T.I.E Bomber - pastels

Getting rather one tracked with the T.I.E Bomber at the moment, but its such a great design i can't help it.
Okay, over the pencil outlining of the panel lines i've put down some pastels for weathering. The Empire do seem to keep their ships spick and span, but guessing all T.I.E craft enter atmospheres, so they must pick up some muck, yes?
After that i've masked off the cockpit again and put on that light coat of Satin Varnish.

T.I.E Bomber - improvement

Ah, that's better. Here it is all coated as i managed to get it done with just the one bottle.
Trouble with Vallejo paints is that they dry awful matt and there's just something about matt paint on models that just doesn't seem right - think everything needs a sheen of a satin finish to help with light reflection to give it a sense of scale etc.
So, after picking out a lot of the panel lines, i'll be giving it a coat of Matt Varnish.

Mansion Of Madness - good guys

Thought i'd get the dull stuff out of the way first, doing the eight characters the good guys can be.
Bit of a slog this, with them a pretty dull task despite the excellent detail on the figures, especially the old codger.

T.I.E Bomber - that's better

I thought finding a match of the right colour for the T.I.E Bomber was going to be difficult but, when having a sort out of my paint drawer, i stumbled on a full bottle of Vallejo "Blue Grey" which looked just the ticket.
Here's where i am with it today and it does look close. Was a bit worried that i'd not have enough to cover with just one bottle, and getting more Vallejo paint means going online now since the demise of Modelzones shops, but think it'll just about be enough as long as i water it a wee bit.

Steampunk Walker

So, i'm going the Steampunk route with the ex-Star Wars Scout Walker, but how do i stop folk going "that's an ex-Star Wars Scout Walker"?
First up, i thought i'd move the cockpit from up top, to being hung underneath.
For that i'm using two hemispheres - a clear one for the front and a slightly larger on for the rear. The way i see it, i've two routes to go with this arrangement: either utilise the clear part for a rounded window and have a cockpit on view in there, or paint the whole thing and have portholes around it to have a diving bell sort of look. We'll see.
And, up top, there'll be a barrel as i mean to have the beast as a walking gun. This was my first choice, a tower from a toy space station, that i chose because its got some very Victorian looking girder and rivet work on it.
But, its far too big. Not only would it seriously affect the balance, but i thoought it'd overwhelm the rest of it.
Need to think again.

T.I.E Bomber - disaster

Indeed.
The colour of the studio model ws, i think "Sea Blue" by Pactra and long since being produced.
I tried the motor supply places and they had things very similar - but all are mettalic.
Thought i'd found the right shade with a can from the art shop - but its dried a lot bluer than it appeared on the can.
Bugger.

Jabba's Door Droid - starting on the gearing

Next up on the Door Droid is the strange, almost medievial side parts. They're quite hard to make out but seem to be some sort of chain/gearing affair, with spikes all over:



The start of this section are the anchoring parts on the "neck" and the one that hangs down, and i'm using cotton reels for them.
I measured the distance between where they'd be going and drilled two holes that distance apart in some Plasticard and bolted two reels down.
I then eyeballed where the lower one in the middle would be and again bolted another reel there.
And you can i've rivetted a strip of Plasticard between the two upper one's, looped around the bottom one.
I think the original is a definete chain affair, but i'm not too bothered about using a solid strip of plastic as, with all the detail on, i don't think you'll see too much of it anyway.



And here the both of them, taken off the Plasticard sheets and bolted in place, with the lower reels Hot Glued on:



Next up is to source suitable "spikey bits" and some sort of flat, rectangular shapes that i think make up the actual gearing teeth of the device.

The Artmor Project - nearly ready to go

The Artmor Project is getting closer and closer to the start of its auction, and its own website is now up and running, with jaw-droppingly imaginative and creative and fantastic and just plain cool pieces on show, with more to follow.
I urge you take a look and to bookmark it ready for the event.

http://www.artmor.neozaz.com/welcome/index.html

Mansions Of Madness

Being a big HP Lovecraft fan, i've been aware of this board game for quite a while, not only because of its source material, but also how it sports some pretty nice figures to go with it.



Not bought it up till now as it comes with a weighty price tag, but found one going cheap on the 'Bay so nabbed it.
Opening the box, can see why its a hefty price, as the packaging and quality of everythings is top-notch.
And the sculpting on the figures is excellent, although made from that greasy feeling plastic that dictates washing them before priming. This is the first bunch i've decided to start with just after their wash. I'll be going into each individually as they're done:



And here they are in White Primer, where the detail stands out even more:

Jabba's Door Droid - the gearing

Next bit to address on the Door Droid is the strange, almost medievial side parts. They're quite hard to make out but seem to be some sort of chain/gearing affair, with spikes all over:



For the main bits i'm using cotton reels.
I measured the distance between where they'd be going and drilled two holes that distance apart in some Plasticard and bolted two reels down.
I then eyeballed where the lower one in the middle would be and again bolted another reel there.
And you can i've rivetted a strip of Plasticard between the two upper one's, looped around the bottom one.
I think the original is a definete chain affair, but i'm not too bothered about using a solid strip of plastic as, with all the detail on, i don't think you'll see too much of it anyway.

M.A.K Tank - finished

Here he is all done and all crewed up. Pretty pleased with how its come out, just need to find a place to put it now - its got one BIG footprint.

T.I.E Bomber - top detail

Really, the only work aside from repainting on the T.I.E Bomber is to replace the missing top hatch.
That proved tricker than i thought as good clear photos of that area on the original are pretty non-existant.
So i've gone my own way, using a cut down part from the Saturn V kit as the basis, and then a bunch of kitbits on top.
What i can discen from the original is the detail on it is not pronounced at all, so i've kept things tight and down to the hull.

Slave 1 - all done

Here she is then, canopy on, decals done and ready to be lined up with the others. Still can't believe just how much bigger she is to the other craft.

Slave 1 - last look at the cockpit before the canopy goes on

Jabba's Door Droid

I've been having a hankering just lately to have a go at another full-size Star Wars character. But who could i do that won't take up a ton of space?
Was watching the opening of "Jedi", got to the bit where the Droid's arrive at Jabba's Palace - and the light bulb pops on the moment that hatch opens and the Door Droid pops out.
"Ahhh" goes i, "I can make one of them. Its just a ball on a stick with some fairy lights"
Have since realised its a bit more than that, but that was the intial thought, along with, if i make it not too long, i could have it as a detachable door ornament, maybe in time for Halloween.
Okay, ball on a stick the. First up, the ball. Well, balls - i needed a large ball with a smaller, clear ball inside it. Eyeballing (sorry) it, and trying to gauge the "eye" next to C3PO, it looked roughly face-sized.
So i looked online and ordered two acrylic balls, 16mm and 12mm diameter, which come as snap togther hemispheres - handy i thought, as there'd be a lot of messing:




First thing i did was to spray one half of the larger ball in Grey Primer and then draw out where the "eyelids" should go. The it was a case of out with the Dremel and cut and grind and grind and cut, until the shape started to taker, er, shape:



That was a messy affair as the plastic melted into blobs as i did it, but this is where i am with this part at the moment, gradually refining the shapes with Wet & Dry:



I've also made a start on the back of the "eye" and the "neck". I knew i'd have a problem with the piuping i'd be using as its plumbing pipe and no glue sticks to that at all.
So what i did was: wrap a strip of Plasticard around the end of the pipe and glue it to itself, smear glue along the rear edge of the Plasticard and offer up the rear of the small ball to it, then i assembled both balls and judged just where the small ball should be inside the large ball, marked the pipe where the rear of the large ball was on it, took everything aprt, then put a spacer of Plasticard the right size behind the small ball and glued the rear of the large ball in place, with another strip of Plasticard behind it for added strength.
All of which leaves my with what looks like a complex Dalek plunger:



And this is where i am this morning:



You can see i'm using two sizes of piping as the Droid seems to have a thinner lengthg just before its head. I've bolted the tow toether. Oh, and i've put a plumbing piece at the end of the larger pipe to emulate the original. Next up is to try and work out the strange, almost barbaric-looking side details. And wait for the light to arrive for the inside.

Slave 1 - colour corrected

Ah, that's much better - gone out and got a much more suitable green and then mixed it with to give me the lighter of the two shades i'd need.
And here it is, with what i was saying before about simulating the chipping by mapping out the edges of it with a cut-down brush:



And here i've gone and filled in the rest of the darker shade areas: