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

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:

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.