DIANOGA! - stages of skin

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

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!

Sebulba's Podracer - nearly there

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

... 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

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

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

New robot project

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

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

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!

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

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.

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

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

Nurgle Cannon

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.