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Haha that is ace, how on earth did you make such realistic water? I am yet again most impressed.

Thanks Silver jump in , you dont need a snorkle
@perky just nice paint gradient from green to turquise to dark blue and black , and a few layers of scenic water effects, i was worried because peeps normally put something in to suggest depth , but i think i just about works. the sunlight and camera angle helps alot though
water effects http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=woodland+scenic+water+effects&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf
i will repost a pic here since it the start of a new thread.

well i won´t congratulate you just now for your birthday as it is ´morrow...so this has to wait...

what i can congratulate you for is that superb piece of sweet art. this one has it all...theme, message, mood, and humor...

i lkie how you used the wounded praetorian to make him look like he relaxed in the sun...hard to imagine a praetorian ever relax but well you made an unforgettable image now^^

the watereffects are pure gold i have to say... i don´t know how you achieved that but this is so realistic...amazing...and the sand and water blending from one to the other...the lil foamy bubbles on the wateredges...
the cloudy skybackground is so ...just awsome realistic...and i have to say you got a wonderful moment with the light... the shadows in one of the later pics create a really good ambience...did you glossy varnish the water? or is that a treat from the watereffects?...

what did your son built, paint on that diorama? you two made a big thing here, feel very proud the both of you!

it seems that in some time you need a showroom in your house to give all of these creations like that island of dreams a place to be admired and honored...

tomorrow my wife will get a notebook for herself to do some surfing on her own... and when i have checked and built and done everything that needed to be done i will show her this here as her first thing to look at...so she sees something truly beautiful for a first time...


vik

Arhh Vik your such a charmer i hope she likes it, kinda reminds me of those 1980s holiday brochure pics at the moment. but in diffent light it takes on a new meaning again. thank you for you nice words , i shall be sure to pass them on to Bailey ,we are qute proud of this one , because it brought us quite close at a time when we seem to be at loggerheads a lot
the he helped in every aspect , but specififcally he created the island and the front water effects , oh and the board its based upon. we were lucky with the light , it was quite a thing , the clouds parted as soon as it was finished , maybe it really is an island of dreams / wishes . or is he stranded without water, making the best of it before its all over or taking a contemplative moment before the final battle. who knows? i really tried to recreate those little toches of foammy bubbles , glad you noticed , and the water is not glossed just water effects and tiny white highlights on the crests of some waves .

a bit of a brochure feel is certainly there... but in a rather good way... like now that we see it we think about where to spend our holidays...so inspiring in the best way^^

me a charmer... now you must have mistaken me^^

hmm seems to me i should think deep about such a project for my oldest and me too... the therapeutic outcome is rather a good one it seems^^

For some reason I though it was just water and the wind was up - then I thought maybe it is blue food colouring and jelly... He looks like he is relaxing because there is bugger all else he can do - love those moments.

Happy birthday for tomorrow neil101! Absolutely stunning diorama. Had to do a double take on it its that good!

Looking at your island brings back fond memories of watching thunderbirds on saturday mornings. Not too sure how or why but it does

@Neil- is that island thing a diorama?? What the hell, man! I thought it was a picture and/or possibly a painting! That's damn convincing!!

Oh yea, and happy (early) b-day! I'll probably be ditching work to play Dragon Age 2 all day tomorrow... so I'll have to congratulate you early today!

Incredible!!! The water effect is perhaps the best I have ever seen

Nice touch with the wet sand around the end of the island, very realistic.

Cain

Lovely job neil

The water effects and the water/sand border are just stunning, well done to you and Bailey.

Where did that come from? Jaw hitting the floor....

You are doing some top notch (and strange-which I like) work at the moment!

Great job with the water effects! Makes me want a tropical drink.


Keep it up Neil

Hey guys ,Thanks for all the lovely Birthday wishes , they really did make my day! you guys are such a lovely bunch of coconuts , and thank you for the nice comments on the Island Diorama well i have been a bit busy this past week , birthdays tsk , I met my mother for coffe and she insisted on buying me a present , so we headed to the nearest comic shop and i picked up a box of Dust laser grenadiers ,
http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=laser+grenadiers&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=859
which are perfect for The Plebian Manufactorum workforce , , maybe the Plebian servitude obligationist millitant wing. they are also a close match to the scale of the perry miniatures , slighltly smaller than the dkok , but would sit well in any ig army imo. just need some vulgus , ad mech and ecllisaticals now.
I also picked up a couple of warmachine minis for my current and next side line project which i will get to in a minuite .

@Vik i say go for a project with your eldest , he may well suprise you and produce a master piece i know i under estimated Bailey's skills.

@Weety lol real water , well that would have been easier thank you. but food colouring and jelly , now that is surreal , wheres the pan , yep those moments are heaven , like enforced relaxation, good if your a compulsive worker

@Tqsplinter Thank you Tq i had a cool day yes it does look a lot gerry anderson i think its the water and light , and beach , and clouds , and...

@HF Izanagi, cheers mate the light did most of the hard work , ..and bailey did the rest , how is dragon age 2 , i really like the first one. ?

@ommander cain Thank you , the sand was a last minuite , kinda , something doesnt look right moment .. and arrh , wet sand ..yeah thats it

@Monkey He was very chuffed with this comment

@Manoknok .. he he he , it was like creating a diorama in the fastest time ever , because i didnt want to be too sidetracked from praxus as for strange lets just say
Milligan , Gilliam , Adams, Lynch , Kubrick , and Dali are my bed fellows glad you approve sir.

@Madmartykmf , thanks , that will be 2 dollar sir..



thanks again for all the well meaning comments

so where was i... arh yes.. well Praxus i s my baby , my one true modeling love and the manufactorum is that ever illusive dream pushing me on ,to strive higher until i can do it justice. and the comic is my wicked concience , wipping me and chasticing me for not working on it everyday. what started off as a random blog is still random , but now with a vision , of creating a world , within a fiction , of celebrating the moments , over looked by gw or power gamers, i have noticed a theme throughout my work so far , and its to tell a story , Praxus and the hydra systems is where these stories shall be born , i shall try to link everything i do to a narrative thate makes sense of humanities place within the 40k universe. The little and insignificant moments that have nothing to do with the huge wars going on in this vast galaxy. Praxus is the Anchor to everything. With this in mind i decide to expand upon some of the characters, i have written about . This will be my oppertunity to create scenes and models not suitable to the perry minitures or even games workshop minis, which i do love . I shall start with a diaroma basedupon the exploits of Rogue trader Ulsheki the kind hearted ,
first mentioned in the valrick story. I have longed to create a I28 or necromunda warband ever since i joined dakka, but i wanted to show a civillian life even stronger, but now i think i can do a bit of both , have my cake and eat itso to speak Well i finally stumped up the birthday cash for some nice , miniatures that i think i can work with in creating Ulshekis warband, i will be making it primarilly for a diorama, so i am limited to certain action poses, but i still think their will be enough room for conversion within the group, i managed to get a copy of rogue trader by fantasy flight games, it has some nice artwork withing it and i shall be using this as my insopiration along with the blogs of PDH molotov etc , as i think these represent the look i am after, as for the theme of the dioram it shall be a cross between the mummy, indiana jones, grimdark40k, fireflyand startrek. i have ordered some really nice minis for the scene , which is the biggest i have ever done i think, I have started work on it already , Acteron still waiting to be basecoated i have built a drop ship based upon the
Arvus lighter by forgeworld http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Navy/ARVUS-LIGHTER.html
its a kitbash of sveral starwars models and a gi joe tank the other pics will be of the metarials i shall be using on the board , i found plastic plants are a handy addition to my bits box !
During the this build i may well start work on the characters from Phallanx hive , i have been planning on recreating the Hive spire top along with Baron dysarno and his vainglorious retinue, including the deviant bad lands troubadors comedia del arte, and the nefarious Vipers brat gang. wow i thinks thats it sorry for the ramble , just taking stock, btw i picked up the fabulous paul kuato model from maow miniatures . oh yeah and the deamon goat thing is for the wip truescale world bearers diaroma.b oh

I really like the those models. I am stunned by Ulsheki's dropship. It just looks so damn amazing, I've never seen that.

EDIT: removed a question, answer found in text.

gosh, i had the feeling since you layed low for quite some time after the sunset dio that you would come up with something big...

well...
big would be only saying the half of it....

after i googled the name paul kuato i saw the mini... looks like that arnie movie mutie from total recall...cool and very classic... darn that makes me feel old already... remember still seeing the movie posters...ungh...

your pressmolding attempts look really good...i´ve been meaning to try something like that from time to time too...bythe way...your into necrons too now? i have those old spacecrusade? minis too...PM me if you want to know more about that...

and those lizards... well we´ll see what you do with those...
and also with troubadors comedia del arte this will be at the very least astounding... i think you will have great oportunities with such a nice model...^^

by the way... i feel such a donkey for not actually congratulating you to your near 50th anniversary... i am such a forgettful old fart... taking my mouth ful and writing i will congrat you not before and then forgetting it altogether...*insert galactic facepalm here...*

the dust tactics...well be sure to my envious deepest feeling to them being in your fold now... they are a pricey bunch these^^ and good looking.... tho with a new kind of base...will be fun to see how you will neil them up a treat^^

and then if that all wasn´t enough you come up with that giant and hulking beast of a beautiful ship...looks a bit like a rhino that had a very brief affair with the slave I of boba fett...and again you showed great skill in photography... if one person on this board ever was in need of one of these


to get even closer pics to his minis, then it would be probabvly be you...

the view of vostroyan soldier coming out of the hatches is something like from the alien movies...lots of flair^^
you´d made a good movie producer...

and more thing... my wife now has now her own laptop and i showed here some greater moments of your blog... the current island in the sundio and then the making of the tadpole...i literally had to refix her jaw...nuff said...


cheers mate...this new dio will be the next big thing here... you now us peeps at dakka we cant stay feeded and sated for too long... we will ask for more soon enough...^^

vik

That dropship is pure win, Neil! Great job!

Cheers guys just really trying to sort out what on my list ;-)

@scarzza ,Thanks , Matey looking forward to painting it up, its a starwars droideka, xwing transformer , xwing model and an old gi joe tracked tank thing. glad you like matey.

@Vik , yep forget to congratulate me on my one special nerer 100 though day ..;-) that camera looks very handy , i want one! the dust guys are pretty nice , not too expensive , but iaonly wanted these dont need any more of them ;-)
and yes bobba fetts slave nearly made it into this ship, if you look real close you can see it at the base of the monolith in the 1st pic , lol.
i am looking forward to these litlle side projects.


@ Moltar Thanks Moltar , it was pretty easy once i had the basic shape , . still adding those cables were a bugger though. good to see you again matey.

Aha! He's Back! Cool updates i to really dig the Drop ship and have a feeling you will do a great re-entry weathered paintjob.

Great drop ship man! and I loooove that Chaos Marine!

Some of your brainstorming is quite quirky but the end result is wicked!

Also props on the water, exquisite job!

That book in the first pic "space wreck" looks very familiar - think it might have been in the library at school

That Drop-ship is baller freakn status. Love it love it love it. Great plague marine.

Nice update neil. Good to hear you have an overall plan to it all

Lovely bit of kitbashing on the drop-ship, very nice. Were all the wires part of the tank or have you added those?

Big-ass demon beastie

That diorama is a little on the large side.

I recognise SpaceWreck, not one I have but think it's from a 'series' of sci-fi art books. Late 70's early 80's, stuff by the likes of Foss, Dean, Burns etc.
Or it could be something completely different...

I want it! - its not cheap though - 36 quids online shopping

he folks thought i would post a regular update on this build so it doesnt run away with me

@ Perky , cheers good to be missed yep dropship will have a nice heavy re entry weatherd effect , already scratched it up some.

@logg_frogg Thank you sire yep, now to hell with random or surreal , Quirky is my new middle name

@weety and @ Monkeyha ha , the test worked i knew if i placed a book in the pic you or Monkey wouldnt be able to resist it low and behold you both comment on it its a pretty cool book picked it up second hand for 50p last year, lots of nice retro 70s pics , and nifty litlle stories too! [url http://www.khantazi.org/Rec/TTABooks/TTABooks.html[/url]

@ monkey cheers not so much a plan , more of a upside down roadmap , to a different country The kitbash was a bitch to be honest , be then i found these bits and it all fell together nicely , the cables are from my monitor , hope i dont need them again the cock pit is the droideka and a bit from the landspeeder storm.here are most of the bits





litlle update , i wanted to use cork fro a nice cliff face and have a easter island style totemic necro head but didnt have any cork to hand, so i went with a mayan olmec feel ruined temple , with a forest overgrowing it , i have plenty of ploystyrene , and liquid nails , so no melting roughed out the shape today , gonna prime it tommoror and strt work on the jungle , not sure weather to go with the totemic necro heads , or not just yet. ordere another mini for the rogue trader retinue , i think this guy with some conversion will make a convincing RT captain.http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/images/uploads/privateer/PIP31061.jpg" border="0" /> trying for a s close alook to this as i can get .








@ medabee cheers matey , was a bit tough finding the right shapes but , we get there if we persist right?

spacewreck 50p!!! So lucky! I will have to go to more carboots to get such a bargain. 36 squid on ebay. You are right, me and the monkeytroll are book perves.

Your drop ship kitbash is inventive! many different parts - makes it look very intersting like it was built out of various scrapped space craft

next week we will go to a fleamarket... i hope i will be as lucky as you are with so many nice toys to chop up as you see fit...

the now totally different looking scene looks really cool... lots of potential and there is definatly an idny feel about the whole thing...if we look hard enough will we see a big round boulder...?

always a pleasure how you get these things and materials together...dont feel attacked, but i think we all (scratchbuilder and kitbasher) create a new artform: waste artists...
its like a redigestion of forms and materials, bringing them into new dimensions and thus creating a analogy of our world with a new message so sublime that only the artful can decipher them... art for the artful...the meaning and the use is in itself...

5op he he he , i went back for about a week to see if they had the rest , the artwork is no chris foss or ron cobb but its still has that ancient airbrush feel to it, might post some pics form it, i know it made the front cover of white dwarf , waaaay back inthe day like issue 23 or some such.

My teacher at uni said , that all artists do is recylce junk into something better. like an alchemist , bringing different elemants together to create a new form. so deffinately no offence take , its a high compliment.

Book porn for the book god.

Yeah, that's the one I aws thinking of, I have Great Space Battles and Spaceships 2000-2100 (what happened to those then?) from the TTA series, awesome stuff, had them since I was a nipper. Nice one finding it at a carboot, picked up some great stuff at those

Nice big crumbly castle-ma-jig there. And is that something about Lard Art and warhamsters beside it?

Think I have the Land Art, is that a taschen book? And the hamster one Think my old man has the Great Journeys, and I've probably seen the aztec/mayan art one before, but my ancient art books tend towards Asian art.

alchemist... now that is a real old and vernarable trade...and since this is all written communication here i tend to be a bit careful beforehand as one might get the words in a different than intended meaning... defiatly was meant as a rather crude form of compliment tho^^


Automatically Appended Next Post:
by the way this mini is übercool^^

I love the Necron Heads. Look very menacing. I think this latest terrain piece could be very interesting........