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Amazing work Doc, those trees really give it scale and the minis make it look alive. Fantastic!

A lot of short, positive, comments = must be doing something right there then.
Thanks Chaps.

The diorama is done now. You'll need to wait until after Christmas to see the finished photos though.

Planning for present #3 is underway.

And progress on the robo-dino:

Trying to keep the upper body and head as light as possible due to leverage at the single point of contact. But once the upper body is done I'll know how much weight to add to the tail to keep it balanced.

As this is based on Deinonychus, it's all about slashing claws, so for the head I decided to go for a beak-like chopper (think of the things the fire department use to chop a car roof off).
I even managed to keep it hinged.

There will be many cables before armour.

I'll try and check in on your blogs soon; busy busy...

Very exciting, and puts my robo-dino-rebuild efforts to shame!

Outstanding! Love the tree diorama it will look great on someone’s shelf.

Thanks Graven'. I will have to find some time to pop over and see what you're doing.

Thanks York'. Yeah, it does look nice installed in a bookcase.

Progress on the robo-dino.
Tail structure on, some cabling done.


Now looking to armour this thing up and give it final details to fill the gaps.
Legs are first up in this process...

Tau bits, Eldar bits, 3d printer bits? Dont know what the finished product is going to look like but its very interesting so far.

That is one crazy build so far! I like it.

Yes, the robo dino is very interesting! Will it have a rider as well?

Your pace seems to be accelerating looking good!

Loving that big time!

Thanks York'. Yes, and a bit of a Rhino/Predator, some pen bits, a bit of a Lynx helicopter and a load of plasticard. The 3D printed parts are casts from Dakkas own OneManNoodles.
And sequins...

Thanks Riddle', welcome. This is how we do around here.

Thanks Cask'. Welcome too. No rider. This is inspired by the robots in Horizon Zero dawn; some of which can be ridden, I believe (I haven't played it). Therefore I have made some elements of this model look like it can be ridden. At the scale it's ended up at (not planned at all) I'd have to sculpt a rider from scratch and
a) my sculpting is not that good,
b) that would add another month to the project,
c) I'd have had to make it actually ride-able and not just look like it can be ridden.
Plus there is so much more I'd have liked to have done to just the dino model that I could add another month or 2 to this build... but I only have a week left and it needs painting!!!

Thanks Tom'. As Christmas draws ever nearer, my pace accelerates as I become more and more paranoid about not finishing in time... ONE WEEK TO GO!!!

Thanks Gits'.

Robo-dino build done... as much as it can be. I need to get it painted and time is short and paranoia is high.

I have also cut a base/plinth for it to stand on, just going to be plain wood, no time to muck about with a scenic base on this scale.
Did I mention that this is over 4 inches high (at the head) and about 7 inches long. I'll remember a scale shot when it's done.

Current Christmas progress:
#1 done
#2 ready for paint
#3 painting
#4 planning stage / building
ONE WEEK TO GO...!

^ No pressure looking fine and gribbly.

Thanks Graven'.

Airbrush to the rescue. Painting time cut by days.
Managed to get a good coat of dark and mid-tones on the dino in a couple of hours rather than a couple of days. It was then just a matter of picking out certain armour pieces and other details, and we're done.
The last of the 4 projects went really quick too as I kept it simple (as you can for an N-gauge house).

Here's the primed photos of the dino to keep you going until after Christmas.


Now just to check all the final photos and get these wrapped.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas.

I got some new paints to play with (GSW colourshift), so expect everything in the future to be painted with them.
I also got a few CDs (Olafur Arnalds, Chase&Status, Stealing sheep, 808 state) and The Outer Worlds (so there's something else to keep me away from models).

And, at last, I can share with you all the finished presents for this year.

To start with, this is another N-gauge house.
Minimal internal furnishings (compared to the previous house) as only 2 of the windows you can actually see through.
I did add a small pond out front (with water effects), some fencing and a gate, and a small garden/growing patch out back.


Next, we have a set of chameleon earrings (there's an in-joke that involves a video of a chameleon).
'Nid for scale.


Then there is the Robo-dino.
Based on a Deinonychus (larger relative of the real, and quite small, Velociraptor) and on the theme of the Horizon Zero Dawn game.

And with a scale shot. This model is at about 1:14th scale if you consider a real Deinonychus.


And finally, the Bookcase diorama.
I found out recently that these things have become quite popular and are known as "Book Nooks". So there's another search phrase for you to look up.
Based on the Lord of the Rings, with Elrond and Thranduil figures, and a small light at the rear to show where the path through the trees is leading.


Not on a shelf


Closer look


Elrond


Thranduil (king of the Elves)


So this is Christmas...

Thank you all for following along.
Normal service will be resumed shortly... Outer Worlds not withstanding ... And I'll have a tour of my latest Fallout 4 settlement up on YouTube soon (it's currently rendering).

WOW. The bookcase diorama is next level, beyond that. I can't tell you how much I love it.

Thanks Tom. Nice to hear.

Predictably, I have been playing a lot of the Outer Worlds.

But I did finish my latest Fallout 4 settlement build before Christmas, and I've now uploaded the tour video to YouTube.
Give it a look, I put as much care and attention to these builds and tours as I do on my models.
Stick on some music and watch me walk about and look at things.

I have to agree with Heretic Tom, the diorama is very impressive. Looks good sitting among all the other works of art.

The diorama (the book nook) looks perfect on the shelf. Such a cool idea. Very well executed too, but that's not surprising.

Have a happy New Year, doc.

Wowza! perfect.

Thanks and Happy new year to you all.

Amongst the other things I got for Christmas there was a cold...
That and The Outer Worlds has kept me busy.
But the blessing of Nurgle has passed on and I'm now on the second playthrough of TOWorlds, normal service may soon return.

Speaking of Christmas presents I have tried out the paints I got, to see what's what.

Thoughts:
These are all 5 coats, hairy-brush (airbrush recommended), over gloss black (as recommended).
A) Psychotic Illusion - the reason I wanted this pack, Purple with a green highlight. Works well, covers pretty good.
B) Nebula Copper - Orange/copper with Magenta highlight. Reasonable result, will need a few more coats.
C) Burning Gold - Orange/brown with Yellow highlight. Needs many more coats, might be nice over a gold base.
D) Celestial Azure - Purple with Turquoise highlight. Nice surprise; paint looks white in the pot but immediately pops once on the surface.
E) Cobalt Blue - Purple with Blue highlight. As D) but subtle effect; minimal difference in colour. More coats will help.
F) Toxic Purple - Blue/Green with Purple highlight. As D) Works well too.

In general, these paints will be wasted on a flat surface with sharp edges. You want a complex curved surface to really see any effect; see photos above, colour change is only at the corner, once flat they are a single colour.
Lighting can make a big difference. I had to take these photos with my "painting lights" off, as the bright, all-round, lighting just left a photo with no effect visible.

Many many coats. Yes, any paint will take a few to cover black, but these more so to even see the effect. Some more than others.
Will be interesting to see the subtle effect of these over other colours to enhance shading/lighting effects.

Need good mixing before use, and regular re-mixing during use; the particles fall out of suspension quickly. But a small drop will cover quite a lot of surface (but then you do need multiple coats). Dispense when needed, rather than pool on a palette.

In other news.
I took some more photos of my Malignant Plaguecaster. I wasn't entirely happy with the previous photos and have finally got around to taking more that include things in focus for a change.
Click through to the gallery to see.


I may return to work on the hut on a mound soon...ish.
Thanks for sticking around.

Good to hear your on the mend and that’s a nice batch of Christmas gifts. Your plague caster is a ghastly thing of nightmares, I mean that in only the nicest of ways. ;-)

Wow Doc, that LotR diorama is beautiful. I'm sorry I missed the build, as it was an interesting one, reading back over it.
LotR is my favourite book and i'd love to have something like that on my shelf with them.

Interesting look at the colourshift paints from GSW. Have you got any specific uses planned for them?

Useful review of the gs world paints. Nice one.

Interesting paints. Can't say I'm likely to use them, but it's still useful info to know, in case I change my mind...or have a project for which they would perfect - shut up, brain! The caster looks really cool in focus. Nice job.

Thanks York'.

Thanks Snrub. I had someone ask, over on FB, if I would make a Hobbit-themed book-nook for them. I guess they didn't like the price estimate and list of talking points (rather than call them "problems") I gave them; didn't hear back.

No immediate or actual plans for the colourshift paints. But I'll be sure to find a use for them now I have some.

Thanks Graven', no problem. I had some thoughts and thought I'd share.

Thanks 'boss.
Yeah, sometimes a miniature can be a pain to get a good photo of. The first time I'd just had enough of taking photos of him, and it took this long before I could bring myself to attempt it again.

Things are happening again...

Take some card shapes,
glue to a sheet of tissue paper and cut around them,
Cut some wires to length and glue to tissue,
Sandwich the wires and tissue with second card shape.

Japanese paper windows, the "easy" way.


Now to fit these together in a square (I have some posts... made from sprue... that will help) and set on the base.
Then build a roof piece that will sit on top and be removable.
And build and detail the interior.
Etc...

I'll try and catch up with all your blogs at the weekend.

Paper lamps are made in a similar fashion. The Japanese use rice paper traditionally, but tissue paper works in a pinch.

Updated photos of the Malignant are good. Brighter colors than I associate with the Nurgle-y bunch. Brighter colors are always good, IMEO.

No doubt they do, Red'.
Yeah, I'm using what I have on hand. It'll be relatively fragile, but should handle careful handling... hence the wires on the outside of the tissue, spaced enough that a finger should find a wire or part of the frame before finding tissue.

Thanks. Yes, I decided to do the plaguecaster in a "different" scheme for a change; make him stand out a bit. But he wasn't getting much attention on Etsy, so new photos were required to give him the best chance.

The walls are now together:

And an example of the future plans... yes, there will be some lighting.
The tissue should show it off better than clear windows would have.

Until next time...

Lovely work there. Bushido a go go!

That's seriously cool.

Nice review of those color shift paints. And the lighting effect on the Japanese building looks amazing.