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Thanks Graven. Indeed. I just have to achieve "cool" for the finished piece. We will see how it turns out, together.

Thanks Big H. I try.

Thanks Shas'. Yeah, I was really impressed at how easy the Tau gun fitted.

I started on a canopy...
Build a frame for the support structure (central are with the 3 rods) and then add the fabric support to that.
Then add the fabric.

Will be made a bit tattered to make it more interesting.
Still got to create the support to attach it to the raider.


But before I can create the support structure for the canopy (and therefore set it's height), I need to know what it's covering...
The pilot... driver... captain... steersman... needs to be built.

I found the perfect right arm; no modifications needed to be resting on the steering thing (I'm sure it has a name, but I know nothing of boats, really)
The left arm had many options, could have been a withered limb, or a stump... it was almost a bare arm, but then I have a lot of these tyranid arms spare. It'll be made slightly less 'nid-like, but I'll use it for wiring him in to the ship (It appears as if all the armies' vehicles will have wired-in drivers).


I shall attempt to leave both him and the canopy separate for ease of painting... will I succeed in this?!

Speaking of wired in pilots in my vehicles...
I took some new photos of my Wave Serpent (as finished on page 12!) for Twitter/FaceBook and thought I'd share them here as well.
All together in one mega-collage for your ease of voting while you're in the gallery for a good look...


Until next time...

The Krootiest of the Kroot is done.

Force-fed a diet of birds from a young age (together with some growth hormones) by The Scientist, the kroot quickly formed wings in place of the usual arms. The legs and feet also adapted to the change and became more dexterous.

Kroot #2; the flying kroot.


Click for closer, gallery, views and votes.

That's immensely cool. I get a classic dnd/lotr giant eagle vibe from the wings, really like it.

They are proportioned perfectly for the model. Very cool conversion.

Love those last to efforts Dr H!

Thanks Graven', Solar', Gits'. Nice to hear my attempt at sculpting wings/feathers has been a success.

Progress on the Raider has been slow of late. Got a kink to sort out before the next update, and I'm planning a couple of presents to try and get them done early for a change.

In the mean time I've finished my latest Fallout 4 settlement build at Tenpines bluff.

These do take a lot of effort, and this one has taken a long time to produce.
The save game for my first character became too unstable to be able to continue building with her and I've switched to my second character.
But she didn't have the right perks required for building, as I didn't intend to build with her, and I have had to level her up to unlock and then claim the perks.
Then build the settlement, record the tour and edit the video.

But I do put as much of my creativeness, as you know from my models, into these settlement builds.
90% of what you see in the video (over 1300 items) has been carefully placed (as a rivet with tweezers).


And if you still play Fallout 4 and want to walk around this settlement, the blueprint is up on the Nexus: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47193/

Thanks
and back to models soon...ish.

Soon...ish became not so soon...ish.
You've not missed much, motivation has been lacking.

I think it's largely the combination that is 2020:
The orange fart in the west and the emboldening of white supremacists making me feel ashamed to be a white human.
The climate crisis, the pandemic and the deniers. Really hurts me in the scientist.
Job worries (unemployment, searching, etc.). The careers advice has also suffered with the low motivation. But there is the constant niggle of shame for my laziness.

And the modelling has been getting harder for a while anyway. As you may have noticed, I don't post updates anywhere near as often as I used to.
I've tended towards doing tiny bits of work on a model and then taking a long break away. Rather than making a large amount of progress at each sitting.
I've felt my quality drop a little, it's been harder to achieve the same results. This hits the motivation.

But, there may be some hope. The problems I've been having may be due to the difficulty seeing what I'm doing...
Yes, 2020 is the year that I have got glasses.
I've only just picked them up today, so will take some getting used to. The world is a little clearer.
There's only a slight change and I "only need" them for close-up things, my prescription is not huge but does include a little astigmatism along with a little long-sightedness.
You can tell how this may have caused problems with building and painting tiny, close-up, things (and my long-standing joke of not being able to cut straight lines).

Plus, recently I've rearranged my room to give me more space and better access to things. Although this did mean packing up the current project here. 2 weeks later and the room is at a stage that I can start work again, and now I can see what I'm doing.
But the Raider will be staying in the box for a while longer. I'm going to start with this year's Christmas presents and get them done early and then I'll return here to the Raider.

I did make a couple of presents before the move, but you'll have to visit my Twitter or FB pages to get a look at one of them (another dollhouse-scale painting).
The Christmas presents will appear over in my other thread once I've decided on what I'm going to make.

And to not leave you without pictures here:
Before and after the room rearrangement.
Main changes are the bedside table / drawers was moved out the way and the painting desk (right) was moved into the space.
This allowed the building desk (left) to be pushed into the corner leaving space for the drawers to be placed far left.
Everything else was shuffled about these changes.


I haven't been checking in on DDakka either recently. Hope you are all doing ok. I'll try and visit your threads soon as they should be easier to read now.
No sympathy needed here, just and explanation of why I've been quiet.

Until next time. Stay tuned.

Well it's lovely to have you back old bean. Take as long as you need.

Wow, that's quite the creative space!

A lot of us have been on hiatus. No worries. I should at least post photos of the 6 (geez, only 6?) minis I've painted this year. In my defense, I have 2 Jack Russell terriers ( Parson jack russells in the UK?) now, and they take up a huge amount of time.

A point of correction. Climate change is too generic. Let's call it what it is. Global Warming.

On the subject of deniers... We now have the anti-maskers here in the US. I have no idea about the UK.

The white supremacist thing in the US is highly exaggerated by the US media. Their numbers don't even amount to a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.

Plenty of jobs in the US for an educated man. Something to consider. You'd have to learn a new language though.

Thanks Graven'.

Lo Gits'. Yeah, let's see if it works.

Ta Red'. Post them up, I might even comment on them (once I get through the backlog).

I correct your correction: I did say "crisis" not "change". Indeed it is much more serious than just a change in the "weather".
Also, global warming can be misunderstood (honestly or intentionally) to mean everything's getting warmer, either with "how is warm weather bad?" or "but it snowed today, where's the warming?".
No one can misunderstand a Climate Crisis.

Yeah, there's anti-maskers about (I don't think quite as bad as the US). There's so much misinformation about, it just drowns out the simple evidence.
Wouldn't be so bad if it was just going to infect the anti-maskers, but it makes it worse for everyone, mask or not.
The sheer level of selfishness is unbelievable. "I don't want to be uncomfortable for a short period, but it's fine if thousands of people die"

It's true that the white supremacists (as well as deniers etc.) are small in number, but they are loud, as well as getting the attention you mention.
I do know this, but it's exasperating. These people just drag the rest of humanity down with them, for nothing; they don't gain anything, we all loose.
Just spend your time and effort with the things you enjoy, and everyone will be happier. Why is that so hard?

I'm still trying to find what job it is that I can/want to do. Nearing an answer to that, but searching and applying comes later.

Still, good news today (for anyone that cares about other people and not just themselves).
Let's hope it's the first step towards a better planet.

Thank you all for waiting patiently. Something soon...ish.

Ah, I read climate change. So much for my ability at close textual analysis these days. :(

If it is the good news I think you mean, be patient. There are still bumps in that road. It'll be settled on 14 December. A nice early Christmas gift, let's hope.

I can dredge up my ol' thread and post some photos. I'll just need to take the photos first.

Stay safe.

I've still not found the time to catch up on all your (gestures at DDakka) work...

I have now posted up my Christmas present creations for this year over in my other blog (https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/2910/549077.page#11015278), have a look for some modelling-related work.

I have one more project to do and then I can return to the Raider over here.

Depending on how much I get distracted with Cyberpunk 2077...

Anyway, for more of my creativity you can check out my latest Fallout 4 settlement build at Greentop Nursery:



Happy Christmas and a safe New Year to you all.

Work-station is as cluttered as mine!

Hi Shas'. Yeah, it doesn't matter how much space I have I always seem to fill it.



Hello. Yes, I'm back over here. Things have started to happen again.

As it turns out I did get quite distracted with CP2077, and then with the final DLC of The Outer Worlds, and then with more building in Fallout 4.

Speaking of building in Fallout 4, I have completed a new build.
This time something different; an idea I had a while ago from when they added the ball tracks.
In a normal settlement build, they just don't really have a use, but I wanted to make a large marble run that sets off lights and fireworks etc.
As my YT channel recently hit 100 Subscribers, I thought it was a good excuse to put this idea into effect.


Give it a look for some more of my crazy creativity.

Life has mostly returned to normal here again after the scam thing, but I am still fairly absent from online: I have remained active on Twitter, but FB has had little input, haven't touched my kofi in ages, and not been checking my (closed) Etsy shop. And you may have noticed my absence from here too.
Until Covid drops to an actual background level I won't be opening my shop, and I'm considering moving it to kofi altogether as the Etsy (and Brexit) fees were getting silly a year ago, never mind what it may be now. When? who can tell.

Without a need to build for the shop, and everything else, motivation for models waned. But I have recently had new ideas for how to progress with the Raider.
As you will remember... or can just look up the page a bit... I had added wings and was considering the canopy.
I had also put the pilot together and I had created a thing for him to plug into for additional control. But I didn't like how that thing looked just sat in the middle of the floor.
And that's where I left it...

I have new plans for where the control thing may be placed, and I may make some changes to it before that.

But the main ideas were around the wings.
These are to hold the weapons, and I had planned to attach them on top of the wings as the raider was going to be close to the ground... And I planned to have one wingtip in contact with the ground (to do away with the flight stand). But this was going to place the raider either close to the ground/table, or at a steep angle (just for balance if nothing else).

But then I had a thought... how about another appendage to contact the ground, like a hydrofoil; and I could even have the base with dirt being tossed up like a wave.
I didn't have another wing of the right size, so I had to scratchbuild one and with it's length I recon I could now put the weapons under the wings (mostly) which should be more pleasing.

So I set about adding the more sturdy attachment for those wings (with rivets an' all) and installing the 3rd fin.
This also makes it easier to handle the model.


I'm going to turn up the tips of the wings, to make them more interesting, and then I need to remember where I was going with this and what is the next job (I have the feeling I was leaving the canopy off for now to make it easier to do other jobs... but I don't know what...).

Onwards...

Oh yes, the turned up wingtips really does the job for me.

And I've also attached a few of the blades, but not all in the "intended" positions; a couple of the big ones nicely finish off the curve of the hull at the rear (plus a little putty to smooth them into the shape).

And I added a rotating camera blob to the underside too.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooh that's Slicey dicey. Lovely.

Ha! Another first: although it makes perfect sense, I've not seen anyone add a camera balun to _any_ 40K model before. Well done.

I like it

Though Dark Eldar would probably just duct tape someone to the underside of the skiff to have them be the look-out, It would be a position of honor

Thanks Graven'. It now has a little more spice to add to that slicey dicey, see below.

Thanks Meer_Cat. I had one laying about, just had to find a use for it. This point on the Raider is almost made for it, AND it fits the "attack helicopter" theme I have in mind.

Thanks Theo'. The Scientist is not one for such barbaric practices... any wetware has to be properly wired into the system.

I thought about just adding the pylons and leaving the various weapons off, but one thing led to another and we all get a full picture of what the Attack Raider is going to be.

I did say the wings were for adding weapons...


We have a pair of Air-to-Air long range missiles (white) on the outer pylons,

On the left wing we have an over/under fixed gun arrangement; Top, boltgun half of an over/under bolter from the newest SM sprue I have, and under is an actual Dark Eldar weapon, from the jet bikes.

Then on the right wing there is a rocket on a sled launcher (as seen on the Hind-D helicopter) on top,
and a rocket pod (under) of some description; I don't know where I got this one, or what it actually is.

I toyed with including an extra fuel tank and/or a gizmo thing (probably for laser-guidance) but couldn't find a good place for them.
And these are the smallest of missiles I have in the collection...

Quick extra wip from today's early work.

I've installed the Targeting Tyranid.
Still needs wiring in (as does everything), but I'm pleased with how easily it sat in place.


Also installed the loudhailer (from OMN) so that I can recreate the Apocalypse now! Flight of the Valkyries scene.

Thanks for linking this on your other channel. Had totally missed this! Love the conversions!

" I've installed the targeting Tyranid" Now that's not something you hear everyday. Nice.

Thanks Gits'. Yeah, with my posting so infrequently of late I think that people may find one of the threads and not know that I have a whole 2nd blog full of my builds. So when I switch I think it's a good idea to add a quick note/link on the current thread.

Thanks Solar'. That's how you know it's one of my threads.

I've now added the chief engineer...

This one has moved about the model, but I liked having them on the wing, banging away on the jury-rigged gun.
But if the thing is flying, how are you supposed to hang on?
It's not easy to re-pose such a small figure with almost non-existent legs, but the idea came from nowhere to have a belt thrown around the missile; it's so obvious and so "greenskin" in thinking.

Need to remember to add the top of the hammer's handle... note to self...

That's awesome. You should add some smoke effects to that rocket as if it's getting ready to launch with the little guy still attached...

 Gitsplitta wrote:
That's awesome. You should add some smoke effects to that rocket as if it's getting ready to launch with the little guy still attached...

I think you should swap the mallet out for a hat a la Dr. Strangelove

Yeeeeehah!

@Theo... you're a genius!

Thanks Gits'.
My thinking is that, while it's an "accident" waiting to happen, it's not guaranteed to happen.
To add smoke would take away from the "will they or won't they?" feeling.
On a purely Ork build, absolutely. It'd be done on purpose, and all greenskins would embrace the moment.
For this army, I like the feeling that this (the belt) is something that happens regularly, but the chance of "accident" is on the roll of a dice, so to speak.

That said, Thank you Theo'... I might sculpt a hat for the little lad's head, just so it's ready in case...

Still, progress has been some steps forward, some back, and more in another direction.
I created the canopy as a replacement for the typical Raider sail.
I finally got around to mounting it:

I tried to carve some nice thin supports (from sprue) in an interesting shape and all that.
But one got slightly too thin and snapped,
So I tried to cast some copies of them in Milliput,
But that didn't work out.
So I made some casts of the Raider's sail pillar, and with a little extra pressure, even made them oval (rather than round) for uniqueness.

They worked and I mounted them up (see below).

But with the canopy mounted on the Raider... I'm not feeling it.
It blocks a lot of the views of the pilot area, and takes the shape of the whole in the wrong direction (up, not wide).
Even with modifying the shape, cutting holes in it, etc. I can't see it working.

I don't want to revert to the typical sails. But it needs a replacement for the sails, as they are the power source.
I want something "science-y"... And what's more science than a nuclear reactor...!

So using the "failed" first attempt air filters from my Lynx helicopter build, and a OMN fan, I made a reactor that fits in the hole.
In a way, the fan represents the blades of an attack helicopter, which it what this build has become.



I don't think there's much more major additions to make, so I can now work on integrating and wiring up all the bits, and make it a "whole".

That's a mighty fine build, and I really like the generator.