Falcon - pastelling started

The bit i've been looking forward to for a long time now.

As you can see, i've only the lefthand side to do - and it shows how the pastelling can really take back the brightness.

Its not strictly accurate weathering - i had the Sculpting The Galaxy and Star Wars Archives books open in front of me - as the studio models didn't have an awful lot really, just a matter of straks across panels.

But i really like each panel line to be highlighted, so that's what i did. Not really got any qualms over it as, even though i've used an accurising kit, its still nowhere near what it should look like.

If i had the Fine Molds version it'd be a different story.

Anyway, the pastelling is just a coupla greys to block in the shading, black in the centre of that and various browns to warm things up. Orange for rust too.

The trouble i have with pastelling is that there's never any true blacks to give a bit of contrast - everythings very pastelly.

So this is just the start. Once done and sealed, i'll be putting in washes of blacks and stuff, airbrushing below the 6 round engine things and put in the metallics.

Predator - mottling mistake

Indeed.

They idea i had of doing her bumpy skin areas in black then dark grey has fizzled out.

Got this far before deciding its a crap idea. Goign to repaint here and go with washes over the lumps. Figure that'd be more natural looking than stark areas

Predator - armour quandrys

Its been giving me the most difficulty so far. I went with the same scheme as the pads but it looked FAR too dark.

The Vallejo Red doesn't cover too well so here i've drybrushed it with white before going back over with the red. Did the trick and its a much more distinct shade now.

You'll see there's some areas blocked in black. The chains will be drybrushed with Bronze and Oily Steel. The circular inlays i'm leaving black as a bit of contrast, along with a bit of a tie-in colour to bridge the stark black of the dreds and the eyes to the paleness of the skin.

Predator - face done

Well nearly anyway - the teeth need a a last bit of work then them and the eyes glossed.

Strormtrooper Helmet - eyes and frown done.

Well fiddly this, the frown gaps especially - drilling small holes with the Dremel, then widening it out with files and then sanding the edges smooth.

Had plenty of reference pics but kept being paranoid that they weren't wide enough/too wide, too tall, too short.

Falcon - getting there now

Here we have the various panels picked out in their various colours.

Looked dead silly i can tell you - but better now i've started outlining all the panels with a sharp pencil.

Merry Christmas

Well it certainly was for me - finally could get this lovely piece of art out of its packaging.

It was done by the brilliant Chris Weston for the DAR07 charity auction back in October. A whole bunch of 2000AD artists were asked to do something that was SF/horror/fantasy from film or the telly.

Chris went for Moonraker as, until Raiders came out, it was his favourite film ever.

I had some money from me mum with me to get something for Christmas and i put it together with some of my own to buy it. Real chuffed to own it - need a decent frame now.

Also chuffed to get and Ipod from my wife, along with a DAB radio - which is a complete revelation and makes modelling even more enjoyable.

Stormtrooper Helmet - underway

Had a long old slog cutting the eye holes out. There's different ways folk approach this but the route i took was to draw in pencil where i figured the cut should go then, using a fresh blade for each eye, continually scored along it until i was through.

Took forever and the temptation to push them out when 3/4 through was great but i stuck with it.

The edges haven't been sanded smooth yet in this pic. And you can see i've drilled out the bolt holes and put one in each side - partly to have an idea how it'd look, but mainly 'cause i were itching to wear it.

Predator - mottling all done

Here she is then with all the blotches on and sealed.

Dunno whether it'll look ok once all the dreds and armours done but that's the risk i guess.

Falcon - curses

STILL not happy with the paint job - keep looking at the pics and i still prefer the tan version.

So, here i've put on a dusting of Ford Ivory, which is a very intense shiny paint, then a dusting of Skull White to take it back.

Don't care if its 100% accurate - its staying.

Predator - finishing the skin

Thought i'd copy Dave Fisher in AFM and use permanent markers for the mottling.

Trouble there was that my local art shop on has black.

Tried that and it were 'orrible - FAR too dark, and doubtful if it'd dry.

Instead am going this way - using 2 shades of dark grey pencil, 3B and 5B.

Starting with the lighter of the two, mapping out where i want the mottling to go, varying full blotches with circles.

Then i'm filling in the centre of the bunches with the darker grey.

Going quite well at the mo'

Predator - trying on the armour

Thought i'd Blu Tac the nearly finished armour on to see how it goes with the nearly done skin.

Predator - what a booby

Indeed.

Was busy putting grey washes on the gal, leave it to dry - and look what happened. A lovely dark streak of grey in the cleavage.

Was a bit worried how to deal with it as its pretty recessed (told you she was a big girl) but in the end managed by putting a thin line of Bleached Bone on top.

My BIG project...

... arrived yesterday.

As you can see, its a full size Stormtrooper Helmet. Been doing some research and this seems to be the best thought of of the versions out there re accuracy and is by Authentic Props.

Only thing i need to alter is the sheet of clear green for the lenses as its far to light.

Falcon - colour probs

Ever since i've started this project i've wanted to copy the colour of the one on the left here, which i built in 1981.

Trawling round the car shops didn't turn up the right colour.

But, looking at reference pics, that's not an accurate colour.

What i've done on the new one on the right is.

But i prefer the left.

So, what do i do? Be accurate or go for personal choice. In the end decided to go with accuracy, no matter how much it rankles.

For the record, the colour on the new one isn't out of a can but a build up of paints, which were:

Chaos Black,

Ford Polar Grey,

dusting of Skull White

Predator - skin tones underway

Really not apprent here but she's pretty much done with the skin.

I went:

Based with Bleached Bone,

highlighted with that mixed with white,

washed and mottled with Vallejo Greeny Grey.

Predator - Alien done

Here's the fella then.

Done thus:

primed in Chaos Black,

based in Liquetex Neutral Grey,

drybrushed with Tamiya JA Grey,

washed with a black/brown ink mix and dabbed off randomly,

drybrushed again with the JA Grey

Predator - starting on the armour

Been umming and ahhing over whether to go with red.

decided to as:

(A) i want to get away from the all metal armour usually used for Preds,

(B) been researching real samurai armour and red was often used,

(C) red isn't going to be used anywhere else on the kit,

(D) it looks pretty neat once washed like this with Burgundy. Gives a nice leather sheen that's not apparent here.

The unpainted part is going to be Vallejo Bronze.

Predator - assembled

Here she is then all glued togther.

Just layed down some Green Stuff to fill in the quite big gaps between each leg section

Female Pred - the pondering starts

So, what colour scheme for the skin? the Alien? the base?

But mostly what to do with the armour? I'm leaning towards a darkish red - but the details far too good to be all one colour.

Thinking of having a coppery element in there, especially on the collar and here on the side of the "bra". Its screaming out for washes and highlighting, something not too easy with red.

Female Pred has a helmet????

Also in that pack was a helmet for the lassie.

Again, brilliant casting that fits perfectly onto her face AND STAYS THERE!

Won't be using it though.

Mebbe sling it from her belt though.

Female Pred - close call

Blimey, that was close - was umming and ahhing over the colour scheme and had a look on predatorstuff.com for insperation.

That's when i realised she was missing her samurai armour (doh! how could i forget?)

A hurried rummage though the box she came in - which i'd chucked out - came up with these fellas wrapped up.

My respect for the kit has gone up even higher! The pieces shown are, from the top, the two shoulder pads, then the back skirt, the front skirt (snapped in two) and a piece of armour for her left thigh.

All pieces are beautifly crisp castings and lovely and thin too.

Superb stuff!

Female Samurai Predator

Hurrah!

Turned up from Thailand today, expertly packed in tow seperate boxes.

Seen a few Narin Preds built and painted by Dave Daines while up at DAR07 and they really go me in mind to have one of my own.

After checking out his range, this lady was the one that appealed the most - i haven't got a female version, its a great pose, the base is top notch and i wanted a Pred with mandibles closed.

Checking out the raw resin, its a brilliant sculpt cast very well - only the smallest of seamline down the sides.

She's huge too - 1/5th - and so are her baps. They didn'y look THAT big in the pics. Do Preds have wonderbras???

I'm really pleased with the dead Alien. Very Bisley with that massive jaw.

Expect updates soon as i can't wait to get started - and i'm now on holiday for 8 days. Hurrah again!

Falcon - jumped that hurdle

Feel a lot better today with it. After the slog of filling and sanding, i can crack on and am near the painting stage.

To prep for this black primer i've covered the clear blue engine section with masking tape, ditto the Gun Turret windows (which i've already painted), filled the floodlight holes with Blu Tac and used a combination of masking tape and Blu Tac to cover up the exposed cockpit.

Now to find a can of a suitable base coat...

Clearing The Decks

Apols to anyone following some of my older projects but i'm boxing them up and putting them on the back burner for a while.
Reason being i want to give the Falcon paint-job a lot of attention plus i've a Narin Predator on the way and a MASSIVE build which shortly be with me soon.
So, Macros, Pod Racer and Nurgle stuff - away with you

Falcon - gaps

Something i hadn't considered was that the accurising kit wouldn't fit well.

Its nothing to do with the casting as they're dead straight. Its more to do with the AMT pieces being quite warped - something i didn't realise until i glued everything together.

Worst offenders are the mandibles which look so bad straight on that i'm not gonna show them.

Not very apprant here is the HUGE gap between the new "escape pod" and the hull, caused by the back of the pod being flat while the hull is slightly curved.

You can also see the large gaps on the side sections near the pods and on the underside near the front.

These are about to be puttied.

Falcon - "Here's where the fun begins"

These are the two halves ready to glue together.

Apprehensive because:

(A) I have to wire the cockpit and GunTurret to the lower section first

(B) I have to use sticky 'orrible Araldite

(C) Its not the best fit

Lets see what happens...

Falcon - Noooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The instructions for the accurising kit say that, as the side walls are narrower, a section of the rear tube of the cockpit has to be removed.

But its not clear just where to cut.

So i offer up the hull halves and, yep, it sure does need triming.

Cut a piece off here as you can see.

Put it back together and it fits now - with a massive great hhole at the back.

Trimmed off too bloody much *fume*

Falcon - lots of progress

So, here we have:

1. The completed Gun Turret

2. The seat for the above based in black and just prior to drybrushing.

3. The Turret glued in place. As i don't want the LED to be seen, you can see here i've put a piece of tracing paper over the hole to diffuse the light.

4. The Turret sealed. With every LED i've sealed them in with a cover of Bacofoil. This is to prevent light escaping from gaps, through the plastic of the hull, or out through the clear engine part.

I've taped it all in place but, as its going to be hanging down for years, i've also superglued the tape to the plastic as i don't it unsticking in the future.

The SFMUK 2000AD contest

Dead chuffed to have won a prize in this contest, with my Lee Ames Slaine here.

Taking part was a lot of fun, with some excellent entries, and i'm looking forward to the next one, whatever the subject may be.

Pod Racer Scratchbuild Challenge

Thought you might like to see what i came up with at DAR07 back in October.

The challenge was to sit down with a toy, a couple of 1/44th airplane kits and a whole bunch of greeblies and turn out a Pod Racer, plus base.

And here's mine

Falcon - Getting ready to glue the Turret walls

I've primed and painted the wall sections.

I've here put a strip of parcel tape on the rear of the side walls.

Next is to cut off the bar of resin at the top which'll enable the walls to be folded round to the right shape and glued to the rear wall.

Falcon - Gun Turret Seat

Here's the parts for it. I'm not going to use the Luke figure as the ship will be landed and he'd look stupid sitting there.

Falcon - sorting out the engine area.

Next up on the accurising list is area around these grills. To put the new ones on i had to first grind off the existing detail to flatten the area, then they were superglued in.

Falcon - starting on the Gun Turret

Here we go with the main part. There's only meant to be two pieces - the rear wall and a slab for the side walls, but two broke off.

Falcon - ah, poo

So, start to glue the side walls on.

The instructions recommend to glue with Epoxy Resin and then back it up from the rear with Epoxy Putty.

Get the first piece and stick it on with Araldite Rapid.

BIG mistake - the side piece slips and slides, won't stand straight and, when i do prop it up, it sets wonky.

Not a happy bunny and had to think of a different way.

This is me a little further down the line. What i've decided to do instead is glue with Zap-A-Gap superglue then smear Araldite on the inside join to strengthen it. Maybe some Green Stuff as well just to be sure.

Falcon - accurising kits arrived...

... and i've cracked right on.

First part to tackle are the side walls. Here you can see some of the new one's with their original counterparts - new one's on top.

Falcon - cockpit finished

Pod Racer - engine

Here's the main part of one, with the blanking plate covering up the hole made when i removed the black bit.

Got to cover it with wire and stuff to disguise it.

Hellcannon - progress

Das Pronto for the body with the greeblies stuck in.

Falcon - entry corridor

Here's the decal. It attaches to the clear piece at the end of the box affair for the corridor. A simple matter to wrap the tabs on the decal around the edges.

Second photo shows it in place and with the LED sat behind it.

I know it was something i wanted to avoid with the cockpit, but i really had no choice in this case but to backlight it.

Falcon - cockpit seating

This is something that i needed to address.

If i was going to try and make the kit more accurate by altering the sides, engine and turret, i couldn't really have the manky cockpit interior suppied, especially as i was going to light it.

The trouble is - no "dashboard" and only two,very basic seats, as you can see here with my 1980 effort (apologies for the paintjob - was young).

First thing i did was ping Luke and Chewie off their chairs, scrape the glue off the seat area then affix them behind the new chairs in the new cockpit. The shape of all four are nowhere near accurate but there has to be a point where i go "enough" in the rivet-counting stakes.

Here i've painted them all black, along with the bottom of the cockpit piece. This is to stop light bleeding through the plastic when all done.

Next was the control area. I knew i had to scratchbuild one and that proved trickier than i thought it would. Not the building, the researching - there are so many contradictory versions on the net.

So went with a compromise that you can see i started here, built of cereal packet card and carefully measured so it'd fit into the nose of the cockpit.