with stick jewls for some blobby detail.
The lower section comprises a stand affair again made from Plasticard which you can see again i've started the detail process with that plastic mesh.
Once i've detailed both halves, i'll be combining then attaching, then it'll be nearly paint time.

Biog Living Spaceship - underway

Blummin' heck - something i didn't count on when using the el cheapo clay for the basis for the Biog Living Spaceship was that it'd be TOO cheap - it shrinks something rotten and is incredibly brittle.
This second section i've added has shrunk, formed a massive gap and crumbles as soon as i go anywhere near an edge of it.
So have gotten 'round that by squishing Hot Glue under the new bit and all along the join. Has the added advantage of giving it a bit more blobby detail.
You can also see in the second shot how i've started to refine the detail on the "maw" with Magic Sculp.
This build is officially a "GO!"