Thursday 28 January 2016

Rey's staff - nearly done

Here we go with the paint stages of Rey's quarterstaff, and i was lucky in that i had enough of the mettalic grey left over from my Blakes 7 blaster project for the basecoat here.
And i've put in a bunch of weathering, just need to add the rag handgrips now.

Wednesday 27 January 2016

The Moebius - neck

More progress on the Moebius.
I've added the one detail up top on this hull and the three below, though i didn't want to make them recessed as in the drawing as that'd be a bit of a palaver, digging though the Plasticard, then the conditioner bottle, then the plaster of paris that's inside.
Instead i've done them as raised details and i've used cut-down cable ties for them.
And i've added the "neck". Handily, the ABS tubing i've got left over from the Blakes 7 blaster is just the right diameter.

Sunday 24 January 2016

Blakes 7 Ore Carrier - new bits on

Right, that's my crappy recreation detail pinged off and the redeals put on.
And i've also added two chrome parts from the truck kit that i'd bought for the piping on the top of the Shuttle tanks - always great when a donor kit offers up more than one part!

Friday 22 January 2016

Blakes 7 Ore Carrier - getting back on track

Its been quite a while since i've posted anything new on my Blakes 7 Ore Carrier recreation.
It'd been at a standstill for quite a while as i tried to track down two very distinctive shapes at the front, but wasn't having much luck.
Then found that they were from a tractor kit, but that didn't move things forward as it turned out its now a pretty rare thing these day - only one i could find on the 'Bay was 65 quid in the States, so there'd be hefty postage on top of that too.
So i decided to make my own approximations of the pieces, glued them on and that was that - but then the Top Bloke that is Phil steps in and lets me know that he's managed to grab himself one of the tractor kits, and would i like him to cast me copies?
Sure would!
And they've arrived today i'm happy to say. In the end it wasn't a case of Phil having to cast four pieces as there were four curvy shapes in the box, so he's let me have them and cast me the other two.
Here they are alongside the crude one's i'd made - just need to ping them off, and the games back on!




Thursday 21 January 2016

The Moebius - bubble canopy done

Fast-forwarded quite a bit here with the Moebius - i've finished the seat area, stuck it into the bottom half of the ball, and made a HUD display for the upper half.

Wednesday 20 January 2016

Rey's staff - assembled

Okay, that's Rey's staff built, not at all accurate but very cheap as its all made from one trip to the hardware store.
Next up, the fun part - painting and weathering.

Monday 18 January 2016

Cursed Earth shoulder pad - reds

So here we go with the Cursed Earth shoulder pad:
based in red,
washed and weathered,
and metal chips picked out.
Next up, refine the metally bits and then start on the rust.



Saturday 16 January 2016

Rey's staff

Our eldest daughter wants to be Rey at a convention next month.
The outfits no problem, we got that from the Disney Store and its brilliantly accurate.
But, no quarterstaff.
With less than a month to make one, that's a problem.
Another problem is that some of the parts on it seem to be Lightsaber handles (leading to much fan speculation as to whther she really is carting around the weapons of Mace Windu and Darth Maul).
Folk have made their have been using the "build your own lightsaber" construction toy, but that's pretty rare now and therefore pricy - minimum of 35 quid at the moment.
No time to wait for one cheaper, plus i don't have that sort of dosh right now, so i'm going my own way and making our daughter a "in the spirit of the original" one, and a trip to our local hardware store has got me these plumbing pieces to start with.



Tuesday 12 January 2016

The Moebius - working on the lower section.

So i've Hot Glued Plasticard to the top and bottom of the conditioner bottle (no other glue will touch the rubbery plastic), filled the joins, added panels to the underside as per the drawing that Moebius did, then added a strip of Plasticard plus rod all along the side to disguise the join.



Monday 11 January 2016

Greedo

I got this Greedo mask off of a fellow 501st member dirt cheap.
I've always liked the character, so would have got it anyway, but thought it would be a nice project to paint it and replace the odd eyes that come with it for something more suitable.
Had a surprise when it arrived - its not unpainted latex as i thought, but a quite subtle airbrushing over a teal basecoat (much brigher than it appears here).
So that opens up some options:
Do i stick with this colour, or repaint brighter?
Do i replace the eyes with solid colour hemispheres and have the mask displayed on a wig stand?
Or do i do them in a transparent black, so the mask can be wearable?
And, if i do that, do i make the rest of the outfit?



Friday 8 January 2016

Cursed Earth shoulder pad

Got far too much foam matting laying around at the moment, so i've knocked myself up a quick Cursed Earth-style shoulder pad, with a upper layer of some neat holely cardboard and a couple of wheels parts from a kit.
Once the white glue/water i've put on as as sealer has dried, then i'll be painting and i'm thinking a red for a bit of difference.

Sunday 3 January 2016

The Moebius - starting on the cockpit

I need to get some Plasticard before i can continue on the lower section of the Moebius, so i've made a start on the cockpit seat.
Eyeballing it, to be true to the illustrations i figure i'd need the ship to be 1/48th scale but:
(A) i've not much money this close to the finish of Christmas to source a suitable kit,
(B) 1/48th would make it a quite small craft and the interior would be VERY cramped,
(C) i've plenty of 1/72nd cockpits to use,
(D) it would make for a more decent size ship,
(E) i'm more likely to find suitable figures to stand on top.
So here's what i've done - started with a cockpit seat from a modern fighter kit and built around it with Plasticard and detailed up with kitbits.
It was tricky cutting the Plasticard to match the curve of the inside of the clear ball i'm using, but got there in the end.


Friday 1 January 2016

The Moebius.

The start of a new year, so starting with three new resolutions:
build more,
build them with a view to selling, so take that into account for the displaying and sturdiness,
get out to more Cons to get my stuff out there.
And starting a brand new build on this first day of a brand new year.
I mentioned a while back that i had it in mind to make my version of this nifty ship design by the brilliant French artist Moebius, that he did for a comic strip back in the 70's.
I've been waiting for the conditioner bottle to be all used up as i see it as a good match as a donor for the lower section that houses the crew area and, once empty, i washed it out and cut the top off.
As i say, i'm making things now with a view to not only being sturdy enough for transport, but also how to display - too often i make something just for myself and never think about what to do with it when done.
With the Moebius (which i'll call it) i know i want it on a nice stand, supported by a clear rod.
But, looking at the illustration, this lower section will be taking all the weight of the ship above, and the conditioner bottle is VERY flimsy.
So you can see i've filled it with Plaster Of Paris, which has made it lovely and heavy, and i've capped the end with Plasticard that has a hole cut out to allow for the bubble canopy.