El Chupacabra - "Planes"

This fine fellow is El Chupacabra from the "Planes" movie, built with the Zvezda snap-fit kit.

The kit comes with simple solid color plastic components, and stickers to make up for all of the detail. I used those stickers to fashion masks for the wings, and then cut-to-fit masks for the wheels, and did the stripes freehand.

These are the best snap-fit kits I've ever seen, and I highly recommend them to any modeler, even if you don't have a kid that might want to build one.

Remora Noodle House - WIP

I have spent the past few weeks working on one of the Remora kits from Industria Mechanika, and let me say now that I recommend their kits without reservation. I have several now, and each of them is incredible. 

For this one I'm converting the ship into a flying noodle house, inspired by the movie "Fifth Element." There's a long way to go at this point, but it's all starting to come together. Once the kitchen is built out I'll start in on the heavy weathering. I will also be making polymer clay foods, using dollhouse techniques, that won't involve paint.

This kit represents a real stretch for me, as the polymer clay is new, and I'm not much of a scratch builder. But almost everything in the kitchen will be scratch built. In fact, everything in the photo at this point is - including the unfinished cooler cabinet on the back right. I need to space the shelves so you can see the food, which is why I haven't finished the build.

A lot of the little details, like weathering on the engine, or notes in the wheelhouse, will be fairly hard to see, but I've enjoyed putting them there.

Stay tuned....

 

NOCF Charity Models - Marneus Calgar & Honor Guard

I am happy to be participating a bit more directly with the NOCF charity army projects this year -- with a set of painted models, in addition to the support of Secret Weapon Miniatures.

They have posted a WIP page for all of the army builds, so you can see exactly how things are coming together in real time.

I only have good things to say about the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation, and the money they raise for charity. Money raised through the raffle goes directly to the charities, and you get a chance to win your choice of several incredible armies. There are also weekly drawings -- including several Secret Weapon gift vouchers.

Check it out - and then give them your money!

http://novaopenfoundation.org/

Nurgle Gunner - WIP

I took a little break from the Hello Kitty car to work on this converted Nurgle gunner, using the WFB Nurgle Lord body with a new head, and the heavy bolter in place of the axe.

At this point only the armor on his legs is finished, but the rest is coming along nicely. I'm actually going to re-paint the gun in a blue - slightly lighter than the cloth you can see on the back of him.

I also need to do some touch-up where he was dropped on his back. OOPS!

The base was made by Roman Lappat of Massive Voodoo fame, and the ammo belt is from Dragon Forge Design.

Commission: Hello Kitty Supra GT - Sans Transition

I really didn't like the transition - and so today I re-masked the hood and gave the coat an even coverage of a deeper pink metallic. This also allowed me to paint the rims, so they'll match the paint now. It looks a bit more red in the camera phone pic, but it's actually a salmon pink.

The chair received a pink seat, and a carbon treatment similar to the hood. I'll might do some of that on the interior too... but only if it makes sense at the time. I'm still sorting through the pieces and working out the build/paint plan as this is the first time I've done this kit.

Commission: Hello Kitty Supra GT - Paint Transition

The plan for this one was to fade it from a bright pink, to a dark purple, with the carbon fiber hood. Although I've managed to do this, I'm not entirely sure that I like it at this point. I'm hoping that I'll feel differently about it once the Hello Kitty icons are in place.

Commission: Hello Kitty Supra GT

I don't take on a lot of commissioned projects these days, but when my friends at Powered Play told me they were releasing a new light rig for car kits, and that they wanted me to do a Hello Kitty themed car for them... well... I just couldn't say no.

Now I haven't painted a pristine vehicle since... I honestly can't remember when. But I love Hello Kitty, I like the people involved, and I was glad for an opportunity to use some techniques that I don't generally get to play with. For instance:

I've known HOW to use a mask to create a carbon fiber effect, but I've never had a reason to try it.

Of course the hood on the kit is part of the body - which means that I now have to mask it off, and hope I don't mess it up, while I'm painting the rest of the car.

And the rest of the car will transition from a dark purple metallic in the front, to a bright metallic pink in the back. Because I can. I'll use masks to put Hello Kitty on the doors, tail, and on the hood.

Castle in the Sky - WIP

My wife and I are both fans of the Miyazaki/Ghibli works, and the moment I found out that Finemolds made kits for some of them... well...

You get Pazu and a Guardian robot in one kit, with Sheeta and a Gardener robot in another -- so I had to buy both. The Guardian is in the mock-up, but I'll use the Gardener in the final. That little diorama will be a gift for my wife, while the Guardian will get his wings and be staged to jump off a cliff for my own collection. There's a long way to go, of course, but I'm happy with the progress so far.

Mountaineer Bust - WIP

From JMD Miniatures.

Forge World Jetbikes - Imperial Fists

The first of several planned squads of Imperial Fists jetbikes using Forge World models.

The power armor has been partially shaded with the airbrush, but most of it will be done with a brush so that I can better control the contrast against the jetbike.

I love the models and I'm enjoying the project. There's a display base planned for these three so that I can show them off when I'm not using them.

Octobust... Revised....

I just couldn't leave well enough alone.....

Octobust - WIP

I bought this bust ages ago and no longer remember who the manufacturer is -- if anyone out there knows, please mention it in the comments.

I'm very happy with how the skin tones are coming together. I'm going to give him a selective coat of satin when the skin is finished, but only one small section at a time so that I can ensure that the texture works with the shading.

I will also use some Water Effects to put water droplets at the lowest point on each of his tentacles.

He is sitting on a 1.5" clear acrylic cube. I thought that this would be much more interesting for a water themed model like this than any wood or resin would be, and not quite as campy as sticking him onto a chunk of coral.

Marder III M Ausf.

The initial colour modulation on a Dragon Smart Kit - Marder III M Ausf. I need to clean it up a bit, but it will get muted by filters, chipping, and a small amount of dried mud.

Only the port panel is glued in place -- the starboard panel, gun, gun carriage, gun shield, and rear panel are all loose fitted. You can see some orange tac in the bottom right photo.

Lots to do...

Fire Wizard

This model isn't technically finished, as I see some touch-up to do, but it's close enough that I thought I'd share it. I'm not sure who makes the model, although I think it's a Reaper piece. The model can be removed from the display for gaming -- and will go to a dear friend of mine as a surprise for his birthday. Don't worry, he doesn't follow the blog so it will still be a surprise.

He chose the model, the colours, and the setting which left me a bit of creative license on the execution but I otherwise tried to stick with his vision. I doubt that it will surprise anyone to know that this will be his D&D gaming model.

I had a lot of fun experimenting with this base and I'm pleased with how it turned out. I was worried that the foliage and snow would compete -- but I think the light application of both makes it work.

The sculpt itself was fairly good, although the face left a lot to be desired. This is another one of those sculpts with the classic smooshed face syndrome, complete with drastically lopsided eyes. Fortunately the funky side of the face is largely obscured by the armor.

And tomorrow I should be able to do the touch-up work, set this one aside, and make some room on my work table for something new. Or, you know, maybe finish something else....

Chaos - Heldrake

I was unable to meet the deadline for the 2012 charity project and so told the winner he could pick any one model for me to paint. This is that model. He wanted the classic black/bronze scheme but I took some liberties and went to town with the idea of weathered bronze. From assembly to this stage I'm probably 4 hours into the project.

And now a quick review of the kit itself. First, I'm not a fan of the concept. While the other Demon Engines look like they were designed to function and then stuffed full of demon - this looks like a jet fighter that turned into a duck. That just doesn't do it for me. It is, however, an INTERESTING model and I like it more now that when I first saw previews. But I still don't like it.

The model itself is very well engineered - but also very fragile and very limited. Assembly was incredibly easy but I'm disappointed that while Games Workshop has been giving us more posable, dynamic models this one is really a fixed position, banking to the port, demon duck.

It is also the most fragile plastic model I can remember working with. The wings and neck are fitted with ball joints - and even a liberal application of MEK over a scored surface left me having to re-glue the model several times after only light handling. While I would generally pin a model like this the body is hollow, and the walls thin, so there's not much to be done.

The most disappointing thing for me, however, is the big open cavity in the back where the jet engine would be. It really looks like a trussed turkey from the back. Because there are exhaust ports on the torso, top and bottom, you can also see completely through the model from several angles.

Love it or hate it I'm glad to have had a chance to paint this - but don't expect to add one to my collection for anything but a must-have army item... and I'll resist that if I can.

WIP: Mongo - Painting

 My 1:1 work with Mathieu Fontaine is focused largely on blending skin tones - and so we went for big colours on this guy. The model is perfect for it, with his seriously overdeveloped bulk and forward leaning pose.

Unfortunately it's still painfully obvious which sections I did with the brush and which sections I did with the airbrush. I also need to tone down the left leg as it has far too much white on it. But I'm improving and that's really what I'm after.

Given that so much of the model is blue and green I decided to add some blue to the base weathering - but then come back and use a dark orange for the fabrics. He doesn't have a lot of it so it shouldn't overpower. I will also be shading it in much the same way I did the skin to help tie the colours together. I will probably use the same orange on his goggles.

And here are some close-up shots of just the skin so you can see what I've been working on. You can also see the first shade on the orange of his left foot.

Dragon StuG III Ausf. B - The Home Stretch!

I'm finally in the final stages for this project and happy with how it's coming together.There's still a lot to do, and not a lot of time in which to get it done before the competition this weekend, but I'm sure it will be ready. Of course I have no idea how I'm going to transport the display without destroying the tree... but that's a separate problem.

The StuG itself is nearly complete at this point. I'll finish the weathering when I'm ready to attach the model to the base. Right now it's just sitting there -- likewise the figures are pinned but not glued as they're not finished either. This is just a composition check to make sure everything is where I want it and that it's all going to fit as planned.

Here you can see our happy tank crew enjoying a nice breakfast before they get back to killing and mayhem. I'm paying a lot of attention to how these guys look from the "front" arc of the display to make sure that the highlights all bring the eye to the tank. You can see some of that here, despite the poor lighting, in that the guy in the foreground has highlights on his shoulders to his right arm, the guy in front of him on his left arm, and the guy by the tank is brightest closest to the tank itself. All of the highlights work with the models themselves but the emphasis is placed to draw the eye to the central point -- the tank.

I left some negative space at the front corner so that the tank, tree, and crew would have a focus from the center of the "front" arc to draw the eye into the tank as well. I will add some bright, low foliage in that area to help with the focus.

And here is the nearly finished tree. I have some foliage to add and some to trim away. But if you look at the last StuG post you'll see that it started life as a wire armature. Unfortunately I couldn't find the foliage I really wanted so I've had to settle for my second choice. I had hoped to make this a birch but none of my local floral shops stock the dropping grasses I need. Alas.

I'll have final photos posted soon but probably not before the competition this weekend as time is getting tight.

Dragon StuG III Ausf. B - Texture & Paint

I've had a lot of people ask me about how to create the German forged steel texture and so I'm using this kit as a demo piece. I haven't done anything to the build at this point beyond adding spare track to the front so there won't be a lot of extra detail to distract from the texture.

I actually recorded a video demo today and hope to have time to get it finished this week. The technique is very simple and is a good, quick way to add texture, realism, and visual interest to a model. Plastic kits are too smooth and the finish always leaves something to be desired.

Of course even a simple demo kit deserves a nice home -- and so I'm working on a wire frame tree to have it moving through a field . The plan calls for a low fence as well but we'll see how that plays out after I put in the uneven ground.

Warlord Stug III - Final

So here we are, finally at the end of this project.

My friend Mathieu noticed in the last photos that I had forgotten to pigment or filter the hull by the skirts -- and so the German emblem was too clean and shiny. This made me realize that I had also failed to weather the inside of the skirts.

That, in turn, made me realize that I had forgotten to gloss the mud, add water to the skirts, melted snow to parts of the hull, water in some of the recesses of the engine where snow would have melted, and a few other little details like that.

At this point I feel pretty good about the model but chances are good I'll find something small to change, finish, or clean-up, but this is otherwise a completed project.

I think Warlord Games did an incredible job with this kit. At 1/56 scale the detail is crisp, the casts were clean, and I had very little to do beyond glue the model together before I could get started.

And now here's a composite shot of the layout showing some of the details on the base -- and then some high resolution individual shots of the tank.