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Damn those disingenuous ducks

Don't blame the ducks, they had nothing to do with it. It was the treacherous French. Always taking advantage of the kindly and trusting English.

But it did teach us that if it weighs the same as a duck it must be a witch.......unless it's very small rocks.........

Right, so, multi-purpose reply/update incoming... please hold...

Ducks, Screw-drivers/-pushers/-ers/-pullers/-twisty-turney things, and the French:

monkeytroll wrote:The term screw drive refers to the method of transferring momentum to the screw itself - hex drive, flat drive, cross drive, spline drive etc, so the instrument used to impart this can correctly be called a screwdriver

Hmm - the fact that we actually find this an interesting conversation might go some way to explaining the perception of model-makers as somewhat geeky

Is it bad that I hadn't even considered it a geeky topic of conversation...

However, I have had a long conversation (about 4 pints. Yes, I do use pints as a measure of time where 1 pint is about 20-30 minutes. and yes, we were in a pub), with a mathematician and a computer scientist, about the possible existence or non-existence of zero...

Hruotland wrote:

Spoiler:

Concerning the "screwdriver" affair, I was trying to translate the spirit of the german conversation I use to have with my father on a regular base. In German, this tool is commonly named "Schraubenzieher". (Schraube=screw, "zieher"=puller, from "ziehen (to pull, or to pull something out)). The technical name of the device is "SchraubenDREHER" (dreher: turner, from to turn or to turn something around). Well, it makes sense for him, because he originally learned locksmith, and "his" kind of screws are of the metric persuasion with nuts on it. Me, I am working with wood, and wood screws are pulling themselves into the wood when you turn them around. Indeed carpenters talk about "eine Schraube einziehen" or "eine Schraube ins Holz ziehen" (pulling a screw into the wood). With wood his expression is also used for insertions of all kind, for example "einen Balken im Dachstuhl einziehen" (to pull a plank into the roof framework), or "einen Nagel einziehen" (to pull in a nail), wich totally makes NO sense, because indeed a nail is driven into the wood ("ein Nagel wird ins Holz getrieben"), not screwed. But's that's engineers for you, good for making planes fly, but totally overthinking when confronted with simple tasks like a bookshelf.

German lession over.

Interesting indeed.

Co'tor Shas wrote:Hey, I remember the way things work. good book, very few mammoths .

Love is a warm mammoth...

weetyskemian44 wrote:Also are you sure you don't mean mallard? I thought a canard was an extended falsification. Oh the english language, so full of double meanings.

All I was thinking of, was that I google'd "Canard" and I got lots of pictures of little wingy things AND ducks (which on the whole looked like mallards). Had I actually done some research into what a canard was (in the aerodynamic sense), none of this talk of ducks, screwdrivers or not screwdrivers, and the pesky French, would have happened. So there is a bright side to everything...

As MT said, I believe "canard" is French for "duck".

monkeytroll wrote:Canard does refer to a rumour or hoax in English, and a duck in French - with there being some link between the two - something about the selling of a duck that wasn't a duck forming the basis for it becoming synonymous with untruths.

Beware of French, baring ducks?

weetyskemian44 wrote:Damn those disingenuous ducks

and they don't care if you tell them to their faces. It's like water off a duck's back...

Red Harvest wrote:Don't blame the ducks, they had nothing to do with it. It was the treacherous French. Always taking advantage of the kindly and trusting English.

There's not much more you could do to make me love you more... in a manly way, of course...



UFO:

monkeytroll wrote:UFO looking interesting - which is as it should be I guess

If it reaches the stage that if it were to fly past, you would want to take a blurry photo of it and send it to the MOD, then it is doing what I want.

Hruotland wrote:That UFO reminds me a little bit of those fast zooming thingies in Spielbergs "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Cewl!.

That's given me a good idea for some additions to it. Thanks.

Red Harvest wrote:It is getting a 'scouting vehicle' vibe to it. Or a probe. Ooh, a Biomechanical probe (messy or no, at least things don't blow up in biochem... well, not often. Some of the odors though... nitrogen based stuff. So truly nasty. Putrescine Anyone?) It seems to be about the right size, judging from the jetbike in the background, for scale. I'd be worried how well some of those plastics will take paint.

Yeah, it is more of a probe size than anything else; it is about 3 inches long... at the moment.

Chemists also have some interesting smells. Often involving nitrogen, but also involving sulphur... mmm thiols, not a smell you can forget, or get rid of easily.

I've not had a problem yet with anything taking paint. These will be sanded well (some already has been) and much of the surfaces will be covered in putty anyway.

shasolenzabi wrote:That UFO is getting stranger by the moment! Which is a good thing!

Good good.

inmygravenimage wrote:I love how your "just throw things at it and see what sticks" makes the rest of us looking like babbling imbeciles.

sorry for making you feel bad. Thanks.

I've added another lump to it...

This was part of a handle of a spray bottle (minus the part that your finger's pull on). This will get much more added to the tip when I get there, as well as the surface details that everything will get.


Jetbike:

weetyskemian44 wrote:I like 11b.

Thanks Weety.

So, these are the additions that I've gone for. I made them much deeper than the paper ones shown, as these are at an angle.

You will also notice that the two sides are at different angles. This is on purpose, and is to show that they are active aerodynamic features: turning over to catch more air when turning and helping with stability at all times. I added tiny pieces of plastic rod into the gaps on the underside to show the actuators.

I think that is all I have to show/tell. I shall have to now go about the rounds of all the blogs that I haven't commented on for a while...

The movement you've got conveyed with the 'hair' is awesome and sets the model off just right man! great job, how long until paint?

Well glad your back on topic now after all the Ducks, Aerodynamics and screwdrivers I wonder where the hell I wondered into

Now UFO I honestly have no clue where or what you are doing so I wait patiently for it to come together, of which I am sure it will although I am starting to think that if you see an object lying around you are just adding it to it

Now the jetbike that thing rocks as does the rider really liking the new fins ( or what ever the technical term is ) good idea on the angling to portray the turning of the bike.

Just one thing will you be adding any other detail to them or will you be leaving them as is ?

That bike is getting better and better and better... i did understand correctly, this model is a scaled down model of the prototype that is constructed at a top-secret garage in cooperation with NASA Jet propulsion laboratories atm? Consider me subscribing, even if my complete life income should go into the Mad Scientist's fund... I want that machine for real!!!

You will also notice that the two sides are at different angles. This is on purpose, and is to show that they are active aerodynamic features

And once again you give extra sprinkles to the topping on the icing of the crust... This is why you are the best! No-one ever would have thought of THAT!

My humble suggestion, fluff wise:
Name her Ghost Rider, stick a cigar in her mouth, give her a flame motif, play This soundtrack



And make her the only (so far) fielded charakter following the Mad Scientist without brainwash, from own will... quite ironic, I think, a self-conscious jet bike riding robo chick in an army of brainwashed organics...

"Is it bad that I hadn't even considered it a geeky topic of conversation......."

Precisely my point - we all seemed to think it was a relevant and interesting discusson Which of course it was But there are those 'out there' that feel differently.......

Definitely liking the asymmetry of the UFO...probably not a suprise

Bike is looking fantastic Like the grab handles behind the rider...can't recall if they were there previously (by the time you read this I'll have skipped back a page to check myself obviously, but thought I'd comment anyway....there was a nice bit of space at the end of the sentence which looked like it needed filling)


edit - they were, in case anyone else was wondering

Thanks Nerdy (have you watched Bladerunner yet? We're not going to forget. ). Paint? Well there's a few little things to do on the bike, she's mostly done (just need to have another look at her "assets" when I next have the putty out). But then there's the base that will need to be done before paint.

LDD: We've not strayed as far as the Lama puns of the last time this thread went off the rails. Positively on topic compared to then.
It's ok, I don't expect anyone to be following where the UFO is going at the moment. I'm just showing that I am keeping busy.

... although I am starting to think that if you see an object lying around you are just adding it to it

That is pretty much how this has progressed. This is just to make the basic shape. Next comes the details that will tie it together and make it a "thing" rather than "some things stuck together".

Now the jetbike that thing rocks as does the rider really liking the new fins ( or what ever the technical term is ) good idea on the angling to portray the turning of the bike.

Just one thing will you be adding any other detail to them or will you be leaving them as is ?

Thanks. I will be adding some detail to them as they are a little plain.

Hruotland wrote:That bike is getting better and better and better... i did understand correctly, this model is a scaled down model of the prototype that is constructed at a top-secret garage in cooperation with NASA Jet propulsion laboratories atm? Consider me subscribing, even if my complete life income should go into the Mad Scientist's fund... I want that machine for real!!!

If only! That would mean I'd have a job at the very least.

You will also notice that the two sides are at different angles. This is on purpose, and is to show that they are active aerodynamic features

And once again you give extra sprinkles to the topping on the icing of the crust... This is why you are the best! No-one ever would have thought of THAT!

Thanks.
That came about as I was preparing the wing-tips for adding them. They needed to be sanded flat (as they are curved ends) and an angle added to the top edge. As I held up the plates to the wings I noticed there was a gap underneath. I couldn't remove more material to make them fit and while I could have just filled in the gap with putty, I thought "why are these angled? and if they are angled to help airflow, then maybe they should move to aid efficiency. If they move, how do they move? Pistons... in the gap..."

Because I'm always asking "how" and "why", I have to make the answer. I can't just add a detail and say "it just works", there has to be a mechanism that explains how it works.

The UFO, on the other hand, I'm intentionally hiding/confusing/contradicting all the ways that I (or anyone else) might think it works... as that is what makes it a UFO.

My humble suggestion, fluff wise:
Name her Ghost Rider, stick a cigar in her mouth, give her a flame motif, play This soundtrack

Spoiler:

And make her the only (so far) fielded charakter following the Mad Scientist without brainwash, from own will... quite ironic, I think, a self-conscious jet bike riding robo chick in an army of brainwashed organics...

Ah well, the bike already has a scheme set for when it's painted, and that may not fit with the biker-chick look.

I do have plans (and fluff) for a couple of named characters to do in the future. So we will see; I'll do the bike first and then see if she will fit it. If not, I'll keep it for a future character and call back to this one.

monkeytroll wrote:"Is it bad that I hadn't even considered it a geeky topic of conversation......."

Precisely my point - we all seemed to think it was a relevant and interesting discusson Which of course it was But there are those 'out there' that feel differently.......

I see. Well everyone has something to geek over, even if they don't realise it.

Definitely liking the asymmetry of the UFO...probably not a suprise

Bike is looking fantastic Like the grab handles behind the rider...can't recall if they were there previously (by the time you read this I'll have skipped back a page to check myself obviously, but thought I'd comment anyway....there was a nice bit of space at the end of the sentence which looked like it needed filling)


edit - they were, in case anyone else was wondering

Thanks and Thanks.

Yeah, those handles come on the original bike. They're probably not as obvious on a standard DE jet bike, as there is usually a large blade (pointing in the wrong direction) between them.

I did consider adding a fin in that position, but holding up something of the rough shape didn't look right, so I've left it plain.

I've made a little progress on the UFO. Added another lump (the last large piece) and made the broken off piece.
Not worth showing at the moment though.

It's now going off to sit in a warm environment for the plaster to fully dry out and the next time you see it, the putty work will have started.

That jet bike just screams speed!

Good progress. Thing that is catching my eye, the 90 degree joint on the rear fins where they meet the chassis. Have you considered some sort of filler, a triangular or curved piece of plasticard to break up the angle? Not sure If I articulated that well.

Thanks Shas.

Red Harvest wrote:Good progress. Thing that is catching my eye, the 90 degree joint on the rear fins where they meet the chassis. Have you considered some sort of filler, a triangular or curved piece of plasticard to break up the angle? Not sure If I articulated that well.

Thanks Red. Where the "wings" meet the bike is using the mounts that the original blades were attached by. It's also not such a simple shape in there though, as that mounting point drops down from where it meets the bike and curves outward to where I attached the "wings". Filling that angle would require matching that curve as well.

That said, I've not touched the bike for a couple of days as I've been wrestling with the UFO. I'll look into it when I come back to it.

Now, the UFO has moved on quite a step as I've been filling in gaps, adding details and tying the whole together.
But I have been having problems with positioning and shaping of the additions, mostly due to the difficulty of getting things to firmly stick to the surfaces. Now that bits are meeting up, this is becoming easier.

There is a long way yet to go with this. So, I'm afraid this is still at the ugly duckling stage...

The protrusions from the orange part came about from adding one, not liking how it sat and adding more instead of removing it. This is how I'm going about the rest of the details... keep adding more until it looks right. All large (more that 0.5 to 1cm squared) areas will be broken up by details.

Hopefully this will be the slowest part of the build and the actual terrain part will be quicker... There's only something like 7 weeks to go, so I better get moving...

Have you decided which end is up? My guess is 2nd photo down.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Have you decided which end is up? My guess is 2nd photo down.

I have had many thoughts on which way is up and have now decided to leave it up to the observer to make up their own mind.

The only parts I am sure of is the broken part (bottom right picture) was the first part through the wall/into the ground, and that the side that is down in all pictures is the side that it has come to rest on. Neither of these "definites" mean that those parts are the front or bottom or that they are not the front or bottom or side or...

It is so fantastic and confusing.

That UFO surely is something even a Mad Scientist would define as "crazy rocket science"... Well I suppose things like this don't even have top, or bottom. Nothing to define up and down. Whenever something charms us into a definition, the strangeness of the whole ensemble changes flavour again...

Be it as it be, I like it for exactly that.

If I may give a suggestion, though, when mounting the UFO to the terrain, tilt it more to the side. We are used to recognize horizontal and vertical lines, and automatically use them to set a "default" up and down. The structure of the UFO has a clear rectanlge with the now upright red and green part and the axis through the spherical sideways protrusion. I you tilt it more, the deviation from natural horizon and it's vertical should be enough to destroy that connection.

Loving the work you've done on the jet bike so far, looks great

Is any one else getting an organic feel about the UFO like a living craft, kind of like Farscape and that damn cartoon that I never remember the name of

Either way it's coming together in an intriguing all be it mind boggling way



Just remembered the name of it " Jayce and the wheeled warriors "

Thanks EyeamRai. Sounds like it's doing the job.

Hruotland wrote:That UFO surely is something even a Mad Scientist would define as "crazy rocket science"... Well I suppose things like this don't even have top, or bottom. Nothing to define up and down. Whenever something charms us into a definition, the strangeness of the whole ensemble changes flavour again...

Be it as it be, I like it for exactly that.

The definition of "alien". If you could easily tell which way was up, then it would be a little less unidentified.
Thanks.

If I may give a suggestion, though, when mounting the UFO to the terrain, tilt it more to the side. We are used to recognize horizontal and vertical lines, and automatically use them to set a "default" up and down. The structure of the UFO has a clear rectanlge with the now upright red and green part and the axis through the spherical sideways protrusion. I you tilt it more, the deviation from natural horizon and it's vertical should be enough to destroy that connection.

Ja. I dare say that I will spend ages determining the "perfect" angle for it to sit at, shortly before I spend far too long positioning the dirt around it to create the "perfect" crater. Ta.

Thanks hk. I will return to the bike soon.

lone dirty dog wrote:Is any one else getting an organic feel about the UFO like a living craft...

Thanks LDD. That is precisely what I'm going for, biomechanical.

Most of the finer details added now:

Should be looking more familiar to some of you.

Next job is to do some more putty work, fill some gaps, finish off the ends, smooth things into the surface and finish the sculpting on the slotted area (the white area from the water filter). Then more twiddly bits...

Is that thermal Pod from Buckaroo Banzai?

...and no-one recognised my oh-so-clever pun on the six types of Quark particles... Guess I am too nerdy even for Dakka... Well I'll just go venting my frustration and kick around Schroedingers cat for a while, Or maybe not, depends.

shasolenzabi wrote:Is that thermal Pod from Buckaroo Banzai?

The what? It isn't, but, the what? Good to know people are finding names for bits, means that they are looking like in-universe things and not real-life things stuck together with superglue.

Hruotland wrote: ...and no-one recognised my oh-so-clever pun on the six types of Quark particles... Guess I am too nerdy even for Dakka... Well I'll just go venting my frustration and kick around Schroedingers cat for a while, Or maybe not, depends.

Ahh, sorry Hruotland, I didn't expect physics puns. I see them now, good job.

You want to be careful with that cat. If it goes and hides in a box there's no telling what you might find... until you find it.

Progress on the UFO. I've thrown some putty at it...

I don't know if anyone expected me to do this, but I've merged (well, in the process of merging, anyway) the tentacle/cables into the body.

Also, I can show the part that has broken off when the UFO went through the wall (that will be built when I actually get around to making the "terrain" part of this terrain model ). Much more to do on this, but this is the basic shape and now gives an idea to it's function with the added wires (it's quite tricky to get these things to go where you want on the inside curve of a circle).

I've also thrown in some other angles that you have missed out on so far.

More putty work and then more surface details and it might be nearly there...

The adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension! You've not seen that classic Doc?

UCO is looking right nice! good job

Hunh? Not seen This? Well then, there's the week-end sorted

Definitely getting a good bio-mechanical vibe from it now. Very impressed.

Yeagh, Buckaroo Banzai is a Must! Enjoy it with friends, beer and herbs&spices in cigarette paper. -But there is still another flick I feel remembered to. Can't remember the name, SF B-Movie, the parents were taken over and the kids entered the dungeon/spaceship, everything alien was copper-colored, the aliens were walking copper potatoes on legs and their rayguns were smaller potatoe-things... nothing so weird like BB,just acheap try...

You want to be careful with that cat. If it goes and hides in a box there's no telling what you might find... until you find it.

Oh one thing I will find for sure. Cat pee. Schroedingers cat may be a weird little bastard, but it is still a cat trapped in a box...

No, not seen or even heard of it. I'll keep my eye out for it.

Thanks chaps.

Once you watch The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, (Had an all star cast before they got big), you will know what lectroids and thermal pods are

It's a must see... and you won't regret it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Giger. Well played Doc.

I shall check it out when I get the chance.

Thanks Weety. I feel that the paint-job may also follow the man's theme.

While I had the primer out, this happened:

I might round off some of the corners on the end-plates, but this is now ready to have a base made and some ingenious attachment solution created...

Why did I have the primer out? I hear you say...

I wanted to check the UFO for any modelling issues.

and while I was at it, I thought I'd make a picture to show it in all it's UFO glory, in a slightly blurry photo (although that's probably the most in-focus UFO photo ever).

Now that both of these are at roughly the same stage, I can work on making the base/terrain at the same time and save on time (in theory).