Monday, October 12, 2020

Spaceship Crash Site

 After obsessively watching Luke Towan's diorama videos on Youtube for the past few years, I decided to finally try my hand at some scenery. The inspiration for this vignette came from this sketch by concept artist Guy Warley:


I originally planned to have the figures be backpackers or maybe having a picnic, unaware they were sitting upon the site of an ancient extraterrestrial ruin. Then I could call it "The Picnic at the Ruins of ARK Polaris", or some such. I also thought it would be funny to have one of the figures have a metal detector, but I've been unable, as yet, to find a HO scale detectorist figure. 

The ship hull was printed in polystyrene. I made the ship a bit more organic than the one in the drawing, as I thought it would look cool if the engines were nestled in the recesses. After some minor body work with sandpaper and Tamiya putty:



The engines themselves were designed in Fusion 360 and printed. I also added some throwaway kit details between the engines, but it's unlikely they'll be visible in the final piece. 









Here's a shot to get a feel for the size. 


Here are things mocked up. I bulked the ship out with some styrene insulation. I think the overall base needs to be a little bigger, but overall I'm pleased with how its turning out. I'd like to add some more mechanical detail to the hull, perhaps some panels.




That's all for now. Thanks for looking

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Ian McQue inspired Flying Rig part 5 [FINISHED]

 The front end of the craft was looking pretty barren. I thought it needed a bit of sci-fi tech to smarten it up. This is supposed to be some sort of infra red camera. It came together fairly quickly from a selection of kit parts. The lens is from a bag of polystyrene half domes sold as fake pearls. A bag of 500 in 8 different sizes (3-12mm) was only $4. Expect to see them encrusting everything I build going forward.



Some more bolt heads (Meng brand) were glued on the lower side. These things are really tiny. I typically lose a couple for every one that I manage to get attached.



Next up is the front stabilizer. Sheet styrene, more Meng bolts, and some kit parts.



I had wanted this to be removable (like the other stabilizers) for easier painting. however due to the weird angles and fragility of the parts, it wound up being easier t build it in place. (ie. it's glued on). Some really dubious mechanics going on there...don't look to close.



So after much trepidation, I started painting. I primed with a basecoat of red oxide automotive primer, then applied a couple of light coats of water based hairspray, right from the can. Over this was my base coat of a blue/ grey acrylic (Mission Model brand). As soon as I had cleaned my airbrush, I started the chipping process by light rubbing with a soft, damp brush. As the paint came away, I redistributed it in downward strokes forming what look like rain marks/streaks. 


Once this dried, I followed this with some weathering using the usual washes and filters with oils and enamels.


Here are some shots of the finished model:










Saturday, May 9, 2020

Ian McQue Inspired Flying Rig part 4

It’s been a while since I’ve last posted, apologies for that. I’ve been juggling a few projects and not been too focused on documenting them. I’ll be trying to catch you guys up soon.

Here I’ve added some more details to the lower half. The conduit is made from solid core wire meant for use with a solderless breadboard for electronics prototyping. It’s fixed in place with some super glue and small bits of aluminum tape.



For the front stabilizers, I had one of those kit bashing magic moments. After agonizing for a while about the design and how I would make them, I noticed the armor plates from an old Tamiya flak 38 kit that I had somehow overlooked in my spares bin. I quickly pulled some other parts from the stash and they all seemed to fit perfectly. They literally went together in a few minutes.



I probably should fill those ejector pin marks...





Here they are pressed in place (no glue). I may swap the left for the right, so they sit forward of the front of the vehicle. In any case, I won’t glue them on until all is painted, since they are quite vulnerable.





Nostromo Airlock part 7




This is about 95% of the way there. I still need to build a small display case around it, add a couple small details, and give it another weathering pass, but that will have to wait. Frankly, I'm a bit tired of it at the moment and want to focus on some other projects
for the time being.

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Nostromo Airlock part 6

Update. I've got the ceiling and the beginnings of some lighting. Cheap strip LEDs via Ebay. I went for warm white (70's film stock vibes) rather than cool, which tend to have a blueish cast.



Got everything wired in series.


They're bright as Hell. I also bought a dimmer from the same seller, but I hadn't installed it at the time of this writing.


Here everything is just balancing , no glue.



I found a sheet of frosted plastic film that will make a nice diffuser, but have not installed it yet.







Nostromo Airlock part 5

Home from work with my car in the repair shop, I turned my attention to the floor grate. This one cost me 2D6 sanity points, but I'm really happy how it turned out. Rather than take the easy way out I decided to try and replicate the grate from Ron Cobbs drawing seen above.


To cut these to the same length with a 45 chamfer at each end, I modified an Xacto mitre box by adding a stop and a small clamp to hold the piece being cut.



Then it was a matter of cutting them with a razor saw and cleaning up any burrs. These were glued to a thin strip to make each 'rail' of the grate. 
I cut some grooves in a piece of MDF at the correct spacing and glued some styrene strips at either end. 


I continued this border completely around the rails.


Behind this, I glued a sheet of styrene with slots machined into it.


This was surrounded by a second outer frame built from thicker styrene. Here is the result:



All in all, I'm quite happy with the results. 












Nostromo Airlock part 4


A few updates since last time:
There are now two completed wall sections. As I was doing a test assembly, I found out that I needed to lengthen the walls. Hopefully, it won't be too noticeable once they're painted.


The doors have been assembled and primed. I still have to make the hydraulic latches that are seen in the rectangular cutouts.


The padding around the door has also been glued in place and primed.



A quick fit check.

I got a base coat of yellow oxide down on the pads.


The pads for the ceiling have also been started. These will now have to be lengthened to match the new wall length.