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Nice job. Good adaptations.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Quoted for rollover.

 Lamby wrote:

Decided to add more weight and depth to the removable upper deck, so added styrene and a GS/milliput mix:



Then cut to shape and sanded smooth, and here's the result:



I may end up going back in to add a line or two of rivets, but for now, it's done.

Moving on - the gaps where the air-ballon support structures usually attach have been bugging me for a while, so time to fix that:



Took two of these Gundam vent thingys:



Which fairly obviously are the wrong shape, so a bit of styrene and GS/milliput shaping and sanding, and we end up with this:



Thanks for looking!!!

 Dr H wrote:
Nice job. Good adaptations.

Thanks Dr H!

Just back from yet another work-related hiatus, so on with the show!

With the more complicated phase of the build coming to an end (I think), time for more detailing.

Made the helm pedestal using an old Warhammer gravestone and the larger Ironclad wheel:





Added some more bits to the engine area (everything not sprayed black) including a sheet-styrene bulkhead - most of these bits will never really be seen of course...



Then took the plumbing and gauge from this unused section of the Frigate:



and attached it to the side hull:



Plenty more to follow, thanks for looking!

That's a genius bit of kitbashing on the wheel there

 inmygravenimage wrote:
That's a genius bit of kitbashing on the wheel there

Thanks inmygravenimage!!!

Good use of parts.

 Dr H wrote:
Good use of parts.

Thanks Dr H!
So, another round of detailing over the last two weeks.

Took the sealing tab off a honey squeeze-container:



Spent some time on the Dremel-lathe:



Ended up with this fill-in greeblie:



Next up - took this vent thingy from the Frigate kit:



And with some slice n dice and some fiddly styrene work:



Moving on - been wondering for a while what to do with these wing stubs:



Tried the wing minus the propellors:



But didn't like them cos overall they seemed to unbalance the model.

So I went on a bitz hunt through many, many containers of plastic crack, and eventually found a set of rocket-pods from a 1/35th scale Cobra (I think...) which with a bit of slice n dice ended up looking like this:





Then finished up the week with some minor details:



Next week I'll be gluing the hull halves on, building the last of the housing for the chin-turret, then a final round of detailing and the end is nigh!

Thanks for looking!

Good job.
What do you use for a cutting tool with your dremel lathe? I did a bit the other week and found my razor saw the most useful, but felt like I needed something better.

Can't go wrong with some Hellfire missiles.

 Dr H wrote:
Good job.
What do you use for a cutting tool with your dremel lathe? I did a bit the other week and found my razor saw the most useful, but felt like I needed something better.
Can't go wrong with some Hellfire missiles.

Thanks Dr H!
Generally I use small files when lathing, and switch to sandpaper (glued to a cardboard strip for some strength) to finish.
I've also use a mini-hacksaw blade and a pocket knife
Michael the Giant Sword Maker michaelcthulhu uses a much bigger setup than we miniature-makers i.e. a massive drill press; but he uses a grinder as his cutter - so I do wonder if a second Dremel might be the answer, especially for harder substances?

I'm loving this conversion so much! It's an inspiration!

Some lovely detailing there

Carlovonsexron wrote:I'm loving this conversion so much! It's an inspiration!

monkeytroll wrote:Some lovely detailing there

Thanks!


As I mentioned a while back when presenting this character's WIP for the first time, I'm still undecided as to where she fits into the cantos.

But as I'm waiting on a final set of bits to complete the Gun Skiff and commence painting it, I decided to glue the torso to the skirt/leg section, pin and glue the arms and GS the connections:





Sharp-eyed viewers may notice that the sword seems to missing both its cross-guard and blade - that's because the previously built styrene cross-guard snapped off.

So I removed the blade, then took this watch part:


And reduced it to this:


And then GS/glued it back onto the protruding pin, which leaves us with this:


So, now I'm faced with the usual converting-a-Daemonette dilemma, which is basically having to sculpt the missing female breast... but:

What if I was to leave the torso as is?

Thoughts?

As always - thanks for looking!

Plenty of reasons for a character to have just one, and as you still have to decide where she sits, then there's plenty of potential for creating story there. As long as the rest of the figure looks like it's not a daemonette then it should be fine.

Alternatively things like a half-cape or some kind of bandolier could be used.

I think if you left it as is, it is to obviously a demonette torso instead of whatever re-imagined goodness you have in mind.

monkeytroll wrote:Plenty of reasons for a character to have just one, and as you still have to decide where she sits, then there's plenty of potential for creating story there. As long as the rest of the figure looks like it's not a daemonette then it should be fine.
Alternatively things like a half-cape or some kind of bandolier could be used.

whalemusic360 wrote:I think if you left it as is, it is to obviously a demonette torso instead of whatever re-imagined goodness you have in mind.

Thanks monkeytroll and whalemusic360!
While I can write a decent fluff piece explaining the missing breast, I think I'll be forever explaining how she is NOT a daemonette i.e. the mini on its own will not tell the story properly, and as whalemusic points out, it still looks like a daemonette torso.
I like the idea of a half-cape - might experiment with that a little.

Thanks for your input!!

I wonder if getting some "blue stuff"/"oyumaru" to make a mold of the right breast with green stuff. would help. I can't figure out if you could just flip a molded brest over to make it match.

Carlovonsexron wrote:
I wonder if getting some "blue stuff"/"oyumaru" to make a mold of the right breast with green stuff. would help. I can't figure out if you could just flip a molded brest over to make it match.

Thanks for your input, Carlosexron!
- so, no; can't just copy the right breast because the weird armour swirl has to be mirrored
- however, if I sculpt a bit more armour over the right breast, then I'll use blue-stuff to make a GS/milliput copy - then go back in with a sharp needle and do the detailing
- pics in a few days

For now:
Last detailing round on the Gun Skiff!

Took these fore mast parts:


Glued them up, sliced them down, and glued them into place:


Did a similar thing with the aft masts, but added some skulls for a bit of swag:




And finally, this hole has been bugging me for a long time:


So took this wing bit and the good old brass etch ][ part:


And ended up with this:


And I'm happy to report I started on the first layers of paint tonight.

Thanks for looking!

Gloriously bonkers, as always. She's a beast!

Good detail work.

On the boob issue: As an alternative option, rather than add the missing boob, have you considered removing the "spare" boob? Either leave it flat-chested, or sculpt on a non-boob-armour armoured chest piece. Go against the sci-fi grain and have more realistic armour. Just to be different...
But it would give you a nice space for detail.

Ok so this is the first time in my life that I read a full 30 pages blog in a row !
How have I missed this blog for so long ?!
You are an artist, sir, and you paint as well as you convert.
My two favourites are the jaw-dropping female inquisitor with hat, simply one of the best inquisitor I have seen, and the simple but effective gunner of the Rogue Trader (the others are awesome too, don't worry^^).
Keep it up with the great stuff !
I would have one question, however: how do you do ? Do you have a big box of bitz and you randomly try things, or do you have an idea then you buy the bitz ? The GW range is so huge

inmygravenimage wrote:Gloriously bonkers, as always. She's a beast!

Thanks!!!

Dr H wrote:Good detail work.

On the boob issue: As an alternative option, rather than add the missing boob, have you considered removing the "spare" boob? Either leave it flat-chested, or sculpt on a non-boob-armour armoured chest piece. Go against the sci-fi grain and have more realistic armour. Just to be different...
But it would give you a nice space for detail.

Thanks Dr H! - I'm sculpting 2nd breast now, but I may come back to your idea as it's rather intriguing...

godardc wrote:Ok so this is the first time in my life that I read a full 30 pages blog in a row !
How have I missed this blog for so long ?!
You are an artist, sir, and you paint as well as you convert.
My two favourites are the jaw-dropping female inquisitor with hat, simply one of the best inquisitor I have seen, and the simple but effective gunner of the Rogue Trader (the others are awesome too, don't worry).
Keep it up with the great stuff !
I would have one question, however: how do you do ? Do you have a big box of bitz and you randomly try things, or do you have an idea then you buy the bitz ? The GW range is so huge

Hi godardc - thanks for your comments!

Kallatar is still probably my most satisfying creation... not the hardest - I think that honor belongs to the Samurai (forged steel swords and those fething sleeves!!!) - but my most satisfying because she came out exactly as I envisioned her the moment I saw the original mini... also, I really wanted to do a male to female conversion because I'd never seen anyone do it before.

Mostly I don't think too hard initially about a concept, I sort of see a pic of a mini and a conversion idea will gestate ...
Sometimes the idea comes instantly - for instance, the Gutrot conversion came the moment I saw the model!
Sometimes it takes a while; in the case of the Wild Child mech suit, I hated the actual mini, but the idea of a female wearer started to grow and I was in the midst of building the the other steampunk retinue for Kallatar and slowly, slowly...
I also hunt for cool looking bits amongst the GW range and see what happens in my chaotic mind...

My creative side is suppressed by my work - which is both tactical and technical - so it's overactive and I have more ideas than time to create them.
I usually come up with a character, write lots of notes in my little notebook of secret stuff that no-one ever sees, even my wife! - and then start looking at either bits I have... and usually have to buy some other bits, some of which I might not use
In the case of the female minis - I don't like the GW range in general when it comes to females - though it's getting better, I will admit - so I'm always trying to come up with a better female.
Mostly tho - it's the expanding story that seems to drive my mini designs - if you start reading the fluff from the very beginning, you'll see each new retinue has some connection to the progressive storyline.

I'm also heavily influenced and inspired by other modellers, especially Migsula - he's the reason I started on True Scale marines (before everyone started making them the easy way, using Primaris marines...)


Meanwhile...
Extremely short one pic update - Gun Skiff on the painting bench with first rust layer added and handy Ian McQue reference pic in the background!

I honestly cannot wait until it's finished. What colour is the figurehead going to be? I think an oxidised bronze would look amazing, but that might just be me...

 EmberlordofFire8 wrote:
I honestly cannot wait until it's finished. What colour is the figurehead going to be? I think an oxidised bronze would look amazing, but that might just be me...

Thank you EmberlordofFire!
You've guessed correctly - a few pieces of metallics like the wing-emblem will be a brass/bronze with green/blue oxidation, to compliment and contrast the rusty steel effect much of the rest of the model will have.


Painting at last - slowly, but still...

Need to do a test run of some Tamiya spray colors as I don't own an airbrush.

So, following the first layer of Vallejo Flat Brown, did some drybrushing/speckling with GW Ryza Rust, then some sponging-on of GW Leadbelcher to get this:

I really like this effect, so much of the hull below the 'waterline' will be bare metal/rust - adds interest because the whole model won't be just one or two painted surfaces.

Following a protective gloss varnish coat, sprinkled salt onto the wet surface:

Unfortunately the water-method seems to dissolve a lot of the salt, so I will have to invest in some cheap hairspray - also, with hairspray as the medium between the gloss coat and the sprayed color layer, you can selectively remove areas with a bit of light scrubbing with a stiff brush or toothbrush or even a toothpick.

Then sprayed Tamiya Flat White over the top:

Which left me with this effect:


Now, you might notice the Flat White has flowed around the salt and left a small raised edge - this was due to over-eager spraying on my behalf.

While I'm okay with the result, I'll be redoing it next weekend (no hobby time during the week at the moment.)

Things I'm going to change are:

Brush on a Ryza Rust/VJ Orange mix to lighten the VJ Flat Brown rusty undercoat;

Let the gloss coat dry overnight;

Crush the salt more so the chips are smaller and more random - also sponge on liquid frisk in some targeted areas where I need the rust to show through;

Spray the Tamiya Flat White in a series of layers with drying time between them.

Thanks for looking!

Never cease to amaze. Like, ever.

That's a serious salt weather tutorial there

Oh, that's lovely that is. Some proper distressing.

I actually like the raised edges in places, as though the oxidation is pushing at the paint.

Good job on the rustiness.

Yeah, the raised paint can be due to the rust underneath bubbling it up.

Awesome work.

I have to agree, the slight raised edge does look exactly like rust bubbling the paint, I'd leave it as a happy coincidence!

youwashock wrote:Never cease to amaze. Like, ever.

inmygravenimage wrote:That's a serious salt weather tutorial there

monkeytroll wrote:Oh, that's lovely that is. Some proper distressing.
I actually like the raised edges in places, as though the oxidation is pushing at the paint.

Dr H wrote:Good job on the rustiness.
Yeah, the raised paint can be due to the rust underneath bubbling it up.

Big H wrote:Awesome work.
I have to agree, the slight raised edge does look exactly like rust bubbling the paint, I'd leave it as a happy coincidence!

Thank you kind sirs!

Second test run for the Gun Skiff with hairspray, salt and Tamiya spray colors:


Bit of salt overkill - after this test I've decided to use a mix of the larger salt bits from the previous post and this regular size:


And here's the result after masking the flat white spray and applying the blue:


Using the hairspray makes it easier to get the salt to stick but I did leave it on for too long before spraying the colors, so it was a bit sticky at this stage - so, since the Tamiya sprays are gloss anyway, I applied Tamiya flat clear spray to knock it back to matte.

I'll do some test with painting over the matte coat with oil washes and some lighter blue highlights, but I think I now have a decent recipe and - more importantly - a sequence of layers to paint the actual Gun Skiff next weekend.

Also noted that on average 80% of people who commented (across 4 forums) said they liked the overdone paint effect, so I'm taking that onboard and will 'wet' spray on the final version, rather than here where it was 3 light 'dry' coats.

Finally, I now have an Instagram account inquisitor_lamby, where I will post updates to my blog, now renamed from The Dying Ground to  Inqu][sitor


Thanks for looking!

In that one the effect on the blue looks to have worked better - I'm guessing that's a result of the ridged area. Still all looks great though

 monkeytroll wrote:
In that one the effect on the blue looks to have worked better - I'm guessing that's a result of the ridged area. Still all looks great though

Thanks monkeytroll!
I think you're right; though I tested out drybrushing some silver onto the ridges over the flat white and it's just made the effect less clear, unlike the blue.
My solution is to do the silver areas over the rust coat but before the spray coat - then after removing the salt and because of the hairspray layer, I can carefully scrape back the flat white on the ridges... hopefully!