Model Citizen

My second project for 06 was a bit of light relief after The Undefeated mammoth task. So I went for the last bust I had from NT Productions . Busts, and also SD (Super Deformed) figures are a great way to unwind after a long project, there's very little building, if any, and you can relax and just enjoy the paint job. They're also great for doing experimentation on....so I thought I'd try the glass eye technique on this Joker bust.
So, first thing first, after the minimal cleaning and undercoating this is what I had:


Then I took my Dremel with a quite large flat ended sander attached: These tools are invaluable for the resin modeller, they're great for cleaning joints, adding detail back into hair, and also cleaning needle files!


So, all I did was drill a small hole about 0.5mm deep in the eyes.


Then I took a smaller blunt sander. This pic shows the usual amount of bits that you can get with a small drill. I picked mine up on eBay with But It Now for about £6!


This next picture shows the smaller hole drilled deeper in the middle of the first:


Then I used some of that Crystal Resin stuff, you may have used it as a kid to make paperweights out of leaves or jewellery. It mixes 2 parts to 1 to form a hard clear resin. i used a toothpick to mix and apply the tiny amount into the now painted holes. I painted the outer hole yellowish and the inner one dark green


And the finished article is here. The picture on the right probably shows the glassy look a bit better. It was quite a nice experiment, and with all such things I think you realise now you know hoew it's done, the way to do it a bit better next time.

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The Undefeated.
This refers to the Gundam in the largest scene I've ever tackled. I got the idea from an opening scene in the Anime series Full metal Panic and just thought Wow, what a cool idea for a model scene, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
I took some Work In Progress pictures along the way, so sit back and see the drama unfold LOL


Here is the beginning. I had this 1/35 Blackhawk under a desk for ages, thinking one day I'd make a Desert Storm dio, but that went out the window in favour of this idea (it also means I have a spare Abrams Tank I'll need to think of something for).


Here is the troops and the canoe (see if you can spot it later on). Also note my first mistake. The pilots don't have legs so I made them some very simple ones from Milliput, unfortunatley when I came to fit them they were too big and the heads came out the roof! So I chucked them away, you really dont notice that they have'nt got legs in the finished scene.


Here I am building the Gundam, and next mistake. In hindsight, it would have been a lot simpler building it in parts because the painting was quite tricky when complete.
Also take pity on the tiny amount of space I had to make this huge beast!


The undercoating has begun. Also notice the helicopter is on a dowel pole fixed into a base. The base was filled with cement to take the weight. Third and Fourth mistake: The base still could'nt take the finished weight so I had to add another secondry base. And also the pole was'nt strong enough to hold it all upright without bending so I had to add an anchor line to the tail.
You can also see that I've sprayed a simple chamo scheme onto the chopper, which was undercoated in the blue colour using Halfords auto spray. White and Red also used for other parts.


Here is a close up of the wire coathanger (how hard was it to find one of those!) that I will use in the hook gun assembly to help keep the robot up in the air. You can also see the troops have been added to the chopper, and the windows and doors fitted.


Here's a shot of the jetpack showing the compromise I made in weathering. I love the really clean crisp looks of Gundams and also the weathered look, so went somewhere in the middle with a super clean look only weathered where the exhaust fumes would be. The shot also shows my "good" brushes, the chunky handled Revell brand.

OK, here come the finished shots:










Here are the full shots. It's around 3' high so would'nt fit in my light tent. I had to wait for a sunny day and take some pictures by the window.








Just a quick update. I'm very proud to say this scene made Gallery Of The Day at E2046

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I dont often get a bee in my bonnet over bad films, but for some reason I just can't let Highlander get away with it. I think it's due to it's incredible popularity that I wonder if noone has actually put any thought into what they are watching.

The film spawned 2 sequels as well as some sort of TV show. I'm ignoring all that for this rant in the whole as I'm sure they only came about due to the strange success of the original and as some sort of explanation of all the nonsense you'd already seen by making them space men or aliens or something?

The film stars Christopher Lambert aka Christoph Lamb-Pie as a Scottish Higlander. Not my favourite actor, although he was quite good in...um...well...um...OK I liked Greystoke OK!

It also stars Sean Connery (Yesh Mish Moneypenny) as some sort of Spaniard Courtier.

OK. Right away can anyaone spot something stupid? Yep, that's right, a Frenchman playing a Scotsman and a Scotsman playing a Spaniard? Why did'nt they just reverse the roles?
On a side note, I remember reading an article on Dragonheart. The designers were asked to send Connery a miniature of Draco so he could work out his voice!
I bet that took a lot of working out did'nt it? Lets face it, he's not that versatile is he:
Hunt for Red October:
OK Sean your playing a Russian, what sort of voice will you give him?
Connery: I think I'lll make him Scottish.
Untouchables:
OK Sean your playing an Irishman, what sort of voice will you give him?
Connery: I think I'lll make him Scottish.
Dragonheart:
OK Sean your playing a Dragon, what sort of voice will you give him?
Connery: I think I'lll make him Scottish.
etc, etc, etc.


So, back to the film....Lamby-Pie discovers he's immortal and invincible, as you do, and Connery turns up to let him know so is he and a lot of others and they all have got to fight and cut each others heads off until there's only one left...are you buying this?...and then the winner can become normal.
How on earth did this get made?

So, Lambby with his immortality and invincibility goes to work as a Superman ridding the world of fear and suffering making everyones life better and becoming a hero....well, not quite, he rescues some little girl in WW2 and gets her to work in his antique shop. Well, that's a good use for his talents eh?
Anyway, all that comes to an end when the baddy shows up. They have a nice chat at church where they can't hurt each other (for some unexplianable reason), then all the others, who are as big a waste of time as Lamb-Pie get beheaded, and good riddance, and then the Highlander wins, cos There can only be ONE! (why?) and he gets his prize of being normal.
(Does anyone know who was overseeing all these immortal goings on?)
Well, that's a good prize isn't it? Hey, he can now get sick, have asthma, get paper cuts, get arthritis, get old and cop it....except he does'nt and they make a sequal.

I suppose I should quickly mention the soundtrack. Queen did a great job, but I remember in one of the sequals Christoph starts playing "It's a kind of magic" on a jukebox and my skin went grey with death and I though this is it, I'm dying!

Ladies and Gentlemen I offer you Highlander Turkey number 1.