Victorian moon lander part 1 or is this 2

Well here's another group build that's in the final stages of completion, I know it looks no where near but all the elements i needed to finish this of have come together (like they do) I was awaiting some brain wave to hit me with how i was to do the landing struts and the burner cans and whilst looking at the nerd herd forums i spotted a scratchbuild that used something similar and add to that i found the perfect junk X3 for the cans so full steam ahead. Also whilst looking for greeblies for one of the other scratchbuilds in progress below i stumbled on a hatch and some figures, this removed the last stumbling block that would have held me up. Plus I've made a moon like base for it, so weather permitting i will be ready to paint this at the weekend if i don't get side tracked by other work.

Rich

Of secateurs and fast recon ships

First we have the fast recon ship, this will be my second build for the group build even tho I've started it first lol. Basically the idea is for a one man recon ship tat can fly though a star system and out the other end faster than anyone else can target or intercept it. So far it's just junk bits of pipe and some champaign flutes for the uber boosters but i have done some more to this and will get some snaps laterz.

And here is the inspiration for the 1st build I'm doing for the group build a pair of secateurs!!! yep was working in the garden and had a eureka moment. Now it's not quite like the final shape but the overall look is there. This was done about 10 or 15 years ago i disremember now since getting back into model building i've wanted to have a crack at this. I 'm going to start forming the shape this weekend if I get finished up with the Victorian moon lander, that's coming up in the next exciting post on BLITZSPEARS LAB (TM;-)

Rich

1/20 astronaut part 2 or is it 3

Progress on the astronaut, I've painted the face cuz i couldn't wait lol and base coated the suit. This has revealed a lot of areas that need working on, his left inner arm is quite devoid of detail and tho it is stretching forward it still needs some work.

Here he is with his helmet fitted and i must say it's worked out really well for a first attempt at this sort of thing.

I'm thinking of having reddish orange bands around his arms and legs to give him some colour and break up the whit-ness of the suit, plus I've seen a similar orange colour used on the ship board suits of the real astronauts in my reference book.

I really need to finish him of before i get to far along with any more sculpts or i will not want to revisit him so exspect some progress on him after the big bench clearout.

Rich

what to do, what to do

Well it's a glorious Sunday morning and I'm in a quandary! do i forget about doing a proper job on clearing my work bench up and say stuff it and start my scratch build, or hang fire and do it in the week and spend today building the new (to me) green house which is currently languishing in my garden in bits. Hmmmm decisions decisions. I have been thinking about how I'm going to tackle this build as it is going to be the first scratch-build that needs to adhere to a certain design concept. I can't just go off mission with this one and stick what ever takes my fancy on it, tho some additions will make themselves known to me as i progress along. I've got (i think ) 2 options for building the main body, option 1 is to make a plasticard rib and cover with strips of more plasticard or option 2 make the main body in 2 halves and again use a plasticard rib to form the shape then infill between the ribs with foam and cover with Styrofoam primer and then the fun begins as i slap on the P38, sand and repeat. From this i want to vac form the 2 halves and also the tail section so i can fit a cockpit and pilot in her without having to dig out all the ribs and foam from the original. This may also help with making the canopy for her but still need to see what way i go with that.

Rich

Inspirations

Well first an apology to Lee and the gang at Pedubaru sci fi modelers group, I did promise to reveal the inspiration behind my fighter concept but the wife's been gardening recently and i can't find them anywhere but will track them down tomorrow. Also when i went to see my friends new narrow boat he's having built I spotted the above derelict, certainly not a runner lol but the weathering on it is fantastic and great reference for modelers.

I love it when you make discorveys like this and your camera is in your hand ready to go, i just need to find out what sort of truck this was when it was on the road.

rich

as promised, only a day late ;0

Above and below is my attempt at a good looking female pilot figure, she needs a lot more work before i add the head and feet. This started as a wire and tinfoil armature and was bent to the pose i was looking for.


I think she may be standing a bit to far forward but will see when the boots go on her.


This guy is my latest try and I'm going a different way with starting him off. Starting with a head sculpt I'm happy with (sort of) i made up a wire body (legs and torso) and then wrapped it in tinfoil to balk it out and help to see the shapes of the body I'm looking for. Then i covered it with sculpy to form the underlying body.
His legs look a bit short in this pic but he has boots to go on, thats the next job. I have done them but needs a bit more work on the details. When they are on i will start to sculpt on the uniform legs first then bake then the upper torso, then bake then the arms will go on. I'll explain the rest when i get to it, soon i hope :)

More soon folks

rich

updates tommorow, promise ;)

Been a bit hectic so no blogging since Friday but i promise some definite content on Thursday, and then it's just a day more at work till i have a week off woohoo. Been sculpting tonight for about 4 hours strait and you tend to loose track of time plus i was trying out a new way of starting of the build. more on that tomorrow. One problem i seem to be having is all my faces look like old men and i need to get good at doing hot looking women. I don't wont people saying whys that old man got boobs lol.

rich

Damn it all brain, stop it

I've just checked out 2 blogs and had 3 ideas for model builds pop into my head, if i don't jott them down they may go away till I'm less busy.

Sorry normal service will now resume.

But there bloody good ideas though so may have to jott them down in one of my less used doodle books so i wont find them till later on this year, yep that's a good plan, go with that we shall.


Rich

Group build plans and err my weekend plans also.

OK quick post regarding the group build I'm starting after the weekend, I've kinda got busy all of a sudden. Saturday I'm helping to move a washing machine in the morning then i need to shop for a new mobile phone, then go collect a trailer so i can collect a green house and finally go clean my beer pipes at the bar i run (new cooler installed today, at last!) Sunday I'm going to look at the bit of river my mates planning to put his boat and need to work out how we can build a mooring for it, then off to by shrimps and some fish for the wife's fish tank uhhhhhg. So that's my weekend sorted so all I'm going to get done is some sanding of my x wings nose if I'm lucky and maybe some pics of my asrtonaut for here ( I've painted his face so he's not so fugly looking).

On to the scratch build then, I think I've mentioned it already somewhere but just to give an idea of what i will be trying to do here's a few pics i did a loooooooooong time ago . I have done a short bit of fiction to go along with this and will post that soon-ish ( when i get feed back).

These doodles show the progression of the idea for it but elements will change as i start building it ( it looks different in my head ) and if anyone can guess what gave me the inspiration for this they win a cookie :)

Rich

1/20 astronaut Pt 2

Found the pics of him with his head on and the helmet all done. Super sculpy for those that have not used it before needs to be baked in the oven to harden off so whilst sculpting you are not fighting the reaction of putty that go's off in about 2 to 4 hours

depending on the brand used. You can like me leave in balancing on top of your scanner between sculpting sessions (just keep it away from the cats ) I used a ball of tinfoil to form the helmet and then dug it out (harder than you think) after it was cured in the oven. Also i used different shades of sculpy to help me form the different layers of the helmet and not get lost with what went where and keep it (sort of symmetrical)

He's in white primer now but i need to get some pics done of him plus there's some touching up to do before i paint him up and try to figure out how I'm going to attach him to the dio i have planned. The dio btw is on hold now till September/October when we will be starting a hopefully a group build at SFM:UK based on machinen Kreiger and the repop of the Kauz and Fliege and the new Snake eye. More info about them can be found out here http://maschinenkrueger.com/forum/index.php?topic=3216.0 I'm going to try to do 2 builds for this ( rendom baouts of insanity do run in the family :) A fire ball already started and a Fliege so i can cover both Merc and SDR space based suits, I hope, well that's the plan and I'm sticking to it-ish.

1/20 Astronaut

Here is another ongoing build that's been languishing on my desk for quite a while now. This is my first proper attempt at sculpting a figure. I used super sculpy mixed with sculpy III to give the sculpy a grey tone that helps when sculpting.

This chap will eventually be part of a diorama including a Fireball SG (stop gap) from the Machinen Krieger universe. The figure is more advanced than this now but will leave those pics for a later update (plus i can't find the pics at the moment :) I've really enjoyed doing this and have started on some more, again in 1/20 scale and i will post some of them up when time allows me to do so. I've had to abandon one as the proportions were just not right. I've done a helmet for him and hopefully will be able to figure out how to make a face plate for him, that will be the last part of the build to do.

Rich

Concept ships blogspot

Just thought I'd post up about this site I tend to check it every week-ish :) to see some stunning artwork. This week its the work of Jim Hatama, some stunning starship concepts and i very much like this guys style. Check it out here http://conceptships.blogspot.com/2009/05/concept-ships-by-jim-hatama.html
It takes time to load but it's well worth it folks.

I will try to drop some links in to other artists work as I (a) remember to do so and (b) stumble on them :)

Rich

X Wing race variant

An on going project this time and not some old tat from last year :0. This is my attempt at converting an old (really old) X Wing kit into a race variant with modified cockpit and engines. It will be painted in blue and silver with lots of star wars company logos on it. The idea stems from seeing a pic of a super marine spitfire when the plane was in its early carrier as a race plane. I'll find a pic to give you some idea of what i mean in the next post about this.

The nice thing about this build is that I'm going to have to cast up part of the engine and vac form the canopy, both techniques are new to me so this will be a challenge to push my building skills to the next level. Plus i have to make some sort of vac forming device that will see a lot of use if long term plans come together as i hope. I will of course document all my trials and errors in these endeavors. The part of the engine needing casting is the burner can at the rear, its just a bit of plumming pipe that still has dirt on it but once its greeblied up and in primer it will look heaps better and i can make 4 copies of it to replace the old ones.

Rich

Colonel Shudderbean

Here's my first big figure, well bigger than the 28mm 40k stuff i do. I think it's turned out well, especially the camo pattern. This was based on the eastern european swamp patterns populer in the late 70's and 80's and based on the German sumpfmuster 43 http://www.kamouflage.net/camouflage/00079.php

It's my own interpritation of it not a direct copy.

The site i used http://www.kamouflage.net/ is a must if you need to find a specific camo or just want to get some inspiration for a project.

Rich

Stalk Tank MkI

Over on the SMANerdherd forum i posted up some pics of my Stalk tank, this was a build that was specifically a walker and to be built from household junk. The group build didn't get finished as the site ( Hobbyshed) has been on its holidays but will be back soon after a major redisign.

Here is a klinky linky to pics over at SFM:UK of the finished build.
http://scifimodels.org.uk/phpWebsite/index.php?module=photoalbum&PHPWS_Album_id=96&PHPWS_Photo_op=view&PHPWS_Photo_id=3012
Keep klicking past my messy work bench for the in prog pics but when you get too the blackend sculpy head stop :) This was a realy fun build to do and i'm planning to do a MkII when i get time and will this will have better legs (going to cast them from a master) and may change the main weopen for a gatling gun type thing.

On a side note about the name I borrowed the name from Dan Abnett the writer and all round nice bloke but my build looks nothing like the Stalk Tank as discribed in the Gaunts Ghosts novels. I sent an e-mail to Mr Abnett with pics of my Stalk Tank when he had a link to a very talented guy building a proper Stalk Tank. Dan e-mailed me back to say he liked it ( how gakking cool is that) Now i've gone and losty the fething e-mail from him should have saved it bloody fool its like getting a letter back from santa saying yes you will be getting that mountin bike you asked for, oh well will know for next time.

Yet another group build :)

So it's that time of year again when people start suggesting group builds on the modeling forums, well actually any time of year is good for a group build but seems to me they start coming thick and fast round about now. Me I'm going to have a stab at the Pedubaru group build. This is a group of modelers that get a kick out of scratch-bashing there own sci fi designs and putting a bit of a back story to it. Below is the end of the e-mail/story that sets the scene very well (well done Lee) and here is the list of what you can choose to build.
This is where you come in. we need the following:single seat fighters (atmospheric or space), stealth recon probeships (manned or robotic), ground units, (tank, mobile gun platform, etc),a doomsday device ship, and further development on an experimental hyper FTLdrive ship.Help us turn the tide of this war, provide us with the very best of what yourcivilizations' technologies can offer.Help us win.

I shall have a stab at the single seat fighter as (a) it ties in nicely with a build I'd planned on starting this summer anyway and (b) I've already designed the ship.
Next job is to dig out the aforementioned design and scan it up to show here, plus i think wright a little back story to introduce it to the group is in order also.

Rich

Naboo N1 and X wing

Here's the pics of the Naboo N1 pocket kit from revelle. Above that is the X wing for comparison of the differing sizes.

The box its sitting on is the standard box that all the kits come in so I'm wondering why its sooooo bloody small. The X wing is a much better size and the details are pretty good for the size, i will see about getting some good close up shots of it.

I'm just wondering why the N1 is so poor compaired to the X wing, it could have been so much better and the cost for both kits are the same so i feel a bit cheeted.

Next up will be the T 47 snowspeeder pocket kit, Now this kit fills the box well and looks good for the size of it.

First postaroony and its a whinge

First post and its about the bloody awful naboo N1 pocket easy kit. It was a shock seeing it when it came out of the box, and compering it to the X Wing pocket kit i don't know how these 2 kits could have come from the same company. We knew the kits would be differing scales as its a fit to box range IE one size box fits all but there is a lot of fresh air in the N1 box compered to say the T47 speeder i got at the same time. I will post up pics of the difference in these 2 models and let you judge for yourself.