Right, here is a little update on Mr. Scott!  I sprayed the first coat of flesh on the hands and face, and did the pants in flat black and the boots in semi gloss black.  I must say, I was very happy with the boots!  I surprised myself on that one!    Although, the more I look at them, they may be a little TOO polished!  After all, Scotty works in engineering! 

Eagle, nice job on those boots - quite the shine, I think even the Wehrmacht would be envious of those.

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My workbench should be cleared soon, and then I can shift over to figure building mode.   The intended Psylocke kit is still up in the air - in fact the site I had ordered from still has not posted a release date.  A while back I had pm'd Tim about having another idea for this GB, so officially I'm announcing my go ahead with plan B.

In my stash, discovered I had this  1/12 resin fantasy figure sculpted my Mike Cusanelli.   Entitled Carina, I don't recognize her from any movie or book.  So plan is to do some conversion/scratch building, turning her into Red Sonja.

Only six parts total, including the base and a hollow metal rod for the staff, which will remain as pictured, even though her main weapon of choice is the sword.  

regards,

Jack

Thank you  Jack!  And I must say, I like your next build!  Red Sonja!?  Very cool!

Eagle90

Phil: Wow fantastic work! Love the metallic gold and red!

Eagle90: Np, sorry it didn't work out. As Jack said the shirts weren't tucked into the pants so you should have some leeway there. What you've gotten done so far looks great!

Jack: Now that just plain cool! I've seen lots of the models from Cusanelli's studio and he does some fantastic work! Really looking forward to seeing how she comes out.

Great work going on here, gents!

P mitch - Iron Man looks amazing! How much damage do you intend to do to him (if any)?

Eagle - I think I remember Mr. Scot's boot being that shiny. You may have to do some "research" on Netflix. Just stay away from "Spock's Brain".

Jack - I think I'm looking forward to your Red Sonja even more than I was the Psylocke fig.

Short week at the office this week. Thanksgiving and all here in the U.S. Trying to cram seven days of work into three, rather than the usual seven into five.

Wonderful work, guys. Keep it up.

Tim

I'm going to watch the films again while I'm recovering from surgery and see what I can find picture wise on the net. I'm not going to al the way but I think it could take some scratches and smoke damage if nothing else. I do have the standard stance one which I will do and leave it completely clean.

Phil

Love the look of those Aclad colours. Iron Man looks like he's ready for a fight.

I have to agree about Scotty's boots, I remember the entire crew having quite the shiny boots.

I got Spidey's limbs together and been test fitting the torso, fit isn't very good but nothing that a bit of TLC can't fix.

Yeah, cleaning up those seams are going to be a bear but what you've got so far looks pretty darn good!

Nice work on Scotty eagle. And those boots, any RSM would be well happy with those. I was never any good at bullying boots, next tie I need to, I know where to send them.

Hi gents!

Shiv - Nice work on Spidey. When I put him together, I had to make extensive use of rubber bands. One thing I liked about the kit was that it cleverly hid some of the joins along the spiderweb design in this costume. However, making the join disappear around his upper thigh and rump was tough. Also, I recall having trouble with the head--or that could be a memory of a fever dream as I tried to get Spidey finished for deadline.

One thing that still bugs me that I couldn't get right is his stance on the eagle head. On the one I built, the hands don't touch the brow. I think, if I had it to do again, I'd glue his feet in place and pin the hands.

Not much to report but I did get the tunic/blouse/shirt whatever on the Romulan pretty much done and sprayed the boots and other leather stuff on both figures tonight. It gets dark early now so it's hard for me to grab good photos after work- hopefully I'll get some this weekend.

Checking in and WOW... 2 completions and all that progress on the WIPs.  Nice work kids.  I also looked at the end date.  I better get the rear in gear and finish the M1 before it turns into a perpetual motion kinda thing and just never gets done.

marc, you and me both. I am itching to get started on darth, but my He 111 is taking an age.

Hey everyone,

Great stuff you guys are going here!  I sure appreciate all the help everyone is offering with my first figure build.  I have made some progress.  The first pic is of Scotty's "Hip Surgery"!  Had to do a little manipulation to get things somewhat lined up.  It is still off just a little in the back, but let's just say Scotty has had a hard day in engineering and his shirt is a little untucked. 

Second is the torso and legs glued together.  Like I said, shirt just slightly untucked.  Third pic is of the second coats of flesh on the hands and face.  Will be attaching the arms soon and then filling the gaps there at the shoulders.  Last will be doing the head.  Have been reading up on doing that and watching some videos.  That will be a challenge!  Thanks for looking and any advice on gap filling around the shoulders will be much appreciated. 

Eagle90

Eagle, Scotty looks pretty darn good to me so far!

Thanks Gamera!  The face is still my biggest challenge to come!

Eagle90

Eagle, I like the lay of colours you have on the uniform and boots of Scotty.

 As for the possible seams around the shoulders once you attach the arms, I would leave as is to represent the actual cloth seams where the shirt is hemmed together.  Or are there really huge gaps appearing?

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Begun working on the gloves for Red Sonja.  After creating a pattern on paper,  I first tried transferring it to some .010 sheet plastic.  It looked  too stiff around the forearm, not a good representation of leather. 

So next up was lead foil, which I think is much better.  I will have to order some type of epoxy putty to be able to sculpt a few wrinkles around the wrist area - or at least try, as this is first time trying such a conversion.

regards,

Jack

Thank you Jack!  Not sure about the seams.  I see what you are saying, but think it might be a bit much.  What do you think?  Maybe I could sand off more from the arms where it joins.  Maybe that will let it sit in there better.

Hi guys,

I received special dispensation to show you what I've been working on and keeping me from Conan. 

You'll be able to see more pics of it and read a review in the March issue.

With that out of the way, this week, FINALLY, Conan. You don't know how relieved I am.

Eagle - NICE! Without seeing more of the join, I'm not sure what I can advise for minimizing the seam there. However, it doesn't look too bad from your pic. I love how the trousers and torso have come along, and those boots are definitely regulation shine.

Jack - The lead foil is definitely the way to go on that one. As I said in a previous post, I love Green Stuff. Two-parts, mix with your finger, easily shaped and sculpted using just a little water. Sets up hard within 24 hours and can be sanded.

Eagle - I  see what you mean now.  That seam is on the deep side, and I don't think sanding the arm will help - it's tapered shape will have diminishing returns if you take more away.

Easiest solution would be to attach permanently now, and then add putty all around.  Use a fingertip to smooth out while still wet, this will minimize the amount of sanding afterwards.  Once it's all cleaned up, you can scribe in  a finer seam if you like.

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Tim - that is one fine build of the Nautilus, and I love that squid as part of the base.  I think I was in like grade six when I saw the movie and was in b/w.  Does the colorized version have the squid in red, or is that  part of your creative influence?

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Alrighty, got the 'green stuff' on order.  For lead foil, is there anything else out there other than the sheet that Verlinden offers?

regards,

Jack

Jack: Cool, I've never thought of using lead foil like that.

Eagle: Yeah, if you trim the attachment tab a little his arm might slip in a little better. It's not too big a seam in any case.

Tim: Awesome! Really beautiful job on a classic SF/fantasy craft.

Jack and Gamera - Thanks for the compliments. As for the giant squid, I did some research on squids and came up with an image I liked, printed it out and taped it to the wall next to the spray booth. Then I just started painting.

As for the colorized one in the Disney movie, I remember it being gray ... and this would seem to bear that out.

True anecdote: I had to learn to sing "Whale of a Tale" when I was 10. I come from a musical family and Mom thought it would be cute. Unfortunately, I was not drunk, nor did I have a seal named Esmeralda. 

Thanks everyone!  

Gamera: I think I will shave off a little and see if that helps,  If not, looks like putty time!

Jack: Thanks!  So, some putty, then after drying and some sanding, scribe a seam!  I think in the long run that will be the solution.  Hopefully I can get to it tonight after work.

Tim:  WOW!  Great build!  It absolutely rocks!  I remember watching the Disney movie as a kid.  That build does it justice my friend!

Eagle90

Nice work all around guys.  I am just days away from finishing the looong Abrams build.  Then it on to the creature.  I am toying with the idea of a little twist.  Since that movie was in B&W I am thinking of  doing a monochromatic version as if it were a scene for the flick.  I suspect it will be much more difficult that what i am thinking since you can't trow in a little "color" for something pop.

Hey Wing Nut, now that would be cool!  I'm sure it will be a challenge, but wow, what a build!  I look forward to what ever you do with it!

Eagle90

Marc, I like the idea! I too have no idea how well it would work out but it is a neat idea. I guess if you don't like it you can always paint over it.

I have seen an armor diorama that was all gray scale and it was breathtaking. I wish i remembered where so I could try to contact the guy.  When I was taking photography classes at OSU... such a longtime ago film speed was ASA not ISO... we were learning the Zone System developed by Ansel Adams.  he divided the scale from white to black into 11 segment "zones" It was an exposure/development system meant to best captures this sale in a photo.  My plan is to buy/mix all these zones and get as many as I can on the model.

And as stated... if it sucks... paint over it.  It was be like a very complex preshade

Marc, that will be interesting approach for the Lagoon creature.

Remember too, because of the large scale these figures are, you will have the benefit of natural lighting and darkness playing on the surface of the figure.

Also to consider, recall the gold painting technique I had linked earlier.  It's finding was that the method of less shades was more successful than utilizing  numerous ones - but maybe the analogy doesn't hold here?    I also think less number of values will lend better to having detail pop - though if you are looking to have only certain parts of the figure with high contrast that can be an area specific thing... just my 2 cents.

regards,

Jack

Hey guys.  Nice work being shown here.  Tim - I'm not a big fan of seafood, but hey...yours looks great!  Marc - cool idea with the B&W.  I saw someone build a Battle of Britain Hurricane in a vignette that way, and it looked very neat.

Crossing my fingers to be able to get at Zorro, but I have a WnW Pfalz D.III that has to get done first.

you will have the benefit of natural lighting and darkness playing on the surface

Benefit?  I look at it more as another thing to consider and if I don't I'll screw it up  Don't worry... I'm not really that negative   I didn;t see that gold link.  Sounds like food for thought.  How far back is it?