Tug - 1

Pic 1 - Really shouldn't take anything on right now, but i was having a rummage through my bits box and come across this and really like the shape.

Pic 2 - Its some sort of Kryptonite armour for a Lex Luthor action figure and, when held horizontally, really looks like a the prow of a spaceship. Neat green clear cockpit too.

Anyway, i thought about building it length-ways but i really like it short and dumpy.

It quickly came to mind to have it then as a sort of Tug ship pulling a load around a Space Dock or somesuch - bit like the Nostromo and the Oil Refinery, but on a much smaller scale.

Pic 3 - Here i've filled the rear with plasticard.

Pic 4 - What to use for the load? I knew i wanted flat, straight surfaces to counter the curves of the Tug. At first i was going to with a toy lorry body for the basis, and found one for 3 quid, but it'd make the finished model about 2 feet long. In the end went for this container, a snip at 49p.

Ma Room

Thought i'd post some pics of what my den's like at the mo'.

Avoided the workbench 'cause its a disgrace.

T-21 - first assembly

Here it is screwed together. I've also used No More Nails as glue to be extra safe.

You can see i've roughly sketched out where the detail has to go on the side.

T-21 progress

Here i've rounded off the edges where needed.

Next up is to join the trigger area to the body.

Bit worried about this as there's gonna be an awful lot of weight put on that join.

So, drilled holes for two screws plus, to be on the safe side, have drilled 3 extra ones to pin it as well.

Grand Lunar - starting

Off we go.

Just a ball of Bacofoil in the rough shape of the head stuck on a nail

D'Israeli's Grand Lunar

A real added bonus when reading the graphic novel of Scarlet Traces was seeing Matt's concept sketches of the Selenites and Grand Lunar from a pitch to do First Men In The Moon.

Being a massive fan of all things Wells and a cheeky blighter to boot, i asked Matt if he'd mind doing me a sketch of the Grand Lunar and a War Of The Worlds Martian coming face to face.

And, blimey, didn't he do well? Really knocked out by it and, as i've some Super Sculpy sitting around getting dusty, figure'd i'd have a go at a Grand Lunar meself.

Another DAR07

More DAR07

DAR 07

Some pics from the convention that's just finished in Nottingham

Macrobinocs - 7

Bit of progress here.

I've had to put a plate of Plasticard on the front as the surface area was raised and ribbed and too small to take the lenses on.

The rear part - which was the lid - you can see i've cut off the raised and filled the pouring hatch with P38, then sanded everthing down. There's still a dimple and a logo but greeblies should cover them.

Star Wars T-21 Blaster

While i'm in the mood for building big, here's the next undertaking.

Always loved this unfeasably large weapon so its the logical choice if i'm gonna build a 1:1 prop.

Online tutorials don't seem to exist but i did find a full-scale blueprint so printed that out.

I drew on tracing paper the stock, trigger assembly and main body, and passed them on to a friend who's dad very good at working with wood.

All i wanted was to see if it was do-able, thinking if it was then i'd give him sheets of MDF the build up to the right thickness.

Not only could he do, he did it right away - using quality maple to boot.

Top bloke!

So here are the 3 sections. Next step is sand and make the stock and grip rounded. The its details the thing and bung the 4 inch soil pipe on the front.

Macrobinoculars - 6

... i realised that this section could slip up and into place - no need to try and glue the ragged edges togther.

Phew!

This is where i am right now. I'm going to put a load of Zap-a-gap superglue on the inside and wait a day before moving on.

Macrobinoculars - 5

The proverbial lightbulb popped on and i used the scissors to trim the lid section, leaving an edge of the body because...

Macrobinoculars - 4

That was easier said than done.

I scored around with my craft knife to give a path. Then tried scoring with a Stanley knife, but that didn't have much effect.

I had to use a junior hacksaw but the plastic was very bendy and i couldn't follow the line at all well.

Once i'd seperated the two sections i cleaned up the rough edges of the larger piece with big scissors and, whaddya know?, it cut beautifully!

Macrobinoculars - 3

Both SG's and mine have the same trouble - they're too long in the body. SG got round his by cutting 2 inches from the base and then sliding that short section into the long section.

He could do that because his tapered at the bottom.

Mine didn't so i decided to cut at the top (for no other reason that then the "buisness end" ie the front, wouldn't have any sloppy joins i'd made).

So i marked off 2 inches all the way round then used masking tape to show where i needed to cut.

Macrobinoculars - 2

First up, find the shell to work from.

The States Guy (from now on known as "SG") used a 2.5 litre plastic jug with sealable lid.

So off i went searching through the tupperware sections.

Couldn't find a match but did discover this in Tescos - its a cereal container rather than a jug but its the same capacity and has the added bonus of (a) not needing the handle sawn off and (b) already has a frosted surface - excellent for paint and glue adhesion.

3 quid handed over and it was mine.

Star Wars - Macrobinoculars

I've been inspired to have a go at making my own pair of these after reading the fantastic tutorial by this bloke:

http://www.freakengine.com/sbvbinoctutorial01.htm

He's in the States so there's no way i'm gonna bt able to follow what he did exactly, but lets give it a go.

Scout Walker - base

El cheapo way fo doing things - 99p picture frame from Wilkensons and a layer of Das Pronto. You can see where i've pressed the Walker down to create locating marks prior to glueing.

Next up is some Games Workshop scatter material.

Scout Walker - done

Pretty dark compared the the movie versions, but i'm aiming to put it into a Tatooine base so figure the dusty sand will lighten it up more.

Drop Pod - docking clamp

Drop Pod - side view

ARC 170 - finished

Again, clearer pics to follow but here she is on a stand i made - why didn't they provide optional landing gear?

Really nice kit this, one to make me re-evaluate snap-fits.

Drop Pod - done but in bad light

Put this up as i'm feeling guilty not putting stuff up for a while - much clearer shots'll be here on Weds

Drop Pod - weathering nearly all done

I've gone back in with black washes to darken down some of the still white, along with running it into nooks and crannys to darken it up a tad.

Also washed Raw Sienna over the rusty pastelling to give them a bit more depth.

Drop Pod - back half weathering

Here we go then.

I've painted in the engine area in flat black then pastelled all round the openings.

The pastellings near done now, which looks ok but its all one shade of matt and there's too much of a conrast between that and the white.

Drop Pod - weathering 3

Here i've finished one half of the hull - and stopped and sealed it.

This is because, if i went and pastelled it all in one go, i'd be smudging like mad when holding it.

By sealing now, i can finish it off by holding onto this sealed section.

The pastelling looks a bit garish at the mo, with too much contrast and not enough real blacks in there.

This will be rectified once the pastellings done, everythings sealed and i put the metallics on.

Drop Pod - a cheat

Haven't got enough spares in the box for a bunch of engine nozzles.

That, and the fact that i wanted to get away from the Escape Pod look, had me trying to think of another way of having the engines.

In the end decided to go for a cowl hiding the actual nozzles and here it is.

Its actually the top of a toothbrush holder and there's no nozzles inside - figure if i paint the interior black and have loads of scorching around the holes, i'll get away with it.

Drop Pod - weathering 2

And here it is with the washed out areas drybrushed in white to make the detail pop out.

Now i can start with the serious pastelling

Drop Pod - weathering 1

As i say, its gonna be heavily weathered using pastels.

That's all well and good for the streaks and stuff, but the powders not fine enough to get in all the fine detail.

So, here it is in the Skull White basecoat and a wash of black in all the tiny detail.

Drop Pod

And here it is primed in grey.

Gonna base it in Games Workshop Skull White and heavily pastel it.

Drop Pod - a blast from the past

If you've been here since the start, you'll remember this - one of the first projects i started.

I only got so far, then went off it a bit as i moved more and more away from my original intention, to make a Star Wars Escape Pod.

But, its been bugging me that its just sitting on the bench gathering dust so, after dusting it off and finishing the greeblie sticking, here it is finished.

Not so much an Escape Pod, more a Drop Pod. Similar to those in the novel Starship Troopers, Rogue Trooper in 2000AD or in the 40K universe.

Jabbas Palace - trouble with the aliens

As i say, some of them are pretty accurate - but come with these whacking great slabs for bases which i'll have to remove.

Jabbas Palace - The problem with Boba Fett

Oh dear... HOW lanky????

Jabbas Palace - why i can't use R2

Jabbas Palace - what was i thinking?

Saw this going cheap on eBay for 3 quid.

Built one when it first came out in 1983 and seem to remember i thought it was "alright" but not much more.

But, it was cheap, i'm still in Star wars mode and a lot of my projects are nearing the end.

So bought it, opened it and, boy, memories cheated.

The vac form and IP base is quite good, some of the aliens are pretty accurate (thought there's not enough of them) and Leia as Boushh and Chewbacca are alright.

But...

Han!

Luke!

C3PO!

R2!

Oh dear...

No WAY could i use them.

So, had to think of a way of displaying the scene without using the main characters.

As it also comes with Boba Fett and Solo in Carbonite, i hit on the idea of depicting the moment when Fett delivers him to Jabba.

Could explain away why there's not too many aliens there- they hadn't all turned up at that point.

Oh, you'll see some of the figures were started - the guy i bought it off of started it 20 years ago but lost interest. can't think why...

Y Wing - finished

What a great kit to build, a joy from start to finish.

Really have to commend Fine Molds, both for this kit and the fact that all their Star Wars subjects are 1/72nd scale - you get a unifom look to your fleet and they don't take up too much space.

Now, what do i get next?

Cyclops - finished

Here she is, all pastelled, sealed, then the metallic bits picked out.

Had a blast on this project - which was real cheap being £2.50 for the striping and a quid for the Plasticard - and i'm really pleased how she's come out.

Now she's done, there seems to be a bit of the Flying Sub to her more now than the Spindrift.

Hmmmm.... I'm subconciously making Irwin Allen craft!

Y Wing - all decaled up

Here we are then.

All assembled, bar the top gun, and with the decals on.

Gold 3 seems to have far less damage than the other two options, so there's considerably less decals to apply.

Next up is to go over the panel lines in pencil where the yellow decals have covered them up, then its break out the pastels time.

Y Wing - ready for decals to go on

Cyclops - all decaled up

Next up, the pastelling

ARC 170 - bit of progress

Finally pulled me finger out and primed it in grey, followed by white.

Beauty of snap kits is that i can leave it in sub-assemblies like this to paint.