The many faces of a Wampa

I love the Net - you go off looking for info for one thing and come across something you weren't looking for, but were glad you did, even though you don't really need to know it.
Case in point here.
I've always thought there were two Wampa's in "Empire" - the rather Yeti-like one who roars up and attacks Luke:

And the much more feral, mean one seen in the Special Edition:

Two, right?

Pretty stunned to find this *ahem* "unusual" version of the fella and kinda dismissed it as one of the whole bunch of maquettes and mock ups made prior to shooting, one of those wildly in variance designs that were chucked out for George's perusal, much like the blue Yoda and the Santa Yoda.
Doubly stunned then to find that not only was it made by Stuart Freeborn, the genius who sculpted Yoda (and who quite wisely keeps this guy off his CV)but it was actually used on-screen:

NOW i know why it runs at Luke playing peekaboo...
I had a final stunned moment to find that there was actually a fourth one, who mercifully didn't make it up there:

Nurgle Titan - all finished

Here she all done then - and currently on sale on eBay.

Gateway 20

Earlier this year, the last ever Dronearama - the bi-annual modelling convention for the Film & TV Modelling Club - was held up in Nottingham.
Talking with Andrew, the originator of the club and editor of its excellent "Drone" magazine, he was saying how next year the club and mag would be 20-years old and how it'd be a shame not to mark the occasion in some way.
Over the weekend, the idea of a one day meet for folk to get together in Nottingham to celebrate was proposed and was met enthusiastically.
Out of that grew the idea of not having a model show like past events, but what if folk got a quarter inch thick piece of MDF, either 2'X2' or 1'X2' and on it build a section of a space base.
As long as one side met the edge, the idea is they could all be put together to form a large display.
And, as long as the base coat was Halfords Grey Primer to try and convey a unity of it being built all at the same time, it could then be adapted in any way the builder likes - sort of a Mos Eisley affair.
And whether you build a fuel dump, landing pad, buildings, would be up to you.
And it would be called "Gateway 20" as we stay at the Gateway hotel and its a 20 year celebration.
Initially i had the idea of using half of the saucer hull from the old "Star Trek The Motion Picture" Enterprise turned upside-down and stuck on a pole for a raised landing platform.
But i was recently at a boot fair and got a big Matchbox space playset for a quid, which offered by these choice pieces:

So i'm now going for a vertical launch pad, kind of like the Lunar Modules one in "UFO", with a carrier craft alongside it.
Here you see them close up. As the launch pad will be mainly grey, i'm going to have the ship a nice bright colour for contrast.

The tank really reminds me of the Overlander from "Terrahawks", possibly the last superb model from the Gerry Anderson shows:

and is a real nifty item considering its a toy. I quite like its orange and white colouring and will be keeping it methinks.

R.I.P Bowerhouse magazine

Shame to have to type this, but i'm afraid the printed version of Bowerhouse is no more.
Martin has taken the decision to move into electronic publishing for the title and, of course, i wish him all the very best with it.
Personally, i'm gutted the physical copy has ended as it was the frustration of buying a magazine solely for an article with Martin, only to feel cheated that the paltry few pages given over to him would only roughly go into the model making processes he used for certain projects.
And it was that frustration, and a desire to see the magazine i always wanted, that gave me the initial idea of Bowerhouse and started the ball rolling.
There's no room for any of us original bods in this new incarnation the publication is taking, so i wave me hanky as it sets sail for new territories.
All the best Bowerhouse.

Cylon Raider - ready for paint

Nice bit of progress here.
I've covered the holes at the front where the rockets used to go with a couple of engine nozzles from, i think, a 1/72nd Tornado:

And i've covered up the gappy engine area. I blanked it off with Plasticard and then had to decide what to do with those rather daft looking engines just sitting there. Looking on the Net, a lot of folk seem to prefer to put in a baffle arrangement, so i've done the same, cutting down a cable tie for each side. Used them rather than more Plasticard as i figure the ribbing will give a bit more detail:

And here you can see i've put extra pieces down in that trench affair between the two wings parts and added those tiny clear red pieces. The two together there are to try and get across a similar feature that's on the studio model.

Finally, here she is in Halfords Grey Primer. I've been umming and ahhing over what the top caot will be as, looking around, folk seem to do them anything from dark grey, through all the shades of grey, up almost to cream.
I was planning on going with Tamiya JA Grey meself, figuring the Primer would be far too dark.
But, quite like it as is.
So i'm staying with it.

Incidently, there's a gap as you can see at the rear of the canopy. That's because i've only Blu Tac'd it in place as, hopefully, one day i can get a clear canopy and cockpit set.

Under The Influence - 4

Being born in '62, guess i was just the right age for when Irwin Allen's output was first released.
Loved The Time Tunnel - though that was more down to a prepubescent crush on Lee Merriwether.
Ditto Land Of The Giants and Heather Young.
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea i was interested in only if it had monsters in it - you could keep all your Cold War boringness.
But Lost In Space was my favourite because, well, it was in space. Every week. With monsters.
Looking at it now (and i can only bear the occasional Season 2 episode), its pretty duff stuff, with duff plots, duffer acting and even duffer makeup effects.
Except for these two, and the reason for the shows inclusion here.
Up until this point, it'd never occured to me that anything on the telly could be scary.
But these two were, and still get a reaction out of me now.
First up, "The Golden Man". Watch the episode and its pretty bad. But this guys lop-sided face and, especially the wonky eyes, was like nothing i'd ever seen before:


And then we have "The Cyclops", a truely scary creation which, unlike pretty much ever other monster on the show, was lit and photographed well:

So popular was he that he spawned this kit which, alas, i've never owned, rather just pined for it over the ads in DC comics:

Thought you might like to see a shot of the guy who played him, Lamar Lundy:

From the back of the cabinet - ID Monster

Bought this lovely clear red monster from the fabulously brilliant, easily in my Top Ten Films, Forbidden Planet years back.
They did a real good job and translating what, in the film, was basically outline into a physical model.
Its not apparent in the shot above that he actually lights up to try and convey how he appears in the film.
Decided to do that while playing around with him, holding him up to the light:

So, made up a base from an old picture frame and,when he's on it, there's two super bright LED's shining up through holes where his feet go.
Its not that effective unless the room is VERY dark:

Cylon Raider - gaps

The ship arrived safe and sound and its just as i remembered it - nice and big and quite well detailed.
Having said that, there are areas that are more detailed than others and the lacking parts could do with a few greeblies put on.
So that's what i'll do.
I've also got to cover up the holes in the front where the missles fired out (this kit didn't come with them, so makes it the later re-release).
And i have to address the bad gaps that i remembered.
This one's not too bad, being a small gap at the top of the cowls:

But this is the worst culprit:

The engine parts are just these two squares just sat there, with nothing behind them, meaning you can see right to the other end of the ship.
So, will be putting some blanking plates in with a bunch of detail to convey the inner workings.

AB36 Wrecker Droid - face

Think this is as far as i'm going with the face, as i don't wnat stuff to detract from the eyes. Might put a bunch of cables from the neck area into the body though.

DIANOGA! - in his new home

Here we are then. Very pleased how the fellas come out, although he's not that accurate and the eyes far too bright, but i like him.
Also like the fact that he coast less than a tenner to do.

Wells' Martian - mouth done

Here we are then with the tentacles put in place. The fact that they're elasticated cord means they'll be fully posable when done.
You can also see i've blocked the eyes in white, first step on the vaguest part of this build...

Gremlin bust

Did this about ten years ago, just doing the head, as where the heck would i put a full-size one?
So, did just the head and thought it'd be neat to have it mounted and put up on the wall as a sort of hunters trophy.
Trouble was, one of the ears during assembly dropped right back:

Meaning i couldn't attach it to a plinth.
So its sat tucked away all these years.
But i've decided to take him apart now and do it properly. Minds made up by the fact that i've never been too happy with the paint-job.
I like what i did with the eyes, but i'm not happy with the skin, as it really shows that all i had to hand at that time were Games Workshop paints, resulting in a cartoonish, unconvincing end result.

Under The Influence - 3

Zipping forward now to the late 70's.
I'm in college, and borderline obssesed with Blakes 7, as here we have a weekly TV show with adult, serious SF drama.
With great looking craft to go with it...
Only not.
Didn't realise until the series finally came out on video that my memory was cheating me - what looked good on a B/W portable at the time sure didn't look as good when seeing it in colour on a regualr screen.
And memory massively cheated in this case as, at the same time series 1 and 2 were airing, i was also semi-obsssesed by the "Terran Trade Authority" books of the likes seen here.
Inside you had glorious A4 reproductions of stunning 70's Sf art of the likes of Chris Foss and Peter Elson.
All accompanied by an awful lot of text, which was pretty good and pretty fun when the author couldn't think of a suitable backstory for a painting, so time and time again was labelled "unknown space wreck".
Didn't matter though - i had Blakes 7 on the telly, Empire Strikes Back at the pictures and these books at home to give me insperation for my scratchbuilds.
Didn't matter that they were crap, i was inspired.

Cylon Raider

Ploughing through the DVD set of the original Galactica series and, boy, its hard work.
Everything that was naff with it back then is still there and its horribly, horribly dated.
Reason for keeping with it is the occasional glimpse of the modelwork of course.
Reckon the models themselves have been rather unfairly overlooked, mainly because of the shoddy camera and processwork making them blurry and indistinct and the conastant re-using of the same shots over and over again.
Look beyond that at the models themselves though, and there's some terrific stuff going on there and you can tell it was Dykstra and co moving straight on to the show off the back of Star Wars, the stamp is all over the designs.
And most of the ships could easily be seen docked at Mos Eisley, yes?
Have said already how the Mining Ship is my favourite of the colony ships, but for me my fave of the whole show are the Raiders - a brilliant, simple effective design, really exuding menace.
Mind turned to making one again as my original one has long been gone. So i've one on the way that i picked up off the 'Bay for just a tenner.
I remember it being a nice, big model - and it also having a hideous empty whole around the engines, meaning you can see right inside.
So i'll have to fix that somehow and i'm also thinking maybe i'll light it as there's sure enough space inside for the battery pack.
What i'd REALLY like is the old conversion kit of a deatiled interior and crew plus clear vac-form canopy - but that's long gone now.

Under The Influence - 2

Being an occasional series while the paint is drying, the glue is hardening or waiting for enthusiasm to come back, where i have a waffle on the things, films, books and whatnot that had a direct influence on me, getting me into this hobby or the whole SF/fantasy malarky.
Every model i've ever made is totally down to Aurora monster kits. Guess i was real fortunate to be just the right age of about 11ish when they first hit the UK shops and i can remember an almost fervent craze to amass as many of them as possible among my school friends.
Whereas, with bubblegum cards, you could easily bring them in to show them off in the playground, that wasn't exactly practical with these fellas.
Instead, you brought your alternate parts you chose not to use as proof you had that particular beastie - usually the head, and usually the standard plastic version painted up, as most used the glow in the dark parts on their builds.
These are the one's i know for sure i had.
The Hunchback i never, ever owned but longed for like you wouldn't believe.
And how i cherished Nigel Morgan's spare head of Quasi that he gave me.
Keep considering getting a full kit some time, now its readily available again.

DIANOGA! - change of mind

There i was, basing the rest of the fella in Bleached Bone, when what's been niggling me REALLY started to niggle - that brown i'd done the eyelids in was far too dark to allow the icky detail to be seen if i did it over the whole thing.
So changed tack, basecoated them again and, as you can see, i've started putting on washes in far more suitable shades.
Next up, get some variation in there, picking out ickiness.

Under The Influence - 1

Being an occasional series while the paint is drying, the glue is hardening or waiting for enthusiasm to come back, where i have a waffle on the things, films, books and whatnot that had a direct influence on me, getting me into this hobby or the whole SF/fantasy malarky.
First up, guess i'll have to go with the very earliest thing i can remember obsessing over. Dunno just when i saw the Batman TV series - know the film spin-off was the very first film i ever saw at the cinema, and i was certainly aware of the show from the ads in the American comics back in 66/67, but the actual show itself? Stumped by that.
All i DO know is that these bubblegum cards were my world. For a fraction of my pocket money i could get hugely entertaining and evocative snapshot images from the Dark Knights adventures although, at the time, i had no idea that the thrills they were delevering far out-stretched anything the TV show could offer.
It didn't matter - for a couple of years they were my world and i can still smell the rock solid bubblegum even now.

Totally in awe

Man, oh man. This guy says his studio scale Tantive IV doesn't use the accurate kit parts - but who cares when it looks as good as this?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28993771@N04/sets/72157622636188685/

From the back of the cabinet - Galactica Mining Ship

Yet another item dusted off to show you.
I built this years back and its a terrificly detailed piece of work. Quite expensive as i recall for such a small ship but it was the smallness that attracted it to me.
I would've got one in a bigger scale as i've always loved the design and, me being a Projectionist and its basis being three film cans, there was another connection.
But, anyway, its small.
And its smallness is due to it being totally in scale with the old Galactica model, which i thought was a neat idea.
So, got one - but then bemoaned that i'd have to track down a Galactica to display it with, my old one long since scrapped.
Step in my friend Alun, who very generously gave me his built one.
So here they are:

Special mention here to the excellent work Alun had done to the model, installing fibre opric windows throughout, landing bay lights and having the engines illuminated.
Top, top work there Alun and i'm still very grateful for the donation.