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Littletower wrote:I keep loving it.

Your permanent attention to detail and the bizarre mix of fantasy and functionality - latches and sealing strips on a working hatch that opens to a spore spawned green space monster - makes this a great journey to follow.

dsteingass wrote:^^What he said!

Thanks guys.
I've always been interested in how things work and "just because it does" has never been good enough for me. This has permeated everything I do and, not least, my modelling. So every addition needs to look like it has a function and that it could work in reality.

Also, model making to me, has always been more about the making than the final result and that journey makes the final piece all the better for the extra effort. The scratch-building and modifications to my models is the side of the hobby that I never knew I was missing out on until I started on this army project. I used to buy models based on the number of pieces (the higher the better), and I was always looking for a greater challenge than the last model. I could knock out a 300 piece model in under a week and then be looking for the next... Now I spend a week or two adding scratch-built components to a piece of a model that won't see much or any of the light of day, but it's much more fulfilling than any model that has come before.

And it's nice to share my work with people that not only understand, but are as enthusiastic about model making as I am. Thanks.

monkeytroll wrote:Great job on the hatch Doc

Thanks MT.

I've been adding a little more paint to the inside, starting to pick out more things in different colours to break up the sea of beige.

You will notice how the mass of wires/cables next to the Driver appear to disappear into darkness in the corners/shade. Some of them will be picked out in different colours (as will a few other bits) to break up the sea of metal...
The two computer terminals have been based in aluminium and are awaiting panels and dials and screens and buttons being picked out in other colours.
You can also see (I don't think I've shown before) how close the Driver is to the front of the tank and why that reinforcement bar is bent (to get over his toes).

Still to do are the aforementioned screens (including the large rectangle to the Driver's left) and buttons and dials, and the various labels/warnings, and the cables, the ammo dispenser, and any other details that I find along the way, and then ... the Driver and the Gunner...

...Then I can glue it together and start on the outside properly...

So good. Excellent detailing.

And..............so thats metal flooring, ah got it now.

 Camkierhi wrote:
So good. Excellent detailing.

Thanks Cam. More details below...

And..............so thats metal flooring, ah got it now.

So here's progress on the interior.

Various switches, buttons, lights and labels. A little messy in places now I see it on the screen. Still more to do and I'll tidy things up as well.
I think Shatner puts it best...


Also, I got fed up with the continuing bsod appearances and have bought a few new bits for the computer.
For those of you interested, these include; A new motherboard, A 3.1GHz Core i5 processor and 8GB of 1600 DDR3 RAM.
Which will be a great improvement over the current 2.4GHz Core 2 duo and 6GB of 800 DDR2 RAM, with added bsod's.

They should arrive tomorrow, so I may disappear again for a little while...

Now thats just showing off, oh and I hate to be the one to tell you, but Nids are colour blind!!!

Astonishing work, absolutely brilliant.

Airplane 2, I just watched that again recently.

I do like the control panel. Keep up the good work .

Camkierhi wrote:Now thats just showing off, oh and I hate to be the one to tell you, but Nids are colour blind!!!

Astonishing work, absolutely brilliant.

Thanks Cam.
Are they now, I didn't know that. But The Scientist did and while genetically engineering this Nid to be a Mathematical Genius, he also fixed the colour blindness.

Co'tor Shas wrote:Airplane 2, I just watched that again recently.

I do like the control panel. Keep up the good work .

Thanks. I will.

I suppose I could say "spot the differences" between this and the previous updates...

I've added a few bits, tidied a few bits, painted the ammo dispenser (still needs a warning label), painted the cables from the Driver (although not the 2 that go to his head), added a cleaner/worn patch to the metal floor around the Gunner, and various other little things...

Not much left to do and then I'll start on the occupants...

I notice the BSOD on the monitor there! LOL

 Camkierhi wrote:
I notice the BSOD on the monitor there! LOL

Yeah, I had been stuck for what to have on that screen and then with the recent/ongoing bsod issues I've been having I thought it would be good.

Also, speaking of small additions to add character...

How's that for a postcard, holiday snap, or photo of the "war-boss" back home...
It's vague enough for you to make up your own mind of what the Driver has stuck in there.

Looking really good Doc.

Maybe it's a selfie?

That's mad, totally mad. If you offered me a lift in this I would walk. I love the wired in random aliens. SCIENCE!!!

Galorn wrote:Looking really good Doc.

Thanks Galorn.

Camkierhi wrote:Maybe it's a selfie?

Maybe that's why it's a little blurry... nothing to do with my painting, it's intentional...

weetyskemian44 wrote:That's mad, totally mad. If you offered me a lift in this I would walk. I love the wired in random aliens. SCIENCE!!!

You're lucky that it's not a transport vehicle then.
Maybe I'd have more luck if I pulled up in the WS, yes?
Thanks Weety.

Not a lot to show today (I have touched up a few bits, but nothing worth showing).
I've installed the new hardware into the computer, so I now have MORE POWER (as JC would say). I'll give it a good test in a mo (once Skyrim has finished installing... ), just enough time to catch up on my sub'd list...

I was ordering why Gumby was on the photo?

My mother taught me never to get into a car with a stranger... and genestealers are pretty strange!

LOL! Looking good!

Love the interior, really cool so far.

That postcard, at first I thought it was an Ewok, then I zoomed in and saw an ork in a bikini, luckily I wasn't drinking at the time.

on the memory dump screen, serves them right for using windows , really nice work on the lines of text.

I was drinking, it was a scary image I assure you.

Love the detail work you have done, the postcard is fantastic, and I can't wait to see you paint up the figures. Any color ideas for the alien?

So the driver likes to take selfies wearing women's underwear...Is that so wrong

Theophony wrote:I was ordering why Gumby was on the photo?

I should have given him a hanky on his head. I'll save that for a future Gumby.

weetyskemian44 wrote:My mother taught me never to get into a car with a stranger... and genestealers are pretty strange!

Sound advice indeed.
Strange and very friendly. Probably best to avoid beings that want to stick their tongue down your throat and leave you with a blank memory in the morning...

shasolenzabi wrote:LOL! Looking good!

Thanks Shas.

OneManNoodles wrote:Love the interior, really cool so far.

That postcard, at first I thought it was an Ewok, then I zoomed in and saw an ork in a bikini, luckily I wasn't drinking at the time.

on the memory dump screen, serves them right for using windows , really nice work on the lines of text.

Thanks OMN. lol. And it's a red bikini too (we all know what Orks think of that...)

Sageheart wrote:I was drinking, it was a scary image I assure you.

Love the detail work you have done, the postcard is fantastic, and I can't wait to see you paint up the figures. Any color ideas for the alien?

Sorry to have mentally scarred you. Hopefully more drink will erase it.
Thanks. No concrete ideas yet. I'm thinking of making them look like they don't get much sun, but beyond that I haven't decided.

monkeytroll wrote:So the driver likes to take selfies wearing women's underwear...Is that so wrong

lol Monkey. Nothing to say he's not still wearing women's underwear...
Are you going to argue with him about his personal choices...

Right, dinner time. Be back later.

Right, I'm back and I think I've finished the interior details. I keep seeing bits that need a touch up, but you have to stop at some point...

I've added scratches in various places because the Gunner has claws, so he's going to scratch the paintwork every now and then.
Other that a few more touch ups and the odd label, I've done the two radar screens and the three view screens for the Gunner (I see them as one per weapon and have made the views slightly different to show this).

So, it's now time to really think about painting the occupants.
As I said, I want them to look as if they don't get much sun...
So for the Driver, I'm thinking of looking at plants that haven't got much sunlight (I'm expecting a pale green).
The Gunner, I'm going to have a look at my inspiration folder and possibly search for creatures of the dark (from memory this will be pale, translucent or deep reds...). I don't want to make him look like an albino, as I want one of them somewhere else in the army...
Time for a google...

It looks good!

Fantastic work on the consoles - the view-screens are ace

Love the detail work on the interior, you really get the feeling that everything in there has a purpose,
and is there for a reason, very nice work. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the crew .

Thanks Co'tor

monkeytroll wrote:Fantastic work on the consoles - the view-screens are ace

Thanks MT. Glad you like them. A little messy in places, but they will do.

hk1x1 wrote:Love the detail work on the interior, you really get the feeling that everything in there has a purpose,
and is there for a reason, very nice work. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the crew .

Thanks hk. That's exactly what I'm going for, so I'm very pleased that that is what comes across.

Wow.

That's all.

Now, seriously, that level of detailing - both on the model itself and on the justification and explanation of its for's and how's, with each piece having a purpose - is amazing (Speaking this time of the scratches on the board, or the different screens for the different weapons, p.e) and inspiring.

Waiting to see your take at the undergroundnized crew.

 Littletower wrote:
Wow.

That's all.

Now, seriously, that level of detailing - both on the model itself and on the justification and explanation of its for's and how's, with each piece having a purpose - is amazing (Speaking this time of the scratches on the board, or the different screens for the different weapons, p.e) and inspiring.

Waiting to see your take at the undergroundnized crew.

Thanks very much LT.

Would you like to see a wip for the Driver?
You would... Well I was taking pictures to see my own progress, so I suppose I could share them...

Before you go and get over-excited, he's only part done.
The browns are pretty much done,
The blue jeans are pretty much done,
The red shirt could do with some highlights,
The metals haven't been touched yet,
and the skin is only half done;

The thinking behind the skin tone is that, as he doesn't get much sunlight, the fungi has taken a back seat to the animal part. So the green colour has faded and he's taken on a more "natural" skin colour.
He will get more green . As he can open the front hatch to get fresh air and some light, he will retain the green as someone might a tan. I got this idea when I saw NF's sunburnt Snikrot. Although taken in a slightly different direction, it has the same idea behind it (that Ork skin is affected by the amount of light falling on it).
So I'm going to introduce the green colour in the highlights of the skin. I just need to decide on a method and which green I'm going to use.

You should use only a nugget of the purest green

 monkeytroll wrote:
You should use only a nugget of the purest green

You mean... It's... Pure... Green!



Not sure if he's ended up too green, doesn't quite look so green irl...


Just need to do teeth and metals, and he's mostly done...

Sorry for my absence dr h. Things have been nutso. Incredible craftsmanship youve been up to this last month. This interior has taken on a life of its own! It looks incredibly detailed. Great updates

BB