Producing - 1 - finished

Here he is then all rusted up. Pretty happy with it - happier if it actually sells.

New 2000AD Modelling Blog

My good friend and fellow modeller Ian has started a new site to chronicle his building primarily the kit collection of rabid Dredd fan "Maidstone John".
Looking forward to following this but, already, the "Bugger. Wish i had one of them" chant has started.
And it can only grow.

http://modelsofdredd.blogspot.com/

SHAKARA! - step 2

I've set aside some time tomorrow for the sculpting, so have just prepped it by sealing in the wires and bulbs as i don't want any clay squishing in there.

Mean Machine - skin on.

Here he is basecoated. For non regular skin tones i always go for Games Workshops "Bleached Bone" as the basis, as its a nice pale shade to apply effects to and drys to just the right sheen.
I've also based his arm in "Gunmetal" and washed it with black. To that i've applied minimal highlighting as i want it to be a dark, brutal looking mass of machinery.

Producing 1 - ready for rust

Here we are with the final coats on and decals applied. Next step is the rusting and, as its a submarine, there's going to be LOTS of it. Which is why i've left it kinda bland here.

SHAKARA! - Step 1

Okay, first up i removed the front of the torch. This luckily still had a hinge affair attched so i superglued it in place at 90 degrees to act as a platform to join it to the neck pipe. On to the front i've glued the eye area.
Then i soldered two wires on to the rear of the light assembley, passed them through a hole i'd drilled in the hinge, and down the neck i'd glued to the hinge.
For the base i've used a cheapo picture frame, drilled a hole in that, glued the neck to it, and carved a groove at the rear of the frame for the wires to come out.
Last thing i've done is wrap some wire round the neck for the clay to key on to.

Mean Machine - all ready

Oh, what a bastige he was to put together. Seam lines so bad it was like i was making an Aurora kit.
But here he is in primer, along with two coats of Mr Surfacer on his trousers to give them some detail.

Steampunk Rodney - nearly done.

Here he is all painted and dirtied down. Looking forward to rusting him up now.

SHAKARA!

Shakara is, i'm guessing, the best new character in 2000AD in the last ten years.
Been itching to have a go at making him, but he's a lanky so-and-so equipped with some very distinctive weapons.
Which put me off. Till i thought that if i do a bust then those hurdles could be avoided.
Thing is though, most of the strip is B&W except for his bright red eyes. So, if i was going to do it, they'd have to be lit up, yes?
It was easy enough to cut out two holes in Plasticard for the eyes just the right size with a wood drill and glue them together the right distance apart.
For the red eyes i'd already decided on coloured acetate and the local craft shop provided that no problem.
But what to use for the light source?
I first tried the same torches i used for my WOTW Martin but they didn't work, being not bright enough and far too directional, being LED's.
Next thought was to use a VERY bright light source in the bottom of a box affair i'd build behind the eyes, paint the box silver and hopefully the light'd pour out.
So, had a look around for an LED torch. I knew i couldn't use a conventional one as the bulb would get too hot in such an enclosed space.
My local Wilkenson's do this LED torch which has the double appeal of not only being super bright but the handle i won't be using is a lovely curved shape that i could use later as a SF craft.
There was another bonus when i realised the two LED's in the lens matched EXACTLY the eyeholes i'd made. Meaning, if i stuck them over the torch lens, they'd work just right.
Other things i've bought in preparation is a whole bunch of chain and a bag of clout nails for the head spikes.
Next step is to attach the eye holes to the lens, solder wires to the back of the latter and run then through a tube i'll glue to the bottom of it.
That'll give me a blob on a stick with two eyes which i can then sculpt on top of.

Mean Machine - mind the gap

Lovely, lovely detail but, boy, the gaps between pieces are horrendous and needed a LOT of filler.
All assembled though. I'm leaving the weapon off till last and before priming will be putting some texture onto the trousers as they're just too darm smooth and when painted will come across as some sort of spandex if i don't.

Steampunk Rodney - based

As i'm planning on having the fella rusty as hell, i've based him in my colour of choice to really show rust off well - Tamiya JA Grey.

Mean Machine

Never bought one of these when they first came out as 1/9th scale is pretty small and i don't really like the pose. But one came up on eBay boxed and pretty cheap so i got it, thinking i could change it by lowering the arm right down.
And paint him following Chris Halls' preproduction art for the Stallone film.
But, problem. It can't be just a case of lowering the arm as his whole torso is arched upwards to allow him to raise up the massive arm (great, well thought out sculpting there) and if i wanted to do that it'd mean cutting out the shoulder and a lot of the waist and rebuilding.
Don't wanna do that so the arms staying as is.
So thought i'd build as is, have it as a movie version and this much bigger 1/6th one as my comic version.
But its bugging me that there's no bionic eye. So have bunged one in.
So i've now got a comic version head but a movie version arm.
Leave it as is?
Sculpt a waistcoat to make it more comicy?
Realistic gory bits or not?

Steampunk Rodney

Enjoyed the "Robots" film a lot, main attraction being the quirky robot designs. My favourite was this here Rodney, who i always thought had a real steampunk look to him.
Just stumbled across this action figure going for pennies, so bought him up and will be giving him the M.a.K treatment methinks

Producing - 1 - bugger

So, topcoat him in a lighter grey, give it a nice black wash to bring out the detail, drybrush him, pastel him, seal him and then get to thinking it looks a bit bland. So maybe a colour band would look ok?
Decided to go with a matt red nose, so masked it up, splodged the paint on, removed the masking tape...
and a chunk of paint lifts right off - varnish and two coats of paint.
Hmmmm...
Know that there's no way i can repaint that area and make it blend in, so have decided to overpaint it with metallics, along with other areas.
It'll just now be more beat-up than i had intended.

Biog - all done

Here he is then. Tried for a bit of moody lighting - which flared right up 'cause of all he gloss...

B7 Hairdryer Ship - in top coat

Very pleased to find that Halfords sell the exact colour Mat used - "Rover Orange Blaze". And you can see i've sprayed toe two R2D2 domes gold. So now it'll be just a case of sticking them togther. Am umming and ahhing whther to go with the hand drawn grey lettering as on the original. Which is rather naff IMO

Producing - 1 - grey

Okay, bunged some wings on the side, put part of the Millenium Falcon's gun turret area by the underside inlet thingy and primed her up.
I was going to put a wee lil' vertical wing on the top to make for a shark fin type affair but it'd looked rubbish.

Peter Elson website

FANTASTIC site here, superbly showing why Peter was such a genius and very indpeth on the paintings.
He inspired me SO much its untrue.

http://www.peterelson.co.uk/

Producing - 1

Been a bit hard up just lately so put some of my built kits up on eBay. Also thought i'd try and sell a couple of my scratchbuilds and it was quite a suprise to see them sell.
So, thinking maybe i should try and make a few things with a view to seeling rather than just putting up on the shelf. They'd have to be quite small to keep the P&P down and not too delicate so has to survive the trip to its new owner.
With that in mind, i've started on my first one - some sort of underwater craft. The two main parts are an old cream bottle that i put in the bits box because of its shape and the engine block from an old truck kit.
To that i've added the usual panel lines, various kit bits and a tiddlywink. Think all i need to finish it off are a couple of fins either side.
The curvy front with the busy rear is screaming M.a.K to me, so that's the way i'll go for the colour scheme.

B7 Hairdryer Ship - It stands! It stands!..

... Well, just about. Its incredibly shaky and unstable - but upright. Can see it was a big mistake to use the upright part of the Airfix stands to join them to the body. I should've thought about this. Mat used some quite thick tubes to attach his and i reckon they STILL pinged off, hence no sign of them in later shots.
Mine don't stand (haha) a chance.
But she's in Red Primer now, so quite an advancement after such a long time.

B7 Hairdyer Ship - landing gear

Okay, i can breath out. Mangaed to glue on the Airfix stands for the legs of the ship. Was real worried about this as they're VERY flimsy and the ship si now quite heavy. To try and stack things in my favour, i glued them using Araldite Rapid and put cut down Cable Ties either side of it to try and give them more stability. Haven't dared turning it over yet to see if it'll stand. Will be pouring Superglue over the joins next and leaving it a day to set.

A Biog - goring up

With the "Rotting Flesh" applied, i've gone at it with my tried and trusted "Tamiya Clear Red/Green Mixed In Different Quantities Each Time" route.
Its left me with something looking more like a bag of offal than the zombie look i was after, but at least its away from the odd blue/white scheme of their 2000AD apperance.

Postgate & Firmin exhibition

Went to Canterbury this morning to take our youngest to the Rupert Bear Musuem. That's lovely as it is, having the chance to study the beautiful original painting up close.
But, main draw is the permanent exhibit of the genius of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. Original Noggin The Nog animation characters (made of card, but you can't tell), original Clangers, the whole Bagpuss shopfront and, oddly as Noggin was a true 2D animation, a lovely model of Noggin's Flying Ship.
Well worth a visit if you're down that way, and only a couple of quid to see.

A Biog

There has been another thing i've been working on but have held back on showing you in case it went wrong and i wouldn't want to waste your time chronicling something i'd not finish.
And i had real reason to doubt as i tried once before (have a trawl back here to see the nightmare i had).
Anyway, over at the 2000ADonline Forum there's an art competition for folk to produce something that shows why you like the title so much.
Decided to go with a Biog as they were the source of Maximum Thrill Power for me when the Prog first started.
But, as i found out 4 years ago, Belardinelli's stunning creatures are real difficult to make flesh.
And i've found it out again. First thing i did was to make a rough head shape from "Plastirok", a superior form of Das Pronto. That's nice and cheap and quick drying but not very good for detail work.
Onto this crude head i added the eyes. For them i used a couple of clear plastic shapes from some sort of packaging that i'd stored away. Figured, with them shaped properly, they could pass for the odd elliptical shapes Massimo had for their eyes.
To make that shape i used Green Stuff, rolling it out nice and thin and making the eye shape first, then building outwards from there.
I first planned on having the "brains" made of the same stuff and set about making small shapes, pressed up against each other. That looked rubbish, so overlaid it with more of the brown stuff.
Carried on building things up, struggling to make what i saw on the page appear in front of me.
Which didn't really work and i only got an approximation. But felt a bit better once i'd put on a basecoat of Rotten Flesh.
I have it in mind to have him in very pale zombie-like tones. Definetly not the blue/white as seen in the comic.

The Thing From Another World sculpt

Having just done a Q&A with artist John Higgins over on my "Aieeee!" Blog, i was reminded how he did the Thing From Another World sequel comics back in the late 80's/early 90's.
And how i was so inspired by one of his covers i straight away went and made one.
Still got it and, crude as it is (electrical cables for tentacles!), i still quite like it.
Here it is with the cover that inspired it.

Catching up

Sorry i've been away a while but work being busy and home being decorating has meant i've had no time to sit down in the Den.
Done a tad more here and there though and this is the progress i've made.
The Ore Ship has had a few new bits added but, really, i need the tank shape for the front and the smaller one at rear before i can go further.
Not much more to report on the Joker - just adding plain purple at the mo.
And nearly there with the Hairdryer Ship. Next step is to add the three Airfix stands on the underside and i've got to figure out how to attach them strongly enough that the ship will rest on these inverted things. Not too well methinks - which is why i reckon they are missing from a lot of shots of the original.

The Joker - getting him clothed

Head is just about done - just building up some highlights in his hair. Sirts now done, ditto the waistcoat and just blocking in the tie