2000 AD & SF Modelling

Special Weapons Dalek Targetting Drone

2012-02-13T16:49:00.003Z

Having a good rummage through the boxes for bits for the AB36 craft, i came across this dome saved from my son's doomed radio controlled Dalek.
I was turning it over and thinking what a great shape it is and how i really should do something with it.
Then i got to thinking i really should be producing more stuff to sell.
The proverbial pinged on, so here i go with a real fast build.

I've got it in mind to use just the dome really and had it as a hovering little Dalek Probe Droid to begin with and so quickly ammased these parts. I'm thinking to have the dome exactly the same, no eye stalk but an eye in that recess for the stalk, if i can find another one then the Starfury engine nozzle will be replacing the lights up top, and the various shapes will be for the underside - most probably not the half pingpong ball though.
And somewhere in there will be blobby shapes to suggest those on the Daleks skirts.
So that's that and i started to think what colour should i do it?
First up i thought classic series Tank Grey and Black.
But then thought, if the sculpt is of the modern one, it should be the colour of them.
But i don't like them.
But then i thought - those two ribbed things (which will be hanging down from the underside) don't 'arf remind me of the Special Weapon Dalek.
Then - i'll paint it in the SWD colour scheme.
Then - why not having as a device to aid the SWD?
The only time we see it in the show, it just opens fire and blasts anything in front of it.
Not exactly subtle.
But what happens if it needs to hit something more precise?
Why not have a Targetting Drone, that flies to where the blast should go, the SWD locks on it, fires, and the Drone moves out the way at the last moment.
And, being its aide, it'd be the same colour as the SWD and just as beat-up and grimy too.
Works for me, so that's what i'm gonna do.

Batman Chess Set - Batman

2012-02-09T18:31:00.003Z

Bit surprised to wander into a newsagents yesterday to find that Eaglemoss have started up a Batman Universe chess set.
I know Eaglemoss of old, having pretty much all of their Marvel Figurine run.
I never got their DC line though as its started when the Marvel one was still ongoing and i just couldn't afford it.
And i've always kinda regretted it.
But here we have a line of characters from my favourite DC series, combined with large chess pieces, which i've always liked the idea of.
So i've decided to collect the set.
Just like the Marvel line, the sculpts are excellent and, just like the Marvel line, fall down in some of the paintjobs.
I know it really can't be helped, and i feel for the poor sods on the production line painting them, but the lovely shots in all the ads are pretty much misleading - guessing they're especially painted for the ads.
So, i get Bats, get him out of his packaging and here's what you get:

Its a nice sculpt but the colour choices are odd. When does he have a silver suit and blue combos?
So, just like the Marvel one's i did, i'm not going back to the primer, rather i'll repaint certain areas.
With Bruce its:
Give the face a wash of a darker brown.
Have the Utility Belt yellow. In my mind, its always yellow - NEVER gold. Yellow is notorious for being far too thin and translucent, but here it worked to my advantage, keeping the really bright new yellow muted.
And the suit gets colours more suiting to Jim Lee era Bats, making sure i keep away from the white eyes as they're just about perfect and better than i could do.
I've left the emblem in gold and black just to make it stand out a bit more:

Still to do here is highlight the belt a bit, mark the edges between different bits - and remove that blummin' seam line.
While painting, i thought it was part of a high-tech Batsuit but, looking at these pics, its a seamline isn't it?
*Fume*
Anyway, its been a nice coupla hours and i'm looking forward to the next one, who's the Joker - with what looks like the same silver for his face that Bats has for his suit...

The Devourer - armed

2012-02-08T11:47:00.002Z

I've had the arms done for a while now but haven't posted anything as i've come across a stumbling block with the gauntlets he's wearing.
Leigh's drawn them with repetitive patterns and there's no way i can sculpt that.
So, thought i'd make them blank then attach something to them.
I've tried cable ties and other nicely detailed materials but, if its plastic it doesn't stick to the clay.
Then i thought of something like self-adhesive sheeting from the craft shop that i could cut up and put on.
While i was browsing, i stumbled on this here ribbon which, although not anything like accurate, i figure will look okay painted.
So here i've attached them with the Hot Glue Gun and its worked fine.

Blade Runner Spinner - one step forward, one step back

2012-02-06T09:54:00.002Z

So that's the underside done and the wheels put on:

All well and good.
Wish i could say the same for the top...
After peeling off the canopy masking tape, it'd worked okay - but somehow condensation had built up on the inside of the canopy, along with some of the primer then the Blue getting through a tiny gap and colouring some of the front edge of the cockpit.
Am very pleased now that i glued the canopy down as it was dead easy to pop it back off.

Here you can see i've done a repair job to the cockpit area, tidied up the Blue where needed, and i've started to put on the various lamps and lights up top.
BTW, the very uppermost part - the triangular shape with a red light on top is strange in that the white part of it is actually supposed to be clear all the way around. Strange that they've done so well casting up so many clear plastic parts, but neglected that one.

The inaccuracy of photo references

2012-02-04T16:27:00.003Z

I was talking to Martin Bower yesterday and he said someone had emailed him about the Dorcon ship from the 1999 episode of the same name but he couldn't recall which one it was and did i know?
So i go "wedge shape one, with the 1/24th Harrier refuelling probe stuck on the front, light blue."

That jogged his memory alright but it turns out its not light blue at all, but the same "Capri Blue" that i'm using for the Spinner:

And, looking at the ship photo again, you can see it on the the sides that the flash didn't hit so much. Goes to show, don't take things at first glance

Gateway 20 - back on track

2012-02-03T13:03:00.003Z

Been ignoring this project for a while now, but here you go with a bit more progress.
As you can see, i've started adding detail to the truck thing, using my parts of choice - Tamiya 1/35th kit bits. I've also added "hubcaps" to the wheels using those self-adhesive gems i've mentioned before.
On the Ship, again more Tamiya and i'm thinking of putting tons of detail in the gap between the two tanks.

EFFECTive - Martin Bower

2012-02-02T17:07:00.002Z

Martin's got back to me - and its been a bit of a surprise.
I know he's a fan of this sequence, but i would've had have him place something from "2001" or "First Men In The Moon" higher.
Shows what i know.

"The "Thunderbirds" episode “PIT OF PERIL” where the 2 Recovery Vehicles are pulling the “Sidewinder” out of the pit. The whole sequence is lifted to a state of superb cinematography by Barry Gray’s music. The music fits the action so superbly it gives me “goose bumps” every time I see it."

Blade Runner Spinner - bodywork done

2012-02-02T09:16:00.002Z

Okay, here are the two halves done.
I've picked some of the underside in Silver and bunged in the lights. Next up there is touching up some of the Blue, put the wheels on and pick out the grill details. The instructions would have it that they're Silver too but figure they'd be Gunmetal, so that's what i'll be going with.
Am looking forward to picking out the details on topside, but its with some trepidation that i'll be removing the masking tape...

From the back of the cabinet - three Jacks

2012-02-01T11:37:00.002Z

With Leigh getting me thinking about all things "American Werewolf In London", i thought i'd dig out these nifty busts from the back of the unit.
They're small - not quite 1/6th i reckon - but the detail is terrific and, from doing research prior to painting, pretty darn accurate.

EFFECTive - Leigh Gallagher

2012-02-01T11:17:00.002Z

I've long gone on the record as being a big fan of Leigh's work both on this here Blog and my "Aieeee!" comic one too, ever since he came to my attention with his stunning work on 2000AD's "Defoe", then on through his "Judge Dredd" tales where he seems to be the only artist these days depicting ol' Chinface as the age he actually is, and this year we're gonna get all manner of fantastic goodness with "Aquila" in the Prog.
In my opinion Leigh is THE horror/supernatural artist right now and its no real surprise he's chosen what he has and i agree with his thought 100%.
Go, Leigh:

"Ok, I'm going for the kick ass transformation scene in An American Werewolf In London, featuring David Naughton with award winning effects by Rick Baker.
Honestly, even though this was made way back in 1981, it's astonishing and EMBARRASSING that there has been no other werewolf transformation scene that has come CLOSE to bettering this baby. Beautiful practical effects from the elongating of his hands, to the popping of his muscles and spine, all the way through to the stretching of his face is utterly flawless, and without any crappy cgi.
Obviously, it helps with the great acting of Naughton. His horrific screaming and wide eyed agonising expression sell it completely, though I could've done without the looking and reaching towards the camera moment!
Bugs the crap out of me that studios still think they can do a better job using cgi for such things...and then fail miserably...they never learn..."

Zombie Dragon - meaty bits done

2012-02-01T11:14:00.002Z

So here you can see i've done that lighter gore effect on the ankle.
That's the ripped open parts done but you can see that they appear to be islands of colour, standing out from the greens of the skin.
To get round that, i'll now start to pox him up and have some icky, bloody details hidden away in some of the folds of skin.

EFFECTive - D'Israeli

2012-01-30T20:23:00.002Z

A brilliant, brilliant comic book artist, who's stunning work on Judge Dredd, Stickleback, Leviathan, Lazarus Churchyard, Low Life and, especially to me, THE definitive artist to date for all things "The War Of The Worlds" what with the Dark Horse adaptation and the "Scarlet Traces" sequel to boot, gentleman, top bloke and Dalek fan to boot, i'm VERY pleased to see him on here:

"Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds occupied a huge chunk of my childhood imagination - one of my earliest memories is of using Lego and Dinky toys to recreate scenes from the show. My all-time favourite is the episode Path of Destruction, with the enormous automated logging machine the Crab Logger crashing through a small town and finally plunging over a cliff. I must have spent weeks of my childhood building various versions of The Crab Logger out of Lego - in fact I still do if there's any to hand ;-)
There are I don't know how many other things I can pick, but that's really my "first love" as far as effects go - the thing that taught me to take delight in beautifully constructed miniature worlds (and their destruction!)"

Zombie Dragon - Tamiya Clear Red & Green, how i love thee

2012-01-30T12:06:00.002Z

Yup, my gore effect of choice - mix them together and water the nmix down and you get a luvverly wash to put over any open wound.
In this pic here you can on the ankle that it's the basic bone and flesh affair. Far took stark and far too clean looking for me, so in i go with the afore-mentioned mix, which you can see i've put on the thigh wound here.
By mixing the ratios of Red and Green, you can get all sorts of effects, especially by varying the amount you've thinned it down by water. So, want bloody gore? Use more red. Want diseased, poxy muck? Use more green.
For most of the areas i'm doing on this beastie, i'm going with quite a strong mix as i don't want anything too light, which i'd figure would distract from the main skin areas.
Something i'll do on this ankle though, and will show you when done, is to use a watery mix, splosh it on, then dab at it with a finger, which'll remove quite a bit and leave a sort of red glaze.
As i say, it'd be too bright over all of the fella, so i'm gonna just use it the once.

Doctor Who - Invasion Of The Dinosaurs

2012-01-29T11:31:00.004Z

With this story finally out on DVD, i was thinking about the effects work on the tale.
Of course, they've been universally derided since the first transmission and its not a surprise - its the era of zero budgets and early day CSO done not very well but, crucially here, the main problem lay with who actually created the models.
Producer Barry Letts decided to commission a dinosaur story after being told by freelance effects bods Westbury Design that could come up with the goods.
When the goods were produced and turned out to be a bunch of rod and cable controlled puppets, it was far too late in the day to back out and get someone else in.
So off they went, filming these "interesting" creatures against some okay model sets but an awful lot of two dimensional sets made from photographic blow-ups or against yellow backgrounds to be inserted vis CSO.
So that's how i remember them - buttock-cletchingly awful dinos, clumsily shot and put into the live action that even the creators at the time rubbished.
But, looking back on it them now, they do have a charm and, in some places they're not half bad. This shot is worthy of Derek Meddings' crew on Captain Scarlet:

Biggest trouble though is still the T Rex:

a wobbly, chubby cartoon of a dinosaur who, when he appears, i can't help thinking of the Chewits monster:

EFFECTive - Don Bies

2012-01-27T11:08:00.002Z

Very pleased to have Don Bies featured here today. Don started in special effects working on "The Fly" with Chris Walas, before moving on to ILM and working on some of THE effects films of the 80's and 90's.
Too many to list here, but taking a look at his Wookiepedia entry will give you some idea of the incredible work he's done:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Don_Bies

I'm doubly pleased that Don's here as he was often a minature model maker on the films, producing work that i can only aspire to.
Don, great to have you here and please take the floor:

"I have quite a number of favorites—it’s hard to choose. Each has their own place, due to their technical effectiveness, emotional connection within the context of the film, or just plain fun…but since I’m pressed to choose, I’d have to go with the AT-AT sequence in “Empire Strikes Back”. The novelization of that film came out about a month before the film opened, and I vowed not to read it, then I vowed only to read the first page, and then only the first chapter…until I read the entire book. As I read it, I imagined each sequence playing out, and when I got to the AT-AT battle, I knew that it could never be as good as the images my mind conjured up. I knew (even though I was not in the film business at that time) about the problems with blue screen photography, matte issues, miniature photography, etcetera…

When I finally sat in the theatre watching the movie, I knew the sequence was approaching—I dared them to impress me…and they did it. I knew it was stop motion, but it was the first time I felt the craft was used to its advantage. I recognized the implementation of miniature snow plains and painted backdrops, but they all worked. And the editing and sound pulled it all together, using all the disciplines of film making to create a memorable scene.

It was just over five years later when I entered the film business and worked on my first film, “The Fly” at Chris Walas, Inc. in Northern California. It was there that I met Jon Berg, the animator and key creative of that sequence. At first, I was star struck—it took a while to tell him how much that sequence impressed me. Jon became my mentor and we forged a close friendship that continues to this day…and that sequence still holds up."

Blade Runner Spinner - that's better

2012-01-27T10:58:00.003Z

Sun's come out today, so i can prime and basecoat the lower section. And, now the blue is on a much larger area, i'm pretty happy with the shade i've chosen.
Looking at the instructions, it seems that i can build top and lower parts seperately and join them at the very end.
Which is just as well, as getting under the wheel arches to do the wheels and tyres would be a right bastige.
Next up here is to remove the masking tape over the clear windows, put in all the coloured lenses for the light fittings, pick out various sections in other colours, then paint the wheels and plop them back on.

EFFECTive - James McKay

2012-01-27T10:45:00.002Z

Next up, i'm very pleased to see James here. Illustrator and comic book artist, his beautiful painted depictions of dinosaurs made him a natch for the return of "Flesh" in 2000AD and, boy, he sure didn't disapoint.
Over to James:

"My favourite ever sequence was 'Clash of the Titans' (the Harryhausen one): the scene with Medusa approaching Perseus in the underground chamber. I saw it when about 8 or 9, and nearly wet myself in terror! All of Harryhausen's films have inspired me, but Clash of the Titans is the greatest."

Alas, i can't find this terrific scene anywhere that'll enable me to embed it here, but follow the link below to thrill at the brilliance of Mr Harryhausen's swansong:

http://youtu.be/8X7W-oPhY48

Blade Runner - canopy on

2012-01-26T11:52:00.002Z

That's frustrating - got a morning to meself, and the weathers too manky to put a coat of Primer on, let alone top coat.
So, all i've done is put on the canopy here.
Bit apprehensive about two things:
(1) I've got to do some real intricate masking up of the canopy, to allow for the the two struts running either side from front to back, to be blue. Not only that, but those bubble shapes at the back either side have a blue line too.
(2) I've used White Glue to stick the canopy on as its the only glue that won't fog up the clear plastic. But it doesn't exactly create the strongest of joins. And, to do the masking up, i'll be handling it a LOT.

EFFECTive - Boo Cook

2012-01-24T14:17:00.003Z

Next up to the plate is Book Cook artist extraordinair, producing stunning work on the likes of "Judge Anderson" in the Megazine and lovely stuff for the highly recommended "Elephantmen."
Boo's come up trumps here and i agree with everything he's said and i'm SO pleased he's finally gone with what he has. I was going to go with the final scene to illustrate his choice, but this is a new keyboard and i don't want to blub all over it. Over to you Boo:

"I'm gonna leave Star Wars out of the equation as it is clearly one of the all-time best examples of fx work from start to finish, but i'd prefer to talk about something slightly more obscure.
With the ancient and continuing evolution of humankind being one of my favourite subjects i would have to mention the incredible 2001 a Space Odyssey. it is laden with some of the most believable and un-dated special fx of all time. from the incredible proto-human acting at the start, through the desperate silences of deep space to my favourite section, the mind blowing coup de grace end sequence. stylistically and technically, the psychedelic ending of 2001 would be pretty hard to recreate even with today's cgi methods, and as a child who had just sat through 2 hours of cold hard space, seeing this for the first time was a real head flipper! of course it took me a few years to even begin to understand what the heck was going on. it's worth noting at this point, that equally as impressive is Jack Kirby's giant sized Marvel treasury edition adaptation of the film where Kirby uses 5 splash pages in a row to re-enact the the final trip sequence of the film. truly mind blowing. i can also recommend Kirby's 10 issue run of 2001 Tales which followed, where he takes the idea of the monolith and runs with it big time - among my favourite all-time comic runs. fans of psychedelic special effects would do well to watch recent film Enter the Void - like taking an intensely strong hallucinogenic drug with none of the law breaking issues...
Back to sci-fi; as a child i was always heavily into space and Close Encounters of the Third Kind had a massive impact on me at that 'crawling out the catflap' age. the incredible special effects involved lead me into a lifelong passion for extra terrestrial life and the world of U.F.O's. there was however a film that had even more emotional impact on me as a child, and still brings a tear to my eye to this very day: the Silent Running. sniff....obviously, the film has an amazing script and some choice acting from Bruce Dern, but the real stars of the show are 3 very special effects - Huey, Louie, and Dewey, the 3 small robots that aid Dern on his quest to save the last remnants of Mother Earth. the robots themselves went on to influence George Lucas who having seen the Silent Running realised that model making and special effects were at a standard that could support his ideas for Star Wars. the 3 small robots, although without faces were capable of conveying heaps of emotion, and aside from the very end of the film, the bit that always gets me is in the med-lab where Huey gives Bruce Dern a mournful squeeze with his robo pincer - a scene echoed in Duncan Jones' recent film Moon.
Sso there we have it - i could bang on about sci-fi special effects and their effect on me all day, but i'll settle for the robots of Silent Running as my favourite example. weep...."

Blade Runner - coloured bits

2012-01-24T14:09:00.002Z

Been a bit of a delay on this build as i've had to nail down an accurate colour because things need painting now before carrying on.
In the end i stumped for "Fiat Capri Blue" and these are the first bits done.
The two at the back are the front wheel covers and, when i've tidied up the white bits, they'll get clear covers over them.
The small triangular piece is a bit of a let-down as the instructions say to paint the sides white, while on the model and full-size Spinner, its actually a clear piece.
Lastly we have one of the two light bars that sit up top. What a lot of faffing that was - real fiddly to glue the seperate lamps on then, when sprayed blue and i put the red and blue lenses in it turns out you can't see the red one's at all. So i prised them all out and painted the inside of the holders white then glued them back in. That showed up the fact that the red lenses are actually pink - so i've had to give them a coat of Clear Red.

The Devourer - bit of a tweak

2012-01-24T14:07:00.002Z

Looking at what i've done so far, comparing it with Leigh's sketch, its obvious i've made the body too high and the open area not low enough into the belly.
So it was out with the scissors and sidecutters to hack it into a more accurate shape.

Zombie Dragon - meat and teeth

2012-01-24T14:05:00.001Z

Here we are then, the open fleshy bits done and the teeth base-coated. Next up, gor the wounds and start picking out poxy details - and stop the teeth looking so crap.

EFFECTive - Michael Penick

2012-01-23T19:43:00.003Z

The start now of a new feature for this here Blog, where i ask creators, be they model makers, artists, writers, sculptors, anyone who uses their imaginations, what is their favourite ever single effect sequence in a film or TV show.
Could be that they saw it when young and it had a huge impact, or got them in to the career they're in, or that its the best ever piece of SPFX that they've ever seen.
Doesn't matter - if they can narrow it down to just one, i'll feature it here.
First up, Michael Penick, comic book artist and illustrator, coming up with the goods big-time recently with his excellent work on Strip Magazine's "Recovery Inc".
Glad to have you here Michael, over to you:

"I'll go with the movie sequence that shaped my life. It's a no-brainer. The opening sequence in the original Star Wars. I was 7 years old and my jaw was on the floor. Watching that Star Destroyer crawl overhead changed my world. It was the first time I actually thought "That's what I want to do for a living". It didn't pan out that way, but it still shaped my life significantly. I knew right then that I wanted to tell amazing stories. I wanted to create worlds that people could believe in. And while other things came and went, that has always remained."

The Devourer - unexpected advancement

2012-01-19T16:43:00.002Z

So there i am, building up the bulk then sealing everything with a glue gun for more stability:

and my minds turning to the next step.
That was to have a layer of cheap air-drying clay like Das Pronto or Plastiroc and over that put on a detail layer with Magic Sculpt.
Off i go to my local art shop for the el cheapo stuff and i find that Fimo now do an air drying product too.
As i like the consistancy of their oven-bake stuff, i thought i'd give it a go.
And today tried it out on the legs.
Nice surprise to find its much better than the Das end of the range, sort of half-way between that and Magic Sculpt.
So i've decided to try it out on the whole build, and here you can see i've done the legs and started on bulking out the belly.

As that belly hangs down low over the loin cloth, i've decided to put that in now too.
All this took me by surprise, so much so that i'd not had chance to make a texture stamp for the scales yet.
But, as Leigh doesn't seem to have put any on the legs, i can live with that

The Devourer - building up

2012-01-17T10:16:00.003Z

Even with the legs filled with Plaster as they are, there's no way they'd support a body that bulky made out of solid clay.
Would be real expensive too.
So, i need to bulk out the form first.
To begin with i attached a piece of card that roughly gives me the height i need to build to, and an idea of where the open area will be:

After that, i'm adding balls of rolled up Bacofoil, holding them in place with various tapes:

Zombie Dragon - basing

2012-01-17T10:11:00.003Z

Well, that wasn't too bad getting into the intricate bits after all. Here he is based in GW "Gretchin Green" and a sloppy, heavy wash of "Catachan Green" has managed to get to the bits i couldn't reach.

AB36 Wrecker Droid - all done.

2012-01-15T20:44:00.001Z

You may remember this build, which started out as a 70's-style robot but then mutated into an Ork Titan type thing so, hopefully i might find a gamer on eBay that might want to buy it.
Well, here he is all done, finished in just Grey Primer as i know the GW folk like to paint their armies in their own individual colour schemes.
You can i did detail up the back and the main tank there is actually a Kinda Egg yellow toy container that i nicked while my daughter wasn't looking.

Zombie Dragon - primed

2012-01-13T13:10:00.002Z

Here he is then, reposed, base textured and primed.
Now he's like this, Gawd knows how i'm going to get paint into all the detailed areas.

The Devourer

2012-01-12T18:03:00.004Z

The whopping size, end of year Prog of 2000AD has just been and gone and highlight, by a very great distance, was the prologue of "Aquila" by Gordon Rennie and Leigh Gallagher, which is being touted in some places as a very loose reboot of "Black Hawk" from Tornado of the early 80's.
Like i say, for sure the best thing in the Prog, and Leigh's 2 page, widescreen shot of the Roman's landing in England is jaw-droppingly fantastic.
Shame its a taster and the actual tale won't start for a while.
Anyway, Leigh's just put up a fascinating script to finished piece on his Blog:

http://leighgallagherart.blogspot.com/

Which includes various design options for a Eygptian demon baddie for the tale, which are all great, but i really like his final version, which seems to be able to open up a la Rob Bottin's "Thing" designs.
Liked it so much that i thought i'd have a go at making the final, opened up version.
Looking at it, the body and whatever the heck that is coming out look okay to do, but i'm pretty rubbish at sculpting hands and feet.
So i thought i'd cheat and use a donor figure for them.
At first i considered something by Games Workshop or those nifty, well designed and painted European toy figures in my local toyshop, but they were all too small.
But then i came across this old vinyl figure from the Guyver Anime, that's literally been sitting in a box for the past 20 years:

His arms and legs looked a close match so i snapped them off - easy to break 20 year-old Superglue. And it was a nice surprise to find that the arms could be put into almost exactly the same pose that Leigh had them in. You can see here also that i've made a start on cutting off the thickest of the hair detail. The rest will be covered up by a layer of clay. And i've also removed the elbow and knee spikes:

Here's the legs standing up and by themselves. I'm happy with the feet and toes, but both sections of leg are far too long. I can get round the upper part by simply imbedding a portion of them into the body, but the lower part needed a section cutting out, which i've done here, then glueing the stump onto the knee:

Below you can see i've covered up the join with Milliput. The body i'm guessing will be pretty heavy and the legs, being vinyl and hollow, will collapse either straight away or over time.
To get round that, i've first plugged the holes in the knees with Blu Tac, then filled each leg with Plaster Of Paris. Before it set, i moved the legs to what i thought would be the right distance apart, then put in this piece of wire, which is the first step in building up the body:

Star Wars Bounty Hunters - finished

2012-01-04T13:43:00.002Z

With Boba's metal flaky bits done and the base finished in Gunmetal, that's this project put to bed.
Had a lot of fun with it, especially as i get two of my favourite Bounty Hunters.

Zombie Dragon - getting him to stand up

2012-01-04T13:39:00.002Z

Well, that plan to alter his head so he'd be looking up more worked TOO well - once plonked on his base he was looking right up at the sky.
To get round that, i have to tilt the whole body down so he'd be looking straight forwards.
But to do that meant he's standing on tiptoes, which looks daft and doesn't afford any sort of decent bond between his feet and the base.
To get round that, you can see here i've backed up his feet with lumps of Milliput. They and a few more scattered around will eventually make for rocky terrian.

Blade Runner Spinner - colour query

2012-01-01T13:40:00.003Z

Not much in the way of progress on this build as the rest of the parts need attaching to other parts that must be painted first.
But the question there is - what colour?
Looking at pics, they seem to be done ina whole hosts of shades of blue, with the actual size props shown in daylight in the excellent "Dangerous Days" documentary being a dark grey.
I was going with a nice glossy Royal Blue as seen on the box art, but am thinking it'd be better to go more of the shade seen here with original designer, Syd Mead.

Zombie Dragon - making changes

2011-12-31T10:52:00.004Z

Okay, as i say, i much prefer the bat head over the dragon skull option. Again, a lovely bit of casting and its made up of a central tongue/neck piece, with the two halves of the head attached each side, and the top of the head plopped on:

Looking at the instructions, it became apparent that i'd need to make a couple of changes to get the fella the way i'd want him.
Change 1.
The bat head option has the beastie's body quite low to the ground with him looking up, maybe about to roar. Nice, and kinda reminiscent of what the T Rex did when you first see him in "Jurrasic Park", but with the body that low you'd not see much in the way of rib detail. So i decided to follow the instructions for the much more upright Dragon option, and i'd put the bat head on to that.
Change 2.
Both options have the wings folded up against the body, which again obscures the rib detail, along with all the luvverly detail on the legs as well. I found that, by swapping the wings over and turning them upside-down, i could put them into a much better pose, which allows all the detail to be seen.
It also hides the shocking bad alignment of the spine pieces that were part of the hideous rib cage stage.

Zombie Dragon

2011-12-28T12:01:00.002Z

Well now, hope you're all well and enjoying the festivities.
We are, though its incredibly hectic here.
Still finding time though to start on one of my presents.
Its a beastie from GW's Vampire army and i'd seen this top pic of it but dismissed it straight away.
But then i was walking past one of their shops a while back and there was one of the fellas in the window, built and just in primer.
It was jaw-droppingly awesome and, after popping in to check that they're not really selling Forge World now are they, that i realised that, oh dear once again, the company are doing themselves no favours at all with their box illustrations.
Look at any pic on the box and you see a cutesy monster with bright white bones peeking through all too clearly defined wounds.
Take a look at the sprues though and you've got a nightmare creature, easily able to fit into a Resident Evil world or whatnot.
Had to have one, so he went straight on to Santa's list.
As i say, i was well impressed by the amount of detail and the casting for an IP kit and was even more so when i reached this stage:

after sticking just three pieces together. The multi-layered, fine detail is amazing and, incredibly, most of this will be covered up by the next stage of putting the rib cage on.
I've just done that and it was truely a nightmare monster as it was chuffin' nightmare to get the two halves to line up and stick where they're meant to...

Merry Christmas to y'all

2011-12-20T17:35:00.002Z

Okay folks, up at an unearthly hour in the morning to travel to France to see family, then back again Christmas Eve eve.
So, very best wishes to you all and i'll see you back here soon.

Blade Runner Spinner - interior finished

2011-12-14T16:32:00.003Z

Had a bit of luck when i was having a rummage though the paint draw looking for something suitable for Boba Fett's boots on my Bounty Hunter project, and stumbled across a tube of "Neutral Gray" that i'd totally forgotten i had.
That worked fine for the boots but it really wouldn't have worked for the cockpit here as its far, far too light.
But thought i'd use it to highlight the details with it using drybrushing. Which i did:

Here we have the dashboard just prior to putting in. You can see there's a real nice decal for the display, but what i'm surprised about and bit let down by is that the "paddle" controls so clearly seen in the film are nothing but a flat plate here. I've painted where the recesses for the hands should go black to try and hide it, but its still a rather lazy oversight:

And here's the side of the dashboard. The instructions would have it that you paint the two raised lines yellow, which i did, as its clear from the film that they're actually yellow neon. Why a police car would have that in there isn't clear, but it looks great in the film so what the hey:

What is another surprise is that the instructions correctly tell you to replicate the yellow neon there - but fail to mention that you have to pick out a similar raised line for the blue neon in the very centre raised section.
So i did that, which you can see here in the finished cockpit, with lights picked out - including the rather bizarre but great looking blue lights imbedded in the rear wall:

Star Wars Bounty Hunters - Fett ready for the metal

2011-12-14T16:30:00.002Z

Looking a tad cartoony, but hopefully beating him up and putting in all the paint chips will stop all that.
Really looking forward to that bit.

Zuckuss - all done

2011-12-13T20:10:00.003Z

He we are with him/her all done.
This was the biggest challenge and the biggest surprise, what with the Giger-esque piping and tubing that i'd never noticed before this project.
Still a mystery as to just what it is in that cannister thingy, all i've found out is that the actress (so that makes Zuckess a her?) had a pipe to blow bubbles into the liquid that was in it.
I've decided to stay with the paler skin tone, which isn't strictly accurate, but i feel is a nice contrast to the rest of the browns.

Star Wars Bounty Hunters - Bossk finished

2011-12-12T14:11:00.002Z

Well he was a lot of fun, what with all the different colour schemes and details to do.

Blade Runner Spinner - on to the cockpit

2011-12-07T12:03:00.003Z

The cockpit is lovely and detailed, despite having only a few pieces to put in there.
Here it is in White Primer:

It was a bit of a head scratcher for the colour of the interior as the instructions would have it that its "Neutral Gray", which i took to be a mid to light grey. But looking at the Blu Ray, and this shot here:

it appears to be a dark gray or even gun metal.
Once the primer was dry, i prised out the dashboard, which i'd just plopped in there, as i want to paint it seperatly:

Again, there's a conflict in that the sheet says same colour as the rest of it, but some studio model shots have it the same blue as the outside. Hmmm...
While talking about the dashboard, you can see from this shot that a pilot is out of the question - there's barely any space between the bottom of the dashboard and the seat and, even if there was more, the footwell is pretty much non-existant. Which means, if i do have one in there, i'd have to cut his legs off and just have a torso sat there...
Or i could put in a passenger i suppose - but who does a car with a passenger and no pilot?

Anyway, i prised out the dashboard and seats for seperate painting and put on a coat of GW "Adeptus Battle Grey" from their excellent "Foundation" range, which i thought was a nice match. You can see i've left an odd shape still in the White Primer, which i'll be painting White. Gawd knows what it is or why its painted like that, but that's how it is on the models used:

Lastly, thought you might like to take a look at this clip, which shows off a lot of the interior, at the same time as giving you out-takes not very often seen/heard:

Star Wars Bounty Hunters - nearly there now

2011-12-04T19:12:00.003Z

Yeah, bit of progress:

Bossk: Eyes and mouth are all done. Just got to tidy up spots on the flesh. Clothes are nearly done. Gun still to do. His eyes were a bit of a challenge, being very cat-like pupils, but done horizontally rather than vertical.

Fett: Still dunno whether that green for the armour is right. And i don't want to chance it till after i've beat it up. Starting to block in the cape.

Zuckuss: Picked out details, including the eyes and whatever the hell that mouth thing is being based in Gunmetal. That "bib" affair appears in turns both metallic and slimy, so i've gone with a compromise.

Slaine & the 2000AD Advent Calender

2011-12-03T12:26:00.002Z

Thought you might like to see my contribution to the annual Advent Calender event over on the 2000AD site, where folk choose a day to put up a festive image or text or something as we tick down towards the Big Day.
And today's my turn.

Under The Influence - 6

2011-12-02T17:53:00.003Z

Blade Runner Spinner - starting

2011-12-01T13:42:00.002Z

Right, i've decided to go as far as i can with the build before stopping at the point where i could possibly add lighting to it.
We start with the underside and you can see i've only done the left side here before taking the pic to show you how involved the build is.
There's a bunch of small boxes that had to be glued on top and bottom and, next to each, another shape that will hold the underside lights.
That's made my mind up there: no lights for below - they're tiny lenses and it'd be a right pain to get the wiring down there and not have them visible in the cockpit.
You can also see i've put in the floor window, which was a surprise as i didn't know they had them.
And i've just pushed the wheel on for now. Will remove it for filling and seperate painting. What's a surprise there is that they've no tread detail at all.

AB36 Wrecker Droid - change of identity

2011-12-01T13:37:00.002Z

With the Spinner landing, its driven homw again how low spare funds are. Looking round for a way to raise more, its occured to me that this fella, with its outlandish limbs and chunky claws, could be an Ork-type device for Warhammer 40K.
So, decided to change him to just that, finishing him in just White Primer as there's so many distinctive colour schemes for Orky stuff that'll i'll leave it to the buyer.
All i'm doing extra is to add river detail that you can start to see here and i'm off to the shops to get some cord that holds up net curtains to add lots of cabling.

Blade Runner Spinner has landed

2011-11-29T13:34:00.002Z

Lovely big box has just arrived from Japan and here we hace one of my favourite craft from my all-time favourite film.
Its lovely and big, being 1/24th scale and that scale should mean making a diorama for it be kinda easy.
But... I'm torn.
I want to crack on and build it. But it'd look great with the light bars all lit up. Maybe flashing even. And somone sitting in it would be great.
I don't want to build it and then, a coupla months down the line, find there's pilot and light accessories to buy for it.
As i say, am torn.

Star Wars Bounty Hunters - even more colour

2011-11-26T11:15:00.002Z

Quite a bit of progress here.
From left to right:
Bossk has his flight suit dirtied down with a brown wash, his bib affair and straps are blocked in with Vallejo "Ivory" and i've basecoated his eyes with GW "Skull White".
Fett has had his green armour pieces dirtied down a tad, his forearm thingy based in Vallejo "Flat Red" and his shoulder pad and what will be his red bit of the helmet based in the "Skull White".
Zuckuss has had dark washes of brown applied to his/her coat, some of the whatever the hell they are tendril things picked out in a different brown and washed, her/his belly plate based in GW "Bleached Bone", i've rebuilt his/her damaged left hand in Milliput and i've picked out the glass sections of the vial thingy in white with a wee bit of brown ink in the bottom half. Reason being, i'll come to in due course.

AB36 Wrecker Droid - progress

2011-11-26T11:11:00.002Z

Been rather neglecting this poor chap of late, but here he is with head on and i've just started to add some cabling up from his legs to the torso.
I'm umming and ahhing as whether to add tanks etc to the legs but i'm thinking i won't - reckon by having the arms and legs spindly will contrast with the bulky, solid head/torso affair.

Under The Influence - 5

2011-11-24T10:48:00.003Z

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.
With the demise of the actual Bowerhouse magazine, thought it fitting to mention Martin.
He is, without any doubt at all, THE singular influence on me as both a modeller and a fan of SF hardware.
And what's odd about that is that i was a fan of his work for a long time without even knowing his name.
Not being able to remember whether i actually saw his appearance on "Blue Peter", i guess the first time i saw his work was on "Space 1999" and, boy, what an introduction - here i was seeing all those lovely detailed ships of the likes of the paperback books i was reading, given a spin and there on the telly. Couldn't give a stuff about the plot or the characters, just let me see the next effect please. I could illustrate the point with any (large) number of his designs, but i've gone with this here gun, which is an excellent example of Martin's ability to take a recognisible object (in this case the Flying Sub kit from "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea") and change it into something totally unique:

Around the same time, i was also seeing his work on "The Tomorrow People" but, of course, with that shows cheaper production values, things weren't as effective:

It was with the Starlord comic that i first came across Martin's name, as he did the classic run of back page illustrations:

Guess it was with "Alien" and the slew of publications on it that it finally registered though just who Martin was. Again, tons of obvious examples i could go for, but i've chosen the Airlock from Kane's burial as its a textbook example of brilliant modelling on a small scale, weathered just right:

And, at the same time, he was making iconic craft for tellys "Blakes 7":

SO hard to try and illustrate my point with just five photos, but i've tried. Martin, you're a genius and my hero.

My model collection circa 1978

2011-11-23T07:33:00.003Z

Hmmmm... what to make of this?
Well, that's my bedroom around about 1978 and, covering up that hideous wallpaper, quite a valuable now collection of Star Wars publications have been butchered to form a photo wall (i can pin it down to '78 as the other long wall was covered in similarly hacked about Galactica products).
And in front, a lovely unit housing my then collection of SF hardware.
Lets take a look shalll we?

Top shelf, left to right we have:
(1) One of the wings of Vaders fighter, with a cockpit put where the body would've joined it and an engine on the back. Always liked this and may do one again.
(2) The squat, almost Thunderbird 2 thing started as an Action Man jetpack
(3) An oddly not orange Hawk
(4) An Angel
(5) A Viper
Bottom shelf:
(1) An Orion which, for some reason, i'd beat right up. Weathering in those days was just to slop some Humbrol Black around
(2) That's the rear of an Eagle and i've used a couple of the naturally occuring squares on the foreward facing side to be windows, just painting them black. Really like what i did there - almost has a Silent Running Drone look to it.
(3) There's something behind that but can't make out what it is.
(4) That's the ship i stumbled across again a few years back. Will have to dig it out again as a couple of lines won't describe it.
(5) Really liked this one. Its the hull of a 1/35th tank turned upside down to start off and it had X Wing weapons prongs as, er, prongs at the front.
(6) That's the other half of the Eagle, including the beak. I'd painted each panel red for some reason.
(7) Behind that is the stand for the Viper, whcih i'd turned into a ship. Again, something i'll recreate one day
(8) Lastly, the other Vader wing, this time turned up the other way, with a bubble cockpit up top.
And that was what i was building in '78.

Star Wars Bounty Hunters - more colour

2011-11-22T12:06:00.003Z

Right, here i've put a wash of the base colours on Bossk and Fessk mixed with black to darken all the recesses.
And on Zuckuss i've put on a sloppy wash of dark brown, making sure it pools in places to try and break up all those smooth surfaces.
I may or may not leave it like that as, in some pics he/she has quite light skin. Will wait and see what i think once the coat is done.

And here i've added more colours and, them being just solid colours, everything now looks quite toy-like.
Fett's armour is GW "Goblin Green" and Bossk's flight suit is Vallejo "Flat Yellow". I'm surprised its that colour. Its obviously the same UK flight suit that the Rebel pilots wear but yellow instead of orange. I've seen the orange one loads of times in flight musuems but never a yellow one. Hand coloured for the film then?

I'm also in the middle here of drybrushing Bossk's skin and, again, i've got to decide just how light it should go, as it varies from shot to shot.
Something else i've got to decide on is what to do with Zuckuss' legs. They're not on show in the film, the coat hanging down to the ground, so are they bare legs or trousers?

Wells' Martian - the eyes have it.

2011-11-21T14:36:00.001Z

With his eyes, done that's him finished. As anyone who's read the book will know, Wells is at his vaguest when describing the eyes.
First up, we have:
"... two luminous discs - like eyes". From that we get they have a couple of discs. Not eyes, but discs that could be called eyes. And they glow or are internally lit. Or something.
Then we have:
"Two large dark-coloured eyes". Oh, so now they ARE eyes. And are dark. No luminsosity at all.
Okay, how to do that then?
I've ummed and ahhed all over this build on that very point and, in the end, decided to go with this compromise here - have them large with a very dark brown and black iris centre, but ring it with a bright yellow to try and convey the luminous, disc description.
And i've deliberately made the eyes wonky - not only to make the fella look more odd, but i feared having them correct would make him cute.

Star Wars Bounty Hunters - blocking in colours

2011-11-20T17:00:00.002Z

After a good wash and a prime in White (the statue that is), i can start to block things in.
Like all the figure kits i do, i go in the order of getting dressed: flesh first, then the layers from there outwards.
Bossk has what appears to be a real olive drab sort of colouring, so i've started here with Games Workshops "Gretchin Green."
Fett of course doesn't have an inch of flesh on show, so next layer up is his fetching boilersuit. Researching that, be it film stills or folks recreations, the colour of it can vary wildly, anything from Egg Blue up through seemingly every shade of Light Grey. As a compromise i've gone with Vallejo's "Light Green Blue", which is a nice light grey with a nod to the blue in it.
Zuckess is a bit more of a problem, as film stills can have his/her skin as being anything from a tan to normal flesh to almost as brown as his/her coat thingy. So i've decided to start with Games Workshops "Bleached Bone" and go from there.

Gateway 20 - starting

2011-11-20T16:26:00.004Z

Okay, here we go then. As i say, i want to keep to the Overlander look of having quite a flat, low slung body so i've decided not to go any higher than the existing cabin roof.
Well, a little bit anyway - i've stuck this piece to fill the huge gap that was sitting at the back of the cabin and i'm guessing most of you will recognise it as one of the side bits from the MPC Millenium Falcon.
The cabin tips up and i'm keeping this feature as i'll be doing that once everythings done and painted so i can put in the windows from the inside - a lot easier than trying to mask up the outside.

Star Wars Bounty Hunters

2011-11-19T11:17:00.003Z

Having finished my Dianoga, i had a hankering to have a go at another not very obvious Star Wars character and, after a good ponder, decided maybe to do a Bossk as he's always been one of my favourite Bounty Hunters in "Empire", coming across as a Star Trek Gorn in Luke's X Wing fatigues with a vocal style just like mine when i've had a few bevvies:

Trouble is, kits of the fella are VERY far and few between so that'd be a problem. But then i remembered this nifty statue made by Applause in the 90's that featured him, Fett and Zuckuss:

I've always liked it for the nice posing and especially that Boba seems to be the Cam Kennedy comic book version with the nice long neck making the helmet even more distinctive.
And that you get Zuckuss, an unfairly over-looked by Fett/IG88/Bossk, chappie:

The statue has always been way out of my price range, but i've been keeping an eye out on the 'Bay and just got this one for only a tenner. Surprised to see its a Limited Edition and mine's 4627/5000.
At the price i paid for it, figure i can do what i like with it so i'm going to repaint the whole thing, making each character hopefully screen accurate.
It should work ok. I thought the detail might be a bit soft, being a one-piece casting, but its not too bad:

Way i see it, there's two challenges: painting three figures together that are stuck on the base, and to repair Zuckess' left hand, which has a large section missing:

Should be fun though.

Cylon Raider - a coupla stages along.

2011-11-19T11:08:00.002Z

Okay, i picked out some panels and stuff in a Dark Grey. Again, there seems to be quite a variation in just what is picked out like this from model to model, so i went with the most common one's.
Then it was on with a coat of Gloss Varnish and then decal time:

This went a lot easier than i thought it would as its a pretty old model now and decals tend to become incredibly brittle with age, and i wasn't looking forward to putting these whacking great big upper stripes on such a long, detailed surface. But, they went on fine with no probs.
Next it was a coat of Matt Varnish and here you can see i've started with the pastelling:

You never see a Raider close up in the original show, so i've no idea how beat up they'd be, but figure a robot race wouldn't spend a vast amount of cleaning would they? Although that doesn't explain who keeps buffing up their chrome...

The many faces of a Wampa

2011-11-17T20:21:00.003Z

I love the Net - you go off looking for info for one thing and come across something you weren't looking for, but were glad you did, even though you don't really need to know it.
Case in point here.
I've always thought there were two Wampa's in "Empire" - the rather Yeti-like one who roars up and attacks Luke:

And the much more feral, mean one seen in the Special Edition:

Two, right?

Pretty stunned to find this *ahem* "unusual" version of the fella and kinda dismissed it as one of the whole bunch of maquettes and mock ups made prior to shooting, one of those wildly in variance designs that were chucked out for George's perusal, much like the blue Yoda and the Santa Yoda.
Doubly stunned then to find that not only was it made by Stuart Freeborn, the genius who sculpted Yoda (and who quite wisely keeps this guy off his CV)but it was actually used on-screen:

NOW i know why it runs at Luke playing peekaboo...
I had a final stunned moment to find that there was actually a fourth one, who mercifully didn't make it up there:

Nurgle Titan - all finished

2011-11-17T07:08:00.002Z

Here she all done then - and currently on sale on eBay.

Gateway 20

2011-11-15T14:01:00.003Z

Earlier this year, the last ever Dronearama - the bi-annual modelling convention for the Film & TV Modelling Club - was held up in Nottingham.
Talking with Andrew, the originator of the club and editor of its excellent "Drone" magazine, he was saying how next year the club and mag would be 20-years old and how it'd be a shame not to mark the occasion in some way.
Over the weekend, the idea of a one day meet for folk to get together in Nottingham to celebrate was proposed and was met enthusiastically.
Out of that grew the idea of not having a model show like past events, but what if folk got a quarter inch thick piece of MDF, either 2'X2' or 1'X2' and on it build a section of a space base.
As long as one side met the edge, the idea is they could all be put together to form a large display.
And, as long as the base coat was Halfords Grey Primer to try and convey a unity of it being built all at the same time, it could then be adapted in any way the builder likes - sort of a Mos Eisley affair.
And whether you build a fuel dump, landing pad, buildings, would be up to you.
And it would be called "Gateway 20" as we stay at the Gateway hotel and its a 20 year celebration.
Initially i had the idea of using half of the saucer hull from the old "Star Trek The Motion Picture" Enterprise turned upside-down and stuck on a pole for a raised landing platform.
But i was recently at a boot fair and got a big Matchbox space playset for a quid, which offered by these choice pieces:

So i'm now going for a vertical launch pad, kind of like the Lunar Modules one in "UFO", with a carrier craft alongside it.
Here you see them close up. As the launch pad will be mainly grey, i'm going to have the ship a nice bright colour for contrast.

The tank really reminds me of the Overlander from "Terrahawks", possibly the last superb model from the Gerry Anderson shows:

and is a real nifty item considering its a toy. I quite like its orange and white colouring and will be keeping it methinks.

R.I.P Bowerhouse magazine

2011-11-10T12:13:00.002Z

Shame to have to type this, but i'm afraid the printed version of Bowerhouse is no more.
Martin has taken the decision to move into electronic publishing for the title and, of course, i wish him all the very best with it.
Personally, i'm gutted the physical copy has ended as it was the frustration of buying a magazine solely for an article with Martin, only to feel cheated that the paltry few pages given over to him would only roughly go into the model making processes he used for certain projects.
And it was that frustration, and a desire to see the magazine i always wanted, that gave me the initial idea of Bowerhouse and started the ball rolling.
There's no room for any of us original bods in this new incarnation the publication is taking, so i wave me hanky as it sets sail for new territories.
All the best Bowerhouse.

Cylon Raider - ready for paint

2011-11-09T13:26:00.004Z

Nice bit of progress here.
I've covered the holes at the front where the rockets used to go with a couple of engine nozzles from, i think, a 1/72nd Tornado:

And i've covered up the gappy engine area. I blanked it off with Plasticard and then had to decide what to do with those rather daft looking engines just sitting there. Looking on the Net, a lot of folk seem to prefer to put in a baffle arrangement, so i've done the same, cutting down a cable tie for each side. Used them rather than more Plasticard as i figure the ribbing will give a bit more detail:

And here you can see i've put extra pieces down in that trench affair between the two wings parts and added those tiny clear red pieces. The two together there are to try and get across a similar feature that's on the studio model.

Finally, here she is in Halfords Grey Primer. I've been umming and ahhing over what the top caot will be as, looking around, folk seem to do them anything from dark grey, through all the shades of grey, up almost to cream.
I was planning on going with Tamiya JA Grey meself, figuring the Primer would be far too dark.
But, quite like it as is.
So i'm staying with it.

Incidently, there's a gap as you can see at the rear of the canopy. That's because i've only Blu Tac'd it in place as, hopefully, one day i can get a clear canopy and cockpit set.

Under The Influence - 4

2011-11-08T21:25:00.003Z

Being born in '62, guess i was just the right age for when Irwin Allen's output was first released.
Loved The Time Tunnel - though that was more down to a prepubescent crush on Lee Merriwether.
Ditto Land Of The Giants and Heather Young.
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea i was interested in only if it had monsters in it - you could keep all your Cold War boringness.
But Lost In Space was my favourite because, well, it was in space. Every week. With monsters.
Looking at it now (and i can only bear the occasional Season 2 episode), its pretty duff stuff, with duff plots, duffer acting and even duffer makeup effects.
Except for these two, and the reason for the shows inclusion here.
Up until this point, it'd never occured to me that anything on the telly could be scary.
But these two were, and still get a reaction out of me now.
First up, "The Golden Man". Watch the episode and its pretty bad. But this guys lop-sided face and, especially the wonky eyes, was like nothing i'd ever seen before:

And then we have "The Cyclops", a truely scary creation which, unlike pretty much ever other monster on the show, was lit and photographed well:

So popular was he that he spawned this kit which, alas, i've never owned, rather just pined for it over the ads in DC comics:

Thought you might like to see a shot of the guy who played him, Lamar Lundy:

From the back of the cabinet - ID Monster

2011-11-07T13:04:00.005Z

Bought this lovely clear red monster from the fabulously brilliant, easily in my Top Ten Films, Forbidden Planet years back.
They did a real good job and translating what, in the film, was basically outline into a physical model.
Its not apparent in the shot above that he actually lights up to try and convey how he appears in the film.
Decided to do that while playing around with him, holding him up to the light:

So, made up a base from an old picture frame and,when he's on it, there's two super bright LED's shining up through holes where his feet go.
Its not that effective unless the room is VERY dark:

Cylon Raider - gaps

2011-11-03T13:18:00.003Z

The ship arrived safe and sound and its just as i remembered it - nice and big and quite well detailed.
Having said that, there are areas that are more detailed than others and the lacking parts could do with a few greeblies put on.
So that's what i'll do.
I've also got to cover up the holes in the front where the missles fired out (this kit didn't come with them, so makes it the later re-release).
And i have to address the bad gaps that i remembered.
This one's not too bad, being a small gap at the top of the cowls:

But this is the worst culprit:

The engine parts are just these two squares just sat there, with nothing behind them, meaning you can see right to the other end of the ship.
So, will be putting some blanking plates in with a bunch of detail to convey the inner workings.

AB36 Wrecker Droid - face

2011-11-03T13:10:00.002Z

Think this is as far as i'm going with the face, as i don't wnat stuff to detract from the eyes. Might put a bunch of cables from the neck area into the body though.

DIANOGA! - in his new home

2011-11-01T14:13:00.002Z

Here we are then. Very pleased how the fellas come out, although he's not that accurate and the eyes far too bright, but i like him.
Also like the fact that he coast less than a tenner to do.

Wells' Martian - mouth done

2011-11-01T12:42:00.003Z

Here we are then with the tentacles put in place. The fact that they're elasticated cord means they'll be fully posable when done.
You can also see i've blocked the eyes in white, first step on the vaguest part of this build...

Gremlin bust

2011-10-31T17:17:00.002Z

Did this about ten years ago, just doing the head, as where the heck would i put a full-size one?
So, did just the head and thought it'd be neat to have it mounted and put up on the wall as a sort of hunters trophy.
Trouble was, one of the ears during assembly dropped right back:

Meaning i couldn't attach it to a plinth.
So its sat tucked away all these years.
But i've decided to take him apart now and do it properly. Minds made up by the fact that i've never been too happy with the paint-job.
I like what i did with the eyes, but i'm not happy with the skin, as it really shows that all i had to hand at that time were Games Workshop paints, resulting in a cartoonish, unconvincing end result.

Under The Influence - 3

2011-10-28T20:35:00.002Z

Zipping forward now to the late 70's.
I'm in college, and borderline obssesed with Blakes 7, as here we have a weekly TV show with adult, serious SF drama.
With great looking craft to go with it...
Only not.
Didn't realise until the series finally came out on video that my memory was cheating me - what looked good on a B/W portable at the time sure didn't look as good when seeing it in colour on a regualr screen.
And memory massively cheated in this case as, at the same time series 1 and 2 were airing, i was also semi-obsssesed by the "Terran Trade Authority" books of the likes seen here.
Inside you had glorious A4 reproductions of stunning 70's Sf art of the likes of Chris Foss and Peter Elson.
All accompanied by an awful lot of text, which was pretty good and pretty fun when the author couldn't think of a suitable backstory for a painting, so time and time again was labelled "unknown space wreck".
Didn't matter though - i had Blakes 7 on the telly, Empire Strikes Back at the pictures and these books at home to give me insperation for my scratchbuilds.
Didn't matter that they were crap, i was inspired.

Cylon Raider

2011-10-27T10:16:00.002Z

Ploughing through the DVD set of the original Galactica series and, boy, its hard work.
Everything that was naff with it back then is still there and its horribly, horribly dated.
Reason for keeping with it is the occasional glimpse of the modelwork of course.
Reckon the models themselves have been rather unfairly overlooked, mainly because of the shoddy camera and processwork making them blurry and indistinct and the conastant re-using of the same shots over and over again.
Look beyond that at the models themselves though, and there's some terrific stuff going on there and you can tell it was Dykstra and co moving straight on to the show off the back of Star Wars, the stamp is all over the designs.
And most of the ships could easily be seen docked at Mos Eisley, yes?
Have said already how the Mining Ship is my favourite of the colony ships, but for me my fave of the whole show are the Raiders - a brilliant, simple effective design, really exuding menace.
Mind turned to making one again as my original one has long been gone. So i've one on the way that i picked up off the 'Bay for just a tenner.
I remember it being a nice, big model - and it also having a hideous empty whole around the engines, meaning you can see right inside.
So i'll have to fix that somehow and i'm also thinking maybe i'll light it as there's sure enough space inside for the battery pack.
What i'd REALLY like is the old conversion kit of a deatiled interior and crew plus clear vac-form canopy - but that's long gone now.

Under The Influence - 2

2011-10-25T10:05:00.002Z

DIANOGA! - change of mind

2011-10-23T09:57:00.002Z

There i was, basing the rest of the fella in Bleached Bone, when what's been niggling me REALLY started to niggle - that brown i'd done the eyelids in was far too dark to allow the icky detail to be seen if i did it over the whole thing.
So changed tack, basecoated them again and, as you can see, i've started putting on washes in far more suitable shades.
Next up, get some variation in there, picking out ickiness.

Under The Influence - 1

2011-10-22T16:06:00.002Z

Totally in awe

2011-10-22T15:30:00.001Z

Man, oh man. This guy says his studio scale Tantive IV doesn't use the accurate kit parts - but who cares when it looks as good as this?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28993771@N04/sets/72157622636188685/

From the back of the cabinet - Galactica Mining Ship

2011-10-21T12:09:00.003Z

Yet another item dusted off to show you.
I built this years back and its a terrificly detailed piece of work. Quite expensive as i recall for such a small ship but it was the smallness that attracted it to me.
I would've got one in a bigger scale as i've always loved the design and, me being a Projectionist and its basis being three film cans, there was another connection.
But, anyway, its small.
And its smallness is due to it being totally in scale with the old Galactica model, which i thought was a neat idea.
So, got one - but then bemoaned that i'd have to track down a Galactica to display it with, my old one long since scrapped.
Step in my friend Alun, who very generously gave me his built one.
So here they are:

Special mention here to the excellent work Alun had done to the model, installing fibre opric windows throughout, landing bay lights and having the engines illuminated.
Top, top work there Alun and i'm still very grateful for the donation.

Wells' Martian - tentacles

2011-10-20T13:06:00.002Z

Here we go with half the tentacles done.
The book has them being "sixteen slender, almost whip-like tentacles, arranged in two bunches of eight".
I've painted them a grey/red just to distinguish them from the body and, ebing elastic cord, they have the advantage of being posable when i'm done.

DIANOGA! - stages of skin

2011-10-20T13:01:00.003Z

Okay, quite a bit done here.
Up top, you have him done - i've attached hairs snipped from a washing-up brush and added veins using a tube i've had for years, which is a paste used when glass painting to recreate the stained glass window leading between the different pieces. On this, it gives a nice, rounded, vein-like effect.
Over that, grey primer.
And over that, a whole tub of Bleached Bone.
Figure i'll be investing in a lot more...

AB36 Wrecker Droid - colour decided on

2011-10-20T12:57:00.002Z

Been umming and ahhing over this and i've decided not to go with any yellows, oranges or reds, figuring it'd be too reminiscent of the Transformers films.
And i don't want that.
Guess that leaves blue or green and i've still got a can of this "Pistachio Mild", which is from a range from the local art shop.
Chosen that over anything from Halfords as its a nice, solid clour, with no hint of car colour about it.

Sebulba's Podracer - finished!

2011-10-20T12:56:00.002Z

Sebulba's Podracer - nearly there

2011-10-18T13:08:00.002Z

Almost done now - got all the metallics washed, highlighted and rusted. Figure there wouldn't be too much rust on a dustbowl like Tatooine, but what the hey

DIANOGA! - massive leap

2011-10-17T13:29:00.002Z

Really didn't think i'd be doing an update so soon.
I've been pondering just what to use for the top skin detail and had it in mind to use liquid latex.
But, that's pretty expensive and i'd need a lot of it. And i was a bit worried that i could only afford to put on a thin coat and there'd be a risk of all the edges of the duct tape visible through it.
So thought i'd coat everything with something first.
But what?
Cheapest option was to use paper mache - but i'm always rubbish at getting the mix right.
I'd noticed in my Art Shop that they stocked plaster bandage for modelling projects.
It was expensive at 7 quid a roll but i thought i'd give it a try as all you had to do was cut it into strips, dip in water for a few seconds then apply.
WOW!
What BRILLIANT stuff!
Stuck no probs, could be smoothed if i wanted, could be left rough if i wanted, could be balled up to make extra lumps and dried extra fast.
Best of all, i could cut it into strips, wet it, twirl it roughly, and they made excellent tendriles - so i rapidly removed the existing bubblewrap dangly parts and bunged loads on.
Next up, veins made from Hot Glue and hairs all over made from a donor bristle brush

DIANOGA! - eyelids

2011-10-16T14:01:00.003Z

That's better - putting on parts now that actually make it look more like how it should be, rather than some Blue Peter affair.
I'd been having a think on how, really, i should attach the eyelids now as they'd be a bugger to paint once on.
What to use though? In the end, decided on bog standard carrier bag plastic, folded over enough times to give the right thickness.
First up, scrunch some up to give a nice wrinkle effect, tape it down on a piece of card and prime grey:

Then basecoat in Bleached Bone:

Then wash with Burnt Umber and some black in places:

Once dry it was a simple matter of Hot Glueing in place.
I've gone for a darker shade than seen on-screen, but figure he's basically a turd monster and the colours should reflect that:

DIANOGA! - getting the hump.

2011-10-14T12:42:00.001Z

That was a bit of luck. Went to the Pound Shop today to get some cheap grey duct tape, figuring it might be easier to see how things are going with the build if its a solid colour.
Before i started though, i did some ironing.
Distraction of choice right now are the audio commentaries on the Star Wars Blu Rays and today i just so happened to reach the Trash Compactor scene.
Of course, i looked up when this fella popped up, and caught sight of something i'd not seen while researching this build - a decent profile shot as he looks around.
Which revealed he's actually got a distinctive double hump to the top of his head, looking an awful lot like a peanut still in its shell (apols for the quality of the pic as its me taking direct from the telly).
So, had to feature that and did so by taking my scalpel to what i'd already made.
That was downright odd - the mulitple layers of Bubblewrap on him, along with the parcel tape making for a slight increase in resistance to the blade in places, sure made it feel like i was cutting through skin and meat and performing an autopsy.
Once done though, he was covered up with more of the duct tape and i've left some bubblewrap hanging down for the basis of the tendril things.
Looking odd now - but at least it can only look better now, right?

AB36 Wrecker Droid - one arm done

2011-10-14T12:39:00.002Z

Thought i'd have a go at one area then prime it to see if its worth carrying on or i should change tack.
So here's the right arm with detail on and then primed up.
I've deliberatly kept extra detail to just the joint areas to keep the spindliness to it, figuring it'll be a nice contrast to the only bulky part of him, his head.
And i really like it - so this is the way i'm going.

Wells' Martian - more work

2011-10-14T12:35:00.002Z

Very fuzzy this, but you should be able to see i'm sticking with the fungus dark brown look, and i'm busy picking out crevacies and details with icky colours, no more so than inside the mouth.
Other pic is what i'll be using for the tentacles and something i like to use for them - elasticated cord. It has a nice, detailed surface to the stuff that works well.
Here you can see i've taped all 16 lengths onto a piece of card ready for priming.

Sebulba's Podracer - progress

2011-10-12T12:33:00.002Z

Here we are then with all the detail added and the metallics painted over in, er, metallics.
And here's Seb just as he was when i left this project. Still quite happy with what i did, so am leaving as is.

AB36 Wrecker Droid

2011-10-11T15:26:00.002Z

That's what i'm calling this new, tall robot project. I've called it that after the initials of the friend who supplied it and his house number.
Anyway, as you see, i've made his "face". And you may spot the main part being a Tamiya 1/35th Panzer turret minus its barrel and upended.
To that i've used three green bits from an old Macross kit, two for the "eyes" and one for the "mouth".
With him now looking like that, he's def from Mega City 1 or strolled off the cover of a 70's SF paperback cover.
Here you can see i've used a Saturn V engine bell for the "neck". Not going to do too much in this area as it'll hardly be seen:

And real fuzzy this, but you should be able to make out that i've started to add detail to one of the arms:

Laura Ingels

2011-10-11T15:24:00.002Z

... Or the bride to be - the Dianoga with Bubblewrap padding added and a great wodge of the stuff up top, ready to be pulled down into the strands that surround it.

DIANOGA! - framework

2011-10-10T15:16:00.004Z

Next up, plop the eye down on a piece of A2 paper and, refering to the pic i've already used, and this pic of the original as it looks like now in Phil Tippets collection,

i've drawn out roughly just the size and shape of the fella.

When i'd got that done i could make a basic skeleton out of plumbing parts, again things to hand so cost is kept way down:

Then it was a matter of attaching the eye to the neck and the neck to the base, something i knew would be a prob as nothing sticks to the stuff.
Got round that by using Green Stuff up the eye attaching material and Milliput for the neck/base bit:

DIANOGA! - eye done

2011-10-10T12:42:00.002Z

Here it is all finished, coming across like the Eye Of Sauron.

New robot project

2011-10-10T12:39:00.002Z

A friend has just sent me this whacking great 15inch tall exoskeleton toy (the action figure stands in the middle there), figuring i could use it for parts.
Sure can.
First of all, i had it in mind to use the legs and arms for my Ork Gargant.
But they'd be far too spindly compared to what i've already done.
Instead, i'm going to lose some of the bits of it, add a "face" where the belly should be, and have him as a whole new build.

From the back of the cabinet - The Thing

2011-10-10T12:33:00.002Z

Made this years and years and years back, basing it on John W Cambell's description of the alien from his excellent "Who Goes There?" short story that, of course, inspired the two "Thing" films and the soon to be released prequel.
The book has it"“They haven’t seen those three red eyes, and the blue hair like crawling worms... Nothng Earth ever spawned had the unutterable sublimation of devastating wrath that thing let loose in its face when it looked around this frozen desolation twenty million years ago. Mad? It was mad clear through – searing, blistering mad!"
So, blue hair and red eyes were on the agenda and i tried my best to make it unhuman looking, with the starnge shape head, elongated neck and grey skin tones.
I also had a nod to the vegetable origins by having his skin breaking open in places to infer he was about to change.

3D Star Wars trailer out this week

2011-10-10T08:29:00.001Z

We've got previews of the 3D Three Musketeers on Weds. Two of my team have seen it and reckon its dire. But, the trailer policy has just come through and on there is one for 3D Star Wars. Its not arrived yet, so no idea if its a general compliation from all six, or specific to jsut Phantom Menace.
But thought i'd let you know.

DIANOGA!

2011-10-09T12:21:00.003Z

Dunno about you, but sometimes i get to my workbench and really can't muster enthusiasm to do anything with what's laid out there.
What usually happens next with me is a hankering to start something new, something quick and easy, with preferably no expense.
Been getting through the Star Wars Blu Rays and it occured to me that a Dianoga from the Trash Compactor scene in "A New Hope" could be fun and do-able.
First up was to find a clear hemisphere for the eye as i reckon painting one of them from the inside gives a natural lens effect to the eye, much better than any coats of varnish could do.
Luckily, i had this half of some container that was just the right size:

First thing to do was study the top pic here and roughly draw in the slit pupil and where the eyelids would go, using red felt tip as i knew it would be visible and would wipe straight off when i was done:

Then it was a simple matter of painting in the pupil on the inside, trying to keep the ragged edges on the original:

This is a fun part, in that i'm painting in the reverse of how i'd normally do it - once the black was dry, i went over it and all round in a yellow/green mix, keeping it moving all the time and adding darker green here and there, making sure it went down through the existing paint to be seen from the outside:

Next up, ditto with red mixes.

At last, a Spinner

2011-10-08T12:10:00.002Z

My thanks to the Bronze for putting me on to this. Its been galling for years that i've never owned a decent sized Spinner car from the greatest film ever made, having to make do with the tiny resin garage kit from yonks back.
Reason being, they've been too expensive, too rare or too much hard work - what with many needing a lot of excess resin to deal with or (shudder) vac-form parts.
So how nice to see that someone has figured its time to release a readily available Injection Plastic version in the universal scale for model cars, 1/24th.
Meaning lots of potential for dioramas.
Can't wait!

WOTW Martian - rethink.

2011-10-05T13:07:00.002Z

A while back i said i'd have another go at doing a Martian based on HG Wells' description in the book, at the same 1/8th scale as the two kits that are now out.
You may remember that the original plan was to cover a ballon in paper mache, then cut off the bottom to give a flat surface, and sculpt over the top of that.
Disaster.
With the bottom of the shape cut off, the paper mache just couldn't hold the weight of the clay and the whole thing folded.
Was thinking of folding the whole thing, but then came across this cheap plastic bowl i had stored away. It looked almost the teardrop shape i was after, albeit a bit taller than i'd have liked.
But, what the hey, lets give it a go.

It was strong enough to take the clay, so i whacked it on, all the while thinking what i'd have him look like.
This is where Wells' being vague and rather contradictory doesn't help at all.
The shape was easy enough, being "A big, greyish rounded bulk" and, at the front seems easy enough, being "... huge rounded bodies - or rather heads - about four feet in diameter, each body having in front of it a face".
The face is described variously as "This face had no nostrils... but it had a pair of very large, dark coloured eyes and just beneath this a kind of fleshy beak".
That beak was "... a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of which quivered and panted and dropped saliva."
Lovely, descriptive stuff, but then we get a contradiction to the mouth being lipless with "... peculiar v-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip".
Okay, with all the above i had an idea what to do and i knew from before that i'd have a problem making a v-shaped mouth as you basically end up with a smily face. I got round that before by making the upper part much more beak-like but this time i thought i'd actually invert it and have the v upside down.
HG contradicts himself again with the skin being "greyish" then "... there was something fungoid in the oily brown skin". I liked the idea of fungoid skin so deliberatly detailed it up more as some sort of growth rather than bare skin. Last thing was to put in two beads for eyes:

As i say, i'm going with fungoid, so started with a messy coat of Bleached Bone, allowing the grey primer to poke though in places:

That looked okay, so then went with a wash of Burnt Umber, splodged over to give me some mottling effects for detail as well as what i'd already put in:

Next up, do i stick with this or lighten it up and put more colours?

Sebulba's Podracer - detailing

2011-10-05T13:06:00.001Z

Here you go with some extra bits put on to cover up the hatches for the gimmicky thing it used to do.

Nurgle Cannon

2011-10-04T13:05:00.002Z

Back up in the attic today and came across this fella that'd i'd COMPLETELY forgotten about.
Made him years back, partly inspired by a workmate who was building a Skaven army and was scratchbuilding a cannon.
So thought i'd have a go and used:
toy catapult for the wheels,
Brut bottle lid for the barrel as its a nice ridged affair with strange slots inside,
various kit bits,
Das Pronto for the flesh,
beads for eyes.

MONGROL

2011-09-29T15:08:00.003Z

Strictly speaking this is an action figure. But its SO huge, SO detailed, SO well painted, that i thought i'd show you it here.
SO expensive too. But, when you see just how good the packaging is, it kinda justifies it.
Strange though, i thought he was going to be 1/6th. But as you can see, he towers over my other two ABC Warriors who're in that scale.
Thought i might have a little painting job in that all the pics i'd seen up to now made me not too convinced about the eyes.
But they're a lot better in the flesh/steel, just needing multiple coats of Gloss Varnish to make them look like lenses, rather than the pieces of matt white and black plastic that they are.

The Brampton show & Jonathan Dewar

2011-09-27T10:15:00.003Z

On Sunday, me and my good Friend Alun took a trip up to St Ives for the Brampton model show. Its pretty much all military but the SFMUK were having a table so up we went to add our efforts.
It wasn't a bad show, great if you're into the military, but there was nowt i wanted to buy and the public turnout was rather poor.
Still, it was good to put faces to names on the SFMUK Forum and have a nice natter.
This pic by Alun gives an idea of some of our stuff:

A REAL surprise though was to find Jonathan Dewar sat upstairs at a table.
A genuine legend of the early UK Garage Kit scene, he produced some stunning original and film sculpts and his pages in the excellent UKGC book i used to pour over endlessly.
My respect for him leapt even higher when i realised from that book that he was the creator of the STUNNING Thing diorama that was a magnificent feature of Forbidden Planet's display case showcasing the hobby.
He was also the creator of the brilliant, and really rather disturbing, enormous Rawhead Rex figure with the enormous todger.
Anyway, had a good natter with the guy - and what a great bloke. Friendly, intellegent, enthusiastic and great company. There were a whole bunch of his works on the table:

including an awe-inspiring Peresus, part of a huge diorame which will capture the moment of him decapitating Medusa.
Stunning stuff, and the highlight of my day.
Sadly, i've only one kit by Jonathan, his excellent Mad Max:

Unfortunately, i built it at the start of my large figure builds, so the skin tones and work on the eyes i kinda wince at now, but they don't detract from what a brillaint, mixed-media kit it was and i still rate it as one of my favourite ever builds.