Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

makes you wonder exactly *what* advancements there has been in pallet technology since they were invented...

i was thinking about it recently, and i figure 39,000 years in the future, they would just build fork lift pockets into the crates that would normally go on pallets. probably has something to do with watching/listening to the Rifftrax of Alien, then watching Aliens and Sigourney Weaver pilot that awesome CAT exoskeleton/loader...

the level of detail necessary to make a scale model plastic pallet was beyond my talents when i thought about making pallets...still is, really, i guess. but wood pallets are probably recognizable world-wide. cheap and easy...what's not to like?

was actually thinking about battlefield clutter for my battlefield. i plan on (eventually) making a full 4' x 8' urban warfare board...one of the components i was thinking about was a warehouse or storage yard. manufactorums *make* stuff, but you never seem to see it. and it can't all be war materiel...so what else is there, and what do they store it in? then i thought, a collapsible plastic gaylord pallet box like this:


would be pretty gnarly looking, especially in big stacks (cover, mazes, endless possibilities, really)...

Yeah, stacks of something like that would look pretty sweet.

been a while, i know, but i've been working on the LoER competition here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/629845.page

my progress can be found on this thread (which was front paged!): http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/563710.page

LoER contest has kept me busy, but i need a break from that. started painting more of the GeeBee last night. no pics, as i didn't do much of anything impressive.

also started on a squiggoth... i will put pictures of my progress on that up tonight.

thanks for stopping by.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
squiggoth WIP pics:



i am a bit of a thrift store nut...if i lived closer to a decent one, i'd go every week (or every day). i always grab something with an eye to converting it into something else. managed to find this and a smaller, different triceratops toy...think the scale on this one is a bit better for what i want.

farted around for about an hour knocking out some basic armor and a platform for the howdah...also did some greenstuff work on the shoulders (darker spots on the two full body pics). not very good with greenstuff yet, but i figure it's not important, as you will never see those parts once it's done.

c/c welcome. thanks for stopping by.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
"adjusted" (cut off, shaved, reattached) the head.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
with the armor:

more work on the squiggoth's armor:



as always, c/c welcome, and thanks for stopping by.

Great looking start. I really like the linked armour plates going down the neck.

@monkeytroll - thanks, man! it's a motif i think i will be using to cover the legs and tail, as well...not really good with greenstuff, so i want to hide the skin as much as possible. still looking for monster feet to glue on over the existing feet so i don't have to try to sculpt those, either...

more progress on the squiggoth:



tacked on the leg armor, it is not in its final position. started the platform for the howdah, once i got a hold of Imperial Armour 8 (which has rules/etc. for squiggoths).

comments/criticism welcome, and as always, thanks for taking a look..

I'm diggin' the squiggoth!

Especially great work on the armor bits.

@Rai--thanks, man!

i have been working on the howdah the last couple of days...will get pics up later tonight. still looking for inspiration on what i am going to do with the Leman for the LoER contest...so of course, i start the squiggoth project and got plans today to start my Mk. 1 Land Raider scratch build...

as promised, WIP pics of the squiggoth howdah:







thanks for stopping by.

more WIP:







thanks for stopping by.

That armor is fantastic!

@rai--thanks! i got some fine chain that i will be adding at some point--probably after i base coat the howdah...i just needed something to do while i was dead in the water on my LoER contest entry.

if anybody has any tips on how to sculpt pebbly dinosaur skin, please let me know...can't seem to find anything worthwhile on google, and the one promising lead i found here on dakka linked to a 404 Error.

decided making little balls of green stuff and smushing them onto the squiggoth would work well enough, as most of it will be covered by armor or chains or decorations/trophies (a bunch of space marine heads from the bits box will end up on the howdah, as i have more than 100 i won't ever need for anything other than decoration). it's not the greatest GS job ever (lots of fingerprints, as seen in the pics), but it serves my purpose well enough.

got a bit done on the squiggoth and howdah:



howdah, top down view.



3/4 shot. it's a big and will hold at least 10 models (per the rules).



detail of the face.

had other shots from the other side and from the rear, but dakka wants to upload them rotated 90* clockwise, and there's no way to fix that, so i guess that will have to be all for now.

what color should i paint this big boy? i want something that isn't green like all the orks...was thinking a reddish orange with either yellow or purple flecks. the fluff has squiggoths as giant viral creatures, so maybe purple with bright (neon?) green flecks?

I think making the balls like that worked out very well!

I haven't figured out how to not get my fingerprints in greenstuff yet either. After the tiny amount of work I've done with it has convinced me that it is the devil and it will take sorcery to do anything significant with it.

Purple seems like a good color. How would you do the purple speckles?

i rushed it. primarily because most of it is going to be hidden by armor, et.al. for the kind of pebbled skin look i wanted, it worked out. found a few articles online on how to do linear scales (i.e., anything Salamanders scales), but they weren't much help. they went something like this:
"use a piece of sprue to make a tool. sorry, no pictures of what my version of this tool looks like. but i have before (smooth green stuff) and after pics (now with the exact kind of scales i wanted) of what i was working on. figure it out."

i tried olive oil, and it worked out pretty well. just put a little dollop on a folded up paper towel, and occasionally ran my tool over the wet spot. problem was, i was tired and not paying much attention to where my fingers were. i think the best pointer for anyone using green stuff is this: TAKE YOUR TIME. not that fingerprints matter much on this model, but it is something i will pay attention to next time.

i am not sure i want a purple squiggoth unless i magically become okay with people referring to it as "Barney", and hearing that song... as for the speckles, would probably just run my thumb over an old toothbrush with a little bit of paint on it. get nice random flecks that way. or i might paint big spots, like a cow. not sure. will have to do some mock-ups. probably do that tomorrow and put up pics of that tomorrow night.

oooh. Didn't think about the Barney references. No purple dinosaurs.

here's some color options:

1. basic blue:

2. blue / orange stripes:

3. blue / orange flecks:

4. basic red:

5 .red / blue stripes:

6. basic orange:

7. orange / red stripes:

and now, let the barney jokes commence.

8. basic purple:

9. purple / green flecks:

10. purple / green stripes:

11. purple / green spots:

your input would be greatly appreciated!

I like the blue with orange stripes and the purple with green spots.

hey there, love the Bee conversion!!!

and great job on that squiggoth!
just have one little comment: I would try to get those armor panels on the neck look more flexible, maybe bending them a little bit between each part of the panels?

so, what color did you chose?

@Rai - i am starting to grow on the purple and green, myself...

@nflagey - thanks for checking the thread out! the neck armor may be bent with heat so it wraps down the sides of the neck ...but i plan on putting chains on the two middle sections (as a nod towards realism, needing something to hold the armor on to the neck)...the armor actually *is* flexible, it just is not apparent because the neck of the squiggoth is at the angle i wanted. when i attach it to the howdah, it will flex a bit more.


edit: removed kickstarter link, as i am no longer backing the project.

The models in that Kickstarter ar pretty sweet looking.

I've never actually backed one bc I am terrible about having to wait once I've bought something.

I keep seeing all the neat kickstarter minis that people are painting around the Dakka and it makes me sad that I don't have all these things.

sprayed the squiggoth base white. no pics, because it just looks like an albino version of what i had before. EyeAmRai voted for blue with orange stripes...and so did my girlfriend. so i guess that's decided...hopefully i can start spraying the squiggoth this weekend with my new sotar 20/20 airbrush.

spent a bunch of time this past week trying to organize all my bitz...i have about a dozen plastic divider containers (9" x 12" or bigger) full of stuff, in addition to random ziploc bags...too many things. although i did find some spare Leman Russ sponson bits, so i may not scratch build those for the LoER contest entry.

i have a ton of space marines stuff, and i think i might be getting burnt out on orks...i have been doing some research on the mentor legion...i like the concept. i especially like that according to the fluff they work with IG, which lends itself to the possibility of Leman Russ tanks being used by Space Marines (something i've wanted since i started collecting 40K minis). the one thing i didn't care for was the old Mentor Legion logo:



so i designed a new one. it's a fast and sloppy scan of a pencil drawing colored up in MS Paint:



the old logo looks like an alien or a wasp...my new version looks a bit more like an owl. tried to keep the original colors, but i'm not sure i really like them.

any thoughts? c/c always welcome, and once again, thanks for stopping by.

I like your version of the logo better.

The colors aren't sitting right for me though. Maybe lose the brownish color altogether and put yellow were you've got the brown and then red where the yellow used to be?

Does that make any sense?

like that?

was also considering keeping the green and white color scheme, so the logo could look something like this:

ooooooh... I really like both of those...

I guess it just depends on which overall color scheme you end up going with.

well, i nixed the barney-squiggoth idea, so he's blue. based him blue, then airbrushed a diluted blue wash to get into the nooks and crannies.





a slightly closer-up shot of the wash's effects:


waiting for the wash to dry then will base the main orange parts and wash them, too.

thanks for stopping by.

Excellent stuff.

I have found for scaly skin a round tube, or a square one, pressed into the GS will form reasonable scales.

All looking brilliant, watching closely got my own in the pipes.