"Midnight Raid in Mosul" Dio & Write-up....

camo .... don't give up on this one ... I wouldn't have ever guessed that this is your first dio build. From my point of view you've nailed the scene. I think that it's VERY easily "rescued".

Here's my thoughts ...

1) Take your stencil of the arabic, change it up a little, and then paint it again over the group of posters, but at a crazy angle. Stay away from 45 as everything else is at 90. It'll make it look like a machine did it.

2) Then, take another poster, and glue it over a portion of one of the other graffti marks. Again at an angle, but be sure to use a different angle than the one from above ... again staying away from 45.

And that's it. I think that's all it would take to make this one PERFECT. Just my 2 cents ... you've done an outstanding job on this one .... that's why I'm looking at yours IOT build mine!

Thanks again for the inspiration! Hope that helps....

i'm not giving up on this one model...lol. i've wasted far too many hours on it. i'm not discouraged or anything by what ya said. i expect straight forward answers without the sugar coat! i was agreeing with you about the build and there were a # of things i would've liked to have done differently but ya learn that way and that's important to me. i'd be in the wrong place i guess if i wanted (or expected) everyone to tell me how awesome i am and my work. blah blah blah!!! things are cool model and i will try what you are saying, thanks.

... I wouldn't call them "wasted" hours .... maybe .... "very intently spent" hours!!!!

Upon coming up to a completion of a piece, there's always TONS of things that you would have done differently. I look at these as the learning points to the whole hobby. Sounds corny, but, that's why I keep a "modeling" journal. That way I always have a record of techniques I've tried, etc.

From my view point, there's nothing that stands out as "you shouldn't have done this" .... well, except for putting the eletrical wires in the scene (HAHAHAHA!) So, I didn't really mean "resuced" before ... that was definatly and overstatment!

man i feel like that movie mommy dearest..."no more wire hangers...EVER!!!" those wires............those wires.....! cant even finish that one model!!
 interesting idea keeping a journal...guess it can limit your oops's. i've just started keeping a log of my painting for similiar reasons...which one's i like, which ones make good highlights, drybrushing, etc. whatever works.

hey, while i got you here, take a good look at my "sidewalk". what would you do with that. i was going to throw some debry (?) and paper etc. on it, besides the "food etc"...but im curious what you think i should do. i'm kinda saving that for last until i start the figs.

thanks.

Hey that tile looks good! I wouldn't really change much except to maybe pull up a couple of piece to help break it up a little. Just keep in mind that everything there is build out of what they have at hand. Most people, even business owners, don't have the time or money to order things and have them "installed". Maybe throw in a few pieces of tile that don't match!?! Or maybe have different colored tile out in front of the shop door ... to kind-of make a small porch for the door. Does that make since?

But overall everything looks great. I really like the SAW gunner there. He's looking pretty good!

I agree about the mix and match with the tiles, I also think the 90 degree angles with the posters and graffiti can be easily fixed as stated about- it didn't even jump out at me at first, but yeah, after modelchasm mentioned it I did pick up on it.

Now that I think about it, another way to help blend it all together would be to add some bullet scars and chips/dings etc. all around the walls on the lower portion, maybe more down at street level and then less as you move up the building- maybe add in some more heavy damaged areas around roof tops or windows perhaps? Not sure how easy that'd be to pull off, but the buildings a little flat for my taste. Really do like the paint work though, and I agree, the figures are very nicely done.

Your choise of that greenish grayish tan color for the tri-desert patern looks spot on, I don't think I've ever been able to nail that

camo junkie wrote:

hey, while i got you here, take a good look at my "sidewalk". what would you do with that. i was going to throw some debry (?) and paper etc. on it, besides the "food etc"...but im curious what you think i should do. i'm kinda saving that for last until i start the figs.

What kind of struck me right away was the fact that you have the table out with items from the store on sale, yet the shutter is closed on the store (it's 'midnight', right)?.  Maybe knock the table over, and spill the contents of it and the bag on the sidewalk and give the fruit a rotted look. Some good grafitti on the wall in Arabic would be a nice touch too.

**UPDATE**

Ok, here we go. I've had a hard time lining out my time-line and my sequence of events for this build, so there's a lot of random pieces going on here. Some of it's testing, others ... well, I'm not sure. But here's what I've got to date.

Here's my vague idea of the stack team.

I didn't like the drastic motion of the #1 guy, so yea ... I chopped him up and gave hime a new stance. You can see that I first put him back together using pins. Then, once I got the pose I wanted, I put in the alum tubing for the "bones" which will give me a channel to run the FO through. And you can also see the putty that wasn't quite working out for me.

Here's another figures legs that I'm already running the FO with. I'm not going to have to change too much here, so I though I'd test my FO "theory".

Doing a little weapon work. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to drill out the weapons for FO as I first thought. So, I think that I'm going to do my best to hide them on the side of the weapon opposite of the viewer. We'll see how well that works .... Here I'm straightening the barrel and adding pins for strength.

I'm going to be setting up some casts/ molds this afternoon. As those are setting I'm going to be turning back to my OIF build IOT get it finished up.

Stay tuned for more...

irish 666...no offense...but ya missed the boat buddy...check #3 .

looking good model....looking good.

Awesome hackjob!!! Cant wait to see how that FO turns out, looks like it's workin so far!

haha and that's how my magic sculpt ends up turning out half the time, I usually justgo over it a second (maybe 3rd) time. Sanding sticks are my friends..

HAHA .. yeah, this one's a cruise ship buddy!! .... where the drinks are included !!!!!HAHAHAHAHA

So here's something interesting that I thought I'd share. I've been messing around with clays and putties this morning trying to fix my figures and get them ready for casting. (I'm out of my magic-scuplt ... booo!) In digging through my things, I found some of that mighty-putty stuff that my wife got me once as a gag. As long as you use it in very small amounts, the stuff works pretty well. Dries and cures fast too ... and cures really hard so it's easy to work it and doesn't flake off. I've been slicing off a small disc shape from th tube, then dividing it up like a pie ... using 1/8th if it at a time. I'll have some pics in a bit.

Just thought I'd share ....

And here's another idea ... in thinking, I realized that the MF figure helmets have covers on them. SF guys do not wear helmet covers, hence there's no IR tabs on the helmets. But what some of them do is they attach the IR strobes to their helmets with velcro swatches. This would be very easy for me to do .... HOWEVER ... I have no idea how to make the dang things blink!!?!?!?!?!?!

I've tried to look it up online, but I get confused ...

Got any ideas, or know where I can find a simple build write-up for it?

666Irish wrote:

camo junkie wrote: hey, while i got you here, take a good look at my "sidewalk". what would you do with that. i was going to throw some debry (?) and paper etc. on it, besides the "food etc"...but im curious what you think i should do. i'm kinda saving that for last until i start the figs. What kind of struck me right away was the fact that you have the table out with items from the store on sale, yet the shutter is closed on the store (it's 'midnight', right)?.  Maybe knock the table over, and spill the contents of it and the bag on the sidewalk and give the fruit a rotted look. Some good grafitti on the wall in Arabic would be a nice touch too.

Irish ... I know that it doesn't seem like it cause "camo" is a thread-stealing junkie (HAHA!) but my build is actually to one "at midnight".

Read the full post from th 1st page and I think that you'll get the idea. Thanks for the suggestions though ... .that was actually a good catch!

Thanks for the sites, Walker. I've my basic wiring down for the FOs already. I'm trying to go back and figure out how to add in blinking lights to a few of the lighted spots. I'm needing four different blinking times, so that they will all look random, and I need them all to be at 1 -1 1/2 seconds. I've found a few places on the web that talk about using delay chips, but it might as well be French as far as I'm concerned!

Hmmm... well 1st off let me say very cool with the mighty putty! That stuff looked pretty crazy on the comercials- if it can hold 300 LBS!! of crap on TV I guess it makes sense that it can stand up to a 1/12 figure- and it's workable and sandable and everything? How is it with sculpting?

The blinky question sounds like it should be a pretty easy one for a guy at Radio Shack to help you out with- I'm sure they can help, I've seen a lot of scale cars that have whole lightbars and "wig-wag" headlights all built in to look like police cars and ambulances so it can be done and it can fit in scale- I just have no idea what kind of hardware that would require... 

???

First off, let me comment on the Mighty Putty before I scream for help ... I'm diggin' this stuff. It's fast to cure, you've got about 5 minutes to work with it, and really ... how much more do you need than that. I just make sure to use just a little piece at a time, and it's perfect. Best of all, if I run short, I just have to run down to my neighborhood Walgreens or CVS and get some more. Just that simple. But with the package coming with 3x tubes of the stuff, and I'm only using an 1/8th of a slice about ... an 1/8" thick ... this package will last me awhile.

Ok, here we go ..........HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!! (ok, it's not that bad ....)

So I've been working on the weapons and little things as I'm waiting for molds to set. I've been testing FO workings and scratching the PEQ4's for the rifles. Now the problem ...

So my original thought was that I was going to run FO out to the weapon and PEQ4, then attach a piece of about 4-5" of clear acrylic rod to show the "laser" coming out of the aiming device .... problem is, acrylic rod as just the same as FO does. The light only comes out the end and not the "glowing laser" effect that I was looking for. I've also tried moving this set up into a "shadow box" (under the desk ... hehe) to try it there. No dice. This is a HUGE piece to this dio so I need to figure out how to make it work.

What, out there, is going to give me that glowing look, BUT still be stiff enough to stick straight out for 4-5", representing a straight laser beam.

I've milled over this one for a good minunte now and nothing, so I thought I'd throw it to the gallery.

PLS let me know ... I'll be online for most of the evening ... Thanks in advance.

(psstoff .... see what problems you bring on when you instigate!?!)

Sounds like a great deal!

Hey- how about this- is there anyway to shave down one whole side of the acryl-rod so that you can get a smooth face? I think the problem might be the fact that it's curved- so if you could do something like this:

I mean hey- I know they make styrene rod in like.. half circle shapes right? Maybe? If you could find some clear acryl that has the same shap- the flat edge might let the light show through??

DAMN DUDE!!!! .... You're good ... Seriously!

While I didn't get down to exactly what you were talking about, it brought me aroud to the solution. I began sanding down one side of the rod using a sanding stick, but instead of getting the flat surface like you had suggested (obviously using a sanding stick) I was getting more of a rounded surface ....

THEN is hit me! All have to do is slightly sand the whole surface of the exposed rod and POOF it lets light out the entire length of the sanded portion! When I figured that one out, I felt REALLY stupid ... RRr. rR. ....Rr.rrrrrrrrrr..... ... please excuse my friend, he's a little slow, stupid.

But I think it's glowing to work out just fine. However, as I move on to working more and more with the lighting .... it looks like I'm going to be going the way of the "Hans" .... setting this one into a shadow box. I don't want to, but I just don't think that the light is going to be strong enoung to give the effect that I want. However, I won't really know until I get the real light systems built. Until now, I've just been holding the ends of the FO btwn my fingers ...

Thanks again psst!

**UPDATE**

I fugured before I shut down for the night, I'd better leave with an update.

I decided to go ahead and sand down the helmet that I'm going to use instead of doing it after casting ....

Next, I turned to fixing the rebuilt leg after trying a new type of putty didn't work so well. However, on the off chance to try something new again, I tried Mighty Putty ... yes, advertised by that annoying guy. Worked like a charm. Sets/ cures a little fast but once you get the hang of it, I feel that it works to your benefit and work goes much faster. Here's the reworked knee and hip joints.

From the above pic, you can see that the knee pad straps were lost doing the "hacking". With a little wire loops and masking tape, these were easy to pull off ... compared to the "factory" straps on the other leg.

As molds were curing, I decided to turn to working the weapons and figuring out how to light them.

Here's the progress on the PEQ4. I used 2x different sized rods to make a tube that the FO just slid right into. You will also notice that a small piece of the brass rod sticks out from the alum rod. This will be an anchor to help glue the acrylic rod too (notice the acrylic rod has been slightly drilled on one end.)

... the two meet ....

... and the finished PEQ4 fitted to the rifle with eveything attached (just for fitting). I don't really like the PEQ4, but I don't really have anything else to build it with and I don't really want to buy another figure JUST to get the PEQ4 ... although it is an option....

Sadly, that's all that got done today ....

I'm hoping that once the molds are finished, things will pick up as I'll have the pieces that I need to work with.

As always, thanks for the help ... and stay tuned for more!

I think it's glowing to work out just fine

hahaha

AWESOME!! I just figured if you broke up that round edge it would let the light out- haha no why I didn't think to just sand it rough as opposed to flatten a whole edge doesn't make sense...  Glad you found the short cut!!

That SOPMOD set up looks great and definitly sturdy enough to hold the rod- now that the glowings working out I really cannot wait- the putty work and the re-seeming worked out real nice.

This is going way too cool! Way to go!!

modelchasm wrote:

666Irish wrote:  camo junkie wrote: hey, while i got you here, take a good look at my "sidewalk". what would you do with that. i was going to throw some debry (?) and paper etc. on it, besides the "food etc"...but im curious what you think i should do. i'm kinda saving that for last until i start the figs. What kind of struck me right away was the fact that you have the table out with items from the store on sale, yet the shutter is closed on the store (it's 'midnight', right)?.  Maybe knock the table over, and spill the contents of it and the bag on the sidewalk and give the fruit a rotted look. Some good grafitti on the wall in Arabic would be a nice touch too. Irish ... I know that it doesn't seem like it cause "camo" is a thread-stealing junkie (HAHA!) but my build is actually to one "at midnight". Read the full post from th 1st page and I think that you'll get the idea. Thanks for the suggestions though ... .that was actually a good catch!

By the way, have I mentioned, "DOH!!!"

It's NP Irish ... really. Just don't DOH yourself to death!

I haven't really gotten too much updated over the past two days. I've mostly just been trying to get some castings done, but funny enough, this large scale is giving me some problems! I'm just trying to get my pour/ vents holes just right so that the resin will come out nicely ... mostly just a trial and error procedure. I use the Alumilite stuff, so yeah, I have to deal with the quick-set stuff. I like it though. I've gotten used to it. It's all about just mixing a little at a time.

I'm was hoping to get a little more done last night, but then I forgot ... it's WED night and LOST was on (yeah, I'm a LOST nerd...) so nothing got done. I'm hoping to get the last few casts that I need done tonight, so that I can get most of the figures mocked up. However, I'm thinking about molding a few more pieces, but I'm not going to decide that until I get the first mock-up done.

Hopefully, I'll have some more update pics up later tonight.

Not bad- so are you planning on making casts, then mod-ing them with putty- then making the main casts of that??

Sounds tedious. Anyway hope it goes well tonight! I should be on here for most of it, I'm working at the desk

Ahhh .... yes, and .... yes .....

I'm trying to work/ cast pieces that I know that I'm going to need for other figures in the dio. These are large parts, so it's not like a 1/35 figure where I can get 2-3 figures per mold. You're talking about doing a mold just for 4x hands! I've got to buy some more molding material so that I can do a torso and a pair of legs that I want for later. I promised one of my SF buddies that I'd do a piece for him ... hell be frozen over if I'm going to buy another figure JUST to mod him again!

Working with the Mighty Putty has turned out to be quite nice as I said before. It simply quickens the pace of the build ...  you don't have to wait for the stuff to cure. 10 minutes and its ready for sanding, priming, whatever.

As far as all the casting work goes ... I'm casting most pieces as is. The vinyl is still a little funny to work with, not to mention that would be modding the original material. I prefer to cast the original piece and then mod the resin cast. If I REALLY like the modded piece, I might think about casting that. However, I'm usually modding that piece for a specific build ... and as you can tell, I prefer not to build the same thing twice ... but then again, I'm always interested in adding parts to my parts bin. Every once in a while I'll clean out my molds. No need to keep them all if I've got the part in the bin right!?!

I was lazy tonight, so not much got done ... just a bit of thinking really. However, I'm pretty "planned" out for tomorrow. Should get enough done to make up for the "lost" day today. I'm also planning on getting my "OIF" base into the booth in the morning. That way I can work on this dio while drying ... I can spray it again about lunch, again working on this dio as it dries.

Hopefully, I'll be able to really get some things done .... stay tuned for some updates!!!

Sweet! Lookin forward to it.

Definitly sounds like it'll be slow going with the casting process (or slower than usual at least) but the methods make sense.

I can only imagin the size of your spare parts room haha

psstoff995 wrote:

I can only imagin the size of your spare parts room haha

Yeah, no kidding!?! ... It's getting that way. I've moved from a few plastic containers to a file drawer just for spares!

So ... I can't really explain it, but this one is going super-slow. I haven't gotten much done over this past week, when I was hoping to get almost all the construction completed. RRRrrrrr......

I'm continuingto work the casting process. Some of the pieces that I'd like to use are giving me some troubles in the molds ...  I should just break down and buy/ build a pressure caster. Maybe one day.

I've also decided while I'm working on this do, that I'm going to do one, single figure for an SF buddy of mine as a gift. I'm just adding this one on as a "piggy-back" project and will build it up as I build, paint, and finish this "raid" dio. I'll post updates for that figure on this thread instead of doing another write-up.

Hopefully later today I'll have an O-fficial updates with pics. Also stil trying to get my OIF base in the booth.

Stay tuned to both threads for updates later today.