A Steampunk aside

Only really relevant in that it features scratchbuilt SF gadgets, but it made me laugh, so thought i'd share:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/steampunk-weapons-useless-against-fists-2013043067132

Colossal Squig

New project arrived today. Easier to see what its like from my Youtube piece:

Ma.K Tank - basis

So here we have those foamboard legs clad in Plasticard and stuck equal distances round the spinning top. I've blended the joins with P38 but i haven't been too thorough about it because of the next step.
Figure there's two ways i can go with the next step - (1) Try to emulate many Ma.K vehicles, in that they're very curvy, being a matter of covering everything with filler and sanding it into shape, (2) Go the other way and have a mass of machinery all over.
I'm going with (2) as sanding down isn't my favourite past time so will be covering most of the filler seen here with lots of piping and other details.
Another wee bit of progress was to attach this upturned Ovaltine lid as the basis of the gun turret. I've capped it with a ring of Plasticard and bolted both bits to the top for extra strength.

Bile Trolls - built.

After quite a hardy wash to get rid of all the mould release, assembly could be done and they were a snitch to do, with Superglue setting almost immediately. Forge World sure do have some great sculptors on their team, and the casting is top-notch as ever. Really looking forward to painting these bad Boys.

EFFECTive - Conor Boyle

About time i had another one of these mini-features up here (if you're late to them, just type EFFECTive into the search bar top left to see who's stepped up to the plate already) of asking creative folk what is their favourite stand-out special effect sequence from any film or TV show. Could be their favourite from when they were little, the best ever they've seen, something that scared the crap out of them, doesn't matter - as long as its personal to them. Its back today because i've just received my commission from the insanely talented Conor Boyle, which you can see here on one of my other Blogs - http://someoneoldsomeonenew.blogspot.co.uk/ While emailing Conor about the piece, i asked him if he'd like to take part and he said yes. So, off you go Conor: "... I had a long think about your EFFECTive series - mostly long because I would've also chosen the transformation sequence in American Werewolf In London :) So I reckon the one other sequence that still has 'AWESOME' written all over it is Darth Maul lifting his cowl and breaking out the double-ended lightsaber in The Phantom Menace. Lightsabers have to be the best invention in scifi film history. Every grown man would pay happily for one, and if they deny it, they're lying. 30 something years after their introduction, boffins are still burning their houses down trying to invent real lightsabers. And then Darth Maul shows up and goes "Screw all you beardy hippies - check this out". Watch the clip - twenty armed guards, a queen and two Jedis stop in their tracks because there's some sort of ninja badass blocking the doorway. There's even a 'kick' in his arm as the second bit lights up - just a tiny detail that made it all the more awesome. Just great stuff. Yeah, the rest of the film is still dodgy. It still irks me that when Obi Wan vaults him, Darth Maul wouldn't have just sliced him into a small salad, mid-air, and Darth Vader pre-sunburn is still a bit of a weepy letdown in comparison, but there you go - you can't have everything.

Bile Trolls

Some more Forge World goodness has arrived and i can't wait to crack on. Paused before doing so though to do a bit of filming - haven't done one of these for a long while and no-one else has anything on Youtube in the way of detail stuff on them, so why not?

Jabba's Palace - Yuzzum & Max Rebo.

About time i got back to this build and, today, two very muppet-like creatures.

Well, i say muppet but, with Yuzzum here, the only thing muppet-like are the dangly arms and legs. Its not even a puppet, being attached to the wall behind by a whacking great rod that comes out his back and through it. And that's it, that's all he does. Just stands there. Mercifully at the back, as he's a pretty rubbish looking critter. Of course, he came more to the fore in the Special Edition "Jedi", where's restyled and CGI'd into that flaming annoying singing thing. Dear, of dear. Yuzzum, your pedigree just ain't good. His figures not much better, coming across as another shaved cocktail stick due to the thinness of those arms and legs.

Much much better, and now a true muppet, is Max Rebo. Yeah, he is just a puppet but everything works right in this case, especially with the puppeteering - he's such a gentle looking character and his mannerisms match that perfectly. The figures not bad, given that there's not exactly a lot of detail to reproduce, but his music machine has been made really well.

Ma.K Tank - starting

Right, that the original legs on the left, the new one's on the right. Constructed over Foamboard rather than the crappy carboard first time round and with much thicker Plasticard over that so the glue doesn't melt and show through (see, i do learn from my mistakes). And you can also see i've put some spacers on the underside of the main round bit - was worried that, if the the legs supported everything, the joins would give way over time. So these spacers have everything the same height and the weight will be distrbuted evenly.

Squigs! All finished

Here they are then - the three Squigs on the right are my colour schemes. The three on the left are the result of asking our children "what colour would you be if you were a Squig?"...

Hornethopter - updates

Thought i'd bung the eye lenses in today - and what a nice surprise that was, they are actually lenses rather than just clear domes and magnify the detail inside and work very well indeed.

I've also stuck the control dials to the unit, apinting that black and gold to match.

Getting near the end now, figured it was time to start on the Pilot. Here he is assmbled and primed. No bother there, just a bit of filler at the shoulders. He comes with brass seat belt and buckle. Very fine work and someone's gone to a lot of trouble to produce them. But don't really see the point as they won't be seen at all once he's seated. Ditto the control stick. And he comes with legs too - odd in that there's no room for them at all. Guess the option is there for you to use them should you decide to use him somewhere else.

Had a bit of a shock when i rummaged in the box for the lenses - also in the bag was a windscreen, something i'd not noticed on the box photo and its not mentioned in the instructions. So i've started painting that up.

The return of the Ice Warriors

I've pretty much given up on new-Who, i gave it plenty of chances to evolve away from the noisy, shouty, silly soap opera that was being dished out to us but enough's enough and i prefer now to go back to the 60's/70's if i want to see the Timelord. The other reason is that every time they've reintroduced a classic old alien race, they've messed up - either annoying but not too bad (Sontarans), or big-time cock-up (Cybermen). So, i took the decision before Christmas to not watch any more. A shocking thought to think and one i'm sure the 12 year-old me would be horrified by. But i've been let down too much. But, the Ice Warriors were back yesterday. Always liked them and, for me, they're one of the Pertwee-eras greatest baddies. So i thought i'd give it a go, expecting to be hacked off. But i wasn't. Good story, a very slight tweeking of the design that is really rather good, handled very well, and the new development to their race is maybe a first for new-Who - a logical step that fits in and doesn't jar nor contradict anything that's already been established. Most of the credit goes to writer Mark Gatiss, who grew up with classic Who and who's love for the show is well known, and top marks for the effects team. Personally, best story since the Doc came back.

The Ma.K Tank Build Challenge

The next challenge over on the SFMUK site - http://www.scifimodels.org.uk - is to scratchbuild a tank vehicle for the far-flung Ma.K universe. Always loved the designs from there, so i've jumped right in. Top pic is a dish i was going to use for the basic shape if i couldn't find anything better, as its very in-keeping with similar hull shapes already used. But then i stumbled over the second pic while going through my boxes today. Its the bottom of a broken spinning top the Sprogs had along with three plasticard and kitbit legs. Its a long-abandoned attempt at making my own version of one of my favourite Martin Bower models from Space 1999, Taybors Gun. Looking at it now, its pretty hideous - horrible, low quality cardboard for the basis of the legs, with far too thin Plasticard overlays, so thin that the glue used has melted the plastic. But i love the design of the original and thinking, with legs done better, with a different thingy uptop and a new colour scheme, it could fit well in the Ma.K universe. So that's what i'm going to do.

Hornethopter - colours and eyes in.

Righty-ho then, here she is with colours on and the rust has begun. I've gone a bit overboard on it as (A) i wanted to break up the rather plain blue basecoat, (B) its off flying about through clouds all the time, so why not? And i've bunged in the eyes for you today, to offer up a bit of contrast, what with the shininess of them. Very pleased how they look - should look even better once the lenses are put over the top. You can also see i've finished the cockpit interior and, again as a contrast, i've done the seating in red leather. Dunno why - most of it won't be seen once the pilot is in. Speaking of which, think its about time i assembled him.